Book a Week in 2013 - Week thirty-three

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dear hearts!  Today is the start of week 33 in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks.  Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in and to all who are following our progress.  Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews.  The link is below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - A Piece of Chalk: Yesterday was one of those days that my mind can't settle on any one specific thing, so I browsed the interwebz, reading, and contemplating on what should I talk about. Then I remembered a classic essay that I've read a few times and it's always given me food for thought  -  A Piece of Chalk by G.K. Chesterton

 

August is Shakespeare Reading Month - read Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V along with Shari or pick one you've been meaning to read.

 

For those into Sci/fi and Fantasy - check out 50 novels everyone should read. 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

Link to week 32

 

[Robin M]

I'm still reading Journey Under the Moon: Writing and the Hero's Quest by Michael Hiebert.  In between fiction reads at the moment. Not sure what I'm going to settle on.  Off to do more garage decluttering and lesson planning. 

[Negin]

The Beginner's Goodbye - 5 Stars.

Loved this quote: 

“No couple buying wedding rings wants to be reminded that someday one of them will have to accept the other one's ring from a nurse or an undertaker.†

 

 

Since then I've tried a few books and given up on them after the first 10%.

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

[Onceuponatime]

I've been reading:

 

Trigger Point Therapy for Frozen Shoulder

Voyage of the Narwhal

[Stacia]

Flavorwire has such fun book lists!

 

Rosie, hoping this week is finding you feeling much better!

 

Still working on The Shaman's Coat: A Native History of Siberia and *still* waiting on Angelmaker from the library. At this rate, I may be restarting it once I get it. Not sure if someone has it checked out for a long time or it's just lost in the library shelves somewhere.

 

In the meantime, I had a very serendipitous library find on Friday: Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luis Fernando Verissimo (a Brazilian writer). I sat down & read it in one go late Friday night. Can I say how much I totally loved this book??? A complete & utter delight of a book. A Borges style mystery with some Poe, Lovecraft, infinite monkeys, & surrealism thrown in. Verissimo (meaning 'true' in Portuguese) leads you through a labyrinth of mirrors, philosophy, surrealist reasoning, ancient history, & good old-fashioned noir while spinning this marvelous mystery as you search for the truth of the matter. Excellent.

 

I love & totally agree with this Goodreads review of the book: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75497385

 

From amazon:

Jorge Luis Borges is the hero of this literary whodunit by one of Brazil's most celebrated writers.

 

Vogelstein is a loner who has always lived among books. Suddenly, fate grabs hold of his insignificant life and carries him off to Buenos Aires, to a conference on Edgar Allan Poe, the inventor of the modern detective story. There Vogelstein meets his idol, Jorge Luis Borges, and for reasons that a mere passion for literature cannot explain, he finds himself at the center of a murder investigation that involves arcane demons, the mysteries of the Kaballah, the possible destruction of the world, and the Elizabethan magus John Dee's theory of the "Eternal Orangutan," which, given all the time in the world, would end up writing all the known books in the cosmos. Verissimo's small masterpiece is at once a literary tour de force and a brilliant mystery novel.

Violet Crown, I know you rarely read 'modern' works, yet if you want something fun & light, I think you'd get a kick out of this book.

 

Anyone who enjoys Borges, Poe, or who might like a surreal twist on a traditional mystery would probably enjoy this delightful little novel. Highly recommended. :thumbup:

 

--------------------------

My Goodreads Page

My PaperbackSwap Page

Working on Robin's Dusty &/or Chunky Book Challenge.

Working on Robin's Continental Challenge.

Working on LostSurprise's Dewey Decimal Challenge. Complete Dewey Decimal Classification List here.

 

My rating system:

5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Decently good; 2 = Ok; 1 = Don't bother (I shouldn't have any 1s on my list as I would ditch them before finishing)...

 

2013 Books Read:

Link to Books # 1 – 40 that I’ve read in 2013.

 

41. If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino (5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Italy).

42. They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books, edited by David Rose (2.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (England).

43. The Late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello (3 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Italy).

44. Stoker’s Manuscript by Royce Prouty (4 stars).

45. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (3 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Spain).

46. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (4 stars).

47. Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashua (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Israel).

48. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe/Asia (Russia).

