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April Summary and Plans for May

Book of the Month

Mountain People

Books Reviewed in April

The Mountain People – Colin Turnbull 

The Nobodies Album – Carolyn Parkhurst 

The Story of Forgetting – Stefan Merrill Block 

How I Became A Famous Novelist – Steve Hely 

Serious Men – Manu Joseph 

Mr Chartwell – Rebecca Hunt 

The Final Testament of the Holy Bible – James Frey 

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela

Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer DNF

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell DNF

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna DNF

The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman DNF

The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith DNF

Salvage by Robert Edric DNF

Plans for May

The World According To Garp (Black Swan)

For the first time I have been persuaded to finish a book featured in one of my Read or Reject posts. I will be finishing The World According to Garp, if only so I can spot the way it has influenced other modern fiction. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will at least have a few more great scenes.

I also plan to read some of these books:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman.

Piercing by Ryu Murakami

Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck

Empire Of The Sun by JG Ballard

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

21 replies on “April Summary and Plans for May”

I’m reading Pigeon English at the moment and quite enjoying it (although I’m only about 50 pages in) but the narrator is beginning to get on my nerves a little, I’m keeping up with it for the story mainly, and maybe the narrator will grow on me.

Lucy, I have only just started reading it, but am enjoying it so far. I hope the narrator doesn’t get on my nerves. Fingers crossed we’ll both enjoy it in the end.

Brennan, I have heard great things about The Illumination and so am really excited about reading it. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations.

Ah, a Lisa See book. That one isn’t my favorite of hers, but I did like it. I’ve been hearing good things about the Invisible Bridge, but you didn’t finish it, how come?

Helen, I ended up skimming Invisible Bridge because the characters were a bit one dimensional and perfect. It was too long for me to be willing tp invest my time in when I had issues with plot (predictable) and just a general lack of magic in the writing.

I really enjoyed Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. It was very well done but don’t Google images of foot binding no matter what! Learn from my mistakes.

I’ve not heard of any of the books in your April pile – that is slightly worrying!! Best of luck with the Irving. Maybe I should try finishing Prayer According To Owen Meany as well?

I intend to read Empire of the Sun sometime soon, as well as a book by Ryu Murakami (69). Enjoy reading in May.

Anothercookiecrumbles, I spotted that I hadn’t read many well known books recently and so plan to correct that in future and have a better balance of familiar/ obscure.

I look forward to comparing notes on Empire of the Sun.

Snow Flower was a 4 star for me. It’s China and bound feet and all that (yet again, how many books are there on this topic?) but this book is different and I enjoyed it a lot.

I also read The Interpretation of Murder which also was a 4 star for me. There is a lot of psychoanalytic babble which I didn’t enjoy even though I’m a psychologist (except I’m a research psychologist, not a couch psycho!).

Hope you have a good month with fewer abandonments!

Judith, I seem to have avoided the bound feet books as this is the first I’ve read – I hope this means I will appreciate it a bit more. It is good to know you gave both books 4 stars – I hope I enjoy them both just as much.

I’m a little late and was going to say you could give up on Garp, only because I just finished Owen Meany by Irving and it took forever without much pay off for me. Other people swear by Irving, but I’m not a convert.

stacybuckeye, I saw your problems with Owen Meany. I am still going to finish Garp (although I am putting it off!) as I am intriuged by what will happen and feel I should know. I don’t expect to be converted, but you never know!

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