Book a Week in 2011 - Week ten

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday! Today is the start of week ten in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome to everyone who is just joining in, welcome back to our regulars 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 in my signature.

 

52 Books blog - I is for Ireland. St. Patrick's day is coming up next week. What will you be doing to celebrate. There are a couple activities taking place in the blogosphere. A readalong of Tana French's Faithful Place and an Irish Short Stories reading event.

 

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

If you are doing the Ireland mini challenge, what books are you reading?

 

Lent starts on Wednesday. An special reading plans for that time period?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 9

[Robin M]

For the Ireland Reading Challenge, I will be joining in on a month long readalong of Faithful Place by Tana French. My next book up in the A-Z title challenge is "Janeology" by Karen Harrington. For A-Z Author challenge, it is Andrew Clements Benjamin Pratt and Keepers of the School.

 

Though I won't be reading anything this week (except what's required for homeschool and business) until Saturday because Week 4 of The Artist's Way calls for a week of reading deprivation. The point of the exercise is to declutter the mind which is suppose to help you be more creative. Will let you know if it works.

 

I read last week "River Marked" by Patricia Briggs. Started reading Disconnected Kids by Dr. Melillo. Fantastic book, thanks for recommending.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Mytwoblessings

[Mom-ninja.]

Yesterday I read Oh No She Didn't in a mere two hours. Very simple, fun, and hilarious.

If you don't like cursing or a touch of crudeness then you won't like it. Although the cursing is very mild in my book. I was laughing loudly at parts. Much better read than Montaigne for sure. :tongue_smilie:

[eaglei]

Not a successful reading week for me. I was working on #16, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, by James Webb, and completed half of it. At this point, I think I am just going to page-turn through the rest and read bits and pieces here and there, and not add it to my list. I think I would have enjoyed this more had I not gotten sick. I'm not sleeping through the night which isn't helping my concentration with reading either. So this book will go in the unfinished category and I'll choose something lighter later.

[edithcrawley]

This week I'll be reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. It is over 800 pages long, but luckily I'm on spring break this week.

[fairytalemama]

I finished up The Forgotten Garden (my review is here). I really enjoyed it. Granted, it did clock in at nearly 600 pages, but it perked me up a little in all the Michigan snow.

 

I also finished A Reliable Wife (my review is here) and I don't know if you could pay me to read it again. The reviews on Amazon range from "A Book of Complex Emotions" (5 stars) to "I put it in the trash" (1 star). If I didn't have to read it for my book club meeting on Wednesday, it may have landed in my trash!:tongue_smilie: I have never seen a book where the opinions are so evenly split between "It's great!" and "It stinks!"

 

This week I'm STILL (yes still...sigh) reading Jane Eyre. I also just started Speaking of Faith in an effort to combat my delusion that set in after reading The God Delusion.

Edited March 7, 2011 by fairytalemama
Forgot to add what I'm still reading!

[Ali in OR]

 

I also finished A Reliable Wife (my review is here) and I don't know if you could pay me to read it again. The reviews on Amazon range from "A Book of Complex Emotions" (5 stars) to "I put it in the trash" (1 star). If I didn't have to read it for my book club meeting on Wednesday, it may have landed in my trash!:tongue_smilie: I have never seen a book where the opinions are so evenly split between "It's great!" and "It stinks!"

 

 

 

I hated that book! We had to read it for book club too. The person who picked it felt so bad--we all hated it. I got that out of my house as quickly as I could.

 

This week I read Gail Tsukiyama's The Samurai's Garden for our book club and loved it. A beautiful book. It was published in 1994, so this has been out awhile. I also read Janet Jackson's new book True You and thought it was a waste of time. There's really not enough there to call it a book in my opinion--her struggles with weight and self-image, a very little about her family life, and then lots of unconnected stories from other people: "A friend told me about when...", or "I got a letter from a woman that touched me...". There's a chapter from her nutritionist and recipes created by some chef at the end. You really feel like they're padding it because there just isn't enough there to call it a book. Not sure why I checked it out of the library...just curious about her life I guess...but can't say I really learned much. Definitely one to skip!

 

I have a bunch of books lying around, but no idea yet which one I'll pick up this week. Don't think I have anything to fit the Irish theme!

