A New York Winter's Tale

pan

Book 9 read December 2024

What did I read? 😳I wanted to love this book because I liked the movie adaptation which now I should watched it again to see if I have the same impression.

The story started pretty good and I would say I liked that sarcasm humor/funny tone. Some phrases were so reflective and I enjoyed those first characters. But then after the first part, this all drama was a chaos to me. ⬇️

Gissy (Cont.) My impression is that it was so disconnected, too many unnecessary details. I asked myself if this novel went through the edit process😳I struggled and suffered to finish it because I don‘t like to DNF books I bought. I‘m giving 2 stars because I liked that first part but I still think in those readers that loved this novel and ask myself, what they saw in the novel? What did I miss?⬇️ 19h

Gissy Don‘t bother, I am not going to suffer again in a re-read. And I have another edition of thisk😳Didn‘t work for me. 19h

Gissy #WinterGames2024 @Staycurious #HolidayBookDragons @Liseworks
Book9 post 5 pts
Reading hours in Readathon ReadAway2024 @DieAReader 24 hrs x 10 pts = 240 pts
Book from tbr posted 50 pts
Holiday read 75 pts
#WGWordsSearch 5 words (Christmas, snow, blizzard in various pages)= 15 pts
Previous pts 1, 740 + 385
Total= 2,125 pts 18h

DieAReader 🎉 #Next 18h

Avanders 😂 I actually did enjoy this one quite a bit, but I think it‘s one of those where you have to be in exactly the right mindset for it…. And I happened to be. 🫠 6h

35 likes5 comments

MittenGirlPeach

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

What a lovely, lovely #jolabokaflod swap, @bookish_wookish ! The chocolates are open because I hit them last night. I love that they‘re local, and the book is perfect to sink into on these cold winter days. Here‘s to a wonderful bookmas indeed! @MaleficentBookDragon

bookish_wookish Im so glad you loved them! 🎄 Merry Bookmas! 1w

MaleficentBookDragon Happy Jólabókaflóð! 1w

18 likes2 comments

Read4life

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

This one has cleared space on my physical shelf and my digital shelf. #DoubleSpin for May is done.
#BookSpinBingo #DoubleSpin #ReadOrDonate #readyourebooks #readyourTBR #TBRtarot

CBee, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 7mo

48 likes1 comment

Read4life

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

I needed an additional month but April‘s #WickedWords are complete now that I found #iceberg in the tagged book. 🤓

AsYouWish

42 likes

Read4life

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#WickedWords #iceberg

My #DoubleSpin / #ReadOrDonate / #TBRtarot book gave me the #WickedWord I didn‘t find in April.

AsYouWish

38 likes

Read4life

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#TBRtarot @CBee

CBee Awesome 👏🏻 8mo

39 likes1 comment

Read4life

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

It‘s time to get this #chunkster off my shelf.

#ReadOrDonate #Roll100
@julieclair @PuddleJumper

TheBookHippie I just brought four to donate. I read one and kept it. 🙃🙂 8mo

Read4life @TheBookHippie 🤓🤓 8mo

julieclair Woo hoo! You go girl! 8mo

See All 6 Comments

julieclair @TheBookHippie Good for you! 👍 8mo

TheBookHippie @julieclair It really truly does feel good. 8mo

PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 Good luck! 8mo

47 likes6 comments

Deblovestoread

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#Wintergames #DailyPhotoChallenge #Winter #SantasBookshELVES

I really will get to this one day…

Cheryl_Russell_BookNotes I keep telling myself the same thing. 😬 13mo

34 likes1 stack add1 comment

Robotswithpersonality

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pan

Rereads are always risky. Unfortunately this one went worse than anticipated. If you retain nostalgia for this title, click away from this review now.
From when I originally read this as a teen, I remembered only a love story, when I picked it back up, I was hoping for magic and a connection to the past. My past as much as that of historical New York. Perhaps it was too high a bar to set. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality Turns out the love story is much less of the framework than I recalled, unless you count the love Helprin has for winter and New York.
No idea how much the 'historical' New York depicted is fantasy or exaggeration, it was from time to time, the most enchanting part to read about. Immersive descriptions, the colours and lights of winter, the reader feels the season, even when reading it in late spring.
And that's about it for the positives. 2/? 2y

