Book a Week in 2012 - week 5

[Robin M]

Good morning my dears! Today is the start of week 5 in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome back to all our readers 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 - Literary Cookbooks: That's right - literary cookbooks. We've all come across passages in stories about the characters preparing meals or having dinner and could practically smell it, it sounded so good. From the classics like Jane Austen's Emma to modern day cozy mysteries like Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse mysteries to Harry Potter's Treacle Tart which I'm sure we are just dying to try. (or not!) Posted a round up of a few literary cookbooks to check out.

Have you ever tried any recipes you've come across in a story? I actually made the apple pie from the recipe in "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World." Granted it's a children's book we discovered through Five in a Row - however, it was delicious!!!!


Ahab's Wife Readalong - Where do you stand so far? Haven't started yet, halfway through, or finished. What did you think?

Moby Dick Readalong - Are you all going to be ready to tackle the whale in a couple weeks?

Lots of talk about Tolstoy and Russian literature in the last thread. Contemplating a Russian literature read in March - Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and/or Pasternak are the three that come to mind since I have books on the shelves by all three.

What are you reading this week?





Link to week 4

PM me if you want a copy of the master amazon wishlist.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Robin M

[Robin M]

I just finished Justin Cronin's "The Passage" Long but well written enough to make you not notice how lengthy it is (if that makes sense) Really got to know the characters well. Discovered it is book one of a trilogy, so the end really isn't the end.

 

Reading book # 2 in the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger "Changeless" on my nook. Seems to be stuck on C's. Also read this week Jayne Castle's 3rd book in Looking Glass Trilogy "Canyons of Night" Both are authors I've read before so don't count for my a to z challenge.

 

Next up is Alafaire Burke's Close Case.

[cani e porci]

I finished Whiskey Breakfast: My Swedish Family, My American Life and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children this week.

 

Whiskey Breakfast is a powerful work, but emotionally difficult (for me, anyway). Lindberg's description of his life as the product of a dysfunctional and broken immigrant home was poignant and exquisitely painful to read. It's not exactly uplifting, but Whiskey Breakfast is worthwhile if you're willing to consider that our clichéd notion of immigrant life in the US has little to do with reality.

 

I had high hopes for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I can only give it a resounding “meh.” Loved the cover, the title, and the use of weird vintage photography, but the story itself was entirely predictable. For some reason that I can't put my finger on, Miss Peregrine seemed more like a film treatment than a novel. Perhaps Ransom Riggs is waiting to be invited to write an episode of Doctor Who. Whovians, please don't take that to mean that the novel is of Who caliber: I'm thinking more along the lines of junior high fanfic (with massive apologies to most junior high fanfic).

 

I read some horrific reviews of Umberto Eco's latest novel, The Prague Cemetery, but decided to ignore them and read it anyway. I love his work, even though I'm thoroughly exasperated with him by the end of every novel and swear that we're through, and this time I really mean it. We're still in the honeymoon stage this morning, but I'm sure I'll be feeling differently by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

 

Currently reading:

The Prague Cemetery

 

Completed:

9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

8. Whiskey Breakfast: My Swedish Family, My American Life

7. The Shadow of the Wind

6. 13, rue Thérèse: A Novel

5. Meditation of Marcus Aurelius

4. Ahab's Wife

3. The Autobiography of an Execution

2. A Midsummer Night's Dream

1. The Palace of Illusion

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

[porque]

Here is my updated list:

 

Completed

1.Paradise, by Toni Morrison.

2. Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman.

3.Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat.

4.What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Dayby Pearl Cleage.

5. What Einstein Told His Cook(non-fiction)

6. Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.

7.Backroads byTawni O'Dell.

8. Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, non-fiction.

9. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I really liked this book and it tied in well with Ahab's Wife

10. Calico Bush (read a aloud)

11. Ahab's Wife Really Enjoyed!!

12. Gap Creekby Robert Morgan, Pretty dreary, made me feel guilty for sitting around reading instead of scrubbing my floor.

13. A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. Did not like the protagonist at all! So didn't really like the book.

14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone read aloud

15. Struggle for a Continent read aloud

16. Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay. Another dreary book about life and marriage.

 

Continuing

 

Your Money or Your Life (non-fiction)

Indian Captive (read aloud)

River, Cross my Heart

The Magic of Reality (read aloud)

The Minds of Boys (non fiction)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (read aloud)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My DD9 wants in on the book-a-week challenge too!

she has read

1. Ginger Pye

2. The Secret of the Golden Pavilion

3. Pinky Pye

4. Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country

5. Nzingha, Warrior Queen of Matamba

[Halcyon]

Here's my list so far:

 

 

1. Thirteen Reasons Why
   
2. Welcome to the Goon Squad
   
3. State of Wonder by Ann Patchet
   
4. Sh*t My Dad Says
   
5. Living Oprah
   
6. What’s So Amazing About Grace by Yancey. Wonderful!!!
   
7. 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Best book I've read in years.
   
8. Skippy Dies-currently reading but put down as some other library books came up in my queue.
   
9. Love Wins by Rob Bell
   
10. If Grace is True by Gully and Mulholland. Stunning, eye opening book. Lovely. I am going to purchase this one.
    
11. Blue Like Jazz
    
12. Moonwalking with Einstein-finished-awesome! this is going to be a quick, enjoyable read. I am consumed with memory stuff now (how to improve it, etc) so this is right up my alley. Engaging writing!
    
13. Done-reading now. Don't really like it. It was a free Kindle book, but I don't know if I am going to finish it.
    

 

Edited January 30, 2012 by Halcyon

[Kareni]

Still on my historical romance reading kick here.

 

Two recent reads:

 

Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney -- an interesting take on the unsocialized "lost boy"

 

My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale -- I enjoyed the epistolary exchange at the beginning of the book

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

I mentioned Our Hearts were Young and Gay a couple of weeks ago...then promptly placed the book back in the library bag. Boy am I glad that I glanced in the bag this week! The memoir was a best seller in the '40's when Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough penned their chronicle of travels in England and France in 1920. The girls had just graduated from Bryn Mawr and were true innocents. I laughed aloud at several points and thoroughly enjoyed their quest to become cosmopolitan sophisticates. This Common Reader reprint marks book #6 of the year for me.

 

Traveling in the '20's is my theme of the week. I am also reading a skinny little book which reprints a three part article that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about a car trip he and Zelda made from Connecticut to Alabama for peaches and biscuits. This back in the day when journeys of this sort would take a week. Fans of Fitzgerald will appreciate his self-deprecating humor, such as in this passage in which he describes "the Rolling Junk", his nickname for his car which he says is of the make "known as the Expenso".

Of course, while nominally engaged as an Expenso, it was, unofficially, a Rolling Junk, and in this second capacity it was a car that we often bought. About once every five years some of the manufacturers put out a Rolling Junk, and their salesmen come immediately to us because they know we are the sort of people to whom Rolling Junk should be sold.

 

Interestingly, The Cruise of the Rolling Junk was published in Britain. The forward was penned by seasoned travel writer Paul Theroux with an introduction by BBC writer Julian Evans.

 

I have also started Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which does have an amazing photo collection. Too early for an opinion though.

[Zebra]

I read Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman this week. Actually, I read most of it last week. I didn't really get much reading done this week, which is why I am glad I'm a few books ahead right now ;).

 

This is my list so far:

 

1) The Pioneer Woman-A Love Story Ree Drummond

2) Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher

3) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See

4) Shockaholic Carrie Fisher

5) Excellent Women Barbara Pym

6) The Help Kathryn Stockett

7) One Day David Nicholls

8) THE END The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany 1944-1945 Ian Kershaw

9) Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman Elizabeth Buchan

[Jen in PA]

I binge-read this week! I finished Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and am glad that I continued with it -- it really was an interesting read and I am still mulling over many parts of it. I also finished Before the Dawn, which was an absolutely fascinating look at paleoanthropology and related fields.

 

I also reread A Midsummer Night's Dream (I hadn't read it in at least 15 years). I tend not to like Shakespeare's comedies as much as the tragedies and histories, so I tried doing this as a read-along while listening to a full-cast recording -- it was so much fun!

 

I have mixed feelings about Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives. It was interesting, but the writing was uneven. Paris Portraits was a pleasant surprise -- a little book describing the author's interactions with Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Picasso, and Matisse while living in Paris in the early 20th century.

 

This week I'll be finishing up The Social Animal by David Brooks and hopefully enjoying some fiction, although I'm not sure what that will turn out to be.

 

So my list for the year so far is:

12. Paris Portraits

11. Invisible Allies

10. A Midsummer Night's Dream

9. Before the Dawn

8. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

7. The Vault

6. Tigerlily's Orchids

5. Pinched

4. The Reading Promise

3. The Alchemyst

2. Tonight No Poetry Will Serve

1. Your Child's Writing Life

Edited January 29, 2012 by Jen in PA
added links

[Night Elf]

Finished:

 

9. Hunger Games

10. Fall Girl by Marybeth Smith

 

Currently reading:

The Cat Who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson Braun

[LNC]

Week 1

1. Daddy Longlegs, Jean Webster - Kindle

2. Dear Enemy, Jean Webster - Kindle

3. Bookends of the Christian Life, Jerry Bridges

A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay (didn't like, quit)

Week 2

4. Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson

5. A Praying Life, Paul Miller - Kindle

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - library on Kindle (didn't like, quit - not doing well with fiction picks this year!)

Week 3

6. The Book of the Ancient World

7. The Book of the Greeks, both by Dorothy Mills

8. The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton

9. Organized Simplicity - Kindle

Week 4

10. In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson - library on Kindle

11. Think, John Piper

12. Lit, Tony Reinke

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Foe - quit!

Week 5

continuing In the Garden of Beasts

13.That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, Ana Homayoun

14. Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners, Ciny West

15. I'm an English Major Now What, Tim Lemire

16. Suprised by Oxford, Carolyn Weber (love so far)

[Stacia]

In response to last week's thread: luvnlattes -- here is my post about The Sisters Brothers, in case you are interested. :001_smile:

 

As I mentioned last week, I've fallen hard & fast for books publised by Europa editions. :D I'm currently reading two of their books: Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky and Hygiene and the Assassin by Amelie Nothomb.

 

Also, I hope to start The Raw Shark Texts this week! (Thanks, RainySunday!!)

 

Broken Glass Park/review from Booklist:

"Growing up in a rough city neighborhood in Germany, Sacha, 17, is a brilliant student, the only Russian immigrant in her elite Catholic high school. But everything is on hold when her brutal stepfather murders her mother. Sacha’s obsession is to kill him, in prison or out, even as she nurtures her little brother and sister in the violent projects. A lot happens in this first novel, but more than the fast plot, it is the striking narrative voice that will grab readers. Translated from the German, the present-tense narrative nails the contemporary teen voice—wry, furious, hilarious, heartbreaking, “wired but wrecked at the same time.†Rooted in the immigrant experience (struggling with a new language, forgetting the old one), the coming-of-age story is universal. When a guy threatens to make Sacha’s life a living hell, she says, “Too late; it already is.†Yes, she hates men, and maybe she hates women, too. Her anger makes you laugh and cry."

Hygiene and the Assassin/review from Publisher's Weekly:

"Written nearly two decades ago, this is the first novel of the award-winning Nothomb to be translated into English (beautifully so, by Alison Anderson). The shocking, morbid tale follows Prétextat Tach, a brilliant Nobel Prize–winning author who's also an obese, embittered, reclusive, racist, and sexist old man dying of a rare form of cancer. When the world learns Tach has only months left to live, journalists scramble for an interview. Five are selected, and the first four leave their interviews humiliated by the offensive author. But then the fifth journalist arrives. Unlike the others, Nina has not only read Tach's work but also investigated his life, discovering appalling secrets the author had thought were buried forever. As Nina slowly peels Tach's life apart in front of him, his hatred for her turns to respect. Nina's arrival obliterates the book's languid pacing, bringing much more than a strong-willed persona to the proceedings. Her startling revelations lead to a dramatic and unexpected ending that illuminates why the world, if not always its English-speaking inhabitants, loves Nothomb."

The Raw Shark Texts/review by Publishers Weekly:

"Hall's debut, the darling of last year's London Book Fair, is a cerebral page-turner that pits corporeal man against metaphysical sharks that devour memory and essence, not flesh and blood. When Eric Sanderson wakes from a lengthy unconsciousness, he has no memory. A letter from "The First Eric Sanderson" directs him to psychologist Dr. Randle, who tells Eric he is afflicted with a "dissociative condition." Eric learns about his former life—specifically a glorious romance with girlfriend Clio Aames, who drowned three years earlier—and is soon on the run from the Ludovician, a "species of purely conceptual fish" that "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self." Once he hooks up with Scout, a young woman on the run from her own metaphysical predator, the two trek through a subterranean labyrinth made of telephone directories (masses of words offer protection, as do Dictaphone recordings), decode encrypted communications and encounter a series of strange characters on the way to the big-bang showdown with the beast. Though Hall's prose is flabby and the plethora of text-based sight gags don't always work (a 50-page flipbook of a swimming shark, for instance), the end result is a fast-moving cyberpunk mashup of

Jaws

,

Memento

and sappy romance that's destined for the big screen."

My Goodreads Page

 

2012 Books Read:

01. Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees (HHH)

02. Oh No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly (HH, if you're in the right mood, lol)

03. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (HHHH)

04. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (HHHH)

05. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (HHHHH)

06. The Infernals by John Connolly (HHH)

07. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (HH)

08. The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott (HHH)

09. Zeroville by Steve Erickson (HHHH)

[Negin]

literary cookbooks.

