Moonglow | 
so-soGot a bit of a backlog to post here so here‘s an audio of a hardcover I finished earlier this year!
I ended up liking and not liking this as much as I wanted. I was looking for more Big Fish than what it gave, but that assumption from the blurb was on me. Overall it was really touching and adventurous, but I did unhaul it after I was done.
It did make me cry- so take that for what it‘s worth lol
pickI love when books catch the complexity of being human. Memory is weird, no one is 100% good or bad, our relationships are complicated. A grandfather is dying and in that last week, his meds loosen his usually still tongue. His grandson, Mike Chabon, is there to record the torn bits of memory that fall loose and piece them together. I adored this & can‘t wait to read more. I would like to look up his wife, Ayelet Waldman b/c they are too cute. ☺️
Finished setting up my #roll100 list yesterday just in time for @PuddleJumper ‘s post this morning. I have a double list with two titles to choose from for each number.
January‘s rolls are:
96. Mary Called Magdalene 📖 Early Riser
84. It Takes a Villa 📖 Moonglow
44. Chasing Portraits 📖 The Swans of Fifth Avenue
I think Moonglow has been on my shelf the longest so I‘m going to start there. Hoping to get to at least one title each month.
pickI liked this meander through the larger than life story of Chabon‘s grandfather. Like so much in life, there are moments that make up a life that only hindsight can make into some sort of sense, and even then we question what is really true or chosen truth. This book catches the spirit of that.
pick#2022Book65
For the most part, I enjoyed this book and I loved getting to know all of the characters. The war sections, however, tended to drag on and didn‘t really fit the tone of the rest of the story.
pickMoonglow is really poignant. If your family keeps secrets, you'll recognize these characters.
Moonglow tells the story of the narrator's grandfather's life out of linear sequence. The dominant motif is space travel, rocketry, and, yes, the moon. A lot of it is about family trauma, but it isn't especially grim. Chabon is a very funny writer even when covering darker subjects.
so-soThe construction was interesting, interspersing historical, recent, and contemporary memories in an end-of-life recounting type of style in this memoir of the author learning about his grandfather more deeply. However, the book could hardly keep my attention. I cared very little about what was going on.
#AyUpAugust Another book that‘s either a love/ hate with readers 🤷♀️ I totally fell for Chabon‘s grandfather a #MardyBum with a heart of gold. Chabon is telling the life of his grandfather as told to him in his dying days. He‘s a larger than life man - kind of Ove with a dash of Leo Gursky and some Sheldon Cooper, too! Blurred lines of truth & fiction fuse to create a wild tale.
Been to a conference for the celebration of the first man on the moon last night. Enjoyed it a lot.
And afterward we watched the moon from the telescope... and could even take a pic 😍
She is indeed so beautiful.
pickLots of jokes before page 1, huh Mr. Chabon?
This isn't quite as metafictional as it sounds going in, but it is a phony memoir in the vein of Roth's Operation Shylock. The key difference is, instead of Chabon going on some kind of crazy adventure, he's relaying #thestory of his grandparents, as told to him by his dying grandfather. Like the other Chabon's I've read, I didn't gobble this up, just savored every word. Thanks for the rec @Cinfhen !
pickI love Chabon, who‘s repeating themes of storytelling, family history, and folk lore fit right into my happy place.
pickThis is hard to review - parts of it I really liked and parts of it I didn‘t.
Ostensibly Chabon is telling the life of his grandfather as told to him in his dying days. He‘s a brusque, larger than life man - kind of Ove with a side of Macgyver and John McClane. There are some great WW2 and prison stories as well as his love his for Chabon‘s complex and mentally ill grandmother, a French refugee - a whole lot about rockets and the space race too⬇️
bailedI think I'm gonna bail on this book. I really was hoping for something more but it's really just the story of his grandfather (who is never named). While its semi-interesting it's not my cup of tea.
