Second Week of #TOB2019 Recap

Thoughts

Link:   The Morning News Tournament of Books

I am bummed that Milkman is out. Bummer. And I was disappointed in the judge’s decision – seemed dismissive. Oh well. I am fine with a reasoned and balanced comparison but a ‘Hey – I didn’t like it’ for reasons that expressed a lack of trying or any appreciation didn’t sit well with me.  A more gentle way to say the other book just had more appeal to personal taste is a fine argument, but I don’t think Milkman got that treatment.

 

I am thrilled that is ZOMBIE-ING! Not that excited The Overstory is as well.

And I just downloaded There There. I best read it; seems important. For some unknown unexplored reason, I have been avoiding it. (and yes, I do realize the week isn’t over – we’ll hear more about There There tomorrow…)

I am super excited to read The House of Broken Angels!  And I go back and forth on attempting The Dictionary of Animal Languages. I really wasted February not reading these! UGH. Oh well.

OK, that’s my quick recap. And, as in every year. I’m very much enjoying the commentary.

It’s my favorite time of year!

 

 

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from BkClubCare aka Care’s Online Book Club.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

First Week of #TOB2019 Recap

Thoughts

Link:   The Morning News Tournament of Books

I am excited and relieved to see Milkman advance. And I’m thrilled to have the Tournament vibrant and alive in my life. The Commentariat of the TOB is the BEST. I so enjoy reading all the thoughts, comments, opinions, witticisms, and references to other books I Must. Read. Now. (or next, or rather someday!)

I relish finding the words that capture what I like or don’t like about a book — because I don’t have those words myself. And I appreciate when someone clarifies their opinions that I might disagree with what I felt in a reading experience, good and bad.

Did I do The Italian Teacher a disservice when I DNF’d it? No, yes. Can I appreciate when someone said it was a great page-turning read that was highly enjoyable when I couldn’t suffer through the treatment Bear was giving his wife?  Do I think I need to try again reading The Italian Teacher? I doubt I will. Just too many books in the world (and toppling my tower of 2400 books.) And now, after reading all the C&O (comments and opinions), I don’t have to make myself read it – I feel like I already know the plot and characters intimately well enough.

I did struggle to read Milkman; and I hesitate to call it a difficult read but it is not a “sitting down to enjoy” kind of story. It is an experience, an immersion. It was funny, it was scary, it was amazing. Why was it a struggle? It made me think and feel and I had to stop to process the thoughts (which tended to lead to other thoughts and away my mind would chase off in a direction – a matter of distraction vs focus) and to process the feelings. I just changed my rating to a 5 star and someday, I truly want to listen to the audiobook. I am Team-Middle-Sister for the rooster win.

OK, the above was yesterday’s round. The day before was Warlight vs Call Me Zebra and I didn’t have a dog in that hunt.  Still, I very much enjoyed the discussion of the pros and cons of each. I didn’t rush out to change my Want To Read number to a single digit for either. Warlight moves on.

The Play-in Round kicked off the Tourney on Wednesday and I had only read Speak No Evil. It didn’t survive but I am now terribly interested in listening to the audio of A Terrible Country and the winner, America Is Not the Heart, looks like something I will really like if I ever do get my hands on it. Toying with rushing to it before that next appearance hits the calendar but I didn’t read There, There neither and I know I won’t get to both.

HELP:  Do I attempt There, There on audio maybe?  I’m still 2+ hours to finish Washington Black….  I just attempted to library loan the eBook The Mars Room and I’m 29th in line! 

OK, that’s my quick recap. Of the books contesting next week and beyond, there are only two rounds where I’ve read both books. When Census meets The Golden State, I will cheering for the latter. When the higher seed The Overstory is challenged by My Sister, the Serial Killer, you better believe that I will be enthusiastically waving pompons and losing my voice with shouts for MStSK.  Oh yea.  This was my second favorite in the Tournament. THAT day’s commentary is gonna be WILD.

