Book a Week in 2014 - BW4

[mlbuchina]

I've moved it up in the stacks to read sooner than later. May just make Master and Commander my C book for A to Z challenge

 

Here's an excerpt from his website

 

Enjoy! It's the start of the Sigma series. After this one, you'll be hooked. (I hope....)

Yes, I'm going to have to move them up the list, too.

 

I also looked for James Rollins, and some of his books are there as well. Ice Hunt is one of them, I think, along with some of Sigma series. Very excited!

[MelAR05]

 

I’m almost finished with Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. It’s fantastic. Mind-blowing and really disturbing. 

 

Adding this to my list!

 

[MelAR05]

Who was it reading 'The Rosie Project?' I'm too lazy to search last week's thread, but I wasn't too lazy to drive to Shepparton to buy you a postcard, lol.

It was me! :party:

 

I so enjoyed that book! (BMI: 22) ;)

[Luckymama]

My update since I last posted:

 

13. Veil of Midnight by Lara Adrian

14. Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian

15. Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian

16. Taken by Midnight by Lara Adrian

17. Deeper than Midnight by Lara Adrian

18. Darker than Midnight by Lara Adrian

19. Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian

20. Love at First Sight by Lori Wilde (eh, just ok storyline but well-written)

21. Shadows at Midnight by Elizabeth Jennings (CIAish suspense---good stuff!)

22. Darkness at Dawn by Elizabeth Jennings (ditto)

23. The Expert's Guide to Driving a Man Wild by Jessica Clare (love the series, hate the titles)

24. The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand (my first five star of the year)

 

I finished the Breed series and enjoyed it immensely :D I think I'll take a break from paranormal for a good long while :lol: I started and abandoned three library ebooks. I am almost finished with two nonfiction books, one on westward expansion and one a foodish memoir.

[TKDmom]

I'm currently reading Code Name Verity. It's been slow going because I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going on a lot of the time. Will someone tell me if it is eventually going to make sense?

 

I've been sticking with it because of the great reviews. :-)

Ooh, stick with it! I was kinda lost for the first half. It switches viewpoints halfway through and you get to start connecting dots. I loved gradually seeing how everything fit together.

[Stacia]

 I got some reading done but have abandoned a shocking number of books

 

That is how I've been feeling for the past month or so!!! Yikes.

 

Stacia - Thank you so much for keeping my ds and my family in your thoughts and keeping the BaW-ers updated, too!  The thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, etc., are definitely helping us.  Just briefly, ds opted out of the blood work last week because the four sites from which they choose for drawing blood were not healed up sufficiently, and, he was feeling overall improved and felt he could postpone for a week.  The doctors were fine with that because they know he does not make haphazard decisions.  So, he goes this week for the next follow-up CBC's.  We are expecting good results.

 

I have not posted on the BaW threads since the first week!  (I spent the last hour trying to catch up with all the posting you all did)!  Too much emotional stuff and I have been so tired.  Also, I thankfully got some extra hours at work so I've come home elated with that work but exhausted before I even begin the *home* work.  Even with dh and ds helping, I can't seem to get caught up . . .

 

You're welcome. Please continue to keep us posted on your son. Many :grouphug:  to all of you (& I'm feeling hopeful & relieved a bit for you all, hoping things continue to improve & that the news continues to be good).

 

Still working on Sunjata by Bamba Suso  & Banna Kanute. Totally enjoying this, just haven't had time to get back to it in the past few days. It requires a bit of concentration because all the footnotes are in the back of the book, so I read trying to hold open the regular pages along w/ the footnotes section at the same time.  :laugh:

 

I've also started Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark & am enjoying it.

 

First, a bit of history: The seventh Earl of Lucan disappeared on November 7, 1974, leaving behind the battered body of his children's nanny and a beaten wife. Widely covered in the press, his sensational story has had a surprisingly long half-life, and the speculation about his whereabouts has never quite died out. In this book, Muriel Spark toys with several provocative issues arising out of the case: identity, class, blood ("it is not purifying, it is sticky"), and the dynamics of psychiatry ("most of the money wasted on psychoanalysis goes on time spent unraveling the lies of the patient").

 

Aiding and Abetting opens sometime late in the 20th century, when an Englishman in his 60s walks into the Paris practice of famed Bavarian psychiatrist Dr Hildegard Wolf and announces that he is the missing Lord Lucan. Yet Hildegrad is already treating one self-confessed Lord Lucan. And what's more, both patients seem to have dirt on her--for isn't she really Beate Pappenheim, a notorious fraud who used her menstrual blood to fake her stigmata? Fearing for her safety, Hildegard flees to London, where her path inevitably crosses that of two British Lucan hunters.

 

Aiding and Abetting contains more than its share of broad farce and bitter irony. But it remains a strange, slight affair, its unspoken tenet being that the Lucan case still preys on the communal mind of the British public, its details (like the perpetrator's penchant for smoked salmon and lamb chops) indelibly printed there. For anyone under 30, that's a difficult argument to swallow. As one wise character puts it: "Few people today would take Lucan and his pretensions seriously, as they rather tended to do in the 70s." Times have changed indeed--and perhaps that's Spark's point after all, that the "psychological paralysis" of the not-quite-swinging '70s is long gone.

 

I still have Russian Winter sitting here. I like it well enough when I'm reading it, but yet feel no compunction to pick it back up when I'm not reading it. So, I'm not sure how this one will fare... will I finish it or will it fall into my (lately all-too-common) abandoned pile?

 

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

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).

02. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (3 stars).

[Stacia]

I'm just finished reading James Rollins Ice Hunt which is set in the Antarctic in which scientists found an old Russian base set inside a polar iceberg:

 

That sounds really good, Robin. Is it scary? (Remember that I'm kind of a wuss toward scary stuff. :tongue_smilie: )

 

Murakami's detailing of mundane activities - like taking a shower, toweling off, getting dressed in green cotton pants and a yellow promotional t-shirt that came with a cassette (or something like that) - sometimes bores me and makes the story drag, but it also creates a nice contrast between the utterly mundane and the incredibly extraordinary. 

 

You make a really wonderful point here! :thumbup1:

 

I ordered it, also. I'm going nearly crazy that I can't actually get my hands on it, lol! (Probably more of a control issue than anything else, but I am excited to read it, too.)

 

I started Kostova's The Historian. This is a second attempt at reading it, due to the many positive reviews of it here. The first time I just couldn't get into it. I think I've made it further this time than I did last time, though, and it is holding my interest.  I also borrowed Sarah Addison Allen's Sugar Queen on my Kindle and have Steve Jobs' biography here, both of which I haven't started, but are calling my name. I'm anxious to read another Sarah Addison Allen, because she is also highly praised and I really didn't care for Garden Spells when I read that a few years back.

 

Can't wait to read more reviews of S. I will probably be ordering it for myself. Yay for The Historian going better this time! Will be curious about your comments if you read Sarah Addison Allen again. I thought Garden Spells was mediocre (fine while reading but utterly forgettable), but I know so many love her books. Will be curious if you find a different one you like better (so maybe I would give her a try again at that point).

[Kareni]

 

... Elizabeth Jennings

 

...

24. The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand (my first five star of the year)

 

In case you're unaware, Luckymama, Elizabeth Jennings also writes as Lisa Marie Rice (typically those books have more erotic content).

 

I've read and enjoyed Laura Florand's other Amour et Chocolat titles; thanks for bringing this one to my attention.  I've just put in a purchase suggestion at my library.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

That sounds really good, Robin. Is it scary? (Remember that I'm kind of a wuss toward scary stuff. :tongue_smilie: )

 

It's more thrilling and action packed than scary.  Yes, there are some moments, but they are over pretty quickly.

 

[Stacia]

.

[Maus]

2. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling.  (Read-aloud) Well, I am going to comment, because this was such a victory for us.  DS11 has O.C.D. and has avoided this book like nobody's business, because the whole magic thing triggered one of his anxieties.  He enjoyed it, and asked to watch the movie and enjoyed that.  DH participated in the reading with us, which was another victory.  His mental illness has led to a great deal of withdrawal and isolation from us, so it was a small miracle that he stuck with it and seemed to enjoy the time with us.

 

1. "The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes" by James L. Ferrell (LDS). 

 

It was a tough year for us last year (steadily worsening mental health issues in DH and DS), and it doesn't look to be over yet, so at least for the beginning of the year, I'll be reading not so much for intellectual challenge or entertainment, but more for, um, I don't know, emotional and spiritual recentering.  I don't know what else to call it.  Also for information needed to understand what's going on.  I don't plan to sum up what I'm reading for a while, just list the title and author, and since many will probably be by authors from my faith (LDS), I'll put that in parenthesis when it applies as well.  

[mlbuchina]

Would love to read all of these. Thanks for the reviews on them. Nice photo too (though I enjoy winter weather a bit myself)! In fact, the dc & I went snow tubing with friends all day today for the friends' birthdays. Even though we don't live in a wintery place, I'm really glad we could go tubing (even if it is a 'fake' setup, lol) & even though my rear was rather sore because I fell yesterday at my ice skating lesson.  :blink:  :tongue_smilie:  I guess I'm truly in winter mode. :thumbup1:

 

 

 

I like the cool weather of fall, but once the holidays are over, I'm ready for spring.

 

The snow tubing looks like so much fun.  My dd10 would LOVE it.  She is the snow bunny of the family.  Is this near where you live?

 

Hope you recover quickly from your ice skating escapades!

[Stacia]

 

2. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling.  (Read-aloud) Well, I am going to comment, because this was such a victory for us.  DS11 has O.C.D. and has avoided this book like nobody's business, because the whole magic thing triggered one of his anxieties.  He enjoyed it, and asked to watch the movie and enjoyed that.  DH participated in the reading with us, which was another victory.  His mental illness has led to a great deal of withdrawal and isolation from us, so it was a small miracle that he stuck with it and seemed to enjoy the time with us.

