Book a Week in 2015 - BW8

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dear hearts.   Today is the start of week 8 in our quest to read 52 Books. 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 - Pick a Book by the Cover:  Are you ready for a mini challenge?  Just realized I hadn't done any yet this year.   

Most of the time, when picking out a book at the bookstore or shopping online, I look for a familiar author or a book someone has recommended.   A few years back, a blogger friend of mine posed a challenge to pick a book based on its cover. The catch however was not to read the synopsis or reviews or anything else that would tell you what the book is about.  Pick the book, blog what you think the book is about, then read it and find out if your supposition was correct.  Easier said than done especially when you are as nosy as I am. The hard part is not  reading the excerpt on-line or if in the bookstore, reading a few pages here or there to see if it captures your attention. 

I've tried it a few times and have picked up some very interesting books using that method. This time, I went on Amazon and looked at  the new releases and chose books by authors I've never read, had an intriguing picture or title. I picked out some books after checking out the synopsis, but I resisted temptation and didn't read the excerpts or reviews. 
 

Euphoria by Lily King

Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

 

Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

 
So which one do you think I should read?   I'll read the one that receives the most votes and let you know what I think of the story.   Join in the fun. Go the the library, bookstore or online and  pick a book based on its title or cover.

 

*********************************************************************

 

History of the Medieval World - Chapter 10 (pp 72 - 76)

Cracked in Two (392 - 396 AD)

 

*********************************************************************

 

What are you reading this week?  Any special reads for Lent?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 7

[idnib]

Copying over my post from the last thread.

 

I stumbled through Oxen of the Sun, Episode 14 of Ulysses and finished last night. I am somewhat worse for wear. In this Episode, Joyce takes the reader through a history of English styles. In a letter from Joyce to Frank Budgen, dated March 20, 1920 (bolding mine):

 

Am working hard at Oxen of the Sun, the idea being the crime committed against fecundity by sterilizing the act of coition. Scene, lying-in hospital. Technique: a nineparted episode without divisions introduced by a Sallustian-Tacitean prelude (the unfertilized ovum), then by way of earliest English alliterative and monosyllabic and Anglo-Saxon (‘Before born the babe had bliss. Within the womb he won worship.’ ‘Bloom dull dreamy heard: in held hat stony staring’) then by way of Mandeville (‘there came forth a scholar of medicine that men clepen etc’) then Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (‘but that franklin Lenehan was prompt ever to pour them so that at the least way mirth should not lack’), then the Elizabethan chronicle style (‘about that present time young Stephen filled all cups’), then a passage solemn, as of Milton, Taylor, Hooker, followed by a choppy Latin-gossipy bit, style of Burton-Browne,  then  a  passage  Bunyanesque  (‘the reason was that in the way he fell in with a certain whore whose name she said is Bird in the hand’) after a diarystyle bit Pepys-Evelyn (‘Bloom sitting snug with a party of wags, among them Dixon jun., Ja. Lynch, Doc. Madden and Stephen D. for a languor he had before and was now better, he having dreamed tonight a strange fancy and Mistress Purefoy there to be delivered, poor body, two days past her time and the midwives hard put to it, God send her quick issue’) and so on through Defoe-Swift and Steele-Addison-Sterne and Landor-Pater-Newman until it ends in a frightful jumble of Pidgin English, n_____ [editing mine] English, Cockney, Irish, Bowery slang and broken doggerel. This progression is also linked back at each part subtly with some foregoing episode of the day and, besides this, with the natural stages of development in the embryo and the periods of faunal evolution in general. The double-thudding Anglo-Saxon motive recurs from time to time (‘Loth to move from Horne’s house’) to give the sense of the hoofs of oxen. Bloom is the spermatozoon, the hospital the womb, the nurse the ovum, Stephen the embryo.  

How’s that for high?

[Robin M]

Completed book 2 and 3 in Keri Arthur's Spook Squad - Generation 18 and Penumbra--  Unlike her other paranormal fantasies which are quite steamy, these are all story with a hint of romance. 

 

On the deck is Dean Koontz's Saint Odd as well as an assortment of writing books.

[idnib]

I've tried it a few times and have picked up some very interesting books using that method. This time, I went on Amazon and looked at  the new releases and chose books by authors I've never read, had an intriguing picture or title. I picked out some books after checking out the synopsis, but I resisted temptation and didn't read the excerpts or reviews. 

 

Euphoria by Lily King

 

 

 

 

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

 

 

I find the cover for Euphoria most appealing aesthetically but I would probably choose Miramont's Ghost based on titles. 

[Just Robyn]

 

 

 

 

 

Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

 

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

 

ful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

 

So which one do you think I should read?   I'll read the one that receives the most votes and let you know what I think of the story.  

 

 

These two interest me. I've got Miramont's Ghost on my kindle, so I'd be interested in what you think of that. I think I must have gotten it as a Kindle First deal.

[Jane in NC]

After finishing Wuthering Heights, I found myself thinking about the moors almost as a character in the novel.  John Buchan uses the Scottish landscape and seascape in a similar fashion.  It is not always the characters that move the story along but the land or the weather.  I particularly liked Buchan's story Fountainblue.  More Buchan on the program this week.