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from BkClubCare aka Care’s Online Book Club.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

We Love You, Charlie Freeman

Thoughts  by Kaitlyn Greenidge, Algonquin Books Kindle Ed. 2016, 337 pages

Challenge: Rooster TOB Shortlist

Genre: Adult Fiction or Young Adult Fiction…

Type/Source: eBook / Kindle

 Why I read this now: It was offered as a daily deal for $1.99

MOTIVATION for READING: Reading all the TOB Shortlist

WHAT’s it ABOUT:  I refer you to the goodreads blurb:

The Freeman family–Charles, Laurel, and their daughters, teenage Charlotte and nine-year-old Callie–have been invited to the Toneybee Institute in rural Massachusetts to participate in a research experiment. They will live in an apartment on campus with Charlie, a young chimp abandoned by his mother. The Freemans were selected for the experiment because they know sign language; they are supposed to teach it to Charlie and welcome him as a member of their family.

Isolated in their new, nearly all-white community not just by their race but by their strange living situation, the Freemans come undone. And when Charlotte discovers the truth about the Institute’s history of questionable studies, the secrets of the past begin to invade the present.

The power of this novel resides in Kaitlyn Greenidge’s undeniable storytelling talents. What appears to be a story of mothers and daughters, of sisterhood put to the test, of adolescent love and grown-up misconduct, and of history’s long reach, becomes a provocative and compelling exploration of America’s failure to find a language to talk about race.

WHAT’s GOOD:  Surprising, enterprising*, engaging. I am glad to have read it and I don’t know if going totally blind into this was the best idea. But I think it was.

What’s NOT so good: Messy, unwieldy, faltering. (I have a few questions…)

FINAL THOUGHTS: I actually liked this more than I can express and it is the opposite of my feelings for Sweet Lamb of Heaven. In this book I liked it more but found a few faults. With Sweet Lamb, I didn’t like it all that much but couldn’t figure out why. Go figure.

RATING: Three slices of pie. MUD pie!

In his first few days at Courtland County he’d asked, “Y’all do what around here? Fish in ponds? Make mud pies?” and one of them gulped, “We go to the laser show at the CCC’s astronomy lab.” And he’d laughed.

 

∗ enterprise – a project that involves many people and that is often complicated or difficult.

 

Copyright © 2007-2017. Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Oreo

Thoughts  by Fran Ross, A New Directions Paperback 2015 (orig 1974), 230 pages

Type/Source: Tradeback, 14 Day Library Reserve

 Why I read this now: I requested it from the library when the Tournament of Books 2016 Short List was announced.

MOTIVATION for READING: ROOSTER!!

WHAT’s it ABOUT: I don’t think I can begin to accurately describe everything nor even give a hint of what the book is about. Truly, much of it is over my head. But, ohwhattheheck — I’ll try: the story has a kickass lady protag who has a way with words and an admirable confidence in her abilities. Her name is Christine but her family calls her Oreo. She herself asks others to call her Anna. Her Jewish father and African American mother divorce when Christine/Anna/Oreo is still a baby. When she is in her early teens, she goes on a quest to find her father. Mythology, social commentary, feminism, racism, many languages, new-to-me words, made-up words, hybrid words and references many of which whooshed right by me – some I attempted to define which meant this book took me longer to get through but that is OK because I love finding out new things. Lots of situations and history that I didn’t relate to even when I did attempt to search. However, it is a fun and wild ride. I’ll link other reviews if this has you even remotely curious.

WHAT’s GOOD: Vocabulary? humor? Yes, let’s go with vocab and comedy.

What’s NOT so good: The fact that much went over my head… But what I did ‘get’, I enjoyed. It is extremely irreverent. She pokes fun at everything.

FINAL THOUGHTS: If I was a good and earnest student of literature, I would buy this book and read it again and again and again.

Pie Notes

Note #1. “Her sprachgefühl told her that Eric was stretching a point (or, rather, a wedge) and that the professor was perpetuating Partridge’s error by persisting in this pie-eyed usage.”

Define sprachgefühl : intuitive feeling for the natural idiom of a language.

Note #2. “as the train filled, the hardened travelers knew that it was pie-in-the-sky to hold out for a double seat,…”

Note #3. Apple pie with Oreo crust.

Note #4. “She ducked into a luncheonette, sat in a booth in the back, and ordered a hot sausage sandwich, a Shabazz bean pie and a Pepsi.”

RATING: Four slices of BEAN PIE.

 

Reviews: The New Yorker article by Danzy Senna (which is also the book’s Introduction), A Guy’s Moleskin Notebook, Teresa’s review at Shelf Love (she says “And so, this kooky story becomes a celebration of all identities.”). More reviews can be found here.

Copyright © 2007-2016. Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.