 

1. "The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes" by James L. Ferrell (LDS). 

 

It was a tough year for us last year (steadily worsening mental health issues in DH and DS), and it doesn't look to be over yet, so at least for the beginning of the year, I'll be reading not so much for intellectual challenge or entertainment, but more for, um, I don't know, emotional and spiritual recentering.  I don't know what else to call it.  Also for information needed to understand what's going on.  I don't plan to sum up what I'm reading for a while, just list the title and author, and since many will probably be by authors from my faith (LDS), I'll put that in parenthesis when it applies as well.  

 

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:  Hoping 2014 is a good year for all of you.

[Stacia]

.

[shukriyya]

 Then I noticed Alice Munro was on the shelf above and I've never read anything by her, so I picked up Too Much Happiness, another collection of stories. So between those and Sherlock Holmes, I've got lots of short stories to dive into which suits my current attention span well!

 

 

 

Will be interested to hear how you like this. I read a ton of Alice Munro in my younger years.

 

Robin, thanks for the heads-up on the kindle deal for The Golem and the Jinni. Pass along any other good kindle deals, anyone who hears of good books at low prices--I'd like to load up several for spring break. Just got Golem for that purpose.

 

Someone linked the author Jane Langton and the Homer Kelly series in last week's thread. There is one of her books, 'Emily Dickinson is Dead' going for $1.99 as a kindle book. I haven't read any of this series though so I can't speak to whether or not they are good.

 

I finished 'Battle for God' from Karen Armstrong.

I liked it she starts at the Middle Ages when there was an Islamitic Spain. Another point of view again!

(I knew it has exist, but couldn't remember mucht details)

During the book I had several moments I thought: I shouldn't forget that to mention in Higschool History.

 

 

I read and very much enjoyed her book on Muhammad.

 

 

Having seen Wicked twice now, the Misses determined to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and to see The Wizard of Oz over winter break (we began our spring semester on Monday, January 6) and to read Wicked (Gregory Maguire) this summer. I could not remember reading Baum's novel as child and was delighted to join them. I did remember the film well, though, and was surprised by how well it endures.

 

Did you know there are a ton more books by Baum and then more further by authors who picked up where he left off? Dc has read *all* the Baum books and enjoyed them very much!

[Maus]

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:  Hoping 2014 is a good year for all of you.

Thank you! I don't see either of them improving much any time soon, but I do hope to manage better and maybe move past just surviving each day.

 

3. "When Your Prayers Seem Unanswered" by S. Michael Wilcox (LDS).

 

2. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling.  (Read-aloud)

1. "The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes" by James L. Ferrell (LDS). 

 

It was a tough year for us last year (steadily worsening mental health issues in DH and DS), and it doesn't look to be over yet, so at least for the beginning of the year, I'll be reading not so much for intellectual challenge or entertainment, but more for, um, I don't know, emotional and spiritual recentering.  I don't know what else to call it.  Also for information needed to understand what's going on.  I don't plan to sum up what I'm reading for a while, just list the title and author, and since many will probably be by authors from my faith (LDS), I'll put that in parenthesis when it applies as well.  

[Guest]

Is that happy crying or sad crying? I've been wondering if I should put this on my list.

I remember it being a good, cleansing cry. I don't remember all the details, but I remember feeling like it all wrapped up well. Gosh, I really need to read it again. I know some people say the first half isn't that great, so if you do read it you may need to give it a little time. The story telling part is when it gets really good, imo.

[shukriyya]

. Even though we don't live in a wintery place, I'm really glad we could go tubing (even if it is a 'fake' setup, lol) & even though my rear was rather sore because I fell yesterday at my ice skating lesson.  :blink:  :tongue_smilie:  I guess I'm truly in winter mode. :thumbup1:

 

 

Ice skating lessons as an adult?? :crying: :w00t: :eek: Very impressive!!

 

I skated (and skied) all through childhood since I grew up in snow country. Skated to school, 6 freezing, beautiful miles with my boots and books on my back. I still had to hike to school once the skating part was over and my boots would often be frozen. I can still remember the feeling of putting my feet into those by then frozen solid boots.

 

I don't think I'd have the guts to take lessons as an adult if I'd not skated as a child. You go!

 

[Guest]

Stacia, on Russian Winter, if you aren't enjoying it, you probably won't think it gets better. I really enjoyed the writing about the Bolshoi ballet and the story of Nina in Russia as a young woman. I did not care so much for the modern part of the book, though. I don't know how far you are into it, but if you aren't enjoying it now, I don't know that you'll enjoy the novel's progression.

[Heather in Neverland]

“So I kept reading, just to stay alive. In fact, I'd read two or three books at the same time, so I wouldn't finish one without being in the middle of another -- anything to stop me from falling into the big, gaping void. You see, books fill the empty spaces. If I'm waiting for a bus, or am eating alone, I can always rely on a book to keep me company. Sometimes I think I like them even more than people. People will let you down in life. They'll disappoint you and hurt you and betray you. But not books. They're better than life.†

 

- Mark Acito

 

 

Can anyone else relate?
 

