Monthly Archives: May 2015

These are the books I read in May, 2015.  A total of 16 books with 8 of them over 400 pages!  Categorically,  I read 4 crime books , 1 sci-fi,  1 nonfiction,  3 classics and  5 women authors.  No translations.  Ratings … Continue reading →

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson 2015 / 880 pages read by Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron – 31h 55m rating:  B / science fiction “The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.”    Yup – that’s the first sentence of … Continue reading →

The Martian by Andy Weir 2011 / (385 pages) read by R.C. Bray 10h 53m Rating:  A / sci-fi (space travel) ** read in April – forgot to put the post up ** Imagine yourself an astronaut who is stranded … Continue reading →

The Whites by Richard Price / Harry Brandt 2015 / 352 -pages read by  Ari Flakes 10h 30m rating:  B+ / literary crime I really enjoyed Lush Life back in 2008 so I was considering reading this one anyway and then the Modern Fiction  group … Continue reading →

The End of Vandalism by Tom Drury 1994 / (352 pages) read by Lloyd James 10h 36m rating:  9 / contemp fiction I found it!   A book in which many of the characters are a part of the setting  – … Continue reading →

The Information by Martin Amis 1996 / 372 pages rating:   5 0ut of 10 / contemp lit This is the third book in what is generally known as TheLondon Trilogy, with the books  Money and London Fields preceding it. They’re not connected by … Continue reading →

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn 2014 /  480 pages rating – 8 / US history (Indian) (self-select) Interesting to me because of the North Dakota connection and I’ve also … Continue reading →

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple 2013 / 352 pages read by Kathleen Wiltholte 9h 39m rating:  8 / contemp fiction – humorous This is a very funny, hilarious (?),  and generally good-natured satire of contemporary society with emphasis on … Continue reading →

Invasion of Privacy by Ian Sutherland 2014/ 472 pages read by Matthew Lloyd Davies 16h 59m rating: A + / cyber-crime A cellist is the victim of a very violent, premeditated murder. Individual webcams are highjacked to provide  entertainment and information.  Hackers are needed to solve … Continue reading →

No Show by Simon Wood 2013 / 298 pages read by Luke Daniels 8h 20m rating B  /   crime First,  the narrator is difficult to get used to – his interpretation  of Terry Sheffield, the protagonist, is fine,  but when … Continue reading →

Blessed Are the Dead by Malla Nunn (South Africa/Australia) 2012 / 336 pages read by Humphrey Bower  9h 7m  (A+) rating:   A /  crime This is the third book in the Detective Emmanuel Cooper series by Malla Nunn of … Continue reading →

The Snopes Trilogy by William Faulkner 1940 – 1957  / 3 volumes Rating 10 / classic American fiction Whew!  I did it.  A long time goal to read the    whole Snopes Trilogy – ever since just after high school. … Continue reading →

The Mansion by William Faulkner 1959 / 498 pages rating 9+ / classic American The Mansion starts up at the scene where Mink Snopes shoots Isaac Houston over a cow.  This is back-story from maybe half-way through The Town but where The Town leaves Mink with … Continue reading →

The Town by William Faulkner 1957 / 418 pages read by Joe Barrett (A) 14h 39m rating 9 / classic American (read and listened) The second volume in The Snopes Trilogy was written seventeen years after The Hamlet,  the first book in the trilogy,  but it takes … Continue reading →

The Hamlet by William Faulkner 1940 / 432 pages read by Joe Barrett (A) 14h 39m rating 9 / classic American (read and listened) The Hamlet is the first book of what is known as The Snopes Trilogy. Faulkner seems to be … Continue reading →

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane (Australian) 2013 / 257 pages read by Lisbeth Kennelly  9h 15m (B+) rating: 8/ literary suspense At first Ruth, a 70-something woman who lives alone in a rather remote part of  Australia and near the sea, thinks … Continue reading →

The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle 2015 / 400 pages read by Graham Hamilton (A) rating 8.5 / contemp. fiction I’ve been reading Boyle since his amazing “Tortilla Curtain” in  1996 or so and by now I’ve read most of his books … Continue reading →