Robotswithpersonality Sadly, passion for a city on this level seems a step away from the rabid passion for a nation these days labelled as nationalism/patriotism, which feels more pejorative than virtue at this point, especially linked to an American context.
Political and economic philosophy espoused not quite my vibe: strong push for meritocracy. The plight of 'the poor/the city of the poor' is returned to regularly, but always at a distance, feels more like a grotesque prop of disease, corruption and stupidity, not humanized by the inclusion of any one character that represents the group for more than a couple pages, usually unnamed and pitiable, soon to be destroyed, unless they do a bootstrap-style 'getting out'. Justice as a golden abstract gets a lot of mentions but not any of the social structures or revamps which might assist 'the poor'; I believe there was one specific negative reference to welfare. 3/? 2y

Robotswithpersonality Reminded of Ayn Rand, not so much in the specifics, but in the general sweeping monologues that land somewhere between poetic and impenetrable, a thinly veiled platform for the author to hold forth on his views.
Also pretty heavy on that classic (ableist) fairy tale divide (to be pure and virtuous is to be beautiful, to be evil or pitiable is to be ugly).
Finding out the author is billed as a 'conservative commentator' was not surprising. 4/? 2y

See All 7 Comments

Robotswithpersonality Seems to waffle between emphasizing the changing winds of fortune, just how quickly luck can arrive or abandon, how much more beautiful things are when their brevity and vulnerability is understood, and vaguely promising that the virtuous will eventually be rewarded.
Dangerous to tell oneself a fairytale that 'everything happens for a reason', that it's all part of a larger picture on a greater timescale than we can perceive, because, much like religion, it promises justice later/in the next life and not now. 5/? 2y

Robotswithpersonality Or of course, to get justice now, you could blame the poor for the destruction of the city, burn the whole thing to the ground, costing who knows how many lives, and end as if this is just the price for a fresh start, which feels a Iittle too close to genocide for my taste. 6/? 2y

Robotswithpersonality A cast of interesting characters, decently interwoven, but a few too many with not enough time on the page to feel invested.
I found the pacing frustrating. Major plot points described in a line, scenic interstitials described in detail; irresistible cliffhanger, then hundreds of pages spent introducing other characters. Various goings on hinted at and never resolved. Spent most of the book in a state of impatience, not immersed in the plot but waiting for it to return, only briefly carried off by a beautiful or absurd description.
Author has a fondness for turning unorthodox lists into meandering paragraphs, and describing many things in terms of snakes. A bit too in love with finding 'ten dollar words' or archaic words to plump up a paragraph. 7/? 2y

Robotswithpersonality
⚠️ Touches briefly on a whole bunch of the truly awful parts of being a child in (the industrial revolution (?)) or really any time before modern protections were put in place (yes, I recognize the limits of those protections; we'll call it room for improvement).
Little too casual with the word 'rape' as a descriptor in less violent settings.
That whole scene with the waitress feels a lot like romaticizing sexual harrassment, with inebriation as a cover. 😬
Sex between/sexualization of minors, passing reference to sexual relationship between clergyman and underage boys, child labour, ableism, fatphobia, animal cruelty, whiff of homophobia, SA 8/8 2y

4 likes7 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

✳️🌌❄️ Brilliantly, beautifully cold. Immersive descriptions.

8 likes

Robotswithpersonality

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Pfft,.
'Didja get the license plate for that horse?'
'Next best thing.' 😆

2 likes1 stack add

Deblovestoread

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#TemptingTitles #WithaSeason

This chunkster is sitting on the bookshelf. I‘m hoping to read a couple of bigger books this year…maybe its time has come?

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs This is awesome 👏🏻 oh the days of old when the sun‘s rays flooded Grand Central with light ☀️ 2y

47 likes1 comment

LeftyDv

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

so-so

All sides of New York - the good, bad and magical - are on display in this beautiful, lyrical narrative. Consumed by the setting and characters as I was, I‘m still not sure what the point is. Perhaps that‘s the justice we‘re meant to find.

2 likes1 stack add

Sapphire

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

I read Winter‘s Tale in 2007. It is still one of the most atmospheric I have ever read. #adventrecommends

emilyrose_x

19 likes

LeaKell

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pick

I loved this book and I‘m having a hard time putting into words exactly why. It‘s beautiful, contemplative, and seems to be from another time. Sit down (with a dictionary) and soak up this incredible tale.

