Thursday, March 12, 2015

It's been a long winter--taking a break from blogging. Not taking a break from reading.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

February 2015 Reads (weeks 3 & 4)

Catching up with myself. I fell behind on my February register,  I've been reading but not writing much. Some of these will fit my challenges, but I haven't linked to them since I haven't yet written about them.

More non-fiction than usual for me, a delightful Canadian novel, two super short story collections, and a novel bordering on being an essay or short story collection.

A  Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot  
Library book. Memoir and family history. (French Bingo A1)

Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty by Elizabeth Mitchell
Library book. How the Statue of Liberty came to be. This might fit somewhere on the French Bingo card. An interesting read although it seemed padded in a few places. (maybe B1)

Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup by Andrew Zimbalist
Free ARC from publisher through Goodreads First Reads program. Should be read by anyone involved in making decisions about bidding to host these events: politicians at every level, promoters, citizens, fans, businessmen, athletic organizations, and athletes. 

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Library book. "A meditation" on racism in Twenty-first Century America. For me it opens more questions than answers, the biggest being: Will the people who ought to read and learn from this book read it?

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
Won this in Riffle giveaway. I loved this book! Eighty something woman walks halfway across Canada. 

Outline by Rachel Cusk
Library book.  Not exactly short stories, more like related "incidents" involving conversations. Takes place in and around Athens.

Noontide Toll: Stories by Romesh Gunesekera
Library book. Short stories of residents and tourists related by a van-for-hire driver.

Years of Red Dust: Stories of Shanghai by Qiu Xiaolong
Library book. Life in Communist China from 1949 through 2005.