Book a Week in 2014 - BW7

[JennW in SoCal]

Re reading Middlemarch. I first read it for Victorian Novel class at Baylor and loved it. I watched the miniseries in my 30s caring for my son during one of his his medical crises - special memory. I am really loving it in my mid 40s. I mostly read non fiction and occasionally more fluffy fiction - but this is so well written!

 

Good to hear.  It is definitely on the top of my "must read" list this year.

[Stacia]

BaW friends, here is the latest update from eaglei about her son (from this morning):

 

I haven't been online much because of all that is going on plus the internet service keeps crashing due to weather conditions.

 

Am scurrying now as we are leaving shortly for the hospital.  Ds scheduled for bone marrow aspiration this morning, which will give a definitive diagnosis.  

 

Hope remains; there have been some good signs; virus upon virus is still a viable possibility.

 

If you want to post this, that would be great, and if not, that's okay, too!  

 

We appreciate the prayers, good thoughts, etc., much more than we have words to say!

 

Gotta scoot - long drive and more weather heading our way.  Traveling safety is also a concern today!

 

Still holding on to the only One Who has all power!

 

Please continue to keep eaglei's son & the rest of the family in your thoughts & prayers.

[shukriyya]

Thank you for updating us, Stacia. May they all be well and at peace.
 

Re reading Middlemarch. I first read it for Victorian Novel class at Baylor and loved it. I watched the miniseries in my 30s caring for my son during one of his his medical crises - special memory. I am really loving it in my mid 40s. I mostly read non fiction and occasionally more fluffy fiction - but this is so well written!

 

I read Middlemarch in uni and enjoyed it. I would consider rereading it along with Bronte's Villette and Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale. I recall *loving* the latter.

And re books about books, Kindle daily deal looks fascinating.

[Stacia]

And while I am thankful that the orthodontics are coming to an end, I have to say... some of those long appointments were great for reading time!

LOL. And, I know what you mean. I've gotten some good reading chunks at the ortho's office. Of course, I have a second child who will be entering the ortho world before long & his path there will be even longer.

Be of good cheer, friends. We may convert Stacia yet. ;)

Please keep trying. I want to know why people love poetry so. I want to be able to understand it. I consider myself a somewhat literate person, but poetry is my huge stumbling block.... Maybe I need to take a poetry course.

Are y'all ready for some more linky love:

Ultra fab post & links, Robin. Thanks!!!

I forgot My Ideal Bookshelf. I loved seeing the books that people picked as the ones important in their lives. As a result of that book, my kids and I each picked the books that were important to us and have them displayed on the book shelf in the living room. The collection is fluid because the list changes as time goes on.

What a great idea.

Just make sure you don't take the road shown here. If you do, I doubt much progress will be made.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Love that picture! See, I look at that & see limitless progress -- because you can take a road like that anywhere you want to go. :001_smile:

Well lookie here...Anyone read this? It actually looks pretty intriguing and the excerpt I read was like something from an entirely different writer than that of 'Eat, Pray and Love'. The reviews aren't too bad either.

Haven't read that one. Sounds pretty good. Maybe that will go on my tbr list....

 

Iced in here this morning & more on the way.... Brrr!

[Stacia]

And re books about books, Kindle daily deal looks fascinating :http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13593093-journeys-on-the-silk-road?from_search=true

 

Looks good. (And my library has it. Yipee!)

[Violet Crown]

Thank you Stacia for the update.

[marbel]

 

Please keep trying. I want to know why people love poetry so. I want to be able to understand it. I consider myself a somewhat literate person, but poetry is my huge stumbling block.... Maybe I need to take a poetry course.

 

 

I generally dislike poetry and taking a course in college titled "Critical Writing: Poetry" made it even worse.  Dissecting each line, each word to find the meanings... ugh, if anything that made my dislike more intense.   That course had me crying in the professor's office:  "I can't get a D in this class, I am an English major."  I managed a B.  To her credit, the instructor did help and encourage me and I did manage to get better at the work... but not at the poetry love.

[Jane in NC]

Thank you for updating us, Stacia. May they all be well and at peace.

 

I read Middlemarch in uni and enjoyed it. I would consider rereading it along with Bronte's Villette and Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale. I recall *loving* the latter.

