Hi All. Happy Valentine’s. Woohoo. I hope you can have a nice dinner tonight with your sweetheart, and/or exchange cards and maybe even flowers — ha, go for broke, lol. Here are two of my sweeties, Willow, age 3, and Stella, age 11. They like their balls, walks, and meals … of course.
And can you believe we’re already into mid-February. Most people have a holiday on Monday, so perhaps you have plans to get away? I’ll be reffing a tennis tournament all weekend, starting on Friday, and they say it could be 14-hour days, ouch. So cross your fingers that my new knee can hold up as I will be standing a lot of the time.
Meanwhile, we will continue the reading survey we’ve been having with the question of what is your favorite or preferred genre or book category to read? Is it mystery, crime, sci-fi, thrillers, fantasy, general nonfiction, literary fiction, classics, romance, historical fiction, memoir, or what? I think it’s okay to have two.Try to be as specific as you can, and maybe also give an example of a book in that category that you liked.
I would say my preferred genre is literary fiction —Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels such as Never Let Me Go are a favorite — and I also like historical fiction such as the recent In Memoriam by Alice Winn or The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Perhaps I’d also include contemporary fiction, too, as a category I enjoy.
Check out the photo above is what I see from the office window. It’s another view from last week’s post of the office’s bookshelves.
And this week I am reading Laura Spence-Ash’s 2023 debut novel Beyond That, the Sea, which I heard about from a couple bloggers including Constance over at the blog Staircase Wit. It’s a compelling story about a married couple in London who send their 11-year-old daughter over to America when the Germans begin to bomb the city in 1940. The girl Beatrix comes to live with a family in Boston that really take to her, especially when they go to their summer place on an island in Maine. Its chapters alternate among Beatrix, her new family members, and the parents she left behind.
I won’t say much more till I finish and review it, but I’m enjoying the story, which follows “Bea” and her relations with the family from 1940 all the way to 1977.
I’m also listening to the audiobook of Mark Twain’s 1876 classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (see the first edition front picture at left). It’s been a long time since I encountered the mischievous character Tom Sawyer and his sidekick Huckleberry Finn, whose Adventures I plan to revisit next, but author Percival Everett has a new novel called James coming out March 19 that reimagines the tale of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. So I’m gearing up by returning to Twain’s classic tales.
Everett’s novel James has already received such raves that I’m eager to read it once the library gets it in. I have not tried Percival Everett before, but I would like to read a couple of his other novels too.
Lastly I’ll just mention, my husband and I have been on a mission to see some of the Oscar-nominated movies before the Academy Awards show on March 10. Here are the ones we’ve seen so far. They’ve all been pretty good. I tried to put them in some kind of order, but I’m not sure it’s my final numbering just yet. I’m still tinkering.
- Oppenheimer
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Maestro
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Napoleon
- Golda
- Society of Snow
- Nyad
- Priscilla
- May December
And here are the nominated films that we still hope to see beforehand:
- Poor Things
- The Zone of Interest
- American Fiction
- Past Lives
- 20 days of Mariupol
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
- Barbie
That’s all for now. What about you — have you seen any of these and if so, what did you think?
Happy St. Valentine’s Day to you as well! Willow and Stella are such cuties; it’s always nice to see their pictures. I like the view from your office window… very inspiring if you’re into writing, not just reviews, I mean. I still have some movies to watch before the big night. Out of your first set I still have 4 to watch, and out of the second set I’ve watched just two. What did you think of Society of the Snow?
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were two of my favorite characters in childhood. I’m looking forward to reading James. I recommend you The Trees; it’s very dark but hysterical as well. I had a blast reading that one. Regarding your question, I used to gravitate mostly towards historical fiction, but last year literary/contemporary fiction won the race, with historical fiction in distant second. Alice Hoffman, Colm Toibin, and Damon Galgut are favorites; they tend to navigate the lines between all three genres, which is convenient for me. I also like mystery/political thrillers/spy novels—Daniel Silva is also a favorite— , and myth retellings, which are all the rage now. It’s good that you’re revisiting Mark Twain’s classics before Everett’s release. Good luck with that read you mentioned above; it sounds interesting.
