Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Time for reading

It's been ages since I've done a book review, and look at this.... too many to remember... but I'll give you a very quick snapshot of where I'm up to. 

Victoria the Queen.. this is a big book. I haven't finished it by any means, but I am enjoying it. I'm at a new place in my reading life, and its actually ok to not finish something from start to end in one sitting and its ok to just read a little bit at a time.. this book is progressive so I'm just at the point when Victoria has been crowned and has a strong crush on her prime minister.. what happens next? I dont know yet... 

Perfect reading for when I was 2 weeks post op and pretty shallow in my thinking and concentration .. I actually devoured this light and easy story... a story of love, change, friendship and creativity. 

Also in my post op period, the improbability of love was a little more than an easy read, but also engaging. Its the story of a painting, sort of a who dunn it storyline. The painting even gets his own chapters.. its a novel full of characters, which can take some time to get to know,  but evetually i got into it. Love or not, i think the painting won.

  Something a little more meaningful, Pachinko is the story of a Korean family through the generations. Starting from humble beginings pre 1900 in a rural village, through the daughters eventual migration to Japan through the war years. Her new family and their struggles in a post war Japan, with no option of returning to Korea, they make a good name for themselves. Grandsons end up studying in  the US, returning to their famly base in Japan. A fascinating perspective on Japan... 

This is a collection on essays, and again something I'm just reading a bit of at a time. Its from  15 different writers who explore what it means to be black, asian and minority ethnic in Britain (but probably many other western nations) in todays climate. 

Ah, Lilly Brett.... I've loved all her books. Australian author, daughter of Haulocaust survivors, now living in New York... this is a collection of snippits from her life there. Funny and fast. Im mixing this up with the other more heavy reads I have on the go at the moment. 

5 comments:

Jeanie said...

I haven't heard of Lily Brett -- that sounds good. The Victoria book has been on my list since it first came out and then when I saw the mini-series, became even more interested. There's something about the visual that really sets the period. So many of those look good. I've heard about Pachinko, too. I think I'd find many of these very interesting.

I'm reading post surgery too. Finished "Painting for Picasso" which was fun and now onto another Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs mystery. Also reading "The Almost Nearly Perfect People" (I think!) about Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Intriguing!

Glad all is going well and you've had much good stuff to delve into while you were out!

Brona said...

Pachinko is high on my list of possibilities and I love Lily Brett too.

I usually have several books on the go at once, especially non-fiction books that I just read bits at a time.

Glad you're on the road to recovery after your op as well :-)

Christina said...

My reading has been a bit slow lately... good to see some books that I might enjoy. The Good Immigrant sounds like a book I quite like to read. Have a good weekend. x

Esme said...

Hope that you continue to heal. you have a fun list of books. I would like to find Pachinko. Japan is truly a fascinating country.

Mae Travels said...

Your selection is appealing -- I haven't read much history lately, but I'm reading a history of butter.

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com