Tag: North Carolina

Updates

August, September and October Recap 2018

Geoff W

I’ve put off posting this since August 1. I actually had a draft scheduled for September 3, and again for both October 1 and November 2. And yet here we are almost two full weeks into November and It’s just now being posted.

When I started this post the first line was: Good Bye Summer/not really damn weather. Now it’s more like holy hell the cold has arrived (not really, but it was below freezing the morning I wrote this). I’m going to keep it pretty simple so I can just get this thing posted. I do have the last two books queued up but am spreading them out over the next two weeks so I at least get a post a week. Continue reading “August, September and October Recap 2018” →

Books

Book 453: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) – Deborah Harkness

Geoff W

Harkness, Deborah - Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2)Picking up where A Discovery of Witches leaves off we are right back in the story of Diana and Matthew! It’s hard to hide spoilers, especially the one at the end of the first book because it sets up the entire second book, so if you plan on reading the series skip my response!

I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am, but I am a little surprised at how much I enjoyed book two of the All Souls Trilogy. For everything that was missing in book one, Harkness made a great effort to bring it back to this book. She reined in the over descriptions, she brought a little more sass to her characters, and she wrote 16th century Europe wonderfully. Continue reading “Book 453: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) – Deborah Harkness” →

Books

Book 452: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) – Deborah Harkness

Geoff W

Harkness, Deborah - A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1)I probably would have read this book closer to its release, but unfortunately it’s part of a trilogy (this followed by (Shadow of Night and  The Book of Life) and I didn’t want to read the books as they came out so I waited to read it. I really wanted to read it a lot sooner because a lot of my blogger friends who really enjoyed it. That being said, I’m a little grumpy as I’ve just found out that Harkness will continue writing in this universe with the release of The Serpent’s Mirror next year. So bah.

If I had to break this down into a one sentence review it would be: Harry Potter meets Twilight for adults. That’s definitely a bit reductionist, but as I was reading that’s what I kept thinking. It wasn’t as much of a compulsive read as either of those series, but A Discovery of Witches definitely stands on its own.

Continue reading “Book 452: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) – Deborah Harkness” →

Book Group, Books

Book 428: Girl In A Band – Kim Gordon

Geoff W

Gordon, Kim - Girl In A BandFor our second book in our year of biography/autobiography/memoir books someone chose Kim Gordon’s Girl In A Band. It’s a look back on her time in the band Sonic Youth (never heard of them) and about her life as an artist. Seriously though, not my thing. I looked up a few of their most well-known songs on YouTube and was like “nope.” I just need a bit more structure in my music. It’s probably the same reason I don’t like jazz. I’m also still not quite sure what the difference is between New Wave, No Wave, Punk, and Post punk, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to this book, or at least two more that we’re planning to read. It’s mostly because I know nothing about the subject matter, but it’s also because I don’t find the subject matter interesting. That being said I did find enough in this book to keep me mostly engaged.

Continue reading “Book 428: Girl In A Band – Kim Gordon” →

Books, The Classics Club

Book 395: Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller

Geoff W

Miller, Henry - Tropic of CapricornI didn’t think it was possible, but I liked this one even less than Tropic of Cancer. Seriously, I was in no way a fan of this book. The amount of raunchy sleazy descriptions in Tropic of Capricorn, if possible out weight those in the first novel.

The only thing I can truly say I’m grateful for is that I got it off my shelf where it’s languished since the 2010 Boston Book Festival (it was the last one!). It also counts toward my Classics Club list so yay for that too!

I can’t even pretend it’s hard to say why I didn’t like this book, it really was just too much sex, misogyny, sexual assault and crass language. When you add in the stream-of-consciousness I’m surprised I even got through the book. It’s no wonder the book was banned in America (Wikipedia link) for 30 years. I don’t believe in book banning or censorship, but this really tested my limits.

Continue reading “Book 395: Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller” →