 

 

2011 Reading List

 

15. True You-Janet Jackson

14. The Samurai’s Garden-Gail Tsukiyama

13. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet-Jamie Ford

12. God’s Middle Finger-Richard Grant

11. Kristin Lavransdatter-I: The Wreath-Sigrid Undset

10. The Housekeeper and the Professor-Yoko Ogawa

9. A Lucky Child-Thomas Buergenthal

8. Three Cups of Tea-Greg Mortenson

7. Run-Ann Patchett

6. The Red Queen-Philippa Gregory

5. Agnes Grey-Anne Bronte

4. The Daughter of Time-Josephine Tey

3. Mythology-Edith Hamilton

2. Phantom Toll Booth-Norton Juster

1. Her Fearful Symmetry-Audrey Niffenegger

[Rosie_0801]

Silver Wattle and Tuscan Rose by Belinda Alexandra. Both were good.

 

 

Rosie

[NanceXToo]

Alexa and I finished Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and started Treasure Island today.

 

I finished At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks and will be starting Nights in Rodanthe (same author).

 

Alexa is still finishing up the third book in the Emily Windsnap series on her own.

[SnowySilence]

I have been reading and keeping up, but forgetting to post!

 

I am reading The Westing Game right now b/c I may be teaching it in a homeschool class soon. I also have going My Life in France by Julia Child.

[K in MI]

I finished Before My Heart Stops (Cardall) and You Want Me to Declaw WHAT?! (Toia). Ds and I are reading Robinson Crusoe together. I still haven't figured what I'll read this week, but since I have quite a few started, I should be able to finish at least one.

 

 

18. You Want Me to Declaw WHAT?! (Toia)

17. Before My Heart Stops (Cardall)

16. The Deadly Dinner Party (Edlow)

15. Across the Red Line (Karl)

14. All My Patients Have Tales (Wells)

13. Ten Days in a Madhouse (Bly)

12. Heaven is For Real (Burpo)

11. Silas Marner (Eliot)

10. Doctor of the Heart (Rosenfeld)

9. White Fang (London)

8. Ask The Animals (Coston)

7. Call of the Wild (London)

6. The 7 (Beck)

5. Rogue Wave (Moriison)

4. Mockingjay (Collins)

3. Catching Fire (Collins)

2. Hunger Games (Collins)

1. Tales of An African Vet (Aronson)

[prairiegirl]

I finished "The Fellowship of the Ring" by Tolkien and am starting Book #16 "The School of Essential Ingredients"

[Mom-ninja.]

I've been reading more non-fiction again so I decided to read fiction. I finally picked up Agnes Grey. Little late in the challenge but still counts, :tongue_smilie:

[Imprimis]

This week's read is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

[Negin]

Almost done with The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I've liked it. Not loved it, but it's been a light and sweet read, which is just what I need. I really like the main character.

 

With the kids, we're very slowly reading:

Just William - absolutely love it - I grew up crazy about the TV series in Britain - very British and funny :).

 

 

as well as The Time Garden.

[Onceuponatime]

So far I've read:

 

The Help

The Alchemist

A Briefer History of Time

The Last Lecture

Whimsical Christianity-Sayers

Pilgrim's Regress- Lewis

and

McGillicuddy McGotham by Leonard Wibblerly- I didn't know there was an Irish challenge when I read this. It is one of my favorite childhood books, an absolutely hilarious story about a Leprechaun who comes to New York as an Ambassador. When I was a grown up, I found my copy in a thrift store, full of pressed four leaf clovers.

 

Non-fiction takes me longer to read than fiction. Next on the table is an Alexander McCall Smith book. That should be fun.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I finished listening to Evening Class by Maeve Binchy. I read The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig and Disconnected Kids by Dr. Robert Melillo.

 

I'm reading The Favored Child by Philippa Gregory this week.

Edited March 8, 2011 by thescrappyhomeschooler

[Mommyfaithe]

I started reading Green by Ted Dekker because I get obsessive when there is another book in a series....Can't help it...sigh...

 

Faithe

[Lizzie in Ma]

I haven't picked something to settle into this week as yet, I finished the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. Light fantasy, fairly standard stuff and enjoyable.

I might reread the Game of Thrones series in preparation for HBO's new series with Sean Bean (be still my heart)

[Stacia]

This week I'll be reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. It is over 800 pages long, but luckily I'm on spring break this week.

