Book a Week in 2013 - week fifty

[Stacia]

A Town Like Alice is a lovely book so far. For those that have read it already, I just had to comment on the part after Jean meets Joe & he supplies them with soap by stealing boots, which he trades, then steals back another pair of boots which he sells. My grandfather was sent to Burma during WWII. He rarely talked about anything related to the war. But, the one story he would tell is when he was bathing in a river once, his uniform & boots were stolen. He had nothing else to wear & ended up w/ an extra uniform that the cook had, which was stiff w/ dried blood from slaughtering animals to cook. The book just gave me such a powerful flashback, though, when the boot stealing was mentioned -- I suddenly heard my grandfather telling his story of stolen clothes & boots.

 

Ali in OR, have you read this one? I know you've read a lot of WWII books this year, so that is why I'm asking....

[Stacia]

If anyone else has a list of BAW recommendations, let me know.  I'll put together a master list for a mini challenge.

 

The Master & Commander series

Snow Crash

 

I know there are many, many more, but that is what is popping into my head right now....

 

[Jane in NC]

A Town Like Alice is a lovely book so far. For those that have read it already, I just had to comment on the part after Jean meets Joe & he supplies them with soap by stealing boots, which he trades, then steals back another pair of boots which he sells. My grandfather was sent to Burma during WWII. He rarely talked about anything related to the war. But, the one story he would tell is when he was bathing in a river once, his uniform & boots were stolen. He had nothing else to wear & ended up w/ an extra uniform that the cook had, which was stiff w/ dried blood from slaughtering animals to cook. The book just gave me such a powerful flashback, though, when the boot stealing was mentioned -- I suddenly heard my grandfather telling his story of stolen clothes & boots.

 

Ali in OR, have you read this one? I know you've read a lot of WWII books this year, so that is why I'm asking....

 

While I have not read A Town Like Alice, I do recall watching the PBS Masterpiece dramatization that was dates back to the '80's.  Boy, is my age showing!

 

[mumto2]

And on the same site - 3 essential books you should read in every Genre.  Wind up Bird Chronicles will probably be my first book of the new year.

Assuming I can get the kindle library copy at the right time I will join you with "Wind up Bird Chronicles". I keep saying how much I want to read it so I need to just do it. As an ebook it will be lighter but the percent counter will move very slowly!

[Onceuponatime]

In  a way, string theory reminds me of 84 Charing Cross Road. Helene Hanff started out reading a book by Arthur Quiller-Couch that had so many references to other works that she would pause the book and go read the mentioned piece of literature then go back to the original book. She did this for years.

 

I already tend to follow trails with my reading. It would be interesting to visually map the trail.

 

[Stacia]

 

I already tend to follow trails with my reading. It would be interesting to visually map the trail.

 

:iagree:

[Stacia]

I try to put brief descriptions of books I've read on my book blog, but found it really hard to describe Snow Crash. 

 

Thanks for all the info. It is definitely something totally, totally different than what I imagined based on the title alone. LOL. Definitely sounds interesting (though I wouldn't say that I've ever read much sci-fi) & I think I may be trying it in 2014....

[Stacia]

As far as reading ideas for 2014, another idea (that Rosie suggested for this year after she did the Picnic at Hanging Rock challenge) is to have various people host a read-along of a book from their area. Rosie sent postcards from Hanging Rock to those who read the book; others could do something similar if they wanted (or not).

 

I would toss out an idea for my area, but I'm not sure I actually want to read Gone with the Wind myself. LOL. (Of course, I could pick a Jimmy Carter or MLK Jr. book too, among others.)

[Robin M]

Speaking of Divine Comedy, came across Neil Hannon's song  Book Lovers

Weird song to try and do live.

 

The lyrics include quotes taken from the books of each of the authors.

 

The Booklovers Lyrics by Divine Comedy

 

"This book deals with epiphenomenalism, which has to do with consciousness as a mere accessory of physiological processes whose presence or absence... makes no difference... whatever are you doing?"

 

Aphra Benn: Hello
Cervantes: Donkey
Daniel Defoe: To christen the day!
Samuel Richardson: Hello
Henry Fielding: Tittle-tattle Tittle-tattle...
Lawrence Sterne: Hello
Mary Wolstencraft: Vindicated!
Jane Austen: Here I am!
Sir Walter Scott: We're all doomed!
Leo Tolstoy: Yes!
Honor de Balzac: Oui...
Edgar Allen Poe: Aaaarrrggghhhh!
Charlotte Brontë: Hello...
Emily Brontë: Hello...
Anne Brontë: Hellooo..?
Nikolai Gogol: Vas chi
Gustav Flaubert: Oui
William Makepeace Thackeray: Call me 'William Makepeace Thackeray'
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The letter 'A'
Herman Melville: Ahoy there!
Charles Dickens: London is so beautiful this time of year...
Anthony Trollope: good-good-good-good evening!
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Here come the sleepers...
Mark Twain: I can't even spell 'Mississippi'!
George Eliot: George reads German
Emile Zola: J'accuse
Henry James: Howdy Miss Wharton!
Thomas Hardy: Ooo-arrr!
Joseph Conrad: I'm a bloody boring writer...
Katherine Mansfield: [cough cough]
Edith Wharton: Well hello, Mr James!
DH Lawrence: Never heard of it
EM Forster: Never heard of it!

 

Happy the man, and happy he alone who in all honesty can call today his own;
He who has life and strength enough to say 'Yesterday's dead & gone - I want to live today'

 

James Joyce: Hello there!
Virginia Woolf: I'm losing my mind!
Marcel Proust: Je me'en souviens plus
F Scott Fitzgerald: baa bababa baa
Ernest Hemingway: I forgot the....
Hermann Hesse: Oh es ist alle so häßlich
Evelyn Waugh: Whoooaarr!
William Faulkner: Tu connait William Faulkner?
Anaïs Nin: The strand of pearls
Ford Maddox Ford: Any colour, as long as it's black!
Jean-Paul Sartre: Let's go to the dome, Simone!
Simone de Beauvoir: C'est exact present
Albert Camus: The beach... the beach
Franz Kafka: WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!
Thomas Mann: Mam
Graham Greene: Call me 'pinky', lovely
Jack Kerouac: Me car's broken down...
William S Burroughs: Wowwww!