Sapphire I “felt” winter in every fiber of my being with this, like ice in my lungs and sparkle in the vision. 2y

3 likes1 comment

Avanders

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

❄️ The tagged.. I know it‘s a somewhat #unpopularopinion, but I loved the slow, snowy, homage to winter that was this book.
❄️ A personal goal is to find more time for art
❄️ Today, I am grateful for vacation days…
Of which I will be taking one tomorrow 😜

#WondrousWednesday
Thanks for the tag @Eggs ! 😘❄️

mabell, BethM, MaleficentBookDragon, Chrissyreadit, Mollyanna, ElizaMarie

ElizaMarie Ooo so glad you are taking a vacation day and spending more time on your art this year! 3y

BethM You just miss home 😉 3y

Eggs Thanks for the thoughtful responses 👍🏼📚👏🏻 3y

mabell Thank you for the tag! 🥰 I‘d love to see some of your creative projects! Enjoy your vacation day today! 3y

Avanders @ElizaMarie ☺️ me too! 😁😘 @BethM maybe.. 😜😘 @Eggs 👍🏽😘 @mabell thanks! 😁😘 3y

50 likes5 comments

Ast_Arslan

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
#ConflictedWorlds

Day 17 - #Supernatural

Only one of these is still on my TBR

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🧛🏻‍♂️ 🖤📚 3y

Eggs Great choices 🖤📖💗 3y

24 likes2 comments

Lizpixie

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Next up on this sunny Sunday in Sydney is a cup of tea, some apple tea cake & a book that‘s been on my #MountTBRShelvesOfDoom since 2014. I came across the movie last night & with a few exceptions, thoroughly enjoyed it before remembering I had bought the book after seeing it for the 1st time. Really hoping it‘s just as magical & sweet.✨

scribbler One of my favorite books! 4y

56 likes1 comment

TheKidUpstairs

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#AWintersTale #DecemberSong @Eggs

Years later and I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. So much potential, but I didn't really enjoy reading it, and yet I think about it all the time (seriously, it takes up so much space in my brain).

Crazeedi I have this book on my shelf, I read like 2 pages and put back. I saw an interview with this author and have wanted to pick it up again 4y

Eggs Fascinating❣️ great cover too 4y

50 likes2 comments

JessClark78

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

It‘s cold and rainy outside today so my afternoon is all about hot cocoa and finishing this book. 📚✨

tracey38 Your hot cocoa looks really good! 5y

batsy Yum! 5y

Balibee146 Hmmm.... I have some lovely hot choc that goes frothy plus cream in the fridge 🤔🤔🤔😋 5y

70 likes1 stack add3 comments

RamsFan1963

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

☃️ Something dark, like horror or non-fiction about natural disasters, like climate change.
☃️☃️ Normally I'd say grilled cheese sandwich, but I've given up bread, so I'll pick a nice beefy spicy chili.
☃️☃️☃️ Clear & Sunny 42/28
@audraelizabeth @WatsonReads @ameliashley

#wonderouswednesday @Eggs

Eggs Mmmm chili 🤗👏🏻📚 5y

47 likes1 comment

JessClark78

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

“He moved like a dancer, which is not surprising; a horse is a beautiful animal, but it is perhaps most remarkable because it moves as if it always hears music.”

🖤🖤

📸: Google images

64 likes

JessClark78

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

A great city is nothing more than a portrait of itself, and yet when all is said and done, its arsenals of scenes and images are part of a deeply moving plan.

#FirstLineFridays

ShyBookOwl

Crazeedi Had this book on my shelf for a long time. Interested in your thoughts 5y

58 likes1 comment

JessClark78

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

1. Yes
2. Sometimes. Not as much as I‘d like.
3. Snow and colder weather. I breathe better in the wintertime.
4. Coffee, and hot cocoa.
5. This is on my TBR. Planning on reading it soon.

#ThursdaySurvey

blank

Crazeedi I have had this book on my shelf for a couple years, not read yet. I'll be interested in what you think 5y

44 likes1 comment

sprainedbrain

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pan

I really thought I would love this book, and now I‘m just disappointed that I invested so much time in it.

Really beautiful writing. I loved the first third or so... then it went off the rails, started to redeem itself, and finally fell flat. I don‘t mind verbosity, I like historical fiction with magic and romance, and I love a good, sprawling story. This book has those elements, but they did not come together in any meaningful way. 😕

⭐️⭐️

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled I bailed on this one and couldn‘t remember why, but now I think I know! Thanks! 5y

sprainedbrain @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled you made the choice I should have made! 😬 5y

74 likes1 stack add2 comments

sprainedbrain

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

I‘m struggling... this a big book. I am supplementing with audio to help get through the giant paperback.

