Book a Week in 2011 - Week Thirty Seven

[Robin M]

Good morning dolls! Today is the start of week 37 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 - This week is the annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Lots of giveaways, contests, posts from authors, publishers and all kinds of activities. Check it out and you may just discover some interesting books or make some new friends. You don't have to be a book blogger to participate. I'm sort of in the middle - I don't have a niche and am not solely just a book blogger or homeschool blogger. Just a person who blogs about books, writing, homeschool, life and everything else. So jump right in, the waters fine.

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week 36

Edited September 11, 2011 by Mytwoblessings

[Robin M]

I finished the Anita Blake Vampire Series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Yep, read all 20 books and really enjoyed the whole series. Now I'm reading Julie Lessman's "A Heart Revealed." Book 2 in her Christian Romance Winds of Change series. She writes passionate romances without all the sex. Loved her Daughters of Boston Series. I seem to go from one extreme to the other - from Anita's sexual escapades to a simple romance. Told ya my reading interests are eclectic. *grin*

[Storm Bay]

Wow, I made it here so soon! I'm reading Incident at Hawk's Hill because ds is going to read it (still have one homeschooling!) and I'm going to finally read the entire book (I've read chapters years ago) Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head. Now that I'm starting to teach Musikgarten (music & movement classes for young kids), I'm reading these books from a different perspective.

 

I'm being very strong and avoiding novels at the moment so that I can do reading for work, get this business started (it's an uphill battle in a sports-obsessed nation, not that everyone is obsessed with sports). I am learning many great benefits to early active music education that I didn't know before I decided to do this, as well as a host of other great info it would have been helpful to know when my kids were little.

 

Okay, you can get back to all your great fiction discussions :).

[Ria]

I'm currently reading Bonk - The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex; it's fascinating. I also just got a copy of Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit so I'll be jumping into that this week as well.

[Negin]

I'm currently reading Bonk - The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex; it's fascinating.

Title makes me laugh :lol:.

 

I'm slowly plodding through The Kalahari Typing School for Men. It's not as good as the other ones. Or maybe it's just me and I'm tired of the same old, same old. In Grenada, when you see a book that might remotely like, you buy it, since you never know if or when you'll see it again. I made the mistake of buying the entire series and now I feel forced to read them all :blush:. The dialogue annoys me, the way they talk, "I am going to bake a cake. I am going to get the cows from the pasture" not "I'm going to bake a cake" - sounds a bit weird and annoying. Or maybe I'm just easily irritated these days. :rolleyes: :lol:

 

[Stacia]

I'm currently reading The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey. I love maps, so this has been a fun book for me so far....

Amazon.com Review

 

"In 1995, a watchful patron alerted a librarian at Johns Hopkins University that another patron, a middle-aged and well-dressed man, was behaving suspiciously. The librarian called the police, who discovered that the man, a Floridian named Gilbert Bland, had cut four maps from a set of rare books. On investigation, the police were able to attribute dozens of similar thefts to Bland, thefts that had taken place at a score of the country's best-regarded--and, presumably, best-protected--scholarly institutions.

 

Like countless other readers, Miles Harvey, a writer for

Outside

magazine, encountered the news of Bland's arrest as a brief item in the back pages of the morning newspaper. The story stayed with Harvey, who wondered why otherwise law-abiding people behave so badly around antiquities. In

The Island of Lost Maps

, a wonderfully rich excursion into the demimonde of what might be called cartographomania, Harvey follows Bland's tracks from library to library, reconstructing the crimes of the man he deems the Al Capone of map theft, following the contours of Bland's complex, sinister character. Along the way, Harvey examines the history of cartography generally, and the ravenous market for old maps--once the quiet province of a few knowing collectors, now invaded by speculators. These maps are just another corner of the overpriced status-symbol commodity market--and one that richly rewarded Bland's nefarious work.

Harvey's winding narrative, full of learned detours, adds up to a superbly rendered tale of true crime (and, many readers might object, of insufficient punishment), one that will appeal to book lovers and mystery buffs in equal measure."