Thanks Carmen, great note. Willie & Stella will be pleased to be complimented.
I forgot to add thrillers to the general book category list — I will do so now. Also memoirs I forgot. I hope to read Toibin & Galgut this year & maybe more Hoffman. I like authors that toe the line between historical and literary and/or contemporary fiction. I will see if revisiting Twain gives me some context with reading James. I didn’t realize you had read The Trees. Sounds a bit different.
Maybe I’ll watch Past Lives today, that might be a chick flick without my husband, lol. We thought Society of the Snow was intense! Some parts felt like watching people being tortured by starvation. It was sort of tough to watch in parts but the set was good and glad for the ending. It felt very real like an ordeal we experienced, lol. Do you remember when the book Alive came out? It was everywhere in the early ’70s. I looked at the photos and thought: oh god.
Anyways happy week reading & watching. Did you get the nor’easter storm?
We did get the Nor’easter. It was a lot of snow but less than was expected, thankfully. My review of The Trees is on GR, if you want to check it out. It is very different, but hysterical and oh, so on point! Yes, for me Society of the Snow was an intense watch as well. That movie gives all the feels without the cold and starvation. 😉 Twain should give you a context because James has been described as a retelling from Jim perspective. I think Everett is going to put Twain through the wringer. I was a child when the memoir Alive came out, but I haven’t read it since either. Comparing the actors in the movie towards the end with the photos of the survivors makes you realize that the actors looked very healthy by comparison. Happy reading and watching to you as well!
It’s amazing the Alive survivors had the strength to get over the mountains after being so starved for that long. That airplane story is like no others in so many regards.
I’ll check out your review of The Trees on GR. Thx for letting me know. I’m glad you got through the Nor’easter. I saw some pics of NY. Snow!
BTW, Mark Twain used to live in Hartford, Connecticut. Reading Molls’ comment below made me remember. 🙂 A nearby town used to have a river ferry named Becky Thatcher.
Hi Carmen, I ran out of room to comment below but that’s cool about Hartford. I need to read a bio sketch of Twain. Becky Thatcher cracked me up in the book. Did you know I went to a day camp as a youngster in California called Becky Thatcher day camp, lol. And my brother was in the Tom Sawyer side of the camp. Funny.
Hi Susan,
Hope you had a great Valentines Day and glad to hear Willow and Stella enjoyed their treats!
In terms of favorite types of books I like mysteries, true crime, memoirs. Victorian literature. I also like certain types of books. I love memoirs where the author in response to a tragedy or just needing to get away from it all hops in a van or moves to an isolated cottage to find themselves. I read Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon many years ago and I have been hooked on this type of memoir ever since.
Hi Kathy, V Day went by pretty quickly and Willow & Stella always love their treats, lol. Hope you had a good day too.
Yeah you seem to read some good classics and some old mysteries. Interesting about the memoir type … but I know what you mean. Those memoirs can get under your skin. Did you ever see the movie Nomadland? Sort of reminds me of Blue Highways a bit. Needing to get away. Enjoy your week.
Never saw the movie Nomadland. Did read the book and I posted a review last year. Thing about Nomadland is that the people profiled are living in their van not by choice. And the book tells us that because of the rising cost of rent the van life may be everybody’s future. It was an important book
Yeah Kathy: I just revisited your good review of Nomadland. The book seems important about people living out of their cars b/c they have to due to costs. I think the movie differs a little bit in that the lead character (Frances McDormand) is offered places to stay twice in the movie … but she doesn’t take them. She has gone thru something when her husband died … and so she must be on the move in her van. And she feels she can’t leech off of others perhaps. There’s much emotion in the film and yet it’s quiet and solitary … though it does show others too.