It‘s had funny parts, and I was enjoying things quite nicely, and then BAM. Everything changed and I‘m not even halfway through and it‘s wholly different characters and omg what is happening here.

🤪🤣

wanderinglynn Sounds intriguing. 👍🏻 5y

batsy I've had this book on my radar. Will wait for your review 😁 5y

sprainedbrain @wanderinglynn @batsy update: more things have happened and now some characters are back and I‘m no longer confused. 😂 5y

readordierachel 😆😆 5y

75 likes1 stack add4 comments

EmilieGR

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pan

Should‘ve been magical but was just overeritten

3 likes

TracyReadsBooks

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

so-so

This is hard to review. It‘s true the book is long-winded but the writing is gorgeous & the book can be read as an expression of the author‘s love of language & NYC. More of a story would have been nice. Peter Lake (great character) breaks into a house he thinks is empty only to discover it‘s not & he falls in love with Beverly Penn who is dying. I would have liked more Peter & Beverly, directly, & less of other characters. Good not great read.

Crazeedi I've had this on my shelf for several years, still not read it. Had heard it was really good....maybe someday I'll get to the books I haven t read yet... 6y

19 likes1 comment

TracyReadsBooks

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

After enjoying a brief foray into this week‘s new comic releases, it‘s back to the tagged book which I‘m enjoying even more than I expected to. Good Thing too since it‘s a big one!

Booksblanketsandahotbeverage OMG, that Carry On art on the left is 🌅 6y

19 likes1 comment

TracyReadsBooks

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Diving deep into my TBR stacks for my next read. How deep? Well, I‘m fairly sure I got this book around the same time the movie came out in 2014. So umm, this book has waited almost 5 years for me to take it off the shelf. I‘d say it‘s about time!

Crazeedi This book is on my TBR shelf too 6y

17 likes1 comment

Lizpixie

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#MusicalNewYear #day1 #SeasonsOfLove I do have this book in my #MountTBR shelves but buggered if I can reach it atm! This is a rare case of movie before book for me, I absolutely adore this film, if you ignore Russell Crowe‘s overacting it‘s a sweet & sad time shift love story set in the beginning then the end of the 20th century in New York, between a thief & a upper class lady dying of consumption.❄️🗽Lovely story plus it‘s Colin Farrell!😍

Cinfhen, vivastory

vivastory I've never read Helprin, but I seem to see a lot of Litsy love for him. It is memorable when the movie is better, because of how rare that is. 😄 6y

Cinfhen I think sometimes a book just works better because of the visual aspects 6y

62 likes2 comments

Cathythoughts

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#AWintersTale #WinterWonderland I have not read ... picture looks enchanting ♥️💙

Cinfhen, TrishB

Cinfhen It does 😊 6y

TrishB Good pick - weird haven‘t read and don‘t recall the film! 6y

Lizpixie I loved the movie, yes it‘s a bit cheesy & don‘t get me started on Russell Crowe‘s overacting, but it‘s sweet & sad and lovely. Plus it has Colin Farrell in it. Nuff said.😍 6y

See All 6 Comments

Cathythoughts @Cinfhen 👍🏻♥️ 6y

Cathythoughts @TrishB I havnt either but it looks worth looking into ... 6y

Cathythoughts @Lizpixie Russell Crowe can overact all he wants ... for me he will always be The Gladiator ( one of my favorite movies ) and Colin Farrell ??!! I need to see this movie.... 👍🏻❤️ 6y

67 likes6 comments

HLouiseM

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Snuggling up post-festivities is one of the best parts. #merrybooksmas

5 likes

GripLitGrl

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#WinterWonderland #awinterstale
@TrishB @Cinfhen
I've seen the movie but never read the book on this one

TrishB Not familiar with this one. 6y

Cinfhen I‘ve heard of the movie but I haven‘t seen nor have I read the book!! 6y

54 likes1 stack add2 comments

ladyonequestion

A New York Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Hmmm...beginning to suspect this book is nonsense. 12 year old tatooist of rich Chinese women? Bonkers mythology?

LauraJ 😹 6y

readinginthedark 😂 6y

61 likes2 comments

HLouiseM

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

As if being sick as hell didn‘t put me in a melodramatic mood already, my PCP‘s office is, literally, in a Belle Epoch “high rise” building. #toopretty #consumptivemaiden

GypsyKat I hope you feel better soon! 7y

HLouiseM @GypsyKat Thank you! 7y

15 likes2 comments

HLouiseM

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

A new perspective that reading has brought to this privileged child: what happened to the people who came to U. S. Customs between 1880-1920 & were turned away?