 

Books read as of July 2011:

32. The Reluctant Entertainer

33. A Curable Romantic

34. A Reliable Wife

35. Living the Simple Life

36. The Music of Chance

37. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise

38. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui

39. The Book of Jhereg

40. The Lost Symbol

41. Storm Front

42. The Clutter Cure

43. Simplicity Parenting

44. Madame Tussaud

45. The Map of Time

46. The Somnambulist

Edited September 11, 2011 by Stacia

[Robin M]

I'm currently reading The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey. I love maps, so this has been a fun book for me so far....

 

Loved this book and it was quite interesting.

[eaglei]

I am continuing with Elswyth Thane's "Williamsburg Series" and still totally enjoying it!

 

You may all be getting tired of reading that idea week after week, but I promise I am almost done with the series. I'm on volume 6 now; one more after that. Usually I can get through more than one book in a week, but these last couple months have been busy! I'm glad I'm doing a book a week! :)

 

Here's what I concluded:

 

#57 - Kissing Kin (volume 5)

 

Here's what I'm in the midst of:

 

#58 - This Was Tomorrow (volume 6)

[Rosie_0801]

I read Sophocles three 'Theban Plays' and a book on Jewish parenting.

 

Rosie

[dangermom]

I read Sophocles three 'Theban Plays' and a book on Jewish parenting.

 

Rosie

I'm in the middle of a book on the death of classics as a course of study, and I'm kinda thinking I might challenge myself to read a bunch of Greek stuff next year. Would anyone be interested in doing it with me?

 

I finally finished The Secret History, and decided it wasn't worth the time. I should go back in time and tell myself not to bother.

 

I also read a James Bond novel (bwahaha!) and a great little Victorian novella by Wilkie Collins titled The Frozen Deep.

[prairiegirl]

You can tell that school has started cause my reading has slowed way down. I am still reading Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. I am contemplating ditching it, though. The premise of the book is good (travel back to the catacombs during the French Revolution) but it gets mired down in thoughts of suicide, nasty language and teen angst. I'm just not sure if I want to plow through the angst to see how this all ends.

[laughing lioness]

Reading Almost Christian.

[Imprimis]

I finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein this week.

 

Like Robin and Stacia, I found it to be different from what I expected. But, of course, I grew up with "The Munsters," and Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein :) (a fun movie, btw!)

 

I was shocked to read Mary Shelley was just 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein; the broad range of themes covered seem beyond the scope of the average teen----Nature vs. nurture, good vs. evil, blind ambition, rejection, revenge, science and technology being just some of them.

 

While I found the book interesting, I also found it a bit depressing.

 

I did, however, chuckle a bit when reading the monster educated himself by reading Paradise Lost and Plutarch's Lives. TWTM (The Well-Trained Monster?) :D

 

For a complete change of pace, I'm now reading Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy, Frances Mayes' follow-up to Under the Tuscan Sun.

[ladydusk]

I'm about halfway through The Pleasures of Reading in An Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs.

 

I'm finding it entertaining, witty, interesting, encouraging, and very well done. He's given me much to think on about how I read, what I read, and the purposes of reading.

 

I love that he encourages reading by Whim (a directed Whim, but interest and desire nonetheless) rather than some supposed "canon" of literature.

 

Looking forward to finishing it :)

[nd293]

It really looks as though I might catch up soon:

 

31. The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler

30. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating – Elisabeth Tova Bailey

**29. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas **AUDIO BOOK

 

The Three Musketeers was actually great fun, although at times I thought I'd never get through the 24hrs of listening. My current audio classic is Le Morte D'Arthur, but I am having to stop and summarise (often with the help of an online guide) in order to keep track of all the interwoven characters and legends.

 

The Sound of Wild Snails Eating tells of the author's observation of a snail that a friend had brought to her sickbed: she (the author, not the snail, which is a hermaphrodite) developed mitochondrial disease in her thirties and from then on was bedridden or severely limited in her activities. It's a gentle little book that encourages one to slow down and look at all the life that we miss in our daily rush.

 

I came across frequent mention of The Big Sleep when reading up about the crime novel genre, so picked it up when I stumbled across it in the library. It's one of those books that has you thinking, "Oh, so that's how it's supposed to be done." Descriptions are as clear as a picture, characters are real enough to touch, and the violence simmers without any of the gratuitous obviousness we have come to expect from TV and the modern crime novels that follow. As with The Liberated Bride, this book made me realise how very few books are genuinely well written.

 

This week: The Terracotta Dog, second in the Inspector Montalbano series, after which I can watch the TV adaptation of the first two books, which I'm very much looking forward to. I'll probably also start The Botany of Desire, which was recommended by someone here.

[Stacia]

I'm in the middle of a book on the death of classics as a course of study, and I'm kinda thinking I might challenge myself to read a bunch of Greek stuff next year. Would anyone be interested in doing it with me?

 

I might be interested.... Let me know what you're thinking on this one. Not sure I have enough brain cells left these days to tackle something like that, but perhaps.... :tongue_smilie::lol:

 

I finally finished The Secret History, and decided it wasn't worth the time. I should go back in time and tell myself not to bother.

 

I read this so many years ago (when it first came out). I remember enjoying it, though I barely remember anything about it at this point.

 

I also read a James Bond novel (bwahaha!)

 

Read your blog post & saw the neat way you chose this one to read. I may have to try that method too.

 

I finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein this week.

 

Like Robin and Stacia, I found it to be different from what I expected. But, of course, I grew up with "The Munsters," and Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein :) (a fun movie, btw!)

 

I was shocked to read Mary Shelley was just 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein; the broad range of themes covered seem beyond the scope of the average teen----Nature vs. nurture, good vs. evil, blind ambition, rejection, revenge, science and technology being just some of them.

 

While I found the book interesting, I also found it a bit depressing.

 

I did, however, chuckle a bit when reading the monster educated himself by reading Paradise Lost and Plutarch's Lives. TWTM (The Well-Trained Monster?) :D

 

:smilielol5: about TWTMonster. Also, I think you & I grew up w/ the same Frankenstein fare. I have to admit that I really kind of like the Herman Munster version of Frankenstein. :D

 

I agree about the broad range of themes in the book & the depth to which she explores some of the themes; I'm so impressed with her intelligence & emotion dealing with some of the topics.

 

When I read Frankenstein last year, I also read a biography of Mary Shelley: The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein. If you found her fiction depressing, you would find her real life even more depressing and sad.

 

Have you read Dracula yet? That's another 'classic horror' I finally read in the past couple of years. Even though I'm glad I read Frankenstein, I enjoyed Dracula much more overall as a story.

 

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

 

Sounds like a lovely book & I really want to read it.

[Storm Bay]

Title makes me laugh :lol:.

 

I'm slowly plodding through The Kalahari Typing School for Men. It's not as good as the other ones. Or maybe it's just me and I'm tired of the same old, same old. In Grenada, when you see a book that might remotely like, you buy it, since you never know if or when you'll see it again. I made the mistake of buying the entire series and now I feel forced to read them all :blush:. The dialogue annoys me, the way they talk, "I am going to bake a cake. I am going to get the cows from the pasture" not "I'm going to bake a cake" - sounds a bit weird and annoying. Or maybe I'm just easily irritated these days. :rolleyes: :lol:

 

 

That's a series that's better spread apart as the books come out, and some of them are better than others. I've read them all, but not in a row and I think I would have tired of it after a while. I do like the humour, etc, but it helps to have a feel for how the speech should sound.

 

To appreciate the language, perhaps you can watch the mini series that came out, or at least the first one. The speech is apparently very much how they speak in Botswana, and having the right feel helps a lot.

[Mom-ninja.]

I'll probably also start The Botany of Desire, which was recommended by someone here.

 

Me. :001_smile: I loved that book. I'm still talking about it. I'm such a nerd. :D

 

 

I finished Carry On, Jeeves which was great. There were several parts that I laughed aloud and disturbed my little one sleeping.