 

Oh, this has been on my want-to-read list for awhile now!!! Please post how you like it. :001_smile: Can't wait to hear a review on it.

 

 

For my book club, I'm still reading Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele. I'm finding it fascinating & am enjoying reading some of the details she's providing....

 

 

"From Booklist

 

By her own reckoning, Adiele is an unlikely candidate for Buddhist spiritual enlightenment. Neither Asian nor disciplined, she doesn't fancy meditation; despises tofu; and, raised Unitarian, isn't particularly religious. Yet the Nigerian-Scandinavian ex-Harvard student from eastern Washington became the first black Buddhist nun in northern Thailand. She first went to Thailand at age 15, after winning a Rotary Club International Exchange Program scholarship at a time when most Americans could barely find Thailand on the map. Although used to being different--she wryly notes that, every day, she was an exchange student in her own country--she wasn't prepared for life in a tiny rural Thai community, in which she was the first black anyone had seen. But something about the country and Buddhism appealed to her and she chose to return, though she was as surprised as anyone else when she decided to become a Buddhist nun. A warm, witty account of an unusual woman's spiritual journey and search for identity between the vastly different cultures of East and West."

I'm also reading When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ishiguro has a lovely way with words; he's such a descriptive writer.

 

 

"From Booklist

 

Ishiguro follows the graceful and well-received novels Remains of the Day (1989) and The Unconsoled (1995) with a limpidly written, subtly complex novel set in two very different parts of the world in the 1930s. As the story opens, Englishman Christopher Banks is fulfilling his life's ambition to become a private detective. Christopher was born in Shanghai, China, and when his parents disappeared early in his boyhood, he went to live in England even as the best detectives in Shanghai continued trying to find his mother and father. Once in England, Christopher's pursuit of his goal to become a detective has a certain inevitability about it, as does his eventual return to Shanghai to try his own hand at discovering the whereabouts of his parents. The China he returns to is in the midst of civil conflict between the adherents of the Nationalist Party and the followers of the Communist Party and is also contending with the invasion of the Japanese army. Christopher reconnects with his best friend Akira, but more importantly, he also discovers the truth about what happened to his parents--specifically, the startling knowledge about the source of his financial support during his years in England. This is a compelling novel that artfully depicts certain specific political and cultural clashes as a backdrop to exploring the conflict inherent in any individual's pursuit of freedom and identity. Serious fiction readers will both enjoy and admire Ishiguro's subtle work."

Books read in 2011:

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

People Die

Three Ways to Capsize a Boat

The Perfect Man

Food Rules

Empress Orchid

Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel

A Voyage Long and Strange

All the Names

Edited March 8, 2011 by Stacia

[jenL]

I'm so far behind. I really have to stop picking books that are 900+ pages long. I'm working on #4 in the Outlander series: Drums in Autumn. It's good, but not as fast of a read as the first 3. I had been forewarned of this, but I'm determined to read the entire series since I've made it this far. I've heard they pick up again in book 6.

 

Ds & I will finish The Door in the Wall this week. I'm not sure what we're going to read next.

[nono]

I went away for a long weekend a couple weeks back, and have been playing catch-up. I can't even find my list at the moment, but I just finished, like 5 minutes ago, The End of Overeating by David Kessler. I have to say I drew a somewhat different solution to the problem the evidence presented, esp. in regards to continue to make most of my own food.

 

With hope, by next week, I won't be so scattered about where I am in the challenge. :tongue_smilie:

[Mom22ns]

I'm so far behind. I really have to stop picking books that are 900+ pages long. I'm working on #4 in the Outlander series: Drums in Autumn. It's good, but not as fast of a read as the first 3. I had been forewarned of this, but I'm determined to read the entire series since I've made it this far. I've heard they pick up again in book 6.

 

 

 

I finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes this week. Is that book 6? I think it picked up a bit. I think it may be one of my favorites.

 

1: Graceling

2: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

3. A Single Shard

4: The Fiery Cross

5: A Season of Gifts

6: Otto of the Silver Hand

7: A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

8: Harry Potter

9: Watership Down

10: Master Cornhill

11: A Breath of Snow and Ashes

[Rosie_0801]

, I finished the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. Light fantasy, fairly standard stuff and enjoyable.

