Book a Week in 2014 - BW4

[marbel]

<snip>

Personally, I'd read Have his Carcase and Gaudy Night before Busman's Honeymoon - the relationship between Peter and Harriet gets developed over those books and I think Busman's Honeymoon is much more delightful with that foundation.

 

<snip>

 

Happy to take that advice.  I've started another fun book (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) and by the time I'm done with that, Have His Carcase should be in at the library.  Kindle edition isn't cheap enough for me right now, and my library system doesn't have an electronic version to borrow.  Paper will have to do.

 

Thanks!

[Pam in CT]

On library cuts and closures...

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

 

Much of interest here, though I was a bit disappointed at the extent to which he demeans "volunteers" even as he lambasts the bureaucrats' demeaning of the librarians.  People really do run all sorts of initiatives and organizations on a volunteer, but very competent basis... something about that part struck me as patronizing.

 

Well this is just rotten!  We homeschooled through the many budgetary ups and downs of our branch library, but it never, ever was in any danger of becoming a volunteer run library with limited hours.  That's just nuts!  In my stereotype vision of England, everyone is very well read and scholarly and the downgrading of a town library could simply never happen. Of course, in my mind everyone is wearing tweed, too. 

 

Our town has over the years evolved an absurdly complex private-public partnership for the library, with a non-profit organization that owns part of the building and all of the surrounding land and covers a % of operating costs; and an independent board of directors who raise additional funds and orchestrate a lot of public and private grants; so that only about 20% of the costs are covered by tax revenues.  It's wildly complicated and does require a huge amount of effort on the part of volunteers (who do a good deal more than tidy the shelves...)  But it works.

 

I feel your pain.  Any possibility that you could volunteer in a way that would directly benefit you?  For example, you could offer to be in charge of the book requests to other libraries in the system.

 

 

Now you're thinking out of the box!  Make it work for YOU!  :o)

 

 

Amazon Plans to Ship Packages Before They are Ordered.

 

They are becoming alien, mind readers.  First it was the drones and now they are mind reading. What next?

 

Hmm! I need to add a few more books to my wishlist.  :lol:

 

... or if Amazon could integrate this (ridiculous!) idea with the right return policies, who needs a library??

 

 

 

Another possible stop on the BaW around-the-world tour.... :D

 

That Might Look Like A Book... But It's Not. It's Actually A Completely Brilliant Idea.

 

Brilliant, indeed!

 

 

 

Jenn, I don't know how to split your post into two parts... but I think it might have been me who last week called Paul Theroux a grump... which is not to say I don't enjoy him; just that I would  not turn down a chance to go somewhere funky because he's written crabbily about it!  I'll look for Dark Star Safari -- I haven't read either of his more recent ones.

[Lakeside]

I didn't make much progress last week for a variety of reasons, but I am happy to say I completed The Odyssey today!  It was the Fagles translation, which I discovered isn't favored here but I decided to read it anyway. ;) (It was a copy I picked up at a yard sale years ago and it sat collecting dust on the shelf.)  Having never read it before, I don't have any other version to compare it to, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it!  It was much more accessible and engaging than I expected it to be.

 

I haven't started anything else yet.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I started reading through How to Use Child-size for Art Appreciation, but I don't think that counts! 

 

In Progress

Anne of Avonlea (Read Aloud)

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Rediscover Catholicism

 

Completed

4. The Odyssey Homer translated by Robert Fagles

3. A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich

2. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

1. The Practice of the Presence of God With Spiritual Maxims by Brother Lawrence

[Stacia]

Jenn, I don't know how to split your post into two parts...

Pam, since it seems that you're now ready for advanced-level multiquoting ( :lol: ), here's how I split posts into multiple parts....

 

Once I've multiquoted, if there is a quote that I know I'll want to break up into two or more sections, I will highlight & copy the quoted part (including the box that includes the original poster's name), then paste the copy (or multiple copies) in the reply box. As usual, then just delete any text that's not relevant each time you want to use it.

 

Once you do that, I think you'll be ready to graduate from the advanced multiquoting class. :laugh:

[Pam in CT]

I was also wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a book that pertains to the Stolen Generations in Australia. I would really like to learn more about that but have not been able to find really any documentaries. :bigear:

 

Not a book, but if you haven't already seen the movie The Sapphires, it's terrific.  I'm going to look for Rosie's rec, Rabbit Proof Fence, too.

 

 

Eliana - just looked up several of Elana Bell's poems on line... wow.  I'll look for Eyes, Stones: Poems as well.

 

 

I also liked her Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France.  At the time, I posted:

 

"Le Road Trip tells the story of one idyllic French honeymoon trip, but it is also a witty handbook of tips and advice on how to thrive as a traveler, a captivating visual record with hundreds of watercolor illustrations, and a chronicle depicting the incomparable charms of being footloose in France. Armchair travelers, die-hard vagabonds, art journalists, and red wine drinkers will all find something to savor in this story."

 

This looks so fun!  I so wish I could draw... Can you imagine what her personal travel journals must look like?

 

 

 

 

 

...Code name Verity captured me from the very beginning.  It was one of a dozen Kindle samples I was going through to decide whether to place a library hold, to delete it, or to add it to a tbr list... but when I reached the end of the sample, I couldn't bear to stop reading.  We spent grocery money on it.

 

..so, for me, it wasn't a gradual appreciation, I was sold almost immediately.