 

Happy the man, and happy he alone who in all honesty can call today his own;
He who has life and strength enough to say 'Yesterday's dead & gone - I want to live today'

 

Kingsley Amis: [cough]
Doris Lessing: I hate men!
Vladimir Nabokov: Hello, little girl...
William Golding: Achtung Busby!
JG Ballard: Instrument binnacle
Richard Brautigan: How are you doing?
Milan Kundera: I don't do interviews
Ivy Compton Burnett: Hello...
Paul Theroux: Have a nice day!
Gnter Grass: I've found snails!
Gore Vidal: Oh, it makes me mad!
John Updike: Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run...
Kazuro Ishiguro: Ah so, old chap!
Malcolm Bradbury: stroke John Steinbeck, stroke JD Salinger
Iain Banks: Too orangey for crows!
AS Byatt: Nine tenths of the law, you know...
Martin Amis: [burp]
Brett Easton Ellis: Aaaaarrrggghhh!
Umberto Eco: I don't understand this either...
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Mi casa es su casa
Roddy Doyle: ha ha ha!
Salman Rushdie: Names will live forever..

 

[Jane in NC]

I finished Mary Roach's Gulp after being hung up midway through the book.  The chapter on competitive eating and compliant stomachs just completely grossed me out.  I can read about the colon and gut bacteria without problems but there was something about the mechanics of competitive eaters (eighteen pounds of cow brains in fifteen minutes?) that pushed my non-compliant brain into the squeamish zone.

 

As mentioned previously, Roach is a fun writer.  Gulp is probably a great read for the adolescent boy in your household or anyone who wants to learn about Elvis's megacolon.

 

'Nuff said.

[mumto2]

After getting past the ick factor you mentioned I put a library request in for this book. I do have an adolescent boy who would love it. Plus he has been reading and rereading http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/24/simpsons-mathmatical-secrets-simon-singh-review for the past month. Time to move on with just about anything! :lol:

 

 

I finished Mary Roach's Gulp after being hung up midway through the book.  The chapter on competitive eating and compliant stomachs just completely grossed me out.  I can read about the colon and gut bacteria without problems but there was something about the mechanics of competitive eaters (eighteen pounds of cow brains in fifteen minutes?) that pushed my non-compliant brain into the squeamish zone.

 

As mentioned previously, Roach is a fun writer.  Gulp is probably a great read for the adolescent boy in your household or anyone who wants to learn about Elvis's megacolon.

 

'Nuff said.

[Jane in NC]

After getting past the ick factor you mentioned I put a library request in for this book. I do have an adolescent boy who would love it. Plus he has been reading and rereading http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/24/simpsons-mathmatical-secrets-simon-singh-review for the past month. Time to move on with just about anything! :lol:

 

 

 

Science Friday discussed the Simpson's and Their Mathematical Secrets in their last program.  Your son can listen here.

[Luckymama]

Yesterday I read The Way Home by Cindy Gerard.

 

"Killed in Action – the most dreaded words imaginable for a soldier’s wife. Jess Albert has been living with them for four years, since the death of her husband in Afghanistan. Finding blessed numbness in routine, she doesn’t dare to look ahead, any more than she can bear to look back. Then Tyler Brown, a former special-ops warrior, shows up at her small general store in Minnesota North Woods, jarring her back to life. Jess knows better than to fall in love with another man who places duty to his country before love of his wife- but there’s no denying the longing and the hope for a future that Ty makes her feel.

A world away, a man ravaged by years of captivity and torture, a man with no memories, finally escapes- clinging to life and sanity in a hostile land. In his darkest hour, he awakes in a lantern-lit cave to find a woman at his side. Dark-haired and dark-eyes, her touch is caring, despite the resentment he hears in her voice and sees on her face. Rabia is bound by honor to save the lost American soldier in her keeping, this broken warrior from a war that has brought so much devastation to her land. But is it honor igniting her compassion for her enemy, or is it something more?

While a Black Ops team plans a daring rescue mission to bring the solider home, two women on opposite sides of the world walk a dangerous path between betrayal and honor, and must find for themselves where to draw the lines between duty and love."

 

I enjoyed it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

  

Yeah! I love Cindy Gerard and didn't know she had a new story out. Added to my wishlist to buy when comes out in paperback cuz I just can't pay $10 for a ebook.

 

I thought the book was really well-done. I was afraid it would be too angsty or sentimental, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a nice bridge between her two rom suspense series, One-Eyed Jacks (new) and Black Ops (old). I was one of the first to request it from the library :D

[Robin M]

Since we've been discussing doing the Nobel Literature authors here is a article from Flavorwire that appeared today - Best Quotes about writing from Literature Nobel Prize laureates.

 

Check out Audible.com best of 2013

 

And since I rarely read Huffington post, a friend pointed this out to me - Stereotypes about Book Lovers.  All I can say is yep, very true

[-M-]

'been away for a little bit. Popping in for a moment or so. [Waves to everyone.] I've recently completed the following:

 

â–  Early Decision: Based on a True Frenzy (Lacy Crawford; 2013. 304 pages. Fiction.)
Set in Chicago, this novel about college admissions counseling for rich kids should have been good, wry fun — if not, an ironic and / or scathing social commentary. Instead, it is a morosely self-indulgent plodder.

 

■ You’re Next (Gregg Hurwitz; 2011. 560 pages. Fiction.)
No excuses. I simply wanted to read television, if you know what I mean. This is a purely plot-driven novel, with little character development and less plausibility, but it met a need.

 

â–  The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams; 1944 / 1990. 104 pages. Drama.)
With the Misses.

 

p. 13
AMANDA: I’ll be all right in a minute, I’m just bewildered — [She hesitates.] — by life….

 

â–  Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller; 1949 / 1996. 448 pages. Drama.)
A reread, this time with the Misses.

 

p.12
Linda, his wife, has stirred in her bed at the right. She gets out and puts on a robe, listening. Most often jovial, she has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior—she more than loves him, she admires him, as though his mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties, served her only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him, longings which she shares but lacks the temperament to utter and follow to their end.

 

p. 33
WILLY: [...] Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.

 

p. 52
WILLY: Ben, my boys—can’t we talk? They’d go into the jaws of hell for me, see, but I—

BEN: William, you’re being first-rate with your boys. Outstanding, manly chaps!

WILLY, hanging on to his words: Oh, Ben, that’s good to hear! Because sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of—Ben, how should I teach them?

 

p. 56
LINDA: [...] Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.

 

p. 73
WILLY: [...] Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard! I just finish paying for the car and it’s on its last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally paid for them, they’re used up.

 

p. 81
WILLY: [...] In those days, there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it’s all cut and dried, and there’s no chance for bringing friendship to bear—or personality. You see what I mean? They don’t know me any more.

 

p. 95
WILLY: But what if you can’t walk away?

BERNARD: I guess that’s when it’s tough.

 

p. 109
BIFF: Listen, will you let me out of it, will you just let me out of it!

 

p. 131
BIFF: [...] To Willy: We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!

HAPPY: We always told the truth!

BIFF, turning on him: You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You’re one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren’t you?

HAPPY: Well, I’m practically—

BIFF: You’re practically full of it! We all are! And I’m through with it. To Willy: Now hear this, Willy, this is me.

WILLY: I know you!

[...]

BIFF: And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!

WILLY: I hear that!

LINDA: Don’t, Biff!

BIFF: It’s goddam time you heard that! I had to be boss big shot in two weeks, and I’m through with it!

WILLY: Then hang yourself! For spite, hang yourself!

[...]

BIFF: Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!

 

p. 138
CHARLEY: [...] A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.

 

â–  Troy (Adele Geras; 2001. 352 pages. Fiction.)
After what amounted to about a month steeped in Homeric epic (related entries here and here), I noticed Troy on my shelves. Purchased when it was first published nearly a dozen years ago, the novel perfectly capped our recent studies.

It also prompted me to assess my book acquisition, shall we say, habit. I have, as so many other readers have, accumulated books at a rate that far outstrips my reading pace. My personal library is such an embarrassment of riches, then, that gems like Troy have been all but buried beneath new, newer, newest arrivals. If the “forever home†is to remain such, it’s time to read from the shelves for a bit; time to sort, shift, read, and release.

 

We’ll see how long that lasts, eh?

 

â–  The Financial Lives of the Poets (Jess Walters; 2009. 320 pages. Fiction.)
This would work well as the third in an unintentional but perfectly workable trilogy entitled “The American Middle Class in (Serious) Crisis.†The first two books would be The Hole We’re In (Gabrielle Zevin) and Model Home (Eric Puchner). All three books grapple with the Dream — what it is, what it costs, and where it gets us (or doesn’t).

 

Sound familiar?

Death of a Salesman:

 

Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard! I just finish paying for the car and it’s on its last legs.

 

Or –

 

Listen, will you let me out of it, will you just let me out of it!

 

And The Glass Menagerie:

 

I’ll be all right in a minute, I’m just bewildered — by life….

 

The reading life is one moment of synchronicity, synthesis, and serendipity after another, no?

 

That should put me at 97 for 2013, and I do believe that between now and December 31 I will read seven more, which, in this "year of reading slowly," would meet my goal of two books per week.

 

 

