Robin M Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Happy Spring! Today is the start of book week 12 and should have you starting book # 12. Mr linky is now up and ready for you to link your reviews. I'm still working my way through last weeks review links - see you soon! L is for Linkage love. This week I have interesting links to bloggers and authors to check out. Eclectic and interesting. It is also the start of spring and Callapidder's Days Spring Reading thing. Here's what I'll be reading during Spring. I'm thinking of starting with the non fiction book - His Excellency George Washington in hopes it won't distract me too much from writing and finishing my latest WIP. What are you all reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 This morning I finished reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles. It was my first time reading anything by Hardy, he is a very talented writer. I love his descriptions and his ability to make you sympathize with characters even when they are being foolish. There were so many great themes in this book: questions of morality and purity being high on the list (and supported by his descriptions of nature and the effects of the industrial revolution), as well as the consequences of judgments, assumptions, pride, and naivety. I was left wondering what Tess, Angel, and Alec (a.k.a. Satan) were actually to blame for and what was simply a case of bad timing and situations. I read this version and now I want all of these beautifully bound classics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanAR Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 (edited) May I post here? I'm not sure which "reading group" I joined So... I finally finished Sharon Penman's trilogy - When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance, and The Devil's Brood (wow, almost 2000 pages total) I learned a lot but need a break before I read more of her books. The Chatham School Affair http://www.amazon.com/Chatham-School.../dp/0553571931 - very thought-provoking The Dogs of Riga http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Riga-Henn...9207737&sr=1-1 The last two are very different from what I usually read, but I needed a few light reads. KWIM?? I plan to read Middlemarch next. __________________ Edited March 25, 2010 by SusanAR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I read Nurture Shock this week. Interesting stuff. I felt like a lot of the information was familiar from articles in the press, but still interesting. I have no idea what I'm going to read this week. And it's spring break, so I should have time to read something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 STILL working my way through Quo Vadis. Excellent book, just not a two-day-er. :) My book club has been meeting for over 6 years, now. Several times we've had the option of reading various books set in the time of Christ (or shortly there after). I've read The Robe, The Silver Chalice, and The Bronze Bow. I'd been wanting to read Quo Vadis, so I took that opportunity this time around. Still on my list: Ben Hur and The Mark of the Lion trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 This was a good week for reading. I finished Sea Glass, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Zeitoun, and Seattle's International District. Hotel and Zeitoun were particularly interesting, about the Japanese evacuation from Seattle during WWII and a Muslim man who was illegally detained on suspucion of looting and terrorism in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, respectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I raced through three books in the Tairen Soul series by C. L. Wilson; they are fantasy with a strong romantic element. The first book is Lord of the Fading Lands. I've enjoyed them all and have the fourth book on hold. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 This was a good week for reading. I finished Sea Glass, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Zeitoun, and Seattle's International District. Hotel and Zeitoun were particularly interesting, about the Japanese evacuation from Seattle during WWII and a Muslim man who was illegally detained on suspucion of looting and terrorism in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, respectively. I really enjoyed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet when I read it last year for our book club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Got very little reading done this week. I'm still working on "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". I don't really like the 2 characters at this point (not too far into the book) & I don't like the book that well so far, either. I've been debating whether to drop it or not & I actually turned & read the last page (something I never have done before). Shrug. So, I don't know if I'm going to finish it or start something else. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Since it was such a topic of conversation here on the boards, I read, "The Gift of Fear." Great book. My Review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffnkids Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I just finished The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I just adore his writing. It's so language rich and stimulating. I am slightly annoyed with myself for not having read it sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I am still reading Walden and I am also reading Beauty for Truth's Sake- A Re-enchantment of Education. I can't remember the author's name but I am loving this book. It is similar to Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor (another really good book.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I'm about halfway through A. S. Byatt's new book, The Children's Book. It's long. So all I reviewed this week was Alice Taylor's To School Through the Fields, a memoir of an Irish country childhood. It was quite enjoyable. I also read some Irish poetry, to round off a week of St. Patrick's Day reading. :) The Children's Book is good, but a bit bloated, and there are more than a few references to awful victimizing practices of various kinds. I hope English boarding schools weren't really that horrifying, but I suppose they were, in which case, what on earth were those fathers thinking?? :ohmy: Oh I forgot. I also started reading The Death of Socrates. It's not nearly as difficult as I had been led to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Just finished The Four Hour Work Week and What I Wished I Knew When I Was 20. Both lifestyle management books and very, very good - reviews on my blog: http://goldengrasses.blogspot.com/2010/03/biz-books.html Not sure what I've get into this week. I am really looking for a novel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I have given myself a stiff talking to, and am absolutely forbidden to read any other book until I've finished St Augustine. This threat made me read 9 chapters the other morning, when I would otherwise have been doing something more enjoyable, but the chapters are so short I can't feel very virtuous about it. :( Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Still working through Percy Jackson books. Read Book 3 & 4, waiting for dd to finish book book 5...sigh. I also read Walkabout. It was very short, but I enjoyed it. ~~Faithe (who will be reading Percy Jackson book 5 and is also reading Outlander, but not sure if I like it or if I will finish it.) ~~Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I guess I had to see what all the fuss is about. Now I'm two books behind. Maybe I can do some catch up this week while I have my "not-quite a sinus infection." [boo] List (Links are to my review): Week 1: Touch Not the Cat Week 2: An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents Week 3: Parenting from the Heart Week 4: Meet the Austins Week 6: The Moon by Night Week 6: The Little Book of Christian Character and Morals Week 7: How Lincoln Learned to Read Week 8: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [sigh] Week 10: The Young Unicorns Week 12: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imprimis Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 (edited) I finished Stockett's The Help, which I really enjoyed, read The Lightning Thief (one of my son's favorites), and am now reading Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery, author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Gourmet Rhapsody was her first novel, and it is actually set in the same building as Hedgehog. Edited March 24, 2010 by Imprimis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I've also just finished the latest six-word memoir book -- "It All Changed in an Instant". It was a quick read that was fun, poignant, and clever. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 (edited) Earlier this week, I read Clutter Busting. LOL. (Should I be admitting that?) I started reading Cotton this week & am enjoying it. I've had it on my 'to read' pile for awhile now. From amazon: "In 1950, a black boy is born in segregated Eureka, Mississippi. Nothing startling there, except that he is born with white skin and blonde hair. His mother is properly black and his father, long gone, is an Icelander. This boy's name is Lee Cotton. In the course of the next 20-odd years, he will have a series of adventures that defy reason, beggar the imagination and stagger belief. And, that's a little like the way author Christopher Wilson writes. His style is irresistible because it is sly, sardonic and flat-out hilarious. The first important person in Lee's life is his grandmother, Celeste, who arrives annually from "N'awlins" bearing gifts and words of wisdom. "She's sixty-something, going on eighty. Spiritual possession, liquor, tobacco smoking, and sniffing powders has taken its toll, rasped her voice, sucked out her flesh, and taxed her skin." Celeste convinces Lee that Voudou and Baptism--"that down-on-your-knees-know-your-place-slave-church" that his mother belongs to--are just "a hog's whisker apart." Both Lee and Celeste hear voices, the living and the dead, which sometimes comes in handy; for instance, when predicting game scores and winning horses. Lee falls in love with the daughter of a stereotypical southern racist and nearly gets the life kicked out of him for it. He is thrown on a freight train, mostly dead, and fetches up in St. Louis where he is eventually taken into a psych-ops part of the Army and meets a rich panoply of people as weird as he is. He has some fun at the induction physical: "I got to backtrack about growing up as an Iceland colored, with double-recessive white genes, because my mambo grandmother was only part black, while my daddy was pure Scandinavian blond." Life hands Lee another big surprise after which he is not only a white black person, but something even more startling. About that, Lee says: "Well, I can deal with change. I can wander beyond my comfort zones. I been black, and I been white. I been alive and dead, rich and poor, clever and stupid, entire and broke, one-brained and two-brained (courtesy of the Army), lost and found. But, for sure, there's a limit to how much you can handle..." There are juicy aphorisms on every page of Cotton, but the book is never preachy, despite covering 25 years of race and gender strife in these United States. The ending is a little too pat, but the rest of the book is such fun to read, Wilson can be forgiven. Wilson's first novel was Mischief in which Charlie discovers that he was an abandoned baby, the last of the Xique Xiques of Brazil and that he has alien qualities that he must hide in order to get along in human society. Clearly, this author has a big imagination. --Valerie Ryan" Edited March 24, 2010 by Stacia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 I just finished reading non fiction book The Scarlet and the Black. Makes me want to see the movie now! Next up historical fiction novel "Young Bess" by Margaret Irwin. Then I need to get reading Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show by Frank Delaney since I'm part of the TLC tour 4/7. This month is going too fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I just finished The Children's Book! Yay me. All 675 pages. Man, it was dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I found my book for the week- "Living Oprah." Interesting insight into popular culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I am envious of your recent reading list, Laughing Lioness. I miss having access to a uni library! Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 [phew] Book #11 made it in this week ... only one more to catch up: List (Links are to my review): Week 1: Touch Not the Cat Week 2: An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents Week 3: Parenting from the Heart Week 4: Meet the Austins Week 6: The Moon by Night Week 6: The Little Book of Christian Character and Morals Week 7: How Lincoln Learned to Read Week 8: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [sigh] Week 10: The Young Unicorns Week 12: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics Week 12: The Arm of the Starfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Audio book this week: The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy I'm enjoying it a lot - and I am so glad I never saw the movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I finished the newest Fablehaven book, Keys to the Demon Prison. It wasn't as light hearted as the first books in the series, but I still enjoyed reading it. Very action packed! This is the last book in the series and I felt satisfied at the end...unlike when I finished the Twilight series. I'm still working through William Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope and Daniel Willingham's Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Am working on "The Happiness Project." One of the first steps is to declutter. I've been doing that and she's right...it makes me happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txbloobonnet Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I guess I had to see what all the fuss is about. Now I'm two books behind. Maybe I can do some catch up this week while I have my "not-quite a sinus infection." [boo] List (Links are to my review): Week 1: Touch Not the Cat Week 2: An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents Week 3: Parenting from the Heart Week 4: Meet the Austins Week 6: The Moon by Night Week 6: The Little Book of Christian Character and Morals Week 7: How Lincoln Learned to Read Week 8: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [sigh] Week 10: The Young Unicorns Week 12: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics Wow! You are organized! I need to try to pull it together like this. I'm struggling to keep up. Writing the review, which I am trying to make myself do, is the hardest part! I am teaching Starting Points at our co-op this year and it has seriously cut into my reading time. Only 4 more weeks though and I will be able to catch up to this challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txbloobonnet Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I finished The House at Riverton by Kate Morton because I really liked The Forgotten Garden. I am currently in the middle of Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I am really enjoying it! It is quirky...sort of a Ramona Quimby as a detective mixed with the crazy passion of Dr. Frankenstein all wrapped up in a mystery. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I finished The House at Riverton by Kate Morton because I really liked The Forgotten Garden. I am currently in the middle of Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I am really enjoying it! It is quirky...sort of a Ramona Quimby as a detective mixed with the crazy passion of Dr. Frankenstein all wrapped up in a mystery. :D I loved Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I think this is one of my best reads for 2010. The sequel to it just came out this week. I am looking forward to reading it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I finished Foucault's Pendulum and am on a book break. I had heard rave reviews of the book, but when I was done, I wished he could have reached his point with less words. I began to get seriously irritated about 3/4 of the way through but I had invested so much time that I felt I needed to finish it. It felt like a dissertation on the superstitious gullibility of the human race. I understand writing a tale with a moral, but what a convoluted tale! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Running List Read: -Dragonsinger (old favourite) -Belle (fr) -That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week (good book on getting boys organized) -The Unlikely Disciple: A Year at America's Holiest College (or something like that) -Outliers (enjoyed) -Dance with Me (when your mother-in-law says she liked a book and it is a book where a mother gets put in a nursing home, you read it) -Blink (going to make my sons read this one because we all rely on this ability quite a lot - this was the big lesson I learned in my 30's, so nothing new, but still interesting) -Cluny Brown (old favourite) -MacBeth -The New Global Student (think that is the title - Annoying style and I'm not too sure about some of her "proof" of why one should do this, but lots of practical information on how to actually do it, which makes a nice change in an education book. It was comforting to read, since we are definately going the out-of-the-box route. I think her girls had firm academic skills to begin with or the project wouldn't have been as successful. Much of what she says about the benefits matches our experience.) -The Secret Adversary (well, it got me to Buffulo to drop off my youngest for a month) -Girls of Riyadh (got me back, despite being sick - the picture it presented was very much like the picture of life in the Middle East that my Lebanese friend gave me - it was fun thinking about it in terms of Jane Austen, who was also complaining about the society in which she lived and its men) In progress: Waiting for Godot Trevor Chamberlain: A Personal View The Color of Distance Le gone du Chaaba (fr) Le Petit Prince Useful bits: Classical Music for Dummies Teen-Proofing and a few other children+schoolwork books various books on Chinese brush painting Dogs at Work (or something like that - returned so I can't check the title) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted March 27, 2010 Author Share Posted March 27, 2010 I've given up on "Young Bess" by Margaret Irwin. Gave it a good 60 some odd pages but it's not getting any better. Long, run on sentences that go on forever with the character thinking this that and the other in the midst of doing whatever. Oy! It's a review book and the publicist is expecting me to post a review. Unfortunately it won't be positive. I'll link to those who "loved" the book. But honestly, I can't see it. Now reading Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show by Frank Delaney. Much better. He may digress but it's well written and understandable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 I read The Things that Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley. A suspenseful novel - excellent. Kept me up late! My review is up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 I am envious of your recent reading list, Laughing Lioness. I miss having access to a uni library! Rosie This is the first library card we've had in 6 1/2 years. It's been fun:001_smile: Kareni- I checked out the web-site you linked. What fun! My list keeps growing- thanks Friends! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Upset with a family member and needed something very light to escape into....The City of Ember did the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Upset with a family member and needed something very light to escape into....The City of Ember did the trick. Glad you found some relief, Polly. (And a pun, too!) Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted March 28, 2010 Author Share Posted March 28, 2010 The new thread for book week 13 is now up. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1593257#post1593257 See you there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Somehow I never got the link to this one. I read The Fellowship of the Ring and some other book. Can't think of the title at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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