 

I started a Bill Bryson book

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I started listening to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and I have a chapter and a half left of Confederates in the Attic. This past week it was hard to get the reading in, and this current week isn't looking any better. When I've finished Confederates, I'm not sure what I'll pull off the stack in my room.

[duckabell]

I started listening to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and I have a chapter and a half left of Confederates in the Attic. This past week it was hard to get the reading in, and this current week isn't looking any better. When I've finished Confederates, I'm not sure what I'll pull off the stack in my room.

 

I just finished A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I also have recently read The Transformation of Things for book club. I'm not making it to a book a week but am trying to get at least one or two a month.

[dangermom]

I might be interested.... Let me know what you're thinking on this one. Not sure I have enough brain cells left these days to tackle something like that, but perhaps.... :tongue_smilie::lol:

 

 

I'm not sure I do either! But surely I can handle reading a few plays, right? I thought I might make a pile of the Greek texts I think I should read, and try to read, say, one a month. Or something. Maybe the Orestia in one month, and Thucydides in 6 weeks? If anyone wanted to do it with me, I think they could choose their own readings.

[6packofun]

I'm slowly plodding through The Kalahari Typing School for Men. It's not as good as the other ones. Or maybe it's just me and I'm tired of the same old, same old.

 

I feel the same about that series! I really like his 44 Scotland Street series, though. :) Alexander McCall Smith is such a good writer, but he has a tendency to meander... LOL

[Imprimis]

 

When I read Frankenstein last year, I also read a biography of Mary Shelley: The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein. If you found her fiction depressing, you would find her real life even more depressing and sad.

 

Have you read Dracula yet? That's another 'classic horror' I finally read in the past couple of years. Even though I'm glad I read Frankenstein, I enjoyed Dracula much more overall as a story.

 

 

 

 

Haven't read Dracula yet.

 

But, now I really want to read the biography you linked, and have added it to my list. It looks really, really good, albeit sad. (I will never get through my wish list, Stacia, if you keep linking all these compelling books :)) I've always been so fascinated by the ties between Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and some of the other young writers of their time.

[Ali in OR]

I see a few to add to my list of neat-looking books. Thanks, ladies.

 

I finally finished All Together In One Place. It was okay. I'm not rushing out to continue the series. Then I read Trudy's Promise by Marcia Preston and loved it. A brief synopsis: Trudy Hulst has no idea if her husband survived his attempted escape past the newly constructed Berlin Wall. But she knows too well the consequences of his actions. Now branded the wife of a defector, she faces a life in prison. With no real choice, she is forced to follow, praying she can find a way to claim their child once she's in West Berlin.

 

I also read Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard because I assigned it to my daughter for history and need to discuss it with her. It was fine. My 2011 list:

 

38. Augustine Came to Kent-Barbara Willard

37. Trudy’s Promise-Marcia Preston

36. All Together In One Place-Jane Kirkpatrick

35. The Invisible Wall-Harry Bernstein

34. A Red Herring Without Mustard-Alan Bradley

33. At the Sign of the Sugared Plum-Mary Hooper

32. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag-Alan Bradley

31. Do Hard Things-Alex and Brett Harris

30. Anna of Byzantium-Tracy Barrett

29. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie-Alan Bradley

28. Cutting for Stone-Abraham Verghese

27. Stay With Me-Sandra Rodriguez Barron

26. Radical Homemakers-Shannon Hayes

25. Heaven is for Real-Todd Burpo

24. Under the Tuscan Sun-Frances Mayes

23. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother-Amy Chua

22. These Three Remain-Pamela Aidan

21. Chocolat-Joanne Harris

20. Where the Red Fern Grows-Wilson Rawls

19. Duty and Desire-Pamela Aidan

18. An Assembly Such As This-Pamela Aidan

17. Left Neglected-Lisa Genova

16. Classics in the Classroom-Michael Clay Thompson

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

[Medieval Mom]

 

If I get really brave, I might try finishing A Tale of Two Cities again...or not. :tongue_smilie:

 

Don't give up!

