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Book Group

4 lurkers | 134 watchers
Track your books, films, TV series, games and audio:
Little Nemo
Little Nemo
Nov 2023
12:37pm, 17 Nov 2023
14,126 posts
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Little Nemo
No problem Night-owl!

I also watched the TV series and really enjoyed it. I think there's going to be a second series.
Night-owl
Night-owl
Nov 2023
11:28pm, 19 Nov 2023
44,157 posts
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Night-owl
Margaret Atwood on BBC4
Little Nemo
Little Nemo
Nov 2023
5:21pm, 20 Nov 2023
14,129 posts
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Little Nemo
Read the 1st of the Inspector Grant novels by Josephine Tey and really enjoyed it. Had a few dated opinions (stabbing someone with a stiletto blad would never be done by an Englishman!) but overall it was well written and quite gripping. Definitely 99p well-spent :-)
McGoohan
McGoohan
Nov 2023
10:22am, 21 Nov 2023
53,355 posts
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McGoohan
One advantage of being off sick is that you can catch up with your reading. Actually this shows, I suspect, that I'm not as sick with this dose of Covid as I was in 2022. Couldn't get past the fuzzy head to read back then. This time, whizzing through. I started Watling Street yesterday lunchtime and finished it today about ten minutes ago.

I'll collect my thoughts later.
McGoohan
McGoohan
Nov 2023
10:24am, 21 Nov 2023
53,356 posts
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McGoohan
Oh and you may all be astounded to learn that I also picked up the less than half-read Babel over the weekend - the book I thought I was going to abandon - and finished that too in a couple of sittings. That's such an odd book, both really well-written and really badly-written. Very hard to quantify.
LindsD
LindsD
Nov 2023
11:49am, 21 Nov 2023
65,100 posts
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LindsD
Totally agree. This was my 'review' on the bookometer.

I really liked this at the beginning. Set in Oxford, about translation, written by someone who understands translation. Anti colonialist. Lost its way a bit towards the end. Like she had a great idea but didn't know where to go with it.
McGoohan
McGoohan
Nov 2023
12:04pm, 21 Nov 2023
53,362 posts
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McGoohan
Yes, she's highly scholarly, really well-researched and knows how to turn a good phrase... but the ending is just so beige, so well-we've-run-out-of-pages-now-so-I-guess-that's-it.

And the anti-colonial message needed a lot more subtlety than she uses. Portraying every single white character as essentially a wrong un' and every person of colour as almost saintly? Well, it's got all the subtlety of her bashing the reader over the head with a half-brick labelled 'racism is bad'. I KNOW IT'S BAD. How how about writing some characters with a little depth?
LindsD
LindsD
Nov 2023
12:09pm, 21 Nov 2023
65,101 posts
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LindsD
Totally agree. So disappointing, although I kinda realised she'd backed herself in a corner before the end.

And yes - a pick 'n' mix of gender/skin colour/heritage and a posh white girl.
McGoohan
McGoohan
Nov 2023
12:12pm, 21 Nov 2023
53,363 posts
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McGoohan
Oh, one other thing. Though it's set in an alternate Oxford, I was less reminded of Philip Pullman than of Harry Potter.

The main character is an orphan taken from poverty to a fancy education. They have 'silver' instead of 'magic' but Robin/Harry basiaclly gets set up with a Ron and two Hermiones in Oxford/Hogwarts. And the lessons/professors and setting are very Hogwartsy. They even get an invisibility cloak!
Hanneke
Hanneke
Nov 2023
12:13pm, 21 Nov 2023
114,838 posts
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Hanneke
I am still relishing in being able to read again. So glad I decided enough is enough and am still waiting for a 2nd opinion re more chemo, as the oncologist suggested... I have my brain back!

About This Thread

Maintained by McGoohan
The Fetch Everyone Book Group

July 2025 book


Welcome to Season Eight

July 2025 (Linds)
The Rest of Our Lives (Benjamin Markovits)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/the-rest-of-our-lives---july-book-group-discussion-thread-63735
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11915

June 2025 (Fetch)
We (Yevgeny Zamyatin, trans. Bela Shayevich, Clarence Brown or Gregory Zilboorg depending on edition)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/we-by-yevgeny-zamyatin---june-2025-book-group-discussion-thread-63689
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11908
Dystopian poll fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11910

May 2025 (Little Nemo)
The Last Days of New Paris (China Mieville)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/the-last-days-of-new-paris---china-mieville---may-2025-book-group-discussion-thread-63656
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11899
Surrealist poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11906

April 2025 (McGoohan)
The Beautiful Ones (Silvia Moreno-Garcia)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/the-beautiful-ones---april-2025-book-group-discussion-thread-63597
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11835

March 2025 (Night-owl)
One Grand Summer (Ewald Arenz, trans. Rachel Ward)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/one-grand-summer---march-2025-book-group-discussion-thread-63550
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11820

February 2025 (Chrisull)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/drive-your-plow-over-the-bones-of-the-dead---feb-2025-book-group-discussion-63501
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11809

January 2025 (Maclennane)
I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box Of Doom (Jason Pargin)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/i-apos-m-starting-to-worry-about-this-black-box-of-doom---jason-pargin---jan-2025-book-group-discussion-thread-63445
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11794

---

Last two books of Season Seven

December 2024 (Westmoors)
Mind of Winter (Laura Kasischke)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/mind-of-winter---dec-2024-book-group-discussion-thread-63388
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11632

November 2024 (McG)
Appliance (J O Morgan)
Discussion: fetcheveryone.com/forum/appliance-by-j-o-morgan---nov-2024-book-group-choice-63327
Poll: fetcheveryone.com/polls-view.php?id=11610

Worry not, all previous runners and riders from all previous rounds can be found on this thread:
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/viewtopic.php?id=58751

Currently Choosinating

Not yet chozzed:
Columba
Serendippers - on a break
Quimby
Dio
The Scribbler
Grepples
Bint
Westmoors

Already chozzed:
Maclennane
Chrisull
Night-owl
McG
Little Nemo
Fetch
Linds

Fetch's Positronic My Book Listing Device!: fetcheveryone.com/mybooks.php

===

Discussion thread for all those unofficial but almost official books we discuss on the thread:
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/viewtopic.php?id=59469

===

The Book Group motto: If you never take a chance with your reading you'll never read anything new or great
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