 

I have most of her books and read them every year. Nice light reads :) One of the things I really like is she can write fantasy without cliches of traveling through dark forests at dusk and being ambushed by archers wearing hoods.

 

Rosie

[Giraffe]

I'm so far behind!

 

I've read:

Evangelical Is Not Enough

Square Foot Gardening (and yes, I really did read the whole thing)

A lot of cookbooks (I know, they don't count)

The Backyard Homestead

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The Spirited Child

 

I'm reading:

The Omnivore's Dilemma (audiobook)

History Of The Ancient World (I'm this close to finishing!)

Reasons To Believe

The Golden Compass

 

 

DD's home from preschool today so I've not had my reading morning that I normally get on Mondays. BSF is also taking up a LOT of time. I'm hoping once it's over I can concentrate on my reading more.

[Guest]

Last week I read Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs. It is Christian fiction, LOVED it. (I didn't care for the prequel, though.)

 

This week I am reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Totally opposite of Liz Curtis Higgs, but loving it, as well. Kind of like a grown up Harry Potter book.

[PinkInTheBlue]

For some reason I have positively hammered through 4 books of the Blue Blood series. I just started book 5 and am very glad it's the last one out for right now. :) That way I can move on to something else. I've enjoyed them though.

 

So, I finished book 4 yesterday and started 5 today. We've taken the day off for my brand new teenager's birthday (Happy Birthday 13yr old!). I've read several times already today. :)

[Angel]

I finished "Turtle in Paradise" by Jennifer L. Holm last night. I would never have found this book if it wasn't for our posts here. What a sweet little read! I look forward to having my dd's read this. I highly recommend it.

 

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Eleven-year-old Turtle is not one to suffer fools gladly. And she runs into a lot of fools, especially the no-goods her starry-eyed mother meets. So it's a tough little Turtle who arrives in Key West in June of 1935. She's been sent to Florida to stay with relatives because her mother's latest housekeeping job doesn't allow children. Unfortunately, Mama has neglected to tell Aunt Minnie she's coming, and Turtle gets the stink eye from cousins with monikers like Buddy and Beans. As Turtle soon learns, everything is different in Key West, from the fruit hanging on trees to the scorpions in nightgowns to the ways kids earn money. She can't be part of her cousins' Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), which takes care of fussy babies, but when she finds a treasure map, she hopes she'll be on Easy Street like Little Orphan Annie. Holm uses family stories as the basis for this tale, part romp, part steely-eyed look at the Depression era. Reminiscent of Addie in the movie Paper Moon, Turtle is just the right mixture of knowingness and hope; the plot is a hilarious blend of family dramas seasoned with a dollop of adventure. The many references to 1930s entertainments (Terry and the Pirates, Shirley Temple) will mostly go over kids' heads, but they'll get how much comics and movies meant to a population desperate for smiles. An author's note (with photos) shows Holm's family close-up. Grades 4-6. --Ilene Cooper

 

12. "Turtle in Paradise" by Jennifer L. Holm

11. "It's a Jungle Out There!" by Ron Snell

10. "Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan

9. "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier

8. "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

7. "The Diamond Throne" by David Eddings

6. "Adam and His Kin" by Ruth Beechick

5. "Persuasion" by Jane Austen

4. "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" by Stephenie Meyer

3. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis (carried over from 2010)

2. "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen

1. "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card

[Crissy]

I am reading The Weird Sisters this week and really enjoying it.

[Kareni]

I just finished Chasing the Night by Iris Johansen; it's the most recent in a series of a book featuring a forensic sculptor. Curiously, I don't care for the author's style of writing (lots of short sentences) but I keep coming back for the characters.

 

I also began Passion Play by Beth Bernobich. It has an intriguing premise, but I gave it up at about page 50 when it became very depressing. If anyone has read it and will encourage me to continue, I'd give it another try.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

I finished When We Were Orphans today. It had a very dream-like, mysterious quality to it, making it a very lush, evocative read, imo. I really do enjoy Ishiguro's writing style.

[Imprimis]

I finished When We Were Orphans today. It had a very dream-like, mysterious quality to it, making it a very lush, evocative read, imo. I really do enjoy Ishiguro's writing style.

 

This sounds really interesting....I think I will add it to my "to read" list.

