TTT: Bookstores I want to visit and-or you should visit

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookstores I want to visit and/or you should visit (I've already been)

I am twisting today's topic---Book events I want to attend---to focus exclusively on bookstores.

Bookstores I want to visit sometime in my life:

1. Selexyz Dominicanen, Maastricht, The Netherlands

This big, beautiful church is being repurposed as a bookstore. It looks amazing. I want to see it.

 

 2. Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice

On a related note, I read a news report that Venice is losing its fight against climate change and raising sea levels. I must visit this book shop before it is completely under water. In the meantime the owner stores books in bathtubs and old gondolas.

3. City Lights Books, San Francisco

My daughter lives in San Francisco and I've visited lots of bookstores in the city but I don't think I've been to its most famous store. Next time!

4. Shakespeare and Company, Paris

Probably the most famous bookstore in the world. It factors greatly into the affairs of many writers in the 1920s in Paris like Faulkner, Hemingway, Joyce, Stein. I not only want to visit the store, I also want to visit Paris.

5. Atlantis Books, Oía, Santorini, Greece

Maybe the bookstore with the best view. Founded by two Americans who wanted to copy Shakespeare and Co. in Greece.

6. Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tennessee

Favorite author, Ann Patchett owns this store and may actually be hanging around during the day. Plus I love visiting Nashville.

 

7. Livraria Lello Porto, Porto, Portugal

This bookstore is over 100 years old and has a stairway to heaven staircase.

 

8. Bart's Books, Ojai, California 

The world's largest outdoor bookstore. Sounds so unique.

 

9. The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles, California

A relative newcomer but this one sounds like it has some really cool bookish decorations.

10. Grolier Book Shop, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The oldest continually run book shop in the country. It has an extensive poetry collection.

Bookstores You Should Visit:

1. Boulder Books, Boulder, Colorado

My husband was at a conference. I had to day to myself. I ended up sitting in this wonderful bookstoe for hours consuming the atmosphere and reading a whole book from start to finish.

2. Powells Books, Portland, Oregon

The place used to be a car dealership. The bookstore is huge and a complete maze. One needs a map to find your way around. That is half the fun.

3.  The Strand Bookstore, Manhattan, New York

We visited this bookstore the day after it had an explosion in its basement, so I don't think we got a real feel for  its charms. But I was there!

4. Any Independent Bookstore in whatever town or city you are visiting. These towns have really good ones---Seattle, Washington; Bellingham, Washington; Cannon Beach, Oregon; Lincoln City, Oregon; Ashland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Vancouver, B.C. , Victoria, B.C.

Do you have any more suggestions of bookstores everyone should visit?

 

-Anne

Sunday Salon...let's celebrate more good news and jokes

Weather today: Beautiful

Friday: Don and I used our adventure day to explore the Weyerhauser Bonsai and Rhododendron Gardens in Federal Way, Washington, not far from our house. Don had appointments book-ending his day of furlough so we had to explore closer to home. Surprisingly a few rhodys were still blooming though most of the hike was spent admiring the greenery and a few flowers blooming here and there. It was a lovely day. BTW---the pretty purple flower is a bonsai bougainvillea. Isn't it gorgeous?

Earlier in the week: I spent the early afternoon with my grandson, his mom, and a friend (socially distanced) at a lake not too far from their home. Moments spent with Ian are pure magic. Yes, that is Mt. Rainier peeking out of the trees overlooking the lake.

Hilarious haul: Apparently, the whole time we've been on lockdown due to the pandemic I've been blithely placing books on hold at the public library. This week the library started curbside pickup and contacted me to come and get the books I've placed on hold. When I arrived they placed twelve books and one DVD in my car trunk. I never thought that ALL the holds would arrive at one time. How on earth am I supposed to read all those books in three weeks? See photo above to appreciate my haul.

Books:

• Completed:  
• Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet;
• Evidence: Poems by Mary Oliver. Both from the above above mentioned haul.
• Currently reading:  
• Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore (Audiobook; Book Club selection, 40% completed)
• Close to Birds by Magnusson, et al (Print, from the haul; 10%) 
  
• Bedtime Stories for Stressed Out Adults edited by Lucy Mangan (E-book, title tells you the state of my life right now, 20%)
• Be the Bridge by LaTasha Williams (E-book; Church small group class on anti-racism)
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (E-book; for book club this coming week; 55% completed)

John Lewis: Civil Rights icon dies at age 80. Here is the statement that President Obama made about John Lewis at his passing. It is short. I recommend you read it. (Medium) I've spent quite a bit of time crying these past 24-hours.

