Book a Week in 2014 - BW21

[Pam in CT]

Well, I finished venture capitalist Ben Horowitz' The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, which was pretty good for its genre; and Allegra Goodman's The Cookbook Collector, a rather sprawling novel about -- among other things -- the romance between two start-up entrepreneurs.  This started out strong, with some of the anxious stock-price-watching, IPO planning characters making me laugh out loud; with alternating bits about one character's increasingly strong ties with to Bialystok communities on both coasts also very funny at times... but sadly, things fell apart.  Perhaps she tried to jam too much into one book.  I enjoyed her Kaaterskill Falls; this one isn't nearly as strong.

 

I also read Kim Thuy's Ru, I think at floridamom's suggestion, an autobiographically based novel tracing the protagonist's flight from Vietnam, experiences in a Malaysian refugee camp, and resettlement in Montreal.  Concise, allusive, disorienting -- worth reading.  

 

And lastly Jonathan Rosen's Joy Comes in the Morning, which was for one of my IRL book groups, which... tried, I think, to pack in too many story lines:  an older man who has suffered several debilitating strokes and wants only to come to the end; a young man suffering from mental illness; a rabbi suffering a crisis of faith but choosing to soldier on in action; a second young man inching closer to greater Jewish observance... the whole ended up being less than the sum of the parts, I'm afraid...

 

 

And still in progress: I started Crescent, by Diana Abu-Jaber, on audio, since I have despaired of ever making it to the top of her Art of Baklava.  It's mostly set in an Arab community in modern LA, but circles back to Iraq and Lebanon and cooking and...  Quite good thus far.  My daughter and I are reading Megan Whalen Turner's Thief, recommended here; and I'm about to start The Huston Smith Reader for my interfaith book group.  Theoretically I'm still midway through VS Naipul's Beyond Belief -- I haven't yet admitted to myself that I'm bailing on it, although that certainly seems to be what the evidence suggests...

[Kareni]

Today I read an enjoyable contemporary romance by Virginia Kantra -- Carolina Home (A Dare Island Novel).  I have the next two books in the series in my pile of library books, so I think I know what I'll be reading next.

 

"Home to the Fletcher family for generations, Dare Island is a fishing village rocked by changing times--its traditions slipping away like sands of the North Carolina coast. Single dad and fishing boat captain Matt Fletcher deferred his own dreams to support his innkeeper parents and build a future for his sixteen-year-old son. Matt has learned to weather life's storms by steering a steady emotional course...and keeping a commitment-free approach to love.

Newcomer Allison Carter came to Dare Island to escape the emotional demands of her wealthy family. The young teacher aims to build a life here, to make a lasting place for herself. She doesn't want to be another Woman Who Once Dated Matt Fletcher. It's both tempting and dangerous to believe she can be something more.

Then Matt's brother Luke makes a sudden return home, with a child of his own--and a request that will change all their lives. With a child's welfare at stake, Matt must turn to Allison to teach him to let go of the past, open his eyes...and follow his heart."

 

I'd previously read the author's paranormal romances, so it was interesting and pleasurable to read a book of hers set in the 'real world.'

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Monica, glad your neck is finally feeling better!  :grouphug:  (Hope it stays that way too.) Sounds like you have lots of reading goodies on hand! :coolgleamA:  Looking forward to seeing if we agree or if we'll have a Fig Eater type discussion. :laugh:  Either way is very cool.

 

Sitting at dd's lesson tonight gave me time to get past the halfway mark in Aurorarama. Enjoying it, but also really can't put my finger on it. I think I find it odd & strange & intriguing & wondering where exactly this book is taking me.... Maybe I am a little stymied. Fantasy/steampunk/a dystopian leaning & even a few phrases that crashed me back into a recurring, vivid dream I used to have many years ago.

 

Jenn, glad to hear that things are now safe in your area. So sorry to hear about the losses for the families without homes now. :grouphug:

[Stacia]

.

[Stacia]

Why Libraries Matter:

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/371084/why-libraries-matter/

 

Found the link through Mental Floss: http://mentalfloss.com/article/56785/why-libraries-matter

[Uff Da!]

Great list - Loved Robert's Three Sisters Island trilogy - read it several times.  Thumbs up to the Mists of Avalon. Chocolat ended up shelving because couldn't stand first person pov or the writing.  Looks like I'll be adding a couple to my wishlist.

 

 

Chocolat is on my TBR list.  Now you have me worried it won't live up to my high hopes. :wacko:

 

 

I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig. 

 

I loved the Shakespeare book, and I'll be checking it back out from the library this summer to try it out with my kids. My Goodreads review:

 

 

I started The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. My current thoughts on it are that while there is some good information here, I'm not sure I would like the author as a person. Something about his tone, or communication style or attitude bothers me, and it makes me hesitate to pass this book on to anyone. I will definitely continue it myself, though.

 

I am still working on Eight Skilled Gentlemen and some Robert Frost.

 

crstarlette-  Thank you for the review of Shakespeare.  I have it listed for next year's reading but maybe will have to move it up to this year.

[Onceuponatime]

Chocolat is on my TBR list.  Now you have me worried it won't live up to my high hopes. :wacko:

 

 

 

 

 

I liked Chocolat, but I also enjoy reading in the first person point of view.

[Angel]

 

Wide Sargasso Sea is the "prequel" Rhys wrote to Jane Eyre.  Has it been discussed in a BaW thread? Having reread Jane Eyre this year, it should be an interesting book.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Penumbra is waiting to be read.  Just requested Wide Sargasso Sea.  I am trying to build up a stack for Dd and I to share while traveling.  Both of these look like possibilities.  Could I ask for a warning if these end up not being Dd appropriate?  Basically that means no really explicit scenes.   ;)

 

 

Wondering the same thing about Wide Sargasso Sea.  One of dd19's favorite books is Jane Eyre.  She would be interested in this.

 

I think Wide Sargasso Sea is steamy.

 

 

 

Amazon certainly gives that vibe.  Anyone have confirmation?

[shukriyya]

:seeya: Angel. I wondered where you'd gotten to.

 

I'm sitting here, BaWers in a lovely public library with a view of a sweet courtyard and park with flowers, fountains and little birds flitting in and out of the bushes. It's a very pretty spot. Ds is at his homeschool classes for another few hours so I've got some time to read and check in here. I'm really enjoying my current book, The Sekhmet Bed, and at 3/4 of the way through am flying along with it. Unusual for my plodding self. The characters aren't particularly deeply layered and I feel the author's hand in the twists and turns of the plot a little too much at times but on the whole it's a compelling read and I'm pretty sure I'll be moving on to the next book in the series. The details of domestic court life from the female perspective are wonderfully intricate. And I'm finding the x-ray function on my kindle very helpful to keep track of all the Pharaohs and Gods and Goddesses as well as the various seasonal and annual delineations.

[-M-]

Hello, fellow BaWers! 'haven't been here since Week 12. *blush* My updated list follows, and, yes, it is, at 32 books, a bit... wan. Miss M-mv(i) graduates Friday, and Miss M-mv(ii) has completed all of her high school graduation requirements. Although both of them are enrolled at the local college for the fall, they have helped me craft an "extra" twelve-week semester that will keep their math and Spanish skills current and enable us to read, watch, and do more of the sort of "stuff" we love. But in truth? My work here is nearly done (*wry, sad smile*), so I suspect that come mid-August I will have much more time to read.

 

â–  The Detainee (Peter Liney; 2014. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer; 2014. 208 pages. Fiction.)

■ All’s Well That Ends Well (William Shakespeare (1604); Folger ed. 2006. 336 pages. Drama.)

â–  Soft Apocalypse (Will McIntosh; 2011. 239 pages. Fiction.)

â–  One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Alexander Sozhenitsyn; 1962/2009. 208 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Masterpiece Comics (R. Sikoryak; 2009. 64 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Infected (Scott Sigler; 2008. 384 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham; 2014. 336 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Running Wild (J.G. Ballard; 1989. 116 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The How and the Why (Sarah Treem; 2013. Drama.)

â–  Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade (Walter Kirn; 2014. 272 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Dope (Sara Gran; 2007. 256 pages. Fiction.)

â–  People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo (Richard Lloyd Parry; 2012. 464 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  The Troop (Nick Cutter; 2014. 368 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Mayo Clinic Diet (2012. 254 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  This Is Where I Leave You (Jonathan Trooper; 2009. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck; 1937. 112 pages. Fiction.)

■ Gideon’s Knot (Johanna Adams; DPS new acquisition / unbound. Drama.)

â–  The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 (ed. Siddhartha Mukherjee; 2013. 368 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Lexicon (Max Barry; Folger ed. 2013. 400 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Circle (Dave Eggers; 2013. 504 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Good Sister (Drusilla Campbell; 2010. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Two Gentlemen of Verona (William Shakespeare (1589); Folger ed. 2006. 304 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen; 1890. Drama.) *

â–  Labor Day (Joyce Maynard; 2009. 256 pages. Fiction.)

■ The Living (Matt De La Peña; 2013. 320 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Henry V (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2004. 294 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Henry IV, Part II (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2006. 400 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Henry IV, Part I (William Shakespeare (1597); Folger ed. 2005. 336 pages. Drama.) *

â–  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum; 1895 / 2008. 224 pages. Juvenile fiction.)

â–  Cartwheel (Jennifer duBois; 2013. 384 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Wicked Girls (Alex Marwood; 2013. 384 pages. Fiction.)

[shukriyya]

Worldbuiling is *not* not, not, not description... an author can do fabulous worldbuilding with minimal description and lousy worldbuilding while using the entire thesaurus and whole chapters of description. (Sorry, I'm not upset at *you*... I'm frustrated with authors who can't tell the difference)

 

Worldbuilding is creating the feeling that there is a whole world there behind the story - you don't have to describe it, but it does have to be there... because stories that take place in front of cardboard cut-outs, whether that cut-out is in modern London, rural 15th century Spain, or a 32nd century Martian colony, is flat and unsatisfying... if only subliminally (at least for me).

 

I think worldbuilding needs to happen as much in real-world fiction as in fantasy or science fiction, but it often doesn't, which leaves me feeling a sense of disorientation and lack of reality.  Penelope Lively's Consequences has beautiful worldbuilding, frex & is set very much in the real world.  Jane Austen's world is real and vivid... I don't care for Hemingway, but in his spare, terse way, he builds worlds too.  ...al too many boiler plate fantasy novels have paint-by-numbers worlds that are as fresh as last week's pizza carton... but chock full of elaborate descriptions.

 

 

Eliana, I love your literary passion :D

[shukriyya]

I liked Chocolat, but I also enjoy reading in the first person point of view.

 

I'm coming to realize that first person POV is one of my favorite perspectives.

[shukriyya]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that as a result of the fairytale threads I ended up downloading two complete kindle collections of Grimm and HCA. As a result ds, being the methodical creature that he is as well as a lover of fairytale/myth and fantasy, is reading his way through HCA story by story :D I love that this kind of tapestry is informing his inner landscape right now.

[shukriyya]

And because I've got some time on my hands and am planted in a spot in the library where folks are coming and going and because Phoenix recently changed her avatar to show her lovely smiling self my mind is casting about wondering what you all look like. You have all begun to tuck yourselves into my heart here with our daily ramblings and sharings. Do I have an image in my mind of each of you based on your username and posts? Hmm, I'll have to feel into that a little bit...

[Stacia]

Yes, I'm curious what everyone looks like as well. LOL. It's funny how different perceptions can be vs. reality.

[Robin M]

Chocolat is on my TBR list.  Now you have me worried it won't live up to my high hopes. :wacko:

Eek! Sorry, I'd hate to spoil a story for anyone.  I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, if that counts for anything.

 

I liked Chocolat, but I also enjoy reading in the first person point of view.

 

I've discovered some authors do first person point of view really really well and others, not so much.  I prefer to read 3rd pov, but 1st is growing on me.  A writing class had me writing a scene from both a 1st pov and 3rd pov and it was interesting the things you discover about the story, the character and totally changes how the scene comes out.  In some ways, 1st pov is more revealing.

[Robin M]

And because I've got some time on my hands and am planted in a spot in the library where folks are coming and going and because Phoenix recently changed her avatar to show her lovely smiling self my mind is casting about wondering what you all look like. You have all begun to tuck yourselves into my heart here with our daily ramblings and sharings. Do I have an image in my mind of each of you based on your username and posts? Hmm, I'll have to feel into that a little bit...

 

 

Yes, I'm curious what everyone looks like as well. LOL. It's funny how different perceptions can be vs. reality.

I had the thought recently, we could  do a picture collage of BaWer's, although I'm sure some of the ladies prefer staying behind the anonymity of their avatars.   If y'all wanted to, all it would take is emailing me your picture and I could put something together.

[Stacia]

I just finished Aurorarama. I basically ignored lots of stuff I actually need to be doing (last night & today) so I could read, lol.

 

Still mulling it over. Enjoyed it, but I wouldn't term it a favorite, though there were some clever things &/or wording in there that I quite enjoyed. Still love the look & feel of the cover & endpapers -- a little artistic beauty in & of itself. Overall, probably 3-4 stars.

 

I guess I'd say it's a fantasy w/ dystopian overtones, set in an Arctic environment. I enjoyed the environment part of it -- the descriptions of the ice, the cold, the sky.... Fantasy is not my favorite genre (nor do I dislike it), so that part was fine, the dystopian parts were fine also (not too heavy-handed or depressing which, imo, is good). A little bit of a steampunk flavor, but not a book that overall I would call steampunk. There was a lot in there -- many people, factions, events, making me wonder if the story couldn't have been a little tighter had the author cut back just a little bit. Enjoyable & I'd probably recommend it most for people who like fantasy, but want a somewhat different (than the stereotypical norm) fantasy world.

 

ETA: Here's a fascinating foray into the gorgeous cover art of this book:

http://leahnapier.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/aurorarama-cover-art/

[Onceuponatime]

That was lovely, Eliana. In a weird way all of these discussions are beginning to mesh in my head with the  other books I've read this year, the videos I've been watching on Buddhism and Modern Psychology, and Joseph Campbell's book on Creative Mythology, which I've been reading the last two days. There is talk of Essences and Patternicity. Up crops Heloise and Abelard. Hello, I wasn't expecting you. Whoa, Dante and Beatrice snuck in again also. The list goes on and on. So many people, fictional and real, just won't let me forget them. Then I'm told life is really a fantasy which I create myself, but it overlaps and coincides with the fantasies of others, here and on the pages of every book I read.

[Robin M]

Hello, fellow BaWers! 'haven't been here since Week 12. *blush* My updated list follows, and, yes, it is, at 32 books, a bit... wan. Miss M-mv(i) graduates Friday, and Miss M-mv(ii) has completed all of her high school graduation requirements. Although both of them are enrolled at the local college for the fall, they have helped me craft an "extra" twelve-week semester that will keep their math and Spanish skills current and enable us to read, watch, and do more of the sort of "stuff" we love. But in truth? My work here is nearly done (*wry, sad smile*), I suspect that come mid-August I will have much more time to read.

 

â–  The Detainee (Peter Liney; 2014. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer; 2014. 208 pages. Fiction.)

■ All’s Well That Ends Well (William Shakespeare (1604); Folger ed. 2006. 336 pages. Drama.)

â–  Soft Apocalypse (Will McIntosh; 2011. 239 pages. Fiction.)

â–  One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Alexander Sozhenitsyn; 1962/2009. 208 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Masterpiece Comics (R. Sikoryak; 2009. 64 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Infected (Scott Sigler; 2008. 384 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham; 2014. 336 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Running Wild (J.G. Ballard; 1989. 116 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The How and the Why (Sarah Treem; 2013. Drama.)

â–  Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade (Walter Kirn; 2014. 272 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Dope (Sara Gran; 2007. 256 pages. Fiction.)

â–  People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo (Richard Lloyd Parry; 2012. 464 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  The Troop (Nick Cutter; 2014. 368 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Mayo Clinic Diet (2012. 254 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  This Is Where I Leave You (Jonathan Trooper; 2009. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck; 1937. 112 pages. Fiction.)

■ Gideon’s Knot (Johanna Adams; DPS new acquisition / unbound. Drama.)

â–  The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 (ed. Siddhartha Mukherjee; 2013. 368 pages. Non-fiction.)

â–  Lexicon (Max Barry; Folger ed. 2013. 400 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Circle (Dave Eggers; 2013. 504 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Good Sister (Drusilla Campbell; 2010. 352 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Two Gentlemen of Verona (William Shakespeare (1589); Folger ed. 2006. 304 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen; 1890. Drama.) *

â–  Labor Day (Joyce Maynard; 2009. 256 pages. Fiction.)

■ The Living (Matt De La Peña; 2013. 320 pages. Fiction.)

â–  Henry V (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2004. 294 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Henry IV, Part II (William Shakespeare (1599); Folger ed. 2006. 400 pages. Drama.) *

â–  Henry IV, Part I (William Shakespeare (1597); Folger ed. 2005. 336 pages. Drama.) *

â–  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum; 1895 / 2008. 224 pages. Juvenile fiction.)

â–  Cartwheel (Jennifer duBois; 2013. 384 pages. Fiction.)

â–  The Wicked Girls (Alex Marwood; 2013. 384 pages. Fiction.)

 

Hello, darlin', :grouphug:  I was just wondering what had happened to you.  Congratulations to Miss M-mv(1) and M-mv(2), you have done such a wonderful job and have a lot to be proud of.    As always, you have some very interesting books on your list which sends me off to amazon to add to my wishlist. 

[Robin M]

I had so much I was staring to try to articulate in response to the larger post, but I didn't write enough of it down...

 

 You might like Joan Slonczewski - she's a hard sci-fi author, with a strand of philosophical and spiritual thought that runs through her books.  Door into Ocean is one place to start, and probably her most powerful book.. though not her most fuzzy or accessible.  Wall Around Eden isn't as perfect, and it hit me so hard when it came out that I can probably never see it objectively... but I love its integrity, its heart, and the intelligent play of thoughts and ideas.

 

You might like Bujold, too... though not, not, not for the kids, imnsho.  They are space opera, and not literary writing...but they are books I have to ration myself with, lest I over-read them, and not be able to read them any more... They have a female viewpoint, though the protagonist for most of the Vorkosigan series is male.

 

I am rereading a co-authored epistolary novel that is intelligent fantasy - the most adult riff on Tam Lin (sort-of), a spotlight on a fascinating period in history (alternate though this is), a strand w/ a love of Hegel and the process of thinking... and of responsibility... and love... Freedom and Necessity... this I don't adore in the comfort reading sense, but, like everything Emma Bull has done, it brings heart and mind to a story that really lives.  (Her War for the Oaks was urban fantasy before the genre existed, but shares the mind and heart and reality of F & N without the philosophising that I think Brust brought more of to the equation in F & N)

 

Nancy Bond's Voyage Begun I might already have recommended to you for your daughter.. her Another Shore is an older YA (and contains some more explicit sexual content than I gave my kids, but ymmv :) ), but does time slip fantasy perfectly. 

 

I've raved to you before I think about LeGuin's Lavinia - its female view of the Aeneid is fabulous, but it is much more than that, and does meta beautifully...

 

I've probably burbled excessively here about Sherwood Smith's Inda - door-stopper fantasy that creates both a vivid world and characters I love.

 

I think you would like Connie Willis's Passage - and perhaps her Doomsday Book.  Passage is one of my non-literary desert island books, and in it Willis's writing style, themes, and story pull together in what seemed to me a perfect combination.

 

...and I think you should try Walton's Farthing.  It doesn't give its villains nuance (the second book has some more complex pieces), despite the spot-on-ness of its depiction of time and place... but it has some of the starkness of a fairy tale... no that isn't quite right... it is a book with clear edges, that is saying something with white fire clarity, the shadows, and there are some, are harder to see, but I think that is part of the story it is.  [The second book is fascinating when read with even cursory knowledge of the Mitford sisters, btw]

 

I'm going to add a word of love for LOTR - I haven't seen, in fact refuse to see, the movies, but the heart of that book, the reality of heroism, of love, of sacrifice... and it is one of the few SFF books I'd confidently shelf with literature... I first read these young, but reread them every few years. 

 

I had a whole impassioned defense of genre in mind, but I will spare you all!

Passage interests me and will add it to my want list.  Does anyone remember the movie - Flatliners - with Keifer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon. Sort of reminds me of that. Maybe they got their idea from Willis. Who knows.   I saw the LOTR movies and hubby having never read the books, enjoyed them but wasn't tempted to read the stories at all.  Now The Hobbit, I can't bring myself to watch the movies at all. 

 

2nd Bujold - read a bunch of her books and pretty sure I still have The Warrior's Apprentice packed away in my sci fi books.

 

Emma Bull sounds interesting and will have to look into her books.

[Angel]

:seeya: Angel. I wondered where you'd gotten to.

 

 

 

:seeya:  I've spent the day catching up on the threads!  Let's see it's been busy around here finishing up the main part of school along with field trips and our annual testing day yesterday.  For all intents and purposes we are "done" with school.  Dd is finishing up her Botany book and Bible program, and we have Mystery of History II to finish, but that's about it.  

 

And then there are my computer troubles. My laptop cord port is broken so my laptop battery only lasts about 30 min before it dies.   :sad:  Dh wants me to move everything to dd19's old laptop but her screen is broken and so I have this large strip in the middle of the screen.  Plus it's not MY laptop.  I'm a little put out about this.  I don't think there is money in the budget for a new laptop for me for a bit.  I guess I will get used to it eventually, but at least I'm back to where I can read and post.  It's a little hard on my phone.

 

I'm hoping to finish Dante's Inferno this evening.  Can someone tell me what century was that again? I'm a bit behind in the century challenge.  

[NoseInABook]

Finished Midnight Crossroad. I'm kind of bummed because I was hoping for an original story and it's not. New characters, yes, but it's pretty much a story taken from the Lily Bard/Shakespeare series. Maybe it'll spin off from that into its own story in the next two books? I'm sure I'll read them because I can't start a series and not finish.

 

Starting Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train. 

[Guest]

NM

[mumto2]

Finished Midnight Crossroad. I'm kind of bummed because I was hoping for an original story and it's not. New characters, yes, but it's pretty much a story taken from the Lily Bard/Shakespeare series. Maybe it'll spin off from that into its own story in the next two books? I'm sure I'll read them because I can't start a series and not finish.

 

Starting Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train. 

I keep planning to do a reread of the Lily Bard series because some of them are not at all familiar.  I suspect I missed a couple.  I am not wondering if I should stay on the hold list or add it to the end of the other series whenever.  At least it is a little problem.;)

 

Stacia -- Now for the update on how Tell No One the book compares to the French movie.  Oddly enough it matches almost totally for about the ninety percent point unless you want to be really picky then the ending diverges big time.  Far more twists and turns with a different "who"in the " who done it" although the ending scene is basically the same.  The cleaner movie ending is actually my preferred one.  Highly doubt I will ever be saying that again anytime soon!   :lol:  FYI the same character takes the blame though.

 

LOTR-- I am a fan of the books, especially The Hobbit and The Fellowship.....Don't care for the movies and really dislike what they did to The Hobbit.  I read the Fellowship of the Ring as a 11yo and enjoyed it,  my SIL told me the rest of the story in a marvellous all night girly marathon.  She was probably just trying to keep her books on her shelves as opposed to my taking them home with me(250 miles away) but I loved it and enjoyed the story greatly.  I didn't read the rest until after Ds was born.  A neighbour was hooked on the movies and was convinced I needed to see them.  He actually gave me all three for my bday to tempt me.  I rarely am willing to watch first so bought the books and had a reading marathon starting with the Hobbit.  After a month or so I had the neighbour reading the books because I told him how superior they were to the movies. According to his wife he still rereads periodically which makes me laugh because I don't think he even knew that there were books before I told him!

[Stacia]

I enjoyed Beverly Cleary's books when I was a kid & my kids enjoyed her books when they were younger too. Here are 12 Charming Tidbits About Beverly Cleary.

[Kareni]

And because I've got some time on my hands and am planted in a spot in the library where folks are coming and going and because Phoenix recently changed her avatar to show her lovely smiling self my mind is casting about wondering what you all look like. You have all begun to tuck yourselves into my heart here with our daily ramblings and sharings. Do I have an image in my mind of each of you based on your username and posts? Hmm, I'll have to feel into that a little bit...

 

What?!  You mean you don't look like a pair of shoes? and Jane in NC doesn't look like an owl?  (You already know what I look like ~ a white silhouette on a darkish grey background.)  My problem is when people post avatars of celebrities, etc., and I lack the popular knowledge to know that that is a celebrity and not the person.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Onceuponatime]

What?!  You mean you don't look like a pair of shoes? and Jane in NC doesn't look like an owl?  (You already know what I look like ~ a white silhouette on a darkish grey background.)  My problem is when people post avatars of celebrities, etc., and I lack the popular knowledge to know that that is a celebrity and not the person.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

I really look like a Van Gogh painting.

[Kareni]

I really look like a Van Gogh painting.

 

I knew that (cough, cough)!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[-M-]

I had the thought recently, we could do a picture collage of BaWer's, although I'm sure some of the ladies prefer staying behind the anonymity of their avatars. If y'all wanted to, all it would take is emailing me your picture and I could put something together.

[JennW in SoCal]

And then there are my computer troubles. 

 

I'm hoping to finish Dante's Inferno this evening.  Can someone tell me what century was that again? I'm a bit behind in the century challenge.  

 

Boo to computer problems, but good to "see" you!

 

And to answer your question, Inferno was written in the early 14th century.

 

 

 

My avatar may or may not be me wearing 3-D glasses at a ride at Disneyland.  I know you all can't imagine that a woman who writes such serious, profound and insightful posts about literature chooses to represent herself with a whimsical and silly avatar. Kareni, you are free to think that is a photo of some celebrity.  :coolgleamA:

 

And Ms. Multivitamin, you look more like a sister than the mother of your girls.  You make 50 look great!  (Young whipper-snapper that you are.)

[Kareni]

 

My avatar may or may not be me wearing 3-D glasses at a ride at Disneyland.  I know you all can't imagine that a woman who writes such serious, profound and insightful posts about literature chooses to represent herself with a whimsical and silly avatar. Kareni, you are free to think that is a photo of some celebrity.  :coolgleamA:

 

Well, of course it's a picture of a celebrity.  Many celebrities live in Southern California and wear glasses when they wish to be incognito.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

I enjoyed Beverly Cleary's books when I was a kid & my kids enjoyed her books when they were younger too. Here are 12 Charming Tidbits About Beverly Cleary.

 

 

Lovely, thanks. And apparently cats have always plopped themselves down smack in the middle of keys. :lol:  Funny, to picture a cat on a typewriter. What is it with cats and keyboards?

[Stacia]

FYI, computer probs & my computer access may be spotty for the next couple of weeks. So, if I'm not as chatty online as normal, that's why....

[Kareni]

I've now finished book two in the Virginia Kantra contemporary romance series that I mentioned yesterday.  I enjoyed it and am now in the midst of reading book three.

 

Carolina Girl (A Dare Island Novel)

 

Definitely start with book one as there is a continuing story line.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

My avatar is me - just me many, many years ago! 

 

This is from last summer (the morning of my eldest daughter's wedding) - but my sheitels (wigs) usually have bangs, so this isn't a perfect resemblance.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting a picture!  You and your daughter look so lovely.  I love seeing what all my BaW friends look like.  

 

I adore your DD's dress.  I detest the trend of sleeveless wedding dresses because there's only about 6 people in the world that can pull that look off.  I don't even think they are flattering on super skinny gals.  A dress with sleeves just looks so classy and timeless to me. 

 

 

[mumto2]

I have read a couple of art themed books this week while traveling.  I finished the third Iain Pears mystery, The Bernini Bust.  It was entertaining.  Honestly pretty much like the two others from this series that I have read with a good combination of interesting storyline and a bit of action.

 

I also read the first in a new series for me which I really enjoyed.  And Only to Deceive is first in Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton series which many here would enjoy.  It is a mystery set in the Victorian Era primarily in London where Lady Emily, a rather young widow, is trying to entertain herself during her mandatory two year mourning period.  She dislikes being in society where she can't dance and is forced to converse about her husband whom she barely knew. He died shortly after their marriage while hunting elephants in Africa,  she wasn't overly impressed while he was alive. She starts reading the Illiad and develops a love for Greek artifacts.  She starts exploring her husband's collections and reading his journals. Slowly falling in love with her dead on an African adventure husband who was much more interesting than she had realized.  Forged ancient artefacts and quite a bit of intrigue began.  http://austenprose.com/2011/05/06/and-only-to-deceive-by-tasha-alexander-%E2%80%93-a-review/

 

I have the next book in the series ready to go because there is a bit of a cliff hanger.  Dd is reading and loving it.  Due to a Library issue trying to finish Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourne first.

[Jane in NC]

 

I also read the first in a new series for me which I really enjoyed.  And Only to Deceive is first in Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton series which many here would enjoy.  It is a mystery set in the Victorian Era primarily in London where Lady Emily, a rather young widow, is trying to entertain herself during her mandatory two year mourning period.  She dislikes being in society where she can't dance and is forced to converse about her husband whom she barely knew. He died shortly after their marriage while hunting elephants in Africa,  she wasn't overly impressed while he was alive. She starts reading the Illiad and develops a love for Greek artifacts.  She starts exploring her husband's collections and reading his journals. Slowly falling in love with her dead on an African adventure husband who was much more interesting than she had realized.  Forged ancient artefacts and quite a bit of intrigue began.  http://austenprose.com/2011/05/06/and-only-to-deceive-by-tasha-alexander-%E2%80%93-a-review/

 

How exciting!  This is on the shelf at my library.

 

I have been off politicking again.  One of my local causes sent me to DC last month and Raleigh this week to meet with elected officials.  This is new ground for me and I really love doing it.  (Which only goes to show that I truly am a wackadoo!)

 

So not a lot of reading has been accomplished. 

 

It is Wednesday and perhaps time for a reminder that we are to be reading HoAW chapters 15 and 16 this week. Or for some of us to work on getting caught up.  Ahem.

[Onceuponatime]

Yesterday afternoon I took a break from non-fiction and zoomed through half of Girl in Hyacinth Blue. It is another art theft, art history book, but this one is a series of short stories connected to a painting throughout history. The stories are fine, but I find it a little confusing to have to figure out where I am and what time it is with each story. They don't seem to be in chronological order. Nevertheless, it is light enough and interesting enough. I will probably finish it today.

 

ETA: I figured out they are in backwards chronological order. So time jumps back then flows forward for a short space, then jumps back again.

[Pam in CT]

Just popping in for one minute because it is a GORGEOUS day for gardening...

 

Shukriyya, my avatar is me, last year in Colca Canyon, Peru, where we saw CONDORS!!!  It was the.absolute.coolest.  I usually *take* the pictures so there aren't a lot of me.

 

Stacia, I have always really enjoyed picturing you with very sharp edges, so please don't disabuse me of that notion.

 

Eliana, once again your exhaustive list of SFF and F books has me scrambling... thank you!

 

 

[Murmer]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that as a result of the fairytale threads I ended up downloading two complete kindle collections of Grimm and HCA. As a result ds, being the methodical creature that he is as well as a lover of fairytale/myth and fantasy, is reading his way through HCA story by story :D I love that this kind of tapestry is informing his inner landscape right now.

I am currently reading a HCA collection! I got it to read to my son but discovered that many of the stories I had already read to him through the Fairy books by Lang so I am just reading the ones he hasn't heard yet and I am almost done reading throughout the whole thing.

 

I also just finished Gulliver's Travels....I am not sure I understand it so much but the last 2 parts were interesting...I think the last 4 chapters were the most interesting to me.  I am still processing it.

 

So here is my current list.

Finished: Spiritual Stewardship by Richard Eyre

Gulliver Travels by Johnathan Swift

 

Working on:

Fiction: Han Cristian Anderson Fairy Tales 

Kindle: Dancing in the Low Country by James Villas

Non-fiction: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Phone: The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker

Computer: Life Before Life by Richard Eyre

Well Education Mind: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Angel Girl: Water Babies by Charles Kingsley 

Audiobook: Sherlock Holmes 

 

Total Read for 2014: 66

[Guest]

Finished Boy, Snow, Bird this morning and have lots to mull over with that one. I didn't love it, but there is a lot to think about so I'm not going to say I disliked it.

[shukriyya]

My avatar is me - just me many, many years ago!

 

This is from last summer (the morning of my eldest daughter's wedding) - but my sheitels (wigs) usually have bangs, so this isn't a perfect resemblance.

 

Posting from my tablet so I can't multi-quote...

 

Eliana, what a lovely picture! Look at you two beautiful, shining souls. Sheer loveliness all round :D

[Stacia]

Stacia, I have always really enjoyed picturing you with very sharp edges, so please don't disabuse me of that notion.

 

It's not the body that's sharp (sadly, I'm too out of shape for that), it's the mind, woman! The mind!  ;)  :smilielol5:

 

(In reality, I just love stupid signs that state the obvious. :leaving: )

 

All of you with photos (either in your avatars or that you've posted in the thread) are GORGEOUS! I knew you ladies had beautiful, book-loving hearts & minds, and you're beautiful on the outside too! :grouphug:

[Stacia]

Finished Boy, Snow, Bird this morning and have lots to mull over with that one. I didn't love it, but there is a lot to think about so I'm not going to say I disliked it.

 

Awww. No Fig Eater-ish discussion? :p :D

[Stacia]

So, shukriyya, are those your shoes?

[shukriyya]

I also read the first in a new series for me which I really enjoyed. And Only to Deceive is first in Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton series which many here would enjoy. It is a mystery set in the Victorian Era primarily in London where Lady Emily, a rather young widow, is trying to entertain herself during her mandatory two year mourning period. She dislikes being in society where she can't dance and is forced to converse about her husband whom she barely knew. He died shortly after their marriage while hunting elephants in Africa, she wasn't overly impressed while he was alive. She starts reading the Illiad and develops a love for Greek artifacts. She starts exploring her husband's collections and reading his journals. Slowly falling in love with her dead on an African adventure husband who was much more interesting than she had realized. Forged ancient artefacts and quite a bit of intrigue began. http://austenprose.com/2011/05/06/and-only-to-deceive-by-tasha-alexander-%E2%80%93-a-review/

 

I have the next book in the series ready to go because there is a bit of a cliff hanger. Dd is reading and loving it. Due to a Library issue trying to finish Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourne first.

Well I swore I wasn't going to click on your link, mumto2, as I'm trying to stick to the straight and narrow wrt my 5/5/5... and I lasted all of about 10 minutes :lol: This looks like a fun read and, wait for it, it's a kindle daily deal at $1.99. How serendipitous is that?! You're not working for Amazon are you ;)

[shukriyya]

 

All of you with photos (either in your avatars or that you've posted in the thread) are GORGEOUS! I knew you ladies had beautiful, book-loving hearts & minds, and you're beautiful on the outside too! :grouphug:

I agree!!!

 

And to answer your question, yes, those are my shoes. I remember the day I took that picture, it was fall and I'd made a delicious vegetable stew that we ate with fresh, crusty bread and lots of good cheer. The evening light was falling into the room in such embracing leaves of delight and my shoes were fairly new and I was still enjoying looking down at them on my feet. So I snapped a picture to remember the moment :D

[Stacia]

Ok, I'm going to shatter Pam's illusions (sorry, Pam) & quickly post a pic.

 

Pam -- don't look....

 

[shukriyya]

Ok, I'm going to shatter Pam's illusions (sorry, Pam) & quickly post a pic.

 

Pam -- don't look....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Hint, I'm not the Stormtroopers. Lol.)

 

 

OMG, Stacia, I love you more than ever now :lol: