southamerica

Eva Luna | Isabel Allende

pick

This made for good beach reading. I love a cheap mass market paperback that you don‘t have to worry about getting beat up. I‘ve been reading this as a #buddyread with @hclaird and tracking our progress on Storygraph (awesome buddy read feature now!).

Allende‘s prose style is really beautiful, but the Dickensian coming of age story focuses less on an overarching plot and more on character sketches and episodic adventures in the MC‘s life.

Texreader Excellent description of the book 6d

36 likes1 comment

Eggs

Bel Canto | Ann Patchett

#Party - gone wrong!

#StorySettings

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Bookwormjillk Ha! Really wrong! 1w

Eggs 💙💙💙 @Bookwormjillk 1w

56 likes2 comments

rachelk

Bel Canto | Ann Patchett

pick

‘Bel Canto‘ is loosely based on a true story when, in 1996, a group of young terrorists took over the Japanese embassy in Peru. I loved the way Patchett wrote these characters with complexity and nuance — hostages and terrorists alike. There is a surprising amount of tenderness, beauty and love within the tension and tragedy. However, this was a light pick for me because I found much of it too slow.

37 likes

Kboltz

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey | Candice Millard

pick

Telling of the discovery of a tributary of the Amazon River by Theodore Roosevelt in 1914. Written so well. I loved this and all of the facts about how difficult the Amazon rainforest is. I now have a new outlook on Theodore Roosevelt as well. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

13 likes

Texreader

Jaguars and Electric Eels | Alexander von Humboldt

pick

I‘ve come to love nonfiction works from authors who‘ve trekked the world thanks to the #readingthecontinents challenges. So I couldn‘t miss this book written about the author‘s journey through #Venezuela from 1798-1804. He was a naturalist so he includes many in-depth descriptions of plants and animals, landscapes and people. He was obviously extremely knowledgeable and tough to deal with the harsh terrains of all sorts. He was sensitive to the ⬇️

Texreader plight of slaves, but less sensitive to some tribes he labeled lazy. But he was fair, too, identifying the good, the bad, the ugly, and the lovely (and sometimes the crazy) about all the people he encountered. One obviously native man insisted he was white and held himself out as so pretentious it was quite comical. Sometimes a bit boring, but overall this was a fascinating peak at a world far distant from our own. #foodandljt @Catsandbooks 1mo

Catsandbooks ❤️👏🏼🇻🇪 1mo

43 likes2 comments

Texreader

Jaguars and Electric Eels | Alexander von Humboldt

Ugh! He described the mosquitos being so thick he couldn‘t see the horizon to take location measurements. Their faces and hands would swell from the biting and poking insects. Just miserable.

#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Catsandbooks Well that sounds horrible! 1mo

31 likes1 comment

Texreader

Jaguars and Electric Eels | Alexander von Humboldt