[Stacia]

.

[Stacia]

Since I don't normally buy Kindle books, I don't know if this is a good deal or not, but the Kindle version of The Goldfinch is currently $7.50 (which seems like a good deal to me for the book).

[shukriyya]

:lol:  (And I'm even what can be deemed 'middle age'... )

 

 

;)

 

I most definitely did not grow up ice skating or skiing as we usually lived in warmer climes (including Hawaii). My dh did grow up doing cold-weather things (he is part Polar Bear, btw), so I have now gone skiing some (absolutely LOVE it, even though I'm pitifully terrible at it) & I ice skate too (again, terribly but I still enjoy it). Perhaps I should have been born in a colder, ski & skate type of place. As it was, I never got the hang of water skiing (completely laughable) & I broke my arm as a child when roller skating. Maybe warmer climes are more unsafe for me than colder ones. Or maybe I'm just clumsy. LOL.

 

:smilielol5:

 

Summers spent at the lake each year and I could not/would not get up on water skis! 'Nope, not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent' ...bringing my total to twice now in as many weeks that I've quoted Dana Carvey impersonating the elder Bush. Hmm, what is up with that I wonder :confused: :willy_nilly:

[Stacia]

:smilielol5:

 

Summers spent at the lake each year and I could not/would not get up on water skis! 'Nope, not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent' ...bringing my total to twice now in as many weeks that I've quoted Dana Carvey impersonating the elder Bush. Hmm, what is up with that I wonder :confused: :willy_nilly:

 

Well, if you can manage to get up on water skis in a squatting position, it will be quite painful to go around a lake on skis like that. (Water hitting the posterior at high speeds does actually hurt.)

 

Not that I'd actually know anything about skiing like *that*... :o

 

:huh: :lol:

[SunnyDays]

Middle aged, LOL... Stacia, that's too clever!  Love it.

 

Well, it turns out Winter Garden is NOT the Kristin Hannah I have on my Kindle, instead I have Between Sisters.  Which also looks good, but it has nothing to do with the theme, so I can safely ignore it for now.  :D

 

I did finish up Beloved Enemy today.  I really enjoyed it.  It is actually the middle book of a trilogy, and I think down the road I might read the whole thing.   I'll try to focus on the existing list for now, LOL!!

 

I also read Breakfast at Tiffany's today... I didn't realize it was such a short book!  I liked it... do you know I've never seen the movie?  I read that it's *very* different from the book, but I want to see it now just the same.  Anyway, there were three short stories in the book as well, but I skipped them. 

 

So, I'm up to five books for the year:

 

5.  Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote

4.  Beloved Enemy:  The Passions of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Ellen Jones

3.  The Homemade Atheist, Betty Brogaard (part of a goal to read about different spiritual leanings)

2.  Falling for her Soldier, Ophelia London

1.  Resisting the Hero, Cindi Madsen

 

Back to working on Little Women, and Lies You Wanted to Hear.

 

[Negin]

Not much progress on my reading this week. I've recently started "Sense and Sensibility". "Pride and Prejudice" is one of my all-time favorites and I'm really trying hard to like "Sense and Sensibility". About ten years ago, when my children were very small, I went through a phase of reading a whole bunch of classics and really enjoyed them. More recently, with my children being in their teens, one would think that I'd have an easier time with the classics since I have fewer distractions. Not so. I now have such a difficult time focusing and getting into all that old English dialect. 

 

A funny thing happened to me the other evening. I was burned out from all the endless conversations with others (I am becoming more and more of an introvert and very reclusive). I get into bed to read and noticed that Jane Austen really loves dialogue - lots and lots of dialogue - at least in this book anyway - not exactly what I wanted :banghead:  :smilielol5:. This is how I felt at that moment. 

 

 

:lol:

 

 

 

I’m almost finished with Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. It’s fantastic. Mind-blowing and really disturbing. 

This sounds really interesting. Added it to my wish list. 

 

 

[mumto2]

I just finished "Before I Go to Sleep" by SJ Watson. For like of a better description was gripping. It opens when the main character wakes up in bed with an old married man then discovers she is old too. She is suffering from amnesia and only has short term memory -- must relearn everything every single day. With the help of a psychologist she soon starts questioning who she can trust and who is telling her the truth. I gave it a 4 so it wasn't absolutely fabulous but it was hard to put down. ;)

 

I also finished a couple of others which haven't been posted:

 

Damsel in Distress (Daisy Dalrymple series) by Carola Dunn

 

Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver -- this series has potential but I found this one to be somewhat confusing.

[LNC]

Concerning

S. by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

 

 

 

Well, I've started the book and I'm about 50 pages in. I've enjoyed what I've read so far, but I doubt that I'll be finishing anytime soon because:

 

1. I promised the librarian I would have it back by the end of the month

 

2. It's a book that requires attentive reading, and I'm currently in a "give me fluff" state of mind

 

3. I brought home seven books each from two libraries (all purchase suggestions I'd recommended) and they are all calling to me loudly.