[laughing lioness]

I finished "The Help' by Stockett this week-end and really enjoyed it.

I started "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." I have some choice words to say about Chua. Namely, she is a bigot. I'l post reivews on my blog later on this week.

List so far this year:

 

• Arthur, Wisdom Hunter
  
• Burnett, This Time Together
  
• Gladwell, What the Dog Saw
  
• Janzen, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
  
• Johnson, UnPlanned
  
• Klempnauer Miller, She Looks Just Like You (A Memoir of Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood
  
• Lews, C.S.; A Grief Observed
  
• Platt; Radical
  
• Schaeffer, The God Who Is There
  
• Stockett, The Help
  
• Walls, The Glass Castle
  
• Yousef, Son of Hamas
  
• Zusak, The Book Thief
  

 

[slug hollow]

My reading is going at a snail's pace.

I'm reading The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. It's not as good as some of McCollough's other work.

I read most of The Tzarina's Daughter last week. I had a few chapters left but it was due back at the library.

I also read another short science fiction piece from Year's Best SF 14 The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain by Jason Sanford. It was different enough to be thought provoking over a few days.

I am still plugging away at the audio of Agnes Grey, when I get enough quiet time to listen to a chapter.

[Jane Elliot]

For the Ireland Reading Challenge, I will be joining in on a month long readalong of Faithful Place by Tana French.

 

I really wanted to do the Ireland Reading Challenge, but I'm enjoying Island of the World so much I don't want to put it down. In addition, dh said he'd read Unbroken with me. He rarely reads and my sons have been telling me how awesome this book is, so I don't want to turn down this offer. Now a bunch of friends at church are beginning to read and discuss God is the Gospel, and I don't want to be left out of that,so probably I have too much on my plate to take on Faithful Place right now.

 

Our internet has been out, which is great for reading, not so great for posting. I finished Wendell Berry's Remembering last week. This was my third novel by him. I didn't like it as much as the other two, but still it got me thinking as his books tend to do.

 

Books Finished in 2011:

1. Glamorous Powers - Susan Howatch (4/5 stars) 1/7

2. City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era - Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner (5/5 stars) 1/15

3. That Distant Land: The Collected Stories - Wendell Berry (4/5 stars) 1/27

4. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself - Harriet Ann Jacobs 1/28

5. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy RA (4/5 stars) 2/2

6. The Warden – Anthony Trollope (4/5 stars) 2/5

7. Death of a Red Heroine – Qiu Xiaolong (3.5/5 stars) 2/9

8. Listen – Rene Gutteridge (3/5 stars) 2/21

9. Trusting God - Jerry Bridges (5/5 stars) 2/27

10. Remembering – Wendell Berry (4/5 stars) 3/2

Currently Reading:

11. Island of the World – Michael O’Brien

12. God is the Gospel – John Piper

13. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell RA

[laughing lioness]

I'm so far behind!

 

I've read:

Evangelical Is Not Enough

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

 

 

What did you think of these two?

[Stacia]

Though I won't be reading anything this week (except what's required for homeschool and business) until Saturday because Week 4 of The Artist's Way calls for a week of reading deprivation. The point of the exercise is to declutter the mind which is suppose to help you be more creative. Will let you know if it works.

 

I will be curious to hear your report... :001_smile:

 

I also finished A Reliable Wife (my review is here) and I don't know if you could pay me to read it again. The reviews on Amazon range from "A Book of Complex Emotions" (5 stars) to "I put it in the trash" (1 star). If I didn't have to read it for my book club meeting on Wednesday, it may have landed in my trash!:tongue_smilie:

I hated that book! We had to read it for book club too. The person who picked it felt so bad--we all hated it. I got that out of my house as quickly as I could.

 

I have picked up that book a few times to look at it, but never actually checked it out or read it because I wasn't sure I'd really like it. I'm starting to think I was really right to skip it.... :tongue_smilie:

 

McGillicuddy McGotham by Leonard Wibblerly- I didn't know there was an Irish challenge when I read this. It is one of my favorite childhood books, an absolutely hilarious story about a Leprechaun who comes to New York as an Ambassador. When I was a grown up, I found my copy in a thrift store, full of pressed four leaf clovers.

 

That sounds so neat! Do you still keep the pressed four-leaf clovers in your copy of the book?

 

I haven't picked something to settle into this week as yet, I finished the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. Light fantasy, fairly standard stuff and enjoyable.

 

My dd got that series for Christmas & really enjoyed it. I may have to borrow the set from her....

 

This sounds really interesting....I think I will add it to my "to read" list.

 

I hope you enjoy it. Have you read "The Remains of the Day" by Ishiguro? It's so wonderfully written too... just fabulous, imo.

 

My reading is going at a snail's pace.

 

Is that because your user name is 'slug hollow'? ;):tongue_smilie::lol: (You know someone had to ask that....)

[Negin]

I am reading The Weird Sisters this week and really enjoying it.

Looks interesting. Added it to my wish list. :)

 

I finished "The Help' by Stockett this week-end and really enjoyed it.

I started "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." I have some choice words to say about Chua. Namely, she is a bigot. I'l post reivews on my blog later on this week.

Can't wait to see what you write about her. ;) :D

I also loved "The Help".

 

 

Is that because your user name is 'slug hollow'? ;):tongue_smilie::lol: (You know someone had to ask that....)

:lol:

Reminds me of when "justamouse" posted about finding a mouse in her house. :lol:

[Giraffe]

Evangelical Is Not Enough

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

 

What did you think of these two?

 

I LOVED Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I am just getting into the idea of knowing more about where food comes from and this was an excellent introduction. I've never read Barbara Kingsolver before, but I like her style. It was interesting and entertaining without being preachy (at least, to me). While I can never be a true locavore, I am working on being more conscious of how food is produced and processed.

 

Evangelical Is Not Enough was also interesting, but I struggled with it some because it just wasn't clear to me if the author was now Catholic or Anglican or something else until over halfway through the book. I think he intentionally refrained from using those terms, but it confused me. It was interesting to get some explanation of the liturgy and the meanings behind some of the things that are done in a liturgical church.

[Violet Crown]

Finished last night

 

10. Fernando de Rojas, The Spanish Bawd (La Celestina); J. M. Cohen, Tr.

 

An early novel (1499) in dialogue form. A fun moment: another mom asked what I was reading, and when I showed her, instead of never having heard of Rojas (as I expected), she told me her father was a Spanish literature scholar who had written extensively on La Celestina, and that she'd read it a few times herself in the original 15th-century Spanish. Very cool!

 

Excerpt:

 

CELESTINA: Ever since I've got old my best job at table has been pouring out the wine. Because when you handle honey some of it's sure to stick to your fingers. And there's nothing better to keep you warm in bed on a winter's night. If I drink two of these little jugs before retiring, I don't feel cold till morning. I line all my clothes with it when Christmas comes. It heats my blood and saves me from falling to pieces. It keeps me cheerful when I'm about my business, and fresh and brisk as well. So long as I've plenty of wine in the house I shall never fear lean times. As for bread, a mouse-nibbled crust keeps me going for three days. But wine dispels the sadness of the heart better than gold or coral. It gives energy to the young and strength to the old. It puts colour in pale cheeks, heartens the coward, and bucks up the lazy. It comforts the brain, drives chills from the stomach, sweetens the breath of the congested, makes the impotent virile, gives tired reapers the strength to continue their labours, makes men sweat out their reheums, cures catarrhs and toothache, and travels sweetly by sea, which water will not do. It has more virtues, let me tell you, than you have hairs on your head. I don't know anybody who wouldn't rejoice to hear them. It has only one fault indeed: that it's expensive when it's good and when it's poor it harms you. So while it's good for the liver it's bad for the purse. But with all my troubles I always get the best. For I don't drink much; only half a dozen cups at a meal. You can never get me to take more, except when I'm a guest as I am today.

PARMENO: Everybody who's written on the subject says that three cups is a good and honest ration.

CELESTINA:That must be a misprint, my son. It should be thirteen, not three.

[Jamee]

I'm back!!! I feel like I've been away forever and have really missed reading, but I had a huge project that has consumed me for the past six weeks. I did manage to listen to Voyager during that time, half of Sense and Sensibility. I have about a dozen books that I have picked up and started reading and I'm SO looking forward to finishing them:

 

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks--so far VERY good, amazing story

Battle Hymn of Tiger Mom--again, rather interesting. I will be looking forward to a follow up written by her daughters.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--almost done

Alison Weir's book on Elizabeth I--I'm really looking forward to sitting down and enjoying that one.