Here are my favorite genres: Children’s picture books (!), Nonfiction that reads like fiction, and literary fiction, especially classics. I like to read stories that surprise me and stories that feel true.
I have just added James to my TBR list. Thank you, Susan.
The only recent movie I’ve seen is Barbie. I thought Barbie was visually amazing, and I thought the actor who played Ken was excellent. I hope to watch Oppenheimer soon.
Hi Deb, thanks for your thoughts on Barbie. I wasn’t sure if that would be for me but I think I’ll see it and find out.
I like your categories. Narrative nonfiction is usually great to read and the best kind of nonfiction. I’m impressed with the good classics you read. I am trying to pick up a bit more this year.
Have a great weekend.
I agree with you about Ishiguro. I started reading his books in the mid-1980s and I was very enthusiastic about his newest one. I think I like his books because they don’t in any way fit into a category of fiction. I wrote in one of my reviews: “You could categorize this book as a dystopian fiction, but that wouldn’t help to see what Ishiguro is doing here.” All of his books are in my opinion an exploration of what it means to be human.
I also like Mark Twain’s books and reread Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn from time to time, as you seem to do. I don’t know what category would be helpful in these either. They used to be viewed as children’s lit. Wrong!
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, I’m glad you’re an Ishiguro fan. Me too. He often writes about memory, love, and the human condition as you say. He’s thoughtful and very good and I’ve three so far but I need to read all of his.
And I didn’t realize you reread Twain’s books. I just finished Tom Sawyer on audio and thought the characters are a hoot. Twain says in the intro he hops adults will read the books too. They’re fun and interesting. I look forward to Huck Finn next. Cheers!
For a couple of decades, I only read romance novels. I still read a few but have yet to settle on a new genre-of-choice. I’m beginning to think that I’m just going to embrace being an eclectic reader for the rest of my life.
James sounds really good. I grew up 30 miles south of Hannibal, MO in a small Mississippi River town — so Twain is a huge part of my identity since childhood.
Wow Joy — you grew up in Twain country. Do you they have a lot of monuments to Twain there? I’d love to see the Mississippi from there. I think I’ve only seen it in New Orleans. I’m looking forward to reading James.
It’s great you are an eclectic reader and I’m impressed by the books you read with your book club. Cheers. Have a great weekend.
Good luck reffing that tournament this week with your knee! I hope it goes well. And I don’t have a favorite genre…I pretty much like reading them all: mystery/thriller, fantasy, sci fi, paranormal/supernatural, action/adventure, nonfiction, classics, horror, and romance. I do tend to read more mysteries and romance than anything else right now, but even that changes according to my mood. I’ve always been a pretty eclectic reader, and I like reading wide because there are so many good books out there in every genre. 😀
Thanks Lark. I’ll need plenty of sleep after the tournament. lol.
You read a lot of different kinds … but I do see a lot of mysteries/crime and fun romance on your site. You churn through those quickly. I agree there’s much to read in every genre. Have a great weekend.
I have to say ditto to Lark’s (above) comment on reading genres! It would be hard for me to nail down just one or two as a favorite. Your dogs are so cute! And the snow doesn’t seem to bother them at all. I haven’t watched any movies in quite while so I haven’t seen any on your list. My nose is usually in a book. Hope your knees didn’t give you any trouble!
Thanks Rachel. The dogs will like the compliment; they are snow & water dogs so they enjoy the cold. But they sort of collapse in heat.
Reading widely is great. There’s some I pick up from your site. Cheers. Have a great weekend. & Happy reading.
Glad you are enjoying Beyond That, the Sea. I’ll be interested to hear your final thoughts. I hope your knee doesn’t give you too much trouble. My father did some tennis refereeing in his younger days but called a foot fault on someone prominent once and it didn’t go well; he retired soon after. Our tennis club used to host the US Pro Tournament and we had fun volunteering when Borg, McEnroe, and my favorites – Guillermo Vilas and Stefan Edberg – came to play.
