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Book a Week in 2013 - week forty one


Robin M
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Happy Sunday, dear hearts!  Today is the start of week 41 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 - October Spooktacular Reading MonthAre you ready for some spooktacular reading?   Or like some folks, did you get an early start in September.  If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula, now would be a perfect time to do so.  Wait, come back. Not right this minute, but this month.  *grin*    I've read them already, and thoroughly enjoyed them, although was really quite surprised because neither was quite what I expected.  Which is actually a good thing, because it keeps one from getting bored.  The mantra this month is expect the unexpected.  

Spooky doesn't have to necessarily mean horror.  I'm definitely not into the blood and guts type of books, but do love a great nail biting, give me goose bumps, don't turn off the lights read.  And there are plenty of scary, spooky, chilling, thrilling books that are psychological fiction, paranormal or just plain old thrillers. 

In that vein, I have a few spooky books on the shelves I'm reading, (highlighted on 52 books blog) continuing with a Frankenstein and Dracula theme, starting with Elizabeth Kostova's the Historian which I started this morning.

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

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I read You Are What You Eat - 3 Stars - a bit overwhelming and the rest of it, I already knew. I'll have to take some time to make notes of the helpful tips. 

 

I also read I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections - my first book by Nora Ephron and I loved it - 4 Stars. I look forward to reading more books by her. One of my favorite chapters - and I honestly wish I could have done this to some rather undesirable/rude people in the past. 

 

 

9780307742803.jpg 9780452287174.jpg

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

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.

 

 

 

 

Said every reader everywhere. :)

 

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I finished Stephen King's Dark Tower Series.  It ended interestingly but too quickly and kind of threw me for a loop. Give me couple days and I'll probably go back and read the last couple chapters again, especially since the end chapter is set in a poem and I hate, err, didn't have the mindset for detangling the prose, poems.

 

De scattered my brain with a paranormal story by new to me author C.E. Murphy Urban Shaman. Totally enthralled me!

 

Joanne Walker has three days to learn to use her shamanic powers and save the world from the unleashed Wild Hunt. No worries. No pressure. Never mind the lack of sleep, the perplexing new talent for healing herself from fatal wounds, or the cryptic, talking coyote who appears in her dreams.  And if all that's not bad enough, in the three years Joanne's been a cop, she's never seen a dead body—but she's just come across her second in three days. It's been a bitch of a week. And it isn't over yet.

 

 

Sat down this morning and started reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and happy to say I like her writing style and the characters voice, so looking forward to reading more.

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Whipped through a couple of short books last week to climb out of my reading slump. First I read Bacchae by Euripides. Wow, Dionysus is harsh for the god of wine and orgies. Wine, orgies and vengeance, I guess. Then I read Heart of a Dog, a novella by Mikhail Bulgakov (writer of Master and the Margarita) that seemed H. G. Wellsish to me.

 

Now, thanks to Stacia's post about Archipelago Books, I'm reading The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre. At this point I would say getting older is a theme. Not like coming of age, but like mid-life crises and coming up on retirement. I'm really not far into it though. The style is that of the rambling thoughts of a bartender in an upscale French cafe. I think the author does a good job of making it sound enough like our thoughts without making it annoyingly too similar to real thoughts. That is, he doesn't think about stopping at the grocery store on the way home ten times throughout his shift - no annoying repetition of boring thoughts.

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Brideshead Revisited proves to be a better book read in middle age than youth. While I recalled it as a commentary on the changing class system in modern Britain, I had failed to remember a major theme throughout, that of Roman Catholicism.  (Note the novel's subtitle: "The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder".) Conversion and redemption are indeed part of the storyline here.

 

I am currently reading Peter Robinson's latest Inspector Banks novel which finally landed on my library's shelf.  With all of my comings and goings of the last few months, I had hesitated to request the book.  It never fails that a request arrives about the time that I am again leaving town.

 

Is anyone watching the Shakespearean plays on Great Performances?  I watched the first half of Henry IV Part One (Henry IV, the first Quarter?) online.  Something was wacky with the site, my computer or our Internet provider when I tried to watch the second half.  Henry IV Part Two should be online now.  Perhaps this week I'll pull out my knitting and try again.

 

 

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Horror 101:   If you need ideas for spooky reads check out Spooky reads

 

From the Horror Writers Association, a breakdown of Sub genres of Horror - part one and Sub genres of Horror - part two.

 

For those who don't click out of the forum: Horror is a subset of Science Fiction/ Fantasy. 

 

The sub genres of Horror are: 

 

Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic such as The Stand by Stephen King

Body horror (biological horror) such as Frankenstein

Dark Fantasy (Gothic fantasy / Fantasy horror) such as King's Dark Tower series,

Environmental Horror such as Hot House by Brian Aldiss,

Erotic Horror such as Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Fairy tales and Dark Fables such as Once by James Herbert,

 

And for something completely different - check out the Libraries of the Rich and Famous

 

I love Charlie Parker's music so take a gander at the article about the biography of Charlie Parker called Kansas City Lightning

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For those who don't click out of the forum: Horror is a subset of Science Fiction/ Fantasy.

 

The sub genres of Horror are:

 

Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic such as The Stand by Stephen King

Body horror (biological horror) such as Frankenstein

Dark Fantasy (Gothic fantasy / Fantasy horror) such as King's Dark Tower series,

Environmental Horror such as Hot House by Brian Aldiss,

Erotic Horror such as Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Fairy tales and Dark Fables such as Once by James Herbert,

 

I get scared easily, so I never read horror. Imagine my surprise at this list of sub genres, because I looooove apocalyptic/post apocalyptic books :D. And I really liked the Dark Tower series. Cool.
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I'm still reading The Golem and the Jinni, so not spooky, but still a good read. :)  I've been going slowly through the book because I've been extra busy and tired, but it has been good so far. I'm 30% through.

 

Extra busy and tired must be going around, as I have suffered the same myself this week.   :D

 

I've been working on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  I've made it to chapter 18, and it has gotten to a point where I want to tell the girls it's break week! so I can just sit and read straight through.  LOL  I'm really enjoying it so far.  I'm also glad that I read Dracula before reading this, as it has added to the atmosphere of the story for me.   :thumbup1:

 

On a side note, we were at the book store last week, and my dd10 begged me for a book.  My expression:  :w00t:    This book is what I would consider a "real" book.  Not a first chapter book, or a comic book-like book (think Geronimo Stilton), but an honest, 400-odd page BOOK.  I was sooo excited!  LOL  She devoured a good 3/4 of the book in about three days, and then started reading it really slowly.  I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "Nothing, I just don't want it to be over yet."  She finished it this morning, and was very sad it was over.  We got on Good Reads and looked for similar books to try.  I thought this child would never read anything but Geronimo Stilton, but maybe she is ready to break out and try some new things!

 

Her book:

 

[edited to remove picture]

 

There is a second one coming out, but she has to wait till April next year.  She was quite put out, and I told her, "Welcome to my world!"   :lol:

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Someday I need to try Stephen King again. I quit reading his books years ago and cannot even remember why. I have enjoyed your reviews of the Dark Tower series and will try it when my stack shrinks a bit.

 

You did manage to get me to add my name to a hold list for Urban Shaman. Looking forward to it.

 

I finished The Historian this morning!!!! I love e library books but the pressure when they go overdue... I hate not being able to go online with my kindle. Anyway I hope you enjoy this wonderful book. It was my second reading of it and I was completely captivated once again!

 

 

I finished Stephen King's Dark Tower Series.  It ended interestingly but too quickly and kind of threw me for a loop. Give me couple days and I'll probably go back and read the last couple chapters again, especially since the end chapter is set in a poem and I hate, err, didn't have the mindset for detangling the prose, poems.

 

De scattered my brain with a paranormal story by new to me author C.E. Murphy Urban Shaman. Totally enthralled me!

 

 

 

Sat down this morning and started reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and happy to say I like her writing style and the characters voice, so looking forward to reading more.

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I'm still reading The Golem and the Jinni, so not spooky, but still a good read. :) I've been going slowly through the book because I've been extra busy and tired, but it has been good so far. I'm 30% through.

 

 

Slowly making my way through the waiting list for this one. I love reading everyone's reviews. :)
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... new to me author C.E. Murphy Urban Shaman. Totally enthralled me!

 

 

Yep, she's a good author.  I've also read her series which starts with

 

The Queen's Bastard (The Inheritors' Cycle, Book 1) -- it starts out as though it's historical fiction and then adds in a paranormal element.

 

Also interesting is her Negotiator series which starts with

 

Heart of Stone (The Negotiator Trilogy, Book 1)

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I just finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton and have started Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel. I liked the Gothic feel of The Distant Hours. I read a lot of books like that in my teens and 20's.

 

I've read Dracula, Frankenstein, The Historian, and most of Poe's works, years ago. I may revisit some Poe. 

 

I've got Spook by Mary Roach in the line up and may try some things of Neil Gaiman's that I haven't read before.

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Finished:


 


#60 A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel H. Pink.  I enjoyed this one.  The writing was personable while being informative.  Makes a case not only for the benefits of being right-brained, but also for the need to have a balanced right- and left-brain; hence, a whole new mind.  Following each section were a few pages of suggestions that were, to my mind, not really necessary.


 


Currently reading:


 


#61 And God Came In: The Extraordinary Story of Joy Davidman: Her Life and Marriage to C.S. Lewis, by Lyle W. Dorsett.  Another enjoyable read, and compelling, too. If you've seen the movie "Shadowland", it does not do Joy justice, with the script writers appearing to have taken a good bit of literary license.  The book - well researched, well written.  

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Well, I guess Heart of a Dog might qualify as body horror, and I gave that away this morning. So that's one. He should add a counter to the web page.

 

I showed Neil Gaiman's spooky book recommendations to my children, and we now have Something Wicked This Way Comes on hold at the library.

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I get scared easily, so I never read horror. Imagine my surprise at this list of sub genres, because I looooove apocalyptic/post apocalyptic books :D. And I really liked the Dark Tower series. Cool.

If you managed the Dark Tower series, then you'll be fine with other apocalyptical books.  Have you ever read anything by Larry Niven?  I remember Lucifer's Hammer being pretty good.  Well anything I've read of his has been good. It's just been 20 years or so since I've read his stuff. 

 

Extra busy and tired must be going around, as I have suffered the same myself this week.   :D

 

I've been working on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  I've made it to chapter 18, and it has gotten to a point where I want to tell the girls it's break week! so I can just sit and read straight through.  LOL  I'm really enjoying it so far.  I'm also glad that I read Dracula before reading this, as it has added to the atmosphere of the story for me.   :thumbup1:

 

On a side note, we were at the book store last week, and my dd10 begged me for a book.  My expression:  :w00t:    This book is what I would consider a "real" book.  Not a first chapter book, or a comic book-like book (think Geronimo Stilton), but an honest, 400-odd page BOOK.  I was sooo excited!  LOL  She devoured a good 3/4 of the book in about three days, and then started reading it really slowly.  I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "Nothing, I just don't want it to be over yet."  She finished it this morning, and was very sad it was over.  We got on Good Reads and looked for similar books to try.  I thought this child would never read anything but Geronimo Stilton, but maybe she is ready to break out and try some new things!

 

Her book:

5134KjC-J3L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-stic

 

There is a second one coming out, but she has to wait till April next year.  She was quite put out, and I told her, "Welcome to my world!"   :lol:

 

Awesome!  Great start for your daughter.  Glad to hear you are enjoying The Historian so much.  

 

Yep, she's a good author.  I've also read her series which starts with

 

The Queen's Bastard (The Inheritors' Cycle, Book 1) -- it starts out as though it's historical fiction and then adds in a paranormal element.

 

Also interesting is her Negotiator series which starts with

 

Heart of Stone (The Negotiator Trilogy, Book 1)

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thanks! I'll be sure to check them out!

 

I've been rereading Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega series.  I'm currently on

 

Fair Game  and wondering when the next book in the series will come out.  I fear that I have quite a wait.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Don't know. The 8th book Night Broken in her Mercedes Thompson series is coming out in March.  And she's working on graphic novel  right now

 

 Cool!  I liked his recommendations especially since Lovecraft and Poe are on the list and that's what I have in the stacks. Although  Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box sounds tempting, but a bit too much for me.  Although I made it through  N0S4A2.  Another good one to add to everyone's scary, creepy list of reads.

 

To make your link neat with a title.  Copy the link, then type All Hallows Reads, highlight it, click on links in the menu bar, then paste the link. Voila!

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If you've read Boneshaker, how Gruesome/Gross is it on a scale of 1- 10?

 

I read it a couple of years ago. I'm not into gross &/or zombie stuff for the most part & I thought it was fine. A scale of 1-10 grossness-wise? Maybe a 3 -- 1 being not gross at all & 10 being ultimately, sickeningly gross.

 

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Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic such as The Stand by Stephen King

Body horror (biological horror) such as Frankenstein

Dark Fantasy (Gothic fantasy / Fantasy horror) such as King's Dark Tower series,

Environmental Horror such as Hot House by Brian Aldiss,

Erotic Horror such as Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Fairy tales and Dark Fables such as Once by James Herbert,

 

 

Where would psychological horror fall? I'm thinking of Henry James and Shirley Jackson.
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I finished Jules Verne's Le Sphinx de Glaces. Verne wrote his book as a follow-up/continuation of Edgar Allan Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

 

Poe created a sense of creeping dread in his meandering novel that was part seafaring misadventure, a bit of scientific flora & fauna diary, & a bizarre horror story, capped by an abrupt, inconclusive ending. His perplexing narrative spurred both H.P. Lovecraft & Jules Verne to write their own novels to continue & flesh-out Poe's story.

 

H.P. Lovecraft's novel borrows the setting & builds on the abrupt ending, creating a horror landscape that delves into the Antarctic area decades after Pym disappears. Lovecraft's horrific scenes extend the setting & creatures, imagining what Pym might have also encountered had Poe decided to share Pym's Antarctic fate with us.

 

As for Verne's novel, I imagine the very rational, scientific Verne reading Poe's novel for the first time, loving the artistic élan, the mystery, but twitching at Poe's inconsistencies, dead-ends, & hanging plot points....

 

And, then, Verne set-about writing his own novel, weaving Poe's entire narrative into his own plot, fixing/explaining any incongruities, effectively retelling & extending the story of Pym to bring the entire narrative to a logical, complete, & sound ending.

 

I'm not sure whether Poe would have been amused or horrified at the 'tidying' that Verne does with his story.

 

Even so, Verne writes a wonderful 'adaptation' & sequel to Poe's novel & I think the two books read together fit together like, well... like The Odd Couple fit together -- completely different, yet complementary, & highlighting the best of each writer.

 

Bravo to Poe & Verne. (I also enjoyed Lovecraft's variation on the Pym story, but his was less intrusive & less revisionist of Poe's work than Verne's version; Lovecraft's is almost more of a stand-alone book than Verne's is, imo.)

 

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

My Goodreads Page

My PaperbackSwap Page

 

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 by Luis Fernando Verissimo (5 stars). Challenge: Continental – South America (Brazil & Argentina).

 

51. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Antarctica.

52. Pym by Mat Johnson (3 stars). Challenge: Continental – Antarctica.

53. Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (5 stars).

54. The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney by Christopher Higgs (5 stars).

55. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (3 stars).

56. The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia by Anna Reid (3 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Siberia).

57. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires by Raymond T. McNally & Radu Florescu (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Romania).

58. Remainder by Tom McCarthy (4 stars). Challenge: Dusty.

59. At the Mountains of Madness (radio/audio version) by H.P. Lovecraft (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Antarctica.

60. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (5 stars).

 

61. Night of My Blood by Kofi Awoonor (3 stars). Challenge: Continental – Africa (Ghana).

62. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (3 stars).

63. Le Sphinx de Glaces by Jules Verne (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Antarctica.

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Where would psychological horror fall? I'm thinking of Henry James and Shirley Jackson.

 

I think there is a fine line between psychological thrillers and horror so lots of crossover.  I haven't read anything by Henry James.   Shirley Jackson's The Lottery was gut wrenching to say the least. Everyone should read that short story at least once.  

 

Good pyschological horror would be Stephen KIng's Duma Key or Under the Dome,   Dean Koontz Odd Thomas series or his By the Light of the Moon.  Gaiman has quite a few that are quite dark.   Also check out Heather Graham and Joe Hill (Stephen King's son).

 

Oh! Ted Dekker's is fantastic for psychological horror/thrillers - the first book I read by him was Thr3e. Throws you into the story, keeps you guessing with the chills throughout.

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Sat down this morning and started reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and happy to say I like her writing style and the characters voice, so looking forward to reading more.

Yay. Glad you are liking it.

Both Dracula and Frankenstein are assigned in the Coursera Sci-Fi/Fantasy course that starts tomorrow, so it looks like I will be (re)reading both this month. :) It has been at least three years since I've read either book, so I am looking forward to see if they are as good as I remember.

 

Still working on the three I mentioned last week: The Borgias: The Hidden History (G.J. Meyer), Doctor Sleep (Stephen King), The Last Werewolf (Glen Duncan). The King book is b-o-r-i-n-g, but the other two are good.

LOL about S. King. (I think I'd agree.) Everything else sounds like great reading.

Whipped through a couple of short books last week to climb out of my reading slump. First I read Bacchae by Euripides. Wow, Dionysus is harsh for the god of wine and orgies. Wine, orgies and vengeance, I guess. Then I read Heart of a Dog, a novella by Mikhail Bulgakov (writer of Master and the Margarita) that seemed H. G. Wellsish to me.

 

Now, thanks to Stacia's post about Archipelago Books, I'm reading The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre. At this point I would say getting older is a theme. Not like coming of age, but like mid-life crises and coming up on retirement. I'm really not far into it though. The style is that of the rambling thoughts of a bartender in an upscale French cafe. I think the author does a good job of making it sound enough like our thoughts without making it annoyingly too similar to real thoughts. That is, he doesn't think about stopping at the grocery store on the way home ten times throughout his shift - no annoying repetition of boring thoughts.

I have wanted to read Heart of a Dog ever since I read Bulgakov's The Master & Margarita.

 

Cool about the Archipelago book. Will have to look up that one....

Brideshead Revisited proves to be a better book read in middle age than youth.

I guess I can read it now. ;)

Quick, Boil Some Water:The Story of Childbirth in Our Grandmother's Day by Yvonne Barlow. This is a compilation of birth stories told by British women during the 1930s to 1960s with some social history in between decades. Fascinating but..yikes! I'm glad I wasn't giving birth back then.

Yikes. Sounds like a good pick for 'horror' month.

Horror 101: If you need ideas for spooky reads check out Spooky reads

 

From the Horror Writers Association, a breakdown of Sub genres of Horror - part one and Sub genres of Horror - part two.

 

For those who don't click out of the forum: Horror is a subset of Science Fiction/ Fantasy.

 

The sub genres of Horror are:

 

Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic such as The Stand by Stephen King

Body horror (biological horror) such as Frankenstein

Dark Fantasy (Gothic fantasy / Fantasy horror) such as King's Dark Tower series,

Environmental Horror such as Hot House by Brian Aldiss,

Erotic Horror such as Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Fairy tales and Dark Fables such as Once by James Herbert,

 

And for something completely different - check out the Libraries of the Rich and Famous

Thanks for the links. (Btw, I didn't get the right link for 'spooky reads' -- it took me to the libraries of the rich & famous page.) Even though I keep saying I don't like horror, I guess I read my share of it anyway. I'm a hypocrite. :P But, I can really say that I do not like environmental horror at all.

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Recently finished:

 

50. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - I'm reading the series to dd. So far she is loving it, but I'm just so-so...

 

51. A Glorious Age in Africa: The Story of Three Great African Empires by Daniel Chu and Eliot Skinner - We're learning about Africa in our homeschool, and I wanted to read this before assigning to dd. It was a good intro to a time and place I didn't know much about.

 

52. The Iliad by Homer (audiobook) - Amazing!

 

Forgot to add:

I'm reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman, but I'm not sure it's my cup of tea. I'll give it a bit longer. I was also wondering if The Woman in White would qualify as a scary read - looks like it might by the description.

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I'm still reading The Golem and the Jinni, so not spooky, but still a good read. :)  I've been going slowly through the book because I've been extra busy and tired, but it has been good so far. I'm 30% through.

 

Glad to hear it's a good one.

 

I've been working on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  I've made it to chapter 18, and it has gotten to a point where I want to tell the girls it's break week! so I can just sit and read straight through.  LOL  I'm really enjoying it so far.  I'm also glad that I read Dracula before reading this, as it has added to the atmosphere of the story for me.   :thumbup1:

 

On a side note, we were at the book store last week, and my dd10 begged me for a book.  My expression:  :w00t:  

 

Another "I'm glad you're enjoying The Historian"....

 

And, yay for your dd!

 

I finished The Historian this morning!!!! I love e library books but the pressure when they go overdue... I hate not being able to go online with my kindle. Anyway I hope you enjoy this wonderful book. It was my second reading of it and I was completely captivated once again!

 

Guess what I'm going to say... ;)

 

Yep, she's a good author.  I've also read her series which starts with

 

The Queen's Bastard (The Inheritors' Cycle, Book 1) -- it starts out as though it's historical fiction and then adds in a paranormal element.

 

 

Sounds good.

 

 I fear that I have quite a wait.

 

Never fun.

 

A link to continue this month's theme:

 

 

All Hallows read

 

 

:smilielol5:  Love it!

 

I just finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton and have started Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel. I liked the Gothic feel of The Distant Hours. I read a lot of books like that in my teens and 20's.

 

I've read Dracula, Frankenstein, The Historian, and most of Poe's works, years ago. I may revisit some Poe. 

 

I've got Spook by Mary Roach in the line up and may try some things of Neil Gaiman's that I haven't read before.

 

It all sounds great!

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I finished The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison, which was touted by some as better than Gone Girl.  Not to me, but it was good.  (Delved into more of the psychology of why the husband and wife were both detestable in their own ways...but they weren't quite as detestable as the characters in Gone Girl!  LOL)

 

Now I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is sort of slow.  It's interesting, but much more historical info about Savannah than I care for.  Waiting for the murder.  hehe

 

Next up is Enclave by Ann Aguirre which a friend has been asking me to read for a while.  lol  Then, I'm hoping dh will be done with our copy of Doctor Sleep!  :P

 

OH!  I finished Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and LOVED it.  Very good. 

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#60 A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel H. Pink.  I enjoyed this one.  The writing was personable while being informative.  Makes a case not only for the benefits of being right-brained, but also for the need to have a balanced right- and left-brain; hence, a whole new mind.  Following each section were a few pages of suggestions that were, to my mind, not really necessary

 

 

Ohhh. That sounds interesting.

 

Well, I guess Heart of a Dog might qualify as body horror, and I gave that away this morning. So that's one. He should add a counter to the web page.

 

I showed Neil Gaiman's spooky book recommendations to my children, and we now have Something Wicked This Way Comes on hold at the library.

 

Like the idea of him adding a counter to the page. I need to read another Gaiman book sometime.

 

Cool!  I liked his recommendations especially since Lovecraft and Poe are on the list and that's what I have in the stacks. Although  Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box sounds tempting, but a bit too much for me.  Although I made it through  N0S4A2.  Another good one to add to everyone's scary, creepy list of reads.

 

Me too. I notice he has Jonathan Carroll on the list too; I enjoy his books. Will have to look up the particular one that Gaiman suggests.

 

It is pure coincidence that I have been reading Dracula this month. lol :D Frankenstein is still on my to-read list; perhaps I'll try that one next.

 

So fun to see how many people are delving into scary books this month.

 

51. A Glorious Age in Africa: The Story of Three Great African Empires by Daniel Chu and Eliot Skinner - We're learning about Africa in our homeschool, and I wanted to read this before assigning to dd. It was a good intro to a time and place I didn't know much about.

 

Sounds like another interesting one....

 

Earlier today, I started The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noémi Szécsi. Even though it will probably qualify as a 'spooky' read (vampires, after all), this will probably also be lumped in those where I'm missing plenty of cultural/political/social references (Hungary).

 

Book description:

 

An entertaining story of a Budapest vampire dynasty. Jerne Voltampere’s Grandmother doesn’t look her age, but she is 284 years old. She looks like a young woman. No wonder, as every night she sucks the blood of assorted men. She is a vampire and wants her grandchild to follow the family tradition. Her Granddaughter, Jerne has just returned to Budapest after a posh education at an English college, Winterwood. Reincarnations of the Bronte sisters taught her to write fairy tales. Jerne writes children’s books, but they are considered too bloody to be published. Her Grandmother is adamant: Jerne will have to give up her literary ambitions and become a vampire. In the meanwhile, she takes an undemanding job as an editor. But the married couple who run the publishing house behave more and more suspiciously. This is a story of a death and the afterlife told by a witty and irresistible narrator. The first Budapest vampire story from the home country of Béla Lugosi.

 

And a note from the narrator to the reader at the beginning of the book...

 

Reader, do not doubt the truth of my words, for the tale I tell is a lie from beginning to end. It is often said that the only way to tell the truth is through telling lies. But in my view reality is wholly devoid of interest. Yet every word of this tale is true.

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Now I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is sort of slow.  It's interesting, but much more historical info about Savannah than I care for.  Waiting for the murder.  hehe

 

:lol:  I enjoyed that book, but I like the southern gothic feel of the true story.

 

 

OH!  I finished Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and LOVED it.  Very good. 

 

My fil is reading this one. I'll have to borrow his copy...

 

 

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We listened to The Swiss Family Robinson on our drive to and from the beach. We all greatly enjoyed it. Hooray for Librivox and KayRay as a reader!

 

And hooray for being home!

Welcome home!  It's so nice to be away, but it's so great to be home.   :D

 

 

That's how we "read" The Swiss Family Robinson this year, too.  Although, I got our copy from the library, and not Librivox (I'll have to look it up).  Did you ever find yourself wondering how in the world all the animals and plants were on that island?  At times I just had to laugh at the far fetched-ness of some of it.  We enjoyed it very much, though.

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I went on an unsuccessful search for The Finno-Ugrian Vampire which sounds great after The Historian. I loved all of the Hungarian scenery and want to go there too! :lol: I am looking forward to the review! While hunting I ran into this rather prolific vampire romance author

 

http://www.lynsaysands.net/

 

and am going to try one of her books. Starting with A Quick Bite which according to another list is the first in read order.

 

Earlier today, I started The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noémi Szécsi. Even though it will probably qualify as a 'spooky' read (vampires, after all), this will probably also be lumped in those where I'm missing plenty of cultural/political/social references (Hungary).

 

Book description:

 

And a note from the narrator to the reader at the beginning of the book...

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Started Reading:
Nothing new because I just started two books over the weekend. But when I finish one of them I will be done with the Dewey decimal challenge!!

 

Still Reading:
Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony Amore (American Author, DD class 700)
The Gospel's Power and Message by Paul Washer (American author, DD class 200)

Finished:

43. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Persuasive Writing by Gerald Graff (American author, DD class 400)
42. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (American author, DD class 800)
41. Mariana by Susanna Kearsley (Canadian author, DD class 800)
40. Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine by Eric Weiner (American author, DD class 200)
39. When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper (American author, DD class 200)
38. Inferno by Dan Brown (American author, DD class 800) 
37. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (American author, DD class 800) 
36. The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God's Story by D.A. Carson (Canadian author, DD class 200)
35. Sandstorm by James Rollins (American author, DD class 800)
34. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Mexican Author, DD class 800)
33. The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost (Dutch Author, DD class 900)
32. Bill Bryson's African Diary by Bill Bryson (American author, DD class 900) 
31. The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer (American author, DD class 800) 
30. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (American author, DD class 800) 
29.The Sherlockian by Graham Moore (American author, DD class 800) 
28. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (American authors, DD class 800)
27. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (American author, DD class 900)
26. The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio (American author, DD class 800)
25. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Ethiopian author, DD class 800)
24. Having Hard Conversations by Jennifer Abrams (American author, DD class 300)
23.The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe (American author, DD class 600) 
22. The Infernal Devices #3: The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (American author, DD class 800)
21. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (American author, DD class 800)
20. Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill (British author, DD class 200)
19. The Infernal Devices #2: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (American author, DD class 800)
18. The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (American author, DD class 800)
17. God's Big Picture: Tracing the Story-Line of the Bible by Vaughan Roberts (British author, DD class 200)
16.The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley (Canadian Author, DD Class 800) 
15.The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner (American author, DD class 900) 
14. Prodigy by Marie Lu (Chinese author, DD class 800)
13. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (American author, DD class 900)
12. The Disappearing Spoon: And Other Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (American author, DD class 500)
11. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman (American Author, DD class 600)
10. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller (American author, DD class 200)
9. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (American author, DD class 300)
8. Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald (American author, DD class 100)
7. The Bungalow by Sarah Jio (American author, DD class 800)
6. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (American author, DD class 800)
5. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (American author, DD class 800)
4. The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies (Canadian author, DD class 600)
3. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (Australian author, DD class 800)
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (English author, DD class 800)
1. The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale by Oliver Potzsch (German author, DD class 800) 

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Welcome home! It's so nice to be away, but it's so great to be home. :D

 

 

That's how we "read" The Swiss Family Robinson this year, too. Although, I got our copy from the library, and not Librivox (I'll have to look it up). Did you ever find yourself wondering how in the world all the animals and plants were on that island? At times I just had to laugh at the far fetched-ness of some of it. We enjoyed it very much, though.

Oh, yes we wondered. The animals were astounding. The amount of things they got off the ship was pretty spectacular (and convenient) too. No one ever got sick, either.

 

I was surprised by the end; who stayed and who left.

 

But the enterprise, ingenuity, hard work, family loyalty, and trust in Providence were great for our kiddos to hear.

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Oh, yes we wondered. The animals were astounding. The amount of things they got off the ship was pretty spectacular (and convenient) too. No one ever got sick, either.

 

I was surprised by the end; who stayed and who left.

 

But the enterprise, ingenuity, hard work, family loyalty, and trust in Providence were great for our kiddos to hear.

 

This.  I think I loved that the most about the book.

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I need a South American author to complete my author-from-every-continent challenge. Any suggestions?

 

I tend to love South American writing. What a powerhouse of authors they have! A few to consider...

 

Alberto Manguel (Argentina) -- I love his fictional book All Men are Liars; someone else on the thread read his non-fiction book With Borges; I would like to read his non-fiction book The Library at Night

 

Gabriel García Márquez (Columbia) -- One Hundred Years of Solitude is probably the most famous magical realism novel in the world (GGM is generally considered the father of magical realism as his book brought magical realism to the world's attention); many love Love in the Time of Cholera (but I didn't)

 

Isabel Allende (Chile) -- she has many great ones to choose from; one of her very popular favorites is The House of the Spirits; I also really enjoyed Daughter of Fortune

 

Che Guevara (Argentina) -- wrote The Motorcycle Diaries about his travels around South America on a motorcycle in the 1950s, a trip that in many ways was influential in his choice to lead the life of a revolutionary (rather than as a doctor, which was his educational background). From wikipedia...

Guevara later remarked that through his travels of Latin America, he came in "close contact with poverty, hunger and disease" along with the "inability to treat a child because of lack of money" and "stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment" that leads a father to "accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident". It was these experiences which Guevara cites as convincing him that in order to "help these people", he needed to leave the realm of medicine, and consider the political arena of armed struggle.

 

Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) -- fabulous short-story writer (I generally don't like short stories, but I love his)

 

Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

 

Paulo Coelho (Brazil) -- I'm not a huge fan of his work, but he is extremely popular world-wide

 

Roberto Bolaño (Chile)

 

Pablo Neruda (Chile)

 

Vicente Huidobro (Chile)

 

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentina)

 

Julio Cortázar (Argentina)

 

 

 

 

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I went on an unsuccessful search for The Finno-Ugrian Vampire which sounds great after The Historian. I loved all of the Hungarian scenery and want to go there too! :lol: I am looking forward to the review! While hunting I ran into this rather prolific vampire romance author

 

http://www.lynsaysands.net/

 

and am going to try one of her books. Starting with A Quick Bite which according to another list is the first in read order.

 

 

Well, so far The Finno-Ugrian Vampire is not 'scholarly'/historic like The Historian is. I think it's more of a reflection on Hungarian political/social mores, dressed up in a story about a vampire grandmother & her (non-vampire) granddaughter.

 

Let me know what you think of the Sands book.

 

Started Reading:

Nothing new because I just started two books over the weekend. But when I finish one of them I will be done with the Dewey decimal challenge!!

 

:hurray:

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I've gotten really behind in my check ins.  I finished Sister Carrie by Theodore Drieser and The Trial by Franz Kafka.  I enjoyed Sister Carrie quite a bit and was confused by The Trial.  I just couldn't wrap my head around Kafka's writing so I decided to do a Google search to see if I could get a clearer picture of it.  I stumbled across a movie trailer on Youtube from an old black and white movie.  It was so moody and bizarre!  But it really helped to see that what I was "seeing" in my head did not fit at all what I assumed Kafka was getting at.  Once I started thinking more in terms of that hopeless, dispairing style that the video portrayed, it made so much more sense and I actually started to enjoy it.  I think I'd like to try another of his books.

 

 

 

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                                                                   34 - Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
9 – The Great Gatsby â€“ F. Scott Fitzgerald                                                                35 - Dimanche - Irene Nemirovsky
10 – The Hiding Place â€“ Corrie Ten Boom                                                                36 - Babbitt - Sinclair Lewis 
11 – The Square Foot Garden â€“ Mel Bartholomew                                                     37 - Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger 
12 - Catch-22- Joseph Heller                                                                                    38 - A Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
13 - Heart of Darkness- Joseph Conrad                                                                    39 -  Sister Carrie - Theodore Drieser
14 - Partners in Crime - Agatha Christie                                                                   40 -  The Trial - Franz Kafka
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
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If you managed the Dark Tower series, then you'll be fine with other apocalyptical books.  Have you ever read anything by Larry Niven?  I remember Lucifer's Hammer being pretty good.  Well anything I've read of his has been good. It's just been 20 years or so since I've read his stuff. 

 

I like Larry Niven's books and definitely liked Lucifer's Hammer when I read it years ago. Although I have to admit I did not pick up on the racist overtones for which the book is being condemded nowadays :blushing: . So maybe I should reread it to see if I still like it or not.

 

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I have finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Halfway through it really felt like the wrong book for me at the moment. Reading about someone who has a complete nervous breakdown, tries to kill herself and gets treated by electro shock therapy (ieeeeek!), isn't a smart thing when you are feeling stressed and a bit depressed yourself. But I'm glad I finished it. It's a good book.

 

I'm now reading Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress by Daj Sijie.

 

And I'm waiting for the assignment for the Coursera Fantasy and Science Fiction course. I can't seem to download any videos and I have no idea which Grimm's Fairytales I need to read. Has anyone an idea?

 

----

 

6. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

5. Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Saga book 4) - Raymond E. Feist

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth

3. The Pleasure of Reading in the Age of Distraction - Alan Jacobs  (reread)

2. Dream of Joy - Lisa See

1. The Shallows - Nicholas Carr

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Hi Tress, this is dd. The Grimm's fairy tales you need are linked to in the course syllabus, along with most of the other readings in the course. The book is called Household tales, but I think you want the edition they linked to,since I think the stories included varies between editions.They just posted the videos an hour ago, so if you go back on you should be able to get them. I hope you have a good time!

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I've gotten really behind in my check ins.  I finished Sister Carrie by Theodore Drieser and The Trial by Franz Kafka.  I enjoyed Sister Carrie quite a bit and was confused by The Trial.  I just couldn't wrap my head around Kafka's writing so I decided to do a Google search to see if I could get a clearer picture of it.  I stumbled across a movie trailer on Youtube from an old black and white movie.  It was so moody and bizarre!  But it really helped to see that what I was "seeing" in my head did not fit at all what I assumed Kafka was getting at.  Once I started thinking more in terms of that hopeless, dispairing style that the video portrayed, it made so much more sense and I actually started to enjoy it.  I think I'd like to try another of his books.

 

I felt so stressed out while reading The Trial. I think he does a great job of creating stress, uncertainty, panic. It certainly created those feelings in me!

 

I have finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Halfway through it really felt like the wrong book for me at the moment. Reading about someone who has a complete nervous breakdown, tries to kill herself and gets treated by electro shock therapy (ieeeeek!), isn't a smart thing when you are feeling stressed and a bit depressed yourself. But I'm glad I finished it. It's a good book.

 

I'm now reading Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress by Daj Sijie.

 

I've always thought I should read The Bell Jar (but thought it might be too dark). Another one of those on my (too long) to-read list.

 

Love the Sijie book. It's one of my favorites. :thumbup1:  It's a book for people who love books.

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