Lewis's words: "Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."

Good News:

This week was filled with bad, very bad, and terribly sad news. But even amidst all that, there were tremendously encouraging pieces of good news, too.

• Preliminary studies suggest that a tuberculosis vaccination seems to mitigate the severe, extreme reactions to COVID19. It doesn't keep people from getting the infection, but from getting severe cases. Maybe it could be used to help to keep healthcare workers safer. (Science Daily)

• It is OK to change your mind if you voted for Trump the first time around. All these guys have changed theirs:

• Privilege/Class/Social Inequalities explained in a $100 race. (YouTube)

• Tenino, Washington is giving it's residents wooden money to spend on things they need during this economic crisis. You have got to read or watch this story! (YouTube) (AP)

• City Council in Asheville, South Carolina  to vote to give reparations to blacks. If it passes they will create a commission to help the city, and potentially other local governments, assign money and resources toward "increasing minority home ownership and access to other affordable housing, increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities, strategies to grow equity and generational wealth, closing the gaps in health care, education, employment and pay, neighborhood safety and fairness within criminal justice." (Citizen Times)

• I know there are still 3-1/2 months to go before the November election, but we must keep our enthusiasm up.

Two charts on why Trump -- not Biden-- has the enthusiasm problem; TLDR a LOT more people dislike Trump than they dislike Biden. https://t.co/eJngFf5J8E pic.twitter.com/dXLJp09Sgi

— Sarah E. Frostenson (@sfrostenson) July 15, 2020

• Double haters: In 2016, nearly one-fifth of the electorate didn't like either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and exit polls showed Trump won that group of voters by a 17-point margin that easily could have accounted for his narrow wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. But according to newly released Quinnipiac University polling, this bloc of double-hater voters now prefers Joe Biden by a 27-point margin—an ominous sign for Trump. (What seems like bad news may actually be good news.)

• Joe Biden grabs and copies Jay Inslee's climate plan and Inslee is delighted. (Intelligencer)

•  "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man." This advances the conversation on BLM. (YouTube) Go to Emmanuel Acho's YouTube page for more of these uncomfortable (but necessary) conversations.

• A teenager creates an anti-racism activity calendar. Check it out here. Print if off. Try to do some of the suggested activities. (Google Drive)

• There have been more than 3,300 racial justice protests nationwide since late May, including hundreds in sparsely populated communities. These Black Lives Matter protesters don’t always prioritize defunding police departments or tearing down Confederate statues. Their goals are simpler but perhaps just as revolutionary: to force white neighbors not used to encountering so many black and brown faces in their towns to acknowledge their experiences with racism. (WaPo)

• Need some good news on the coronavirus situation? This article identifies six good pieces of news related to the fight against the virus right now. (WaPo)

• More days of loving Joe Biden (From 100 Days of Loving Joe Biden on DailyKos). My favorite---Biden has felt pain and found empathy.
• Day 8: Biden knows love and commitment
  Day 9: Biden knows exactly who Republicans are
  Day 10: Biden understands America
  Day 11: Biden will be a Trojan horse for Warren/Sanders
  Day 12: Biden has felt pain and found empathy
  Day 13: Biden is responsible for the Violence Against Women Act
   

On the lighter side

1. A little snark about people saying if we pull down confederate statues, their history
 will be forgotten.

This weekend marked the 244th anniversary of Americans pulling down the statue to King George III

He fought against America. He lost.

Since the statue is gone, obviously no one remembers that there was a Revolutionary War anymore. pic.twitter.com/rRzh39tUI6

— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) July 13, 2020

2. A little more snark for your listening pleasure: "Thank you for calling the White House." (YouTube)

3. Will this mask stupidity never end? Oh wait...

4. I guess it's true...

5. If you need visual proof of the stupidity factor...

6."But freedom..."

7.Speaking of stupid. Opening schools in the Fall without a plan how to prevent the spread of COVID. Could be deadly for a lot of students and teachers. Makes one think of the Hunger Games.

8. You knew I had to work in something from Hamilton, right? Well, here are some words of wisdom from King George about opening schools. Sing along with me now...