:)

[Stacia]

I'm not sure I do either! But surely I can handle reading a few plays, right? I thought I might make a pile of the Greek texts I think I should read, and try to read, say, one a month. Or something. Maybe the Orestia in one month, and Thucydides in 6 weeks? If anyone wanted to do it with me, I think they could choose their own readings.

 

I will ponder this....

 

I had a sick dh and dd this past week so I missed my window to pick up my hold at the library The Map of Time --- doh!

 

Hope your family is better now & that you get to squeeze in some make-up reading time. :001_smile:

 

Haven't read Dracula yet.

 

But, now I really want to read the biography you linked, and have added it to my list. It looks really, really good, albeit sad. (I will never get through my wish list, Stacia, if you keep linking all these compelling books :)) I've always been so fascinated by the ties between Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and some of the other young writers of their time.

 

Muwahahaha.... My evil plan is working. ;):lol:

 

Seriously, though, if you are fascinated by Shelley, Shelley, Bryon, etc..., you would probably enjoy the biography quite a bit. It wasn't the best bio I've ever read & it was indeed depressing & sad, but it gave a lot of great info about Mary Shelley & the crowd you mentioned. I really learned a lot when I read it.

 

And, Dracula. Don't forget Dracula. :D

[Medieval Mom]

This week I'm finishing up Fellowship of the Ring, still plugging along on Parents and Children, and am beginning Protecting the Gift.

[Negin]

That's a series that's better spread apart as the books come out, and some of them are better than others. I've read them all, but not in a row and I think I would have tired of it after a while. I do like the humour, etc, but it helps to have a feel for how the speech should sound.

To appreciate the language, perhaps you can watch the mini series that came out, or at least the first one. The speech is apparently very much how they speak in Botswana, and having the right feel helps a lot.

Karin, you're right. I don't read them back-to-back either. I've been spacing them out, but I think I may space them out even more.

Yes, I like the humor and I really like the characters.

I'm very aware of the language. I have a friend from Botswana. Just find it irritating when I'm reading, which, of course, I shouldn't complain about, since the book has to be true and accurate. I just find it annoying and feel horribly mean for saying that.

Haven't seen the mini series yet. I hope to, but don't know when or if I'll be able to.

 

I feel the same about that series! I really like his 44 Scotland Street series, though. :) Alexander McCall Smith is such a good writer, but he has a tendency to meander... LOL

Good to know that it's not just me. :tongue_smilie: "Meander" is the perfect description. It does annoy me at times.

Haven't yet gotten to his 44 Scotland Street series.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Finished The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne, can't wait for the next one.

Wrote him on GoodReads to tell him how much I enjoyed them and he wrote right back!

Now reading Known and Unknown, Donald Rumsfeld and The First World War by Hew Strachan.

 

I have actually reached my goal of 100 books this year and am upping the challenge to 150. :)

My Books on GoodReads

[Stacia]

My Books on GoodReads

 

Oh, that was fun to see all the covers from the books you've read.

 

Because it's so nifty & pretty, I created my own challenge over there (the 52 books in 52 weeks), so you can see all my covers there now too. :001_smile:

 

Stacia's Challenge/2011 Goodreads

 

ETA: Anyone else tracking their books over there? If so, please post a link!

Edited September 15, 2011 by Stacia

[Sparkle]

I finished Growing Up in 13th Century England and I also read The Pumpkin Muffin Murder by Livia J. Washburn and Death Threads by Elizabeth Lynn Casey. Right now, I'm reading Black Orchids by Rex Stout.

[Mom-ninja.]

Oh, that was fun to see all the covers from the books you've read.

 

Because it's so nifty & pretty, I created my own challenge over there (the 52 books in 52 weeks), so you can see all my covers there now too. :001_smile:

 

Stacia's Challenge/2011 Goodreads

 

ETA: Anyone else tracking their books over there? If so, please post a link!

 

That is a cool site. Now I have to make one. :)

 

Ok, now how do I add you guys as friends?

