Book a Week in 2014 - BW3

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dearhearts.  Today is the start of week 3 in our quest to read 52 Books.  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 - 12th Century Literature:  A couple years ago when I took an Art history course, I fell in love with illuminated manuscripts. They are beautifully detailed works of art so searched online and found St John's Bible.  The St. Johns Abbey and University commissioned Donald Jackson to produce a hand written, hand illuminated bible.  I bought one for my folks, because you know parents are the world's hardest people to buy gifts for, because they have everything.  They loved it and I enjoyed sharing it with them.  Which brings us to the 12th century (1101-1200 AD).

Back in the 12th century, during the middle ages, books were made by hand, one at a time with ink, pens, brushes and paint on vellum or parchment.  Paper made of cotton and linen began to replace parchment in the 1200's but paper really didn't come into common use in Europe until the 1400's.  The Christian church was the center of learning in Europe and medieval books were made by monks and nuns in the scriptorium.  The Chinese invented movable clay type during the 1100's and the Europeans didn't have moveable type until the mid 1400's.  When the demand for books increased, rulers set up workshops in palaces and put them under the direction of well-known scholars. 

I'll let you in on a secret.  I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction.  I'm very picky about my reads and they must be well written and the storyline intriguing enough to hold my attention.  So when I decided to do the Centuries challenge, it surprised me to find had so many books from different eras on my shelves.  Figured I'd pick the 12th Century to begin with, because if I managed to read at least one book a month from each century progressively, by the end of the year, I'd be in the present.  However, once started perusing the shelves, and seeing all my choices, can guarantee my reading will be all over the map this year. 

Back to the task of reading books either written in the 12th century or set in the 12th century.  When I did a search online, I found this goodreads list of the best books published in the 12th century.   The list was kind of daunting, so decided I would go with books set in the 12th century.  Surprisingly, I found I had a few on my shelves which we had inherited when my husband's mother passed away. She was originally from England, a writer working on an historical fiction novel and had quite a collection.  For example, Sharon Kay Penman's When Christ and His Saint's Slept, (and her whole Welsh trilogy but that was set in the 1300's), and  Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. 

A couple years back I read Elizabeth Chadwick's The Scarlet Lion and fell in love with her writing and the storyline.  I've since added Greatest Knight and A Place Beyond Courage to my library. Yes, I'll admit it, I'm a bookaholic, and a book hoarder, and I have more books than bookshelves.  Which is one our projects this year, to build wall to wall bookshelves in our master bedroom, but I digress. 

Chadwick and Penman and Scott also happen to be on the Goodreads list of Popular 12th Century Books.  And I think my buying ban isn't going to last too long because Ellis Peters Chronicles of Brother Caedfal is calling my name.  *sigh*

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read a book set in the 12th century.

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 2

[Guest]

Okay. I haven't started Wind Up Bird yet (I'm reading The Historian and looooooving it), so should I read 1Q84 in stead? As a better introduction to Murakami?

 

 

Yes, I would. Although I do think if I had read Wind Up Bird first I might have liked it better. My expectations were very high so it had a long way to fall and still be adequate. :lol: The negative to 1Q84 is it truly is chunky, twice the length, but things felt basically resolved at the end. Although I remember closing that book and wishing for the next installment because there was a whole new story all set up and ready to be written.

 

Really glad to hear that you are loving The Historian. I couldn't believe how many new layers I found the second time through. I love that book.

 

I think I may have to try The Historian again. I love her book, The Swan Thieves, and have read it multiple times. I know a lot of people don't like that one, and then when I picked up The Historian, I couldn't get into it! Maybe this year will be the year to "take 2" for me. After reading what you all are saying about Wind Up Bird, I'm thinking I'll re-try 1Q84, too!

[Robin M]

I finished Haruki Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle last night and have to say I wasn't too thrilled with it.  Upon finishing, my response was an inarticulate groan and my hubby got to hear me rant.  Which didn't bother him, because he loves buying me books that make me rant.  There were too many rabbit trails that didn't lead anywhere and too many unanswered questions. At the end I found myself going online searching out answers and seeing what other folks were saying and about half felt pretty much the way I did.  The other half - well loved it because it was Murakami.  I loved 1Q84.  Wind Up, while intriguing and interesting, and kept me reading,  was a disappointment at the end. 

[Guest]

I finished Haruki Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle last night and have to say I wasn't too thrilled with it.  Upon finishing, my response was an inarticulate groan.  and my hubby got to hear me rant.  Which didn't bother him, because he loves buying me books that make me rant.  There were too many rabbit trails that didn't lead anywhere and too many unanswered questions. At the end I found myself going online searching out answers and seeing what other folks were saying and about half felt pretty much the way I did.  The other half - well loved it because it was Murakami.  I loved 1Q84.  Wind Up, while intriguing and interesting, and kept me reading,  was a disappointment at the end. 

 

So glad I'm not the only one who does this. My dh doesn't read, so when I finish a particularly vexing book, he gets an earful!

[Jane in NC]

Robin,

 

This Ellis Peters fan wants to make a suggestion for the 13th century.  Ellis Peters was the nom de plume of Edith Pargeter who wrote an amazing quartet of books on Llywelyn the Last, The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet.  These are not mysteries like the Cadfael books but historic fiction of the highest quality.

 

More to report later!

Jane

[Tress]

I think I may have to try The Historian again. I love her book, The Swan Thieves, and have read it multiple times. I know a lot of people don't like that one, and then when I picked up The Historian, I couldn't get into it! Maybe this year will be the year to "take 2" for me. After reading what you all are saying about Wind Up Bird, I'm thinking I'll re-try 1Q84, too!

 

We could read 1Q84 together :D. With Stacia, Mumof2 *and* Robin saying that 1Q84 is better, I'm going to return WInd Up Bird and put the first book of 1Q84 on hold.

 

I saw The Swan Thieves at my library last week and I made a note to read it in the next few months.

 

[Shawneinfl]

Well I finally abandoned Wind-Up Bird and I felt so free when I did. I had gotten about halfway through but it was really a slog for me and there were too many disturbing scenes in the first half of the book that I didn't want to keep revisiting. To celebrate I downloaded Goldfinch from Audible and I'm so happy I did. Life's too short for books you don't enjoy. So I'm on Week 3 and the only book I completed was On That Night by Elizabeth Yates. We read it for a mother/daughter book club but since it was only 93 pages it doesn't even qualify as book #1. Oh well.

[shukriyya]

Happy Sunday, dearhearts.  Today is the start of week 3 in our quest to read 52 Books.  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.

 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read a book set in the 12th century.

 

What are you reading this week?

 

The link to the Goodreads list of 12th century material is a great resource. I will look through and see if there's something that piques my interest.

 

Interestingly, I am enjoying the convo around Murakami's book even though I haven't read it. I like hearing what things jump out at folks from a literary standpoint, everyone notices something different and then there's that wonderful confluence of 'yesses' that happen when resonance is shared. And I like to think that somewhere between those two poles is a greening meadow where a whole other silent but mutual conversation is happening, the pause before the outbreath.

 

I finished the last mystery in the Dalhousie series but have started the one I missed the first time through, book 2. It's kind of strange to go back and hang out with characters who've been further developed in later books. Nevertheless I enjoy the writing so it's a comfortable trip. I don't think I've ever read through a series start to finish like this. After I finish up book 2 I've got the first book of his 'The Number One Ladies Detective Agency' series on my list. But I've also got National Book Award winner Alice McDermott's 'Someone' on my stack. I downloaded and read the sample and *loved* her writing, intelligent, poetic and yet full of down to earth nuance and detail. I think this will go on my 'to read' list as well.

 

And because I can't help myself...my morning poetry read yielded a wonderful poem by Billy Collins (still reading my way through 'Aimless Love') on none other than poetry itself. I thought of y'all as the poem began...

 

Poetry

 

Call it a field where the animals

who were forgotten by the Ark

come to graze under the evening clouds.

 

Or a cistern where the rain that fell

before history trickles over a concrete lip.

 

However you see it,

this is no place to set up

the three-legged easel of realism

 

or make a reader climb

over the many fences of a plot.

 

With those first three lines I felt my whole body soften into a kind of outbreathing of gratitude. I love that someone's world includes 'a field where the animals who were forgotten by the Ark come to graze.' Actually I love simply that those 'forgotten' animals are lodged somewhere in his psyche. And as for pre-historic rain trickling over a concrete lip...swoon. I can just feel the moist, damp, coolness of rain and concrete spilling into each other in an ongoing tryst somewhere just outside of time and space, just beyond our tangible reach but still somehow accessible through a kind of porous membrane of tactile memory, almost like a soft fog settling a foot or so beyond the body...

 

[Jane in NC]

This morning we put The Boy on a plane for his last semester of college.  Where did time go??  On Thursday, The Charming Girlfriend flew back to England to spend a few days with her family before her last semester of uni.  All of this leaves my husband and me wondering who will be where at this time next year. 

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

 

I had expected John le Carre's The Mission Song to be set in Congo but instead the characters are Congolese nationals and members of a British syndicate who are hammering out a business deal on an isolated island in the North Sea.  The storyline focuses on the translator who not only serves the obvious role at the conference table but also listens to conversations in what the participants assume to be private spaces.  I am waiting for the shoe to drop since I suspect the book is about the exploitation of Congo by wealthier nations for coltan.

 

From the library, I have a one weeker that appeared on one of Robin's many lists.  The Radiance of Tomorrow is written by Sierra Leone native Ishmael Beah who was indoctrinated during that country's civil war as a child soldier and now serves as a UNICEF Ambassador and Advocate for Children Affected by War.  This is his first novel, one that had me crying on page 34.  The story focuses on a small village as people return from war.  Everyone has lost someone as well as most things--not just possessions but possibly a limb or hand.  How do you heal a child who has lost family, a mother who has lost her children, a village that has lost its heartbeat?  But the title suggests there is hope...

 

[Ali in OR]

I finished two this week. Got The Monuments Men done before it was due on Friday (yay! major accomplishment!). This fit in well with all of my other WWII reading. The Hare with the Amber Eyes gave me a little back story from the private Jewish art collection point of view. I think that helps to be truly horrified at the brutish-bullying-thug behavior of the Nazis. Monuments Men and In the Garden of Beasts both explore Hermann Goring a bit. Monuments Men actually gave me a more complete understanding of the actual war and the progress of the allied troops after Normandy as the mm were imbedded in the armies. Overall a very good read (still could have been shorter!).

 

Finished Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff on the treadmill this week. A perfect treadmill read--fast paced and exciting enough to keep my mind off the running/walking. Pretty inventive story and ending. I did note a few errors on the author's part that prevented me from getting fully immersed in his world. It must be pretty hard to write about a place you haven't lived before, but he wrote about a place I HAVE lived before (CA's central valley), so I got caught up a bit in little inaccuracies. Of course he's allowed to make up a fictional town there, but it's weird to place a school on HWY 99 (or overlooking a rest stop on 99) as there aren't any--get off the highway to get to the towns and their schools. He shouldn't call it ROUTE 99 either because everyone calls it just 99 or HWY 99. And he gave us a nice mid-western style thunder storm that doesn't fit CA weather patterns. Fit his story line, but not the real location. These are little tiny things but just things that made me too conscious of the author and the process of writing.

 

Up next: My mil gave us an Amazon box with a bunch of books in it for Christmas and I pulled one of those for my next treadmill read. It's pretty obviously YA fiction, so not sure if it was meant for me or my dd! It's Paper Towns by John Green and other than saying it's a good treadmill read (keeps my mind off the running), I'll save comments for next week. I did note that he's the author of The Fault in Our Stars which I've had on hold for awhile on the recommendation of my dad and sister (a cancer patient). And I saw TFioS on the list of books to read before you see the movie in 2014. Between that and Monuments Men, I may have an excuse to go to the movies this year.

[Onceuponatime]

I have a few interests in the 12th century but I'm not ready to start reading there yet.

 

 I finished Troubling a Star. It had many of the usual L'Engle elements: interest in ecology and politics, praise of strong families,  young platonic romance, religious symbolism,  a mystery produced by human greed, but very little mysticism in this one. It was fairly enjoyable.

 

I'm currently continuing with my January theme and now reading The Snow Child. I like it so far.

[Stacia]

Well, even though I'm over 300 pages in, I've decided to stop reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. I know that's sacrilege in postmodernist/surrealist literary circles (esp. since I tend to love that kind of writing). Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I read it before I read 1Q84. As it is, I read 1Q84 first & consider 1Q84 a Murakami masterpiece. Wind-Up shares so many of the same elements with 1Q84, just mixed a little differently, that it makes the story seem a little boring & tired, too mainstream/conservative (imo) rather than a refreshing, mind-bending walk through the author's world (which is what I want when I read surrealist lit). Plus, I had a pervading feeling of gloom & darkness with the Wind-Up story (that I did not feel in 1Q84) & I'm just not in the mental space right now to wallow in (or sit in the well of) a gloomy story.

 

Tress, rather than starting with 1Q84, you might like trying Kafka on the Shore. Just another possibility (& one that's shorter :lol: ).

 

Monica, I'm one of those who loved The Historian but didn't make it through The Swan Thieves.

 

Just an interruption for a personal musing here.... When I look at my reading likes & dislikes, I sometimes wonder why I really don't like reading multiple books by the same author (whether a series or various stand-alone books)? There are exceptions, of course, but I just find an author's voice gets too predictable or too boring or too... something ... to hold my attention after a book or two. The way to combat this (imo), is for me to wait at least a decade between books by the same author (hence Donna Tartt being on my list of loved authors :laugh:  since she only releases a new book about every dozen years), counting on my memory to be sufficiently faded by that time so that the author's voice will then be fresh again to me. I think of myself as someone who would be about the furthest away you could get from being ADHD, but I feel like my (impatience?) lack of 'sticking with' an author may be some form of that. :confused1:  Does anyone else experience this?

 

Now I'm on to lighter (for sure) reading: Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You, slated to be a movie later this year. (Found the book on the books-to-movie list Robin posted last week.) It's snarky funny fluff so far which seems just about right for my mental level right now. Also have some other books on the to-read pile that I'll hopefully start working on later this week....

 

--------------------------
My Goodreads Page
My PaperbackSwap Page
 

My rating system:
5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Good; 2 = Meh; 1 = Don't bother (I shouldn't have any 1s on my list as I would ditch them before finishing)...

2014 Books Read:
 

01. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (5 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (USA).

[TeacherZee]

So this week I finished the three books in the Three Sisters Inn trilogy. A suspense/romance/christian fluff series. It wasn't my thing but I have a compulsion to find out what happens next, which is why I love J.D. Robb's books where #38 will be out in February :)

 

I also finished Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. It took me a while not because I didn't love it but because I wanted to be focused when I read it and so often my reading takes place at the end of a long day where focus isn't a well used word :blush:

 

This takes my total for the year to 6.

 

I am still reading Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg and am searching through my Kindle and my shelves for something else to read before bed. I AM trying to read books I already own, and since we are in the middle of a cold snap I would like it to be on my kindle (fibro makes it hard to hold a paperback or hardback). I also got an iPad Air this week and I've installed an app so that I can borrow e-books from my library :D

 

I don't really like historical novels that concern themselves with political intrigue (which is strange because my favourite tv series is the West Wing) but I do like historical novels about ordinary people, which is what Emigrants is about. I once tried explaining it as I like novels that take place in a particular era because that is when the story is set, I don't like historical novels that have taken modern ideas and put them in an era because the clothes look nice. Does that make sense?

[Violet Crown]

Twelfth century, eh? I keep meaning to read St Hildegard's Scivias, but I don't think I'd make it through in a week. Besides I'm almost done with The House of the Seven Gables. Eager to see what medieval readings others opt for!

[Tress]

Well, even though I'm over 300 pages in, I've decided to stop reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. I know that's sacrilege in postmodernist/surrealist literary circles (esp. since I tend to love that kind of writing). Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I read it before I read 1Q84. As it is, I read 1Q84 first & consider 1Q84 a Murakami masterpiece. Wind-Up shares so many of the same elements with 1Q84, just mixed a little differently, that it makes the story seem a little boring & tired, too mainstream/conservative (imo) rather than a refreshing, mind-bending walk through the author's world (which is what I want when I read surrealist lit). Plus, I had a pervading feeling of gloom & darkness with the Wind-Up story (that I did not feel in 1Q84) & I'm just not in the mental space right now to wallow in (or sit in the well of) a gloomy story.

 

Tress, rather than starting with 1Q84, you might like trying Kafka on the Shore. Just another possibility (& one that's shorter :lol: ).

That's an idea! I'm not even really sure I'm feeling up to reading postmodernist/surrealist stuff at the moment. I'm having too many migraines and it's taking me ages to feel normal again. Don't need a book to mess with my head on top of that :D.

[Murmer]

Finished:

Kitchen Stewardship Family Camping Handbook by Kate Kimball,

Final Act by C. Paul Anderson,

Witches on Parole by Debora Geary (total fluff but I am so in love with this author and her witch series!!!),

Real Food Kids: In the Kitchen by Wardeh Harmon and Jami Delgado with Melissa Naasko,

A Mathematics Source Book by University School Support for Education Reform

 

Working on:

Fiction: Matched by Ally Condie

Kindle: The DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley

Non-fiction: Five in a Row Vol 2 by Jane Claire Lambert

Phone: Lies, Da** Lies, and Science by Sherry Seethaler

Computer: Stress-free Baby Shower by Sarah Shay

Well Education Mind: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (I am actually really enjoying this but feel like I have to read it with my bible next to me lol)

Angel Girl: The Aesop for Children by Aesop

Sweet Boy: Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales Book

 

Total Read for 2014: 6

[Lady Florida.]

From last week:

 

Went to my library's book sale and got:

 

Love in the Time of Cholera

 

 

Mrs. Dalloway

 

 

 

 

These are both on my someday list. I might actually get to Mrs. Dalloway this year.

[mumto2]

I also finished Outrageous Fortune: Growing up at Leeds Castle by Anthony Russell. I found it fascinating in the sense that the author seemed to see how odd his childhood really was. It was such a mixture of excess mixed with a lack of control because his grandmother controlled their whole world. His father was a distant figure who had been labeled as the Russell baby with huge scandelous media attention at birth. I am not going to link because there is a definate "ick" factor and I know many of you will be happier not knowing (I probably would have been), while others........can google. I wasn't going to mention it in my review but it came up when I looked up the book to link. It was even in the poor father's obituary.

 

The book touched on how so many of the great British estates came to belong to the National Trust and English Heritage. The previous lifestyle so incredibly lavish and excessive. Taking an insiders peek at one of my favorite places was fun but to be honest the book made me sad. I think I may have learned way to much........

[Robin M]

Set in 12th or written in the 12th?

Either - I provided links in my original post for both. 

 

So this week I finished the three books in the Three Sisters Inn trilogy. A suspense/romance/christian fluff series. It wasn't my thing but I have a compulsion to find out what happens next, which is why I love J.D. Robb's books where #38 will be out in February :)

 

I also finished Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. It took me a while not because I didn't love it but because I wanted to be focused when I read it and so often my reading takes place at the end of a long day where focus isn't a well used word :blush:

Yep, I pre-ordered Concealed in Death.  Never miss a one.   Will be starting Quiet soon and know what you mean about trying to focus at the end of the day.

 

Twelfth century, eh? I keep meaning to read St Hildegard's Scivias, but I don't think I'd make it through in a week. Besides I'm almost done with The House of the Seven Gables. Eager to see what medieval readings others opt for!

Remember, you don't have to finish it in a week.  It all averages out in the end.

 

 

Finished:

Kitchen Stewardship Family Camping Handbook by Kate Kimball,

Final Act by C. Paul Anderson,

Witches on Parole by Debora Geary (total fluff but I am so in love with this author and her witch series!!!),

Real Food Kids: In the Kitchen by Wardeh Harmon and Jami Delgado with Melissa Naasko,

A Mathematics Source Book by University School Support for Education Reform

 

Working on:

Fiction: Matched by Ally Condie

Kindle: The DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley

Non-fiction: Five in a Row Vol 2 by Jane Claire Lambert

Phone: Lies, Da** Lies, and Science by Sherry Seethaler

Computer: Stress-free Baby Shower by Sarah Shay

Well Education Mind: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (I am actually really enjoying this but feel like I have to read it with my bible next to me lol)

Angel Girl: The Aesop for Children by Aesop

Sweet Boy: Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales Book

 

Total Read for 2014: 6

 

Love, love, love five in a row - still have all the books. Just went through James bookshelf, pulling out old books to donate and neither one of us could bear to part with them.

 

 

Decided to dive into a murder mystery and read Allison Brennan's Kiss Me, Kill Me. # 3 in her Lucy Kincaid series. She's taking over the group blog Murder She Writes and making it her own, since everyone's pulling out due to other commitments.  Fun, interesting and educational site to follow. 

[Mothersweets]

Finished two books last week:

 

The Thirteen-Gun Salute  by Patrick O'Brian. I am still in love with this whole series.

 

Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo  by Matthew Amster-Burton. The food descriptions were fabulous as well as how he described living in such a different society. Really made me want to visit Tokyo!

[Robin M]

From last week:

 

 

These are both on my someday list. I might actually get to Mrs. Dalloway this year.

 

Mrs. Dalloway is on my to read list this year!

 

[Stacia]

Well I finally abandoned Wind-Up Bird and I felt so free when I did. I had gotten about halfway through but it was really a slog for me and there were too many disturbing scenes in the first half of the book that I didn't want to keep revisiting. To celebrate I downloaded Goldfinch from Audible and I'm so happy I did. Life's too short for books you don't enjoy. So I'm on Week 3 and the only book I completed

 

Sounds like we are in exactly the same place. Hope you *love* The Goldfinch! (And, I too felt relieved once I decided to drop Wind-Up.)

 

The link to the Goodreads list of 12th century material is a great resource. I will look through and see if there's something that piques my interest.

 

Interestingly, I am enjoying the convo around Murakami's book even though I haven't read it. I like hearing what things jump out at folks from a literary standpoint, everyone notices something different and then there's that wonderful confluence of 'yesses' that happen when resonance is shared. And I like to think that somewhere between those two poles is a greening meadow where a whole other silent but mutual conversation is happening, the pause before the outbreath.

 

:iagree:  I also love reading conversations around books I'm not reading. Love seeing/hearing everyone's perspectives as everyone brings something unique to the table.

 

This morning we put The Boy on a plane for his last semester of college.  Where did time go??  On Thursday, The Charming Girlfriend flew back to England to spend a few days with her family before her last semester of uni.  All of this leaves my husband and me wondering who will be where at this time next year. 

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

 

I had expected John le Carre's The Mission Song .

 

Wow. That must be surreal to have your ds almost finished with college! Many happy wishes for all of you as you start hiking new paths in life! :)

 

Did you read Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway last year? (I'm thinking you didn't.) I just wanted to put the reminder out there that Harkaway is le Carre's son. Just a fun fact, imo.

 

I finished two this week. Got The Monuments Men done before it was due on Friday (yay! major accomplishment!). This fit in well with all of my other WWII reading. The Hare with the Amber Eyes gave me a little back story from the private Jewish art collection point of view. I think that helps to be truly horrified at the brutish-bullying-thug behavior of the Nazis. Monuments Men and In the Garden of Beasts both explore Hermann Goring a bit. Monuments Men actually gave me a more complete understanding of the actual war and the progress of the allied troops after Normandy as the mm were imbedded in the armies. Overall a very good read (still could have been shorter!).

 

Finished Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff on the treadmill this week. A perfect treadmill read--fast paced and exciting enough to keep my mind off the running/walking. Pretty inventive story and ending. I did note a few errors on the author's part that prevented me from getting fully immersed in his world. It must be pretty hard to write about a place you haven't lived before, but he wrote about a place I HAVE lived before (CA's central valley), so I got caught up a bit in little inaccuracies. Of course he's allowed to make up a fictional town there, but it's weird to place a school on HWY 99 (or overlooking a rest stop on 99) as there aren't any--get off the highway to get to the towns and their schools. He shouldn't call it ROUTE 99 either because everyone calls it just 99 or HWY 99. And he gave us a nice mid-western style thunder storm that doesn't fit CA weather patterns. Fit his story line, but not the real location. These are little tiny things but just things that made me too conscious of the author and the process of writing.

 

FYI, for all who are interested in The Monuments Men, my dad pointed out to me that Smithsonian Magazine has a related article in their January 2014 issue.

 

LOL about Bad Monkeys. I guess I could just fall into the story & enjoy it fully because I have never lived in CA's central valley. That's a little bit of a bummer that those small details distracted from the story.

 

That's an idea! I'm not even really sure I'm feeling up to reading postmodernist/surrealist stuff at the moment. I'm having too many migraines and it's taking me ages to feel normal again. Don't need a book to mess with my head on top of that :D.

 

:grouphug:  Hope your migraines go away soon!

 

From last week:

 

 

These are both on my someday list. I might actually get to Mrs. Dalloway this year.

 

Seeing Love in the Time of Cholera on Mom-ninja's list, I just have to interject & say 'ugh'. That's one book I heard recommended so many times & I ended up *really* disliking it. But, many love it, so I hope you two have a better experience with it!

[Stacia]

I also finished Outrageous Fortune: Growing up at Leeds Castle by Anthony Russell. I found it fascinating in the sense that the author seemed to see how odd his childhood really was. It was such a mixture of excess mixed with a lack of control because his grandmother controlled their whole world. His father was a distant figure who had been labeled as the Russell baby with huge scandelous media attention at birth. I am not going to link because there is a definate "ick" factor and I know many of you will be happier not knowing (I probably would have been), while others........can google. I wasn't going to mention it in my review but it came up when I looked up the book to link. It was even in the poor father's obituary.

 

The book touched on how so many of the great British estates came to belong to the National Trust and English Heritage. The previous lifestyle so incredibly lavish and excessive. Taking an insiders peek at one of my favorite places was fun but to be honest the book made me sad. I think I may have learned way to much........

 

Sounds fascinating as far as the history of the house/history/Nat'l Trust stuff (but thanks for the warning about it too). Didn't you visit Leeds Castle last year for your birthday?

 

Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo  by Matthew Amster-Burton. The food descriptions were fabulous as well as how he described living in such a different society. Really made me want to visit Tokyo!

 

That does sound interesting. (And, I'll have to also pass the title on to our friend who loves all things Japanese!)

[mumto2]

I needed something fun so just started Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill. No idea how it ended up in my stack but so far it is engaging. One more perspective on vampires. I always enjoy comparing the abilities each author gives their paranormals. These vamps eat real food and drink a bag of blood every other day etc.

 

For the twelfth century I have the first Ellis Peter's waiting. It has been at least twenty years since I read a Cadefal mystery.

[Pam in CT]

I'm a little dismayed at all you ladies who've given up on Wind-Up Bird... it's sitting on my reading table here, daring me to crack its dreamlike, topsy turvy cover.  We'll see.

 

This week I finished jews and words, by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, which I really enjoyed; and also Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide, by Immaculee Ilibagiza.  "Enjoyable" would not be an appropriate word here, but a moving story of how faith, and ultimately forgiveness, allowed the author to survive and carry on through unimaginable horrors.

 

My ten-year-old daughter and I also finished Hoot, a conservation-focused YA novel by Carl Hiassen.  We liked it well enough, but not nearly so much as his Chomp, which we read last year and which was laugh-out-loud funny (as well as, again, having a good conservation-focused storyline). 

 

This week, she and I have launched into Code Name Verity, recommended here last year.  We're only a few chapters in and are still finding our bearings, plot-wise.  The writing is fabulous. 

 

My dusty challenge book is The Book of Chuang Tzu, translated by Martin Palmer, which I'm reading for an IRL interfaith book group and which I am finding very difficult... both in terms of finding the right "entry" point, and also in the substance itself, to the (limited) extent I understand it.  I'm having to force myself to set aside long blocks of time and committing to do 50-page chunks -- I can't follow the meaning in smaller chunks, but really can't hold it together for much longer than that.  The good news is, I do believe it clocks in as the EARLIEST century of any of the books mentioned so far this year (4th c BCE)...

 

I'm about to start The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising, by Dermot McEvoy, a fictionalized biography of one of the Easter Rising participants.  That's a chunkster too, so I hope it moves along.  

 

As well, I continue to search for my lost audio CDs of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.  I do hope they turn up soon; I'm on my last renewal.  Sigh.

[mumto2]

Sounds fascinating as far as the history of the house/history/Nat'l Trust stuff (but thanks for the warning about it too). Didn't you visit Leeds Castle last year for your birthday?

Yes, I did. Good memory. It is my favorite. I was so excited when I heard the book was coming out and hadn't looked at reviews that came after. I have always loved a portrait that hangs there of Lady Bailie and her two daughters. I always stand in front of it and wonder about them (generally get left behind by dh at that point too!). There isn't enough imo information about them on site so the book by the grandson interested me greatly. They look like they are ready to step out and resume their lives in that wonderful room. I now want to find the swimming pool which I have never noticed and have a huge desire to visit the nursery so the book didn't ruin it for me. I am just a bit sad the one of the princesses in my picture may have married a handsome lord to be but didn't live the charmed life I imagined.

[Kim in Appalachia]

Well, I'm giving up on Winter's Tale.  I'm not enjoying it.  I've been avoiding reading because of that book.  So I decided to pick up another Murakami. I'm going to read Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

 

 So far, Stacia, I've enjoyed everything by him.  I'm not tired of him yet.  I'll see what happens with this book.  I really hope I like it, since I don't think I could stand 2 major disappointments in a row. I'm trying to think I've a writer I've read that I have gotten tired of reading.  Right now I can't think of any.  

[Lady Florida.]

Surprisingly, I found I had a few on my shelves which we had inherited when my husband's mother passed away. She was originally from England, a writer working on an historical fiction novel and had quite a collection.

How fascinating. You say she was "working on", so does that mean she didn't finish? Did she give up or had she passed away before finishing? It would be kind of cool if a family member took up where she left off and finished (unless it just really wasn't any good lol).

 

 

And because I can't help myself...my morning poetry read

 

I just wanted to thank you for including poetry in so many of your posts. Count me among those who tries and fails at reading poetry. I don't usually seek it out, but if it's put in front of me I'll read it, and sometimes even enjoy it. It's a lovely addition to our weekly threads.

 

 

Up next: My mil gave us an Amazon box with a bunch of books in it for Christmas and I pulled one of those for my next treadmill read. It's pretty obviously YA fiction, so not sure if it was meant for me or my dd! It's Paper Towns by John Green and other than saying it's a good treadmill read (keeps my mind off the running), I'll save comments for next week. I did note that he's the author of The Fault in Our Stars which I've had on hold for awhile on the recommendation of my dad and sister (a cancer patient). And I saw TFioS on the list of books to read before you see the movie in 2014. Between that and Monuments Men, I may have an excuse to go to the movies this year.

 

While there are some YA novels (and series) I've enjoyed, it's generally not a genre that interests me. I keep hearing that John Green is one of those YA authors who writes books that are enjoyed even by adults who generally don't like YA. I've been meaning to read something of his, but I just can't bring myself to choose one and begin. I don't think The Fault in Our Stars is where I should start though. It sounds very Jodi Picoult-ish to me and I really dislike everything of hers I've read (or in some cases tried to read).

 

Dh and I both read The Monuments Men and are looking forward to seeing the movie together.

 

Well, even though I'm over 300 pages in, I've decided to stop reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.

As I finished reading last week's thread and started this one, I began to think how glad I am that I didn't join in reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. So many whose opinions I value are disliking it and even abandoning it. Then I came to this post. Whoa! If Stacia - who loves both Marakami and this genre - gave it up, I'm really glad I didn't join in.  :lol: 

 

 

Just an interruption for a personal musing here.... When I look at my reading likes & dislikes, I sometimes wonder why I really don't like reading multiple books by the same author (whether a series or various stand-alone books)? There are exceptions, of course, but I just find an author's voice gets too predictable or too boring or too... something ... to hold my attention after a book or two. The way to combat this (imo), is for me to wait at least a decade between books by the same author (hence Donna Tartt being on my list of loved authors :laugh:  since she only releases a new book about every dozen years), counting on my memory to be sufficiently faded by that time so that the author's voice will then be fresh again to me. I think of myself as someone who would be about the furthest away you could get from being ADHD, but I feel like my (impatience?) lack of 'sticking with' an author may be some form of that. :confused1:  Does anyone else experience this?

I can't say that I feel that way about any particular authors. If I like an author's voice, I like it, even the predictability. I do get that way with some series books though, even if I continue reading an author's stand-alone books. Often with a series I'll go all out reading book after book (I usually don't discover a series until all or most of the books have been published), then I have to stop for a while. I get a bit tired of the characters, the story line, the author's voice, or any combination of the above. If the series is good, taking a break usually helps. If after taking a break, I try to read the next book and can't, then I know I'm truly done with the series.

 

 

So this week I finished the three books in the Three Sisters Inn trilogy. A suspense/romance/christian fluff series. It wasn't my thing but I have a compulsion to find out what happens next, which is why I love J.D. Robb's books where #38 will be out in February :)

 

Interesting. I read that trilogy when it first came out, but don't remember a Christian aspect to it. What I remember is  paranormal romance before paranormal romance became A Big Thing. I must have glossed over that part of it. The In Death series is one of those I needed to take a break from for a while. I plan to try and pick up where I left off later this year.

 

I am still reading Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg and am searching through my Kindle and my shelves for something else to read before bed. I AM trying to read books I already own, and since we are in the middle of a cold snap I would like it to be on my kindle (fibro makes it hard to hold a paperback or hardback). I also got an iPad Air this week and I've installed an app so that I can borrow e-books from my library :D

Reading books I already own is so hard when I hear of wonderful books I don't own. :)

 

Isn't a Kindle (or any e-reader) wonderful? There are so many reasons to use an e-reader, and the physical difficulties of holding a heavy book is one of the biggest. Font is another. Dh and his siblongs gave MIL a Kindle a few years ago for Mother's Day, because she loves to read but her failing eyesight made it increasingly difficult. Around that time I read that e-readers is one technology that the elderly are actually happy to adopt, thanks to the ability to increase font size. As for library books, you should be able to borrow them on your Kindle as well as the Kindle app, unless that's not an option where you are. I know it's different in different countries.

 

I don't really like historical novels that concern themselves with political intrigue (which is strange because my favourite tv series is the West Wing)

I just started watching The West Wing on Amazon Prime and love it. While I am one who likes political intrigue, I think what made that show so good is that it's also character driven. The politics wouldn't be interesting if not for the interesting characters. FTR, I like my books character driven too. Give me a good plot, yes, but unless the characters are well written and have some depth, no plot is good enough to overcome that.

[Jane in NC]

Did you read Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway last year? (I'm thinking you didn't.) I just wanted to put the reminder out there that Harkaway is le Carre's son. Just a fun fact, imo.

 

 

Nope, but I like fun facts!

[Pam in CT]

 

 

Dunno about this multi-quote button, but...  I am really scared, now!  

 

 

ETA: Aw, man... I need a primer on quoting and multi-quoting.  That didn't work at all.

[TeacherZee]

 

 

 

 

Interesting. I read that trilogy when it first came out, but don't remember a Christian aspect to it. What I remember is  paranormal romance before paranormal romance became A Big Thing. I must have glossed over that part of it. The In Death series is one of those I needed to take a break from for a while. I plan to try and pick up where I left off later this year.

 

I've written my review of it and it will be up on the blog later in the week. The Christian aspect REALLY annoyed me, mostly because it was badly done. Although I am agnostic I don't really mind characters being religious (one of my favourite series is the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series and she is a priest) but in some parts of this series it was badly done. Other parts I really enjoyed. They were certainly suspenseful.

 

Reading books I already own is so hard when I hear of wonderful books I don't own. :)

 

Isn't a Kindle (or any e-reader) wonderful? There are so many reasons to use an e-reader, and the physical difficulties of holding a heavy book is one of the biggest. Font is another. Dh and his siblongs gave MIL a Kindle a few years ago for Mother's Day, because she loves to read but her failing eyesight made it increasingly difficult. Around that time I read that e-readers is one technology that the elderly are actually happy to adopt, thanks to the ability to increase font size. As for library books, you should be able to borrow them on your Kindle as well as the Kindle app, unless that's not an option where you are. I know it's different in different countries.

 

Yes, my fibro is primarily in my hands and the Kindle has really made a difference in my ability to read when I am going through a bad patch. My dad loves his Kindle because, according to him, his arms are simply not long enough anymore :D. I can't borrow library books for my kindle, or at least not easily, because we don't really have Kindles here. But with the new app I can read on the iPad. Although I think I will still do most of my e-reading on my Kindle, I prefer the more muted colours (I have an OLD Kindle)

 

I just started watching The West Wing on Amazon Prime and love it. While I am one who likes political intrigue, I think what made that show so good is that it's also character driven. The politics wouldn't be interesting if not for the interesting characters. FTR, I like my books character driven too. Give me a good plot, yes, but unless the characters are well written and have some depth, no plot is good enough to overcome that.

 

Oh, the fact that it is character driven is definitely the strongest point of it. But I watched it when it was on tv when I was in high school and for me it will always be part of my political awakening. :)

[JennW in SoCal]

 

The Thirteen-Gun Salute  by Patrick O'Brian. I am still in love with this whole series.

 

 

 

:iagree: I'm a few books behind you in the series, and am enjoying them immensely.  I even took my dh on a "field trip" to the Maritime museum here to visit a replica of the HMS Surprise (the actual ship used in the movie).   

 

Did you read Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway last year? (I'm thinking you didn't.) I just wanted to put the reminder out there that Harkaway is le Carre's son. Just a fun fact, imo.

 

 

FYI, for all who are interested in The Monuments Men, my dad pointed out to me that Smithsonian Magazine has a related article in their January 2014 issue.

 

 

Stacia, I did not know that Nick Harkaway is leCarre's son!  That is a cool bit of trivia.  My college boy enjoyed Angelmaker, btw. He would look up with a grin on his face and say something like "Clock work zombies.  Cool!" He finished it last night just before it was time to pack to head home.  I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he was able to connect with Jane's college boy on the shuttle back to campus.

 

I've got Monument's Men on reserve at the library, waiting for my turn for the book.  I'll have to finish Hare with the Amber Eyes while I wait as Ali in OR said it was a good combination.  I'll check out the Smithsonian article, too.

 

I went down a random rabbit trail this week, and am about 3/4 of the way through a feminist history of ballet by Deidre Kelly, called Ballerina: Sex, Scandal and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Freedom.  It's a whole new perspective on the art, for me, though I do not agree with all her interpretations and conclusions.  The history is pretty fascinating, though.

 

I may join you in the 12th century via the 19th century.  I've got Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe on audible, and this is good incentive to listen to something other than another Master and Commander title!

[Ali in OR]

You all are making me think I should cancel my hold on The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Maybe I'll wander through the M section and see if there are any short Murakami books. Or maybe find a 12th century book instead...maybe I still have Abelard and Heloise around from college...

[Lady Florida.]

I finished The Grapes of Wrath last night, which brought my 2014 total to three. My last four books were Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Nicholas NIckleby, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Grapes of Wrath. I'm going to look for a fun, easy read now. Perhaps an Agatha Christie mystery. Those are quick, enjoyable, and most important, not depressing. 

[Just Robyn]

I read The Taming of the Shrew, which I liked more than Much Ado About Nothing, but didn't love it. And I'm about half way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I like about as much as 1Q84: I am impressed by the structure, and I like many of the ideas, but I also get bored. I'm not ready to give up on it.

 

For the 12th century I got Yvain: The Knight of the Lion on the Kindle - haven't started it yet.

[Stacia]

I finished The Grapes of Wrath last night, which brought my 2014 total to three. My last four books were Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Nicholas NIckleby, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Grapes of Wrath. I'm going to look for a fun, easy read now. Perhaps an Agatha Christie mystery. Those are quick, enjoyable, and most important, not depressing. 

 

Kathy, you're another one that I think might enjoy Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. Might fill your need for something fun/easy....

[Jane in NC]

 

Stacia, I did not know that Nick Harkaway is leCarre's son!  That is a cool bit of trivia.  My college boy enjoyed Angelmaker, btw. He would look up with a grin on his face and say something like "Clock work zombies.  Cool!" He finished it last night just before it was time to pack to head home.  I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he was able to connect with Jane's college boy on the shuttle back to campus.

 

 

Heading "home", eh?  It seems that way for my guy too who was chatting up a storm last night with his suitemates who were already on campus last night.  Members of the swim team returned early as did some who are in state.

 

Did your guy make it on the shuttle?  I know that his flight time was cutting it close.

 

 

[Jane in NC]

I read The Taming of the Shrew, which I liked more than Much Ado About Nothing, but didn't love. And I'm about half way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I like about as much as 1Q84: I am impressed by the structure, and I like many of the ideas, but I also get bored. I'm not ready to give up on it.

 

For the 12th century I got Yvain: The Knight of the Lion on the Kindle - haven't started it yet.

 

One of my favorite composers, Cole Porter, has a fun take on Shrew, the musical Kiss Me Kate.  It is always a good time to Brush Up Your Shakespeare:

 

 

 

[Just Robyn]

You all are making me think I should cancel my hold on The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Maybe I'll wander through the M section and see if there are any short Murakami books. Or maybe find a 12th century book instead...maybe I still have Abelard and Heloise around from college...

 

I liked Murakami's book of short stories After the Quake much more than I liked 1Q84, and more than I like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle so far. It is only 162 pages.

 

My opinion at this point: his style is more suited to short stories. What I thought when starting 1Q84 was Neat, but - you're gonna go on like this for 900 pages?! Then when starting Wind-Up - 'Swounds, you mean you're gonna do this for another 600 pages? I don't believe it. But in small doses, I really like it.

[shukriyya]

Oh my, this thread moves fast.

 

I read Mrs. Dalloway in college and remember *loving* it. So fun to see this on some of your lists. I also remembering enjoying To the Lighthouse.

A quick look-through of the GR's 12th century lit along with Robin's suggestion has me thinking I might test the waters with 'When Christ and His Saints Slept' The title is wonderful and that drew me in but the writing looks digestible. I've downloaded a sample onto my kindle to see whether it's something I'll like.

You are all so intrepid in your reading. I'm such a doe, ready to run at the merest hint of anything clamorous. Though I have to say the general dissatisfaction with Murakami's WUBC has me musing, in an alternate universe of course, on reading it just so I can know why it's so dissatisfying :lol:

 

[Stacia]

I'm a little dismayed at all you ladies who've given up on Wind-Up Bird... it's sitting on my reading table here, daring me to crack its dreamlike, topsy turvy cover. We'll see.

Have you read Murakami before? If not, you might really enjoy it, esp. if this is one of your first forays into his &/or surrealist writing. I do think the cover is beautiful.

 

FYI, for you & others still contemplating reading this, many Murakami fans absolutely hail Wind-Up as his best (or one of his best). Perhaps I'm in the minority opinion here.

I have always loved a portrait that hangs there of Lady Bailie and her two daughters. I always stand in front of it and wonder about them

I always wonder stuff like that too. Sometimes it seems hard to imagine that people in portraits like that were real people too, kwim?

Well, I'm giving up on Winter's Tale. I'm not enjoying it. I've been avoiding reading because of that book. So I decided to pick up another Murakami. I'm going to read Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

 

So far, Stacia, I've enjoyed everything by him. I'm not tired of him yet. I'll see what happens with this book. I really hope I like it, since I don't think I could stand 2 major disappointments in a row. I'm trying to think I've a writer I've read that I have gotten tired of reading. Right now I can't think of any.

Good to know about Winter's Tale. I've been debating trying it (but my to-read pile is already huge)....

 

I've enjoyed Murakami up to this point (Kafka on the Shore; 1Q84; A Wild Sheep Chase; I may have read Hard Boiled eons ago -- trying to remember for sure...); maybe the timing was just too close for me. Maybe on a different day or month or year, it would appeal to me. I wish it had. I really wanted it to be great. I wanted to love it. I just... didn't.

How fascinating. You say she was "working on", so does that mean she didn't finish? Did she give up or had she passed away before finishing? It would be kind of cool if a family member took up where she left off and finished (unless it just really wasn't any good lol).

 

...

 

As I finished reading last week's thread and started this one, I began to think how glad I am that I didn't join in reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. So many whose opinions I value are disliking it and even abandoning it. Then I came to this post. Whoa! If Stacia - who loves both Marakami and this genre - gave it up, I'm really glad I didn't join in. :lol:

:bigear: Yeah, Robin, don't you usually participate in NaNoWiMo? You could finish those, I bet!

 

Maybe I've fallen into a surreal alternate reality where my normal reality persona no longer cares for alternate reality paper surrealism? :tongue_smilie: :biggrinjester: (I don't think that's true, btw.)

 

 

Stacia, I did not know that Nick Harkaway is leCarre's son! That is a cool bit of trivia. My college boy enjoyed Angelmaker, btw. He would look up with a grin on his face and say something like "Clock work zombies. Cool!" He finished it last night just before it was time to pack to head home. I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he was able to connect with Jane's college boy on the shuttle back to campus.

 

I've got Monument's Men on reserve at the library, waiting for my turn for the book. I'll have to finish Hare with the Amber Eyes while I wait as Ali in OR said it was a good combination. I'll check out the Smithsonian article, too.

Glad your ds enjoyed Angelmaker.

 

I want to read The Hare with Amber Eyes, hopefully sometime this year.

 

You all are making me think I should cancel my hold on The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Maybe I'll wander through the M section and see if there are any short Murakami books. Or maybe find a 12th century book instead...maybe I still have Abelard and Heloise around from college...

Kafka on the Shore is a shorter (& more enjoyable, imo) Murakami.

And I'm about half way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I like about as much as 1Q84: I am impressed by the structure, and I like many of the ideas, but I also get bored. I'm not ready to give up on it.

Glad you are persevering with it. Maybe you will be able to give it a positive plug to contrast with mine.

 

:thumbup1:

[Kareni]

A member of my last, now defunct, book group invited me to attend the first meeting yesterday of a new group she is starting.  The last group was more interested in chatting than in book discussions and ultimately gave up on discussing the book at all.  (I miss it anyway!)  This new group looks as though it will be markedly different.  Books on the agenda for the coming months include:

 

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health by Jo Robinson

 

The Invention of Wings: A Novel by Sue Monk Kidd

 

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

 

My New American Life: A Novel by Francine Prose

 

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

 

Looks like some interesting reading ahead!

 

ETA: Using the word defunct had me looking for other words ending in the letters -nct.  I found a list of twelve others: 

 

adjunct
conjunct
defunct
disjunct
distinct
extinct
indistinct
instinct
precinct
sacrosanct
succinct
tinct

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[shukriyya]

Yes, I did. Good memory. It is my favorite. I was so excited when I heard the book was coming out and hadn't looked at reviews that came after. I have always loved a portrait that hangs there of Lady Bailie and her two daughters. I always stand in front of it and wonder about them (generally get left behind by dh at that point too!). There isn't enough imo information about them on site so the book by the grandson interested me greatly. They look like they are ready to step out and resume their lives in that wonderful room. I now want to find the swimming pool which I have never noticed and have a huge desire to visit the nursery so the book didn't ruin it for me. I am just a bit sad the one of the princesses in my picture may have married a handsome lord to be but didn't live the charmed life I imagined.

 

Love this kind of musing. I think you'd enjoy the Isabel Dalhousie mysteries. What you've described above is very much how she moves through the world.

 

[mumto2]

Love this kind of musing. I think you'd enjoy the Isabel Dalhousie mysteries. What you've described above is very much how she moves through the world.

I actually had the first Isabel Dalhousie in my stack a few months ago. Someone else put a hold on it so I had to return it before I had a chance to read it. All of the reviews here have made me want to get it back and read it this time! I will in the spring.

[mamaraby]

Wind-Up Bird is currently sitting on the counter in the kitchen where all books sit when they're going back to the library. At thw moment I'm ignoring it, but Wednesday is library day so I suspect he'll head on back without me finishing it. I've never read Murakami before and I can't say as I'd pick up another one of his books.

 

This week I finished two books, "From the Top" by Michael Perry and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, which brings me to five. This week I'm hoping to finish up "A Christmas Carol" because while rejected as a read aloud by the kids (they're probably too young), I want to finish it myself. I'm also still working on "Firefly Summer" and am thinking about starting "The Catcher in the Rye."

 

I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's updates - my tbr book keeps growing. :0)

[prairiegirl]

I finished my 2nd book last week.   'Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal is a fluffy historical fiction/mystery and I really liked it.  I am in the mood right now for fluff and fictionalized accounts of real people or real events so this one fit both of those categories.  I am madly trying to read  Rosemary Sutcliffe's  'Sword and the Circle' for dd's online book discussion group this week.  I need to know what's going on in the book in case she has trouble with the discussion.  Once I finish that then I can go back to  'Loving Frank'  by Nancy Horan--another fictionalized account of a real person.  This book tells of the love affair of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney.  I am enjoying this one as well.

 

Monica,  I tried to read The Historian but gave it up.  That was a few years ago so I am thinking that maybe I should try it again.

 

Kareni,  that booklist is very interesting.  It sounds like it would be a good group to be involved with.

 

Stacia,  that picture creeps me out.  Ick!

 

Pam in CT, I'm sorry that the multi-quote thing didn't work for you.  I can't help you as it scares me as well.  Hence, why I am writing to everyone by name rather than quoting.  :confused1:

[Stacia]

MultiQuoting....

 

Scroll through the posts & click the MultiQuote button in each post you want to quote.

 

A little box should appear that then says something like: Reply to 3 quoted post(s).

 

Click on that button ("Reply to __ quoted posts") & you will get a reply box that includes the quoted posts. (You may have to scroll down a bit.)

 

Write/add whatever info you want to, then hit the "Post" button like you normally would. Ta-da! :laugh:

 

P.S. If you just want to quote part of a post, you can delete other portions of the quote that don't apply. (If you end up accidentally 'erasing' the quote box, just do Ctrl + z -- undo -- to bring it back. What is happening in that case is that you're deleting the first letter or item that makes up the quote box. Just leave an extra space at the beginning of the quoted section & it should be fine. If this makes no sense, that's ok. It will make more sense one day when you accidentally delete the box. :lol: )

 

Hope that helps!

[melmichigan]

I didn't get through as much this last week.  I finished After the Storm (A KGI Novel) by Maya Banks, it is the first KGI novel that I've been disappointed in.  This is Donovan's story and it just didn't measure up for me.  I also finished Black Arts: A Jane Yellowrock Novel by Faith Hunter.  

 

"Jane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker who always takes care of her own—no matter the cost....

When Evan Trueblood blows into town looking for his wife, Molly, he’s convinced that she came to see her best friend, Jane. But it seems like the witch made it to New Orleans and then disappeared without a trace.

Jane is ready to do whatever it takes to find her friend. Her desperate search leads her deep into a web of black magic and betrayal and into the dark history between vampires and witches. But the closer she draws to Molly, the closer she draws to a new enemy—one who is stranger and more powerful than any she has ever faced."

 

This series continues to be a page turner for me.  I love the action, the mystery that's always waiting to be solved, the development of the characters and relationships, you name it it's probably in there somewhere.  I finished this late at night and actually went back and reread parts of it the next day.  

 

Now I'm back to James Rollins for a little while, I'm currently reading The Doomsday Key: A Sigma Force Novel.  After that I have a pile of library books to go through to see if I'm interested in reading any of them for the dewey decimal challenge.  I'll have to see if anything catches my eye for the 12th century, I'm not a big fan of historical fiction but I"ll be keeping an eye on everyone's selections.  We are stuck in the house for two weeks waiting for immunity to build from our flu shots so I should have more reading time.

[Robin M]

How fascinating. You say she was "working on", so does that mean she didn't finish? Did she give up or had she passed away before finishing? It would be kind of cool if a family member took up where she left off and finished (unless it just really wasn't any good lol).

 

We have her research and notebooks - all handwritten. She didn't date anything and wrote 3 or 4 drafts of a historical story - think its set in the 1700's.  I haven't had the time to go through and figure out which is the most current and final draft.  It's one of those things on my list that I hope to get around to eventually.

 

 

:bigear:  Yeah, Robin, don't you usually participate in NaNoWiMo? You could finish those, I bet!

 

Ha! I haven't even finished my own yet.  Got bored with the latest edits. Got blocked and haven't been feeling so creative lately.  The creativitity bug just hit me a few days ago and just about to dive into editing a different story for online creative writing class. 

 

 

Dunno about this multi-quote button, but...  I am really scared, now!  

 

 

ETA: Aw, man... I need a primer on quoting and multi-quoting.  That didn't work at all.

 

What Stacia said plus try not to multiquote more than 5 or 6 folks at a time. More than that and the multiquote thing gets hinky.  At least with me it does.

 

 

Relating to Wind Up Bird Chronicles.  There are so many authors whose writing I love and once in a while they come up with a clunker.  My beloved Nora Roberts has written a clunker or two, but that doesn't stop me from reading her stories.   WUBC was a clunker in my opinion. No I shouldn't say that.  It was a tease. He'd get your attention, tease you for a while, then change direction, and then leave you hanging. It was like he was trying to write an anthology of stories and attempting to attach them together somehow, but it didn't work for me.   If you read any of the reviews on Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes and Noble, you'll see that the opinion on the book is split equally 50/50.  Some, despite the meanderings and unanswered questions, loved, loved, loved it - because it fired their imaginations and/or they just loved the writing style.  Very effusive on the writing style.  I guess when you have nothing good to say about a story, it all comes down to writing style.  Which was quite good - otherwise I wouldn't have read all 600 pages.   If you truly loved or liked 1Q84 or any of his other stories, I'd say give it a go and see what you think.  If you've never read anything by Murakami, I definitely follow Stacia's advice and start with a different story. 

[Robin M]

 I also finished Black Arts: A Jane Yellowrock Novel by Faith Hunter.  This series continues to be a page turner for me.  I love the action, the mystery that's always waiting to be solved, the development of the characters and relationships, you name it it's probably in there somewhere.  I finished this late at night and actually went back and reread parts of it the next day.  

 

Now I'm back to James Rollins for a little while, I'm currently reading The Doomsday Key: A Sigma Force Novel. 

 

Yes, exactly.  Once I finished Black Arts, I wanted to go back and reread the series all over again.  Putting it on my list for summer reread time.   Yeah for Rollins.  I recently picked up some of his stand alones - Amazonia and Ice Hunt.  Enjoy Doomsday!