9. Gerry Brooks finally got his call through to Secretary Betsy DeVos. (YouTube)

10. This week the 'mandatory cat photo' made it under the "lighter side" heading. Note there are two cats in the photo. Ignore Fred in the foreground. Look instead at George in the crate in the background. That is the way he was sleeping...on his back with his legs splayed apart. This makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Tootles. Gotta run.

Remember: please leave me a comment so I know you were here. Thanks!

-Anne

Review and quotes: SO BIG by Edna Ferber

Title: So Big by Edna Ferber

Book Beginnings quote: 

Until he was almost ten the name stuck to him. He had literally to fight his way free of it. From So Big (of fond and infantile derivation) it had been condensed into Sobig.

Friday56 quote:

It was shortly after noon that High Prairie hearing the unaccustomed chug of a motor, rushed to its windows or porches to behold Selina DeJong in her mashed black felt hat and Dirk waving his battered straw wildly, riding up the Halsted road toward the DeJong farm in a bright red automobile that had shattered the nerves of every farmer's team it had met on the way.

Summary: Selena DeJong, née Peake, always has dreams of being an artist of some sort. But when her father dies she is abruptly left with no money and few prospects. To get by she becomes a teacher in a small Dutch community near Chicago. Within a year she falls in love and marries a farmer. Now all of her dreams of an artistic life are thrown out. Survival is the name of the game now. But she does encourage a neighboring boy to follow his artistic dreams and when her son Dirk, called Sobig, goes off to college to become an architect, she is thrilled. But dreams of an artistic life verses making a living often can't coexist, as both Selena and Dirk learn. Both end up disappointed with where they end up.

Review: A few years ago I decided that I wanted to read a bunch of the Pulitzer Prize Award winners from past years. Not all of them, but just the ones that sounded good to me and that seemed to have stood the test of time. I based my decisions on, in large part, if I had heard of the book or the author before. I also checked the library to see if the book was even still in their collection. SO BIG came to my attention because bloggers kept mentioning it and the title was so cute and catchy. It was an inauspicious reason for selecting a book.  So Big won the Pulitzer in 1925.

In a lot of ways the book is plotless. Even Ferber herself thought this. She said, “I wrote it against my judgment;...Nothing ever really happened in the book. It had no plot at all, as book plots go. It had a theme, but you had to read that for yourself between the lines.” (Wikipedia) What I liked about it was how the book gives the reader a peek at what life was like back at the beginning of the twentieth century. It showed how hard people had to work for so little and how most dreams were incongruent with that lifestyle.

Would I recommend this book to others wanting to read a classic or past a Pulitzer Prize winner? No, I don't think so. The lack of a strong plot pulse, the poor character development of almost all the characters except Selena, and the sketchy descriptions left me wanting more. I'd recommend reading something by Willa Cather if a person wants to read a book set in a similar time frame. I think she is stronger writer, though I haven't read her 1923 Pulitzer book, One of Ours.

A note of amazement: I just checked. Women writers won the Pulitzer Prize for literature seven times in the first twelve years of the prize starting in 1921! See list here.

I read SO BIG as part of the Classics Club Spin activity which ended on June 1st. Completing the book by that date, I just didn't finish the review on time!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material. 

-Anne

Tanka-poetry reviews

Thanks to Lark Writes for giving me the inspiration to write short, poetic book reviews. Hers are called 'Haiku Reviews.' I'll make mine a little longer and call them tanka-poetry reviews. Similar to haikus, tanka poems are short, using only 31-syllables in the cadence pattern of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. I'm catching up here on past-due reviews.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Bloom (Delacorte, 1970)

My daughter, Rita,

loved this book when she was young.

Margaret writes to

God on growing-up issues,

 though she's not sure he exists.

 

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Neighborly Words of Wisdom from Mr. Rogers (With Movie Tie-in) by Fred Rogers (Penguin Books, 2019)

This book starts with Tom

Junod's Esquire piece, "Can You

Say...Hero?" about

meeting Fred Rogers, forming

a lifelong, inspired friendship.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Atheneum Books For Young Readers, 1986)

When my daughter learned

I finally read this book,

she commented that

it is the favorite book

of 5th graders everywhere.

Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017)

Deputy Sheriff,

Constance Kopp and her sisters

in a fiery romp.