â–  Early Decision: Based on a True Frenzy (Lacy Crawford; 2013. 304 pages. Fiction.)
■ You’re Next (Gregg Hurwitz; 2011. 560 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams; 1944 / 1990. 104 pages. Drama.)
â–  Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller; 1949 / 1996. 448 pages. Drama.)
â–  Troy (Adele Geras; 2001. 352 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Financial Lives of the Poets (Jess Walters; 2009. 320 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Debt-Free U (Zac Bissonnette; 2010. 290 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Colleges That Change Lives (Loren Pope; 2006. 382 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  UnSouled (Neal Shusterman; 2013. 404 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Drama High (Michael Sokolove; 2013. 338 pages. Non-fiction.)
■ An Iliad (Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare; 2013. 55 pages. Drama.)
â–  The Iliad (Homer (translated by Stephen Mitchell); 2011. 466 pages. Poetry.)
â–  The Human Story (James C. Davis; 2004. 466 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Fair Weather (Richard Peck; 2003. 146 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  Divergent (Veronica Roth; 2011. 496 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Why Read Moby Dick? (Nathaniel Philbrick; 2011. 144 pages. Non-fiction.)
■ The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; 1971 ed. 112 pages. Fiction.)
â–  A Year Down Yonder (Richard Peck; 2000. 130 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  Come Closer (Sara Gran; 2003. 168 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Moby Dick; or, The Whale (Herman Melville (1851); Alma Books ed. 2013. 712 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Richard II (William Shakespeare (1595); Folger ed. 2005. 352 pages. Drama.)
â–  Alex (Pierre Lemaitre; 2013. 384 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand (1898); Bantam ed. 1950. 240 pages. Drama.)
â–  King Lear (William Shakespeare (1605); Folger ed. 2005. 384 pages. Drama.)
â–  The Returned (Jason Mott; 2013. 352. pages. Fiction.)
â–  Lowboy (John Wray; 2009. 272. pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Merry Wives of Windsor (William Shakespeare (1597?); Folger ed. 2004. 320 pages. Drama.)
■ The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir (Katrina Kenison; 2009. 320. pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Amateurs (Marcus Sakey; 2009. 400. pages. Fiction.)
â–  Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines (Richard A. Muller; 2009. 384. pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Letters to a Young Scientist (Edward O. Wilson; 2013. 256 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong (Joyce Carol Oates; 2013. 224 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell (1936); Anniversary ed. 2011. 960 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  A Short History of the United States: From the Arrival of Native American Tribes to the Obama Presidency (Robert V. Remini; 2009. 416 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Othello (William Shakespeare (1603); Folger ed. 2003. 368 pages. Drama.) *
â–  Hamlet (William Shakespeare (1603); Folger ed. 2003. 342 pages. Drama.) *
â–  A Long Way from Chicago (Richard Peck; 1998. 192 pages. Fiction.) *
■ The Husband’s Secret (Liane Moriarty; 2013. 416 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Kiss Me First (Lottie Moggach; 2013. 320 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Silent Wife (A.S.A. Harrison; 2013. 336 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Comedy of Errors (William Shakespeare (1594); Folger ed. 2004. 272. pages. Drama.) *
â–  The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka (1915); Bantam ed. 1972. 201 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  The Storyteller (Jodi Picoult; 2013. 480 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Kill Shakespeare: Volume 2 (Conor McCreery; 2011. 148 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Dinner (Herman Koch; 2013. 304 pages. Fiction.)
â–  We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Karen Joy Fowler; 2013. 320 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Macbeth (William Shakespeare (1606); Folger ed. 2003. 272 pages. Drama.) *
â–  Run, Brother, Run: A Memoir of a Murder in My Family (David Berg; 2013. 272 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  NOS4A2 (Joe Hill; 2013. 704 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard (Linda Bates; 2013. 304 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Cast of Shadows (Kevin Guilfoile; 2006. 319 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke; ed. 1986. 128 pages. Non-fiction.) *
â–  Much Ado about Nothing (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2003. 246 pages. Drama.) *
â–  Animal Man, Vol. 2 (Jeff Lemire; 2012. 176 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  So Much for That (Lionel Shriver; 2011. 480 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Life Itself (Roger Ebert; 2011. 448 pages. Memoir.)
â–  Saga, Vol. 2 (Brian Vaughn; 2013. 144 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Animal Man, Vol. 1 (Jeff Lemire; 2012. 144 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Very Good, Jeeves (P.G. Wodehouse; ed. 2006. 304 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey; 2013. 480 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Richard III (William Shakespeare (1592); Folger ed. 2005. 352 pages. Drama.) *
â–  Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked (James Lansdun; 2013. 224 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Harvest (A.J. Lieberman; 2013. 128 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Guilty One (Lisa Ballantyne; 2013. 480 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You (Joyce Carol Oates; 2013. 288 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Dare Me (Megan Abott; 2012. 304 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life (Robin Stern; 2007. 288 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Henry VIII (William Shakespeare (1613); Folger ed. 2007. 352 pages. Drama.)
â–  The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald; 1925/1980. 182 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  Attachments (Rainbow Rowell; 2011. 336 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Reconstructing Amelia (Kimberly McCreight; 2013. 400 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers (Margaret George; 1998. 960 pages. Fiction.)
■ Picasso and Chicago: 100 Years, 100 Works (Stephanie D’Alessandro; 2013. 112 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare (1603); Folger ed. 2005. 288 pages. Drama.)
â–  Wave (Sonali Deraniyagala; 2013. 240 pages. Memoir.)
â–  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death (Jean-Dominique Bauby; 1998. 131 pages. Autobiography.)
â–  The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating-Heart Cadavers (Dick Teresi; 2012. 368 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Human .4 (Mike A. Lancaster; 2011. 240 pages. YA fiction.)
â–  Warm Bodies (Isaac Marion; 2011. 256 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Underwater Welder (Jeff Lemire; 2012. 224 pages. Graphic fiction.)
■ After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Story (Michael Hainey; 2013. 320 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick; 1968. 256 pages. Fiction.)  *
â–  Accelerated (Bronwen Hruska; 2012. 288 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger; 1951. 288 pages. Fiction.) *
â–  Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes; 1966. 324 pages. Fiction.)  *
â–  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford; 2009. 301 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie; 2002. 104 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Revival, Vol. 1 (Tim Seeley; 2012. 128 pages. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Saga, Vol. 1 (Brian K. Vaughan; 2012. 160 pages. Graphic fiction.)
■ La Bohème: Black Dog Opera Library (2005. 144 pages. Libretto, history, and commentary.)
â–  The 13 Clocks (James Thurber (1950); 2008. 136 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (Susannah Cahalan; 2012. 288 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2003. 288 pages. Drama.)  *
■ Don’t Turn Around (Michelle Gagnon; 2012. 320 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors (Ann Rule; 2012. 544 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Daddy Love (Joyce Carol Oates; 2013. 240 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Life after Death (Damien Echols; 2012. 416 pages. Non-fiction.)

 

* Denotes a reread

[JennW in SoCal]

The staff of The Atlantic Magazine have each chosen the best book they read in 2013 -- not necessarily a book published in 2013.  It is a great list of old and new, profound and fluff.  Several titles were discussed on this thread over the last year.

 

The Best Book I Read This Year

[Robin M]

The staff of The Atlantic Magazine have each chosen the best book they read in 2013 -- not necessarily a book published in 2013.  It is a great list of old and new, profound and fluff.  Several titles were discussed on this thread over the last year.

 

The Best Book I Read This Year

 

Thank you Jenn.  Yeah for Night Circus and I have the Light Between Oceans on my wishlist.  So my mind goes "hmm! lets see what other sites have to say."  Especially since I've been thinking about geographical challenge and what countries want to concentrate on.     Mercy me!  Since I've been torturing myself with all the offerings, I had to share. 

 

Of course, Archipelago Books (thanks, Stacia).  After salivating over their offerings, I did a search for best book 2013. Yikes!

 

NPR's Book Concierge - guide to great reads for 2013 - you'll be on that site for a long time.  I'm still there. Just had to take a break before I go book crazy. 

 

Publisher Weekly's best of 2013 - with 13 different categories and not a lot of crossover from NPR.

 

Oprah's reading list of best 10 in 2013. I know, gag me with a spoon,  but curiosity got the best of me.

 

and last but not least

 

Omnivoracious 2013 Best Books of the Year: Celebrity picks which includes our very own Ree Drummond (Pioneer woman - seriously)

 

Have fun!