 

And with all of this time spent in the grays of Northern England and Scotland, I needed some Mediterranean warmth.  Eric Ambler's thriller The Light of Day transported me to Turkey.

 

I also finished listening to Pratchett's Interesting Times, a great entertainment while driving.  I am completely enchanted by the Silver Horde, a group of geriatric barbarians.  :smilielol5: Must find them in another Disc World novel!

 

HoMW:  bookmarked 20/85

 

The Golden Legend:  bookmarked 26/182

[Jane in NC]

 

 

Euphoria by Lily King

 

 

 

I vote for Euphoria! (Sounds like I am in the whiskey rather early in the day, eh?)

 

[TeacherZee]

I DO NOT need to add any more books on my TBR pile so I shall watch the mini-challenge from afar :)

 

I didn't get any Northanger Abbey read this week. But on the plus side things were much calmer at school when we went home for the break. I DID however read the Swedish book Än finns det hopp by Karin Wahlberg. I started it while waiting for the train on Friday and finished it this afternoon. It was a very good book set in a small provincial town in Sweden in the early 1950s. It is the first book in a series about the people in town, mainly those connected to the hospital. The book is set during the fall but it is hard to tell if events take place on the same day, or even the same week. And somehow it doesn't matter. Even though it deals with very serious events, the polio epidemic is the red thread throughout the book, it is still a quiet book. It was very good to read now, considering the debate on vaccinations. The ending was a bit abrupt. All of a sudden I came to the end, it hadn't really been working up to an ending I felt, but now thinking back on it, there were some climactic points, it was just that, like the rest of the book, they were rather quiet.

 

Books read this year:

 

1. The Child Catchers by Kathryn Joyce

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

3. The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

4. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

5. The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen

6. Blond Date by Sarina Bowen

7. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

8. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson

9. After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson

10. With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin

11. Falling from the Sky by Sarina Bowen

12. Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb

13. Murphys Law by Rhys Bowen

14. Än finns det hopp by Karin Wahlberg

[Just Robyn]

I finished three short books.

 

The Art of the Poetic Line by James Logenbach - This talks about different types of lines based on how they end (complete sentence, parsing, annotating) and about creating tension in a poem by varying the types of lines. I found it illuminating.

 

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino - This is a book of short stories. I think Calvino calls them science fairy tales or something like that. From the back: "During the course of these stories Calvino toys with continuous creation, the transformation of matter, and the expanding and contracting reaches of space and time." But they are also about love, fear, human nature.

 

Bluets by Maggie Nelson - This is labeled on the back as Essay/Literature, but I would add prose poetry and memoir to the list. It is written as 240 small (numbered) statements or musings, separate but linked. Some random examples:

 

1. Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color. Suppose I were to speak this as though it were a confession; suppose I shredded my napkin as we spoke. It began slowly. An appreciation, an affinity. Then, one day, it became more serious. Then (looking into an empty teacup, its bottom stained with thin brown excrement coiled into the shape of a sea horse) it became somehow personal.

 

39. The Encyclopedia does not help. "If normally our perception of color involves 'false consciousness,' what is the right way to think of colors?" it asks. "In the case of color, unlike other cases," it concludes, "false consciousness should be a cause for celebration."

 

220. Imagine someone saying, "Our fundamental situation is joyful." Now imagine believing it. 

 

I have started in on Narrative Design and Sin & Syntax. I'm not sure what I'll start next. 

 

Was a new author picked for March?

[MicheleinMN]

 Euphoria by Lily King 

 

I think I would pick Euphoria based on the cover alone, but I would really want to read the Kazuo Ishiguro novel instead.  (I just finished one of his last week.)  

 

I finished 4 books this last week and picked up The Count of Monte Cristo again.  I think I am far enough in that I won't want to put it down again until I finish it.  (I'm going back and forth between reading it and listening to it, so hopefully I will be able to finish it soon.)  I still haven't decided what I am going to do about Virginia Woolf.  I did get Days and Nights from Audible.com and also put a copy of it on my Kindle, so MAYBE I will be able to do 18 hours of Virginia Woolf before the end of March.

 

Here's my 2015 read list:

 

9. Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan - good, great characters

8. Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James - awful, wish I hadn't bothered to read it

7. Plea of Insanity by Jilliane Hoffman - pretty good, but not great

6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - good 

5. Emma by Jane Austen - very good

4. First Grave on the Right - meh (great narrator, lots of potential, but mostly    

     disappointing)

3. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami - weird but good

2.  Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler - pretty good

1.  A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny - pretty good

[idnib]

 

8. Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James - awful, wish I hadn't bothered to read it

 

 

I watched the BBC video version. I think it was rated higher than the book, but I didn't like it. I did like that they used the same setting as was used for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice production.

[Kareni]

I'll cast a vote for Euphoria by Lily King for you, Robin.  (I've read a Jamie McGuire book and somehow I'm thinking it wouldn't be your cup of tea though the cover art is gripping.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Jane, your review has reminded me that I need to revisit Interesting Times.  I got a kick out of it the first time I read it, especially with all the clever nods to Chinese history.  But I have it all mixed up in my mind with another excellent work (but non-satirical) that is also a send up of China, The Bridge of Birds: A Novel of An Ancient China that Never Was by Barry Hughart.  You might really enjoy that one.