12 likes

GripLitGrl

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

Cozy winter nights ❄🔥📓

33 likes

laurencjay

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

How cute is this card + these Harry Potter pins. ⚡️#secretsantagoespostal

11 likes

lesliemarie

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pick

This is one of my all time favorite books!

Bookcation74 I need to get to this one in 2018!! 7y

55 likes1 stack add1 comment

cathysaid

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

😂😂😂

(Seen on FB)

Betty YES. 7y

Chelleo Love this! 😂👍🏽 7y

TheNextBook I relate... 7y

See All 11 Comments

TricksyTails 😂😂😂 7y

Tamra 🤣👌🏾 7y

dsfisher Yup, perfect 7y

BookMaven407 😂😂😂😂😂 7y

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Truth!!! 🤣😂 7y

Louise I felt like this when we ran out of heating oil 2 days ago and had to wait a full night and day for a fill-up! Brrrrrr! 7y

SandyW 😂😂😂❄ 7y

RohitSawant 😂😂 7y

59 likes11 comments

sprainedbrain

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

#bookmail from the wonderful @MeganAnn ... I just love my #LitsyGoesPostalOG people ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thanks so much, Megan!

LitsyGoesPostalOG

mangokittty Oh I didn‘t know this was a book! The movie is really good. 7y

Laura317 The book was magical. I loved it. 7y

DrexEdit I 💜 that bookmark that looks like it had a period appropriate photo of NYC? 👍 7y

See All 6 Comments

sprainedbrain @DrexEdit it‘s a little print of Monet‘s Boulevard des Capucines. ❤️ 7y

lesliemarie That is one of my favorite books! 7y

MeganAnn Yay! So happy you received it! 🎉 @DrexEdit I have a small stash of Monet bookmarks so I picked this one because of the winter scene ❄️ 7y

119 likes3 stack adds6 comments

ashsbookmarks

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

About half way through this audiobook 📖 very different from the stuff I normally read but I‘m liking it so far. And I‘m really wanting to see the movie after this 😊
#audiobook #winterstale #booktomovie

Kammbia1 One of my all time favorite novels! I hope you enjoy it. (edited) 7y

IamIamIam The museum I volunteer at was used for several scenes in the movie!!!!! 7y

Seekingtardis The movie is really good. Not what I expected at all but I loved it. I didn‘t even know it was a book!! Added!! 7y

EllieDottie I felt so so about the novel and I really liked the movie!! 7y

61 likes3 stack adds4 comments

xicanti

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

It's probably silly to ask, given how I can't seem to read more than a couple of chapters of prose per day right now, but I'd love to find a thick book as weird and wonderful as WINTER'S TALE. Any suggestions? #30daysofreadathon

silentrequiem It's actually a three book omnibus but

The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox

xicanti @silentrequiem thanks! I've stacked it. 7y

TobeyTheScavengerMonk Going really really spiritually similar here but

Little, Big

See All 7 Comments

TobeyTheScavengerMonk @silentrequiem Oooo, I've always heard awesome things about those and I bought a copy of the first one just recently. 7y

xicanti @TobeyTheScavengerMonk spiritually similar works for me. Stacked. 7y

Viji Have you read The Name of the Wind? 7y

xicanti @Viji I have, and I love it! 7y

30 likes1 stack add7 comments

Foragingfantasy

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

pick

All the freaking stars! 👏👏 I loved it! Might be my favorite of the year.

35 likes

Foragingfantasy

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

I'm in love with this book. ❤️

39 likes

Foragingfantasy

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

I'm in the mood for something atmospheric and beautiful. I think this is supposed to be magical realism, I hope so! I need to be carried away. It's massive so I'll audio and book. #currentlyreading #audiobook #audiobaking

JazzFeathers That cover is so inspiring 😍 7y

Foragingfantasy @JazzFeathers it's gonna be one of those book that I will wonder why it's taken me so long to read. I'm only half way but I think it's going to be my favorite book of the year. 7y

43 likes2 comments

Allietaylor16

Winter's Tale | Mark Helprin

My haul from today's library sale!!

mrozzz Nice picks!! 7y

LizzyM Great stuff!!!! 7y

EvieBee I have that same edition of Miss Mare stories. Love it! 7y

27 likes3 comments

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