 

4. And, back to S., while I enjoy the marginalia written by the grad student and the undergrad, I'm less interested in the text that they are annotating (I guess marginalizing isn't the word to use here!) or the mystery that they are attempting to solve.

 

But, someday (because there is something almost titillating/voyeuristic about the S. experience!) .... (Hmm, and 'S. ex' looks very like something else again.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

I am halfway through S. I am enjoying the margin story far more than Ship of Theseus. S o T reads like pulp fiction instead of a classic that inspires a lifetime of study. Or maybe it is the mystery of the author's identity that inspires the lifetime of study instead of the work itself? Anyway, I read a review with advice to read a chapter with the pencil notes only. Go back and read the blue/back notes. Until you finish the book. Then go back all the way through reading the orange/green notes, then a 3rd time reading the purple/red notes. So that is my plan. It is hard to ignore the colored margins when the page is full of them!

 

There are lots of books read this week that I dropped!

Code Name Verity - wanted a linear plot, confused.

Rosie Project - I have son with mod intellectual disability and high functioning autism, the easy breezy tone rubbed me the wrong way. My son has such difficulties.

Going Clear- just got so disturbed and didn't want to spend 2 weeks on it.

 

I have read a lot so far...10 books already!

[Alice]

“So I kept reading, just to stay alive. In fact, I'd read two or three books at the same time, so I wouldn't finish one without being in the middle of another -- anything to stop me from falling into the big, gaping void. You see, books fill the empty spaces. If I'm waiting for a bus, or am eating alone, I can always rely on a book to keep me company. Sometimes I think I like them even more than people. People will let you down in life. They'll disappoint you and hurt you and betray you. But not books. They're better than life.†

 

- Mark Acito

 

 

Can anyone else relate?

 

 

Whenever I’m kind of irritable or grumpy, dh will ask me if I’m “between books†(meaning do I not have a current book that I’m reading). Funny thing is he’s usually right. :) 

 

I just finished "Before I Go to Sleep" by SJ Watson. For like of a better description was gripping. It opens when the main character wakes up in bed with an old married man then discovers she is old too. She is suffering from amnesia and only has short term memory -- must relearn everything every single day. With the help of a psychologist she soon starts questioning who she can trust and who is telling her the truth. I gave it a 4 so it wasn't absolutely fabulous but it was hard to put down. ;)

 

 

 

I read this a few years ago and really liked it. It was one of the creepiest thrillers I’d read and one of the few mysteries that kept me guessing. I really wasn’t sure what was true and what wasn’t. 

[JuanitaL]

So far this year I've read:

1. The Power of Habit

2. Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End (last book of the series)

3. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question

4. How to be Your Own Selfish Pig

5. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (fun book! I was a little bummed when I finished it late Saturday evening and knew that my lack of planning would prevent me from having an additional Flavia de Luce book until Tuesday.)

 

I made it about 100 pages through Excellent Women, but it just wasn't pulling me in. Most of my reading tends to be right before bed and this one was just too easy to set down and turn out the light.

 

I'm currently reading Tanglewood Tales with my boys ( at the advice of a poster here we're reading other Hawthorne writings prior to The Scarlet Letter), and Chuck Colson's Loving God.

[Jane in NC]

:lol:  (And I'm even what can be deemed 'middle age'... )

 

 

 

Oh Stacia, what a great way to begin the day!  I have forwarded this to two friends and printed a hard copy to snail mail to my "middle aged" seventy something friend (former English major).  You will make her day!

 

 

[welovetoread]

Happy Monday!  We are awaiting wind chill from the artic tonight. Thankfully, our library isn't closed today, so we can stock up on some good books.  Im done with winter.

 I am having a hard time settling into a book these days.  I am currently reading The Ritual Bath and actually enjoying it.  First time I've read this author.  I have James Patterson waiting for me at the library and am also reading the Good Knight. 

 

[Luckymama]

In case you're unaware, Luckymama, Elizabeth Jennings also writes as Lisa Marie Rice (typically those books have more erotic content).

 

I've read and enjoyed Laura Florand's other Amour et Chocolat titles; thanks for bringing this one to my attention.  I've just put in a purchase suggestion at my library.

 

Regards,

Kareni

I've read some Lisa Marie Rice---I either love or strongly dislike her books (I want to slap the heroines :lol:)

 

I hope you like The Chocolate Temptation. It's a bit different from her other Amour et Chocolat works, slightly darker and mainly focused on the two protagonists. I normally read very quickly, but I find myself slowly way down to absorb every single word when I read Florand.

[mumto2]

I looked through the stack to see if I had anything appropriate for Robin's winter challenge or if I needed to get something from the library (side note: I wonder if my librarian is spying here because she recently set up a display of books with winter in the title)and discovered that I had "Dead Cold" by Louise Penny. It is the second Inspector Gamache if you live in the UK but called A Fatal Grace in the rest of the world. I feel pretty fortunate to have one in my pile that will work!

 

I am having problems with the 12th century. I was going to do the first Cadefel but think I am too familiar with the story thanks to the tv series and having read it before. I kept falling asleep so gave up. I am on the wait list for Pillars of the Earth which I have had on my list for awhile.

