SEPTEMBER

 

Lady Tan's Circle of Women ~ Lisa See

 

**

If this had been my first Lisa See it probably would have been my last.

Yes, there was history but it was repetitive and laboured  (mostly re bound feet and medial practices in early China) 

A Beautiful Family ~ Jennifer Trevelyan

 ***

A rather sweet summer holiday story from the point of view of the young girl, Alex (sweet with solving a murder and exposing a pedophile)

Set in New Zealand; set in the 80's with plenty of nostalgia, friendship and family drama

AUGUST

 

Speak to Me of Home ~ Jeannie Cummins

 What it is to be Puerto Rican or part PR

A good sense of identity 

American Dirt ~ Jeanne Cummins

 

Read it before but it's not in this blog! kept thinking it was familiar

A good read of the horrors of escaping the Mexican drug cartels.  A little fanciful at times (eg the relationship between the heroine and the drug boss)

Theft ~ Abdulrazak Gurnah

Liked (a lot) because of difference place
 

The South ~ Tash Aw

 

I finished this for 2 reasons :

It was very short and I loved Five Star Billionaire (and I guess because the previous two had been DNF books).

The only thing it had going for it was that it was short ...but a good edit of the rubbish in it could have made it shorter.

I guess the other good thing is that it is supposed to be the first of a set and it saved me having to buy the next ones

The Overstory ~ Richard Powers

 

I tried really hard to enjoy.

I read till I was past 50%

But then just had to admit : I do not like his writing style.

I find it superficial ... like author's notes needing to be fleshed out or made read-worthy.  His characters stay on the page for me.

He takes important-to-me issues and takes the passion out.

Murder Takes A Vacation ~ Laura Lippman

 I might give it another go.

There is "cosy crime" and there is "stifling schmaltz" ... this struck me as the latter.