 

 

How did I miss The Old Wives' Tale?? Right up my alley..

 

 

Please keep trying. I want to know why people love poetry so. I want to be able to understand it. I consider myself a somewhat literate person, but poetry is my huge stumbling block.... Maybe I need to take a poetry course.

 

 

I was thinking about this last night and came to the conclusion that we place upon ourselves an undue burden when we read poetry, namely that we must understand it.  Why not just go with it?  Enjoy it? 

 

Bear with me for a minute.  Do you have to understand music to enjoy it?  Most people do not hear a piece of music and think about its composition, its nuance.  They just let it flow through them.  Why can't words do the same?

 

Consider Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, a lovely piece of music.  I suspect that you can listen to it and enjoy it.  But now consider that it was inspired by Malarme's poem of the same title.  What makes reading the poem (for many of us, a translated version of the poem) so different?

 

Can words be like music?

 

Perhaps you should see if your library has How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry.  It did not help my son but I thought there was some redeeming value to the book.

[Stacia]

I was thinking about this last night and came to the conclusion that we place upon ourselves an undue burden when we read poetry, namely that we must understand it.  Why not just go with it?  Enjoy it?

 

That's an interesting point. Will have to mull that one over....

 

Maybe the need to understand it comes from the feeling that, generally, when I read a book or an article, I at least some away with some understanding. I read poetry & often come away with the feeling of no understanding. Kind of like reading a language I don't understand. Just thinking out loud here.

 

I did read Altazor last year -- a long, surrealistic (& translated) poem & loved it. To be sure, there were plenty of things I did not understand. But, I do think that's one of the few (the only?) times where I felt like poetry was similar to music & I enjoyed the flow of words (w/ or w/out understanding) for the pure beauty of the words & structure.

[Kareni]

Please keep trying. I want to know why people love poetry so. I want to be able to understand it. I consider myself a somewhat literate person, but poetry is my huge stumbling block.... Maybe I need to take a poetry course.

 

 

Another book suggestion for you, Stacia ~  Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within.

 

From Booklist

The author, a noted novelist, comedian, and actor, doubts his new book will make it onto school curricula, and that's a shame. Of all the poetry guides you're likely to read (and there are a ton of them out there), this one's probably the most entertainingly written and downright useful. The book is full of technical terms--spondee, enjambment, trochee--but these are explained so cleverly and so clearly that we very quickly can use them as though we've been doing so all our lives. The book is an education not only in the mechanics of poetry but also in its history. And, naturally, it's full to bursting with the author's delightfully impish wit: "The above," he writes at one point, "is precisely the kind of worthless arse-dribble I am forced to read whenever I agree to judge a poetry competition." Fry's legion of fans will get an enormous kick out of it, and English-lit students will learn more from this one book than they will from a stack of more traditional textbooks. David Pitt

Copyright © American Library Association.

 

From Publishers Weekly

In this delightfully erudite, charming and soundly pedagogical guide to poetic form, British actor (narrator of the Harry Potter movies, among other roles), novelist and secret poet Fry leads the reader through a series of lessons on meter, rhythm, rhyme and stanza length and reveals the structural logic of every imaginable poetic form, including the haiku, the ballad, the ode and the sonnet. Writing poetry, like any hobby, should be fun, Fry claims, and while talent is inborn, technique can be learned. Inviting readers to study the wealth of choices of form available in the world's major poetic traditions, Fry himself pens intentionally vapid yet entertaining poems that demonstrate each form's rules and patterning, and ends each lesson with wittily devised exercises for readers. Fry rails against the dumbing down of verse in a section subtitled "Stephen gets all cross": "It is as if we have been encouraged to believe that form is a kind of fascism and that to acquire knowledge is to drive a jackboot into the face of those poor souls who are too incurious, dull-witted or idle to find out what poetry can be." Fry has created an invaluable and highly enjoyable reference book on poetic form, which deserves to achieve widespread academic adoption, despite or even because of its saucy and Anglocentric tone. (Aug. 17)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

I generally dislike poetry and taking a course in college titled "Critical Writing: Poetry" made it even worse.  Dissecting each line, each word to find the meanings... ugh, if anything that made my dislike more intense.   That course had me crying in the professor's office:  "I can't get a D in this class, I am an English major."  I managed a B.  To her credit, the instructor did help and encourage me and I did manage to get better at the work... but not at the poetry love.

 

That sounds like a science class not a poetry class :D

[shukriyya]

That's an interesting point. Will have to mull that one over....

 

Maybe the need to understand it comes from the feeling that, generally, when I read a book or an article, I at least some away with some understanding. I read poetry & often come away with the feeling of no understanding. Kind of like reading a language I don't understand. Just thinking out loud here.

 

I did read Altazor last year -- a long, surrealistic (& translated) poem & loved it. To be sure, there were plenty of things I did not understand. But, I do think that's one of the few (the only?) times where I felt like poetry was similar to music & I enjoyed the flow of words (w/ or w/out understanding) for the pure beauty of the words & structure.

 

See, I think that place of not understanding is actually where it's at. I'm sure I don't understand a lot of what a poet might be trying to do. And I care not a whit, that's not why I read poetry. But hanging out in that place of not knowing gives rise to wonderful possibilities. What is it I don't understand? Why don't I understand? Is there something meaningful to me to actually understand? Does it matter less if I understand but matter more that I loved the way the poet used these two words together and how that felt in my body, where my mind went with it, did my breath catch, do I feel still, agitated, how do my bones feel when I read this phrase, my heart, what is my breath doing? Poetry is such a physical experience in my books. There is no right or wrong way to read it.

 

And the other thing I think about poetry is that the poem, as a living body, actually cares about being read, wants an audience much in the same way we do when we have something to share. I like to think of it as lending one's ear to the poem's desires.

[shukriyya]

How did I miss The Old Wives' Tale?? Right up my alley..

 

Yes, I thought of you as I was linking. I think you'd enjoy it if you haven't already. I recall loving it.

 

 

I was thinking about this last night and came to the conclusion that we place upon ourselves an undue burden when we read poetry, namely that we must understand it.  Why not just go with it?  Enjoy it? 

 

 

Yes and yes!

[Onceuponatime]

That sounds like a science class not a poetry class :D

 

It actually sounds like fun to me. However, I think it would work best with lyrical poetry or other kinds with definite rules of form. I find I appreciate the beauty of the poem even more if I take it apart and see the intentional design.

[shukriyya]

It could be fun with the right kind of teacher couldn't it. But I think that often people think that's the *only* way to read poetry and it's what turns them off, the feeling that they don't have the context, intelligence, metaphorical muscle etc.

[shukriyya]

Middlemarch lovers here's a little trajectory.

[JennW in SoCal]

and Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale. 

 

I immediately envisioned a novel written by Mrs. Bennett, as in Darcy's batty mother-in-law in Pride and Prejudice! :rofl:

 

Oh the stories she would tell!

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

I was thinking about this last night and came to the conclusion that we place upon ourselves an undue burden when we read poetry, namely that we must understand it.  Why not just go with it?  Enjoy it? 

 

Bear with me for a minute.  Do you have to understand music to enjoy it?  Most people do not hear a piece of music and think about its composition, its nuance.  They just let it flow through them.  Why can't words do the same?

 

Consider Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, a lovely piece of music.  I suspect that you can listen to it and enjoy it.  But now consider that it was inspired by Malarme's poem of the same title.  What makes reading the poem (for many of us, a translated version of the poem) so different?

 

Can words be like music?

 

 

:iagree:  But while I can appreciate and enjoy poetry, I do not go out of my way to read it.  

 

The music analogy is a good one.  We could also compare the reading of poetry to eating an excellent meal or savoring a good glass of wine.  Either of those can simply be enjoyed but a connoisseur will dissect it and find a whole new level of enjoyment. No doubt we could simply enjoy the rhythm and music of poetry, but, for those of us who enjoy and use words, it is harder to just let the poetry wash over us because we are intent upon the words. It is maddening be presented with an elusive meaning woven into a set of very familiar words.  It just seems wrong to have to approach the written word differently when we already read very well, thank you very much!!    