[mumto2]

I finished "The Last Detective" the first of Peter Lovesey's Inspector Diamond mysteries. Loved it and have moved it over to dds pile. Two great series discoveries in one week! Earlier this week I stumbled onto Inspector Sloan by Catherine Aird which was great too!

[JennW in SoCal]

I finished "The Last Detective" the first of Peter Lovesey's Inspector Diamond mysteries. Loved it and have moved it over to dds pile. Two great series discoveries in one week! Earlier this week I stumbled onto Inspector Sloan by Catherine Aird which was great too!

 

No way!  I'm about a third of the way through The Last Detective!  If it weren't such a busy time of year I'd sit on the couch and read it for hours at a stretch.

[mumto2]

No way!  I'm about a third of the way through The Last Detective!  If it weren't such a busy time of year I'd sit on the couch and read it for hours at a stretch.

I did read for hours at a stretch last night. The rest of the family watched silly Christmas movies for hours. I was upstairs reading!!!! Warning.....you are just getting to the part where putting the book down becomes really hard.

[Onceuponatime]

 

 

The reading life is one moment of synchronicity, synthesis, and serendipity after another, no?

 

 

 Most definitely.

[Onceuponatime]

Mr. Eco:

 

"And who knows what else he would have written if he had not felt the need to abandon his poetic mirabilia, as before he had abandoned his chronometric mirabilia--and not of his own volition but because, having in his veins more liquor than ichor, he had allowed that tick-tock gradually to become a toxical lullaby."

 

So, is he really writing about the main character or himself? And even though the thought is meant to be sobering, it makes me want to giggle and say it over and over, out loud.

[LostSurprise]

Perhaps both? :) I love Eco but he is clearly always the smartest person in the room, so he always writes to amuse himself. If we enjoy it, that's just a bonus. 

 

I'm working on a novel about a family of women in the Southwest called The Night Journal. It has great descriptions of New Mexico. The grandmother is a historian and archaeologist who published her mother's journals (time as a Harvey girl, Victorian sexuality, husband w/Santa Fe railroad, minorities, local & national politics). Crotchity Grandmother and Put-upon Engineer Granddaughter return to the old home place for purposes of plot. Engineer Granddaughter finally gets caught up in Great Grandmother's famous life. I'm enjoying it. I think you have to have a thing about history though. It's like Possession in that way. I like the characters and the descriptions, and I'm amused by the history-dropping. So far the hidden drama seems pretty obvious from the beginning so I'm hoping for a nice twist, but I won't be too surprised if it's just obvious. 

Top Ten *
Best of the Year **

77. Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist~Swedish horror, vampires, isolation and relationships. 

76. Wool by Hugh Howley~science fiction, future, post-apocalyptic. 

75. Here is Where: Discovering America's Great Hidden History by Andrew Carroll~non-fiction, history, America.

74. Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber~memoir, Christian conversion, academia. 

73. The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson~science fiction, relationships, future influencing the past

72. Saving Daylight by Jim Harrison~poetry, Montana, outdoors

71. The Big Year: a Tale of Man, Nature, and a Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik~bird watching, North America, life lists

70. Howl's Moving Castle by Dianne Wynne Jones~youth novel, magic, modern fairy tale. 

68. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling~fantasy, wizards, series. *

66. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling~fantasy, wizards, series. 

64. The Hustler by Walter Tevis~pool sharks, winners vs. losers, testing your gift. *

55. Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card~time travel, history correction, New World. 

54. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling~youth fiction, fantasy, wizards. 

53. The Adderall Diaries: a Memoir by Stephen Elliot~memoir, murder, dysfunction. 

50. The House by the Sea by May Sarton~journal, old age.  (Dewey Decimal challenge: 800s)

47. Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriquez~memoir, Afganistan, women. 

39. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (Fiction Genre challenge: Mystery)

38  The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn~non-fiction, cooking, teaching, how people eat.

37. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan~fiction, France, ballet, Degas. 

35. The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig~non-fiction, WWII, Siberia. * 

34. Old Man's War by John Scalzi~science fiction, war, future. 

32. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger~youth fiction, steampunk, school for female assassins.

28. Benediction by Kent Haruf~small town, characterization, cancer. *

21. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz~supernatural thriller, ghosts *
20. The Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang~science fiction, short stories (Fiction genre challenge: short stories) **
19. Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols~memoir, gardening, humor (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 600s)
17. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout~fiction, short stories, aging. 
14. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis~fiction, coming of age, chess *
11. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish~autobiography, Depression, family (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 900s) *
9. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman~fiction, family drama, Australia, miscarriage. (Continental Challenge: Australia) 
7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson~satire, American dream, drug trip. (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 000s)
6. Soulless by Gail Carriger~steampunk, vampires, werewolves, Victoriana. (Fiction genre challenge: Fantasy)
5. Away by Jane Urquhart~Ireland, Canada, emigration, magical realism, family saga. (Continental Challenge: North America/Canada) 
4. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim~autobiography, Germany pre-WWI, gardening, women's roles
 

Working on: 

The French Lieutenant's Woman (Fowles)

The Night Journal (Crook)

Let the Old Dreams Die (Lindqvist)

Tooth and Claw (Walton)

 

 

[ladydusk]

More from Wolf Hall, for Stacia.  Page 340, the French ambassador has written about Thos Cromwell, "He says your antecedents are obscure, your youth reckless and wild, that you are a heretic of long standing, a disgrace to the office of councillor; but personally, he finds you a man of good cheer, liberal, openhanded, gracious ..."

 

More antecedents! I'm starting to think she did it on purpose! The confusions about Cromwell's character help the reader remain confused about him as the other characters are confused about his history.  We have more of his history than they do, so Mantel has to throw us off the scent.

 

I'm ready to start Part Five.  Two hundred pages to go. 

[Stacia]

More from Wolf Hall, for Stacia.  Page 340, the French ambassador has written about Thos Cromwell, "He says your antecedents are obscure, your youth reckless and wild, that you are a heretic of long standing, a disgrace to the office of councillor; but personally, he finds you a man of good cheer, liberal, openhanded, gracious ..."