Audiowalking to this one, still. I feel like it‘s the never ending story. I just cannot get into it. Anyone else feel like this one just dragged on?
pickThis book was a joy to read, and I think never knowing what might be true and what might be fabrication makes it even more fun. The members of Chabon's family glow with vibrancy. It is a wild ride of a life well-lived.
Some Chabon paired with Arrogant Bastard Ale. This book is so much fun.
#bookhaul
Ebook purchases with my Mothers Day voucher. Two thirds backlist - cos that‘s how I roll. 😂😂 But now I‘m thinking about how there are 48 unread books on my Kindle and another 70 on my bookshelf. Eeeeeek! #imustnotbuymorebooks #eveniftheyrecheap
panI listened to this one instead of reading, and now I‘m wondering if I would have enjoyed it more if I had a physical copy to read. It jumped around in time A LOT, which threw me for a loop. And sometimes if felt like the author was trying too hard to be poetic in his descriptions. It just wasn‘t my cup of tea.
That utterly random moment when you notice that every author on your bedside table ends in -N
@cobwebmoth ...and the #blinddatewithabook is Michael Chabon's Moonglow! My husband has already got his eye on it. THANK YOU SO MUCH, LAURA!
Help Littens! I‘m maybe half way through this audio and so tempted to bail on it. I usually love memoirs but this one is uninspiring and boring so far. Should I keep going? Has anyone else read this? #tobailornottobail
#AlltheBooksOf2017 #FavoriteNewcharacters Here are three guys who found a place in my heart this reading year...Cyril from HIF, Leo from History of Love & the protagonist of Michel Chabon‘s semi autobiographical novel Moonglow ❤️❤️❤️ I have a soft spot for grumpy old man, who are really just misunderstood teddy bears 🐻 These celebs are sort of who I imagined as I read these novels.... Conan O‘ Brien, Jerry Stiller & Lee Cobb. Images from Google
1) Sagittarius 2) Donated clothes to kids in foster care 3) Moonglow 4) No plans
5) #Friyayintro 💕 @jess.how
Combating the gray autumn morning the only way possible. English breakfast muffins, Chanson française on the stereo, a cup of coffee, and a great book. I‘m halfway through Moonglow and so far it‘s rivaling my favorite Chabon book, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Life doesn‘t get much better on a Saturday morning.
Being out and about for much of the day requires a book for the quiet moments that appear every so often. Never leave home without a book!
#UncannyOctober- #Moon - #Moonglow “unfolds as the deathbed confession of a man the narrator refers to only as “my grandfather.” It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, marriage, desire ... and above all the destructive impact and power of keeping secrets and telling lies.” #TBR
Is anyone else having trouble writing captions since the new iPhone update??? I can‘t see the screen I‘m typing on! 🤦🏻♀️ #litsyneedsanupdate #iphoneupdateneeded
Another stellar night on the books (heh 😁) at Emma Straub's Brooklyn store, this time with Emma herself has the moderator.
I had no idea that Chabon was such a personable nerd. 💗Got to get to this one sooner than later!! It's been on my shelf for almost a year........
Michael Chabon AND Emma Straub!
In NYC for a very long work trip (2 weeks!), but it does mean that I got to go to Straub's bookstore Books are Magic to see the two of them in conversation! An excellent way to spend a Tuesday night.
This quote is everything 💜💕💜
It's a beautiful day to read outside, except for this one damned fly that keeps landing on my Nook and turning the page or -- here-- looking up the word "about" in the internal dictionary.
pickYes yes Chabon is back and he is on fire. Moonglow is a book that commands you to suspend disbelief, expertly blurring the lines between memoir and novel. I was so enthralled I didn't care where the truth begun or ended. At its heart, Moonglow is a book about identity, memory, family, mental health, the things that make us who we are, the people who populate our lives, and most of all the things we say and the things we don't. I was mesmerised.
It's been 2 weeks and I'm still reading this which is annoying. Life is interrupting my reading of this fabulous book.
80 pages in and in love with this book. Chabon is life.
Oh yes...what a way to start. Nothing like a bit of genre bending, unreliable narration...