 

I had my own fun in a fictional Chinese-American world this week, in the novel Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves. The protagonist is a Mandarin speaking white guy who is an ace chef in a Chinese restaurant, and I loved how the author played up all the little cross cultural nuances such as what kind of food the white patrons order vs what the Chinese patrons eat. Or how the Chinese characters, even knowing the guy speaks their language, continue to talk about him, referring to him as that foreign devil, right in front of him. My Chinese was never as good as this character's, but many of these little tidbits were spot-on.  The plot wasn't all that great, but the cooking scenes were mouth watering, and it was a breezy and fun read.

 

Not sure if I will return to Call the Midwife. Too graphic for squeamish ol' me.  Maybe the tv series would be a more sanitized version?

 

New week, and time for a new book or two -- not sure which book I'll pick from my stack of physical books, audiobooks or kindle books.  Guess I should choose by their covers, eh?

 

OH, and from last week's thread.  My son LOVED Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court!  He was about 12 or 13 when he read it.  

[Robin M]

I finished three short books.

 

The Art of the Poetic Line by James Logenbach - This talks about different types of lines based on how they end (complete sentence, parsing, annotating) and about creating tension in a poem by varying the types of lines. I found it illuminating.

 

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino - This is a book of short stories. I think Calvino calls them science fairy tales or something like that. From the back: "During the course of these stories Calvino toys with continuous creation, the transformation of matter, and the expanding and contracting reaches of space and time." But they are also about love, fear, human nature.

 

Bluets by Maggie Nelson - This is labeled on the back as Essay/Literature, but I would add prose poetry and memoir to the list. It is written as 240 small (numbered) statements or musings, separate but linked. Some random examples:

 

1. Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color. Suppose I were to speak this as though it were a confession; suppose I shredded my napkin as we spoke. It began slowly. An appreciation, an affinity. Then, one day, it became more serious. Then (looking into an empty teacup, its bottom stained with thin brown excrement coiled into the shape of a sea horse) it became somehow personal.

 

39. The Encyclopedia does not help. "If normally our perception of color involves 'false consciousness,' what is the right way to think of colors?" it asks. "In the case of color, unlike other cases," it concludes, "false consciousness should be a cause for celebration."

 

220. Imagine someone saying, "Our fundamental situation is joyful." Now imagine believing it. 

 

I have started in on Narrative Design and Sin & Syntax. I'm not sure what I'll start next. 

 

Was a new author picked for March?

Love the snippets from Bluets.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I did pick a new author for March since quite a few BaWer's moaned and groaned about Woolf.  Which ya'll normally don't do and since many dislike her, decided to change it.   March is mystery month so going with 3 classic mystery authors to choose from:

 

Agatha Christie

Dorothy Sayers

Josephine Tey

[Just Robyn]

Jane, your review has reminded me that I need to revisit Interesting Times.  I got a kick out of it the first time I read it, especially with all the clever nods to Chinese history.  But I have it all mixed up in my mind with another excellent work (but non-satirical) that is also a send up of China, The Bridge of Birds: A Novel of An Ancient China that Never Was by Barry Hughart.  You might really enjoy that one.

 

I loved this book and the two sequels. Very funny.

 

Love the snippets from Bluets.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I did pick a new author for March since quite a few BaWer's moaned and groaned about Woolf.  Which ya'll normally don't do and since many dislike her, decided to change it.   March is mystery month so going with 3 classic mystery authors to choose from:

 

Agatha Christie

Dorothy Sayers

Josephine Tey

 

Oh, I see. I had thought you were taking votes on those three, and I was waiting to see which author won. Since it's all three and take your pick or take them all - I'll probably end up with Agatha Christie. 

[MicheleinMN]

 

Yes, I did pick a new author for March since quite a few BaWer's moaned and groaned about Woolf.  Which ya'll normally don't do and since many dislike her, decided to change it.   March is mystery month so going with 3 classic mystery authors to choose from:

 

Agatha Christie

Dorothy Sayers

Josephine Tey

 

I prefer the mystery authors, but am almost disappointed that we won't all be trudging through Virginia Woolf together, as it is the only way I expected to make myself read another of her works.

[Stacia]

I stayed up too late last night reading the second half of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I was interested in reading it 1) because Hemingway seems to evoke pretty strong reactions from readers (either for or against) and 2) because Jake Barnes, the main character, was used as a main character in a humorous book I read a few years ago (Nick & Jake) & I enjoyed Jake's character in that one, so I wanted to see what the 'real' character was like.

 

I really enjoyed the book & appreciate Hemingway's skill in spare writing while evoking very descriptive scenes of France & Spain. Maybe I was partial to the descriptions as I've visited some of the same areas he describes & it was a wonderful trip down memory lane for me. (I'm ready to hop on a plane to Spain now.) His descriptions of the town of Pamplona & festival were so alive, bristling, & did much to round out the photos you always see of the running of the bulls. Hemingway also did a good job painting the life of the 'lost generation' of expats after WW1, a mix of high life, debauchery, & malaise. And, yes, I still enjoyed Jake's straightforward character as much in this book as I did in Nick & Jake. One caveat I'll mention -- this book was written in 1926 & there is a definite anti-Semitic stance toward one of the characters, Robert Cohn.