 

More antecedents! I'm starting to think she did it on purpose! The confusions about Cromwell's character help the reader remain confused about him as the other characters are confused about his history.  We have more of his history than they do, so Mantel has to throw us off the scent.

 

I'm ready to start Part Five.  Two hundred pages to go. 

 

:thumbup1:  Awesome!

 

[LaMere Academy]

I didn't do a book a week, I'm on my 121st book of the year right now and it's The Expats by Chris Pavone.  Not  my usual type of choice, but it was on the B&N Buy 2 Get One Free table and I needed a third book.  Not sure what I think of it yet. 

 

So far the only Christmas book I have lined up is Christmas is Murder by C. S. Challinor

[Guest]

I am sad that I won't be making the goal of reading 52 books this year. I may hit 40, and I don't think I read anything that was *great*; it was not a good year for reading. I even put all our read alouds into Goodreads and I still fell short.  I started Outlander  this week and didn't get far. A friend let me a Nicholas Sparks book, but I don't know if he's going to be my cuppa tea. So, I'm currently reading....nothing. :( Alas, 2014 will be a fresh start.

 

I wanted to ask, specifically in this thread with all you wonderful bibliophiles, does anyone use the Kindle Paperwhite? I had (have) a Kindle Fire and I am pretty sure I am going to give it to my kids for Christmas. They are begging for one, and I don't use mine as much as I'd like. Besides sharing with the kids, I also feel it is heavy, and the screen of the Paperwhite intrigues me because I am very prone to migraines, and am interested in trying something that's not the same as a computer screen. Or will I regret not having the Fire? FWIW, I don't currently use the Fire for anything besides reading. I found the web browser very slow, so I use either my laptop or my phone, actually, if I'm just sitting around and want to surf the web. Or any other suggestions for an e-reader?

[Robin M]

nm

[LostSurprise]

Oh, did I not talk about Here is Where last time? I finished it a few weeks ago. 

 

It's a history book where the author drove around and documented sites where unremembered historical things happened (for instance, the train platform where John Wilkes Booth's brother saved Abraham Lincoln's son Robert from death or the lab in Centralia, IL where the original concept of penicillin was developed and mass produced during WWII). Some of the book focused on the dark side of history that people don't want to remember (euthanasia experiments, religious persecution, temperance riots, porn theaters), which was kind of funny considering that one of the author's big pushes was for historical markers for sites, but a lot of it was positive too. One thing this did drive home to me is that history is what we chose to remember. Rosa Parks? Not the first African-American woman to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. One of other women was 10 years earlier AND her case went to the Supreme Court. Rose Parks is remembered because it happened at the right time and she was chosen to be a symbol.

 

I do think the author should write a book on invention and medical pioneers. That was my favorite section from the book. One man created 14 of our most used vaccines. Do we know his name? The inventor of the television (Philo Farnsworth) came up with the physics of the idea when he was a young teenager and had such a run of bad luck he never received any money for the idea. It was basically stolen from him and used for other corporations. And the US contributions to developing penicillin are truly amazing. First the 2 Brits that snuck in the US with penicillin seeded in their pockets in case their luggage was stolen. Then they found a stronger mold on a cantalope someone brought into the lab in Centralia, IL! They took a sample then ate the cantalope. And the way they found a sample of the Spanish flu (which really started in Kansas). Amazing, amazing stuff. 

 

 

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

I thought I would enjoy The Fat Man, but I can't get into it. I'll probably let it expire (it's a library ebook loan). I'm still reading Monuments Men. It's interesting, but so far (I'm only 27% in) it seems like the war is almost over and they haven't really done anything. Dh is a good bit ahead of me and says it will get better, but he loves anything to do with WWII so I'm not sure I can trust his opinion.

 

Last night I started The Dark Monk, the second book in The Hangman's Daughter series. So far, so good. I've been book hopping and just can't find one that grabs me. I hate when that happens.

 

I'm considering getting started on either The Luminaries or Wolf Hall. Has anyone read both? Any suggestions on which one to start with? Or are they both too involved to read during this busy season?

[Lady Florida.]

I am sad that I won't be making the goal of reading 52 books this year. I may hit 40, and I don't think I read anything that was *great*; it was not a good year for reading. I even put all our read alouds into Goodreads and I still fell short.  I started Outlander  this week and didn't get far. A friend let me a Nicholas Sparks book, but I don't know if he's going to be my cuppa tea. So, I'm currently reading....nothing. :( Alas, 2014 will be a fresh start.

Aw, no worries. If you make goals for your 2014 reading, make them realistic and reachable. You can always add more books if you reach a smaller goal.

 

I wanted to ask, specifically in this thread with all you wonderful bibliophiles, does anyone use the Kindle Paperwhite? I had (have) a Kindle Fire and I am pretty sure I am going to give it to my kids for Christmas. They are begging for one, and I don't use mine as much as I'd like. Besides sharing with the kids, I also feel it is heavy, and the screen of the Paperwhite intrigues me because I am very prone to migraines, and am interested in trying something that's not the same as a computer screen. Or will I regret not having the Fire? FWIW, I don't currently use the Fire for anything besides reading. I found the web browser very slow, so I use either my laptop or my phone, actually, if I'm just sitting around and want to surf the web. Or any other suggestions for an e-reader?

I have both, but never use my Fire for reading. Well, that's not entirely true. I use it to read cookbooks, craft books, and other books that have photos. I use it when I'm out and will be someplace with wifi but don't want to bring my laptop(but not for reading). I use my Paperwhite for most of my reading and I love it. I love that I can see how far into a book I am. I now think in terms of % - I'm 40% done with such and such book. I love the light because I like to read in bed after dh goes to sleep, and it doesn't give me eye strain like a backlit screen. I love that I can carry so many books with me on that small device. And I love that the screen looks like the page in a book. It's very light, lighter than the K3 (Keyboard) I used to have. I am a total ebook convert. If you don't use your Fire now, you probably won't be sorry you gave it up.