 

The reassurance I can offer is that there is a structure, there is a linear plot... it just isn't being presented linearly, and I think it is a stronger, more powerful book for the way it is structured, but ymmv.  It all does, imho, come together - and since it is a YA book, it has a happier ending than strict historical accuracy might call for (ten times this for Rose Under Fire), but it broke my heart.  The center of this book, for me, was the friendship of the two central characters, and it resonated so strongly that, in a way, it felt as if the ending was me and my best friend... but Wein's two WWII books also exemplify the way some truths can be better conveyed via fiction.  (This is an incredibly loaded, painful debate, especially around Holocaust issues - dd#2 gave me on a book on the topic, here let me find it: A Thousand Darknesses)

 

 

My 10 year old and I are riveted by CNV (just getting to the part where the second character narrates).  The plot lines are coming together fast and furious - it's very hard to put it down when it's time for her to go to bed!

 

Have you read A Thousand Darkness yet?  It looks very interesting, though as you say, difficult.

 

 

 

 

I feel the same way, about both Hemingway and Achebe, well, Achebe's fiction.  I discovered last year that I really love his essays and his poetry... but some writers offer things I am not equipped to appreciate... sometimes I can see, if only dimly, what it is they are doing and appreciate, perhaps, the skill involved, of the significance of their contribution, but it leaves me, personally, cold.  ...but sometimes, years later, I come back to that work or author, and am then able to appreciate it... though often it leaves me just as cold...

 

I haven't read any of Achebe's poetry... I just finished his Man of the People today.  Much less nihilistic than Things Fall Apart, and much funnier, and generally more accessible... but less innovative too.  I think I'll give There Was a Country a go, and then call it a day! 

[Pam in CT]

Hmmm.  You mean...

 

Pam, since it seems that you're now ready for advanced-level multiquoting ( :lol: ), here's how I split posts into multiple parts....

 

Once I've multiquoted, if there is a quote that I know I'll want to break up into two or more sections, I will highlight & copy the quoted part (including the box that includes the original poster's name)..... 

 

 

... Like this?

 

...  then paste the copy (or multiple copies) in the reply box. As usual, then just delete any text that's not relevant each time you want to use it.

 

Once you do that, I think you'll be ready to graduate from the advanced multiquoting class.  :laugh:

 

 

 

Wowza!  Thanks for the tutorial!

[twoxcell]

 

Not a book, but if you haven't already seen the movie The Sapphires, it's terrific.  I'm going to look for Rosie's rec, Rabbit Proof Fence, too.

The link does not seem to be working. I have seen the movie called Rabbit Proof Fence but my library doesn't have the book.

[Rosie_0801]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sapphires-Chris-ODowd/dp/B00ECU44SS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390552126&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Sapphires

 

Try that

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

[Jane in NC]

For those reading 'Code Name, Verity' I keep being reminded of another book called 'Spy Princess' about the life of sufi mystic Noor Un-Nissa Inayat Khan. She was the last undercover radio operator in Nazi occupied France for British Intelligence. This book is not for the faint of heart.

 

This is one I have missed which unfortunately my library does not have.  Sigh...

 

On library cuts and closures...

 

Much of interest here, though I was a bit disappointed at the extent to which he demeans "volunteers" even as he lambasts the bureaucrats' demeaning of the librarians.  People really do run all sorts of initiatives and organizations on a volunteer, but very competent basis... something about that part struck me as patronizing.

 

 

Our town has over the years evolved an absurdly complex private-public partnership for the library, with a non-profit organization that owns part of the building and all of the surrounding land and covers a % of operating costs; and an independent board of directors who raise additional funds and orchestrate a lot of public and private grants; so that only about 20% of the costs are covered by tax revenues.  It's wildly complicated and does require a huge amount of effort on the part of volunteers (who do a good deal more than tidy the shelves...)  But it works.

 

As a professional volunteer, Pullman's comments actually resonated with me in part because people are perpetually asking me to take on additional tasks.  I'm just so competent, don't you know.  (Sheepish grin.) The reality is that are endless tasks to be done and not so many volunteers to fill them.  Hoisting more work on those already active in their communities is unrealistic in my eyes.

 

One of the organizations for which I have been an active volunteer in some capacity or other for over ten years had faced severe cutbacks in recent times.  Things are on the mend, but I had noticed that they needed help beyond what I was normally doing.  So one afternoon a week, I am the person who greets you should you walk through the door or call the organization.  I do this solely as a volunteer (hence my book and knitting).  But I must tell you that as a volunteer, I am not the professional who can answer clients questions except for the very basic ones.  Your library's private/public partnership may work, but as the former president of a non-profit with a quarter of a million dollar annual budget and the current treasurer of a small potatoes non-profit, I don't know if every community could successfully host such as an undertaking.  I applaud yours. 

 

As a library lover, as a person who sees the institution of the library as a pillar of democracy, it pains me whenever local governments threaten to close libraries.  Admittedly most libraries are underfunded and understaffed--which is why I am a member of two different "Friends of ..." organizations for the two libraries I regularly use.

 

Bear in mind too that Pullman wrote his essay during the recent economic troubles when people were losing their jobs and piecing together a couple of part time jobs to get by or trying to find a new job.  During those times, I met some volunteers at my public radio station who were able to volunteer because they were unemployed.  But not all unemployed people have this luxury.

 

I really don't thing any of us disparage volunteers.  With Pullman, I just wonder how much of life should depend upon them.

[Onceuponatime]

On facebook this morning:

 

 

 

[

[Pam in CT]

As a professional volunteer, Pullman's comments actually resonated with me in part because people are perpetually asking me to take on additional tasks.  I'm just so competent, don't you know.  (Sheepish grin.) The reality is that are endless tasks to be done and not so many volunteers to fill them.  Hoisting more work on those already active in their communities is unrealistic in my eyes.

 

One of the organizations for which I have been an active volunteer in some capacity or other for over ten years had faced severe cutbacks in recent times.  Things are on the mend, but I had noticed that they needed help beyond what I was normally doing.  So one afternoon a week, I am the person who greets you should you walk through the door or call the organization.  I do this solely as a volunteer (hence my book and knitting).  But I must tell you that as a volunteer, I am not the professional who can answer clients questions except for the very basic ones.  Your library's private/public partnership may work, but as the former president of a non-profit with a quarter of a million dollar annual budget and the current treasurer of a small potatoes non-profit, I don't know if every community could successfully host such as an undertaking.  I applaud yours. 

 

As a library lover, as a person who sees the institution of the library as a pillar of democracy, it pains me whenever local governments threaten to close libraries.  Admittedly most libraries are underfunded and understaffed--which is why I am a member of two different "Friends of ..." organizations for the two libraries I regularly use.

 

Bear in mind too that Pullman wrote his essay during the recent economic troubles when people were losing their jobs and piecing together a couple of part time jobs to get by or trying to find a new job.  During those times, I met some volunteers at my public radio station who were able to volunteer because they were unemployed.  But not all unemployed people have this luxury.

 

I really don't thing any of us disparage volunteers.  With Pullman, I just wonder how much of life should depend upon them.

 

I agree, totally, especially about libraries being an essential pillar of democracies and how, therefore, it is incumbent that sufficient public funds be made available to support them properly.  (FWIW, I feel the same way about quality public schools, even though we as a family do not avail of them.)

 

The public/private partnership model is a very weird one, that has mushroomed in our area over the last fifteen years.  There are 501©3's that operate alongside, and support substantial % of the operating costs of, the libraries, the parks and rec programs, the senior centers, and even the public schools themselves.  The foundations own and maintain athletic fields, they purchase the land on which community facilities are built; they underwrite whole school departments in the arts and languages, etc.  It enables more prosperous towns to maintain programs that have long been slashed elsewhere across the state, and enables individuals who have a particular interest in a particular program or service to support it directly through tax deductible charitable donations, rather than taxes.  The foundations are run by formidably competent people like yourself !!, mostly women, who generally don't take a salary even though the work is essentially full time.

 

I feel deeply ambivalent about it.  The mechanism gets a worthy job done -- I am extremely grateful to live in a town with a library like ours -- but it also breeds enormous disparities between geographic areas.  (It is, for example, completely irrelevant to compare public school per capita tax expenditures across towns in CT, even though those disparities are jaw-dropping, because in the more prosperous suburbs up to ~20% of school expenditures are "off line" -- covered by the 501©3's, corporate grants, or other outside fundraising and therefore not included in the tax-funded budget.)  There's also a sense in which I think it coopts the democratic process.  As you say, I don't think much of life should depend on them, because they are not possible in most places.

 

So I do get where Pullman is coming from.  

 

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Gena Showalter’s  Black and Blue (Otherworld Assassin) which is the second in a paranormal romance series.

 

"Corbin Blue is a man of many talents. One of the most powerful otherworlders ever born, he is wealthy, a professional football star, and a legend in the bedroom. But only a select few know he is also a black ops agent . . . and there is no better killer. When he and his crew are attacked and separated, he’s forced to turn to his boss’s daughter for help—a woman with even more secrets than Blue.


Evangeline Black has always been wary, guarded. No man has ever breached her walls. Until Blue. He has never been denied something he wants, and now he’s decided he wants her. As he sweeps her into his double life of seduction, intrigue, and danger, he helps her see beyond the darkness of her past. But as an enemy closes in, Blue will have to let Evie go to keep her safe—even though he’d rather die than live without her. . . ."

 

Gena Showalter is a popular author and the book clearly kept me reading until the end; however, I'm left feeling somewhat unmoved.  Does she have fans here?  What book of hers would you recommend?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I came across a book review this morning which gave me a chuckle.  I thought others here might also enjoy it.

 

The book under discussion is Abide with Me by Sabin Willett.

 

From Kirkus Reviews:

 

"He’s a bad boy from the trailer park; she’s a princess in small-town Vermont; but their electric connection spans class and time. Sound familiar?

 

The second-best thing that happened to young Roy Murphy was being sent to juvenile detention after firing a gun to scare off the drug dealer preying on his mother. The best thing was his magical 10-week teenage affair with Emma Herrick, the beautiful blonde daughter of Hoosick Bridge’s first family. In his fourth novel, Willett (Present Value, 2003, etc.) updates the star-crossed love story of Wuthering Heights, while adding dashes of Homer, Jane Eyre and a Band of Brothers–style camaraderie. The looping narrative, full of foreboding and forewarning, is at its strongest during scenes of Murphy’s five-year military term in Afghanistan. Returning, he learns of Emma’s father’s financial disgrace and suicide and Emma’s engagement to nice, preppy lawyer George. Roy now devotes himself to making money, so successfully that two years later he can buy Emma’s family home, the Heights, which he shares with Emma’s half-demented mother and George’s boho sister Izzy, who is now Roy’s occasional lover, until a mysterious fire redraws the landscape.

 

Too much wuthering, too few heights in a story which describes eternal passion but doesn’t give it life or a satisfactory ending."

 

It's the last sentence that amused me.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

 

 

[mumto2]

Library Update -- since I started all the discussion about volunteerism I feel like I should give an update. We just got home from a walk and picked up some information along the way. Public opinion is being sought apparently and a consultation for imput is being prepared -- basically means some public meetings and a survey. This is in regards to the situation with the whole system not just my little library. To be honest I am more concerned with adults and children in other areas in our borough and their access to a library...Plans are well underway in my village so our library will be converted. I never had any doubt. Plenty of volunteers but as people have been pointing out there is a finite amount of things volunteers can be expected to run.

[Jane in NC]

 

Too much wuthering, too few heights in a story which describes eternal passion but doesn’t give it life or a satisfactory ending."

 

 

It's the last sentence that amused me.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

I read this last sentence as a strong gust sent the wind chimes whipping.  Too much wuthering indeed!

 

[CAMom]

Guess where I get to go today? :D

 

Powell's City of Books in Downtown Portland. 

 

My dd and I are leaving dh and the boys at home while I take her to a college interview which happens to be less than a mile from Powell's. Unencumbered by boys, we will browse and read until our hearts are content. And, I put something in the crockpot for the boys this morning so dd and I can also eat dinner in the heart of Portland wherever we want. ;)

[JennW in SoCal]

Guess where I get to go today? :D

 

Powell's City of Books in Downtown Portland. 

 

My dd and I are leaving dh and the boys at home while I take her to a college interview which happens to be less than a mile from Powell's. Unencumbered by boys, we will browse and read until our hearts are content. And, I put something in the crockpot for the boys this morning so dd and I can also eat dinner in the heart of Portland wherever we want. ;)

 

I made a pilgrimage to Powell's and the smaller house and garden Powell's while my ds and I were visiting colleges in Oregon.  I was kinda hoping he would choose one of the schools in the area just so I'd have a good excuse to visit often!  Even the Powell's branch in the Portland airport is wonderful.

 

Have a wonderful time!!

[shukriyya]

I finished Incarnadine this week. Though finished doesn't seem like the right word to use here, there is the sense with a book of good poetry that one is never finished with it and I know I'll be dipping into this from time to time. I can't let a few lines go without sharing...This first bit is from 'Insertion of Meadow with Flowers'

God could have chosen other means than flesh.

Imagine he did

...For look, the flowers
do not spin, not even

the threads of their shadows--
and they are infused
with what they did not
reach for.

Out of nothing does not mean

into nothing.

***

I love that first line, in italics such that I imagine it's being whispered softly but in a way that makes it standout so there is a vast silence on either side of it. Followed by the suggestion to imagine the possibility. With the pronoun uncapitalized no less! The unspoken biblical reference in the next line and the image of livingness being infused with what it didn't reach for, that out of nothing doesn't mean into that, a kind of colliding of name and form. This reminds me of Eliana's beautiful comment earlier in the week which is still ringing its own spaciousness through my being.

The second poem is called 'Here, There are Blueberries'. Before even reading this poem I saw Sal and her mother and the bear and the blueberries and the light and joy that pours off those pages. That was my context going in to this poem along with my own memories of picking blueberries and eating them and making pies with my mom. Italics are mine not hers.

When I see the bright clouds, a sky empty
of moon and stars,
I wonder what I am, that anyone should note me.

Here there are blueberries, what should I
fear?
Here there is bread in thick slices, of
whom should I be afraid?

I love this juxtaposition of blueberries and sun and sky and emptiness and bread with the basics of emotion, fear and one's place in the world. It's so visceral, the dark, oozing blueberries, the light bouncing off them, and bread which is a country of metaphor and poetry unto itself.

She goes on..

What taste the bright world has, whole
fields
without wires, the blackened moss, the
clouds

swelling at the edges of the meadow. And
for this,
I did nothing, not even wonder.

So much movement in this poem. And that last line...encourages such a depth of reflection on the nature of Generosity.

[Stacia]

In my Daily Mail reading ( :o ), I just saw a reference that relates to a book I finished this week, Muriel Spark's Aiding and Abetting. Sparks' book was a fictional account of what may have happened to the real Lord Lucan, who disappeared in 1974 after the children's nanny was bludgeoned to death, along with his estranged wife (who was injured, but not killed, in the attack). It was/is widely believed that Lord Lucan was the guilty party. (The reference in the article is the second one, which mentions 46 Lower Belgrave Street.) Spark's book is based on imagining Lucan's life after his disappearance & what he would be doing now as an older/elderly man.

[Robin M]

NM

 

[shukriyya]

Okay BaWers, a question for you. I'm reading 'Winter Sea' following the winter theme idea and also because I needed something light after my previous two non-fiction reads. And I'm surprising myself by really enjoying it. Surprised because I don't think the writing is particularly stellar. It's not bad by any means just nothing to make the heart and soul sing. But, and here's the rub, she's a good story weaver and so far her characterization is not too heavy handed. So that got me wondering about the times one is willing to suspend judgement on the writing quality and just enjoy a romping good story and the times one would prefer less story and better writing and the rare times when the two collude with each other to produce something delicious. Do you all find yourselves choosing one over the other, keeping in mind, of course, beauty/good reading and the beholder and all that jazz?

[mumto2]

Just wanted to point out this book is the perfect argument why professional librarians are needed. Preface with the librarians at our branch joke that if one of them didn't make the request on the computer they know it was me. Just saying this to explain I totally get the basic system and how to use it to a pretty high level. Anyway the system owns two copies of this book --which does look fascinating, by the way. One is permanently shelved in reference(system doesn't say where and normally should) the other has an on loan status but..... get this has never, ever, been circulated -- not once, with no home library (they always have a home library). Who knows they may not have even one copy! Obviously if I really want this I need to call a real employee. :lol:

 

Sorry for the rant, it was just such a perfect example of what I am trying to tell everyone as to why paid staff is needed in a large system.

 

 

 

In my Daily Mail reading ( :o ), I just saw a reference that relates to a book I finished this week, Muriel Spark's Aiding and Abetting. Sparks' book was a fictional account of what may have happened to the real Lord Lucan, who disappeared in 1974 after the children's nanny was bludgeoned to death, along with his estranged wife (who was injured, but not killed, in the attack). It was/is widely believed that Lord Lucan was the guilty party. (The reference in the article is the second one, which mentions 46 Lower Belgrave Street.) Spark's book is based on imagining Lucan's life after his disappearance & what he would be doing now as an older/elderly man.

[Kareni]

Okay BaWers, a question for you. I'm reading 'Winter Sea' following the winter theme idea and also because I needed something light after my previous two non-fiction reads. And I'm surprising myself by really enjoying it. Surprised because I don't think the writing is particularly stellar. It's not bad by any means just nothing to make the heart and soul sing. But, and here's the rub, she's a good story weaver and so far her characterization is not too heavy handed. So that got me wondering about the times one is willing to suspend judgement on the writing quality and just enjoy a romping good story and the times one would prefer less story and better writing and the rare times when the two collude with each other to produce something delicious. Do you all find yourselves choosing one over the other, keeping in mind, of course, beauty/good reading and the beholder and all that jazz?

 

I'm one who definitely reads for that 'romping good story'.  I'm usually oblivious to the quality of the writing unless it's terrible.  I tend to get lost in the story but something like a misspelled word or an apostrophe error can jar me out of the story. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

So that got me wondering about the times one is willing to suspend judgement on the writing quality and just enjoy a romping good story and the times one would prefer less story and better writing and the rare times when the two collude with each other to produce something delicious. Do you all find yourselves choosing one over the other, keeping in mind, of course, beauty/good reading and the beholder and all that jazz?

 

I tend to lean toward better writing (as being in the eye of this beholder, anyway) overall. But, like you've mentioned, sometimes I just want a romping good read/story, even if the writing is mediocre. I guess I consider that second category to be 'brain candy' reading (& I definitely need that sometimes), but if I read two brain candy books in a row, it's often enough for me & I feel unsatisfied until I can fall back into a book with very good (or great) writing. Optimally, I am reading something with both a great story & writing.

 

Perhaps this is why Russian Winter is sitting here in stall mode on my desk. The writing is ok; the story is ok. It's not 'light' enough (in content & fun, I suppose) to really be brain candy. So, it really doesn't fit any of my categories. (?) I really don't feel compelled to continue reading/finish the book in the next 48 hours (at which time I'll have my book club meeting about this book).

 

My very rough estimate for myself would be...

80-85% great (or very good) writing & story

15-20% brain candy/mediocre writing quality

[Onceuponatime]

I'm one who definitely reads for that 'romping good story'.  I'm usually oblivious to the quality of the writing unless it's terrible.  I tend to get lost in the story but something like a misspelled word or an apostrophe error can jar me out of the story. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

I tend to be on the "good story" side also and prefer to get lost in the story. The last time I noticed something particular about punctuation was in The Snow Child. I thought it odd that most of the dialogue was missing quotation marks, but not all of it. However, I did notice that, for me, it gave it a more ghostly kind of  sound in my head. Who knows if that's what the author intended.

 

I do think, though, that the definition of a good story is different from person to person. We each have different interests and tastes that are reflected in our judgements. They change over the years, too.

 

I'm a few chapters into Russian Winter and am finding it mildly interesting, not spectacular but not awful.

[mumto2]

I am another one who requires a good story. There is a certain language level I require but that bar isn't too high as long as it flows nicely. I get super irritated by incorrect descriptions, my 1500's highlander should not have a zipper unless he time traveled. ;) But otherwise if it is clever and fun I will read almost anything. The longer it takes me to read something increases my expectations. If I am going to read 900 pages it had better have a really interesting story and somewhat memorable language and descriptions. I will happily read 400 pages of fluff.

 

About half my books are mysteries, with those I just want a clever ending mainly. I am pretty good at guessing who did it and give huge bonus points to books that keep me in suspense. I also like them to make sense!

 

 

 

Okay BaWers, a question for you. I'm reading 'Winter Sea' following the winter theme idea and also because I needed something light after my previous two non-fiction reads. And I'm surprising myself by really enjoying it. Surprised because I don't think the writing is particularly stellar. It's not bad by any means just nothing to make the heart and soul sing. But, and here's the rub, she's a good story weaver and so far her characterization is not too heavy handed. So that got me wondering about the times one is willing to suspend judgement on the writing quality and just enjoy a romping good story and the times one would prefer less story and better writing and the rare times when the two collude with each other to produce something delicious. Do you all find yourselves choosing one over the other, keeping in mind, of course, beauty/good reading and the beholder and all that jazz?

[shukriyya]

The last time I noticed something particular about punctuation was in The Snow Child. I thought it odd that most of the dialogue was missing quotation marks, but not all of it. However, I did notice that, for me, it gave it a more ghostly kind of  sound in my head. Who knows if that's what the author intended.

 

See, now I find this fascinating. Both the fact that you noticed the missing quotation marks and that you noticed the aural effect it had on your reading experience. Which then led to your question about the author's vision in writing the story the way she did.

[marbel]

Guess where I get to go today? :D

 

Powell's City of Books in Downtown Portland. 

 

My dd and I are leaving dh and the boys at home while I take her to a college interview which happens to be less than a mile from Powell's. Unencumbered by boys, we will browse and read until our hearts are content. And, I put something in the crockpot for the boys this morning so dd and I can also eat dinner in the heart of Portland wherever we want. ;)

 

Waaahhhh!  I lived in the Portland area for 9 years and even though that is a small percentage of my life I think it will always be home.  I miss the area, and Powell's, so much!   Hope you had a good time!  I'm sure you did!

 

[Angel]

Wow, I forgot what it was like to read normal sized books after last year's "Year of the Robert Jordan Chunkster"  :lol:

 

Well, that and the fact that it has been so freezing cold and snowy that I haven't wanted to be out of the house and have had more time to read  ;)

 

I just finished Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley.  It was near the top of my TBR pile after Robert Jordan.  I just love Flavia!  What a clever little detective, umm, character.  I'm always nervous when she puts herself into tight places.  She always has me thinking that this time she is caught for sure!  This book didn't disappoint.  There were plenty of tight places, numerous people who could have done it, a clever solution to the case, and a CLIFFHANGER!  I have been secretly hoping for the last two books that they were going toward this...I hope it's done right!!  One of my favorite things about this book is the connection between Flavia and her sisters and father.  I'm liking the development there.  Can't wait to read the next book!  I don't know if this is a 4 or 5 star book.  I certainly couldn't put it down for the last 200 pages  :D

 

I don't know what I'm going to read next.  I'm waiting for dd's friend to bring back the 3rd Michael Vey so I'm not ready to get into anything big.  Maybe I will do a Shakespeare or my 12th Century read.  

 

1 – The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs

2 – Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

3 – The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

4 – Michael Vey:  The Rise of the Elgin by Richard Paul Evans

5 – Soulless by Gail Carriger

6 - Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

[Robin M]

Okay BaWers, a question for you. I'm reading 'Winter Sea' following the winter theme idea and also because I needed something light after my previous two non-fiction reads. And I'm surprising myself by really enjoying it. Surprised because I don't think the writing is particularly stellar. It's not bad by any means just nothing to make the heart and soul sing. But, and here's the rub, she's a good story weaver and so far her characterization is not too heavy handed. So that got me wondering about the times one is willing to suspend judgement on the writing quality and just enjoy a romping good story and the times one would prefer less story and better writing and the rare times when the two collude with each other to produce something delicious. Do you all find yourselves choosing one over the other, keeping in mind, of course, beauty/good reading and the beholder and all that jazz?

I find it very difficult to enjoy a story, even a romping good one,  if the writing quality is lower quality or poor. Lower quality being a writer (James Patterson for instance) who writes at the 10th grade level and thinks the reader has absolutely no imagination.  Poor writing gets me every time, whether it be grammar or typos or just plain stupidity.   If the writing is stellar, I can forgive a less than stellar story, but it has to be at least interesting enough to keep me reading.  Does that make sense.   I'm also a very visual person, so if I can't dive into the story and see it, then forget it. Which is why I don't like blood and guts horror - can't handle it.   Some books are like well done paintings - in which you sit there, picking out all the nuances as well as enjoying the whole picture.  Others, an eclectic mess in which you sit there saying I don't get it. 

[mlbuchina]

Finished Spiral.  I'm at a loss.  I'm going to have to do some thinking on it before I know what I think about it.   :lol:

 

I can't decide if I want to go right into the third book, or take a break and read something else.  Hhmm...

[Violet Crown]

4. Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

 

This was a read-aloud to Middle Girl, consisting of a dozen of Irving's more junior-pleasing stories, mostly from The Sketchbook and The Alhambra. Most of them not new to me, but fun to read out loud. I regret to say my pronunciation of the Spanish names was much more Texan than Castilian, but MG didn't notice.

 

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

 

One hot summer afternoon in the dog-days, just as a terrible black thunder gust was coming up, Tom sat in his counting-house, in his white cap and India silk morning-gown. He was on the point of foreclosing a mortgage, by which he would complete the ruin of an unlucky land-speculator for whom he had professed the greatest friendship. The poor land-jobber begged him to grant a few months' indulgence. Tom had grown testy and irritated, and refused another day.

 

"My family will be ruined and brought upon the parish," said the land-jobber. "Charity begins at home," replied Tom; "I must take care of myself in these hard times."

 

"You have made so much money out of me," said the speculator.

 

Tom lost his patience and his piety. "The devil take me," said he, "If I have made a farthing!"

 

Just then there were three loud knocks at the street door.

 

-"The Devil and Tom Walker"

 

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

 

3. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables

2. Frederick Rolfe, Hadrian VII

1. Thomas Mann, Death in Venice & Other Stories

[Violet Crown]

Eliana, you asked me something in a post some time back and I was going to reply but have been distracted by life, and now can't remember nor find the post.

[marbel]

 

I own the Kindle editions (I picked them up on sale), and they have lending enabled - I could lend them to you if you want/need them sooner than your library can deliver!

 

 

Aw, thanks!  But the book is already at the library, ready for me to pick up tomorrow.  I'll have it before I am ready to start reading! 

 

[Violet Crown]

Amazon Plans to Ship Packages Before They are Ordered.

 

They are becoming alien, mind readers. First it was the drones and now they are mind reading. What next?

 

Hmm! I need to add a few more books to my wishlist. :lol:

The WSJ article says "So Amazon says it may box and ship products it expects customers in a specific area will want." Which suggests that they're not preparing to ship to specific addresses, but using their data-mining to store the right approximate number of units in the right local distribution centers. Which sounds a lot like they just invented the book store.

 

And that makes me wonder why Amazon hasn't been doing this already. Would storing units at local "hubs" have made them liable for state taxes? And are they now doing this because many states are requiring Amazon to pay state taxes anyhow?

[Kareni]

Today I read the romantic suspense novel Hunted by Karen Robards.  I enjoyed it.

 

 

"’Twas the night before Christmas . . . and dozens of rich, influential hostages are trapped inside a sprawling lakefront mansion in New Orleans. The perp? Detective Reed Ware, model cop turned outlaw. After receiving a panicked call from Hollis “Holly†Bayard, a teenage street tough with a penchant for amateur sleuthing who stumbles upon the scene of a drug-deal-turned- murder, Ware finds his and his friend’s lives in dire danger. The crime Holly witnessed could be the biggest police cover-up this side of New Orleans—and no one’s talking. Driven to desperate measures to uncover the truth, Ware stages a coup at a Christmas party for the New Orleans elite, including the mayor, the council chairman, the sheriff, and the superintendent of police, who just happens to be hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace’s estranged father.

Cool, calm, controlled. That’s Caroline’s reputation. But when she’s brought in to talk Ware off the proverbial ledge, she realizes no amount of false promises is going to placate this man, who looks even hotter than he did years ago when seventeen-year-old Caroline tried to seduce him. It was his duty to protect her family then. Now it’s her turn . . . if she can think fast enough over the pounding of her heart.

When Caroline becomes wrapped up in the drama, it’s clear the sizzling tension she shared with Ware never let up. And the harder she tries to defuse the situation, the more she begins to wonder whose side she’s really on."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[CAMom]

Oh, have fun!   We lived in Oregon when I was growing up and made regular trips up to Portland... my mother still loves to talk about the early days when old Mr Powell ran the store...

 

Those quotes make me tear up... I hadn't thought I'd be ready to reread it again, but with all this discussion of it, I'm very tempted.

 

 

Here's a link to a post I made with a list of short stories I've used with middle or high school students.  ...my favorite Charlotte Perkins Gilman work is her short novel Herland.

 

 

We only live 25 miles from Portland now so can take advantage of that treasure trove of books often. There is a smaller but still huge version of Powell's even closer to us in Beaverton. It's like being a kid in a candy store!

 

Thank you for the link and the Charlotte Perkins Gilman novel. I shall check it out.

 

I finished Verity last night and I do love it. I'm still processing it.

 

Waaahhhh!  I lived in the Portland area for 9 years and even though that is a small percentage of my life I think it will always be home.  I miss the area, and Powell's, so much!   Hope you had a good time!  I'm sure you did!

 

 

We had a great time. We spent a good hour and a half browsing carefully through each room.

 

I came home with two short story anthologies. Dd bought an eclectic group of books ranging from James Joyce to Hemingway to some YA fiction she's been wanting to read. We could both spend all day there! :-)

[Lady Florida.]

Hit send before finishing. I blame it on posting from a tablet.

[Lady Florida.]

I find it very difficult to enjoy a story, even a romping good one,  if the writing quality is lower quality or poor. Lower quality being a writer (James Patterson for instance) who writes at the 10th grade level and thinks the reader has absolutely no imagination.  Poor writing gets me every time, whether it be grammar or typos or just plain stupidity.   If the writing is stellar, I can forgive a less than stellar story, but it has to be at least interesting enough to keep me reading.  Does that make sense.   I'm also a very visual person, so if I can't dive into the story and see it, then forget it. Which is why I don't like blood and guts horror - can't handle it.   Some books are like well done paintings - in which you sit there, picking out all the nuances as well as enjoying the whole picture.  Others, an eclectic mess in which you sit there saying I don't get it.

 

Pretty much what Robin said, though I don't mind some gore if it advances the story. Like Stacia I want both good writing and a good story (and well developed characters). I have no trouble abandoning a book if the writing is poor. Even the mysteries I like have somewhat decent writing. Brain candy is good in small doses, and is like good quality chocolate. Sure it's candy but it's the good stuff.

[Stacia]

As far as reading around the world, I found this list on Goodreads & am going to use it to track my reading from different places this year.... Posting in case anyone else wants it too.

 

And, if anyone wants to create a map of where they've read, you can create one here:

http://bighugelabs.com/map.php#top

 

(Does anyone know how to embed the code for this kind of map so that it would show up in a post here??? I've tried the embed code link & can't seem to get the map to actually show up.)

 

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

 

Africa
Algeria - Angola - Benin - Botswana - Burkina Faso - Burundi - Cameroon - Canary Islands - Cape Verde - Central African Republic - Chad - Comoros - Congo (Republic) - Congo (DRC) - Djibouti - Egypt - Equatorial Guinea - Eritrea - Ethiopia - Gabon - Gambia - Ghana - Guinea - Guinea-Bissau - Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) - Kenya - Lesotho - Liberia - Libya - Madagascar - Malawi - Mali - Mauritania - Mauritius - Morocco - Mozambique - Namibia - Niger - Nigeria - Reunion - Rwanda - Sao Tome & Principe - Senegal - Seychelles - Sierra Leone - Somalia - South Africa - South Sudan - Sudan - Swaziland - Tanzania - Togo - Tunisia - Uganda - Western Sahara - Zanzibar - Zambia - Zimbabwe

Antarctica

Asia
Bangladesh - Bhutan - Brunei - Cambodia - China - Georgia - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia - Japan - Kazakhstan - Korea, North - Korea, South - Kyrgyzstan - Laos - Macau - Malaysia - Maldives - Mongolia - Myanmar - Nepal - Pakistan - Philippines - Singapore - Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Tajikistan - Thailand - Tibet - Timor Leste - Turkey - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Vietnam

Caribbean
Anguilla - Antigua & Barbuda - Aruba - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Bonaire - Cayman Islands - Curacao - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Grenada - Guadeloupe - Haiti - Jamaica - Martinique - Montserrat - Puerto Rico - Saba - St. Barth's - St. Eustatius - St. Kitts & Nevis - St. Lucia - St. Maarten - St. Vincent & the Grenadines - Trinidad & Tobago - Turks & Caicos - Virgin Islands

Europe
Albania - Andorra -Armenia - Austria - Azerbaijan - Azores - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey) - Croatia - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - Estonia - Faeroe Islands - Finland - France - Germany - Gibraltar - Greece - Greenland - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Kosovo - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Macedonia - Madeira - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Montenegro - Netherlands - Northern Ireland - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - San Marino - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Ukraine - Vatican City - Wales

Latin America
Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Chile - Colombia - Easter Island - Ecuador - Falkland Islands - French Guiana - Galapagos Islands - Guyana - Paraguay - Peru - Suriname - Uruguay - Venezuela

Middle East
Afghanistan - Bahrain - Iran - Iraq - Israel - Jordan - Kuwait - Lebanon - Oman - Palestine - Qatar - Saudi Arabia - Syria - United Arab Emirates - Yemen

North America
Belize - Canada - Costa Rica - Cuba - El Salvador - Guatemala - Honduras - Mexico - Nicaragua - Panama - USA

Oceania
Australia - Cook Islands - Fiji - French Polynesia - Guam & Wake - Kiribati - Marshall Islands - Micronesia - Nauru - New Caledonia - New Zealand - Niue - Palau - Papua New Guinea - Pitcairn Island - Samoa - Solomon Islands - Tonga - Tuvalu - Vanuatu

[shukriyya]

We only live 25 miles from Portland now so can take advantage of that treasure trove of books often. There is a smaller but still huge version of Powell's even closer to us in Beaverton. It's like being a kid in a candy store!

 

Well this passage from 'Winter Sea' is very a propos then, CAMom. Actually I thought of all my sister BaWers when I came across it and knew if anyone could appreciate the visual here you all could...

 

'And that atmosphere was stronger in the narrow, lamplit study that he showed me to. One wall was lined from floor to ceiling with glass-fronted bookcases, their shelves packed tight with volumes old and new, hardback and paperback. And where he had run out of room to stand a book up properly on edge, he'd laid it horizontally across the top of its companions and stacked others over that, so there were books wedged in wherever there was space. It had the same effect on me as the sight of a candy store had on a six-year-old.'

[mumto2]

Stacia -- Thank you for posting the mapmaker link. Fun stuff I have only completed a few countries this year but because they include the US, Canada, and China, my map looks quite impressive.

[Shawneinfl]

Here's another list for you...this one is from the Circe Institute

 

http://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/books-read-year

[Shawneinfl]

Not a book, but if you haven't already seen the movie The Sapphires, it's terrific.  I'm going to look for Rosie's rec, Rabbit Proof Fence, too.

 

 

 

We just watched the Sapphires again on Netflix last night - for the third time. Wonderful movie.

[mlbuchina]

I'm enjoying my selections so far this year, but nothing is grabbing hold of me.  I'm wanting a book that grips me so tight I have to stay up all night and read it.  Like Water for Elephants did, when, at 5 in the morning I'm on my knees at the foot of my bed, bouncing up and down, cheering Old Jacob on, and desperately trying not to wake up my dh.  I haven't read anything that has left me wrung out, physically AND emotionally, in a long time.

 

I want to read something where I disappear, and when I read the last word on the last page, I'm so disconnected to the real world that it doesn't feel real at all.

 

Any books you've read that have made you feel that way?

[marbel]

I'm enjoying my selections so far this year, but nothing is grabbing hold of me.  I'm wanting a book that grips me so tight I have to stay up all night and read it.  Like Water for Elephants did, when, at 5 in the morning I'm on my knees at the foot of my bed, bouncing up and down, cheering Old Jacob on, and desperately trying not to wake up my dh.  I haven't read anything that has left me wrung out, physically AND emotionally, in a long time.

 

I want to read something where I disappear, and when I read the last word on the last page, I'm so disconnected to the real world that it doesn't feel real at all.

 

Any books you've read that have made you feel that way?

 

I keep searching for that too.  A few years ago I had it in A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.  I can't think of any others right now. 

 

[mlbuchina]

Stacia, I've downloaded The Lunatic to my Kindle, and chapter 2 breaks off in the middle of a sentence.  Are you reading the printed book, or are you reading it on an e-reader, too?  Did your chapter 2 end like that?

[Angel]

I'm enjoying my selections so far this year, but nothing is grabbing hold of me.  I'm wanting a book that grips me so tight I have to stay up all night and read it.  Like Water for Elephants did, when, at 5 in the morning I'm on my knees at the foot of my bed, bouncing up and down, cheering Old Jacob on, and desperately trying not to wake up my dh.  I haven't read anything that has left me wrung out, physically AND emotionally, in a long time.

 

I want to read something where I disappear, and when I read the last word on the last page, I'm so disconnected to the real world that it doesn't feel real at all.

 

Any books you've read that have made you feel that way?

 

The two books in recent years that made me feel that way were Juliet by Anne Fortier and The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  Not the kind of books you all usually read but I couldn't tell you what happened in my house while I was reading those.  In fact, The Host was so bad that dd19 remembers the 3 days I read that book and she had to fend for herself and her little sister. LOL!  She commented on that fact the other day when we watched the movie.  

 

Other than those two, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the only other one I can think of off the top of my head.  It happened to me twice  ;)

[mlbuchina]

The two books in recent years that made me feel that way were Juliet by Anne Fortier and The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  Not the kind of books you all usually read but I couldn't tell you what happened in my house while I was reading those.  In fact, The Host was so bad that dd19 remembers the 3 days I read that book and she had to fend for herself and her little sister. LOL!  She commented on that fact the other day when we watched the movie.  

 

Other than those two, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the only other one I can think of off the top of my head.  It happened to me twice  ;)

 

I loved Juliet!  Yes, it definitely grabbed me and wouldn't let go.  The Host did, too.   :D

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has a special place in my heart.  My Pawpaw was in the hospital, and the family had been called in.  I finished the book while we were waiting, and he passed away a few minutes later.