Book a Week in 2013 - week twelve

[Robin M]

Dia duit ar maidin! Happy St. Patrick's day. Today is the start of week 12 in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in 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 below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: Highlighting book # 7 and chapter one in the list of great fiction from SWB's Well Educated Mind. Coincidentally, this is also the anniversary of the book's publication 163 years ago on March 16, 1850.

 

 

Hopscotch Readalong - It's two books in one. Read as you would normally read a book or follow the trail and hopscotch around. How are you doing so far?

 

 

 

April readalong - still planning on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: We'll start April 7 which will give those reading Hopscotch time to finish and absorb before diving into this chunkster.

 

Synopsis: The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.†Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

 

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

 

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s—1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 11

[Robin M]

I finished Hopscotch a couple days ago which left me with my brain feeling completely saturated. Didn't want to read anything else for a bit. But then went to barnes and noble friday afternoon and was delighted to find the new book in the Demon series by Diana Rowland 'Touch of the Demon.' Perfect book to dive into. Admittedly I read too fast and have 50 pages left to go but enjoying the heck out of it. Think I'm going to have to declare a reread month sometime during the summer and linger a bit longer with some of my favorites.

[Stacia]

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Did you see the cute graphic of Irish dancers over on Google today? Love it!)

 

I'm still working on Hopscotch.

 

I finished Hopscotch a couple days ago which left me with my brain feeling completely saturated. Didn't want to read anything else for a bit.

 

That seems like an apt description. My brain feels tired today & hardly up to the task of getting back to Hopscotch. But, maybe later this afternoon, I'll delve in again & try to make headway....

 

--------------------------

My Goodreads Page

My PaperbackSwap Page

Working on Robin's Dusty &/or Chunky Book Challenge.

Working on Robin's Continental Challenge.

Working on LostSurprise's Dewey Decimal Challenge. Complete Dewey Decimal Classification List here.

 

My rating system:

5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Decently good; 2 = Ok; 1 = Don't bother (I shouldn't have any 1s on my list as I would ditch them before finishing)...

 

2013 Books Read:

01. Women of the Klondike by Frances Backhouse (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – North America (Canada); Dewey Decimal – 900s.

02. Equator by Miguel Sousa Tavares (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – Europe (Portugal) & Africa (São Tomé and Príncipe).

03. UFOs, JFK, & Elvis by Richard Belzer (2 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 000s.

04. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (USA).

05. The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Africa (Egypt).

06. The Hard Way by Lee Child (2 stars).

07. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy (3 stars).

08. Daughters of Copper Woman by Anne Cameron (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (Canada).

09. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes (3.5 stars).

10. The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt (4 stars).

 

11. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Pakistan).

12. Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr (4 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 600s.

13. The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Sweden).

14. Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley (4 stars).

15. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (2.5 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 900s.

[Jane in NC]

No idea lives in isolation.

 

How interesting to be reading The Swerve during this week of papal history! The Swerve, subtitled "How the World Became Modern", details how a fifteenth century member of the Curia, Poggio Bracciolini, found a copy of the long lost Roman manuscript On the Nature of Things by Lucretius. That part of the book almost reads like a detective investigation. The remainder of The Swerve chronicles the influence of Lucretius on Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers.

 

Prior to the discovery though we read that Poggio served under Pope John XXIII, determined later at the Council of Constance to be an anti-pope. This week's ritual at the Vatican has suggested that the selection of a pope has been a constant ritual since the establishment of the Catholic church. But in the early fifteenth century, there were three men claiming to be Pope, an issue that the Council was to resolve. Essentially Poggio was on the wrong team. The loss of position on the Curia did free him up to pursue his passion of searching for lost manuscripts which in turn led to his major discovery.

 

There was no going back. About a hundred years after Poggio brought On the Nature of Things to the attention of fellow humanists, the Florentine Synod prohibited the reading of the work in schools. Those first copies were made by hand. But the advent of the printing press put more copies into general circulation. Lucretius would not be lost again.

 

As previously noted, no idea lives in isolation. The Council of Constance had a second major issue beyond the three pope problem, that of Jan Hus. This pre-Luther reformer was declared to be a heretic and burned at the stake at Constance. Those who claim to be his spiritual heirs are the Moravians...which brings me to my second book that I finished this week.

 

An Awakening Heart is a work of historic fiction based on real Moravians who traveled from Saxony to Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. One woman, Christina Barbara Krause, was among the first settlers at Bethabara (Winston Salem area) in NC. The Moravians are well known for their record keeping. The author of the novel spent considerable time in Moravian Historical Societies so I assume her details are correct. Christina's faith journey is the fictionalized piece here, although I would again assume that part of that journey was very real for her or other women. The Moravians were communal. The church owned the land which they worked. There was a lot system that determined jobs and calling within the community. What this entailed though was that after a child was weaned, he was given to the community to raise. In Christina's case, three of her children remained behind in Bethlehem, PA, when Christina and her husband were sent to NC.