49. The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six by Jonathon Keats (3 stars).

50. Borges and the Eternal Orangutans (5 stars). Challenge: Continental – South America (Brazil & Argentina).

[Violet Crown]

After discussion of it here, I read the short story

 

23. Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata.

 

Tolstoy at his grumpiest, riding some of his favorite hobby-horses regarding the morals and family lives of Russian society. Interesting that he puts it in the mouth of a murderer, though, from whom he could distance himself, especially as several of his points seem to imply criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

I seldom make a note on the physical book, but my Dover Thrift Edition copy was so horribly printed as to make it almost unreadable: a combination of cheap paper, disastrous choice of font, and insufficient ink. I recommend avoiding it.

 

A strikingly modern-sounding passage:

----------------

"With our unhappy women, and with my wife in particular, the case is very different. Independently of the question of children's diseases and the way to treat them, there were numbers of other topics always cropping up, such, for instance, as how to educate them, how to discipline their minds, about which she had heard and read an infinite number of ever-varying rules and prescriptions. They should be fed thus, and only with that and that; no, not so, not with that, but thus and with such and such a food. On the subjects of clothing them, bathing them, putting them to sleep, sending them to walk, regulating the quality of the air they breathe, both of us were discovering, but especially she was discovering, new rules every week. It was just as if children had only begun to be born into the world yesterday. It was all because the poor child was not fed properly, or did not get its bath in due time, that it fell ill; consequently she felt that it was she who should bear the blame, for not having taken the needful precautions, for not having done what should have been done."

--------------

 

I'm going to shamelessly list the story as if it were a whole book, on the ground that the other Tolstoy stories in the collection I have read several times.

 

Still on several other books, and have added More's Utopia, which was mentioned frequently in the history of printing I finished last week, reminding me that I've never gotten around to reading it.

[Violet Crown]

Violet Crown, I know you rarely read 'modern' works, yet if you want something fun & light, I think you'd get a kick out of this book.

 

Anyone who enjoys Borges, Poe, or who might like a surreal twist on a traditional mystery would probably enjoy this delightful little novel. Highly recommended. :thumbup:

 

 

I may have to; I'm very fond of Borges. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Onceuponatime]

I would love to read some Borges, but no library around here carries anything by him.

[Violet Crown]

I would love to read some Borges, but no library around here carries anything by him.

PM me your address, if you feel comfortable with that, and I'll send you some. Our library discard store has loads of real literature for almost nothing.

 

And the Evil Insurance Company just caved on the second round of appeals (just got a letter from dh's OEB about it, basically apologizing to us for the EIC's unconscionable claim denial), leaving us with more than $10K that we thought was going to medical bills. Yay us! So I feel like celebrating by sending a friend some Borges. :)

[Kareni]

 Then I remembered a classic essay that I've read a few times and it's always given me food for thought  -  A Piece of Chalk by G.K. Chesterton

What a lovely essay!  Thanks for sharing it, Robin.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Yesterday, I read Hotshot by Julie Garwood.  It's a romantic suspense novel and while the plot struck me as somewhat far-fetched, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

"Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have inherited Bishop’s Cove, a small, luxurious oceanfront resort, but it comes with a condition: The girls must run the resort for one year and show a profit—only then will they own it.

A graduate of a prestigious French culinary school, Peyton has just lost her job as a food critic. Out of work and in a bad place personally, a year doing something completely different sounds wonderful.

There are countless challenges and too many people who want to stop the sisters from succeeding. Among them are Peyton’s contentious cousins, who are outraged that they didn’t inherit the resort, as well as a powerful group of land developers who have been eyeing the coveted beachfront property.

It’s soon apparent to Peyton that their efforts are being sabotaged, but she refuses to let the threats scare her—until she’s nearly killed. She calls on her childhood friend and protector, Finn MacBain, now with the FBI, and asks for his help. He saved her life once; he can do it again."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[BigMamaBird]

Many people have recommended Beloved by Toni Morrison as one of their favorite 20th Century books.  I wanted to like it, I really did.  But straight off she talks about how the main character killed her child and that just ruined it for me.  I can't work up any sympathy for a Mother who murders her own child, so through the whole story I couldn't feel any compassion for Sethe.  I liked Denver a lot and Baby was wonderful too, I even like Paul D despite some of his failings.  But Beloved was just a wretched character.  I also didn't care for those two chapters where there was no punctuation, I realize what the author was doing, but it was just jarring and I had to really strain to make sense of what was going on.  I'm really disappointed by this one, I was expecting a lot more.

