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Book a Week in 2011 - Week two


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Just finished last night:

 

4. Aeschylus, The Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides); Robert Fagles, Tr.

 

 

3. Camara Laye, The Radiance of the King

2. St. Augustine, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany

1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

0. Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars*

 

*Finished New Year's Eve, 2010

 

Admiring your list, Sharon. What did you think of Laye's book?

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Admiring your list, Sharon. What did you think of Laye's book?
I said a little about it, briefly, here; I'd add that the ending, that everyone seems to find so puzzling, read to me as an astonishingly straightforward Christian allegory. It seemed to me so clear--there were even little Scriptural allusions ("whited sepulchres," etc.), and a moment when various characters are debating what to call a certain quality (luck? favor? etc.) that is obviously "grace"--that I simply assumed the author was Christian (which I had no reason to assume when starting the novel). But nobody else seems to read the ending that way. So if you read it, I'd be interested in your take.
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I have yet to read Crime and Punishment, but, it's on my list of "books I need to read" :001_smile:

 

As for Anna Karenina, while it's a time-consuming read, I found it fascinating for the most part, and, certainly, a worthwhile read . In addition to the main plot-line, there are a few interesting sub-plots.

 

I came away with a vivid picture of the major changes Russian society was going through at the time.

 

For me, the only parts that dragged a bit were the very detailed, very lengthy agriculture-related descriptions.

 

Thanks!

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I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire this morning for the first week, and as it was a rather brutal book, I've decided to go with a non-fiction this week and I started The Celtic Realms: A history of the Celtic peoples from pre-history to the Norman Invasion.

 

On week two and just about to finish the Girl... too and agree! I haven't cared for this one as much as the first book.

 

I'm going to be reading the newest collection of short stories by Ken Follet to move onto something a bit easier on the soul :)

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Reporting a little late here, as we were out of town yesterday. I finished Fireflies in December yesterday in the car. It was an easy read that really held my attention. I finished it in one day.

 

I've also been working through A Short History of Christianity, but it's going to take a while to finish. There is so much history packed into every paragraph that I need to read it in small bits so I can take it all in.

 

My ds 11 has decided to participate with me, so here is his list (from the beginning of the year):

 

The Great Brain at the Academy

Cheaper by the Dozen

How to Train Your Dragon

Me and My Little Brain

More Adventures of the Great Brain

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LOVED this. What did you think? Gives a new perspective on Richard, III, don't you think?

 

Lisa

 

I loved it too! I had almost no previous understanding of Richard the III. :blushing: Now that I have read Penman, other accounts are like "nooooo, he can't have been like that!"

 

I have moved on to Here Be Dragons.

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I loved it too! I had almost no previous understanding of Richard the III. :blushing: Now that I have read Penman, other accounts are like "nooooo, he can't have been like that!"

 

I have moved on to Here Be Dragons.

 

I Loved this series. Let me know what you think. :001_wub::001_wub: Llewyn:001_wub:

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This week I have finished "The Art of Eating In" by Cathy Erway. It wasn' what I was expecting it to be. Some of the chapters were brutal to get through. I was bored with some of it. But I plugged through.

 

Also yesterday while down and sick with a stomach bug I started and finished "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See. I really liked this book and couldn't put it down. But the ending was so up in the air... Is there a sequel or a plan for one? Or do all of her books end this way? Definitely did not like the ending.

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