 

I can't compare it to other ereaders, but I believe Robin and a few others have a Nook. I don't know if they have the e-ink type or tablet.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[Guest]

Thanks, gals! I am leaning towards a Paperwhite, and I'm happy to read what you both wrote.

[Robin M]

Okay gang. Jenn provided some titles, but also went through random sampling of BaW threads and came up with the following list for BaWers recommendations -

 

A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman (anything by Gaiman is excellent)
Angelmaker - Nick Harkaway
Bitch in a Bonnet - Robert Rodi
Cat's Table - Michael Ondaatje

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
Green Mile - Stephen King

Hopscotch - Julio Cortazar
Hounded by Kevin Hearne
I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This - Bob Newhart 

Monument's Men - Robert Edsel
My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke

Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Night Film - Marissa Pessl

Passage - Justin Cronin
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Stoker’s Manuscript - Royce Prouty
The Geography of Bliss- Eric Weiner
Thatched Roof - Beverley Nichols

The Hare with the Amber Eyes - Edmund De Waal
The Manual of Detection -Jedediah Berry
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Edgar Allen Poe
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

 

Alan Bradley - Flavia De Luce series

Kevin Hearn - Iron Druid series

Laurie R. King - Mary Russell series
Peter Lovesey - Peter Diamond Series
Patrick O'Brien - Master and Commander Series
Peter Robinson-  Detective Banks Series
Dorothy Sayers - Peter Wimsey series

Jacqueline Winspear - Masie Dobbs series

 

Works of Sarah Addison Allen
Works of Haruki Murakami
Works of William Shakespeare

 

 

 

Let me know if I missed anything or you have ones you want to add. 


 

[Stacia]

I wanted to ask, specifically in this thread with all you wonderful bibliophiles, does anyone use the Kindle Paperwhite? I had (have) a Kindle Fire and I am pretty sure I am going to give it to my kids for Christmas. They are begging for one, and I don't use mine as much as I'd like. Besides sharing with the kids, I also feel it is heavy, and the screen of the Paperwhite intrigues me because I am very prone to migraines, and am interested in trying something that's not the same as a computer screen. Or will I regret not having the Fire? FWIW, I don't currently use the Fire for anything besides reading. I found the web browser very slow, so I use either my laptop or my phone, actually, if I'm just sitting around and want to surf the web. Or any other suggestions for an e-reader?

A question related to this, in case anyone knows & can answer for me....

 

I have an iPad mini & my library has recently joined with Zinio so I can now check out magazines & read them using the Zinio app I downloaded. (I'm not a huge fan of reading books on my iPad, but I must say that I'm loving the e-magazine format!) My fil wants an e-reader (his b-day is soon) & I know he would love, love, love having the Zinio magazine app downloaded on whatever e-reader he gets so he could use the library access (especially to read The Economist for free, rather than a pricey subscription). Is Zinio something that can be downloaded on a Kindle or other e-reader???

 

I'm pretty clueless on e-readers in general, so any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

:confused1:

 

Thanks!

[ChrisB]

Today I finished A Lantern in Her Hand, by Bess Streeter Aldrich.  Oh, it was a really great read!  If you like a great American pioneer story, you have to check it out.  I hardly ever save quotes from books, but this one had a few great ones.  Here are a few that touched me:

 

 "Oh, Will, don't talk so. If you should be taken away from me, I couldn't stand it."

"Oh, yes, you could, Abbie-girl. You could stand it. It's the people who have loved and then lost their love . . . who have failed each other in some way, who couldn't stand it. With you and me . . . all we've been through together and all we've meant to each other . . . with us, it couldn't be so terrible. Nothing could take away the past from us. You are so much a part of me, that if you were taken away, I think it would seem that you just went on with me. And I'm sure if I were the one taken I would go on with you, remembering all you had been to me."

 

And, another:

 

 Unwittingly, as so often she did, Grace had hurt her Mother's feelings. For a moment Abbie nursed her little hurt, and then she said quietly, "You know, Grace, it's queer, but I don't feel narrow. I feel broad. How can I explain it to you, so you would understand? I've seen everything . . . and I've hardly been away from this yard. I've seen cathedrals in the snow on the Lombardy poplars. I've seen the sun set behind the Alps over there when the clouds have been piled up on the edge of the prairie. I've seen the ocean billows in the rise and the fall of the prairie grass. I've seen history in the making . . . three ugly wars flare up and die down. I've sent a lover and two brothers to one, a son and son-in-law to another, and two grandsons to the other. I've seen the feeble beginnings of a raw state and the civilization that developed there, and I've been part of the beginning and part of the growth. I've married . . . and borne children and looked into the face of death. Is childbirth narrow, Grace? Or marriage? Or death? When you've experienced all those things, Grace, the spirit has traveled although the body has been confined. I think travel is a rare privilege and I'm glad you can have it. But not every one who stays at home is narrow and not every one who travels is broad. I think if you can understand humanity . . . can sympathize with every creature . . . can put yourself into the personality of every one . . . you're not narrow . . . you're broad."

 

And, one more 'cause I hafta  :thumbup1: 

 

 And now, Abbie, thinking of what the girl had just read, to her, returned thoughtfully, "You can't describe love, Kathie and you can't define it. Only it goes with you all your life. I think that love is more like a light that you carry. At first childish happiness keeps it lighted and after that romance. Then motherhood lights it and then duty . . . and maybe after that sorrow. You wouldn't think that sorrow could be a light would you, dearie? But it can. And then after that, service lights it. Yes. . . . I think that is what love is to a woman . . . a lantern in her hand."

 

[Tress]

I read A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs) for the Coursera F&SF course. I had read several Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but never any of his Mars books. A Princess of Mars was so over the top macho that it became really funny. I haven’t had time to listen to the lectures about it, but I’m looking forward to hearing what the professor has to say :D.

 

I also finished Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I like reading about utopia’s (and dystopia’s) and considering it was written in 1915, I found it very interesting. Herland is considered a feminist utopia, but I’m pretty sure lots of modern women wouldn’t want to live in Herland. Still, Gilman shows pretty clearly that men and women are People first, and should be treated like People and not locked into gender roles.