 

 

1 - All The King's Men â€“ Robert Penn Warren                                                            27 - Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

2 - A Stranger in a Strange Land â€“ Robert Heinlein                                                   28 - Selected Short Stories - William Faulkner
3 - A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood                                                                  29 - 100 Years of Solitude -  Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4 - Catcher in the Rye â€“ J.D. Salinger                                                                      30 - Dune - Frank Herbert
5 - Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury                                                                           31 - Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
6 - The Grapes of Wrath â€“ John Steinbeck                                                                32 - One Day in the Life o Ivan Desinovich -  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
7 – Murder on the Orient Express â€“ Agatha Christie                                                  33 - Beloved - Toni Morrison
8 – The Illustrated Man â€“ Ray Bradbury
9 – The Great Gatsby â€“ F. Scott Fitzgerald
10 – The Hiding Place â€“ Corrie Ten Boom
11 – The Square Foot Garden â€“ Mel Bartholomew
12 - Catch-22- Joseph Heller
13 - Heart of Darkness- Joseph Conrad
14 - Partners in Crime - Agatha Christie
15 - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
16 -O, Pioneers!- Willa Cather
17 - Miss Marple - The Complete Short Story Collection - Agatha Christie
18 - Ringworld - Larry Niven
19 - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man- James Joyce
20 - Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
21 - To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
22 - Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
23 - The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow
24 - The War of the Worlds- H.G Wells
25 - The Girl with the Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier 

26 - The Golden Ball and Other Stories - Agatha Christie

[eaglei]

Rosie - Sure hope you are feeling better!

 

Finished two novels this week:

 

#46 - Powder and Patch, by Georgette Heyer.  Another delightful and totally enjoyable Heyer reading experience!

 

#47 - Killer Diller, by Clyde Edgerton.  Previously read Walking Across Egypt; noticed that this book continued the story of two of the characters; thought I'd try it.  Meh.

 

Currently reading:

 

#48 - Bath Tangle, by Georgette Heyer.

[mumto2]

I finished "Pardonable Lies" by Jacqueline Winspear. This is the third book in the Maisie Dobbs series and I am really enjoying them. She does a lovely job interweaving some pretty mature topics into a good mystery while keeping them relatively gentle. Great for dd.

 

Also finished "This Rough Magic" by Mary Stewart. A nice romantic mystery which dd is loving. I prefer Moonspinners but this was fine.

 

Still reading "Life after Life". Really enjoying it but I like to read it in good sized portions. It isn't a page here or there for me. Lol I should have stayed up and read it the other night!

[Hoot]

Today I finished Animal Farm by George Orwell.  Good book, of course.

 

I'm still working on Deconstructing Penguins and Don Quixote and have started Stephen King's Carrie.  Death at Sea World is just sitting on my coffee table, half finished and mocking me.  I've given up on Rowling's new book, Cuckoo's Calling, and sent it back to the library.  I just couldn't get into it.  My next audiobook will probably be 1984 by George Orwell since it just came in and DS14 wants to read it.  Clearly, right now I have more books than time.   :crying:  

 

 

 

Completed So Far

1. Best Friends by Samantha Glen
2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
3. The Gift of Pets: Stories Only a Vet Could Tell by Bruce Coston
4. Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess
5. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine
6. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim
7. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
8. The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)
9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
10. The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings
11. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
12. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
13. Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson
14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
15. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie
16. Kisses From Katie by Katie Katie Davis
17. Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
19. Zoo by James Patterson
20. St. Lucy's School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
21. Russian Tortoises in Captivity by Jerry D. Fife
22. Leopard Geckos for Dummies by Liz Palika
23. The 8th Confession by James Patterson
24. Leopard Geckos: Caring for Your New Pet by Casey Watkins
25. The Ultimate Guide to Leopard Geckos by Phoenix Hayes Simmons
26. 9th Judgement by James Patterson
27. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson
28. 11th Hour by James Patterson
29. 12th of Never by James Patterson

30. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
31. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea With Ocean Experts by Ellen J. Prager
32. Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication by Kathleen M. Dudzinski & Toni Frohoff
33. The Greeening by S. Brubaker
34. No Touch Monkey! by Ayun Halliday
35. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