Edited September 15, 2011 by Kleine Hexe

[Storm Bay]

I feel the same about that series! I really like his 44 Scotland Street series, though. :) Alexander McCall Smith is such a good writer, but he has a tendency to meander... LOL

Insteresting. I read the first 44 Scotland Street book, I think. No, wait, I read the first Isabelle Dalhousie mystery (same or different.) I didn't care for the second so didn't finish it.

Karin, you're right. I don't read them back-to-back either. I've been spacing them out, but I think I may space them out even more.

Yes, I like the humor and I really like the characters.

I'm very aware of the language. I have a friend from Botswana. Just find it irritating when I'm reading, which, of course, I shouldn't complain about, since the book has to be true and accurate. I just find it annoying and feel horribly mean for saying that.

.

Okay, I understand. It doesn't bother me so much, which is odd, because normally it would. There's something about the flow, etc, of these books that I like. However, I think once I did read 2 or 3 in a row and got tired of them. I don't buy them, missed them, and found them at the library. I love the secretary (can't remember her name) because she's so funny, & I like Precious for some of the insights into people that she comes up with (okay, the writer, but I'm sure you understood that.) I don't usually laugh out loud at the funny parts, though, just enjoy them.

[Stacia]

That is a cool site. Now I have to make one. :)

 

Ok, now how do I add you guys as friends?

 

Not quite sure. I think if we have your user name, we can request you as a friend. BTW, my user name is the same as here -- Stacia.

 

:001_smile:

[NanceXToo]

Not reading anything on my own at the moment. Waiting for the 5th George R.R. Martin book (from the Game of Throne series) to arrive via interlibrary loan. Also waiting for the next Karen Marie Moning book (third in the "Fever" series- an urban supernatural/fantasy series) to arrive via interlibrary loan.

 

With my daughter, I'm reading "The First Four Years"- we're finally nearly done with the Little House series!

 

ETA: Okay, I started "Waiting for the Barbarians" last night, so I'm reading something after all. :P

 

ETA Again: Put "Waiting for the Barbarians" aside as BOTH my George R.R. Martin book AND my Karen Marie Moning book came in at once yesterday. Reading Faefever first as it will be a quicker read.

Edited September 17, 2011 by NanceXToo

[Osmosis Mom]

I read The Double Bind as well as Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Zeitoun chronicles a Syrian-American during Katrina and was a very powerful read that I think should be mandatory for all teens to read and discuss. The Double Bind was very exciting, but I would have liked to have discussed it a bit with somebody to really understand it!!

[ladydusk]

I'm using goodreads: ladydusk

[Negin]

Because it's so nifty & pretty, I created my own challenge over there (the 52 books in 52 weeks), so you can see all my covers there now too.

Stacia's Challenge/2011 Goodreads

ETA: Anyone else tracking their books over there? If so, please post a link!

Stacia, because you're there, I think I'll start there also. :D

I'm on Library Thing, but the layout is not nearly as nice as the one on goodreads. What I like about Library Thing is that it recommends books that are close to what one likes. I don't know if goodreads does that or not.

 

There's something about the flow, etc, of these books that I like.

I love the secretary (can't remember her name) because she's so funny, & I like Precious for some of the insights into people that she comes up with

:iagree:

I think I'll appreciate them more once I spread the books out even further apart.

Yes, I love Precious and the secretary. Love their insight into human character, etc.

[Mom-ninja.]

Not quite sure. I think if we have your user name, we can request you as a friend. BTW, my user name is the same as here -- Stacia.

 

:001_smile:

 

There are a bunch of people with your user name so I can't find which one is you. Wait! I found you. Same avatar, yes?

 

Mine is the same as here as well.

[duckabell]

I just read her Mother's Hope by Franice Rivers thanks to a suggestion on this board. It was very engaging and I'm interested in some of her other books now as well. At the moment I'm reading Fire Study, which is the third book in a trilogy that I read a year or two ago and am struggling with remembering the characters and plot.