 

It's been a long time since I've read Hemingway, but I'm glad I revisited his work & his strong, spare writing style.

 

2015 Books Read:

Africa:

• Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)
• Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotum, pub. by Unnamed Press. 4 stars. South Africa & Nigeria. (Scientists lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister?)

Asia:

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf.  4 stars. Japan. BaW January author challenge. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)
• The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford, pub. by Crown Publishers. 4 stars. Mongolia. (Non-fiction. Even with gaps, fascinating pieces of lost &/or censored history.)

Caribbean:

• The Duppy by Anthony C. Winkler, pub. by Akashic Books. 3 stars. Jamaica. (A duppy [ghost] relates ribald & amusing anecdotes of Jamaican heaven.)

Europe:

• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)
• Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, pub. by Scribner Classics. 4 stars. France & Spain. (Lost generation of post-WW1 expats living, loving, & fighting in France & Spain.)

Middle East:

• The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone, pub. by Europa editions. 2 stars. Israel. (Noir detective tale re: jealousy. Ambiguous, unsatisfactory ending.)
• Goat Days by Benyamin, trans. from Malayalam by Joseph Koyipally, pub. by Penguin Books. 3 stars. Saudi Arabia. (Simple tale of enslaved Indian forced to herd goats in the Saudi Arabian desert.)

North America:

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, pub. by Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). 5 stars. USA. (Sharp satire, historical fiction & folly, standing on top of heart, soul... & freedom.)

[Stacia]

Ah, I have to multiquote, just because I can! Lol.

 

 52 Books Blog - Pick a Book by the Cover:  Are you ready for a mini challenge?  Just realized I hadn't done any yet this year.   

<snip>
 

Euphoria by Lily King

Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

 

I'd pick one of those two for you, Robin. I like both covers & I'd tend to lean toward the Ishiguro one because I think he writes beautifully. Though I read about his book a couple of months ago, I have no memory now of what it's about. Maybe that would be a good one for me to pick. Lol. I love picking a book by its cover, though I may need to wait a month until I participate in the mini-challenge as my life is too hectic right now.

 

I somehow stumbled through Oxen of the Sun, Episode 14 of Ulysses and finished last night. I am somewhat worse for wear. In this Episode, Ulysses takes the reader through a history of English styles. In a letter from Joyce to Frank Budgen, dated March 20, 1920 (bolding mine):

 

:blink:  I think my brain hurts right now.

 

I also finished listening to Pratchett's Interesting Times, a great entertainment while driving.  I am completely enchanted by the Silver Horde, a group of geriatric barbarians.  :smilielol5: Must find them in another Disc World novel!

 

Terry Pratchett books are such a treasure.

 

I DO NOT need to add any more books on my TBR pile so I shall watch the mini-challenge from afar :)

 

Or join me in doing it a month or two from now!

 

Bluets by Maggie Nelson - This is labeled on the back as Essay/Literature, but I would add prose poetry and memoir to the list. It is written as 240 small (numbered) statements or musings, separate but linked. Some random examples:

 

Cool excerpts. Thanks for posting them.

 

OH, and from last week's thread.  My son LOVED Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court!  He was about 12 or 13 when he read it.  

 

My ds also enjoys that one (though he finds the ending sad).

 

I prefer the mystery authors, but am almost disappointed that we won't all be trudging through Virginia Woolf together, as it is the only way I expected to make myself read another of her works.

 

I did pick up Woolf's The Common Reader after reading that Hemingway interview last week where the interviewer mentioned some of the books stacked around Hemingway's room & The Common Reader was one of them. It probably already has a couple of strikes against it, even before starting, as I'm leery of reading Woolf, plus I rarely enjoy reading essays. :tongue_smilie:  So, if I do successfully read her, I may need to select a different book.

 

[Negin]

I read Notes from a Big Country - 4 Stars. About a quarter of the way through this, I realized that some things sounded rather familiar. It was only after searching on Good Reads, that I realized that I read this two years ago. Oh dear. I loved it yet again and have given it 4 stars once more. One of my many favorite parts:

The last time I arrived at Heathrow Airport, for instance, the official who checked my passport looked me over and asked: "Are you that writer chap?" I was very pleased, as you can imagine, to be recognized. "Why, yes I am," I said proudly. "Come over here to make some more money, have you?" he said with disdain and slid back my passport. You don't get much of that in the States. By and large, people have an almost instinctively positive attitude to life and its possibilities. If you informed an American that a massive asteroid was hurtling toward Earth at 125,000 miles an hour and that in twelve weeks the planet would be blown to smithereens, he would say: "Really? In that case, I suppose I'd better sign up for that Mediterranean cooking course now." If you informed a Briton of the same thing, he would say: "Bloody typical, isn't it? And have you seen the weather forecast for the weekend?"  :lol:

 

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.

 

My Good Reads Page if anyone wants to add me.

 

[redsquirrel]

Ok, so I am NOT loving "Daughter of Time" Like, to the point where I might abandon it, which is something I almost never do.

 

I am 50 pages in and the book is just over 200 pages. I just don't care about this book. It is very post WW2 London, which I usually like, but the characters have no depth. They are just there to serve the purpose of the story...and I don't care about the story, lol.