Lovely idea! I've made a delicious cake from one of my favorite books - Can't Wait to Get to Heaven. I've bookmarked some yummy recipes in Pomegranate Soup also. Sweet book. I'm sure there were others, but I just can't remember right now.

 

 

Today I finished and loved Fall of Giants. I can't wait till the other two books are published. I've enjoyed most of Ken Follett, pretty much all of them, since my teens or early 20s.

 

I just started (but so far am not that impressed) - One for The Money.

 

[Negin]

9. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I really liked this book and it tied in well with Ahab's Wife

I love Allende and have read all of her books (except the ones for YA, which didn't grab me). Good to know that this ties in well with Ahab's Wife, which I'm quite skeptical about.

 

Paris Portraits was a pleasant surprise -- a little book describing the author's interactions with Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Picasso, and Matisse while living in Paris in the early 20th century.

This looks interesting. We loved the movie Midnight in Paris. I might get this book.

 

 

Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky

Added this to my wish list.

Do the "H"s mean stars? :confused:

[Onceuponatime]

Book number six: Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy

 

A guy in the late 1800's wakes up in the year 2000 and the world has changed dramatically. It is now practically perfect in every way. This is a pure socialist utopia. Almost all that was once wrong with the world was because of social inequity, now it is fixed. It was rather boring to me.

 

The book was originally written in the time period that the main character fell asleep, so it is very dated. The only things I could see that have come true are the use of credit cards, radios, and warehouse stores, but they are all very different from the actual modern versions.

 

It was ok, but I wouldn't read it again.

 

Still slogging through The Great Transformation. I've also started God of Hive by Laurie King. It's a continuation of the previous book. I hope she wraps up the story in this book. I'm not fond of "to be continued." I do enjoy her writing, though.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Onceuponatime

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I finished Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream for my 4th book and posted about it here. I'm still waiting for my copy of The Song of Roland to arrive. I'm not sure what I'll tackle while I wait on it. I might get a head start on Henty's Winning His Spurs.

 

Books for 2012

 

4. A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare

3. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Verne

2. Beowulf by Heaney

1. Cut You Grocery Bills in Half by Economides

[Ali in OR]

Finished two this week: Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw and the last (I think) of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, The Other Wind. Enjoyed both. I thought the more interesting essays in Gladwell's book were toward the back, so it got better as I went along. For the coming week, I just got a message that The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains is waiting for me at the library. I'll have to pick out some easy paperback for the treadmill too.

 

I think I would be up for a Russian lit challenge. I'm hoping to get a Kindle for my birthday in February, so all those classics are free, right?

 

Books Read in 2012

8. The Other Wind-Ursula Le Guin

7. What the Dog Saw-Malcolm Gladwell

6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall-Anne Bronte

5. Tehanu-Ursula Le Guin

4. The Scarlet Pimpernel-Baroness Orczy

3. The Paleo Diet-Loren Cordain

2. Peter Pan-James Barrie

1. The Farthest Shore-Ursula Le Guin

[Stacia]

52 Books blog - Literary Cookbooks: That's right - literary cookbooks. We've all come across passages in stories about the characters preparing meals or having dinner and could practically smell it, it sounded so good.

Will have to look at your link, Robin. The only books I can think of that I've read in the past year or two that had 'foodie' type descriptions.... Kitchen (by Banana Yoshimoto :lol:) and Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris.

 

This looks interesting. We loved the movie Midnight in Paris.

 

Added this to my wish list.

Do the "H"s mean stars? :confused:

:iagree:

 

Negin, do you mean after my book list? I've put stars after each title to show the rating I gave the book (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars). Is it showing up as "H"s for everyone? (I see them as stars....) Hmmm. Maybe I need to change that....???

[Rosie_0801]

I've been reading a bunch of Margery Allingham mysteries. It's too hot for thinking!

 

Rosie

[edithcrawley]

 

Last week I completed The Girl who Played with Fire--This one is awesome, and I'm excited to read book 3!

 

I'm now reading:

 

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains by Nicholas Carr---really interesting so far

Paradise Valley by Dale Cramer---liking it a lot, haven't had much time to read it this past week.

Open by Andre Agassi---Still near the beginning of this one, I really like his writing style.

 

 

[prairiegirl]

Negin, do you mean after my book list? I've put stars after each title to show the rating I gave the book (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars). Is it showing up as "H"s for everyone? (I see them as stars....) Hmmm. Maybe I need to change that....???

 

Stacia, I get H's, too. I thought they were a funky type of star. ;)

 

I finished "Still Life" by Louise Penny. Loved it! I will definitely be reading more of hers. I am in the middle of Book #6--"What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell.

