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ExUrbanis

Urban Leaving to Country Living

Books Read in November 2014

January9

books read
While I was coming to terms with the long-term tenancy of my step-daughter and two grandsons, I got back to some really good reading this month, discovering a book that has become one of my all-time favourites.


 
1. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction, Modern classic, Pulitzer Prize winner) 5 star rating
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck photo f6d36950-3c1a-41fd-a42c-0455e93f70d5_zpswqlcl668.jpg

Although Pearl Buck was born in the United States in 1892, her parents moved to China as missionaries when she was just a few months old. She continued to live in China for most of her life before 1934. According to Wikipedia, her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.

Amazon says: “This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-Lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during the last century.”

In 1938, Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature “for the notable works which pave the way to a human sympathy passing over widely separated racial boundaries and for the studies of human ideals which are a great and living art of portraiture”.

Indeed the themes of work, land and riches explored in The Good Earth are universal and timeless.
5 stars
 

2. The 100—Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Fiction, Contemporary, Satire) 4.5 star rating
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson photo 27e9e3bc-a29a-4abd-9a85-a779f791b740_zps3knt912i.jpg
As you might be able to tell from the title, this book, translated from Swedish, is told in a breezy, almost tongue-in-cheek style.

After ‘escaping’ from a nursing home, Allan Karlsson, much like Forrest Gump, encounters a series of adventures that become more outlandish as the book progresses.

Lots of fun.
4½ stars
 

3. Green on Blue by Elliot Ackerman (Fiction, Contemporary, Afghanistan War) 4.5 star rating
Green on Blue by Elliot Ackerman photo 2b509e95-2b41-46b2-a293-0eefca3978f6_zpsj0xzxb8m.jpg
Due to circumstances, young Afghani teen Aziz must join the Special Lashkar, a US-funded militia. As he rises through the ranks, Aziz becomes mired in the dark underpinnings of his country’s war, witnessing clashes between rival Afghan groups—what US soldiers call “green on green” attacks—and those on US forces by Afghan soldiers, violence known as “green on blue.”

Ackerman brilliantly sets up the hopelessness of living in war, and he has us cheering on the protagonist in his concluding decision.

Well-written, riveting, and hard-hitting.
4½ stars
 

4. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Fiction, Contemporary, Suspense) 3.5 star rating
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty photo 7ecda2ab-08ef-4839-a772-d87b0d2f39b8_zpsoxt5rxjv.jpg
Amazon says: “Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade.”

So here’s the thing: I must have enjoyed this at the time since I rated it 4 stars then, but I’ve forgotten it so thoroughly that I didn’t even remember reading it at all.

Hmmm . . . Guess I forgot what Alice forgot. I wish it had been more memorable.
3½ stars
 

5. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (Non-fiction, Social Issues) 3.5 star rating
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich photo cbc6de61-5946-4adb-ac39-f24e34463e58_zps8pao4nbn.jpg

Ehrenreich posed as a waitress in order to discover how the working poor in America cope financially. I expected to find an examination of the cost of living, but instead found the flip-side: the difficulty of making a living, earning an income.

As with any such journalism of this type, it’s hard to truly capture the desperation of not having the luxury of back-up, knowing that, at any time, you can return to another life, job, and bank account. Ehrenreich does acknowledge these limitations.

A fine effort.
3½ stars
 

6. The Brandons by Angela Thirkell (Fiction, Vintage, Comedy) 3.5 star rating
The Brandons by Angela Thirkell photo be394189-823d-4857-9609-abfaa868a4b3_zpsxkbewont.jpg
Originally published in 1939, The Brandons gives us a glimpse into the life of “Lavinia Brandon, quite the loveliest widow in Barsetshire, blessed with beauty and grace, as well as two handsome grown-up children, Delia and Francis.”

Somewhat typical Thirkell although perhaps even slower moving than most. About two-thirds of the way through my copy, I found a duplicate of the previous 40 pages (and 40 pages missing). I picked up the story easily even without knowing what happened in the missing section.
3½ stars
 
 

*   *   *   *   *

 
Once again, I’m including the two mysteries I read this month in this post.
 

1. Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon Ballard (Fiction, Mystery, Cozy) 3.5 star rating
Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon Ballard photo bf87226d-14e8-46ea-90d5-4e728e4dd088_zpsnku6cvml.jpg

Set in small-town Georgia USA in 1942, this first in the Miss Dimple Kirkpatrick series sees the steady-as-a-rock first grade teacher kidnapped.

I remember being a little disappointed in this, but I can’t recall anything else about it. Many readers, though, highly praise the details of the setting.
3½ stars
 

2. Everybody Goes to Jimmy’s by Michael Mayo (Fiction) 3.5 star rating
Everybody Goes to Jimmy's by Michael Mayo photo f3e670c6-395a-4511-b8d8-9c95b0bd391a_zpsfk4ecfc7.jpg

This second in the Jimmy Quinn series (I mistakenly thought it was the first) is billed as a suspense novel but, with its circa 1930 Manhattan speakeasy setting, it seemed more a mild sort of hard-boiled mystery to me.

I did enjoy it though and do plan to read more of the series at some time.
3½ stars

 

This was the start of a run of several months of good reading. Do any of these appeal to you?

 

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

4 Comments to

“Books Read in November 2014”

  1. On January 10th, 2017 at 12:37 pm Naomi Says:

    I also loved The Good Earth!
    I tried The 100-Year-Old Man, but it just didn’t catch my attention and I never finished. I think I’m in the minority with this one.

  2. On January 13th, 2017 at 12:36 pm Debbie Says:

    Naomi, I can see where The 100-year-old Man wouldn’t be for everybody – or every mood. It happened to catch me at the time when I wanted some escape.

  3. On January 10th, 2017 at 1:48 pm Buried In Print Says:

    Can’t help but giggle at the thought that you were missing 40 pages of the Thirkell volume and it didn’t seem to matter one bit; I’ve been debating whether to continue with the series. Hee hee. Still debating. Good luck with the continuing update project!

  4. On January 13th, 2017 at 12:37 pm Debbie Says:

    I’m glad you got a giggle out of that, Marcie. I did too. 🙂

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