[Kim in Appalachia]

My brain has been having a hard time focusing on reading.  Right now I'm trying to read Fall of the Giants.  I put aside Hard Boiled Wonderland and I am focusing on the library book.  Fall of the Giants is an easier read than Murakami, which right now I think is good.  The story is engaging, but still, I just can't seem to focus.  Today is a big reading day for me.  I get almost 2 hrs time while my kids are doing violin lessons.  I'll see how much progress I make.

[mumto2]

Happy Monday!  We are awaiting wind chill from the artic tonight. Thankfully, our library isn't closed today, so we can stock up on some good books.  Im done with winter.

 I am having a hard time settling into a book these days.  I am currently reading The Ritual Bath and actually enjoying it.

I hope cold weather ends soon. Storms off the artic are the worst.

 

I love The Ritual Bath. I hope you continue to enjoy it. The first 3 or 4 books in that series are wonderful, I really need to read them again!

[Jane in NC]

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My dh had a very big laugh at me trying to pronounce the name of the website you linked! :lol:  (My dh & dd always make fun of how badly I pronounce Dutch words.)

 

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I suppose 'geschiedenis' is too hard with the 'g' and the 'sch', our daughter is that long in Belgium it became hard too her to pronounciate the 'sch' the Dutch way.....

 

Someone has to ask:  what is the Dutch way versus the Belgian way of pronouncing 'sch'?  And is that Belgian Dutch or Flemish? 

 

Munching on my beschuit as I await an answer...Not really.  I grew up in a part of the US where there were a number of people of Dutch extraction.  What we called rusks were a common snack food.  I just thought I'd toss an 'sch' out there.

 

Jane

[Mom-ninja.]

Well, if you can manage to get up on water skis in a squatting position, it will be quite painful to go around a lake on skis like that. (Water hitting the posterior at high speeds does actually hurt.)

 

Not that I'd actually know anything about skiing like *that*... :o

 

:huh: :lol:

 When I was renting my landlady (who was my age) went water skiing. It was not her first time. She was pretty good at it. Anyway, she ended up being drug around in the position you mention above. It literally tore her body. The force of the water went into her posterior and shredded her colon. She was bleeding profusely when she got out of the water. She didn't go to the doctor right away but went home. She said the bleeding turned into huge clots. So she finally went to the ER. She had emergency surgery to remove a large piece of her colon/large intestine. They rerouted her intestines so that she voided into a bag. She had to live like that for almost a year while they waited for her intestines to heal enough to try and fix it. She was able to finally have reconstructive surgery and she now voids normally again. She was lucky. She could have died from blood loss and blood infection from the feces that had gotten into her blood.

 

So she tells everyone to water ski wearing a sturdy pair of jeans cause a bathing suit offers no protection.

 

What I find amazing is that she had the best attitude about it all and cracked jokes about it all the time. The guy she was water skiing with just happened to be their first date. They ended up getting married. Can you imagine your first date being a major physical injury and the guy sticks with you through the next year of you having a poop bag taped to your ribs, and then marries you? Talk about a keeper!

[JennW in SoCal]

I am halfway through S. I am enjoying the margin story far more than Ship of Theseus. S o T reads like pulp fiction instead of a classic that inspires a lifetime of study. Or maybe it is the mystery of the author's identity that inspires the lifetime of study instead of the work itself? Anyway, I read a review with advice to read a chapter with the pencil notes only. Go back and read the blue/back notes. Until you finish the book. Then go back all the way through reading the orange/green notes, then a 3rd time reading the purple/red notes. So that is my plan. It is hard to ignore the colored margins when the page is full of them!

 

 

 

My son simply didn't move on from a chapter til he had read all the different colored notes -- and he kept a notepad with him where HE took notes!!  But it was slow going -- an hour or two per chapter.  I understand that it is the mystery of the author's identity that is the inspiration of the lifetime of study.

 

But what do I know?  I just gave it away as a gift and now it is sold out everywhere and I can't read it myself!!

[Lady Florida.]

Grrr! I multi-quoted a bunch of posts, then hit clear instead of reply so now they're gone! Maybe I'll try again later.

 

I haven't finished anything since Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. I'm at 4 for the year so far. 

 

Still reading:

 

Fiction - Les Miserables, Daniel Deronda, Whose Body. I was hoping to find a new mystery series with Sayers, but I'm finding Whose Body easy to put down. Daniel Deronda, OTOH, has really grabbed me.

 

Non-Fiction - The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Going Clear, Beyond Belief. Those last two are both about Scientology. I've been fascinated with it lately. Not as in, I want to convert, but as in trying to understand how people get pulled in and why the church treats its apostates the way it does.

[Kareni]

 

Skated to school, 6 freezing, beautiful miles with my boots and books on my back.

 

I presume this was uphill both ways?