36. Beating Dyspraxia with a Hop, Skip, and a Jump by Geoff Platt

37. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

38. Traveling With Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

39. The Stranger by Albert Camus

40. Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

41. Shakespeare: The World a Stage by Bill Bryson

42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

43. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

44. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

45. Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age by Michael J. Gelb and Kelly Howell

46. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

47. Animal Farm by George Orwell

[Robin M]

The book fairy is knocking and wants to buy a book you've been wanting but if you don't have it on your amazon wishlists, it makes it dicey. :tongue_smilie:  Be sure all your wishlists are updated and if anyone wants to be added to the current list, let me know.  If anyone needs the current list, let me know and I'll pm it.

[JennW in SoCal]

I've read many of the books on the Flavorwire list, but it has one glaring omission -- Hyperion!  That is now my all time favorite sci fi novel.  I'm almost half way through the sequel, Fall of Hyperion, which is gripping.  And crazy.  And well written.  I've been listening to it on my long commute to a gig of the last 5 days.  The most jarring thing is going from this epic war torn future world straight into a theater to play Sound of Music!!  

 

I'm looking forward to sitting on the couch tonight, glass of wine in hand, and watching the first episode of Broadchurch that I missed on Wednesday night.

[mlbuchina]

Still plugging away on Dragonfly in Amber.  I just absolutely adore Jamie and Claire.   :wub: 

 

Our 17th wedding anniversary was this week, and my dh posted a bunch of quotes from my favorite book (Outlander), on my Facebook wall.   :D   My mother told me that she saw the exchange we had, and remarked to my dad that I read too much; I can't even talk to my husband without quoting books!  LOL  Once I explained what he was doing, it made so much more since to her, but she still things we're weird.

 

A few quotes he used:  â€œWhen I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt."

 â€œDoes it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.†   :blushing: 

 

I posted this one to him:   â€œWhen the day shall come that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'-ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.â€

 

OK, enough of the sappy stuff.

 

I have a couple of things in the wings, but not sure if I will get to any of them.  I know when I am finished with Dragonfly in Amber, I will move on to Voyager, the next in the series.  I also still have Grace Awakening, Dead Spots, The Scottish Prisoner, and Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles on my Kindle waiting to be read.  I just got the first book in the Vampire Academy series on my nightstand as well.  Lots of things to read, not enough time to get it all done!

 

The Round Up

44. By Reason of Insanity

43. Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
42. The Girl Who Chased the Moon
41. The Sugar Queen
40. 1Q84
39. The Long Winter
38. Warm Bodies
37. Garden Spells
36. The Peach Keeper
35. The Memory Keeper's Daughter
34. The First Four Years
33. These Happy Golden Years
32. Little Town on the Prairie
31. Amglish, in Like, Ten Easy Lessons: A Celebration of the New World Lingo
30. The Call of the Wild
29. By the Shores of Silver Lake
28. Pippi Longstocking
27. On the Banks of Plum Creek
26. Hiroshima
25. Farmer Boy
24. 1984
23. This Book is Full of Spiders
22. Little House on the Prairie
21.  Evolutionism and Creationism
20.  John Dies at the End
19.  Much Ado About Nothing
18.  Little House in the Big Woods
17.  Hooked
16.  Anne of the Island
15.  Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
14.  Anne of Avonlea
13.  Anne of Green Gables
12.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret
11.  The Swiss Family Robinson
10.  Little Women
9.  Why We Get Fat
8.  The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
7.  Outlander
6.  The New Atkins for a New You
5.  A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows
4.  Liberty and Tyranny
3.  Corelli's Mandolin
2.  The Neverending Story
1.  The Hobbit

 

[Robin M]

Our 17th wedding anniversary was this week, and my dh posted a bunch of quotes from my favorite book (Outlander), on my Facebook wall.   :D   My mother told me that she saw the exchange we had, and remarked to my dad that I read too much; I can't even talk to my husband without quoting books!  LOL  Once I explained what he was doing, it made so much more since to her, but she still things we're weird.

 

A few quotes he used:  â€œWhen I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt."

 â€œDoes it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.†   :blushing: 

 

I posted this one to him:   â€œWhen the day shall come that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'-ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.â€

 

Aw!  Make's my heart go pitty pat.  Happy Anniversary!

