Tops & Flops: Fall 2023
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- Let’s chat about my tops & flops for the months September, October & November.
#books #bookreviews #booktube
The categories:
Tops
Book that surprised me the most
Book that I thought about the most
Best nonfiction book
Flops
Two books, ranging from ‘meh’ to ‘bad’. And occasionally: ‘Very, very bad.’
Books mentioned, in alphabetical order of the author’s name:
Asmaa al-Ghoul with Sélim Nassib, A Rebel in Gaza, translated from the French by Mike Mitchell
#ReadPaestine: publishersforpalestine.org/
Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry (2022): / lessons-in-chemistry
#debut
Beth Macey, Dopesick (2018): / dopesick
Oksana Vasyakina, Wound, translated from the Russian by Elina Alter (2023 / 2020): / wound
#translated
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, John Halifax, Gentleman (1856): / john-halifax-gentleman
People / channels mentioned:
Heidi @myreadinglife8816
Find me elsewhere:
website: www.brittaboehler.com
twitter: / britta_boehler
goodreads: / 5497508.britta_b_hler
facebook: / britta.boehler1
Instagram: / brittaboehler
By the way:
I stole the name ‘The Second Shelf’ from the title of Meg Wolitzer’s article in the New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/boo...
I also wrote some books:
New novel - published in Dutch on 30 December 2020:
De juiste houding: www.uitgeverijcossee.nl/De%20...
The Decision (2015): hauspublishing.com/fiction/the...
or in the German original: Der Brief des Zauberers (2014): www.aufbau-verlag.de/index.php...
Dutch non-fiction: De goede advocaat (2017): www.uitgeverijcossee.nl/boek/D...
as Britta Bolt (together with writer Rodney Bolt), The Posthumus Mysteries:
- Lonely Graves (2014)
- Lives Lost (2015)
- Deadly Secrets (June 2016)
www.hodder.co.uk/authors/deta...
and for German readers:
- Das Büro der einsamen Toten (2015)
- Das Haus der verlorenen Seelen (2016)
- Der Tote im fremden Mantel (February 2017)
www.hoffmann-und-campe.de/auto...
Completely agree - both covers are very flippant and put me off for ages
It's such a pity about those covers, right?
I glanced at _Lessons in Chemistry_ in a free neighborhood box, and put it back. It was the cover.
It's such a shame how the cover turned people off!
The frogs climbing up your throat made me giggle. I hope you’ve gotten those pesky little beasts under control. ❤️🐸
Those pesky frogs! 😂
Lessons in Chemistry sounds interesting! I definitely would not pick that up based on the cover, lol. So good to hear :) A Rebel in Gaza is immediately going on my list. And Dopesick!! I need to read that too!! Lol. So many things!!
I think you Rebel in Gaza is a bok for you, yes! And LiC was such a surprise. The tv show is good as well, by the way.
I also avoided Lessons in Chemistry at first, but then read it and enjoyed it, but felt it had a few issues in plot construction. The TV series based on the book came out on Apple tv in the U.S. recently and I was surprised that I felt it was actually a little better than the book. BTW Bonnie Garmus apparently did not like the U.S. version of the cover etiher..lol. I did not read Dopesick, but the TV series created from the book on Hulu was excellent as well.
I can totally understand why Garmus didn't like the cover... I enjoyed the LiC-tv series as well! The adaptation of Dopesick is not yet available to me here in Germany (we don't get Hulu) here but I hope it will come to Amazon prime or Netflix at some point.
Thank you, Britta!🌷While listening to you talking about A Rebel in Gaza I thought of Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, a novel about setting up a production of Hamlet in Arabic in the West Bank. I actually bought it because I’m interested in all things Shakespeare, but I decided to prioritise reading it after the war had started, and I’m glad I did. It gave me an idea of how complicated life for Palestinians in the West Bank is.
Oh, thank you so much for the recommendation! I have read her book The Parisian but hadn't heard of this one. Sounds really interesting!
@ Hi Britta😊Enter Ghost is very recent. It was published in April.
@@emmavd Thank you! I put it on my list to read.
I only finished one book in November but it was a 5 star read. Muppets in Moscow by Natasha Lance Rogoff is about Sesame Street being made in Russia just after the Soviet Union fell. In October my tops were Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson, Dress Diary Secrets From a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe by Kate Strasdin. In September my tops were Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary, Peaceful Neighbor by Michael Long, Games Without Rules by Tamim Ansary, and Rebels at Sea Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin.
You gave me so many book to put on my tbr. Fantastic, thank you very much!! ❤️
New 🤓 glasses..suit you! I like😁you were a hoot with your little annoyances. Your tops have my interest, good synopsis. Flops, total agree! I still can't get through wildfell Hall, a yawn, Victorian writings for me, too many details🤯thanks Britta, another helpful review appreciated in snowy Michigan 🥶
We just had our first snowfall here in Cologne tonight! ❄️❄️❄️ And thank you fro the lovely comment and the compliments, makes me happy. ❤️
Love your new glasses!
Thank you!! ❤
Now I’m wondering what book IS a successful Bohemian Rhapsody? 😉🤔
😆 Tell me if you can come up with one!
Lessons in Chemistry was my biggest surprise of the year as well, just fantastic and reminiscent of the work of John Irving, who was a favorite author of my teens and twenties, but this of course has a stronger feminist bent to it.
I hadn't thought of it but yes, Lessons is reminiscent of Irving's work, with a feminist twist. (I loved Irving when I was younger as well, but haven't reread his books for years...)
@ I’ve not gone back for a reread of his work either, and I had never read Garp for some reason to begin with so I should really start there since for many it’s considered his masterpiece. The dog in LiC reminded me on one in Hotel New Hampshire for some reason and I’d be interested in seeing why. Also, that movie adaptation was an aberration and needs to be completely erased from my mind.
@@bookofdust This is so funny, I havent read Garp either! And I never watched the adaptation of New Hampshire and after reading your comment, I'm glad I didn't...
Bohemian Rhapsody 😂😂😂
I don’t think Wound is for me!
LoL. Nope, I wouldn' recommend it to you.
Good flops!
Thank you!