 

I have a hard time unplugging my musician's ear when I'm out and about.  I am still learning, practicing and studying music, so what is background music in a store or restaurant is actually work for me, and a huge distraction.  I can't focus on what I'm looking for or the conversation I'm having because I automatically start listening to the phrasing and the tempo. I don't know how to not listen.  A romantic dinner was almost ruined for me once when the staff refused to turn down the volume of a particular Beethoven violin sonata!! 

[shukriyya]

:iagree:  But while I can appreciate and enjoy poetry, I do not go out of my way to read it.  

 

Because?

 

 

The music analogy is a good one.  We could also compare the reading of poetry to eating an excellent meal or savoring a good glass of wine.  Either of those can simply be enjoyed but a connoisseur will dissect it and find a whole new level of enjoyment. No doubt we could simply enjoy the rhythm and music of poetry, but, for those of us who enjoy and use words, it is harder to just let the poetry wash over us because we are intent upon the words. It is maddening be presented with an elusive meaning woven into a set of very familiar words.  It just seems wrong to have to approach the written word differently when we already read very well, thank you very much!!    

 

And yet I think letting 'the poetry wash over us' is integral to the experience of reading poetry. I might even be so bold as to say it should be the first stop on the journey. Some of us are content to disembark there and others of us would like more. I think both ways inherently complete the reader because each reader is a universe unto themselves.

 

 

I have a hard time unplugging my musician's ear when I'm out and about.  I am still learning, practicing and studying music, so what is background music in a store or restaurant is actually work for me, and a huge distraction.  I can't focus on what I'm looking for or the conversation I'm having because I automatically start listening to the phrasing and the tempo. I don't know how to not listen.  A romantic dinner was almost ruined for me once when the staff refused to turn down the volume of a particular Beethoven violin sonata!!

 

There is a poem hidden within the bolded  :lol:

[Robin M]

I finished Here Be Dragons late last night.  Stayed up way too late, but was enthralled, enchanted, captured by Penman's writing.  It was one of the books I inherited from my late, very English, mother in law.  It was a trip through the 13th century with King John, and Lleweleyn - Prince of Wales, who married John's daughter Joanna to form an alliance between England and Wales. Political intrigue and infighting, arranged marriages, wars between England and Wales, England and France, threats by the Pope to excommunicate everyone involved, fluid political alliances. Penman took a very dry subject, at least for me, and made it interesting. She personalized the characters, taking you inside their heads and lives, from childhood to death. Once starting reading it, found it very hard to put down and the story, the characters staying in my head, drawing me back to the story. Thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the rest of the Welsh princes series.
 
 
 
The kindle daily deal of Journeys on the Silk Road is a must read.  I read it last year.   I generally don't accept many offers to read non fiction, but Journeys on the Silk Road fit in with our history studies last year and since I wanted to learn more about the subject was more than happy to accept FSB Associates offer to read and review.  The authors are educational without being snooty and entertaining as they take the reader on a adventure.  They made the history of archeologist Aurel Stein fascinating as they followed his travels through China, Tibet and more. 
 

Synopsis:   "When a Chinese monk broke through a hidden door in 1900, he uncovered one of history's greatest literary secrets: a thousand-year-old time capsule of life along the ancient Silk Road. Inside the chamber on the edge of the Gobi Desert, documents were piled from floor to ceiling. The gem among them was the Diamond Sutra of 868 AD, now recognized as the world's oldest printed book. 

The sutra, a key Buddhist teaching, was made nearly 600 years before printing transformed European civilization. The book's journey — by camel through treacherous deserts, by boat to London's curious scholars, by train to evade the bombs of World War II — merges an explorer's adventures, political intrigue and continued controversy. 

The words of the Diamond Sutra have inspired Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley and the Dalai Lama. Its path from East to West has coincided with the growing appeal of Buddhism in the contemporary world. As the Gutenberg Age cedes to the Google Age, the discovery of the Silk Road's greatest treasure is an epic tale of survival, a literary investigation and an evocation of the traveling power of the book."

[Robin M]

What was cut to make the "unfilmable" book Winter's Tale into a movie.  Interesting...

[Tullia]

I finished Reamde in good time last week and give it a "thumbs up."  If you're intrigued by Neal Stephenson's novels, but don't care for some of the fantastical settings, Reamde is a thriller set in the here and now.  These days my standard for a good read in the fiction category is if I find myself reading instead of doing __________ then it qualifies. :D

 

This week I've continued my Asian tour with two books by Kay Bratt Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage and Chasing China; A Daughter's Quest for Truth. The first is a non-fiction account of the years the author lived in Shengxi (2003-2006), and the second is a short work of fiction based on some of the author's experiences. Silent Tears was difficult for me to read.  I appreciate the author's honesty about how she was unable to accept some of the attitudes toward the disabled.Today I'm starting my ninth book for this year, Journeys on the Silk Road, Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters. 

[Hoot]

Today I finished The Hot Zone by Richard Preston.  I absolutely could not put this book down.  It is the first this year that really gripped me and wouldn't let go.  I've put his Demon in the Freezer on hold at the library, though I may end up breaking down and just getting it on Kindle instead.  We have a snow storm headed our way and I'm not a patient woman.  

 

On the heels of The Hot Zone, I started Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales, though I can't say it has grabbed me yet. 

 

Completed So Far

 

1. The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

2. Winnie Mandela: Life of Struggle by Jim Haskins

3. Herbal Antibiotics by Stephen Harrod Buhner

4. When Did White Trash Become the New Normal? by Charlotte Hays

5. Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar

6. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

7. Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide by Rosemary Gladstar

8. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

 

[Stacia]

:crying:  Eaglei's son got a diagnosis of leukemia.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/498232-urgent-prayer-request-for-ds/?p=5479057

 

Eaglei, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: .

[prairiegirl]

Well lookie here...Anyone read this? It actually looks pretty intriguing and the excerpt I read was like something from an entirely different writer than that of 'Eat, Pray and Love'. The reviews aren't too bad either.

 

I read it a few weeks ago.  I don't know if it means anything seeing that you and I don't like the same kind of books :laugh:  but I liked the book.  There were some weird parts to it   but I did  think it was well written  but I thought  Eat, Pray, Love was well-written so take this  with a grain of salt.

[Robin M]

:crying:  Eaglei's son got a diagnosis of leukemia.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/498232-urgent-prayer-request-for-ds/?p=5479057

 

Eaglei, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: .

 

Eaglei - I'm so sorry and my heart goes out to you. You have our thoughts and prayers, always.  Anything you need, just ask.

 

[mumto2]

I have internet!!! Things on here have been moving fast. I managed to read a couple of Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series while in transit. "Moon Called" and "Blood Bound" are the first two and currently working on the third. Amazed at how interrelated they are with her other series Alpha and Omega.

 

[shukriyya]

Eaglei, no words just lots of :grouphug:

[mommymilkies]

:grouphug:  Eaglei, my heart goes out to you.  My ex-SIL had leukemia (two types) as a baby.  She pulled through and now has four kids.  I wish you and your son all the best and every bit of good vibes I can send your way!

 

I signed up for the Bravewriter retreat in Cincinnati.  I'm excited but scared!  Hopefully this will help me bring more love of literature to some of my more squirrely children.  I'm still slowly working on Proven Guilty by Butcher.  Every time I pick it up to read during the day I fall asleep!  :glare:

[Kareni]

 I managed to read a couple of Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series while in transit. "Moon Called" and "Blood Bound" are the first two and currently working on the third. Amazed at how interrelated they are with her other series Alpha and Omega.

 

I'll be interested to hear your comparison of the Mercy Thompson books to the Alpha and Omega books.  (Yes, I've read them all but I do think they're different.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I'll be interested to hear your comparison of the Mercy Thompson books to the Alpha and Omega books.  (Yes, I've read them all but I do think they're different.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

They seem to be taking place simultaneously which is different. I read the first two Mercy Thompson's as one essentially so I can't separate them very well but someplace in the middle of book two the entire first book of Alpha and Omega apparently happens. Shortly after A and O 's book two must of happened. Now in book three I am wondering what I am missing because I haven't read anymore of A and O. :lol: I think quite a bit might be going on but my stack is huge and no time to attempt to coordinate this midway switch series order.

 

When reading A and O it wasn't the least bit distracting. Probably because I didn't know. ;) So I think I am going to stick with MT for now simply because I have a 5 book omnibus from the library on my kindle. I travel by myself this weekend for my mom's 92nd birthday so tons of plane time with no distractions. Dh and the dc's plan to stuff themselves at Cracker Barrel while I am gone for the week.

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished Do You Believe in Magic and I really liked it. Thanks again, Floridamom for posting about it.

 

I started a Sherlock Holmes book and was surprised and disappointed that the book began with Holmes getting high from cocaine injections. Somehow that put a damper on my image of the perfectly clever and genius Mr. Holmes.

[Jane in NC]

 

 

I started a Sherlock Holmes book and was surprised and disappointed that the book began with Holmes getting high from cocaine injections. Somehow that put a damper on my image of the perfectly clever and genius Mr. Holmes.

And perfectly flawed. Holmes has a tendency to get bored...

[Kareni]

... I think I am going to stick with MT for now simply because I have a 5 book omnibus from the library on my kindle. I travel by myself this weekend for my mom's 92nd birthday so tons of plane time with no distractions.

 

I hope that you have a good trip and enjoy the books.

 

The Alpha and Omega books take a huge leap forward in time between Hunting Ground and Fair Game.  Hunting Ground takes place within months of Charles and Anna's marriage while Fair Game takes place several years later.

 

My curiosity concerns your feelings about the books as a whole.  While I enjoy the Mercy Thompson books, I much prefer the Alpha and Omega books and they are frequent re-reads of mine.  I think the latter books deal to a far greater extent with the relationship between the two leads. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Onceuponatime]

I finished The Dante Game and am now reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. It could also have been called Death after Death. It moves pretty quickly interest wise, but the author has sprinkled sentence fragments in the story. It's hard to swallow them whole when I won't allow my children to write in fragments. They don't seem to have a real contribution to the style or purpose of the story.

 

ETA: The story is moving so quickly and has me involved on a personal level. So, now  I'm not noticing anymore fragmented sentences, if there are any.

[mumto2]

Thank you so much for telling me Fair Game takes place years later. I am so compulsive about reading in order that I was worrying about what I should do.

 

At this point the only comparison I can give is the A and O characters are better developed. The MT books are a bit more like quick reading candy. I know the A and O took longer to finish which means they made me slow down which is a good thing because they require more concentration.

 

 

 

I hope that you have a good trip and enjoy the books.

 

The Alpha and Omega books take a huge leap forward in time between Hunting Ground and Fair Game.  Hunting Ground takes place within months of Charles and Anna's marriage while Fair Game takes place several years later.

 

My curiosity concerns your feelings about the books as a whole.  While I enjoy the Mercy Thompson books, I much prefer the Alpha and Omega books and they are frequent re-reads of mine.  I think the latter books deal to a far greater extent with the relationship between the two leads. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

And perfectly flawed. Holmes has a tendency to get bored...

Yes, that what he says in the book. He gets bored.

[MicheleinMN]

I tried to start Dante's Inferno.  I did.  I REALLY did.  But I just could not get into to it.  I'm off to find my Ciardi translation because whatever it is I have on my Kindle is NOT working for me.

 

1. Sycamore Row by John Grisham

2. Defending Jacob by William Landay

3. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

4. Thor's Wedding Day by Bruce Coville

5. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

6. These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf  (Bad Lifetime Movie as an audible book)

7. The Racketeer by John Grisham (much better than Sycamore Row, more like old Grisham)

 

 

Currently Reading:

1. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 

2. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

3. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

4. Classical Mythology by Stephen Harris and Gloria Platzner

5. The Divine Comedy (Inferno) - well sort of

6. Song of Achilles

 

And I'm listening to Elizabeth Vandiver's lectures on Greek Tragedy from the Great Courses available from Audible.com. (These are so GOOD!)

 

[shukriyya]

I finished Susanna Kearsley's, 'Mariana'. It held my interest enough to keep on with it. Writing was mediocre, characterization mediocre, story line mediocre, yet another clunky plot twist and still on I went with it. I'm wondering why...Inexplicably this cat perfectly sums up the ambiguous nature of my feelings about it...

 

 

Next on the fiction roster the choice is between 'A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar', August is a Wicked Month or The Moonspinners

[SunnyDays]

Oh, Eaglei, I'm so sorry.  May strength be granted to you and your family as you move forward.  Please keep us posted as you're able.  :grouphug:

 

 

[Jane in NC]

 

 

Next on the fiction roster the choice is between 'A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar', August is a Wicked Month or The Moonspinners

 

 

Looks like someone needs to escape!  The Moonspinners!  Wow---I remember the film with Hayley Mills but I have never read the book.  (Adds to list...)

 

 

[Jane in NC]

BaW friends, here is the latest update from eaglei about her son (from this morning):

 

 

Please continue to keep eaglei's son & the rest of the family in your thoughts & prayers.

 

Stacia,

I want to thank you for keeping us in the loop about Eaglei's son. 

 

Letting Eaglei know that I am thinking about her and her family on this new day.

 

Jane

[Onceuponatime]

Looks like someone needs to escape!  The Moonspinners!  Wow---I remember the film with Hayley Mills but I have never read the book.  (Adds to list...)

 

 

 

I didn't know this had been made into a movie. It looks like it is a bit different than the book, but I would like to see it.

[welovetoread]

Hello fellow book lovers!  I feel a bit incomplete this week, as I have not had the chance to pour over every post.  Single parent to 6 kids this week and a new love affair with my kindle paperwhite has put a kink in my check ins.

 

Last week, I did not finish anything on paper, however LOVED Elegance of the hedgehog on audio.  Amish Nanny and Amish Bride are on the kindle almost done with Nanny. I also just got the The Sweetness at the bottom of the pie on kindle.  Working at a steady pace :)

 

Stacia, I'm with you on Poetry.  I'm trying, I'm really trying, but its just not working for me.

[Jane in NC]

I didn't know this had been made into a movie. It looks like it is a bit different than the book, but I would like to see it.

 

My age is showing...I grew up on a diet of Hayley Mills movies.

[Angel]

My age is showing...I grew up on a diet of Hayley Mills movies.

 

Like The Trouble with Angels?  My mom's favorite :)

[Tress]

I signed up for the Bravewriter retreat in Cincinnati.  I'm excited but scared!  Hopefully this will help me bring more love of literature to some of my more squirrely children.

 

That sounds great! Please write about it here, when you return!

 

[JadeOrchidSong]

Harry Potter 7.

I just finished Seven Harrys.

My heart still hope Snape turns out good and Dumbledore is not dead.

Come on, Snape!

So my hopes came true. What a sacrifice Snape endured, even misunstood unto his death. I am glad that I liked this guy all the way, mainly because I believed in the goodness of Dumbledore and also a friend told me the ending would be very surprising. J. K. Rowling is amazing hiding it all so well to the end.

[shukriyya]

Looks like someone needs to escape!  The Moonspinners!  Wow---I remember the film with Hayley Mills but I have never read the book.  (Adds to list...)

 

 

 

:lol: you might be right. I started 'A Lady Cyclists's Guide to Kashgar'. It's alternately set in 1923 and present day. The 1923 setting involves 3 British sisters, unmarried, traveling alone in the 'stahns'. The present day setting is London and a single woman who befriends a Turkish artist who is there illegally. Not sure whether it's going to hold my interest.

 

 

My age is showing...I grew up on a diet of Hayley Mills movies.

I loved The Parent Trap, the original is the one I grew up on too. And wasn't she in The Flame Trees of Thika?

[The Governess]

So my hopes came true. What a sacrifice Snape endured, even misunstood unto his death. I am glad that I liked this guy all the way, mainly because I believed in the goodness of Dumbledore and also a friend told me the ending would be very surprising. J. K. Rowling is amazing hiding it all so well to the end.

I loved the ending of the series. I read book 6 when it came out and then had to wait 2.5 YEARS to find out how those cliffhangers were going to be resolved. Even after 2.5 years of making predictions, re-reading, browsing Harry Potter forums, discussing clues, etc.... the way she wrapped everything up in that final book kept me on the edge of my seat and was wonderfully satisfying. I can't say that about many other series I've read. I'm re-reading the whole thing to my kids now. :D