 

It is about a detective who is stuck in bed with a broken leg and he becomes intrigued with a portrait he sees of Richard iii. He is convinced that he can determine something about his character from the picture and he doesn't see a man evil enough to kill his nephews.  Ok, even if the evidence presented is compelling, the very premise, that one can determine anything important about a person from a painting is just stupid. He goes on and ow about how in the newspaper pictures you can always tell who is the criminal and who is the judge. That premise is just so messed up on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. It's like an attempt to be Sherlock only stupid.

 

I am going to give it one more chapter, or two, to plead its case and if not, I am going to move on to "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights" by Katha Pollitt. It's one thing to keep reading a book that drags in places, but it's another to read one that is actively annoying me.

[Stacia]

:lol:

 

In case you want a better literary analysis of The Sun Also Rises than what I posted...

 

[Just Robyn]

I prefer the mystery authors, but am almost disappointed that we won't all be trudging through Virginia Woolf together, as it is the only way I expected to make myself read another of her works.

 

Well, I will still read Woolf with you, and it looks like Stacia might not be totally against it.

 

ETA: Oh, and now I'm feeling like I should say something like - So you wouldn't be a lone Woolf reader.

[MicheleinMN]

 

ETA: Oh, and now I'm feeling like I should say something like - So you wouldn't be a lone Woolf reader.

 

Perfect!  :lol:

[Stacia]

Kim in Appalachia,

 

 

Hope you're having a great day!

[Cinder]

Still plugging along with 1Q84. But now Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith just came in from the library. I'd had it on hold for months(!) and it's a new book so I'll probably have to read that soon because I may not be able to renew it. Fortunately Smith's books are light and fast reads. Continuing to read aloud My Side of the Mountain with dd.

[beckster]

 

 

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

 

 

My vote is for Miramont's Ghost.  I like the cover and the title!

[beckster]

Nan, I didn't get to reply to your question from last week before the switch over today, so...

 

If you could add a library onto your house, what would it be like?

 

 

 

I would probably just convert our den.  Big, overstuffed chair in front of the window, bottomless mugs of coffee and tea, walls lined with shelves, books stacked on the floor, kitties on my lap, dog at my feet.

 

Teacher Zee, regarding your secret bookshelf door...

 

 

 Oh and one of those bookcases that is actually a secret door. 

 

 

... have your seen this?  It is on my someday list!

[Butter]

I find the cover for Euphoria most appealing aesthetically but I would probably choose Miramont's Ghost based on titles. 

 

Weird.  That is *exactly* what I thought looking at the covers!

 

The special book challenge I'm doing along with my daughter this year includes choosing a book based solely on its cover.  I have been trying and trying to do it, but I always end up looking at the reviews and blurb about it so I haven't selected a book for that little challenge yet.  You have inspired me to get to it and pick one.

 

I'm still cheating on my books with each other.  This week I suspect I'll be finishing quite a few of them in rapid succession because I'm past the halfway point of 5 or 6 books.  Then I'll do the book picked solely by its cover thing.  Promise.

[prairiegirl]

Ok, so I am NOT loving "Daughter of Time" Like, to the point where I might abandon it, which is something I almost never do.

 

I am 50 pages in and the book is just over 200 pages. I just don't care about this book. It is very post WW2 London, which I usually like, but the characters have no depth. They are just there to serve the purpose of the story...and I don't care about the story, lol.

 

It is about a detective who is stuck in bed with a broken leg and he becomes intrigued with a portrait he sees of Richard iii. He is convinced that he can determine something about his character from the picture and he doesn't see a man evil enough to kill his nephews.  Ok, even if the evidence presented is compelling, the very premise, that one can determine anything important about a person from a painting is just stupid. He goes on and ow about how in the newspaper pictures you can always tell who is the criminal and who is the judge. That premise is just so messed up on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. It's like an attempt to be Sherlock only stupid.

 

I am going to give it one more chapter, or two, to plead its case and if not, I am going to move on to "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights" by Katha Pollitt. It's one thing to keep reading a book that drags in places, but it's another to read one that is actively annoying me.

 

I have read Daughter of Time and although I finished it,  I did not like it.  It was way too confusing for me.  This experience has caused me to stay clear of other Tey books.  As I am typing this out a light bulb has clicked on.  My kids and I are doing our own reading challenge that my sister found online  Anyway, one of the challenges is to read a book by an author who has the same initials as me--J T--Josephine Tey!   I hope her other books are better.

 

Robin,  strictly on the cover art, I vote for Euphoria  by Lily King.  I have that book on my TBR list and I picked it solely due to the cover.

 

I finished  The Great Divorce by C.S.Lewis (loved it!) and The Miniaturist  by Jessie Burton (there were some icky parts but, on the whole, I quite enjoyed it.)   I am in the middle of :"An Experiment in Criticism",  :"I Shall Be Near to You"  by Erin McCabe  and am planning to get  "The Narnian"  by Alan Jacobs  from the library tomorrow or Tues so I can start on that then. 

[Onceuponatime]

I'm still working on Library: An Unquiet History and am almost finished Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen, which I found in the book exchange. It is a book of short stories that take place in Denmark. It is kind of odd, like many collections of short stories.

[Ali in OR]

 

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

 

 

 

 

This one called to me the most.