 

[mumto2]

I finished "Time After Time" late last night. Really enjoyed it. :)

[Negin]

Thought this was nice and wanted to share. Personally, I abhor reality shows and most TV anyway. 

 

[ladydusk]

Also finished "This Rough Magic" by Mary Stewart. A nice romantic mystery which dd is loving. I prefer Moonspinners but this was fine.

 

I think I prefer This Rough Magic but like Moonspinners well enough. Madam Will You Talk is pretty good too. If you likr Stewart's Gothic Romances, Howatch's pre 1970s books would be up your alley.

 

I'm still struggling through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I'm only halfway done. I have come to the conclusion that 1) it will be worth struggling through and 2) is a book that must improve with second and third and more readings.

[mumto2]

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I just requested a couple of Howatch's gothics. I have been slowly making my way through her C of E series so am curious about these.

 

I have to admit that I am probably a bit attached to Moonspinners. It was the first book I was permitted to read out of the adult section of the library. It was a huge event for me. :lol:

 

 

I think I prefer This Rough Magic but like Moonspinners well enough. Madam Will You Talk is pretty good too. If you likr Stewart's Gothic Romances, Howatch's pre 1970s books would be up your alley.

 

I'm still struggling through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I'm only halfway done. I have come to the conclusion that 1) it will be worth struggling through and 2) is a book that must improve with second and third and more readings.

[Onceuponatime]

I read all of Mary Stewarts books when I was younger. I used to have a collection of her books. Airs Above the Ground was my first and consequently  my favorite. :-)

 

What is the one that takes place on the Greek island with the stuff about St. Spiridon? That was my second favorite.

[ladydusk]

Iv'e never seen Airs Above Ground. I have a compilation with Nine Coaches Waiting in it that I keep meaning to read.

 

I'm pretty sure the St Spiridion one is This Rough Magic. That's the one that is my favorite.

[LostSurprise]

I've read many of the books on the Flavorwire list, but it has one glaring omission -- Hyperion!  That is now my all time favorite sci fi novel.  I'm almost half way through the sequel, Fall of Hyperion, which is gripping.  And crazy.  And well written.  I've been listening to it on my long commute to a gig of the last 5 days.  The most jarring thing is going from this epic war torn future world straight into a theater to play Sound of Music!!  

 

I'm looking forward to sitting on the couch tonight, glass of wine in hand, and watching the first episode of Broadchurch that I missed on Wednesday night.

 

Hyperion has too much science fiction and not enough fantasy for that list. :P

[ladydusk]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just requested a couple of Howatch's gothics. I have been slowly making my way through her C of E series so am curious about these.

 

I have to admit that I am probably a bit attached to Moonspinners. It was the first book I was permitted to read out of the adult section of the library. It was a huge event for me. :lol:

 

 

 

They are not like the CofE books ... Way more tame (except for Devil on Lammas Night which has evil and infers s*x ...I dont rec it, but mostly cause I dont like creepy. Jane sent it to me and I am grateful ... Still glad I read it!), than either the family sagas too. Nice happy books a la Mary Stewart or Victoria Holt, but I think they still show her writing talent.

[luvnlattes]

I finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Calvino. I am still processing this book. There were times I loved it because the writing was just so clever. Like here:

"To fly is the opposite of traveling:  you cross a gap in space, you vanish into the void, you accept not being in any place for a duration that is itself a kind of void in time; then you reappear, in a place and in a moment with no relation to the where and the when in which you vanished. Meanwhile, what do you do? How do you occupy this absence of yourself from the work and of the world from you? You read; you do not raise your eyes from the book between one airport and the other, because beyond the page there is the void, the anonymity of stopovers, of the metallic uterus that contains you and nourishes you..."

 

This made me smile and to have an airplane be called a "metallic uterus" made me laugh. Who does that? Yet I could appreciate the analogy.

 

On the other hand, there were times I would be reading and just go :confused1:  :confused1:  :confused1:  Like here, for example:

"But just when you are convinced that for the professor philology and erudition mean more than what the story is telling, you realize the opposite is true: that academic envelope serves only to protect everything the story says and does not say, an inner afflatus always on the verge of being dispersed at contact with the air, the echo of a vanished knowledge revealed in the penumbra and tacit allusions."

 

Say what??? I needed to look up 4 different words in the dictionary to understand this sentence! And his sentences were often loooooong like this one. It reminded me of Dickens when I read Great Expectations. When sentences go on forever, my mind gets impatient. I start reading faster searching for the period and the end of the thought! By then I've lost track of what's been said.

 

The funny thing is, now that I've finished the book, I do plan to go back and re-read it at some point. I'm hoping now that I know the story, I can pick up some of the many nuances I'm sure I missed because I couldn't figure out what the heck was happening! So while I wouldn't say I loved it, there were some things that I appreciated about it. Certain parts I loved and others I didn't care for, but I must have appreciated it because I NEVER go back and re-read books but I actually plan to do it with this one.

[mumto2]

I read all of Mary Stewarts books when I was younger. I used to have a collection of her books. Airs Above the Ground was my first and consequently  my favorite. :-)

 

What is the one that takes place on the Greek island with the stuff about St. Spiridon? That was my second favorite.

Definately This Rough Magic. :)

[VeganCupcake]

I finished Richard II this week and started Henry IV Part 1. I'm failing at reading it in one sitting, clearly. :) Richard II was very good. I'm energized to read the Henries.

 

I also finished reading an advanced reader copy of Cut It Out, about the rise of c-section births in the U.S. I have read a lot of birth books, but this was different; it was from the perspective of physicians, midwives, and labor and delivery nurses and the pressures they face. So much of what I have read demonizes the OB, so this was really very interesting. There are so many forces at play that influence an individual woman's experience.

[Stacia]

I'm still plugging away at my non-fiction book. But, as I must always have fiction in my life, I've started another book: The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney by Christopher Higgs.

 

From amazon :lol: :

Marvin K. Mooney, the enigmatic philosopher, has gone missing. Vanished. But we're left with his work: rambling, encyclopedic, destructive texts that call into question Marvin's own identity. Who is Marvin K. Mooney? And what has Christopher Higgs done with him? Only you, as reader, can find out.

 

The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney seems to me unprecedented via form, making new ways of both telling a story and relaying information, but also doing so in a way that is, as David Foster Wallace so expressly begged for: fun. -Blake Butler, at Bookslut

 

A playful, tender, intellectually challenging, and funny novel. -Josh Cook, at The Huffington Post

 

The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney is not quite meta-fiction. It's more batshit-crazy fiction. -Ned Vizzini at L Magazine

 

The sheer greatness of Higgs' novel calls the capacity of the word greatness into question. -Dennis Cooper

This is a 'dusty' book for me -- it has been sitting on my shelf for over a year now. I can't remember how or where I first heard about it, just know it's experimental & so far, I'm really enjoying (?? or am maybe more fascinated by) it. Uh... I don't even know how to describe it because I'm not even sure what it is yet, but I can say that one thing that originally attracted me to the book was the 'Marvin K. Mooney' moniker since that was one of my fave Dr. Seuss books when I was young. (Of course, when I read the Dr. Seuss book as an adult, I had to scratch my head a little bit & wonder about myself as a child. Otoh, my sis just gave me a doormat that says 'Go away', so maybe I haven't changed all that much after all. ;) :lol: Know thyself, eh?)

 

Here's a review I found of the book & (even though I haven't completed the book yet) I think this blogger has given a pretty good description of the book -- at least from what I gather so far. And, if you're interested, the publisher's website has a 'name your price' (min. $1) deal for the book in e-form (.pdf) or audio form (.zip). I'm not even sure how this book would translate into audio form, but e-form would probably work ok. I actually may be interested in the audio form myself after finishing the print version, just to see what/how it is done.

 

For those up to taking a dare, this is the one for you. And me.

[Stacia]

FYI, Open Road media is doing a drawing/give-away of 45 National Book Award finalists and winners loaded onto an e-reader.

http://www.openroadmedia.com/essentials?tab=adult

 

(You have to submit only your email address in order to enter the drawing.)