[Stacia]

Stacia, I get H's, too. I thought they were a funky type of star. ;)

 

Does this work better (or should I just ditch my star system)? :lol:

 

2012 Books Read:

01. Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees (***)

02. Oh No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly (**, if you're in the right mood, lol)

03. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (****)

04. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (****)

05. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (*****)

06. The Infernals by John Connolly (***)

07. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (**)

08. The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott (***)

09. Zeroville by Steve Erickson (****)

[Negin]

Last week I completed The Girl who Played with Fire--This one is awesome, and I'm excited to read book 3!

I loved these books. I was sad when the series ended. He was writing the 4th when he died. He planned on writing 10 in the series.

 

Does this work better

Yes, now it works. :)

[Outdoorsy Type]

Last week I finished up Escape by Carolyn Jessup and The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which brings me up to 7 books for the year.

 

1. Old Man And The Wasteland by Nick Cole

2. The Life Of Pi by Yann Martel

3. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick

4. The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

5. 1984 by George Orwell

6. Escape by Carolyn Jessup

7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

I bought Divergent several weeks ago and keep putting it aside every time I get a new book from the library. :tongue_smilie: So Divergent is my book being read, although I may put it aside when Unbroken comes in from the library.

[laughing lioness]

Reading Pride and Prejudice. The fact that I have the BBC's version practically memorized is very distracting.

 

Outdoorsy Type- I read Escape last year. What did you think?

[Negin]

Reading Pride and Prejudice. The fact that I have the BBC's version practically memorized is very distracting.

Yes, I would find that distracting also, particularly since the BBC version is said to be the closest to the book. I loved the book and the BBC movie. :)

[rieshy]

My last two weeks have been a bit of a bust- but here's my week's reading.

 

A pox on audio books with annoying music that one cannot skip.

[luvnlattes]

In response to last week's thread: luvnlattes -- here is my post about The Sisters Brothers, in case you are interested. :001_smile:

 

Thanks for the link Stacia :).

 

I just started (but so far am not that impressed) - One for The Money.

 

I had my eye on that one since she recently released a new book in that series. The reviews on her new title were saying how great the earlier Stephanie Plum books were. Hopefully it will pick up!

 

I loved these books. I was sad when the series ended. He was writing the 4th when he died. He planned on writing 10 in the series.

 

:iagree:

[Negin]

I had my eye on that one since she recently released a new book in that series. The reviews on her new title were saying how great the earlier Stephanie Plum books were. Hopefully it will pick up!

Thanks, Kelli. I've never read her books before. Figured I'd try it out in the right order. I can't imagine it to be a "wow" book - more supermarket fiction, which we sometimes need. I've always loved supermarket fiction. Nice break from the more serious stuff. :D

[Outdoorsy Type]

Reading Pride and Prejudice. The fact that I have the BBC's version practically memorized is very distracting.

 

Outdoorsy Type- I read Escape last year. What did you think?

 

 

I thought it was sad, and left me wondering about the other sister wives and family. It's amazing to me that she was able to break free from a life that was so damaging to ones self esteem. It honestly reminded me of 1000 Splendid Suns as far as the cruelty and control are concerned.

 

On a side note I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time last year. I hadn't watched any movies or mini series before hand, and when I watched the BBC version everything was exactly as I had imagined. :)

[Negin]

On a side note I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time last year. I hadn't watched any movies or mini series before hand, and when I watched the BBC version everything was exactly as I had imagined. :)

Dh and I saw the interview with the producer of the series (granted this was about 8 years ago) and she said how P&P was her all-time favorite book and that she simply had to keep it very true to the story. When I finished the book, we rented the DVD the very next day. I was not disappointed at all. That's a rarity with most books to movies. I refuse to see the Hollywood version.

[Heather in Neverland]

This week I am reading Family Driven Faith: What it Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham.

 

Completed so far...

 

6. Organized Simplicity

5. Year of Wonders

4. The Holiness of God

3. The Paris Wife

2. The Peach Keeper

1. Relic

[Jennifer3141]

I gave myself a headache reading this afternoon. And I'm a little distressed that I went into the tub after lunch today and when I got out, it was dark out. :lol:

 

But I finished Ahab's Wife today so I could go ahead and finish Mrs. Dalloway for the book club on Wednesday. And then I peeked ahead into Moby Dick. I'm going to go slow and savor that because of what SJN wrote at the end of Ahab's Wife and how much she loved Moby Dick.

 

AW affected me as much the second time reading it as the first. I'm very grateful it's in my kindle and will go wherever I go in life now.

 

1. House Rules by Jodi Picoult

2. A Midsummer Night's Dream

3. So Much For That by Lionel Shriver

4. What Price Honor? by David Stern

5. Daedalus by David Stern

6. Daedalus's Children by David Stern

7. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (book club reading)(nonfiction)

8. Surak's Soul by David Stern

9. The Good Men Do by Andy Mangels

10. Ahab's Wife by Seta Jena Naslund

11. Imperfect Birds by Ann Lamott (currently reading)

12. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (currently reading)

13. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (currently reading)

 

I'm going to throw some brain candy into the mix as soon as I get Mrs. Dalloway done. I'm going to finish Imperfect Birds but it won't ever be a favorite of mine.

[Just Robyn]

Finished this week

 

5.) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith This was an enjoyable light read. I'm glad I read a non-fiction book about Abraham Lincoln before reading this. All through the book bells were dinging in my head. *ding* That really happened. *ding* Yep, I read about that. etc.

 

6.) Soulless by Gail Carriger This is a fun mix of fantasy (in this case, vampires and werewolves), romance, and steampunk. I'm working on the next book, Changeless, now.

[luvnlattes]

I finished #4 last week A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. I started the week reading Mindset by Carol Dweck when the Dugard book came in. I debated returning it without reading it because I wasn't sure how I felt about peering into her horrible experience.

 

I still have conflicting feelings about it. I believe it was her story to tell and that if she hadn't, someone else most likely would have at some point in time. The way she tried to keep a positive outlook as she lived through those dark times amazed me. She is in my prayers and I hope that the world will leave her alone so that she can have some semblance of a normal life with her daughters. And then I wonder if I'm part of that "world" that should have just left her alone and never read the book in the first place. I've never had a book leave me feeling this way before.

 

On a lighter note, yesterday I started The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. I'm hoping to finish it along with Mindset this week.

Edited January 29, 2012 by luvnlattes

[eaglei]

This week I finished:

 

#4 - The Moment I Saw You, by Lisa Samson. It was all right. I've enjoyed her other books more. This one seemed very predictable, and I didn't like the ending.

 

#5 - Ruth - Brides of the West 1872 - (Heart Quest series), by Lori Copeland. This was a gift and my introduction to this author. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, zipped right through it, chuckled at the humor as well as the more serious emotional thoughts. Not heavy weight reading and the fact that it is part of a series didn't seem to matter. It stood well enough on its own. I might read the next book in the series sometime (if the library has it), as this book ended the story of this couple, but left it wide open concerning other characters.

 

Am currently reading:

 

#6 - Davita's Harp, by Chaim Potok. I've never read him before and actually thought I'd start with My Name is Asher Lev; however, the library had the Asher Lev sequel but not this book.:glare: When the library assistant saw the author, she immediately offered that this was her favorite writer and highly recommended My Name is Asher Lev. When I told her they didn't have it, she couldn't believe it and immediately checked - then wrote out a request for the book! Anyway, Davita's Harp is good so far; seems like it will be fast, engaging reading. Time will tell!

[swellmomma]

Well I had to give back When the brain can't hear to the library. Have to wait for it to come back up in que again before I can read it. I did manage to finish off another book in the Morganville vampire's series. Ahab's wife finally came in and so did the Moby dick audio book I put on hold. I will be starting those this week and finishing Little Sugar Addicts.

 

So book 7 was Midnight Alley (Book #3 Morganville Vampires)

 

We also listened to Double Fudge audio book by Judy Blume but I do not think it is long enough to count so I won't. Currently we are listening to Halo Evolutions. It is a series of short stories based on Halo. My son requested it from the library because he is getting really into the games. I have to say the stories themselves are not bad at all, though a couple of them have more vulgar language than I like.

 

We will continue listening to Halo Evolution in the car. Moby Dick is an MP3 playview audio book so that is my one this week for when I am putzing around cleaning etc. Little Sugar addicts I have been reading while I cook meals. I have started book #4 of the Morganville Vampires as my bedtime/bathrime book. And Ahab's wife I am starting today as my actual scheduled reading time(trying to actually schedule 30 minutes a day of harder reading).

 

ETA here is my other past read titles

 

Books completed so far this year.

7. Midnight Alley: The Morganville Vampires (book 3) By Rachel Caine

6. Smart but stuck: emotional Aspects of learning disabilities nad imprised intelligence by Myrna Orenstein, PhD.

5. Dead Girls' Dance: The morganville vampires (book 2) By Rachel Caine

4. Glass Houses: The morganville vampires (book 1) by Rachel Caine

3. Healing the New Childhood Epidemics by Kenneth Bock, M.D. and Cameron Stauth

2. What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

1. King of the Wind: The story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry

Edited January 29, 2012 by swellmomma

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[silliness7]

I am so amazed at how many books you gals read. This challenge has been good for me as I had really let my personal reading slack off. But it is a challenge to get one book a week done even with my audio books.

 

I didn't log a book for Week 3. :glare: I think trying to read Ahab's Wife did me in since I wasn't all that keen on it. I wish the library had had an audio. I ditched it at 100+ pages in so I could keep up with the challenge and not get sidetracked on one book.

 

I did get my school-age dc to join the challenge. Hopefully this will encourage my reluctant readers to read more and will also encourage my book worms to keep written tabs on what they're reading.

 

Friday we finished reading Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. This was a fun Art History Mystery that the kids enjoyed. We learned a little bit about Vermeer along the way and also pentominoes. We now want a set of pentominoes to play with. My dd's started listening to the sequel The Wright 3 at bedtime.

 

I also started listening to The Penderwicks on Gardam Street with my dd7. This book is about 4 sisters and their widower father who has started dating again because of a deathbed letter from his wife brought to light 4 years later by his sister.

 

I put 1776 on hold halfway through. McCullough does a good job making history accessible and interesting but I needed a break. Maybe I'll get it back out in a month or so. I'm determined to finish Phantom of the Opera this week. I also still need to finish the Peck audio book ds13 and I started. Monday we start a new read aloud - Socks by Beverly Cleary.

 

I am currently listening to Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones. The only white man left on a tropical island becomes the local teacher when the other whites are evacuated due to war. He has no school books and is limited to teaching the kids only what he knows. He does invite the parents to take turns coming to school and giving talks on topics. But the greatest thing he does is to read Great Expectations aloud, one chapter per day. Of course, this exposure to Dickens is profound for our teen protagonist. I'm only half way through and thorougly enjoying this book.

 

And because listening to books has become synonomous with knitting to me I will share that I have knit my very first sweater. :party:

 

Well, almost. I have half of the last sleeve to go and I will be finished. Granted it's a sweater for Kit, dd7's AG doll. But I have learned several new techniques that I can apply to a "real" sweater later on and of course it worked up fairly quickly and with scraps I had laying around.

 

My 2012 Year in Review.

4 - Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

3 - Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

2 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

1 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

I want to share what my dc have read but don't want to make 5 different lists since some of the same books will keep appearing on each list so I am just going to lump them.

 

My DC 2012 Year in Review.

Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Ides of April by Mary Ray

Ben Hur by Lew Wallace

Do Hard Things by Brett and Alex Harris

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Darth Paper by Tom Angleberger

Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Michael Morpurgo

Mary Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer

Beware Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer

Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill

Edited January 30, 2012 by silliness7

[forbothmykids]

I did not post last week, so here is my list since the end of Week 2:

 

7. Kids Are Worth It (Coloroso)

8. A Charlotte Mason Education (Levison)

9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) -- as a read-aloud

 

I'm working on HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Senior High: A Home-Designed Form-U-La (Shelton). I'm also trying to psych myself up to start Don Quixote.

 

Denise

[rwjx2khsmj]

My reading was a mixture this week. The most worth-while read was Galileo's Daughter. The most fun read was Sizzling Sixteen.

 

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

Sketches by Eric Walters

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel

The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart

[rwjx2khsmj]

52 Books blog - Literary Cookbooks: That's right - literary cookbooks. We've all come across passages in stories about the characters preparing meals or having dinner and could practically smell it, it sounded so good. From the classics like Jane Austen's Emma to modern day cozy mysteries like Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse mysteries to Harry Potter's Treacle Tart which I'm sure we are just dying to try. (or not!) Posted a round up of a few literary cookbooks to check out.

 

Have you ever tried any recipes you've come across in a story? I actually made the apple pie from the recipe in "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World." Granted it's a children's book we discovered through Five in a Row - however, it was delicious!!!!

 

My ds9 discovered Redwall this year and has read his way through the series. If you've read the books you know what a part food plays in the stories. My ds and I were thrilled to discover the Redwall Cookbook. We've tried quite a few of the recipes. Here's a blog entry about our cooking experiences Redwall style.

[Enough]

But a Western?!?! :001_huh:

 

I KNOW. :svengo:I last read a Western a million years ago (give or take- I think I was maybe 11) while I was spending a week with my grandparents and had run out of my own reading material with six days left to go. :smilielol5:

 

But this one was really, really good and not all that Western-y.:tongue_smilie:

 

Ahab's Wife Readalong - Where do you stand so far? Haven't started yet, halfway through, or finished. What did you think?

 

Moby Dick Readalong - Are you all going to be ready to tackle the whale in a couple weeks?

 

You know I loved Ahab's Wife. :)

 

I'm not sure if I will do the Moby Dick challenge- I have a tower of books on my shelf right now, thanks to all awesome book recs in these threads, and I don't know if I can handle another dense read so quickly on the heels of AW.