[Ali in OR]

Will finish Villette today (I hope, I hope, I hope--so ready to move on to something else!). And I believe I can count this as a "dusty" read--been on the shelf for years though this is the first time I've read it, AND I can get it off the shelf and give it away. I tend to keep classics but this is one I will never re-read, never read to the kids, and if they are assigned it or want to read it they can get it from the library. The back of my book talks about this book being the "height of her [brontë's] artistic power." I'm sure it would be interesting to analyze in a lit class or in a paper, but this book is so unsatisfactory to just read! I know it mirrors Brontë's life which wasn't exactly happy, but this book can get downright depressing. And I've cheated and read the end and there is no satisfaction there. I think this book is also more likely to be problematic for the modern reader. Anti-Catholic, the student who sounds developmentally disabled to some extent is called a cretin and is not looked upon favorably, the eventual romantic lead is very controlling, often physically (locking protagonist in attic, strong opinions on what protag. can/should do). Bleah. Read Jane Eyre instead--"equal, as we are!"--not much of that spirit in Lucy Snowe or Villette.

 

Up next: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and/or The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan--both "assigned" reading for discussion groups (but GOAC assigned by me). Still have Fahrenheit 451 from the library--may have to renew that.

[Ali in OR]

Library book sale yesterday. In past years, particularly when building a home school library, we would buy bags and bags of books and spend like $60. These days we're trying to clean off the shelves a bit so we restrained ourselves, and I'm likely to return these for next year's sale when I'm done. At the book sale, the books are lined-up spine up on long tables so you can read the title but not see the cover. I bought one for the poetic sound of the title alone and was reminded that I'm not an image-oriented person. That book is Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie--I loved his Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, so willing to give this a try. I also noticed that I avoided chunksters--I tended to read the titles of the skinny books and skip over the fat ones! That's just where I am these days. Other picks--Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (saw the title the day before on a list of top ten books of the 21st century so far.); The Skull Beneath the Skin by P.D. James (have read her Adam Dalgliesh books but no Cordelia Grays); and I always get a cookbook--Something Warm from the Oven by Eileen Goudge. Those 4 books cost me $8. I still have a few books unread from last year's sale too.

[NoseInABook]

Robin, the cover of Miramont's Ghost made me go look it up on Amazon and it's free for Prime users to borrow. So I downloaded it! We'll see what it's all about.

 

Happy birthday, Kim in Appalachia! 

 

I finished Outlaw Demon Wails and have White Witch, Black Curse ready to go. I'm going to pick up Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson. I've had it waiting and I love everything Sally has written, so it should be a good one. I'm several chapters behind on HotMW but I'll catch up! Y'all reminded me that I need to get my hands on JD Robb's latest (and uh, the one before...)!

 

It's been a long month full of troubles so I'm hoping that I can get a couple more books read and then shut the door on February for good! We had a carbon monoxide fiasco on Thursday which led to the baby having to stay overnight at his parents' house for the first time while we replaced our furnace. It didn't go so well for him but he'll be staying there more frequently as he needs to adjust before he moves back in mid-March. Good thoughts and prayers for his safety would be awesome.

[Kareni]

... have your seen this?  It is on my someday list!

 

Very snazzy! 

 

Good thoughts and prayers for his safety would be awesome.

 

Sending good thoughts for the baby and you all.

 

 

Here are some attractive book covers ~

 

The Best Book Covers of 2014

 

32 Of The Most Beautiful Book Covers Of 2014

 

The 25 Best Book Covers of 2014

 

The 50 Coolest Book Covers

 

and, for some balance,

The five worst book covers ever

 

Regards,

Kareni

[idnib]

 

The 25 Best Book Covers of 2014

 

 

Hmm. I might read The Iceland based on the cover:

 

 

 

 

I knew that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cover was going to be in the Top 5 Worst list. If I had seen that Bell Jar cover I would have guessed that one too!

[Mom-ninja.]

Quick read: Erma Bombeck's Motherhood. Made me laugh, cry, and ponder

[guilfordlake]

 

Robin, the cover of Miramont's Ghost made me go look it up on Amazon and it's free for Prime users to borrow. So I downloaded it! We'll see what it's all about.

 

 

 

You had to mention the book was free for Prime users to borrow, didn't you?!  I already have so many books to read. (I can't say *too many* books cause there really is no such thing.)

[aggieamy]

Hello m'dears!  I'm back from skiing so call off the search party.  I've just jumped on the computer to pay a few bills but I wanted to say Hello.  I will be jumping back in the thread tomorrow to discuss books and revel in the wonderfulness of MultiQuote.

 

 

[Nan in Mass]

Robin, I vote for the one with the wings, judging by the cover. Don,t particularly like the title but none of them appeal to me, so it comes down to covers.

 

Stacia, I obviously made the right decision not to read Ulysses lol.

 

I love that library door. And the no telephone idea. What good ideas! I like the island one, too,but having dealt with ferries, I would rather have the island a brief row offshore. I,ve had some miserable ferry rides. And a few scary ones. Like the one where the cement truck drove on and the whole boat went down five feet and then sort of wallowed through the waves all the way there. On the other hand, the coastguard sends ice breakers if you get stuck in a ferry, which wouldn't,t happen if you were in a rowboat.

 

Nan

[Robin M]

Hello m'dears!  I'm back from skiing so call off the search party.  I've just jumped on the computer to pay a few bills but I wanted to say Hello.  I will be jumping back in the thread tomorrow to discuss books and revel in the wonderfulness of MultiQuote.

Thanks for checking in. Have been missing a few chicks and wondering where they've run off too!  :willy_nilly:

 

 

 

[Robin M]

 

Robin, the cover of Miramont's Ghost made me go look it up on Amazon and it's free for Prime users to borrow. So I downloaded it! We'll see what it's all about.

 

Happy birthday, Kim in Appalachia! 

 

I finished Outlaw Demon Wails and have White Witch, Black Curse ready to go. I'm going to pick up Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson. I've had it waiting and I love everything Sally has written, so it should be a good one. I'm several chapters behind on HotMW but I'll catch up! Y'all reminded me that I need to get my hands on JD Robb's latest (and uh, the one before...)!

 

It's been a long month full of troubles so I'm hoping that I can get a couple more books read and then shut the door on February for good! We had a carbon monoxide fiasco on Thursday which led to the baby having to stay overnight at his parents' house for the first time while we replaced our furnace. It didn't go so well for him but he'll be staying there more frequently as he needs to adjust before he moves back in mid-March. Good thoughts and prayers for his safety would be awesome.

 

I already got the other two freebies which is my limit I guess - Dead Key and Mermaid's Sister.

 

Thoughts and Prayers for you, the baby and everyone else involved.  :grouphug:

 

[idnib]

Quick read: Erma Bombeck's Motherhood. Made me laugh, cry, and ponder

 

I read that book way back when when I was in college and childless. My friend's parents had it in their spare room and I was visiting for the weekend. I would relate to it much more now, but I remember I found it hilarious. Perhaps now it would also be poignant. 

[Stacia]

Spent the evening watching the Oscars. During the honor to those from the film industry who passed away in the past year, Gabriel García Márquez was listed. I looked on wikipedia & learned that he did indeed have "a long and involved history with film":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#Film_and_opera

[Nan in Mass]

NoseInABook, thinking about you and baby and parents. Hugs.

 

Nan

[LaughingCat]

Read this week:

 

Lady Fortescue Steps Out (BaW recommendation)

A Natural History of Dragons (BaW recommendation)

 

Now that I'm reading more widely (thanks to BaW'ers) -- I am finding that I have read the 1st in several series - almost all that I like enough to read the rest BUT none of which I really like enough to zoom through the rest.  I have put some '2nd books' on hold - but I'm not really ready for them yet.   How do you guys keep track of your 'to be read maybe someday' list?   

[Kareni]

Last night I read with pleasure the contemporary romance A Single Kiss (Sweetest Kisses) by Grace Burrowes.  The author is a lawyer as are her two main characters.  That added a lot of realism to the book (though there was still at least one point that strained credulity).  I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more in the series.  I was already familiar with this author's historical romances, but this is the first contemporary romance of hers that I've read.

 

"A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Romance for Fall 2014

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes brings her gorgeous writing and incredible storytelling abilities to a brand new series of contemporary romance.

 

A single kiss can change everything...

 

In the first novel of the Sweetest Kisses series, Hannah Stark has set her sights on corporate law to assure her a career of paperwork, predictability, and conservative suits. Contracts, finance, and the art of the deal sing to her, while the mess and misery of the courtroom do not. But her daughter needs to eat, so when Hannah is offered a temporary position in a small town firm's domestic relations department, she reluctantly accepts.

 

Trent Knightley is mightily drawn to his newest associate, though Hannah is as protective of her privacy as she is competent. When their friendship and attraction heat up, Hannah's secrets put her heart and Trent's hopes in double jeopardy."

 

 

The author is offering a free contemporary novella to Kindle readers ~

A Kiss for Luck: A Novella (Sweetest Kisses Book 0)

as well as a free historical romance ~

Douglas: Lord of Heartache (The Lonely Lords Book 8)

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Lady Florida.]

 

Yes, I did pick a new author for March since quite a few BaWer's moaned and groaned about Woolf.  Which ya'll normally don't do and since many dislike her, decided to change it.   March is mystery month so going with 3 classic mystery authors to choose from:

 

Agatha Christie

Dorothy Sayers

Josephine Tey

 

I've read a lot of Christie, so I probably won't read one of hers if I want to try something new. Haven't heard of Josephine Tey. I tried to read Whose Body? a year or so ago and couldn't get into it, but I think it might have been a timing problem. I'll probably try again for this challenge, unless I look up Tey's books and one of them entices me.

 

 

I also finished listening to Pratchett's Interesting Times, a great entertainment while driving.  I am completely enchanted by the Silver Horde, a group of geriatric barbarians.  :smilielol5: Must find them in another Disc World novel!

 

 

 

I finished Good Omens Friday night, and loved it. It almost makes me want to try either a Pratchett or a Gaiman novel. Almost. Probably not though. 

 

:lol:

 

In case you want a better literary analysis of The Sun Also Rises than what I posted...

 

 

I haven't checked Thug Notes in months. Must go see what other new stuff he has. I love that guy. 

 

 

Now that I finished the book club book, I've gone back to my concurrent reading of Northanger Abbey and Bitch in a Bonnet Vol II. I'm sure I'll finish both this week, but haven't decided what to read next.

