Reading update October 20, 2013 Sunday Salon

Almost finished: writing about Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life. It’s been so long since I finished the book, I’m not sure any more how I feel about it. I’ve been spending too much time trying to figure out how I think about it.  And there is a lot to think about. Well-crafted book.

Reading Europa edition Mapuche, by Caryl Ferey.  So much murder and mayhem, torture and politics, the book is a bit hard to digest. What’s the difference between mining and exploiting real historical events for entertainment? What’s an appropriate stance  when writing or reading about torture and murder inspired by real events? When is too much, too much? Thinking about these questions. 

 Went to: First meeting of a new book group.  Oh, I do like these women. Lots of intelligent on-topic commentary. Read The Language of the Flowers. A good book to begin with. A sweet tussie mussie– or a nosegay – something to both depict the unpleasant injustices and inadequacies of America’s  foster system and sweeten it up by offering the reader a romance and above all,  hope – all through the language of flowers.

Soon to begin: Boys in the Boat based on sister-in-law Liz’s recommendation and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge which I never got to when it first came out. A friend has leant me her copy.

Off to: Work. Only a few more weeks of my part-time seasonal job and then I float unanchored again.