[LostSurprise]

 

Many people have recommended Beloved by Toni Morrison as one of their favorite 20th Century books.  I wanted to like it, I really did.  But straight off she talks about how the main character killed her child and that just ruined it for me.  I can't work up any sympathy for a Mother who murders her own child, so through the whole story I couldn't feel any compassion for Sethe.  I liked Denver a lot and Baby was wonderful too, I even like Paul D despite some of his failings.  But Beloved was just a wretched character.  I also didn't care for those two chapters where there was no punctuation, I realize what the author was doing, but it was just jarring and I had to really strain to make sense of what was going on.  I'm really disappointed by this one, I was expecting a lot more.

 

 

 

Its a good thing we all like different things. I'm not a huge Morrison fan, but I did feel deeply for Sethe and Paul D....and I did enjoy the mystery of the Baby/Beloved unraveled a bit. I felt like the psychologically broken chapters not only explained Baby's childishness and sensuality as a sexual abuse survivor but they drew a parallel between the worst that Sethe had feared for her baby girl (so feared that she saw death as a less painful alternative) and another girl who had survived and internalized the horror of slavery (to an even worse degree than Sethe). 

 

The characters have to move on from the past to remain healthy. Beloved/Baby is the past in all its romantic, selfish, broken glory. We thought it was over. We thought violent death ended it. Its never ended for those who experienced it, and Sethe continues to to pay for her act in guilt which ties her to every horror. That's one reason why she can't move from the spot. 

 

Anyway, not my usual thing, but I found it really moving. I have other characters with whom I can't connect (Wuthering Heights for one). 

[Storm Bay]

Yes, it's me, the non-participating member of this group (well, not this summer, I hope to participate more again this fall!

 

I've read a few more books, and I keep thinking I've missed something I've read (or perhaps more than one) as my book record keeping has been somewhat haphazard.

 

73. Mirror, Mirror…Off the Wall  I expected to like this a great deal more than I did, but gave it 3/5 stars (meaning I liked it, but nothing great)

74. Bitterweet Cathy Marie Hake

 

I'm currently reading The Zookeeper's Wife and am still reading The Grace Awakening. I have pile of books to be read as well. I hope

[mumto2]

Just finished Second Honeymoon by James Patterson. It was the best book imo that he has published recently. A good stand alone suspense novel. Very easy reading -- I read it really quickly because the librarian wants it back. :) It mentioned his book Honeymoon in a description I saw, which I have never read, but not sure that the main characters are even the same.

[mumto2]

Rosie -- Are you starting to feel better?

[mumto2]

Stacia -- I was just searching for your Borges and the.... book by Verissimo and ran into "The Spies" by the same author. Looks intriguing. Have you read it?

[Stacia]

Stacia -- I was just searching for your Borges and the.... book by Verissimo and ran into "The Spies" by the same author. Looks intriguing. Have you read it?

No. I found Verissimo quite by accident last week. He is apparently a popular author in Brazil.

[Lady Florida.]

I hope you're feeling better. Rosie.

 

I finished Murder at the Vicarage and am currently reading Cuckoo's Calling, the J.K. Rowling book that she wrote as Robert Galbraith. It's a pretty good detective story. It's the type of book I like, though I'm not sure I would have found it without the publicity. Once you get involved in the story, you forget the author.

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished Scattered. The book was a bit vague I think.

[MelAR05]

Yes, it's me, the non-participating member of this group (well, not this summer, I hope to participate more again this fall!

 

 

Same here! I can't believe this summer has been so busy.

 

 I have read (30) The Greatest Generation and (31) Death Comes to Pemberley. I thoroughly enjoyed The Greatest Generation but did not like Death Comes to Pemberley. :tongue_smilie: I wanted to like it but was so glad when it was over. Though I do give P.D. James props for writing it in her 90s. 

 

I am currently reading Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story by Greg Smith and it's right up my alley. The story is so fascinating to me!

[Kareni]

I recently reread the five books in Thea Harrison's Elder Races series.  These are paranormal romances.  The first is Dragon Bound.  Now I'm looking forward to book six which comes out in November.

 

Currently reading and enjoying Robyn Carr's newest book: The Newcomer (Thunder Point).  With Robyn Carr's books, you always get the stories of multiple characters.  It makes for a rich read.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Thank you for the kind wishes! But no, I'm worse! My head is clearer though, so while I'm too tired to read, I am catching up on Coursera lectures and that is better than a kick in the head. :) Not to mention working my way through my brother's Bollywood collection, which is, of course, a very worthwhile use of time. Culture, and all that. :D

 

 

P.S What has devilish sex got to do with Lammas? Shouldn't that be Beltane?

