Jazzfanz Bookclub

[JazzGal]

View attachment 5582

So is this as odd as it sounds?

 

[sirkickyass]

So is this as odd as it sounds?

It is very funny, but it definitely has some surreal turns of phrase.

 

[Miggs]

Killers of the Flower Moon. Just started it.

Here’s a description from Amazon.

“In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.“

 

[sirkickyass]

I just finished Leo Tolstoy's "Resurrection." It had a surprising amount in common with novels by Kurt Vonnegut even though the authors themselves have a very different writing style (and culture, and time period, and language).

Here is an excellent NPR review.

https://www.npr.org/2013/01/06/168651740/adjust-your-vision-tolstoys-last-and-darkest-novel

 

[moevillini]

I recently finished a novel called "Death by Interruptions" by Jose Saramago that I cannot stop thinking about. The book is set in some unnamed country where the entity that controls death for this country takes a break and people stop dying. Sounds ideal at first, but there are a lot of complications and unintended consequences. His writing style is quite different, odd punctuation and run-on sentences and such. The ending was weird, but it still worked. I loved this little book and its thought-provoking concepts.

I read that a couple years ago, VERY interesting and a novel concept (no pun intended)

I just finished EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid, the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which I'd also read a couple years ago. It was good, though I think I enjoyed The Reluctant Fundamentalist a bit more, except for the ending. Some very interesting questions raised in Exit West.

Now I just started LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders about how President Lincoln handles the death of his son Willie in 1862. I'd never heard the term "bardo" before - - apparently it's something in Tibetan culture that represents sort of a limbo where souls wander before they are reincarnated into another body. It's written in a VERY UNUSUAL fashion... it took me a while to figure out that half the narration is provided by other "ghosts" that are in the bardo with Willie.

Interesting that all these books have a rather supernatural element to them. Well, maybe not The Reluctant Fundamentalist - but Exit West definitely does.

 

[Deleted member 5000]

After seeing it recommended many times I finally got my hands on the "Autobiography of a Yogi"

Outstanding book, even if one is not spiritual or take his accounts literally (I do) it is an outstanding book. I'm only a 1/4th of the way thru and adding to my favorite books of all time list.

Here's a link

 

[Deleted member 5000]

 

[JazzGal]

Just finished "Station Eleven" by Emily St John Mandel. Great post-apocalyptic novel, if you like that sort of thing. Very interesting plot. This one will stick with me for awhile.

 

[fishonjazz]

Some of the most interesting books I have read lately:

"Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World" by Ret Gen William H McRaven
If you like military stories, this will be right up your alley. He was a Navy seal and uses the stories of his experiences to teach lessons of being a better person. Short, entertaining read. I still do not make my bed and therefore have not yet changed the world.

"The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For" by David McCullough
A compilation of some of his essays and speeches that has some pretty interesting tidbits. There is a speech or two that seems really strange considering the audience, but mostly they are very entertaining and historically informative.

"Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
If you aren't familiar with him, he's the successor to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. He grew up in South Africa at a time when it was illegal for a white person and a black person to have "relations," much less a child. It is fascinating! It helps that he is a comedian which brings some fun into such a serious topic.

"The Green Mile" by Stephen King
I have managed to avoid reading any Stephen King (blasphemy, I know), mostly because I consider him a horror writer and that isn't my scene. I gave this one a try because I loved the movie. I enjoyed the book and will probably try another one sometime.

"Small Great Things" by Jodi Picoult
A novel about a black nurse who runs up against a white supremacist family who do not want her to touch their newborn child, and the fallout when the baby dies.

"The Final Spark" by Richard Paul Evans
The final volume of the "Michael Vey" series about a group of electric children. Fun middle school sci fi series. Sorry it's over.

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
I think this book has been discussed in a few other threads, but it was very informative and a bit mind-blowing. Encompasses not only the history of mankind as far as physically evolving, but also religion, laws, money, government.

"Origin" by Dan Brown
While this series isn't everyone's cup of tea, I love it because of all the things I learn from it. This book is set mostly in Spain and other nearby countries, and I burned up my phone looking at photos of all the locations mentioned. The underlying mystery is rather interesting as well.

"A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles
A novel of a nobleman who survives the Russian revolution but is confined to house arrest, which in this case is a hotel. It is amazing how much life was lived in one location. I also learned a lot about Russia as well.

"Lilac Girls" by Martha Hall Kelly
A novel of three women who lived through World War II. One was an American who worked for the French embassy, one was a girl sent to a concentration camp, and one was a doctor who performed horrible experiments on camp victims. Two of the three women are real people, while the third was a compilation. It's fascinating and horrifying and beautiful.

"Wonder" by R.J. Palacio
I haven't yet seen the movie, but the book was fantastic. It's about a 10-year-old boy who has terrible facial abnormalities and his struggle to fit in.

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
This has been on my TRL for decades now, and I finally got around to it. It was a bit horrifying, actually, what happens to a group of boys who are stranded on an island. I wish our base natures were not so brutal.

"The Book of Separation: A Memoir" by Tova Mirvis
A woman born and raised Orthodox Jew struggles with doubt and chooses to leave the religion. The book is about that experience and the fallout. Being an Orthodox Jew is not for the faint-hearted, for sure.

Of those I have read lord of the flies and the green mile. Both fantastic. (When I read the green mile it was released like a month or two at a time in small 50ish page little paper backs. Strange but fun way to read a novel)

I saw the movie Wonder and liked it.

 

[fishonjazz]

I enjoyed Origin, I do the same thing as i'm reading it I'll stop and google the locations around Spain he's talking about, makes you want to visit them. I liked Inferno, but I think this is a better book. It had some twists that i didn't see coming. I was wondering if I was going to be let down in the end because the driving force is these two big questions where are we from and where are we going but the ending was satisfying for me.

I liked Borne a lot even if it's really out there(flying bears and stuff like that) Vandermeer does a really fine job of building these worlds. I really liked his book Annihilation, and I can't wait to see the movie.

I have been thinking of reading Annihilation but not sure I want to based on the synopsis and reviews.

For Origin does it matter if I haven’t read all the other dan brown books? I read divinci code and angels and demons but that’s it

 

[JazzGal]

For Origin does it matter if I haven’t read all the other dan brown books? I read divinci code and angels and demons but that’s it

The only character that goes from book to book is Robert Langdon, so you are fine to read it without having read all the others.

 

[Game6Conley]

After seeing it recommended many times I finally got my hands on the "Autobiography of a Yogi"

Outstanding book, even if one is not spiritual or take his accounts literally (I do) it is an outstanding book. I'm only a 1/4th of the way thru and adding to my favorite books of all time list.

Here's a link

Oh.. I'm glad you reminded me of this dude!! His **** is awesome. I saw the documentary "Yogananda" (sp?) A while back, would highly reccomend it if you haven't seen.