[luvnlattes]

I read Little Princes by Conor Brennan. I loved this book! It is about child trafficking in Nepal. The author volunteers in an orphanage that cares for these trafficked children who have been rescued from the streets. Despite the depressing subject matter, Brennan's story is one of hope.

 

Child trafficking is a complex problem in Nepal and there are no easy answers as Brennan shows. He does not make light of its seriousness but I was surprised to find myself laughing several times during the first third of the book. The humor came from the children...kids being kids, no matter where they live. I could relate to these kids and their antics as I do to my own.

 

I was inspired by the author's life which shows what can happen when one person invests his time and truly cares about others rather than just himself.

[dangermom]

I read The Double Bind as well as Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Zeitoun chronicles a Syrian-American during Katrina and was a very powerful read that I think should be mandatory for all teens to read!

 

Zeitoun is our city's Book in Common this year.

[Stacia]

There are a bunch of people with your user name so I can't find which one is you. Wait! I found you. Same avatar, yes?

 

Mine is the same as here as well.

 

Yes, mine is the same name/avatar as here.

 

I can't find yours...??? Ack. Help. Do you have a link that would put me to your page?

[twoplustrips]

Anyone else read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? It was my read for this week. Quite disturbing in parts. Overall, though, I felt there wasn't much point - no lesson learned, no conclusion... Anyone else read this book and want to discuss?

 

Kathy

[Negin]

Stacia's Challenge/2011 Goodreads

ETA: Anyone else tracking their books over there? If so, please post a link!

I just started, but it will be a while before I post all my books. :) I've only posted one book so far.

[nd293]

Because it's so nifty & pretty, I created my own challenge over there (the 52 books in 52 weeks), so you can see all my covers there now too. :001_smile:

 

Stacia's Challenge/2011 Goodreads

 

ETA: Anyone else tracking their books over there? If so, please post a link!

 

I've just joined, and think I have managed to send friend requests to Stacia and Negin, but how do you get a nice challenge page like Stacia has? My books are all showing on the one shelf with every other book I've ever read, although the number of books I've read this year is recording.

 

I really don't like computers, and they know it.

 

Wait, I think I have it: My challenge books are here: Nikki's Reading Challenge - same user name - nd293 and same avitar

Edited September 17, 2011 by nd293

[ladydusk]

Following closely on the heels of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, I read Alan Jacobs' The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Loved it. Wonderful to consider reading as an activities, how and what readers read, and some thoughts about the individual-social tensions of reading. It wasn't as explicitly Christian as Caring for Words and I would recommend it to any Reader.

 

My 2011 Reviews:

 

1. Her Daughter's Dream - Francine Rivers

2. Island of the World - Michael O'Brien (AMAZING!)

3. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress - Rhoda Janzen

4. Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein

5. Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer

6. Keeping a Nature Journal - Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E Roth.

7. Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization (Audio Book) - Anthony Esolen

8. Excellent Women - Barbara Pym

9. The Abyssinian - Jean-Christophe Rufin

10. In the Company of Others - Jan Karon

11. One Thousand Gifts - Ann Voskamp

12. Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer

13. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer

14. The Convenient Marriage - Georgette Heyer

15. The Organized Heart - Staci Eastin

16. Your Home: A Place of Grace - Susan Hunt

17. Christian Encounters: Jane Austen - Peter Leithart

18. Bambi: A Life in the Woods - Victor Salten

19. Aunt Jane's Hero - Elizabeth Prentiss

20. The Magician's Nephew (Audio Book) - C.S. Lewis

21. The Horse and His Boy (Audio Book) - C.S. Lewis

22. Beauty for Truth's Sake - Stratford Caldecott

23. A Mother's Rule of Life - Holly Pierlot

24. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

25. Persuasion - Jane Austen

26. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

27. Real Love for Real Life - Andi Ashworth

28. Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies - Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

29. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction - Alan Jacobs

[Storm Bay]

Just ignore this one!

[Stacia]

.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Stacia

[Robin M]

 

Link to week 38 - please continue conversation in new thread