The third book in the series

which is based on real people.

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuah (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2014)

Ten years before Brown 

vs. B.O.E, Sylvia

Mendez and her family

desegregated

schools in California.

Hinds' Feet in High Places by Hannah Hurnard (Blackstone Audio, first published in 1955)

An allegory

dramatizing the journey

people take before

they can live in "high places,"

a child of the good shepherd.

Quite an assortment and variety of books that seem incongruent, but they match my reading mood of late.

-Anne

TTT: Uplifting books

Top Ten Tuesday:  Uplifting books 

In these tough times we all need help finding ways to cope. Mine all include uplifting books, movies, poems, and inspirational words-to-live by.  Here are a few of my suggestions:

1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery...The Little Prince speaks to our better selves and encourages us to be loving and kind.

2. Cicada by Shaun Tan---Cicada works and works and isn't appreciated but in the end he has the last laugh. This illustrated story is a quick and hilarious book which will make you laugh every time you think of it.

3. God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant---Imagine what God would do and feel if he came down to earth. These poems all center around this theme and all of them, every single one, make me smile.

4. Playlist: Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound by James Rhodes---Cue up the Spotify playlist designed to be played while you read this book by a classical pianist about his muses: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and several others. Allow the music to lift your spirit to a new plain.

5. The President Sang Amazing Grace: A Book About Finding Grace After Unspeakable Tragedy by Zoe Mulford. After you are done crying you will feel so much better. Plus it reminds you that there is good in the world if you look.

6. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans---The man loses everything. EVERYTHING. So he decides to walk and on his walk he begins to find himself. The message is very uplifting in the end.

7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman---An old curmudgeon finds solace in friendships. His evolution as a human is inspiring.

8. Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott---anything by Lamott lifts my soul and helps me keep things in correct perspective.

9. Devotions: Selected Poems of Mary Oliver---If I need serious uplifting, I reach for Mary Oliver poetry. They are always about nature and being at peace with one's self.

10. The Holy Bible---My soul must be fed and sometimes only the word of God will fit that need.

-Anne

Sunday Salon...with a focus on good news and funny inisghts

Yesterday as we spoke on FaceTime with our youngest daughter, her sister called us on FaceTime on another phone. Right before all of our eyes our grandson transformed from Ian to superhero using items he and his mom gleaned from a thrift store sale. He is now ready to combat evil and sadness in the world.

Weather: Overcast with sunbreaks. But possible rain showers are in the forecast.

This week: Don has been furloughed one day a week for the summer. We've decided to make that day an adventure day. This week we drove toward Mowich Lake in Mt. Rainier National Park. The road was closed six miles below the lake. We hiked up the road for a ways, but didn't have enough time (or inclination) for a 12 mile round trip so we had to turn back before reaching our goal. See selfie above.

Note from author (me): Last week a friend commented on Facebook that she enjoys reading my Sunday Salon posts and peeking into my brain for a few minutes. She is right. This post is a peek into my brain and what I'm focused on...mostly politics, masks (pandemic), books, family, faith, and cats. I hope you enjoy reading this and exploring some of the links I've provided.

Another note from the author (still me): Another friend said she was grateful for all the pieces of 'good news' that I find and link. At the beginning of the pandemic I was reporting all news of interest, but so much of it was bad and depressing and it made me sad and angry. That is why I try to focus on good news items only. The definition of good news, of course, comes out of my biases. Feel free to skip over the links you don't think of as 'good news.'

Books:

• Books completed this week: This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell; Weather by Jenny Offill; How Lovely the Ruins by Spiegel and Grau. 
• Still reading: Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad; Be the Bridge by LaTasha Morrison
• Paused reading until a later date: Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg; This Train is Being Held by Ismee Williams

Good News:

• Presidents don't usually lose as badly at the Supreme Court as Trump did this past week. (WaPo).

• The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration this week on the Keystone XL Pipeline question. That makes three pipelines delayed or canceled in one week. This is a potentially dirty fuel source and time is needed to make things right, if at all. (Greenpeace)

• Seattle City Council voted to tax Amazon and other big businesses for relief efforts. (Seattle Times)

• A new technique has been found that sucks CO2 from the atmosphere and traps it...spreading basalt rock dust on fields. Don't laugh. Apparently it is a very doable and cheap method that really works. (Guardian) 

• Top general says the military needs to take a 'hard look' at confederate symbols and names on their installations. (The Hill)

• Supreme Court rules that a huge swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation land. The decision was potentially one of the most consequential legal victories for Native Americans in decades. (NBC)

• All nine justices expressly rejected President Trump’s extravagant claim backed by Bill Barr that a sitting president cannot be forced by subpoena to turn over documents sought in a criminal investigation of his conduct. No-one is above the law.— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 9, 2020

• The folks over at DailyKos are listing the 100 Days of Loving Joe Biden. I just caught up on reading the first seven. Here they are if you want to do the same thing. My favorite is: Joe Biden is a mensch.
• Day 1: Biden’s Tax Plan
  Day 2: Gay Marriage
  Day 3: Biden’s FDR Sized presidency
  Day 4: Biden is a mensch
  Day 5: Biden has a Covid-19 plan
  Day 6: Biden ran the Obama economic recovery
  Day 7: Biden has a great housing plan

On the lighter side:

1.  Staying with the Hamilton theme started last week: watch this rendition of 'Helpless' by the original cast of Hamilton and the Tonight Show musicians. Here

 2. People Deer will always take advantage of a good thing. Ha!

A deer entered a Colorado store. The store owner gave him some chocolate chip cookies. The deer left the store and returned after half an hour with all his family members 😍

pic.twitter.com/Ak1boMoEmG

— Akki (@akkitwts) July 4, 2020

3. Gary Larsen, long retired cartoonist of the Far Side, is back! See his new stuff here. The first comic is titled "Taxidermist." Love it! 😅

4. This funny was sent to me via my sister, a pre-K teacher. Hope you remember all these books (or what they used to be titled):

The actual titles are: No David!; Hats for Sale; Miss Nelson is Missing; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

5.Yep. That's probably it.

6. Mary Trump's book comes out this week. President Trump tried to block publication. Wonder why?

7.Another book funny. This one is not related to COVID or politics. I do all of these things. Honestly!

8. 21 signs on businesses about wearing masks. These are too funny to miss. I promise you. Click the link. You will laugh. (BuzzFeed)

9.

10. Fitbit funny: Yesterday on our trip to Mt. Rainier National Park the road was in such poor shape the potholes were impossible to miss. At some point I realized I was getting steps on my Fitbit for being thrown around in the pickup. Those steps totaled over 700. Ha! That's one way to reach the daily goal of 10,000 steps.

11. I'll let the Viking have the last funny word...

And now a moment with Fred and George. My daughter tells me that the orange toy is George's favorite and he carries it around the apartment where ever he goes. The photo of the splayed upside down cat is also George. This is his usual position. The other two photos are Fred...playing in the laundry and sleeping in the sink. These two boys are priceless.

Comments are very much appreciated, if for no other reason than to know you've been here. Leave a note below or on Facebook. Thank you.

-Anne

Review and quotes: HOW LOVELY THE RUINS

Published by Random House in 2017

A few days ago a godsend arrived in my library inbox, a poetry book for my e-reader, HOW LOVELY THE RUINS: INSPIRATIONAL POEMS AND WORDS FOR DIFFICULT TIMES edited by Spiegel and Grau. Reading this small volume was like taking a long drink of water on a hot day, refreshing and necessary. The title pretty much tells you why. We are experiencing bad times like no other and while we are home alone or feeling isolated, how refreshing to read poems and essays which speaks right to those feelings. We are frustrated by an administration who are doing nothing to help us or protect us. We are indignant that black people keep losing their lives just because they are black. We are worried about the future.  Here are some quotes from the book which spoke to me especially this week...

"Out Beyond Ideas" by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, pg. 18

"Differences of Opinion" by Wendy Cope, pg. 30

Robert F. Kennedy, June 8, 1964, pg. 34

"Global Warming" by Jane Hirshfield, pg. 43

Carl Sagan, pg, 86

"Praise Song for the Day" by Elizabeth Alexander, pg. 95

"Prayer of Sunrise" by James Weldon Johnson, pg. 164

pg. 151

 p. 180

I am not sure why I can read poetry, indeed need to read poetry, when I can barely make myself read anything else these days. Yet, I know that a lot of you don't care for poetry and find it very tedious to read. I hope the way I presented this makes it possible for you to read some of the poems and pieces of essays to find little jewels of inspiration for yourself today.

-Anne

Review and quotes: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

Title: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES by Suzanne Collins

Book Beginnings quote: 

Coriolanus released the fistful of cabbage into the pot of boiling water and swore that one day it would never pass his lips again.

Friday56 quote: 

He was always gracious to Io, though, and as a result, she adored him. With unpopular people such a minor effort went such a long way.

Summary: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES is considered the #0 book in the Hunger Games series, a prequel set about 65 years before the action in the original books. In it we meet President Coriolanus Snow as a teenager when he is chosen as a mentor for one of the participants in the 10th Hunger Games. His family has lost their fortune in the war and now they have to eek out their existence while pretending to still be rich. When the list comes out matching mentors with tributes he has been assigned to Lucy Gray, the female from district 12, the lowest of the low assignments. He is stung by this and works to do everything to make Lucy successful to not only save her but to save himself. Along the way he comes in contact with Dr. Gaul and discovers many of the dastardly tricks she uses on the tributes in the games. He also becomes linked to Sejanus Plinth, another mentor who is not interested in being a mentor and is opposed to all the killing. Along the way we see the development of the man who eventually becomes the cruel President of Panem.

Review: I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I was so excited for it that I pre-ordered one copy for my daughter and one for myself so we could received it the day it came out. That way we could read it at the same time and discuss it like we did when MOCKINGJAY came out years ago. But before it even arrived I started hearing murmurs of dissent from reviewers who received early copies. When my copy arrived my eldest daughter hijacked my copy and read it before I had a chance at it. After reading  it she commented that she didn't feel the need for the book in the first place. She was fine not knowing how the Hunger Games developed into the fiasco we know from the original series and she had never wondered what President Snow was like as a teenager. I actually thought that the portion of the book dedicated to the 10th Hunger Games was pretty good, it was more the long build up and what came after the game that bothered me. In fact, I think the book should have been divided into two books with the build-up and 10th Hunger Game in book one, ending on a big cliff hanger. Then book two could be what happens in the district afterwards. I was so put off by the length of the book I completely lost steam reading it and had to struggle to complete it.

Though I was enthralled with the Hunger Games trilogy, I was never very enraptured by Collins' writing. If you remember back to scenes from Mockingjay, whenever the action would get exciting or fierce, Katniss would faint or get hit on the head and we would only learn about the action later as someone described it to her. I was pretty critical of that aspect of the writing when I reviewed her earlier books and I noticed the same thing in THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES. When the action would be building to a big crescendo I would anticipate much more action than what was delivered. Near the end of the book I wasn't even sure what happened because the writing and the descriptions were so vague. I was left with an unsatisfactory feeling overall.

So I guess you are wondering if I recommend that you read the book? My answer is probably not. I liked the original series for the story more than for the writing. I, like my daughter, never wondered how the Hunger Games began and what they looked like in the beginning. I never wondered what kind of person President Snow was as a teenager and what led to him becoming so diabolical. But if you have wondered those things, then I think you should read the book and judge it for yourself.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material. 

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES qualified for the Big Books Summer Challenge at 517 pages.

 

-Anne

TTT: Authors I'd like to read or want to read more

Top Ten Tuesday: Today's topic is supposed to be 'Most read authors by me.' I've already done that one, check out my list here. So I decided to tweak the topic to be:

Authors I'd like to read or want to read more.

I did a little sleuthing on my Goodreads account and have listed authors on my TBR who appeared with more than one title by their name:

Anne Tyler:

• Breathing Lessons
• Redhead by the Side of the Road 
• Clock Dance

Connie Willis

• Doomsday Book
• To Say Nothing of the Dog

Terry Pratchett

• The Colour of Magic
• Light Fantastic
• The Carpet People
• A Slip of the Keyboard

 Mary Oliver

• House of Light
• Evidence
• Thirst
• Long Life
• Why I wake Early
• Etc.

Elizabeth Gaskell

• Cranford
• Wives and Daughters
• North and South

Robert Galbraith

• Career of Evil
• Lethal White

George Eliot

• Middlemarch
• Silas Marner

Wendell Berry

• Hannah Coulter
• Given

Katherine Arden

• The Girl in the Tower
• The Winter of the Witch

Kate Atkinson

• Transcription
• God in Ruins

-Anne