Book a Week in 2013 - week thirty

[Violet Crown]

Just as an aside, is anyone interested in a Shakespeare Read-Along in August? PBS's Great Performances is finally (finally!!) broadcasting the new productions of Richard III, Henry IV, and Henry V beginning at the end of September. The trailer is here. I. Can't. Wait!!! The cast is amazing. I am determined to read all three plays (or four plays if you count Henry IV parts 1 & 2) before the premiere(s). Anyone want to join me?

I might. I'm committed to Julius Caesar and The Tempest with Middle Girl in the immediate future, but I'd like to revisit Shakespeare more widely.

 

Had a fun literary moment today; I was reading D'Aulaires' to Wee Girl, and got to the part with Zeus crushing Typhon under Mount Aetna. I told her that story had just been in my own book, and read to her the Typhon section of Pindar's "Pythia 1": "... beneath the pinnacles dark in leaves of Aitna he lies shackled underground..." etc. She was quite interested to learn that the story wasn't just for kids, and I hope that she liked hearing the sounds of poetry for grown-ups.

[melmichigan]

 

I read and enjoyed Lisa Marie Rice's I Dream of Danger: A Ghost Ops Novel.  It's a futuristic romantic suspense novel; it is not for the conservative reader.

 

"They are the Ghost Ops: a covert squad of super-elite soldiers. After their team was betrayed and massacred, the three surviving members went underground and built Haven, a community of misfits and geniuses. Now they're at a crossroads, facing a new threat capable of destroying everything they hold dear.

 

When Nick Ross disappears from Elle Thomason's life, she is certain she'll never see the man she loves again—except in her dreams. Ten years later, as a respected researcher breaking new ground in psychic phenomena, she sends a desperate call for Nick's help. One by one, her colleagues have started disappearing . . . and Elle knows she's next. An elite soldier, Nick never meant to hurt Elle, duty kept him away—and then she vanished. Now troubled by unusually vivid, disturbing dreams of Elle in danger, Nick will rescue the only woman he's ever wanted and bring her back with him to Haven.

 

Though powerful men are after Elle and her special abilities, Nick will die before leaving her side again."

 

 

I have to admit to enjoying the author's bio which reads as follows:  "Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall and willowy and beautiful. Men drop at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archaeology, nuclear physics, and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman who exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

This was a great second book.  I can't wait for the last in the trilogy.

[Onceuponatime]

I finished Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George and A More Perfect Heaven by Dava Sobel. The latter is the story of Copernicus and his theory shifting the center of things from the Earth to the sun.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[Parrothead]

I'm reading 3 books right now and finished one yesterday for a total of 4 over the last two weeks. The one I finished is a mercedes lackey elemental masters book (book 1). One of the others is the next in the series. I'm also reading Dan brown's Inferno, and Ted Bell's latest in the Alex Hawke series. Sorry I can't properly remember all the names of these books.

[Jane in NC]

I don't remember who mentioned All Natural by Nathanael Johnson a few weeks or months ago, but I just finished it and it was fantastic!

That would be me! There was something delightfully refreshing about Johnson's book--perhaps the fact that he sees complexity in life and does not reduce things to simple answers?

 

I found a new mystery author. Maureen Jennings won't be a favorite but I think I will read another of her books after reading Beware This Boy, a mystery set in Britain during WWII. I am particularly fond of a detective Jennings created, William Murdoch, who uses forensic science to solve crimes in Toronto in the late 1800's. I have only seen the television programs and had not realized that Murdoch began his life in a series of books. So I'll try a novel featuring Murdoch one of these days.

 

It was time to work on one of my personal reading challenges in the 5/5/5, Dorothy Dunnett. I read the second volume in the House of Niccolo series, Spring of the Ram, and have moved on to the third, Race of Scorpions. The former is set in Trebizond around 1460 while the latter moves to Cyprus and the war between Carlotta and her half brother for control (1462). The complexity of the various Italian states and banks, royal families and political ties forced by marriage, etc. make these historical fiction novels so compelling.

[aggieamy]

So, imagine you trip & fall down Alice's rabbit-hole, tumbling past dreamscapes & spooky carnival sideshows before landing with a thump in a smoky jazz bar filled with pajama-clad characters from Inception & The Maltese Falcon. (Don't fail to notice the shadow of someone from Minority Report lurking in the deepest shadow. See it? Right by the deep-green poster with an all-seeing golden eye....) Feeling disoriented & sore from your fall, you head directly for the bar. Bartender Thursday Next suggests you try the "Drink Me" special & begins mixing it before you even open your mouth to speak. Into the shaker, she pours:

Magritte's umbrellas

Col. Mustard in the kitchen with a gun

A decoder ring from a Cracker Jack box

Elephant dreams

A ticking alarm clock

And a healthy shot of rain

With a flick of the wrist, Thursday shakes, then pours your drink over cubes of red leaves before adding a garnish of phonograph record speared on a freshly-sharpened pencil. She yawns & slides your drink across the bar. Fog is fingering its way out over the rim as you raise the glass in a toast to clerks, typewriters, & biloquists. You down the drink in one swallow while simultaneously tossing it over your left shoulder into the harbor, trailing a stretch of typewriter ribbon as it sinks below the surf.

 

Thirsty yet? If so, crack open the emerald cover of The Manual of Detection (by Jedediah Berry) & fall right in....

 

Whoa.  I didn't even understand half of that but it makes me want to read the book even more.  Onto the nightstand it goes!

[ariasmommy]

Finished this week:

 

#40 The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Shaeffer - Encouraging and practical. The last chapter alone was worth 5 stars!

 

#41 A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - My first book by him. It had me chuckling at some points and feeling a bit lost at others.

 

#42 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (audiobook) - Another author I'd never read. I had this in my Audible queue, and Robin's post was just the motivation I needed to give it a listen (and the fact that it was pretty short :) ). It was sad, but beautifully written, though it got a bit too descriptive for my tastes a few times.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[Jane in NC]

Just as an aside, is anyone interested in a Shakespeare Read-Along in August?  PBS's Great Performances is finally (finally!!) broadcasting the new productions of Richard III, Henry IV, and Henry V beginning at the end of September.  The trailer is here.  I. Can't. Wait!!!  The cast is amazing.   I am determined to read all three plays (or four plays if you count Henry IV parts 1 & 2) before the premiere(s).  Anyone want to join me?

I am in--at least for Richard III (my favorite Shakespearean play) and Henry IV parts 1 & 2. Lots on my plate though in the days/weeks ahead so I may not start reading them until mid or even late August.

[Robin M]

Robin or anyone else--

 

I am looking for a bit of clarification on the Continental Challenge.  Is the Challenge to read an author from each continent, or just a book whose setting is on each continent?

 

For example, would Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers count as a US read since the author is American or Asia: India since the setting is Mumbai?

 

It can be either one.  I would count Boo's book as Asia since the setting is Mumbai.  But.... If I needed a U.S. book, I could count as U.S.  since the author is from the U.S.  However you want to work it, works.  Clear as mud? 

[Robin M]

Love that infographic!  LOL   I am a Compulsive: Book Cherisher: Hoarder Type with borderline Compulsive Book Buying tendencies.   :D

 

Just as an aside, is anyone interested in a Shakespeare Read-Along in August?  PBS's Great Performances is finally (finally!!) broadcasting the new productions of Richard III, Henry IV, and Henry V beginning at the end of September.  The trailer is here.  I. Can't. Wait!!!  The cast is amazing.   I am determined to read all three plays (or four plays if you count Henry IV parts 1 & 2) before the premiere(s).  Anyone want to join me?

 

Sounds like a great idea and I have a book of all his plays which we inherited from hubby's mom who knew all the plays by heart.  I really should join in, but every time I start to read one, I snooze.  I'll try but no promises.  Since it is a wonderful idea, I'll make August Shakespeare reading month here on the thread and see if we can get a few converts, including myself to read along.  After all, Richard III, A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet are on SWB's list of dramas to read in Well Educated Mind. *grin*

[Robin M]

So, imagine you trip & fall down Alice's rabbit-hole, tumbling past dreamscapes & spooky carnival sideshows before landing with a thump in a smoky jazz bar filled with pajama-clad characters from Inception & The Maltese Falcon. (Don't fail to notice the shadow of someone from Minority Report lurking in the deepest shadow. See it? Right by the deep-green poster with an all-seeing golden eye....) Feeling disoriented & sore from your fall, you head directly for the bar. Bartender Thursday Next suggests you try the "Drink Me" special & begins mixing it before you even open your mouth to speak. Into the shaker, she pours:

Magritte's umbrellas

Col. Mustard in the kitchen with a gun

A decoder ring from a Cracker Jack box

Elephant dreams

A ticking alarm clock

And a healthy shot of rain

With a flick of the wrist, Thursday shakes, then pours your drink over cubes of red leaves before adding a garnish of phonograph record speared on a freshly-sharpened pencil. She yawns & slides your drink across the bar. Fog is fingering its way out over the rim as you raise the glass in a toast to clerks, typewriters, & biloquists. You down the drink in one swallow while simultaneously tossing it over your left shoulder into the harbor, trailing a stretch of typewriter ribbon as it sinks below the surf.

 

Thirsty yet? If so, crack open the emerald cover of The Manual of Detection (by Jedediah Berry) & fall right in....

 

Okay, you sold me.  Added to my list to get the next time I'm in Barnes and Noble. 

 

[Stacia]

I'm also reading Dan brown's Inferno

 

Dh is reading that one right now & it makes him want to go to Florence. I hope that idea sticks!  :laugh:

 

Whoa.  I didn't even understand half of that but it makes me want to read the book even more.  Onto the nightstand it goes!

 

Okay, you sold me.  Added to my list to get the next time I'm in Barnes and Noble. 

 

 

LOL. Hope you guys enjoy it. I'd call it a mix of Jasper Fforde-like writing crossbred with noir mystery w/ a surreal/dream element to it. That review was just based on my impressions when reading it. It wasn't my favorite book ever, but I enjoyed it & think it's an amazing first novel from this author. Most first-time novelists don't create this level of writing.

[mumto2]

I finished Jeffrey Deaver's "The Kill Room" late last night. This is another series that I have been reading for years with this the latest edition. It did not disappoint! It was a good solid suspense novel where I had some surprises at the end. The characters are still good and well developed etc. This one did start slow.

 

For those reading Dan Brown's Inferno I really enjoyed it. Totally agree about going to Florence!

[Hoot]

Today, I finished Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.  While I didn't loathe the book, it was definitely not a favorite and is certainly not one I'll plan to pick up again.  I found it to be mostly tedious, particularly in the bizarre made-up words, and rather dull in parts, though it did have a handful of humorous moments.  I really can't imagine DS14 will have a better opinion of it.  In the last few years I've determined that I just don't typically enjoy books with fancifully made-up words and locations.  This is probably why I dislike such widely popular books as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so much.

 

I'm almost finished How to Read Literature Like a Professor but have stalled on Death at Sea World.  I'm starting Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk as well.

 

Completed So Far

1. Best Friends by Samantha Glen
2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
3. The Gift of Pets: Stories Only a Vet Could Tell by Bruce Coston
4. Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess
5. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine
6. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim
7. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
8. The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)
9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
10. The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings
11. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
12. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
13. Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson
14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
15. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie
16. Kisses From Katie by Katie Katie Davis
17. Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
19. Zoo by James Patterson
20. St. Lucy's School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
21. Russian Tortoises in Captivity by Jerry D. Fife
22. Leopard Geckos for Dummies by Liz Palika
23. The 8th Confession by James Patterson
24. Leopard Geckos: Caring for Your New Pet by Casey Watkins
25. The Ultimate Guide to Leopard Geckos by Phoenix Hayes Simmons
26. 9th Judgement by James Patterson
27. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson
28. 11th Hour by James Patterson
29. 12th of Never by James Patterson

30. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
31. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea With Ocean Experts by Ellen J. Prager
32. Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication by Kathleen M. Dudzinski & Toni Frohoff
33. The Greeening by S. Brubaker
34. No Touch Monkey! by Ayun Halliday
35. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

36. Beating Dyspraxia with a Hop, Skip, and a Jump by Geoff Platt

37. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

38. Traveling With Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

39. The Stranger by Albert Camus

40. Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

41. Shakespeare: The World a Stage by Bill Bryson

42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

43. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[Rosie_0801]

I finished 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Anne Bronte. Tragic enough, but I was glad she was able to rally herself for the last few pages to give me a happy ending. :D

[mumto2]

I finished 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Anne Bronte. Tragic enough, but I was glad she was able to rally herself for the last few pages to give me a happy ending. :D

That's one on my 5/5/5 list. Glad to hear it ended well. Makes me slightly more motivated!

[Hoot]

This morning I finished How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.  I found it to be a very interesting read, though I sometimes found the conclusions a bit far-fetched.  Regardless, I can't wait to incorporate some of this into DS's school reading.  I'll be reading his other book, How to Read Novels Like a Professor soon.

 

Completed So Far

1. Best Friends by Samantha Glen
2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
3. The Gift of Pets: Stories Only a Vet Could Tell by Bruce Coston
4. Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess
5. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine
6. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim
7. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
8. The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)
9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
10. The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings
11. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
12. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
13. Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson
14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
15. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie
16. Kisses From Katie by Katie Katie Davis
17. Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
19. Zoo by James Patterson
20. St. Lucy's School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
21. Russian Tortoises in Captivity by Jerry D. Fife
22. Leopard Geckos for Dummies by Liz Palika
23. The 8th Confession by James Patterson
24. Leopard Geckos: Caring for Your New Pet by Casey Watkins
25. The Ultimate Guide to Leopard Geckos by Phoenix Hayes Simmons
26. 9th Judgement by James Patterson
27. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson
28. 11th Hour by James Patterson
29. 12th of Never by James Patterson

30. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
31. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea With Ocean Experts by Ellen J. Prager
32. Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication by Kathleen M. Dudzinski & Toni Frohoff
33. The Greeening by S. Brubaker
34. No Touch Monkey! by Ayun Halliday
35. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

36. Beating Dyspraxia with a Hop, Skip, and a Jump by Geoff Platt

37. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

38. Traveling With Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

39. The Stranger by Albert Camus

40. Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

41. Shakespeare: The World a Stage by Bill Bryson

42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

43. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

44. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

[Robin M]

Link to week 31 - please continue conversation in new thread.