I have a three day weekend and have deliberately planned nothing so I could sleep late and relax. There is a library book sale 45 minutes in one direction and a sale at my favorite store’s outlet an hour away in another and the new Kate Quinn book waiting for me at my own library branch. It’s that time of year when a new item of clothing seems like a real pick-me-up so that might win once I drink my tea.
I think my two favorite genres are historical fiction and mysteries/suspense. I am listening to a new book called First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. I must have read a review in order to put it on reserve but I am now avoiding spoilers; however, the main female character is clearly hiding her past/identity/motives from the man she has lured into falling in love with her. Does she have a good reason? What is her reason? I will learn more today with a long drive somewhere!
Hi Constance, wow those were the golden days of tennis with Borg & Mac …. I loved Edberg and Vilas especially … I’m envious you got to see them and interesting about your father. It’s not always easy reffing, one minor move and you’re in trouble. I’m trying to stay out of water. So far the new knee is holding.
I look forward to hearing about the Elston on your site. I’ve seen that one around. Seems like a twisty doozy. I hope you have enjoyable long weekend. I hope to finish the Laura Spencer-Ash novel soon but I keep getting interrupted lol.
I suppose that my “comfort genre” is crime fiction, especially those long series by writers like Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, and a few others in which the characters age in something akin to real time over the life of the series. My fallback genre is memoirs written by authors I know of or by people I’ve never heard of who have led interesting lives or had unusual experiences. I prefer a good memoir over an actual biography in most cases. But really, my reading can be all over the map at times as I tend to let one book lead me to the next as much as trying to stick with a set schedule of sorts.
I’m in awe of your Oscar film quest to see them all. I’ve still only seen Oppenheimer, but there are several others I hope to see at some point. Looks like Oppenheimer is now streaming on Paramount, but I can’t imagine sitting down for another three hours of that one again any time soon. I think it’s an important, very well done, movie but three hours is a long time.
The new novel, “James,” sounds fascinating. I’ve enjoyed similar rewrites of Twain’s novels in the past, especially the one called “Finn” by Jon Clinch, so I’m looking forward to finding this one.
Hi Sam, yeah you seem a crime fiction expert. You’ve finished many of the great series, which is impressive. I didn’t realize you like memoirs so much. Good to know. Oppenheimer was indeed long (in the theater), as was Killers of the Flower Moon, which we watched over two nights at home. I’m not a big fan of long movies either though both of these were quite good.
I’ve got my name in early for James on the library wait list – I hope it’s good. I would like to read Jon Clinch’s novel The General and Julia about Ulysses Grant and maybe more of his. Happy reading.
Mysteries have been my preferred reading since I was a teenager. I consider espionage fiction a subset of mystery fiction, and love spy fiction of any vintage. In the last 2-3 years I have grown to appreciate contemporary fiction and classics more than in the past, but mysteries will probably always be at the top. My favorite author ever is Rex Stout who wrote mysteries (mainly the Nero Wolfe series) from 1934 to 1975. I have several favorite spy fiction authors, but I will pick one: Len Deighton (publishing between 1962 and 1996).
My husband and I are retired so this weekend will be the same as normal (except with lots of rain continuing into Tuesday). When I worked for a community college in Santa Barbara, I always got two days off for President’s day and it was a wonderful four-day weekend. I hope your reffing is going well and your knee is holding up.
Thanks for reminding me of Beyond That, the Sea which I also heard about at Constance’s blog. It is about a subject I am interested in so I will be reading it, but not sure when.
Hi Tracy, I made it through the tournament with my new knee, yay. I hope you are having a relaxing weekend and are not having flooding where you are. It is worrisome to see on the news the amount of rain in parts of California. Yikes.
I think spy fiction is pretty enjoyable too. I’m glad to hear about mysteries & spy fiction on your site. You’ve read a lot of good ones, and I must try Rex Stout!
I’m enjoying Beyond That, the Sea but I need to finish it asap. Cheers! Have a great week.
How did the tennis tournament go? I hope your knee held up well! My daughter had a nice four day weekend this past weekend, American holidays on both ends. She was selling cookies at booths outside grocery stores a couple of those days. My husband worked through the holiday and I had Monday off. We did not do anything special.
Beyond That, the Sea sounds like one I would enjoy. It would be so hard to send your child away like that, but the fear at the time was real. Such an interesting time period. I remember reading Twain in high school, but haven’t read much of his work since. James sounds good and it will be interesting to see how Everett’s novel compares. Although not exactly the same, I decided to read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens as a precursor to reading Demon Copperhead by Kingsolver. Not a re-imagining, but inspired by, at least. It will take me a while to get through David Copperfield because I am pacing myself so I can read other books I want to read as well.
Fantasy, mystery and historical fiction are probably my top three with literary fiction coming in at a close fourth. I wish I was a faster reader because I like such a variety and I never feel like I get to everything I want to read. I enjoy poetry, romance, and the classics too. But of my top three:
I enjoy fantasy inspired by mythology, urban fantasy, dark academia fantasy and high fantasy for starters. Some of my favorite fantasy novels include J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books, Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Circe by Madeline Miller. Just about anything by Alice Hoffman and Neil Gaiman. I have quite a favorite urban fantasy series I adore by various authors as well.
I have always loved reading mysteries for as long as I can remember. Sue Grafton, Michael Connelly, J.A. Jance, and Agatha Christie are long time favorites. I also really enjoy books by Elizabeth Haynes, especially her Into the Darkest Corner (I was checking the locks on the windows and doors for weeks after this one) and Behind Closed Doors. Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers was a favorite of mine that I read this past year. I especially enjoy historical mysteries: anything by Deanna Raybourn, Susan Elia MacNeal, and Jennifer Ashley.
Historical Fiction, I have enjoyed every Lisa See book I have read. My first by her was Sunflower and the Secret Fan and that one will always have a special place in my heart. I have so much love for The Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb and The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan. How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee is another favorite.
I could go on forever, but my husband says dinner is ready, and my comment is way too long already. I hope you are enjoying your week, Susan!
Hi LF: Great remarks & book authors & titles! I live through your genres of fantasy & mystery vicariously thru your reviews. And historical fiction is one I share with you. Lisa See is a master. I think Secret Fan remains a favorite to me of hers as well. I’m really impressed your reading David Copperfield wow — that would take me forever. I read Demon Copperhead last year and it might have taken me three weeks though I’m a slow reader. I read the ebook copy.
I made it through long days working at the tournament and the knee held miraculously. Glad you had a peaceful weekend. Is it still raining there? Cheers.
Another pretty photo of the view from your desk. Love it! And those pups are awfully cute, too.
I read a mix of a lot of genres. Fiction (contemporary & literary), mysteries, thrillers/suspense, nonfiction (a lot of memoirs), a little bit of historical fiction, and occasionally YA, sci-fi, and classics.
Beyond That, the Sea is another book that I’m eager to read. I love books set during WWII and this one sounds powerful.
I’ve only watched a few of the movies that are up for Oscars this year. Barbie, Nyad, and Maestro. I’m sure I’ll watch more, but not in time for the awards.
Hi Lesley, thanks for the photo like. The dogs are funny girls.
I can relate to what you said about a mix of genres. I’m a bit like that too — all over — though more often I like fiction: contemporary, historical and literary. I like seeing the mix on your site. I hope you enjoy Beyond That the Sea — it’s told a bit differently – short chapters from most of the family. See what you think.
Did you enjoy the movie Barbie? It looks like quite a spoof, but I haven’t gone there yet. We have a few others we hope to see before the Oscars. Cheers. Happy reading.