 

But the Literary Cookbook idea has me intrigued... one of my favorite books and movies of all time is Like Water for Chocolate- I may try to read this one again, in Spanish no less! :lol: I also have The Feast Nearby waiting for me at the library, so I may just complete this challenge.

 

For this week, I've started Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and am so far not loving it- I'll give it another day before I give up on it. Also continuing to read Parenting Beyond Belief and I'll start The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains tomorrow.

[dangermom]

This week I read:

 

Before I Fall YA novel about a girl who dies in an accident and relives her last day 7 times. Some good stuff to think about.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--a classic!

Feynman--a graphic novel biography of the physicist Richard Feynman. Lots of fun to read, but his own memoirs were better. OK to give to your interested young teen if you can overlook the part where he hung out in a topless bar for a while (it's not graphic).

Hesiod's Theogony--ancient Greek poem of the origin of the gods.

Nightmare Abbey--satirical comedy of melancholic society types. Funny! From 1818.

 

I have two more that I need to write up, most especially a pretty horrifying study of sex selection around the world (which is a nice way of saying aborting girl babies in favor of trying for sons, which in turn results in a lot of angry young men with nothing much to aim for).

[Violet Crown]

Still holding down the low end of the curve for everyone by only being on my third book. You're welcome :). Currently working on Balzac's Droll Stories, a book banned everywhere when it first came out. Anyone planning to join me? It's only risque by 19th-century standards.

[Jane in NC]

Still holding down the low end of the curve for everyone by only being on my third book. You're welcome :). Currently working on Balzac's Droll Stories, a book banned everywhere when it first came out. Anyone planning to join me? It's only risque by 19th-century standards.

 

Yes! But I won't be making a trip to the library until mid-week.

[proverbs356lady]

This week I am reading Family Driven Faith: What it Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham.

 

Completed so far...

 

6. Organized Simplicity

5. Year of Wonders

4. The Holiness of God

3. The Paris Wife

2. The Peach Keeper

1. Relic

 

I'd love to hear what you think of Voddie Baucham's book. May add that to my wishlist.

 

This week I finished:

#4 The World-Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips ~I really liked it!

 

Today I started:

#5 Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo

[Shawneinfl]

This week finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Finished it in 2.5 days - great read. I had no idea that foot binding in China was so recent. Juggling 3 books this week: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson (book club read), and Nurtureshock. I don't think I'm going to make it to Ahab's Wife this time.

 

I'm loving the "book sample" feature on my Nook - now I really want to read The Poisonwood Bible and Devil in the White City.

[jenL]

It dawned on me Friday that I didn't respond to week 4, so I'll catch up now.

 

I read Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos. It was hysterial but filled with many biblical truths as to how we (Americans, mostly) have created our own Jesuses to fit our situations rather than following the true Jesus in the Bible because following him is really difficult and can make us outcasts. I really enjoyed it.

 

I also read Parenting Children with ADHD: 10 Lessons Medicine Cannot Teach by Vincent Monastra. It clarified some concerns that other ADHD books I've read did not cover. I really like the behavioral modification/reward system he discusses because it's not complicated and it's do-able. He also reassured some things as to how dh & I have tried to approach our son's diagnosis and treatment.

 

Another book I read was Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long. It was a free Kindle download a couple of weeks ago. Although the main character is going through some terrible life moments, her journey through them was filled with despair, strength, and a sense of rawness that some authors gloss over. I found myself laughing, crying, getting frustrated with her, and hoping for her to triumph. It's a fast read if you are looking for something quick & easy.

 

Lastly, I read Clockwise by Elle Strauss. It's a YA novel that is fun for the reader. It's clean and romantic while targeting common teen issues (feeling like an outcast, bullying, peer hierarchies, etc). It could use some extra formatting for the Kindle, but it wasn't enough to take away from my enjoyment of the story. I read it in a few hours, and I'd like to continue reading the subsequent books in the series.

 

For this week, I am reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I'm already finding that this is a book that I need to digest. Her writing is poetic and meaty. It's one of those books that is already changing my mindset (I'm only 3 chapters in), and I will be re-reading it again often since the truths she reveals are convicting and beautiful. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far.

 

So far...

• Radical by David Platt
  
• Made to Crave by Lysa Terkhurst
  
• The Eve Tree by Rachel Devenish Ford
  
• Breaking TWIG by Deborah Epperson
  
• Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long
  
• Clockwise by Elle Strauss
  
• Parenting Children with ADHD: 10 Lessons That Medicine Cannot Teach by Vincent Monastra
  
• Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos