Book a Week in 2014 - BW7

[mumto2]

Eaglei -- Still praying for your son and family. :grouphug:

 

Eliana -- Praying for your daughter and grandbaby. I hope the dizziness goes away soon. Praying for you and your dh too. :grouphug:

[mumto2]

Shukriyya and Stacia -- I will put some thought into time travel books and try to come up with some great ones. I have read many over the years. I think part of the reason I loved 1Q84 was the time travel element. The idea of being transported to another place and time and having to find a way to survive has always fascinated me. I admit that I generally take these journeys with pretty frothy romances which neither of you would enjoy. I will consult with my best friend who I share most of these books with and see if we can pick some that you might like.

 

I watched a great time travel movie on the plane with the actor who played Bill Weasley called About Time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Time_(2013_film) It was sad at the end but worth it. ;)

 

On the subject of Connie Willis, I read and loved Bellweather last year. It almost made my top 10 list! I keep meaning to read some more by her.

 

Stacia -- Glad you arrived safely. Downhill skiing or cross country?

[Onceuponatime]

Some Time travel I have read and enjoyed, of varying quality:

 

Time at the Top and its sequel - Edward Ormandroyd (Juvenile fiction)

A String in the Harp- Bond (juvenile fiction)

Time and Again and its sequel From Time to Time- Jack Finney

The House on the Strand- DuMaurier

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Colombus- Orson Scott Card

Enchantment- Orson Scott Card

The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court- Twain

Lincoln's Dreams- Connie Willis

The Doomsday Book- Connie Willis

To Say Nothing of the Dog- Connie Willis

Passage- Connie Willis

Timeline- Michael Crichton

The Eyre Affair and sequels- Jasper Fforde

The End of Eternity- Asimov

 

FYI: All Clear by Connie Willis is a "to be continued" book. If you want the whole story, you will have to read the next book. OOps it is the other way around, All Clear is the continuation of Blackout.

 

This is going to be considered sacreligious but I only own about a dozen books I haven't read yet. That doesn't include books I haven't read that dh and the kids own.  I have a high turnover rate. I buy many books at thrift stores and library book sales. After they are read, I decide whether or not to keep them or trade them in at the book exchange. I also go through my shelves about once a year and cull books that no one is interested in, or not likely to be interested in at a future time. 

 

 

 

[mumto2]

Onceuponatime's list is awesome. I have just been through a massive google search of time travel books. The ones she listed were all on another list or two and appear to be the best choices imo.

 

I found this article https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/recent-novels-use-time-travel-great-effect/ which has some fascinating choices. I am actually interested in all of them. The stack grows.....

 

Ds has done well off my search too. I found quite a few ones with titles like How to build a Time Tavel machine for him. Lol

[Onceuponatime]

Another time travel that I just remembered: Fire, Burn! by John Dickson Carr  

[Mom-ninja.]

  But let's not discuss what's on my Kindle... I am sure it was over 100 at last count, and that was several impulse purchases ago!

 

Yeah, my count does not include what's on my Kindle and my Nook.

[Violet Crown]

Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the few time travel novels I've read, but it should definitely be on the list.

 

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Eaglei and Eliana, my continued thoughts and prayers.

 

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[edited]

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Maybe I can enjoy books like Clarissa because, despite having always loved reading, I have never had the experience of imagining myself as one of the characters. I hear people talk about being "lost in a book," but I've never shared in that. I'm always on the outside, watching the action. Undoubtedly I'm missing a wonderful experience, but it's not one I can participate in.

[mumto2]

Oh VC, not sure what to say but :grouphug:

[shukriyya]

I'm really loving Wuthering Heights! :D Although I think I may be taking a different tack entirely with it... it was said that the book is unliked because all the characters are so unlikeable and deeply flawed. Honestly, for me, I'm taking it as a bit of a satire... the characters are just *so* deliciously hideous that it's fascinating.

 

WH is a book I have loved. I've read it a couple of times. How exciting that it's your first go with it. Enjoy!

 

Onceuponatime, your list is wonderful, thank you. It was you, I see now, who suggested Connie Willis. Two of hers are on my tbr list.

 

Mumto2, thanks for the link! Are you stateside now?

 

VC, what a fascinating self-discovery. It prompted me to ask myself the same question. At this point in my life I'm not sure if I imagine myself as one of the characters in a book so much as feel certain inner resonances with them, places where there is a flare of recognition. But as a child and YA I would say that I was right there *in* the character her or himself.

[shukriyya]

Ooh, these two look good from Mumto2's link :: 'The Plot to Save Socrates' and 'Unburning Alexandria' by Paul Levinson. Onto the list they both go.

 

And speaking of Alexandria, dh and I have decided to reread Durrell's, Alexandria Quartet. We both loved it our first go round decades ago and I imagine it will stand the time test. What a marvelous story!

[Onceuponatime]

Ooh, these two look good from Mumto2's link :: 'The Plot to Save Socrates' and 'Unburning Alexandria' by Paul Levinson. Onto the list they both go.

 

And speaking of Alexandria, dh and I have decided to reread Durrell's, Alexandria Quartet. We both loved it our first go round decades ago and I imagine it will stand the time test. What a marvelous story!

 

I stuck those on my list too.

[mlbuchina]

Michele, you ok in the storm??? Not sure if you are home or traveling, but I know you were/are in the path of it, regardless...

 

Yes, we are fine.  Thank you!  We are on the coast, so while we did quite a bit of snow, it changed over to rain and washed it all away.  Dd10 was very disappointed in that.  LOL  I hope the weather will behave next week, as we will be traveling again to head home.

 

 

Shukriyya, I don't know if you have tried reading Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon, but it has time travel in it, and Scottish history, which I think I remember you saying you enjoyed.  It's the first book in a series that goes from 1945 back to the mid-1700s during the second Jacobite uprising, and takes place in Scotland, France, the Caribbean, the American colonies, and the United States.

[shukriyya]

You know, I did try the Outlander series book 1 through a kindle sample because it seemed like it had many elements I enjoy in a book but I didn't get past the 2nd page. As I was reading the sample I recall a friend recommending it last year and I had the same reaction back then. I really wanted to like it because it's such an involved story with many books but it didn't work for me.

[mumto2]

A couple of favorite time travels of the romatic sort:

 

Linda Lial Miller's "Knights" and "Pirates"

 

Nora Roberts "Time and Again"

 

 

Shukriyya -- I am Stateside for a few weeks. Going to my mom's tomorrow for her birthday so no Internet for a week unless I go to McD's. Looking forward to looking at the bookshelves there because I am wondering what I left there.

[shukriyya]

Have fun at your mother's birthday.

 

On another note...as I get ready to abandon my second book since signing on here...how/when do you all decide it's over between you and the book you're reading? I'm a quarter of the way into my current read and am just not interested in any of the characters despite the fact that it is fairly well written, the story is moderately compelling and it isn't too heavy-handed. Something integral is missing and it appears to relate to the humanity and texture of the various players. There is the sense of a disconnect between them as they unfold on the page and them as they unfold in my heart. Not happening. It puts me in mind of VC's comment about not being able to imagine being the characters. I can't find a room in the palace of my heart to lodge any of these women so they're homeless, rootless and I feel the lack of...adhesion? cohesion? a sense of thinness?

[Violet Crown]

I'm a quarter of the way into my current read and am just not interested in any of the characters despite the fact that it is fairly well written, the story is moderately compelling and it isn't too heavy-handed. Something integral is missing and it appears to relate to the humanity and texture of the various players. There is the sense of a disconnect between them as they unfold on the page and them as they unfold in my heart. Not happening. It puts me in mind of VC's comment about not being able to imagine being the characters. I can't find a room in the palace of my heart to lodge any of these women so they're homeless, rootless and I feel the lack of...adhesion? cohesion? a sense of thinness?

That sounds like a failure of characterization. Whether one can identify with a character or not, or get lost in their world or not, thinly written characters can easily make a book unreadable. Abandon ship! :)

[shukriyya]

While I do so very much appreciate your encouragement to abandon ship, I can't help but wonder if the fault lies in my own inertia, a niggling doubt about my own lack of initiative around trying a little harder and being a little more patient in my desire to find places of intersection.

[Kareni]

Some of my favorite time travel books have been Time and Again by Jack Finney and its sequel From Time to Time as well as Replay by Ken Grimwood.  The latter is not time travel per se but see below.

 

From the Library Journal's review on Amazon (on Replay):

"The possibility of traveling back in time to relive one's life has long fascinated science fiction writers. Without a single gesture toward an explanation, this mainstream novel recounts the story of a man and a woman mysteriously given the ability to live their lives over. Each dies in 1988 only to awaken as a teenager in 1963 with adult knowledge and wisdom intact and the ability to make a new set of choices."

 

I also enjoyed the young adult book Jumper by Steven Gould and Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer.

 

A few more possibilities:

 

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Mr. Was by Pete Hautman  (young adult)

My daughter likes Timeline by Michael Crichton

I haven't read it, but this sounds like a fun read: The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Yesterday I read the young adult book  Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian.  It's aptly named as it contains those elements plus healing, therapy, growth, and more.  It is definitely not for the conservative reader.

 

"Sex has always come without consequences for seventeen-year-old Evan. Until he hooks up with the wrong girl and finds himself in the wrong place at very much the wrong time. After an assault that leaves Evan scarred inside and out, he and his father retreat to the family cabin in rural Minnesota—which, ironically, turns out to be the one place where Evan can't escape other people. Including himself. It may also offer him his best shot at making sense of his life again."

 

Here's a review of the book.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[shukriyya]

 

 

In honor of Valentine's Day some Sufi poetry by the great Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi is in order. Translations by the inimitable Coleman Barks...

 

The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,
they're in each other all along.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When I am with you, we stay up all night,
When you're not here, I can't get to sleep.
Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Some Kiss We Want

There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of

spirit on the body. Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling! At

night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its

face against mine. Breathe into
me. Close the language-door and

open the love-window.


 

[mumto2]

Replay is in the stack that I picked up at the library. I have seen it recommended frequently here by several people. Looking forward to reading it.

 

I am trying to finish the Black Knights series today by Julie Ann Walker. This is the first one http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hell-on-wheels-julie-ann-walker/1107693863?ean=9781402267130

 

 

Some of my favorite time travel books have been Time and Again by Jack Finney and its sequel From Time to Time as well as Replay by Ken Grimwood.  The latter is not time travel per se but see below.

 

From the Library Journal's review on Amazon (on Replay):

 

"The possibility of traveling back in time to relive one's life has long fascinated science fiction writers. Without a single gesture toward an explanation, this mainstream novel recounts the story of a man and a woman mysteriously given the ability to live their lives over. Each dies in 1988 only to awaken as a teenager in 1963 with adult knowledge and wisdom intact and the ability to make a new set of choices."

 

I also enjoyed the young adult book Jumper by Steven Gould and Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer.

 

A few more possibilities:

 

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

 

Mr. Was by Pete Hautman  (young adult)

 

My daughter likes Timeline by Michael Crichton

 

I haven't read it, but this sounds like a fun read: The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Guest]

You know, I did try the Outlander series book 1 through a kindle sample because it seemed like it had many elements I enjoy in a book but I didn't get past the 2nd page. As I was reading the sample I recall a friend recommending it last year and I had the same reaction back then. I really wanted to like it because it's such an involved story with many books but it didn't work for me.

 

Same here. I've heard so many great things about it, but I just was not into it.

[shukriyya]

Well, yes, I meant it as a serious request.

 

I think I can say it is the only piece of poetry I've read (which is, admittedly, not much) which made my heart & mind soar. Plus, I thought the notes about translation were quite fascinating.

 

So...

Surreal? Check.

International/Around-the-World selection? Check.

Poetry? Check.

Time travel? Perhaps a check. Suppose it depends on how you read it....

 

Thought it might be another intersection....

 

"Huidobro's great poem is the most radical experiment in the modern era. It is an epic that tells the adventures, not of a hero, but of a poet in the changing skies of language. Throughout the seven cantos we see Altazor subject language to violent or erotic acts: mutilations and divisions, copulations and juxtapositions. The English translation of this poem that bristles with complexities is another epic feat, and its hero is Eliot Weinberger." (Octavio Paz)

 

<snippety-snip>

 

I think my challenge to you, should I make one, would depend on your reactions to the children's poetry I posted upthread... but I never want to push or drag you!  ...entice, maybe, but nothing more. :grouphug:

 

Like you, Eliana, I'm very hesitant to urge someone towards poetry. There's no poetry in that at all :lol: And there's a world of difference between urging and sharing.

 

Seriously though, Stacia, while we're on the topic, my ambivalence in trying the Altazor you recommended centers around the eloquent fact that you said it made your mind and soul soar. Were I to dislike it I just couldn't interfere with that, not because I'd be disagreeing but because I would feel like I were trespassing upon a sacredness. I do feel there is an inherent sanctity in what makes the heart and soul sing, inner geographies that are so very much worth orienting oneself towards when they do arise. Because when one does find oneself in that serendipitous place of kneeling before one of those altars there is a kind of loveliness that flows through the body, no matter how briefly.

 

 

 

Wait!  Stop!

 

All Clear is the second half of a book - they are so large they were published in two volumes - you want to start with Blackout.

 

 

Oh my, thank you for that.

[CAMom]

I had to send this back to the library today... when I've whittled my stack down a little, I think I might like to try again... so I'll be watching to see what you think of it!

 

Regarding In the Shadow of the Banyan...

 

I found it truly beautiful even in its difficult subject matter. I love the narrator and found her inner strength and beauty inspiring. The language is beautiful and offers many pieces of wisdom I had to sit and let sink in for a few minutes.

 

I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads.

 

I'm currently reading

 

Stitches by Anne Lamott 

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

 

Also listening to The Husband's Secret when I'm not in a position to be holding a book. :)

[mommymilkies]

Have fun at your mother's birthday.

 

On another note...as I get ready to abandon my second book since signing on here...how/when do you all decide it's over between you and the book you're reading? I'm a quarter of the way into my current read and am just not interested in any of the characters despite the fact that it is fairly well written, the story is moderately compelling and it isn't too heavy-handed. Something integral is missing and it appears to relate to the humanity and texture of the various players. There is the sense of a disconnect between them as they unfold on the page and them as they unfold in my heart. Not happening. It puts me in mind of VC's comment about not being able to imagine being the characters. I can't find a room in the palace of my heart to lodge any of these women so they're homeless, rootless and I feel the lack of...adhesion? cohesion? a sense of thinness?

I had never given up on a book before Anna Karenina.  I hated it.  It made me angry to read, so I finally realized it was making me miserable to read and I put it away.  I have since given up on more books.  Don't hate me, but The Poisonwood Bible (really close to the end), Oliver Twist (I read it as a teen, but haven't been able to finish it as an adult because it's too depressing), The Historian (loved it but it gave me terribly vivid nightmares-this one I'll try again), Song of Fire and Ice-the only book I've ever considered burning. 

 

Usually I know it's time to give up when I feel like *not* reading.  If I give it the shifty eye and have to decide whether going to sleep is the better prospect.  I'm an enthusiastic reader, so if a book makes me miserable, I'm not going to waste my time. 

[Robin M]

Happy Valentine's Day   -   :grouphug: and :wub:  to all!

 

 

 

 

[Robin M]

Thoughts on different comments:

 

 

Time travel books - has anyone mentioned Douglas Adams The Restaurant at the End of the Universe or Life, The Universe and Everything.  Also Michael Crichton's Timeline,  or  Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.

 

Patricia Briggs Mercedes Thompson versus Alpha and Omega.  I liked Mercy better, maybe because I just couldn't relate to Anna. 

 

Giving up on a book - really depends on the book.   If I've read 50 pages (short book) to a 100 pages (long book) and just can't get into it, then it's shelved.  If I'm still reading and there is some substance to the story, but the characters are annoying, but  I want to see where it is going to go, then I'll keep going.  Depends again on the characters and the story.  If I can suspend disbelief and not get thrown out of the story, then I'll keep going. 

 

Road trip to the sea shore - oregon coast it is. Especially since I've never been there and have been wanting to for a long time. 

 

How many unread books do I have?  Scared to count.  Let's just say I really don't need to buy anymore books for the next year or two or three.

[aggieamy]

 

I'll try not to duplicate other suggestions...

 

Daughter of the Mountains: This girl and her dog story, with a reverse twist on Lassie Come Home, has been a favorite of several of my daughters in the 9-11 age range.

 

Elizabeth Goudge's children's books, especially Linnets and Valerians and Little White Horse, were also well loved.

 

Hilda van Stockum wrote a number of books which fall in that age range, Andries was one I loved at that age.  Winged Watchman is her masterpiece, and deals with a challenging period of history to cover truthfully but appropriately for that age range - there are hard, sad things, but there is also a core of love and safety. 

 

Rumer Godden's Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and its sequel Little Plum are perfect for many kids at that age. (She has a number of other 'doll' books, most trip into a stickier sweetness, except for Doll's House which I as a kid found to be unbearably grim.

 

8 or 9 is the beginning of the age range when my daughters have latched on to Sally Watson's historical fiction (avoid any of the modern books).  Highland Rebel is a good starting point, followed by Hornet's Nest.  These give a very rosy-tinted view of the history they cover, but their spunky heroines and caring heart are captivating for many kids (I adored these as a young person). 

 

Eleanor Farjeon's Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field and Glass Slipper  and Silver Curlew are sweet fun with an edge of real English folk tale.  (MP and the Apple Orchard is easier to find, but not nearly as appealing at this age)

 

Kate Seredy is another stand-out favorite - I'd keep Chestry Oak and Singing Tree for a little later, but The Good Master is perfect for this age.

 

My eldest two read a lot of Helen Fern Daringer around then, Adopted Jane is one I remember fondly from my childhood.

 

Beyond the Pawpaw Trees is a silly, quirky, but delightful little book (and it has been republished!!)

 

Have you already done All of a Kind Family? 

 

Another starting point for Aiken (and not as dark) would be the Arabel's Raven series.

 

Spaceship under the Apple Tree & The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet : Classic early sci-fi, and great fun.

 

Bushbabies: A story of a girl and her bushbaby in Kenya.

 

Caxton's Challenge: Cynthia Harnett is one of the masters of middle grade historical fiction.  Some of her books were published, at various times, under more than one title.  This one was also published as The Cardo of the Madalena, and at least one other title.

 

Master Rosalind: John and Patricia Beatty wrote a number of amazing works of middle grade historical fiction.  Most are definitely better for a couple of years from now, but this could be a good fit.  (Holdfast is another possibility.) Some of their other books have more pain and ambiguity, but these two are younger.

 

After John died, Patricia kept writing, but none of her solo works has the solidity and integrity of their co-written ones.  ...but some are delightful, and many work for a younger crowd.  Nickel Plated Beauty would be one such.

 

Speaking of younger works by master of historical fiction for kids:  The Armourer's House by Rosemary Sutcliff (and Brother Dusty Feet and Queen Elizabeth's Story) are also good choices for the 9-11 crowd.  AH was one of my absolute favorites at 8 or 9.

 

De Angeli's Thee Hannah

 

Family from One End Street won a Carnegie (I do wish someone would republish a full set of pre-1980 Carnegie winners... *sigh*) It features a large, working class London family in the early 1900's.  It isn't one I love, but it rarely makes lists, and it deserves more attention...

 

A little younger: Rumer Godden's Mousewife,  Enright's Tatsinda (with the Haas illustrations)

 

I've gotten carried away, sorry!  I feel as if I've hardly scratched the surface! 

 

 

 

Thank you for this great list of read alouds.  DD has selected the Last of the Great Whangdoodles for this go around.  She just couldn't resist Julie Andrews!  I feel well armed with great suggestions for our next book.  

 

Please feel free to keep suggesting books that are great for read alouds.  She's only nine and we go through about a book or two a month so that roughly leaves me with needing 180 more books to read aloud before she goes off to college.  

That last sentence made me incredibly sad ...  *sob*  I only get to read about 180 more books aloud to my little girl.  

[marbel]

Did I hear about a trip to the Oregon coast?  Yes!  Cannon  Beach, please.  Oh, or Cape Kiwanda and the Pelican Pub!

 

Abandoning a book... I abandoned Outlander pretty quickly. Don't remember why but something annoyed me.  I am easily annoyed and I'll reject pretty quickly. sometimes within a few pages. I despise gratuitous sex in books.  I don't like books with a large amount of profanity that doesn't seem to fit.  In a war novel I would expect it, for example. But sometimes I think authors use it to shock and I dislike that. I'm not shocked, just sick of it.  I grew up with people who used profanity as part of their normal vocab.  It's tiresome and lacks imagination. 

 

Sometimes if I feel tired of a book I'll read the last few pages.  If I've figured out  how it's going to end, out it goes.  Why bother?  If I am surprised or intrigued by the ending, I will carry on to see how the author gets there.  Sometimes I skim...

 

There are simply too many books to waste time on something that doesn't provide pleasure or edification.  Or both!

[Shawneinfl]

Whew. I ventured out into the regular forums. I won't make that mistake again. I'm staying here with the nice people.

[Shawneinfl]

Abandoning a book... I abandoned Outlander pretty quickly. Don't remember why but something annoyed me.  I am easily annoyed and I'll reject pretty quickly. sometimes within a few pages. I despise gratuitous sex in books.  I don't like books with a large amount of profanity that doesn't seem to fit.  In a war novel I would expect it, for example. But sometimes I think authors use it to shock and I dislike that. I'm not shocked, just sick of it.  I grew up with people who used profanity as part of their normal vocab.  It's tiresome and lacks imagination. 

 

 

I've abandoned Outlander twice for probably the same reasons. It got such great reviews I kept thinking I should like it but it just wasn't my cuppa.

[LostSurprise]

I love time travel novels!

 

The Door into Summer (Rober Heinlein)

The Time Machine (HG Wells)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

 

Hyperion (Simmons)

The Eyre Affair (Fforde)

The Anubis Gates (Power)

The Chronoliths (Wilson)

The LIttle Book (Edwards)

 

I didn't see those. I did enjoy Connie Willis' series, Kindred, Pastwatch, The Time Traveler's Wife, and The End of Eternity. 

 

I'm afraid to count up books I own but haven't read. Really I am. Although we would have more shelf space if I got through more of them (my goal for the year). 

[Shawneinfl]

Trying to decide whether to go see Monuments Men or Winter's Tale at the movies tonight. Any reviews here yet?

[Jane in NC]

Kareni,

 

NPR's ATC has a story that may interest you on Swoon Reads.  The audio portion will be made available later in the evening.

 

Enjoy!

[CAMom]

Did I hear about a trip to the Oregon coast?  Yes!  Cannon  Beach, please.  Oh, or Cape Kiwanda and the Pelican Pub!

 

 

 

Ooooooohhhhhhh.....Cannon Beach? I only live an hour from there. :D

[Kareni]

NPR's ATC has a story that may interest you on Swoon Reads.  The audio portion will be made available later in the evening.

 

Thanks for the article link, Jane.  It's an interesting concept and the selected book sounds charming (particularly the approval by the squirrel!).

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

 Cannon Beach looks lovely. They have a sandcastle building contest in June....

 

 

[marbel]

Ooooooohhhhhhh.....Cannon Beach? I only live an hour from there. :D

 

Oh!  We used to live about 90 minutes away, in the Portland western suburbs.  Miss it so!   You are so lucky, or so blessed, whichever way you choose to look at it!

[shukriyya]

All the time travel talk has me thinking I'll use that as one of my 5/5/5 categories. Thinking of...

 

The Plot to Save Socrates

Unburning Alexandria

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Blackout

All Clear

 

Five books, two writers. Could go either way :lol:

 

Perhaps to be on the safe side I'll mix things up a bit with Jodi Taylor's, 'Just One Damned Thing After Another'. It, along with 'A Symphony of Echoes' looks intriguing.

 

Eliana, Good Shabbos to you.

[JennW in SoCal]

Trying to decide whether to go see Monuments Men or Winter's Tale at the movies tonight. Any reviews here yet?

 

Which movie did you see?  

 

We just got home from the Lego Movie, we being me, dh and our 22yo ds.  Oh. My. Goodness!! It was hilarious, zany and wacky awesome fun.   Monty Python meets Toy Story.  And Batman.   

[shukriyya]

For the Barbara Pym lovers among us, this from the Paris Review blog...it gave me a smile.

 

"As usual, the love plot is the least convincing aspect of the book,†said my friend, handing me a crumbling, loved-to-death copy of Barbara Pym’s last novel, 'A Few Green Leaves'. It is not clear to me which part my friend found unconvincing—the growing attraction between the meek, widowed rector Tom and the awkward anthropologist Emma, or the obstacles to their match. (E.g.: Tom’s dreary sister, a visit from Emma’s old flame Graham, or the Oxfordshire village full of aging gossips who have nothing better to do than monitor the hand-delivery of casseroles to local bachelors.) At any rate, I bought the whole thing, and I believed that Emma did, too. As Pym’s narrator observes, “Even the most cynical and sophisticated woman is not, at times, altogether out of sympathy with the ideas of the romantic novelist.†—Lorin Stein

[Uff Da!]

So for my light, post DQ reading, I chose Jane Eyre.  I can't believe I haven't read this before.  I felt like I was swimming upstream for most of Don Quixote and Jane Eyre feels like I'm being carried along a current.  It is a treat to read.  I am pleasantly surprised.

 

In other notes, I really suffered after reading DQ.  To put so much effort into reading something and then have it end...well I just didn't know what to do with myself! :lol:  :leaving:

[Mom-ninja.]

So for my light, post DQ reading, I chose Jane Eyre.  I can't believe I haven't read this before.  I felt like I was swimming upstream for most of Don Quixote and Jane Eyre feels like I'm being carried along a current.  It is a treat to read.  I am pleasantly surprised.

 

In other notes, I really suffered after reading DQ.  To put so much effort into reading something and then have it end...well I just didn't know what to do with myself! :lol:  :leaving:

 

I was also pleasantly surprised by Jane Eyre. Congrats on finishing DQ. I only made it half through. I should pick it up again some time. Now is not that time. :tongue_smilie:

 

I finished Puddn'Head Wilson yesterday. This was from my hard copy stash of unread books I own on my shelf. One down!  :thumbup:  

 

As for the book. Loved it. I love Twain. Just love him.

 

[Lady Florida.]

Hi all. I was missing for a while. It started when my computer was in the shop. When I got it back, I kept trying to find the right time to jump back in, but it never happens. Even today I was thinking I should just wait for the new thread tomorrow. I decided not to wait.

 

I've been trying to catch up, but I know that isn't realistic. 

 

My current reads are ones I've been at for a while:

 

Daniel Deronda, George Eliot - reading with a Goodreads group

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo - also with a Goodreads group

Fever, Mary Beth Keane - fictional account of Typhoid Mary that I started last year and am determined to finish

Vanity Fair, Thackeray - my current audio book

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

In the Shadow of the Banyan - CA Mom, I loved that one too. I grabbed the Kindle version last year for $1.99 because I love a bargain, and I saw it recommended on a Kindle forum. 

 

Abandoning books/Outlander  - It took me two attempts to get through that book, and I only persevered because a good friend kept wanting me to read it. Unfortunately I'll never get those hours back.

 

Snape - This Harry Potter geek doesn't understand the love for Snape. He did the right thing for the wrong reasons. He was willing to throw Harry and James to Voldemort (only cared about saving Lily) and was a bitter, nasty man. His lifelong thing for Lily was not love but obsession. I know I'm in the minority. Most HP fans think he's a hero. JK Rowling is with me though. :D  She has said he was fun to write, but she doesn't like him or see him as a hero. 

[LostSurprise]

On another note...as I get ready to abandon my second book since signing on here...how/when do you all decide it's over between you and the book you're reading? 

 

 

I've gotten 300 pages into The Goldfinch and Life after Life in the last week and a half only to put them down. 

 

I'm a stubborn sort. I like to finish things, so I often keep going longer than I should. If I ignore it more than a month or I feel an invisible wall come between me and the book...I just don't feel like I can make myself read it anymore...then I drop it. 

 

Winter Wonderland finished Don Quixote. 

 

 

I just wanted to tell you I thought your reaction to DQ was spot on. I often think of DQ as being one of those oddly turning point books which shines a light on how we view the past as an age of faith and the present as an age of cynicism. How we idealize that but scorn it in reality. It's so thematically rich, but the individual parts can sometimes make you feel like you're banging your head on a wall...and I read it way back in college. I'm certain it wasn't an unabridged copy. Even the abridged account made me sad, like reading IBS's "Gimpel the Fool." 

 

Congrats on finishing it! 

 

I recently read a story by Borges where a writer decided the epitome of his skill would be best used in recreating Don Quixote, not by re-writing it because of his knowledge of it but by re-creating his life to reflect the knowledge, thoughts, and feelings of Cervantes. He didn't even love DQ. I think it was an experiment in the novel as a natural extension of the person. 

[Lady Florida.]

Trying to decide whether to go see Monuments Men or Winter's Tale at the movies tonight. Any reviews here yet?

 

Dh and I are planning to see Monuments Men tonight. It's rare when we both read the same book, so we're looking forward to this. Which movie did you see? 

 

 

Oh, Jane and others - I loved Haley Mills movies. The Parent Trap was my favorite. My parents were divorced and I used to daydream myself into that movie. Kind of sad when I think about it, but not unusual for a kid to want her parents to get back together.

[shukriyya]

Okay, all the Hayley Mills talk sent me scurrying to confirm my thoughts that she was indeed in The Flame Trees of Thika.

 

I recall it as a wonderful mini-series based on the equally wonderful book by Elspeth Huxley.

[shukriyya]

I've started 'The Moonspinners' and am enjoying Mary Stewart's use of language. It is slow, intentional, both specific and expansive in the same breath without being flowery. A curious combination. She's not interested in rushing and if the reader is well then you'd best be going because that's not the kind of visit she's on about. I'm less than enthused about reading it as an actual book instead of on my kindle. It's one of those old hardcovers from the 60s, do y'all remember them? A nondescript cover in either green, red or blue or black with a faint pattern on them sometimes, the pages yellowed and stained and well-thumbed. Lots of folks have read their physical selves through this book. It does have that lovely book smell though which you don't get on a kindle.
 

 

 

 

I remember thinking as a child how the plainness of the book cover belied the journey one took with the words. And as those pages, once treed and leaved, rooted and sky-ed, moved through the fingers I liked to imagine that the elements of air and earth were present in the places between the words, that the life of the trees with their experience of rain and wind, sun and loam whispered through the paper I was holding in my hands. My older, aging eyes appreciate the technologies of the kindle with its ability to change font and lighting but it's fun to call up my childhood self who was in love with the physicality of books, the smell, texture, sound, weight...

[Robin M]

Today at Flavorwire- 25 Famous Tea Drinkers on Nature's Best Beverage which prompted me to download Kakuzo's The Book of Tea

 

This image is just so precious: Children read to Shelter Cats

 

 

 

And the trailer for Winter's Tale - Looks like a really romantic movie.  But we all know some trailers can be deceiving.  But still, makes me want to see it.

 

 

 

[Uff Da!]

Hi all. I was missing for a while. It started when my computer was in the shop. When I got it back, I kept trying to find the right time to jump back in, but it never happens. Even today I was thinking I should just wait for the new thread tomorrow. I decided not to wait.

 

I've been trying to catch up, but I know that isn't realistic. 

 

 

I've been trying to catch up and it is physically painful for me to use my hands right now.  I hope people will extend me some grace for not acknowledging and liking every post I enjoy.

 

 LostSurprise, on 15 Feb 2014 - 10:52 AM, said:

I've gotten 300 pages into The Goldfinch and Life after Life in the last week and a half only to put them down. 

 

I'm a stubborn sort. I like to finish things, so I often keep going longer than I should. If I ignore it more than a month or I feel an invisible wall come between me and the book...I just don't feel like I can make myself read it anymore...then I drop it. 

 

 

I just wanted to tell you I thought your reaction to DQ was spot on. I often think of DQ as being one of those oddly turning point books which shines a light on how we view the past as an age of faith and the present as an age of cynicism. How we idealize that but scorn it in reality. It's so thematically rich, but the individual parts can sometimes make you feel like you're banging your head on a wall...and I read it way back in college. I'm certain it wasn't an unabridged copy. Even the abridged account made me sad, like reading IBS's "Gimpel the Fool." 

 

Congrats on finishing it!

 

I recently read a story by Borges where a writer decided the epitome of his skill would be best used in recreating Don Quixote, not by re-writing it because of his knowledge of it but by re-creating his life to reflect the knowledge, thoughts, and feelings of Cervantes. He didn't even love DQ. I think it was an experiment in the novel as a natural extension of the person. 

 I think I may read Don Quixote again someday because I have so many conflicting ideas about it.  The story is still lingering with me.  One of my characters from my last nanowrimo piece reminds me a lot of Don Quixote and I was thinking it might be fun to run with that parallel come fall.  I was also thinking in the car today that I am a lot like Sancho at a feast when it comes to education-  I just want to chow down on everything.