How to Read a Book--picked that one up at the library finally.

Bought Water for Elephants the other day after seeing the raves here.

 

Boy, I'm horrible! I really need to finish books before getting new ones.:D TIme to get reading.

[kokotg]

I've slowed down. Wah! But I finally finished Bill Bryson's At Home last night, and now I'm ready to start chipping away at my overwhelming (virtual) stack of library books. I let 36 Arguments for the Existence of God expire unfinished, alas--maybe I'll get back to it another time. I think I'm going to go with Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken next, and then maybe Swamplandia

[laughing lioness]

I LOVED Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I am just getting into the idea of knowing more about where food comes from and this was an excellent introduction. I've never read Barbara Kingsolver before, but I like her style. It was interesting and entertaining without being preachy (at least, to me). While I can never be a true locavore, I am working on being more conscious of how food is produced and processed.

 

Evangelical Is Not Enough was also interesting, but I struggled with it some because it just wasn't clear to me if the author was now Catholic or Anglican or something else until over halfway through the book. I think he intentionally refrained from using those terms, but it confused me. It was interesting to get some explanation of the liturgy and the meanings behind some of the things that are done in a liturgical church.

 

Thanks, Hopscoth. I read the One Hundred Mile Diet (cause I won it from a WTM bd member book give-away :001_smile:and it was fascinating. I'll add that to my list.

I'm curious about Evangelical is Not Enough. Thanks for the head's up.

 

Negin- I remember a friend of friend of mine from VA who grew up very wealthy in the south saying she and her friends would drop acid in the living room after school while their black maid just dusted around them. I'm a yank, born and bred and I just thought that was creepy. The Help rounds it all out! Love it. And the voices (characters) that Stockett developed...just beautiful.

 

Chua- phew. I'm liking her more as the book is going on but oy vey. She's got some pride issues dancing the flamenco.

[ladydusk]

I'm enjoying Island of the World so much I don't want to put it down.

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

That was such a life-impacting book. Wonderful. Glad you're reading and enjoying it! I got to about page 300 and the world stopped. My poor family :)

[Giraffe]

Thanks, Hopscoth. I read the One Hundred Mile Diet (cause I won it from a WTM bd member book give-away :001_smile:and it was fascinating. I'll add that to my list.

I'm curious about Evangelical is Not Enough. Thanks for the head's up.

 

 

I would recommend them both.

 

Now I have to read The Help!

[Violet Crown]

 

Evangelical Is Not Enough was also interesting, but I struggled with it some because it just wasn't clear to me if the author was now Catholic or Anglican or something else until over halfway through the book. I think he intentionally refrained from using those terms, but it confused me. It was interesting to get some explanation of the liturgy and the meanings behind some of the things that are done in a liturgical church.

It's been a long time since I read it, but my memory was that, when the book was first published, he had converted to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and that by its second printing, he had become Catholic. Maybe that adds to the confusion?

[laughing lioness]

Island of the World

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

That was such a life-impacting book. Wonderful. Glad you're reading and enjoying it! I got to about page 300 and the world stopped. My poor family :)

 

And my list gets longer...

[Giraffe]

It's been a long time since I read it, but my memory was that, when the book was first published, he had converted to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and that by its second printing, he had become Catholic. Maybe that adds to the confusion?

 

That's probably it. I did like it, just couldn't figure out his affiliation. I couldn't find a "hook" to ground myself without understanding.

[Stacia]

Finished last night

 

10. Fernando de Rojas, The Spanish Bawd (La Celestina); J. M. Cohen, Tr.

 

An early novel (1499) in dialogue form. A fun moment: another mom asked what I was reading, and when I showed her, instead of never having heard of Rojas (as I expected), she told me her father was a Spanish literature scholar who had written extensively on La Celestina, and that she'd read it a few times herself in the original 15th-century Spanish. Very cool!

 

That is neat. Sounds like a book I would enjoy.

 

Boy, I'm horrible! I really need to finish books before getting new ones.:D TIme to get reading.

 

LOL. I do that too.

[Storm Bay]

I just finished All Creatures Great and Small, which I read over a number of weeks while dd was having her writing class. Since I had rejected one of his other books for some reason once, I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it.