 

 

I've read 11 books so far this year.

[aggieamy]

 

 

Yes, I did pick a new author for March since quite a few BaWer's moaned and groaned about Woolf.  Which ya'll normally don't do and since many dislike her, decided to change it.   March is mystery month so going with 3 classic mystery authors to choose from:

 

Agatha Christie

Dorothy Sayers

Josephine Tey

 

 

Are you tailoring BaW just to please me?!?!  Flufferton Abbey month followed up by read a classic British author?!?!?   :hurray:   

 

Ok, so I am NOT loving "Daughter of Time" Like, to the point where I might abandon it, which is something I almost never do.

 

I am 50 pages in and the book is just over 200 pages. I just don't care about this book. It is very post WW2 London, which I usually like, but the characters have no depth. They are just there to serve the purpose of the story...and I don't care about the story, lol.

 

It is about a detective who is stuck in bed with a broken leg and he becomes intrigued with a portrait he sees of Richard iii. He is convinced that he can determine something about his character from the picture and he doesn't see a man evil enough to kill his nephews.  Ok, even if the evidence presented is compelling, the very premise, that one can determine anything important about a person from a painting is just stupid. He goes on and ow about how in the newspaper pictures you can always tell who is the criminal and who is the judge. That premise is just so messed up on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. It's like an attempt to be Sherlock only stupid.

 

I am going to give it one more chapter, or two, to plead its case and if not, I am going to move on to "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights" by Katha Pollitt. It's one thing to keep reading a book that drags in places, but it's another to read one that is actively annoying me.

 

 

DH randomly picked up Daughter of Time yesterday from our bookshelf to read.  I've read it before and thought it was ... good.  I think.  It's been a long time and was before Goodreads was around so I'm mostly going from memory. He's about 50 pages in now so I will make a point of asking him this afternoon what he thinks so far.  I've tried reading her first Allen mystery a year ago and couldn't get into it.  I thought the characters were personality-less.  I might have to try another one of her books just to make sure I'm not missing something amazing.  

 

 

 

 

It's been a long month full of troubles so I'm hoping that I can get a couple more books read and then shut the door on February for good! We had a carbon monoxide fiasco on Thursday which led to the baby having to stay overnight at his parents' house for the first time while we replaced our furnace. It didn't go so well for him but he'll be staying there more frequently as he needs to adjust before he moves back in mid-March. Good thoughts and prayers for his safety would be awesome.

 

 

((HUGS))

 

I'll be praying for the little man and for you during this transition.  Thank you for loving him and caring for him.   :crying:

 

 

Read this week:

 

Lady Fortescue Steps Out (BaW recommendation)

A Natural History of Dragons (BaW recommendation)

 

Now that I'm reading more widely (thanks to BaW'ers) -- I am finding that I have read the 1st in several series - almost all that I like enough to read the rest BUT none of which I really like enough to zoom through the rest.  I have put some '2nd books' on hold - but I'm not really ready for them yet.   How do you guys keep track of your 'to be read maybe someday' list?   

 

I keep track on Goodreads.  Are you on there?  If I read the first book in a series and I like it then I add the second book to my to-read list.  I normally don't marathon read a series because I like to stretch it out and I find that I get bored with the characters if I read too much of them in a short period of time.  

 

There are exceptions to that rule though ... have you read any of the Kate Ross books?  Or the John Pickett series by Sheri Cobb South?  If you kinda liked Lady Fortescue then you'll really like Sheri Cobb South's books!  Same feel and era but so much better written.  

[aggieamy]

Attention all Flufferton gals!  

 

Have you read The John Pickett mysteries by Sheri Cobb South?  I know some of y'all have because I'm sure it was recommended here (Laura? Kareni? Rose?).  I read the three books in a 24-hour period and then emailed the author to find out when the next one is come out.  They are light, fast, and just delightfully fun.  A little bit of cozy mystery and a little bit of Regency romance.  The first book was good, the second book was really good, and the third book made me want to drive out to the author's house and demand to see the in progress manuscript so I know what happens next.   :laugh:  Have I convinced you to give these a try yet?  (Angel - this is totally G rated.)

 

My Ladies Book Club read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.  That was weird.  There were some good points but mostly I was distracted by how odd the author was and how living as a single lady in Japan and decluttering didn't really translate well to the life of a married with kids gal living in the suburbs in the mid-west.  She also spent a lot of time talking to her things.  I can't remember if this was literally an example or if I'm misremembering but I think she thanked her purse for a hard days work each day and worried about the feelings of her socks if you rolled them.  Okay.  If I start worrying about the feelings of DS's puzzles or DD's tights if I don't fold them just so then we're going to have some real productivity issues in this house.  

 

I just finished The Curse of the Pharoahs (Amelia Peabody #2) as an audiobook.  I'm a mean old woman and dislike books with overly precocious children.  The first quarter of this book had the most incredibly precocious child imaginable AND he had an quaint speech impediment.  NOOOOOO!  I almost gave up on it but the kid went to go stay with an aunt and we got down to mystery and excitement.  All very enjoyable.  Based on my personality defect towards precocious children I read a few descriptions of the next books in the series and discovered that the kid has a much bigger role so I probably won't read any more of them.