[Stacia]

Sorry you're not feeling better, Rosie! How are the Bollywood movies? I've never seen any....

 

And, speaking of movies (& to go off-topic a bit), I know someone on this thread is a Mark Wahlberg fan. Kareni maybe??? I just wanted to mention that dh & I went to see 2 Guns tonight & thought it was a fun summer action movie. Wahlberg & Washington were a really great pair playing off of each other. So, if you like action movies, this is one you might want to see. (And it was so much better than the last Wahlberg movie I saw [Pain and Gain]).

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

 How are the Bollywood movies? I've never seen any....

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veer-Zaara is a good one to start with.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_and_Prejudice is not one of the best films ever produced, but if you're a fan of P&P, you ought to see it for the laugh once.

[Hoot]

Really, really fun summer movie.  I love Wahlberg and Washington.  They were great together.

 

And, speaking of movies (& to go off-topic a bit), I know someone on this thread is a Mark Wahlberg fan. Kareni maybe??? I just wanted to mention that dh & I went to see 2 Guns tonight & thought it was a fun summer action movie. Wahlberg & Washington were a really great pair playing off of each other. So, if you like action movies, this is one you might want to see. (And it was so much better than the last Wahlberg movie I saw [Pain and Gain]).

 

[Onceuponatime]

Just finished The Bhagavad Gita. Eckhart Tolle's book The Power of Now is remarkably (suspiciously?) similar in philosophy, without the storyline of course.  The BG is beautiful poetry but the back of my head was arguing with it about reincarnation. I thought the reason given the king to go ahead and fight his frenemies was very illogical: "They are dead anyway, everyone dies." So why don't we just go around killing whoever gets in our way? :-P

[Hoot]

Today I finished Carrie by Stephen King.  I remember having watched the movie when I was a kid, but I don't think I've ever read the book before now.  I wanted to read it because it is coming out soon as a musical at my local theater.  The story itself was good, but I can't say that I was all that impressed with the writing or style.  It seemed very jumbled and undeveloped.

 

Completed So Far

1. Best Friends by Samantha Glen
2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
3. The Gift of Pets: Stories Only a Vet Could Tell by Bruce Coston
4. Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess
5. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine
6. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim
7. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
8. The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)
9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
10. The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings
11. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
12. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
13. Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson
14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
15. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie
16. Kisses From Katie by Katie Katie Davis
17. Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
19. Zoo by James Patterson
20. St. Lucy's School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
21. Russian Tortoises in Captivity by Jerry D. Fife
22. Leopard Geckos for Dummies by Liz Palika
23. The 8th Confession by James Patterson
24. Leopard Geckos: Caring for Your New Pet by Casey Watkins
25. The Ultimate Guide to Leopard Geckos by Phoenix Hayes Simmons
26. 9th Judgement by James Patterson
27. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson
28. 11th Hour by James Patterson
29. 12th of Never by James Patterson

30. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
31. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea With Ocean Experts by Ellen J. Prager
32. Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication by Kathleen M. Dudzinski & Toni Frohoff
33. The Greeening by S. Brubaker
34. No Touch Monkey! by Ayun Halliday
35. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

36. Beating Dyspraxia with a Hop, Skip, and a Jump by Geoff Platt

37. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

38. Traveling With Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

39. The Stranger by Albert Camus

40. Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

41. Shakespeare: The World a Stage by Bill Bryson

42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

43. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

44. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

45. Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age by Michael J. Gelb and Kelly Howell

46. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

47. Animal Farm by George Orwell

48. Carrie by Stephen King

[Angel]

I finished my first ever audio book (I have tried and tried to listen to an audio book and have never finished one), The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann.  Dd and I have been downloading free audio books from the Sync website over the summer and this was one of the free ones.  It reminded me a little of the one Artemis Fowl book I read.  A little.  It's about fairies and humans and changelings in England.  The fairies are not beautiful nice fairies but Spiderwick fairies, lol, so it was a bit dark.  Not too bad of a story, I lose a little bit listening so it might have been better if I read it.  There must be a sequel in the making because there was no resolution, a bit of an abrupt ending.  

 

But I listened to an audio book  :hurray:

 

That is my 9th book of the year since I'm still reading Robert Jordan.