 

I finished Monsters, Mary Shelley & the Curse of Frankenstein. I loved it! I think it was my favourite non-fiction of this year!

Reading about Mary Shelley, her parents, her husband, Lord Byron. It was fascinating. Thanks again, Stacia!

 

I also finished Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. I vaguely remember reading Bradbury as a teenager and liking it, but I couldn't really get into it now.

 

I started Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. A bit weird, but interesting.

 

The Coursera SF & F course is almost finished, I have been enjoying it very much, although I still have a lot of lectures to watch. Maybe when we are on Christmas break.

 

Momto2, is your daughter still doing the course?

 

Oh, and BTW, I joined this thread because I wanted to read 15 books in 15 weeks...and look, I have read 21 books and we still have 2 weeks to go! Maybe I can even finish 'Invisible Cities' before the year's end :D.

 

------

 

21. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

20. The Monsters, Mary Shelley & the Curse of Frankenstein - D. & T. Hoobler

19. Herland – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

18. A Princess of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs

17. Digital Dementia – Manfred Spitzer

16. The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G.Wells

15. Selected stories and poems - Poe

14. Vlucht uit het land van de vrijheid - Anna Meijerink

13. Insurgent - Veronica Roth

12. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
11. The Smartest Kids in the World - Amanda Ripley
10. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
9. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
8. Dracula - Bram Stoker
7. Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress - Daj Sijie
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

 

[mumto2]

Tress--

 

Dd is still going strong on the course. She has really enjoyed it. She had her 7 essays done for the certificate last week and went ahead and submitted one this week because she wanted too.

 

The Princess of Mars was turned into the movie John Carter which the dcs watched last summer. Dd found the differences interesting -- even more interesting when one of her papers to grade was on the movie not the book. :(

[Tress]

Tress--

 

Dd is still going strong on the course. She has really enjoyed it. She had her 7 essays done for the certificate last week and went ahead and submitted one this week because she wanted too.

 

The Princess of Mars was turned into the movie John Carter which the dcs watched last summer. Dd found the differences interesting -- even more interesting when one of her papers to grade was on the movie not the book. :(

 

That's so cool, that she has already earned her certificate, but continues to write the essays! :hurray:

 

Bummer though that someone wrote an essay about the movie. Sheesh. Are we back in middle/high school, people?

 

[Stacia]

I finished A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute today. (Did you know that in addition to being an author, Shute was a successful aeronautical engineer?) Oh my word. What a nice little story. (Rosie, do Queenslanders use "Oh my word" often? I wish I could book a ticket to Australia & come find out in person!) This is a charming story, one that would have wide appeal, I would think. I first heard about it a few years ago, but the idea of it being a story of a woman held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese during WWII made me a little leery of reading it (too emotional for me). However, I was so, so wrong thinking that about this story. It does give some info of the hard times, but is told with a little bit of the distance that time gives, as well as really focusing on Jean (the main character) after the war & once she moves to Australia. I have a strong hunch that if you have enjoyed books such as The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, you would also greatly enjoy the pleasant storytelling, gentle pacing, & subtle humor of this delightful novel. Recommended.

 

And, at least 'officially', this completes the continental challenge for me! I still plan to read Walkabout by James Vance Marshall. And, if I can, I need to sneak in The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (not an Australian book) because my book club is reading it & our meeting is in a few days. (Eeks!)

[Rosie_0801]

I finished A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute today. (Did you know that in addition to being an author, Shute was a successful aeronautical engineer?) Oh my word. What a nice little story. (Rosie, do Queenslanders use "Oh my word" often? I wish I could book a ticket to Australia & come find out in person!) 

 

Only Nannas say that. My mum says it!

[Stacia]

.

[Kareni]

I always enjoying reading "Best of ..." lists.  Here's a science fiction/fantasy themed one from Tor.

 

Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2013

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

More ideas for 2014 for themes and readalongs - what I have so far.  For those who like to plan ahead.  Also any changes / additions / things you want to see on the list. 

 

 

 

Readalongs and Monthly Themes:

 

January:  Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday - Wind Up Bird Chronicles Readalong 

February:  700th Anniversary of Dante's Inferno - readalong

March:    Sully Prudhomme (French) 1st Nobel prize Winner birthday 3/16/1839) 

April:   National Poetry Month

May:    Art History Mysteries - Monuments Men Readalong 

June:    Steampunk month (gear con) (steampunk.com)  

July:     Anniversary Thomas More's Death - Utopia /  Utopian/Dystopian literature

August:    World War 1 100th Anniversary / Fiction or Non fiction readalong to be determined 

September:  Banned Books Month

October:    Spooktacular

November:  Non Fiction November

December:  Inspirational reading month

 

[Stacia]

.

[Stacia]

I always enjoying reading "Best of ..." lists.  Here's a science fiction/fantasy themed one from Tor.

 

Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2013

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Interesting that Hild keeps showing up on lists. Someone here is reading it, right...???

[Kareni]

Interesting that Hild keeps showing up on lists. Someone here is reading it, right...???

 

Hild was mentioned by MtnMama here; it's a thread you also participated in but it's not a Book a Week thread.  The book does sound intriguing.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Hild was mentioned by MtnMama here; it's a thread you also participated in but it's not a Book a Week thread.  The book does sound intriguing.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Ah! Thank you! Can I hire you? I'm glad you can keep all my weird mental booknotes filed for me & pull out the info when I need it. (Obviously, that's not my strength. LOL.)

 

:thumbup1:  and :lol:

[Kareni]

And here's another Best of ... list. 

 

Riot Round-Up: The Best Books of 2013

 

There are some interesting choices including one Australian book, The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky, which is likened to “The Picture at Hanging Rock.â€

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And from Brain Pickings:

 

The 13 Best Science and Technology Books of 2013

 

and

The 13 Best Children’s, Illustrated, and Picture Books of 2013

 

Regards,

Kareni