 

It goes without saying that Moravians today do not do this, but it is worth noting that their past communal systems did allow for success in trying circumstances.

 

Between reading about the Council of Constance and reading the papal news this week, I decided to start watching the Teaching Company lectures on Popes and the Papacy. Completely fascinating!

 

I am also not sure I can leave the fifteenth century behind. I think I may need to dive into Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series. I read the first book about ten years ago so I suppose I should reread it before moving on to the remaining seven in the series. Dunnett is a wonderful author of historic fiction but her work is dense. In fact, there are two companion books that were compiled to utilize while reading her fictional work. The companions include hundreds of historical, geographic and literary references as well as translations of songs and poetry. I think Dunnett is one of the most remarkable authors of the 20th century.

 

Still reading: On the Nature of Things (Lucretius) and a text book, Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods and Practice by Renfrew and Bahn. My son assigned the latter to me over a year ago. I thought I better get around to it.

 

Jane

 

P.S. An Awakening Heart is another of the dusty books. Dare I mention that I went to a library book sale this week where I purchased a few more books that will inevitably become dusty?

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

[Onceuponatime]

I read The Worsted Viper by Gladys Mitchell this week. I was kind of disappointed it followed a theme similar to the last book I read by her. She is not shaping up to be as creative an author as Agatha Christie.

 

I'm 3/4 of the way through The MIsts of Avalon and I've stalled on the Black Count.

 

I tried to read all the way through Descartes Medations on First Philosophy this week, but got a brain ache by Meditation 4. I'm going to try to force myself to read the rest of it this week.

[mumto2]

Jane both books sound fascinating. Adding them to my list!

 

Just read the description of 1Q84 again. Really looking forward to it.

I am still reading Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott. Very interesting. It is a book set it modern Cambridge that is trying to understand who Isaac Newton really was. Looking mainly at 1665 and 1666 when the apple fell and light separated. The picture being painted is so far much different from the one I thought I knew. Halfway through.

 

I need to put it aside and read the new Jonathan Kellerman, Guilt, so I can return it to the library before we leave for the UK on Wednesday.

 

I finally managed to find a book by a South American author for the challange. Nothing I was interested in seemed to be availiable. Trying to stick to library and free ebooks. I now have Aleph by Paulo Coelho. I have read a couple of chapters. I think I will enjoy it.

[Diann]

I finished Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George. Love her Inspector Lynley series. I started Tana French's most recent book, Broken Harbor.

 

Diann

[cathmom]

Ok, who was it who read The Light Between Oceans the first week? I read it and I really liked it, especially once it dawned on me that Lucy was the light between the oceans of sadness both families had suffered.

 

I can't keep up with these threads, but I just finished my 21st book, which I really liked, called Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel. A little girl is abducted by her father and spends her life on the run. Why? A private detective chases her. Will he ever find her? And what about the detective's daughter - who's watching out for her? Despite a couple momentary lapses into what I consider vulgarity, this was really well-written!

[Just Robyn]

I finished The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Country of the Blind and Other Science-Fiction Stories by H. G. Wells, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. So that's two novellas, some short stories, poetry and a play. I'm feeling well rounded.

 

When I got to the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream I got this related song in my head, and it's still there.

 

Also, for the Walt Whitman portion of my 5/5/5 I read a great book of poetry by Sherman Alexie - The Summer of the Black Widows - which includes the poem "Defending Walt Whitman." Sherman Alexie makes amazing use of repetition and exclamations. Wow, what exclamations! And the repetition. The repetition and the exclamations draw you in and make you feel the energy of the speaker.

 

Hopscotch Readalong - It's two books in one. Read as you would normally read a book or follow the trail and hopscotch around. How are you doing so far?

 

I am loving Hopscotch though my brain can only handle so much of it at a time. I am currently through with chapter 16 - going on 137. Some of the pages in the book I got from the library are like pockets (but nothing is in them). Anybody else have this?

[Kareni]

Yesterday I finished Lessons from the Monk I Married by Katherine Jenkins.

 

The back of the book states, "Katherine Jenkins went to South Korea to teach English, but more specifically to pursue answers to life's difficult questions in the hopes of finding a sense of purpose and peace. Her travels there brought her to a remote temple, where she unknowingly crossed paths with a Buddhist monk, Seong Yoon Lee. Months later, they met by chance - and both of their lives were irrevocable changed."

 

I brought the book home since my daughter (a college senior) is hoping to teach English in South Korea after graduation, and I was curious to see if the book would share the author's experiences along those lines. Such was not the case as the book is far more about the author's relationship with the monk and with her spiritual journey. I found it an interesting read.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[VeganCupcake]

I finished reading Sal Khan's The One World Schoolhouse and really enjoyed it. I especially like the prospect of providing all these educational resources to students in developing countries.

 

I've started I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced, a book club pick--my pick on the spur of the moment! I was looking for something from the library's book club sets that was available immediately, and that's what I ended up with. The subject matter is fascinating, but the writing is not all that great. We shall see how the book club discussion goes, too.

[Jane in NC]

Oh pfui. I forgot about the South American selection. Maybe I'll catch up in my geographic travels later--I just don't want to leave the fifteenth century at the moment.

[Jane in NC]

I read The Worsted Viper by Gladys Mitchell this week. I was kind of disappointed it followed a theme similar to the last book I read by her. She is not shaping up to be as creative an author as Agatha Christie.

 

I'm 3/4 of the way through The MIsts of Avalon and I've stalled on the Black Count.

 

I tried to read all the way through Descartes Medations on First Philosophy this week, but got a brain ache by Meditation 4. I'm going to try to force myself to read the rest of it this week.

 

 

Sorry to hear about the Gladys Mitchell not working out. I had enjoyed a couple of her books.

 

I applaud you for reading Descartes.

[Remudamom]

Mumbo Jumbo Circus.

[melmichigan]

But then went to barnes and noble friday afternoon and was delighted to find the new book in the Demon series by Diana Rowland 'Touch of the Demon.' Perfect book to dive into. Admittedly I read too fast and have 50 pages left to go but enjoying the heck out of it.

 

This looks promising. I added this series to my wish list.

 

Last week was productive. I took out another chunk of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark Series. I was just getting ready to start Lothaire, the next book, when I realized that I needed to get on my reading if I'm going to be ready to compare and contrast the select books from The Iliad and The Odyssey by the end of the week. (I'm doing The Ancient Greeks by Coursera as part of my prep for TOG Y1.) I am pleasantly surprised to say that I'm not sure if I will be able to skip over the books that aren't assigned.

 

So this week - first up is to finish The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer, using the Robert Fitzgerald translations.

 

Week 11

59. Kiss of a Demon King (Immortals After Dark Book 6) by Kresley Cole.

60. Pleasure of a Dark Prince (Immortals After Dark Book 7) by Kresley Cole

61. Demon From the Dark (Immortals After Dark Book 8) by Kresley Cole.

62. Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Immortal After Dark Book 9) by Kresley Cole.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

This week I finished The Magician's Nephew by Lewis and reviewed it on my blog as well as I, Houdini by Banks that I'm calling too short to count but a mostly cute book except from the references to alcoholism. I'm hoping to finish The Neverending Story in the next day or so. I have to have Big Red finished by Wednesday to discuss with DD. Then hopefully I can start working on the huge stack of tbr books from the library in which I need to start making a dent. I really need to avoid placing any more books on hold this week.

 

Upcoming Reads

The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (for DD13)

Big Red by Kjelgaard (for DD11)

 

Ongoing Reads

The One Year Bible

The Neverending Story by Ende (got sidetracked with Lewis and didn't get back to last week)

The Coral Island by Ballantyne (for DD13)

 

Finished

12. The Magician's Nephew by Lewis

11. The Children of Green Knowe by Boston

10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain

9. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

8. Oliver Twist by Dickens

7. The Lightning Thief by Riordan

6. Children of the New Forest by Marryat

5. The Black Cauldron by Alexander

4. Anne of Avonlea by Montgomery

3. Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery

2. Talking Money by Chatzky

1. Pride and Prejudice by Austen

[Negin]

nm - trying again

[Negin]

I read:

 

Mockingjay - 5 Stars

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - 5 Stars

 

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Murmer]

Finished: The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner, Comfort Foods by Kate Jacobs, and Anthem by Ann Rynd

 

Currently Working On:

Downstairs: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Upstairs: The Last April Dancers by Jean Thesman

Kindle: Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries bySeethaler, Sherry

IPhone: Lucy Doesn't Wear Pink by Nancy Rue

Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book

Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows

WTM: Don Quixote

IPad: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (for Canada)

 

Total Finished in 2013: 21

[mommymilkies]

Joining in! I'm not sure exactly what "counts", and I read mostly non-fiction and kids books, so.....

 

Upcoming Reads

The Dragon Reborn by Jordan

The Bible and It's Influence

French Kids Eat Anything

The Jesus I Never Knew

The Unwritten Rules of Friendship

 

Ongoing Reads

1. The Women's Torah Commentary

2. Holy Blood Holy Grail

3. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

4. Here. Now. By Welborn

5. The Great Hunt by Jordan

 

Finished

 

1. The Language of God - 4 stars

2. The Name of the Wind by Rothfuss - 5 stars

3. The Wise Man's Fear by Rothfuss - 4 stars

4. The Heart of Christianity - 4 stars

5. Catholicism for Dummies - 4 stars

6. The Well Trained Mind by SWB - 5 stars (a Reread)

7. Little Town on the Prairie by Wilder - 4 stars

8. Walking the World's Rim by Baker - 4 stars

9. These Happy Golden Years by Wilder - 4 stars

10. The Eye of the World by Jordan - 5 stars

11. Educating the Wholehearted Child- 3 stars

12. Switch by Heath & Heath

 

Walking Dead volumes 1-14 probably don't count, right?