 

I am halfway through S. I am enjoying the margin story far more than Ship of Theseus. S o T reads like pulp fiction instead of a classic that inspires a lifetime of study. Or maybe it is the mystery of the author's identity that inspires the lifetime of study instead of the work itself? Anyway, I read a review with advice to read a chapter with the pencil notes only. Go back and read the blue/back notes. Until you finish the book. Then go back all the way through reading the orange/green notes, then a 3rd time reading the purple/red notes. So that is my plan. It is hard to ignore the colored margins when the page is full of them!

 

I definitely wouldn't be able to ignore the colored marginalia especially since I found them (as did you) to be more appealing than Ship of Theseus.  I fear too that I would forget what was being commented on if I read SoT first before reading the notes.

 

My son simply didn't move on from a chapter til he had read all the different colored notes -- and he kept a notepad with him where HE took notes!!  But it was slow going -- an hour or two per chapter.  I understand that it is the mystery of the author's identity that is the inspiration of the lifetime of study.

 

But what do I know?  I just gave it away as a gift and now it is sold out everywhere and I can't read it myself!!

 

Yes, I'm with your son.  And, yes, I too have found it slow going.  I hope you get your hands on your own copy soon!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[marbel]

<snip>

 

Fiction - Les Miserables, Daniel Deronda, Whose Body. I was hoping to find a new mystery series with Sayers, but I'm finding Whose Body easy to put down. Daniel Deronda, OTOH, has really grabbed me.

 

<snip>

 

I couldn't get through Whose Body, but I was determined to read Sayers because everyone raves about her.  A friend (who pointed out that WB was Sayer's first book and that she got better) recommended The Nine Tailors which was great.  Strong Poison and Clouds of Witness were good too and I have Busman's Honeymoon on the kindle to read soon.  

[LostSurprise]

Finished a few things. I think I talked about most of them last week. Gail Carriger's Finishing School series did not disappoint and got me through a rough patch. I also finished Louise Erdrich's The Master Butcher's Singing Club which I started a few years ago and never finished. I'd like to do more of those this year! I have to clear off some of these shelves. 

Anyway, I had a mixed response to Erdrich's book of connecting short stories Love Medicine so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised at how well done it was. Erdrich managed to keep one of those epic family plots afloat while still peeking into all those little things that make us wonder about life; those little decisions, the necessary friendships, the loneliness, the work, the regret, the things you'll never know. I think my enjoyment was partly the characters. The title character (who isn't the narrator) is a German master butcher who came to the US after WWI. My great-grandfather was a master baker who came to the US right before WWI. His wife is named Eva. My great-grandmother's name was Eva. There are lots of little German things which are fun for me. But even without those characters, I think mostly I enjoyed a story about a motherless woman who needs friendship and intimacy and how she gets pulled into a family through that friendship. It seemed very human and beautiful to me, even down to taking care of her alcoholic father and feeling like she's trapped into taking care of the people around her. 

 

I also read a lot of cookbooks, even though I don't usually add them to my lists. Two I completely recommend: The New Midwestern Table by Amy Thielen and Modern Sauces by Martha Holmberg. I'm putting them both on my to-buy list. I'm also reading Keepers by Brennan and Campion. It's a cookbook which tries to help people learn how to make weekday meals for a family. Most people liked the fish tacos I made and they were super easy. Still flipping through that one. I'm not sure yet if I'll add it to a to-buy list, but the information is really good, especially for people who feel a little overwhelmed with planning and cooking dinner every night. 

 

This week: Finish Vampires in the Lemon Grove before I have to pick up anything new at the library. Continue on Hirschfield's poetry (The Lives of the Heart) and Borge's Labyrinths.

 

Best Book of the Year **

10 Best Books *

 

6. The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich~fiction, northern plains, WWI/WWII, relationships, Finally Finished!/Dusty Book. *

5. Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger~youth fiction, boarding school, spies, steampunk. 

4. Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown~fiction, pirates, food, colonialism.

3. The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution by Keith Devlin~non-fiction, Mathematics, 13th century, Indian-Persian numbers.

2. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli~youth fiction, 13th century, disability, read-aloud.

1. Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki~fiction, story within a story, Japan/Canada, Zen. *

 

[Stacia]

Someone has to ask:  what is the Dutch way versus the Belgian way of pronouncing 'sch'?  And is that Belgian Dutch or Flemish? 

 

Munching on my beschuit as I await an answer...Not really.  I grew up in a part of the US where there were a number of people of Dutch extraction.  What we called rusks were a common snack food.  I just thought I'd toss an 'sch' out there.

 

Well, I have no idea as I obviously don't have an ear for speaking Dutch. I do know that when my dd went to Dutch school (which was based out of the Netherlands), dh complained that she was getting a "Netherlanders" accent rather than a Belgian one. And, like everywhere else too, I suppose, there are dialects. Dh's family generally hails from the Antwerp area & I've been told many times there is a particular accent from Antwerp. (It's the nicest accent to have is also what I've been told. ;) :) )

 

 What I find amazing is that she had the best attitude about it all and cracked jokes about it all the time. The guy she was water skiing with just happened to be their first date. They ended up getting married. Can you imagine your first date being a major physical injury and the guy sticks with you through the next year of you having a poop bag taped to your ribs, and then marries you? Talk about a keeper!

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Ok. Well, I joke about my water skiing experience, but it was nothing, nothing like hers was. Poor woman!

 

I was about 10yo & kept trying; I could get into a squatting position, but going to a standing position always ended up w/ me being yanked in the water headfirst. After many times of that, I got in the squatting position & just couldn't make myself go any further. My dad & Mr. P were in the boat & kept yelling & signalling for me to stand up but I refused. So, I went all the way around the lake in a squatting position. No injuries, though, other than a stinging sensation & a feeling that water skiing was not really for me. :rolleyes:

[mumto2]

Not sure where else to share my horrible library news with so I will share here...my library is going to be turned into a community library staffed by volunteers. I know it could be far worse, complete closure. I am furious at the wastefulness I see in my local government in many areas (new modern office building for most employees is one prime example) and the one service my family uses extensively is going to be cut to a one or two day a week opening most likely. Almost all our books are transferred in from other libraries (which are also becoming community libraries) so I suspect long waits for all my books in the future. I just can't understand why -- the dcs and I sat in a corner of the library last week for two hours while workmen were at our house. I was amazed by how busy the staff was helping members of the community with various problems . They work hard. Very few free minutes. I don't understand why this particular cutback at all.

[Stacia]

Not sure where else to share my horrible library news with so I will share here...my library is going to be turned into a community library staffed by volunteers. I know it could be far worse, complete closure. I am furious at the wastefulness I see in my local government in many areas (new modern office building for most employees is one prime example) and the one service my family uses extensively is going to be cut to a one or two day a week opening most likely. Almost all our books are transferred in from other libraries (which are also becoming community libraries) so I suspect long waits for all my books in the future. I just can't understand why -- the dcs and I sat in a corner of the library last week for two hours while workmen were at our house. I was amazed by how busy the staff was helping members of the community with various problems . They work hard. Very few free minutes. I don't understand why this particular cutback at all.

 

:crying: :grouphug:

[Jane in NC]

Not sure where else to share my horrible library news with so I will share here...my library is going to be turned into a community library staffed by volunteers. I know it could be far worse, complete closure. I am furious at the wastefulness I see in my local government in many areas (new modern office building for most employees is one prime example) and the one service my family uses extensively is going to be cut to a one or two day a week opening most likely. Almost all our books are transferred in from other libraries (which are also becoming community libraries) so I suspect long waits for all my books in the future. I just can't understand why -- the dcs and I sat in a corner of the library last week for two hours while workmen were at our house. I was amazed by how busy the staff was helping members of the community with various problems . They work hard. Very few free minutes. I don't understand why this particular cutback at all.

 

Your news reminds me of Philip Pullman's excellent essay that was written in reaction to library closures in Oxfordshire.  Link here.

[Tress]

Not sure where else to share my horrible library news with so I will share here...my library is going to be turned into a community library staffed by volunteers. I know it could be far worse, complete closure. I am furious at the wastefulness I see in my local government in many areas (new modern office building for most employees is one prime example) and the one service my family uses extensively is going to be cut to a one or two day a week opening most likely. Almost all our books are transferred in from other libraries (which are also becoming community libraries) so I suspect long waits for all my books in the future. I just can't understand why -- the dcs and I sat in a corner of the library last week for two hours while workmen were at our house. I was amazed by how busy the staff was helping members of the community with various problems . They work hard. Very few free minutes. I don't understand why this particular cutback at all.

 

I'm sooo sorry! Our staff is mostly volunteers too, whenever I ask them something they have no clue, so I end up ignoring them most of the time. But only opening for one or two days a week...... :svengo: ....that's beyond horrible.

 

:grouphug:

[Stacia]

mumto2, a little bit of hope (maybe).... A few years ago, there was a plan in our county to drastically cut back libraries -- planning to close many of the branches, cutting hours, etc.... There was outrage & many showed up to council meetings, wrote letters, etc... in defense of the libraries. So, they managed to find budget cuts mostly elsewhere. They still reduced staff & hours a bit & closed only one branch but it was much better than the original action they had planned. And, as of Jan. 1 this year, they've now expanded some of the hours again, so that's a step in the right direction.

 

Would making some calls/writing some letters help change minds or policy???

[CAMom]

Not sure where else to share my horrible library news with so I will share here...my library is going to be turned into a community library staffed by volunteers. I know it could be far worse, complete closure. I am furious at the wastefulness I see in my local government in many areas (new modern office building for most employees is one prime example) and the one service my family uses extensively is going to be cut to a one or two day a week opening most likely. Almost all our books are transferred in from other libraries (which are also becoming community libraries) so I suspect long waits for all my books in the future. I just can't understand why -- the dcs and I sat in a corner of the library last week for two hours while workmen were at our house. I was amazed by how busy the staff was helping members of the community with various problems . They work hard. Very few free minutes. I don't understand why this particular cutback at all.

 

I'm so sad for you.  :grouphug: