First off, I’m back from my photography trip to the Tarkine that is a big rainforest area of trees and waterfalls on the northwest coast of Tasmania. Seven long days of photographing everything there it seems. I haven’t edited the photos yet so a few will be posted in the future.
Our beautiful Ollie.
It was good to see our dog Ollie who is recovering from cruciate ligament repair. He still has three weeks of confinement and gentle on lead walks in the yard. All of us are ready for the resolution of this.
Books- I’m reading a book now for our last book club meeting of the year in November. I do not like the book. It is touted as a divorced mother with daughter who move to New York city and make friends. A couple of them share an apartment and start life again. It is supposed to be about friends and their relationships. I find reading this is like watching an American sit com with a laugh track. I am so bored.
A man enters the picture. Flashbacks occur. Haven’t seen any good relationships with friends. Why are current book blurbs on new books so wrong these days. I am finding the dialogue just woeful. They speak like nobody I have ever listened to speak. Simple conversations with exclamations and drama. I am bored. I always finish a book club book but I might break the rule on this one.
Name of book is: Go Gentle by Maria Semple. Here is the Good Reads blurb with my annotations.
Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A contented divorcee, she relishes her teenage daughter, her job as a moral tutor for an old-money family and the bliss of finally being solo. Alone but far from lonely, she’s also quietly assembling a ‘coven’ of like-minded single women on the sixth floor of the legendary Ansonia building on New York’s Upper West Side. Together, they share groceries, dog walkers – and one dirty little secret: despite their age, they’re only just getting started. Adora’s life philosophy is simple: want only what you already have. But could a chance encounter with a charming stranger threaten her joyfully curated life and leave Adora suddenly wanting more – even if she must risk everything to get it? Go Gentle is a thrilling story of one woman’s mid-life transformation, a romance with wit and a globe-trotting mother-daughter story, all wrapped in a mystery with a socko twist.
So far the teenage daughter is nowhere to be seen. I haven’t seen anything about her living arrangements as she’s always out and about. I have seen nothing that is ‘thrilling’. Globe trotting? Maybe I’m not at that part yet but she has been in NYCity the whole time so far. A socko twist!!?? . Give me strength. And it is 384 pgs long.
I would much rather spend time continuing the Count of Monte Cristo that is globe trotting, thrilling and transformative completely. The count has many “socko twists” about him. I’m about ready to give up modern day fiction. So much of it is so boring, in my humble opinion.
On that note I will wrap this up. I just wanted to touch base.. Hope you have a good weekend.
Had enough ‼️
Oh lord…sounds like 384 pages of torture, but I am dying at this: A socko twist!!?? . Give me strength.
Baahaaahaaa!!!!
I’m glad to see that lil fluff ball, Ollie with a smile on his face and hope he can frolic and play after the three weeks are over.
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I shook my head at the ‘socko twist’ too. I have deleted it. Going to group with a DNF. They’ll get over it. Ollie is doing well though he is fed up with his big pen. He starts physical therapy soon or I should say I start him on it.
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Why would such a book be scheduled for book club? I’d read that blurb and say, not for our bookclub. Which is not to say I’d criticise anyone who wanted to read it but that it just sounds like one of many snd not with the sort of reading group meat my group would be looking for.
Lucky you having more time in the Tarkine.
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I asked myself the same question. We have a new organiser and she picks strange books through the book shop. I think some younger people might enjoy it though it got panned on social media as I was curious to see what others said about it.
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Well, I’m not totally giving up on modern fiction books, but I have given up on Maria Semple. From this blurb, it sounds just like her “Tomorrow Will be Different” (why I didn’t DNF that one is beyond me) which, apparently, was practically the same premise as her debut book. Sounds like she’s a one trick pony, and her writing is bloated, convoluted, and full of horribly long run-on sentences. Not for me!
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I actually looked this book up on tik tok and instagram and the reviews by several people were not good . Guess I’m not alone.
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Yes! I have given up on most modern fiction and now read mostly fiction that is over 3 years old and well beyond the publisher’s over-marketed and over -hyped selling of truly mediocre books. And for sure I no longer trust either the short summary on the book jacket or the gushing quotes from other writers– it’s all just marketing. In my small book club (4-5 of us ) we have given each other permission not to finish books, and sometimes none of us do…… Josée Posen Toronto
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I don’t think I’ll finish this one but then I don’t feel I can participate in the club discussion. Maybe I’ll skim through it. But on principle maybe I’ll just move on. Life is too short to read things we don’t enjoy.
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Glad Ollie is doing ok, and I think I would have thrown that book at the wall very quickly. I rarely take to modern fiction!!!
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It’s good to have you back, and *chuckle* thanks for the warning about the Semple book.
What a superb photo of Ollie! I wish I had a nice photo of my Amber, but she will not keep still and I’m not quick enough to catch her in the moment. I once took advantage of a professional dog photographer being in the area, but she was so terrified the whole time, I can see it in her little face and every time I look at the photos (which cost A Lot) I feel like chucking them out.
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