[BigMamaBird]

I started Catch-22 this week and it is agonizing! It's supposedly this paragon of humor, but it's apparently not my flavor of humor. No one is doing anything but yapping and the characters are just not that interesting. It reminds me of being a kid and my Dad watching MASH. I hated that show, it was so dull, but everyone else thinks it's just the bees knees. I've been reading a week and am only 100 pages in, I just can't get into it.

 

Blurg.

[Just Robyn]

I started Catch-22 this week and it is agonizing! It's supposedly this paragon of humor, but it's apparently not my flavor of humor. No one is doing anything but yapping and the characters are just not that interesting. It reminds me of being a kid and my Dad watching MASH. I hated that show, it was so dull, but everyone else thinks it's just the bees knees. I've been reading a week and am only 100 pages in, I just can't get into it.

 

Blurg.

 

 

I read this towards the end of last year, and I found it both hilarious and agonizing. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, and hilarious just isn't enough to move me through a novel. About half way through I was certain it was going somewhere, just slowly. In the penultimate chapter everything came together, and it all seemed totally worth it. This is meant to be reassuring, but if the novel was initially agonizing to me, someone who did find it funny, I can't imagine how bad it is for you. Maybe there is no payoff big enough to make it worth it.

[Stacia]

I finished my 'normal' order reading of Hopscotch.

 

Initially, I really didn't like the book very much. I didn't like the characters very much either, especially in the "From the Other Side" (Paris) section. I enjoyed the "From This Side" (Argentina) section a little, but not much, more. However, chapters 50-56 (the ending chapters of the normal order) completely captivated me. Loved those chapters. Perhaps they put me in a mind to be more open to the previous chapters.

 

I'm now starting the hopscotch order & can already see so much more in this book... enjoying it so much more on this go-around, probably because of my knowledge of the 'linear' storyline & because I see so much more in the references & symbolism now that I'm tackling the different version.

 

On a side note, I find it amusing that Reader's Digest got a mention in here; A Case of Exploding Mangoes (another book I recently read) also mentioned Reader's Digest -- an interesting mention of a (stereo?)typical American magazine with (cultural) influence in other nations (specifically Argentina & Pakistan in the books I've read). I remember reading tons of them (for lack of other reading material) when I was a kid & visiting my grandparents -- going through their years' worth of copies neatly aligned on the bookcases.

[LostSurprise]

I started Catch-22 this week and it is agonizing! It's supposedly this paragon of humor, but it's apparently not my flavor of humor. No one is doing anything but yapping and the characters are just not that interesting. It reminds me of being a kid and my Dad watching MASH. I hated that show, it was so dull, but everyone else thinks it's just the bees knees. I've been reading a week and am only 100 pages in, I just can't get into it.

 

Blurg.

 

 

Tried to read that in college, got 50-80 pages in, just couldn't finish it.

[mlbuchina]

I got a new Kindle (the cheap one with adds), and downloaded Much Ado About Nothing. I started reading it, got to laughing, and my dd9 came to investigate. I started over, using different voices and stopping to explain as needed, and before long, she was laughing right along with me. I just adore that play.

 

Not sure what else I am going to tackle this week. I still have The Republic of Pirates going, and it has been interesting, but not gripping. I have been wanting to read a book that was mentioned on last years Book a Week, called John Dies at the End, by David Wong, but all the copies are checked out from the library. Now I must wait on the hold. Oh, well. I have many many books in my TBR pile, so I may just throw them in a pile on the floor, cover my eyes, and pick one out. :)

 

In progress:

 

The Republic of Pirates ~ audio book

Dragonfly in Amber ~ paused for other books

 

So far this year:

 

17. Hooked

16. Anne of the Island

15. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

14. Anne of Avonlea

13. Anne of Green Gables

12. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

11. The Swiss Family Robinson

10. Little Women

9. How We Get Fat

8. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye

7. Outlander

6. The New Atkins for a New You

5. A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows

4. Liberty and Tyranny

3. Corelli's Mandolin

2. The Neverending Story

1. The Hobbit

[Mothersweets]

Finished B**ch in a Bonnet last week - loved it! The author is blogging about Emma now but I am forcing myself to wait...oooh, just had a thought. Maybe I will read along with him. It's been a long while since I read Emma and with his added insight/wickedly funny comments as I read it, well, it should be a great romp.

 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli YA, enjoyed this. Really makes you think about how it can be so easy to let your actions be dictated by others and what "they" think is right. My teens are reading it now.

 

Started this last night - Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian. Book 9 in the absolutely wonderful, completely-immerse-your-brain-in-the-world-of-the-early-19th-century of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

[ladydusk]

Just subing. Nothing to see here. Carry on.

[Stacia]

I am loving Hopscotch though my brain can only handle so much of it at a time. I am currently through with chapter 16 - going on 137. Some of the pages in the book I got from the library are like pockets (but nothing is in them). Anybody else have this?

 

 

Hmmm. That's interesting. No, my book doesn't have anything like that. (I have the paperback version.)

 

Oh pfui. I forgot about the South American selection. Maybe I'll catch up in my geographic travels later--I just don't want to leave the fifteenth century at the moment.

 

 

How about Lieutenant Nun?

 

One of the earliest known autobiographies by a woman, this is the extraordinary tale of Catalina de Erauso, who in 1599 escaped from a Basque convent dressed as a man and went on to live one of the most wildly fantastic lives of any woman in history. A soldier in the Spanish army, she traveled to Peru and Chile, became a gambler, and even mistakenly killed her own brother in a duel. During her lifetime she emerged as the adored folkloric hero of the Spanish-speaking world. This delightful translation of Catalina's own work introduces a new audience to her audacious escapades.

 

Correct timeframe (sort-of), and most of her adventures took place in South America. (Fwiw, you can find other versions for free online -- can't remember if it was Project Gutenberg or another website that had it....)

 

I read this towards the end of last year, and I found it both hilarious and agonizing. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, and hilarious just isn't enough to move me through a novel. About half way through I was certain it was going somewhere, just slowly. In the penultimate chapter everything came together, and it all seemed totally worth it. This is meant to be reassuring, but if the novel was initially agonizing to me, someone who did find it funny, I can't imagine how bad it is for you. Maybe there is no payoff big enough to make it worth it.

 

 

I haven't read Catch-22, but saw some comparisons of A Case of Exploding Mangoes to Catch-22. Crstarlette, I think you'd enjoy A Case....

 

Without regard for borders, I am finding endless overlapping strands of poetry, of history, of thought throughout Latin America...

 

 

Yes, exactly. I've found this too. Maybe this overlapping & weaving of topics, arts, history, even reality & unreality add to the oft-found magical realism style that seems to permeate many South & Latin American works. Even the autobiography Waiting for Snow in Havana had the 'feel' of magical realism, imo. I find it fascinating that so many works from that area of the world weave in magical elements with the mundane & everyday....

 

I have been wanting to read a book that was mentioned on last years Book a Week, called John Dies at the End, by David Wong, but all the copies are checked out from the library. Now I must wait on the hold. Oh, well. I have many many books in my TBR pile, so I may just throw them in a pile on the floor, cover my eyes, and pick one out. :)

 

 

I loved John Dies. Just absurd & super fun, imo. (I need to read the sequel!) Let us know what book you pick in the meantime.

[Stacia]

Just subing. Nothing to see here. Carry on.

 

 

:ph34r:

[Kareni]

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli YA, enjoyed this. Really makes you think about how it can be so easy to let your actions be dictated by others and what "they" think is right. My teens are reading it now.

 

Yes, I recall it as a wonderful read.

 

 

Started this last night - Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian. Book 9 in the absolutely wonderful, completely-immerse-your-brain-in-the-world-of-the-early-19th-century of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

 

The Aubrey/Maturin series is my husband's favorite. It's the rare series that he's re-read twice, and he's one who rarely ever re-reads a book.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

About Catch-22

I read this towards the end of last year, and I found it both hilarious and agonizing. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, and hilarious just isn't enough to move me through a novel. About half way through I was certain it was going somewhere, just slowly. In the penultimate chapter everything came together, and it all seemed totally worth it. This is meant to be reassuring, but if the novel was initially agonizing to me, someone who did find it funny, I can't imagine how bad it is for you. Maybe there is no payoff big enough to make it worth it.

 

Perhaps I should just skip to the last chapter and feel like I'm done with Catch-22! I started this while on an airplane a couple years ago, and was amused for the duration of the flight but was never compelled to pick it back up again. It is supposed to be such a classic, but the humor, the setting and situations all felt so hackneyed -- I wonder if it has been so copied over the years that it no longer seems fresh.

 

 

I'm continuing listening to Dickens' Our Mutual Friend, and really love it, due to the writing and to the narrator, David Timson.

 

I also read another Inspector Banks mystery, A Dedicated Man, which is the 2nd book in the series. I hadn't been able to track it down when I started the series a couple months ago, and was happy to find it on the shelf in the library so I could feel like I've completed the first half (2/3? haven't counted yet) of the series.

[mlbuchina]

 

I loved John Dies. Just absurd & super fun, imo. (I need to read the sequel!) Let us know what book you pick in the meantime.

 

 

My dh just sent me the file for my Kindle, so I am going to get to read it this week after all. I have put the sequel on hold, now. LOL

 

I still think I am going to pile all my TBR books in the floor and leave it to chance. I have a feeling it won't take me very long to read John Dies.

[laughing lioness]

I really liked Stargirl. Great themes. You might enjoy "Gifts" by LeGuin. Another terrifically themed YA.

 

Finished Big City Eyes by Delila Ephron and One Sunday Morning by Amy Ephron. Good writing style, plots nothing to write home about. Done with delving into the Ephron fam.

Been diving right in to Study Guide fo the MFT nat'l licensing test- woohah. Test date is late may/early June. Can this count for, like, 20 books? It's a chunky, I 'm taking notes AND re-memorizing everything I've forgotten.

[BigMamaBird]

I read this towards the end of last year, and I found it both hilarious and agonizing. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, and hilarious just isn't enough to move me through a novel. About half way through I was certain it was going somewhere, just slowly. In the penultimate chapter everything came together, and it all seemed totally worth it. This is meant to be reassuring, but if the novel was initially agonizing to me, someone who did find it funny, I can't imagine how bad it is for you. Maybe there is no payoff big enough to make it worth it.

 

Thank you, that is reassuring. I'm at page 120 and I'm not going to give up. There are some jokes that give me a smirk and a shake of my head so maybe I'm not hopeless after all. :hat:

[Ali in OR]

Finished two this week. My treadmill read was The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht which had lots of glowing reviews on the back. It was fine; very readable. Probably won't make my top ten list, but it was fine.

 

Also read The Shape of the Eye by George Estreich, a fellow Oregonian and father of a daughter with Down Syndrome which this book is about. Loved it. Not only is the writing beautiful, but George captures so well the experiences many go through when their child is diagnosed with a developmental disability or birth defect. Our disabled dd does not have Down Syndrome, but I still found so much of the book to ring true with our experiences that I would read passages aloud to my husband. Probably helps that we had been in the same hospital and could perfectly picture what was going on. I found myself thinking that he captures the experience that we lived but lack the eloquence to capture ourselves. Here's an excerpt after his daughter had surgery to repair her heart at 9 weeks old:

When I remember it now, I remember it as a single time, our time in the ICU. I collapse it, I confuse sequence, I travel by association across the days. But time was crushingly linear. We were waiting for things that had not happened yet. Laura had not yet come off the vent. She had not yet urinated in significant quantities. Her heart rate had not come down. Her blood pressure kept crashing, inexplicably. All of this imprisoned us in the present, kept us from an impossibly distant future when our child would breathe on her own. Though we knew she would, at the time it seemed unlikely. Her breathing without machines seemed part of our other life, the one visible through the picture windows that lined the hospital hallways. Out there, down the hill, was Portland, its traffic slowing at rush hour. Everyone down there driving and breathing.

In our bleakest moments, this stasis, this frozen waiting, seemed to distill the experience of raising Laura: the milestones stretching in an endless series, dominoes too heavy to fall. When will she breathe? When will she eat by mouth? When will she hold her head up? When will she crawl? When will she speak, hear, understand us? Every when seemed shadowed by an unspoken if. We had moved to the laid-back Northwest, where being "in the moment" is prized as a good thing, as something children remember and we have forgotten. But we were in the moment, and we didn't want to be there.

Two new books in progress: on the treadmill, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Read about it here and found it cheap at the library book sale last month. Also reading Warrior Girls by Michael Sokolove about how women suffer a far higher injury rate than men do in high level sports (particularly ACL tears). Want to avoid that with youngest dd's adventures in soccer. Far more important for her to be able to walk without pain in 20 years than to play college-level ball, if it comes to that.

 

Glad to hear the positive review for The Light Between Oceans. I picked it for our book club's May book based on my dad's wife's recommendation. Amazon will be sending it to me in a couple of weeks when it comes out in paperback.

[PollyOR]

Here's an excerpt after his daughter had surgery to repair her heart at 9 weeks old:

 

That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

[Rosie_0801]

I haven't been on these threads in a few weeks. I've been too caught up in Coursera lectures to have much time for personal reading. That and the kids seem to want bedtime stories for three hours a night. Can't they go to sleep already? !! However, with all that bedtime story reading, we have finished 'Rilla of Ingleside' and thus concluded our Anne Shirley marathon. :)

 

I have, thanks to a Mamma Time Out in the bathtub this afternoon, also made it through Alain de Botton's ' The Architecture of Happiness.' Not a great read, but fun enough.

[ladydusk]

To be honest, I'm not sure I would have appreciated it when I was younger. At least not with the limited background I had in history before I started homeschooling. Now I have a DD13 who loves the Greek and Roman times, especially the wars. She had me reading out loud to her last night and I could see her reading it soon. I think some of that has to do with the homeschooling education she has received.

 

I'll also admit to having skipped reading the list at the end of book 2 and just listening to it. ;) The sparknotes are also helpful once I have read a book, I think I would miss things without the analysis sections. I don't think I would have understood the significance of the lists without them.

 

 

I wanted to read this at least partially because my kids loved the Mary Pope Osborne Odyssey books and the Wanderings of Odysseus books. I can imagine that we'll be studying these more in depth in the future and this seems a good way to be introduced to it.

 

History is wasted on the young...or at least it was in my case. ;)

 

 

I never cared for ancient history when I was young. I was a Social Studies Ed major in college (only because my University didn't offer History Education as a major), but I never took any history course that studied pre-1600 or so after High School. Those ancients seemed so boring and disconnected from me. Loved the new history, disdained the old. To my detriment. It's so fascinating! People are people when or where.

 

In my case, math was wasted on the young. ;)

 

Actually, not wasted, but definitely not appreciated for the sexy discipline that it is. :D

 

 

Definitely not appreciated. I was pretty good at it, but never liked it. Teaching MEP has opened my eyes. Happy to say that History and Math are the favorite subjects around here :) Thanks to SWB's Story of the World and MEP :)

[Lady Florida.]

Finished B**ch in a Bonnet last week - loved it!

 

 

 

This looks like fun. Apparently I could read it on his blog, but the Kindle version is only 99 cents, so I bought it.

[Just Robyn]

I haven't been on these threads in a few weeks. I've been too caught up in Coursera lectures to have much time for personal reading. That and the kids seem to want bedtime stories for three hours a night. Can't they go to sleep already? !! However, with all that bedtime story reading, we have finished 'Rilla of Ingleside' and thus concluded our Anne Shirley marathon. :)

 

I have, thanks to a Mamma Time Out in the bathtub this afternoon, also made it through Alain de Botton's ' The Architecture of Happiness.' Not a great read, but fun enough.

 

Which Coursera course(s)?

[Onceuponatime]

 

Which Coursera course(s)?

 

She might be taking the "Know Thyself" course that a few of us from the Alternative Spirituality thread are also doing.

 

Of course, I don't know that for sure, but am assuming it is highly likely. :)

[CupOCoffee]

Still hanging in there. This past week I read "Understanding Jesus: A Guide to His Life and Times" by Stephen Miller

[LostSurprise]

I should be working on Swallows and Amazons, but I'm having trouble enjoying it. Maybe when they sail away to their island. S&A was on some Facebook BBC meme reading list. I pegged the ones I'd never heard of to read. So far its an old-fashioned children's story about 4 siblings and their summertime adventures.

 

I am enjoying Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. With its 120 rare and strange literary creatures, its just the whimsy I need to get me through the weekend.

 

“We do not know what the dragon means, just as we do not know the meaning of the universe, but there is something in the image of the dragon that is congenial to man's imagination, and thus the dragon arises in many latitudes and ages. It is, one might say, a necessary monster, not some ephemeral and casual creature like the chimaera or the catoblepas." ~JLB, Foreword to the 1st edition, 1954

 

Includes things like "an animal dreamed by Kafka," Manticore, The Squonk, and the Roc. Seems to be evenly split between stuff I've heard of before and rarer creatures. Some illustrations. References.

 

Top Ten *

Best of the Year **

23. Dough: a Memoir by Mort Zachter~New York, immigrants, family. (Dewey Decimal challenge: 300s)

22. Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman~graphic novel, sleep, quest. (Fiction genre challenge: graphic novels)

21. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz~supernatural thriller, ghosts *

20. The Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang~science fiction, short stories (Fiction genre challenge: short stories) **

19. Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols~memoir, gardening, humor (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 600s)

18. D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths by the D'Aulaires~Norse myths (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 200s)

17. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout~fiction, short stories, aging. *

16. Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics by Margreet de Heer~nonfiction, philosophy, comics (Dewey Decimal challenge, 100s)

15. Concrete Island by JG Ballard~fiction, isolation, survival

14. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis~fiction, coming of age, chess **

13. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l'Engle~children's fiction, fantasy, coming of age

12. Way Station by Clifford Simak~science fiction, aliens, atomic age (Fiction genre challenge: Science Fiction)

11. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish~autobiography, Depression, family (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 900s) *

10. Changeless by Gail Carriger~fiction, steampunk, series, werewolves/vampire, Victoriana.

9. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman~fiction, family drama, Australia, miscarriage. (Continental Challenge: Australia) *

8. Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card~fantasy, alternative early America, witchcraft/magic.

7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson~satire, American dream, drug trip. (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 000s)

6. Soulless by Gail Carriger~steampunk, vampires, werewolves, Victoriana. (Fiction genre challenge: Fantasy)

5. Away by Jane Urquhart~Ireland, Canada, emigration, magical realism, family saga. (Continental Challenge: North America/Canada) *

4. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim~autobiography, Germany pre-WWI, gardening, women's roles

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer~fiction, WWII, letters, humor

2. The Little Book by Seldon Edwards~fiction, Vienna, time travel (Fiction genre challenge: General Fiction)

1. Mad Mary Lamb by Susan Tyler Hitchcock~biography, 19th century, women's roles, mental illness (Finally Finished challenge)

 

 

Working:

The House by the Sea (Sarton)

Swallows and Amazons (Ransome)

Book of Imaginary Beings (Borges)

[mommymilkies]

Can somebody explain what the challenges are? :)

[Kim in Appalachia]

I'm still reading Cloud Atlas. The book is strange. It's well written and interesting, but odd.

[aggieamy]

I haven't been on these threads in a few weeks. I've been too caught up in Coursera lectures to have much time for personal reading. That and the kids seem to want bedtime stories for three hours a night. Can't they go to sleep already? !! However, with all that bedtime story reading, we have finished 'Rilla of Ingleside' and thus concluded our Anne Shirley marathon. :)

 

I have, thanks to a Mamma Time Out in the bathtub this afternoon, also made it through Alain de Botton's ' The Architecture of Happiness.' Not a great read, but fun enough.

 

 

We are finishing our read aloud tonight and then our starting our Anne Shirley marathon. You've inspired me!

 

 

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman – I read the first book in this series about a grandmother that becomes a spy earlier this year and thought it was fun. There were Reds, adventure, and unlikely situations. It wasn’t particularly well written but fun to read so I decided to pick up the second book in the series. I was disappointed. It didn’t have the charm of the first book and felt silly and more of the same. I won’t be continuing the series.

 

In Progress:

 

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (read aloud)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (book club)

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (audiobook)

 

2013 finished books:

 

26. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (**)

25. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie (****)

24. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (***)

23. EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey (***)

22. The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (*****)

21. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (*****)

20. Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham (***)

19. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (***)

18. Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto (****)

17. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (****)

16. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern (***)

15. Getting Things Done by David Allen (****)

14. The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit (****)

13. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (****)

12. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (****)

11. Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady (***)

 

Amy's Rating System:

 

***** - Fantastic, couldn't put it down

**** - Very good

*** - Enjoyable but nothing special

** - Not recommended

* - Horrible

[Jane in NC]

Can somebody explain what the challenges are? :)

 

There are many for inspirational purposes.

 

Sometimes there are readalongs where several people read the same book. There is the Continental challenge where some folks are reading books by authors from a selected continent or a book set on that continent.

 

There is the 5/5/5 personal challenge. Read at least five books in five different areas. For example, my personal challenge areas include "old friends" (favorite books of yore), dusty books, books by author Dorothy Dunnett., etc.

 

There is no obligation to participate in challenges but they do help readers stretch themselves sometimes.

[trinchick]

I started Catch-22 this week and it is agonizing! It's supposedly this paragon of humor, but it's apparently not my flavor of humor. No one is doing anything but yapping and the characters are just not that interesting. It reminds me of being a kid and my Dad watching MASH. I hated that show, it was so dull, but everyone else thinks it's just the bees knees. I've been reading a week and am only 100 pages in, I just can't get into it.

 

Blurg.

 

I'm another one who couldn't make it through Catch-22. I tried to read it and listen to it and couldn't see the humor in either format.

 

Finished this Week

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Audio) - I enjoyed this, though not as well as Huckleberry Finn which I also listened to recently. This was read by Dick Hill, the same narrator as Huck Finn. While I thought he did a fabulous job with Huck Finn (great voices, drawl, pacing), I was distracted by his reading of Tom Sawyer - lots of strange inflections, emphases on seemingly unimportant words and phrases, and pauses.

 

Wheat Belly by William Davis - I've been a low carb believer (but not always a practitioner) for more than a decade. This book was great in giving a scientific explanation to a phenomenon that I've always instinctively believed to be true. I dropped the wheat effective last Monday. Had a raging headache on Friday and Saturday (withdrawal according to Davis) and woke up on Sunday with more energy than I've had in months. The scale is down only a little more than a pound this morning. I'll keep going with it.

 

 

Finished this Year:

26. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Audio)

25. Wheat Belly by William Davis

24. As Husbands Go by Susan Isaacs (audio)

23. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

22. UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

21. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud)

20. Heartburn by Nora Ephron (Food book challenge)

19. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

18. A Tale of Two Cities (Audio; Dickens challenge)

17. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

16. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

15. Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

14. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

13. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim

12. The Old Man and the Sea (Audio)

11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Audio)

10. Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek

9. An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

8. Breaking Night by Liz Murray

7. The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

6. The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow

5. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (Canada)

4. The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (Read aloud)

3. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

2. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (Canada)

1. A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

[laughing lioness]

holy carp, Amy Ephron left a comment on my blog- I said I wasn't in love with either her or her sisters book and I mis-spelled her sisters name (hiding my head in embarassment!)!