Book a Week in 2015 - BW2

[Kathleen.]

I'm reading "Young Fredle" this week and my 8yo is reading "The Story of Babar." We're picking light, fun books. :)

[LaughingCat]

I am on my third Heyer  - read The Grand Sophy first based on recs from these forums, then Cotillion and now These Old Shades - and so far they are going downwards as I go -- I enjoyed The Grand Sophy, I liked Cotillion, and These Old Shades is barely getting an 'it's ok' so far.  Maybe reading the best first wasn't the way to go! :lol:

[mumto2]

Well, we thought it was tons, but maybe not 15, maybe more like 5-8 each. They did a lot of prizes to see who'd been paying attention, and my daughter in particular scored quite a few that way, much to the irritation of her older brother.

 

We'll have to figure out a way to swing by Birmingham!

Probably helps for children in the group to lose teeth and for the mom to panic when she had her son walked up and spit a gob of carmel complete with tooth in her hand. He went right back to magician and left me trying to figure out why he spit on me! When I found the tooth......lets just say curly whirly's suddenly became unpopular!

 

Ds did manage it the first two trips. The second one his friend lost one too! Of course I think they purposely kept a couple of really loose teeth just for the tour. They looked really intent chewing on that carmel!

 

We may have had 5 the last time. Did they make the chocolate covered sundae type dessert at the end?

[VaKim]

Were you doing the Prime books or in the Kindle First where I think all kindle owners get one. Kindle First is where I got two not the prime part.

Oops. Didn't see that little word "first" in your post. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I am on my third Heyer  - read The Grand Sophy first based on recs from these forums, then Cotillion and now These Old Shades - and so far they are going downwards as I go -- I enjoyed The Grand Sophy, I liked Cotillion, and These Old Shades is barely getting an 'it's ok' so far.  Maybe reading the best first wasn't the way to go! :lol:

 

Try Venetia, it's another one of my favorites - a very independent, mature heroine.  Lots of great poetry references!  And a anti-hero type hero that even I have a little bit of a crush on.

 

I also really like Friday's Child, but it's back to the more silly, scatterbrained, but very endearing heroine-and-hero.  They start out married and the book is about how they fall in love, so it's a little bit backwards, which is always fun.

 

For those that like brooding psychological mysteries, Penhallow is good.  Nobody in that book is particularly likeable, but it's a good story.

[NoseInABook]

A Walk In The Woods made me belly laugh. I loved it! 

 

Uff Da! Praying you find an awesome church.

 

Tress, exactly! I must finish books too. Even if I hate it and I remark to my husband about fifty million times, "Why am I doing this? This is killing me. I hate this book." I still MUST finish.

 

I agree with Pam on the bad wine. ;)

 

Stacia, my kids were thrilled with their package today. My three year old kept saying, "My Stacia, she sent this just for me! It was my Stacia!" Apparently you now belong to him.

 

I also got a package with Sally Clarkson's Own Your Life. Wee! I'm expecting two books on essential oils this week too. I know, I know, I'm drowning in books to read and I keep getting more. It's a sick addiction but a lovely one as well. ;)

[aggieamy]

 

I am on my third Heyer  - read The Grand Sophy first based on recs from these forums, then Cotillion and now These Old Shades - and so far they are going downwards as I go -- I enjoyed The Grand Sophy, I liked Cotillion, and These Old Shades is barely getting an 'it's ok' so far.  Maybe reading the best first wasn't the way to go!  :lol:

 

Try Venetia, it's another one of my favorites - a very independent, mature heroine.  Lots of great poetry references!  And a anti-hero type hero that even I have a little bit of a crush on.

 

I also really like Friday's Child, but it's back to the more silly, scatterbrained, but very endearing heroine-and-hero.  They start out married and the book is about how they fall in love, so it's a little bit backwards, which is always fun.

 

For those that like brooding psychological mysteries, Penhallow is good.  Nobody in that book is particularly likeable, but it's a good story.

 

Ditto the recommendation for Friday's Child.  The middle part felt a little bit long but the ending was great.  

 

I hated Devil's Cub.  It made me feel icky.

 

In addition to the ones mentioned earlier I recommend:

 

Arabella

Frederica

Sylvester

Black Sheep

Nonesuch

 

 

 

[beckster]

I haven't finished any this week, but I did make progress.  That is the downfall to reading several books at a time, I have several weeks where I don't finish, and then I'll finish 5 at once.

 

That is how I read, too.  I have tried to read only one book at time, but it just doesn't seem to work!

[Pam in CT]

Probably helps for children in the group to lose teeth and for the mom to panic when she had her son walked up and spit a gob of carmel complete with tooth in her hand. He went right back to magician and left me trying to figure out why he spit on me! When I found the tooth......lets just say curly whirly's suddenly became unpopular!

 

Ds did manage it the first two trips. The second one his friend lost one too! Of course I think they purposely kept a couple of really loose teeth just for the tour. They looked really intent chewing on that carmel!

 

We may have had 5 the last time. Did they make the chocolate covered sundae type dessert at the end?

 

OK, I'm visualizing you, holding the dripping gob of carmel your son spit out... and I truly have to admire the spirit of inquiry which moved you to investigate said gob with sufficient scrutiny and care that you managed to, ah, uncover the tooth.  

 

I don't recall the sundae, though there was an enormous Wonka-style chocolate waterfall that, as I remember, the kids held marshmallows-on-a-stick into.  I think they  make different treats in different regions?

[beckster]

Been loving reading along with you all!!  Here is a rundown of last week:

 

finished:

Make Over: Revitalizing the Many Roles You Fill

Seven-Minute Marriage Solution

Invisibles:  The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion

Pollyanna

 

currently reading:

The History of the Medieval World

Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness

What's Best Next

 

[Stacia]

 Stacia, my kids were thrilled with their package today. My three year old kept saying, "My Stacia, she sent this just for me! It was my Stacia!" Apparently you now belong to him.

 

:lol:  and :001_wub:

[Lady Florida.]

I finished As You Wish, Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. I really enjoyed this one. I think any Princess Bride fan would.

 

My goodreads review

 

[JennW in SoCal]

 

Stacia, my kids were thrilled with their package today. My three year old kept saying, "My Stacia, she sent this just for me! It was my Stacia!" Apparently you now belong to him.

 

Awww.  I guess I'd better get in line behind the 3 year old.  I got a package today, too, from "My Stacia", but I won't elbow a cute 3 year old out of the way to claim ownership of Stacia!!  I received Scherzo which was on her "up for grabs" list a week or so ago. The cover of the book claims it is a "Venetian Entertainment".  [insert gondola smiley here]

 

 

Ditto the recommendation for Friday's Child.  The middle part felt a little bit long but the ending was great.  

 

I hated Devil's Cub.  It made me feel icky.

 

In addition to the ones mentioned earlier I recommend:

 

Arabella

Frederica

Sylvester

Black Sheep

Nonesuch

 

 

Thank you for all the Heyer recommendations!  I have on my shelves one that I inherited, False Colours.  Anyone read that one?  Thumbs up, down? 

 

And, randomly, my ability to like has returned after only a few hours away.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Awww.  I guess I'd better get in line behind the 3 year old.  I got a package today, too, from "My Stacia", but I won't elbow a cute 3 year old out of the way to claim ownership of Stacia!!  I received Scherzo which was on her "up for grabs" list a week or so ago. The cover of the book claims it is a "Venetian Entertainment".  [insert gondola smiley here]

 

 

 

Thank you for all the Heyer recommendations!  I have on my shelves one that I inherited, False Colours.  Anyone read that one?  Thumbs up, down? 

 

And, randomly, my ability to like has returned after only a few hours away.

 

 

Oh, that's  a good one!  One of the relatively few with a male protagonist.  Very Shakespearean comedy - twins impersonating each other, a love tangle, the whole works!

[Just Robyn]

re: finishing bad books

 

I do abandon books, but not often. Sometimes I finish a book I don't like because it's a classic, and though I'm not enjoying reading it, I want to have read it. This can pay off later as these books are referenced in other books I read. 

 

Sometimes I think a book is poorly written but is still full of good ideas, and I'm willing to deal with the story structure, prose style, flat characters, etc. for the sake of the interesting ideas.

[Pam in CT]

Awww.  I guess I'd better get in line behind the 3 year old.  I got a package today, too, from "My Stacia", but I won't elbow a cute 3 year old out of the way to claim ownership of Stacia!!  I received Scherzo which was on her "up for grabs" list a week or so ago. The cover of the book claims it is a "Venetian Entertainment".  [insert gondola smiley here]

 

 

 

Thank you for all the Heyer recommendations!  I have on my shelves one that I inherited, False Colours.  Anyone read that one?  Thumbs up, down? 

 

And, randomly, my ability to like has returned after only a few hours away.

 

:cursing: Argggghhhh.  Just when I was working up to a reasonable hypothesis.  I haven't even TRIED to check how quickly they come back.

[JennW in SoCal]

:cursing: Argggghhhh.  Just when I was working up to a reasonable hypothesis.  I haven't even TRIED to check how quickly they come back.

 

Your dedication to the science of likes is very, well, likeable  :laugh:

[Angel]

Laughing Cat: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman -read aloud - I did not love this the way it seems a lot of others did

I just picked this up at the library after hearing it raved about here.

 

Mommymilkies: So I felt myself cringe seeing books friends down rated on Goodreads.  It made me sad. "WHY don't you see this is clearly a 5 star book?!?!?", so I think I'm a little emotional this week and need to stay off of there.  I may actually have shed a tear or two.  A reminder to myself not to take it personally.  ;) 

:grouphug:  I'm having that kind of week too!  

 

And for anyone interested, if you copy and paste at the bottom of the page and then you click to the next page, you will lose it all  :glare: 

[Cinder]

I just saw this thread and it's already on page 4! *sigh*

 

I'm still reading A Red Herring without Mustard. Only halfway through. I'm a slow reader but have loved reading all my life. I think I'm so slow because every book is like an audiobook in my head. I hear the voices and see the scenes.

 

 

[mumto2]

:cursing: Argggghhhh. Just when I was working up to a reasonable hypothesis. I haven't even TRIED to check how quickly they come back.

Pam, Raising my hand......the answer is they return at roughly the same rate as I used them the day before. So I really didn't use any yesterday between 2 and 6 pm therefore when I was out today at that time I didn't get any new ones(well I got 2). At 6 when the new thread came out yesterday (my time) I suddenly have likes because that is when I gave several. Think of it as a rolling 100......

[Robin M]

Sadly I am out of likes so consider yourselves all liked. 

 

Negin- I bought myself Bill Bryson's Walk in the Woods for Christmas and is up next in my stack of books. I haven't read any of his stories yet so looking forward to it.

 

Shukriyya - indecision is definitely a sign you don't want to read HoTMW.  You are usually quite decisive so move on and find something that will make you happy.   Thank you for the beautiful poem. 

 

Jadesong:  War and Peace. I loved it so look forward to hearing what you think.

 

I used to only read one book at a time and I never abandoned books. I have a system for picking out books.  Read the back cover, read the first page. If the first page captured me, flip to a couple random pages in the book and see if still kept my attention.   Which still works well for physical books.  Ebooks  kind of changed that.  I also find that some books after I have purchased them, I just may not be in the mood and put them back for another time.  If the 3rd time isn't the charm, then I'm done.   

 

Now I'm a promiscuous reader (we have  melissa from mental multivitamin to thank for coining the phrase)  and if the story just isn't doing it for me after 50 pages or so, then its abandoned. Now that I am older,  I agree with life is too short for bad books and bad wine.  Happy to say my husband has spoiled me now that I've discovered french red wines don't give me headaches.  

 

okay, lunch break is about over and I have to get  back to work.  Treated my techs to Japanese food for lunch today. A low key celebration for H who has been with us 25 years. To top it off one of my customers found out I didn't get any of the rum balls and cookies he brought in at christmas time, so brought a plate full for my very own. I'll probably share. *grin* Back to munching on oyako don and gyoza. *Yum*

 

 

[aggieamy]

 

okay, lunch break is about over and I have to get  back to work.  Treated my techs to Japanese food for lunch today. A low key celebration for H who has been with us 25 years. To top it off one of my customers found out I didn't get any of the rum balls and cookies he brought in at christmas time, so brought a plate full for my very own. I'll probably share. *grin* Back to munching on oyako don and gyoza. *Yum*

 

Your lunch sounds amazing.  What do you and your husband do?  I seem to remember you working together (my DH and I do too so I think that's why I remember it!) and I'm impressed that you've apparently been doing it for 25 years.  

[Lady Florida.]

I thought it was Angel who recommended the Cary Elwes memoir, but couldn't remember. I just checked and was right. So...thank you Angel. :)

[idnib]

I spent my Sunday reading time watching the Packers game instead. Ah well. At least the Packers are still in it.

 

I've finished section 3 of Ulysses and am really enjoying it. So much beautiful language. It's like what happens if you cross a ridiculously well-educated Jesuit with Jack Kerouac, and the Jesuit likes to add in obscure allusions to keep English professors employed. How altruistic!

 

I'll probably finish Hard Road West tonight. I want to complete it so I can begin 1Q84, which should arrive in the mail tomorrow. I really only want to read one other book while reading Ulysses. Not only am I a slow reader, it takes a lot of time to look up some of the allusions.

 

I'm out of likes but have enjoyed all the posts on this thread!

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Life's to short for bad books and bad wine

 

And low fat cheese. That is a crime against humanity.  :crying:

[idnib]

And low fat cheese. That is a crime against humanity.  :crying:

 

Sing it, sister!

[Mom22ns]

My first book of the year was Messenger by Lois Lowry. After loving the Giver years ago, I finally decided to continue the series in December.

 

After that I listened another children's title, The Familiars. It was light and fun. 

 

I've been trying to work through Smart But Scattered Teens and haven't gotten very far. I'm also reading The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore and listening to Songmaster by Orson Scott Card. They're all checked out from the library, so I have to move through them quickly, but I'm not really good at reading three things at once.

[Chrysalis Academy]

My first book of the year was Messenger by Lois Lowry. After loving the Giver years ago, I finally decided to continue the series in December.

 

 

 

What did you think?  That was my least favorite of the four.  

[Kareni]

Dunedin!!  Home of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour!  Did your daughter go??  Three years later my kids still rave.  They claim it's the best factory tour they've ever been on!  (though I claim Toyota's... we go on a lot of factory tours, lol...)

 

She did indeed!  She loved the tour and the samples.

 

We arrived in Dunedin to visit her just as the Jaffa Race down Baldwin Street ended, so we got all the traffic but none of the Jaffa balls.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

As regards abandoning books ~

 

I was a voracious reader as a child and felt a need to finish what I began.  I never did read a library dry, but that may be because I moved frequently as a child (fifteen schools from kindergarten through high school).  When I was pregnant, I could barely read due to frequent nausea.  That was the point at which I began to abandon books that did not hold my interest.  I now give up books profligately!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Just Robyn]

I spent my Sunday reading time watching the Packers game instead. Ah well. At least the Packers are still in it.

 

I've finished section 3 of Ulysses and am really enjoying it. So much beautiful language. It's like what happens if you cross a ridiculously well-educated Jesuit with Jack Kerouac, and the Jesuit likes to add in obscure allusions to keep English professors employed. How altruistic!

 

 

:laugh:

[Mom22ns]

What did you think?  That was my least favorite of the four.  

I liked it more than Gathering Blue, but far less than The Giver. I just felt unsettled with it throughout. The ending worked for me though.

[Angel]

Jenn said:  The Grand Sophy, which someone had recommended on this list last week.

:hurray:  Sophy was one of my favorite characters last year.  She was a hoot!

 

I also loved Sylvester!  A lot!  Cotillion and Venetia were fun, too.  I got annoyed with A Convenient Marriage but admit to laughing the hardest at one of the side characters.

 

LadyFlorida said: I thought it was Angel who recommended the Cary Elwes memoir, but couldn't remember. I just checked and was right. So...thank you Angel.  :)

Your are most welcome!  So glad you enjoyed it!!  The fart and Count Rugen hitting Westley on the head were my favorite funny parts.  I also loved the tender part about Elwes's grandfather.

 

 

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I read and liked The Giver. Do I want to read the series? 

 

 

My reading may decrease and/or my posting as well. I just started a human anatomy class tonight at my local CC and it goes til May. I am happy to report there were about 5 students who looked like they were in the above 30s crowd so I am not alone in a sea of babies.  :tongue_smilie: Although the girl in front of me did let me know that she was, um, born the year I graduated high school. Then she told me how great I look for being so old. 

 

I'm going to start a fluff book tonight because I don't yet have my textbook.....

[Shawneinfl]

I've been super busy and haven't made it often to the boards, but I wanted to jump in today and post.

 

My first book of the year was, The Painter, by Peter Heller.  It was a wonderful book.  It was like Poe meets Hemingway with amazing almost poetic descriptions, but not overdone.  And I thought the plot was fairly tight (I'm not liking the new literary trend of no plot).  It was beautiful, creepy, sad, and even at times funny.  I highly recommend this book.  

 

My family also listened to Terry Pratchett's Snuff. It was a poke and nod to Jane Austin, and a fun book. It was a bit darker then his others, but still excellent.

 

I currently reading All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.  I'm enjoying it so far; it's beautifully written and engaging. 

 

I'm looking forward to Neil Gaiman's latest book, Trigger Warnings, which is a collection of short stories. 

 

I've been wanting to read The Painter so I'm glad to hear your positive review. I really enjoyed his other book, The Dog Stars.

[Robin M]

Your lunch sounds amazing.  What do you and your husband do?  I seem to remember you working together (my DH and I do too so I think that's why I remember it!) and I'm impressed that you've apparently been doing it for 25 years.  

 

We do electronic repairs -we do all the older stuff from 1920's tube radios up to new professional and consumer audio equipment - amps, keyboards, mixers, and home theatre systems. 

[Guest]

2 plays:

 

Saturday's Children by Maxwell Anderson: Anderson's Wingless Victory was one of my favorite Medeas last year, and his Anne of the Thousand Days is a standard (and has some fabulous bits)... this was less amazing, but still interesting and the central theme, though a bit soap-boxy in places, passionately put forth.

 

Abraham Lincoln: A Play by John Drinkwater: The author's conviction shone through in this play as well (though how odd to have a hagiographic play about an American president written by a Brit, in ~1920).  This covers Lincoln's entire presidency, but only in a few selected episodes.. and more focused on character and values than on plot. 

 

4 poetry chapbooks:

 

It A Come: Poems by Michael Smith:  This was hard for me to adjust to at first (I'll share a sample below), but once I did the rhythm of it grabbed me.   (but I had to read these aloud - my brain couldn't handle the dialect otherwise...) [Jamaica]

 

 

It A Come

It a come
fire a go bun
blood a go run
No care how yuh teck it
some haffi regret it

Yuh coulda vex till yuh blue
I a reveal it to you
dat cut-eye cut-eye cyaan
cut dis-ya reality in two

It a come
fire a go bun
blood a go run
it goin go teck you
it goin go teck you

so Maggie Thatcher
yuh better watch ya
yuh goin go meet yuh Waterloo
yuh can stay deh a screw
I a subpoena you
from de little fella
call Nelson Mandela
who goin tun a martyr
fi yuh stop support
de blood-suckin I
call apartheid

for it a come
blood a go run
it goin go teck you
it goin go teck you

an if yuh inna yuh mansion
a get some passion
it goin go bus out in deh
like a fusion bomb
it a swell up inna de groun
an yuh cyaan hold it back
yuh haffi subscribe to it
or feel it

an no bodder run to no politician
for im cyaan brube dis-ya one
an no bodder teck it fi joke
yuh no see wha happen to de Pope

It a come
fire a go bun
blood a go run
it goin go teck you
it goin go teck you

Some goin go call it awareness
an we goin go celebrate it wid firmness
Odders going o call it revolution
but I prefer liberation

Fi de oppressed an de dispossessed
who has been restless
a full time dem get some rest

for it a come
fire a go bun
blood a go run
it goin go teck you
it goin go teck you

not only fi I
but fi you too

from It A Come, 1986  (19-20)

 

 

 

What's Left Behind: Poems by Michal Mahgerefteh: This fit well with the previous week's Kaddish: Women's Voices - a daughter processing her mother's death, but although there were parts that clicked, these read as a bit amateurish.  I found many of them moving, all the same, but they needed more polishing before they were published. 

 

Watered Colors: Poems by Michael Levin: More polished than the Mahgerefteh's, but still early work.  Also moving and, at times, interesting.

 

Where Jewish Grandmothers Come From by Debra Winegarten:  These didn't need more work, they needed to be set aside and only shared with devoted friends and relatives... Some of the ideas were fabulous, but the execution was very lacking.

 

...I am glad I read all three of these.  It's a bit like seeing poetry in process... and less like reading bad poetry, if that makes any sense.

 

One beloved reread:

 

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis: This lovingly riffs off Three Men in a Boat and, a bit, Gaudy Night....

 

 

 

I'm enjoying Ulysses - there is much I'm missing, this first go through, and I can't read it the way I would Austen or even Woolf (though Cleo, I think you're right and there is a... not similarity exactly, but something similar in the head space I need to be in to appreciate the books)

 

I'm reading more poetry chapbooks (in bits and pieces),  Jonson's Volpone, some Sontag essays, Plath's Bell Jar, and have started the first bits of far too many others. 

 

I might be reading Zornberg's Shemos (Exodus) book, or, perhaps, some sichos on Shemos (or both!  I've started both...)  ...and I'm loving Rabbi Hirsch's essay collection...

 

.;..but I'm reading far too many books right now, and am pulled in too many different directions.  ...and I'm very behind on this thread! 

 

[Kareni]

This is a rather attractive piece from BuzzFeed ~

 

22 Absolutely Stunning Victorian Book Covers

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Guest]

and, lastly, The Valley of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels, by Freya Stark, recommended by Jane; travel memoir of intrepid female Brit, impersonating an archaeologist so as to enable the cover to Live the Dream. 

 

I haven't read any Stark since I was ~19... I keep finding myself drawn to another binge of travel writing... (I'm not intrepid at all, but I love reading along with someone else's adventures!)

 

In  more recent intrepid-ness there is Edith Mirante's Burmese Looking Glass...

 

 

I'm reading "Young Fredle" this week

 

I'm very fond of Young Fredle (and its companion book Angus and Sadie).  There aren't any other Voigt's like these, unfortunately... though her YA Izzy Willy Nilly is a favorite of mine, and all of her books - from these to the modern middle school Bad Girls to the often stark Tillerman series to the '80's teens Izzy Willy Nilly to her bittersweet subversion of Jeeves and Wooster in Glass Mountain - have a fierce integrity and raw honesty to them that I love.  (I do not love all of her books, far from it, but those qualities, despite a measure of distance in her writing, I admire and appreciate in all her books)

 

 

Thank you for all the Heyer recommendations!  I have on my shelves one that I inherited, False Colours.  Anyone read that one?  Thumbs up, down? 

 

 

I find False Colors delightful - and mentally shelve it with Unknown Ajax and A Quiet Gentleman, both of which also have male protagonists.

 

 

 

My reading may decrease and/or my posting as well. I just started a human anatomy class tonight at my local CC and it goes til May. I am happy to report there were about 5 students who looked like they were in the above 30s crowd so I am not alone in a sea of babies.  :tongue_smilie: Although the girl in front of me did let me know that she was, um, born the year I graduated high school. Then she told me how great I look for being so old. 

 

I'm going to start a fluff book tonight because I don't yet have my textbook.....

 

I'm doing A&P this quarter too... so far it is delightful, but I haven't had to memorize any muscle groups yet...

 

 

Dorothy Dunnett continues to amaze and astound me.  The Unicorn Hunt, the fifth volume in the House of Niccolo series, is my favorite so far.  The complexity of 15th century politics adds great drama to the tale.

 

I think Scales of Gold might be my favorite, in some ways... and for years after I first read it, I tried to find something that would give me even a fraction of the vividness of that glimpse of Timbuktu... and the ending, and its reverberation through Unicorn Hunt still leaves me aching for a world I've never seen much more of than Dunnett shows us...

[Guest]

Since it's been mentioned a couple of times, I'm just going to issue a heads-up on The Golden Legend: a work of its time, there is a lot of antisemitism in it. That's just part of the medieval European landscape, alas.

 

...and more recently as well. 

 

It can be so easy to forget that assumptions, ingrained viewpoints, and deeply held beliefs aren't universal, and otherwise splendid human beings can (and often did) hold beliefs we might find deplorable in our time and place.

 

 

 

Started :

Three Men and a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

Blackout by Connie Willis

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

 

Hope you have fun with Three Men and a Boat!

 

...Blackout/All Clear is wordy as all get out, but I loved the way all the details built a mosaic I found deeply moving.

 

re: These Old Shades: Eek!  No!  Run away now!  (and, whatever you do, stay, far, far away from Devil's Cub, the sequel, if rape-y jerks as romantic hero might bother you... )  Not all Heyers are created equal... some of that is personal preferences, but there are some that clump together and others that are in a different universe.  (and then some that I find as dull as dishwater...)

 

 

I'm still reading Rabbi Eilberg's "Enemy to Friend" book and enjoying it.  I keep wanting to stop and copy her quotes down but I think owning the book is probably enough.  One of the early quotes talks about conflict being a pulling back of the light which leaving an empty space to create something new.  

 

In other news, Dh said he would support me looking for a new church as it's been almost a year now since I accidentally flushed out my online stalker and I am still dealing with fallout.  I've learned and grown from this experience so it has been a blessing but I think the "empty space" in our case will be filled with community somewhere else.  

 

I've started it, too, but am reading too many different things to have gotten very far (thank you, again, Pam)

 

:grouphug:   Wishing you a joyful homecoming to a new communal home.. and that you find that space soon and smoothly.

 

 

Lady Florida ~  Eee gads, you're my type of reader!  Look at all those classics!  I'm sticking with Ulysses and am finding it ....... well, not enjoyable yet but perhaps unique ....???  I'm used to Virginia Woolf's stream-of-consciousness writing, so I've been able to flow with it and enjoy the lyrical quality of the prose.  Part III was weird, but again, I just went with it.  Something useful better start happening soon.

 

I think Woolf helped me be ready to flow with the prose/story/narrative.  I'm not sure if my enjoyment is the book itself, or the way the experience of reading it is... exercising my reading skills, I'm not even sure how to express it.   ...but whichever it is, there is indubitably enjoyment.

 

[Guest]

I felt the need for a light fiction read this weekend, so started Ancillary Justice.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333324-ancillary-justice?ac=1

 

 It's pretty fantastic so far, but not the light read I was thinking it would be! Very interesting multiple points of view and unusual gender characterization, so I'm having to really concentrate and to go back and re-read portions.  I'm enjoying it though, but not making any progress in anything else.

 

Oh, I see from goodreads that Eliana gave it 5 stars.  So I think that means it will stay strong!  Good.  Back to reading!

 

I loved it so much I almost didn't read the second book in the series, because I was worried to would ruin my memories of this one.  (I had my eldest son read it first...)   The second book was more predictable (perhaps only if one's read an absurd amount of space opera?) and wasn't a book I would rave about, but I did appreciate it, and will (probably) read the third one when it comes out...

 

The gender thing has gotten a lot of attention (and it was interesting for me as a reader), but the grab my heart and mind bits were the semi-unreliable narrator, the 'ancillary' pieces, and the... stumbling toward the light underlying caring and idealism in the main character.   It all came together for me in a way I found moving and fresh... ymmv (unless you're Shukriyya, in which case there's no "may" about it ;) )

 

 

Put on hold at the library.  Thanks for recommending.  I do believe we are heading toward this stage of life with MIL.  

 

:grouphug:

 

...the universe seems to have missed the memo that our parents are supposed to be immortal.  I'm not to that stage yet, but I sense it waiting in the wings, and I am not, and never will be, ready. 

 

 

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - one of the books mentioned in my current section of The Novel.

 

 

I've been meaning to read that for years... I look forward to hearing your responses.

 

 

 

Cracking open Sait Faik Abasiyanik's short story collection, A Useless Man, I realized that the volume is translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, the same duo who translated Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's novel The Time Regulation Institute which I enjoyed very much.  These are not contemporary works that are being translated!  The Time Regulation Institute was published in 1962 while Abasiyanik's stories were written in the first half of the 20th century.  It is taking a while for these voices to be heard in the English speaking world.

 

I didn't get far into Time Regulation Institute before the library insisted on getting it back, but it is something I want to return to... and how exciting that some of this literature is finally becoming more available!

 

 

[shukriyya]

I've been reading along with all you chatty cathies through the day on my phone. The lack of multi-quotes, which I have to admit I'm having less than charitable thoughts about, means pages and pages in the course of a single day. Anyway I spent some of it hiking round the lake with my sweet pup while ds participated in a nature immersion course. There's nothing like a lake in winter, the spare, grey, leafless spindly branches, the birds' startling presence, plush little fingers of light in an otherwise monochromatic landscape. It occurred to me that looking at certain parts of the shore with its cross hatchings and pebbles, its wavy grasses and jagged edges was much like looking at a zentangle.

 

I am very much enjoying 'Solstice Wood'. Nan, my concerns about this book are the obverse of yours. The magical realism of 'Solstice Wood' is more accessible to me than the I imagine the fantasy realms of of her other books might be. So we'll see. Dh thinks I'll enjoy Alphabet of Thorn.

 

Eliana, your comment made me smile. Actually it felt like I'd gotten a heartfelt, humoring hug from you :)

 

I know there at least half a dozen more BaWer posts I want to comment on but t'is late and, well, see multi-quote whine up above.

[Guest]

 

Eliana, your comment made me smile. Actually it felt like I'd gotten a heartfelt, humoring hug from you :)

 

 

 

:grouphug:   Heartfelt, by all means, but not humoring... more a mix of rueful awareness of our different approaches and essences leading to that upwelling of affection that comes from thinking about the self-hood & its manifestations in someone of whom one is fond.  ...and appreciation of your *you-ness*, and of the narrow thread that connects us across our differences, the brushing of earth-water with air-fire.... your ethereal-ness and spark are wonderous, if strange to me, and make me more aware of my own qualities, a closeness of difference and contrast...

 

I need to close this window and concentrate more on lifespan psychology... perhaps rewarding myself with visits here isn't the most prudent approach right now...

[Nan in Mass]

I've been reading along with all you chatty cathies through the day on my phone. The lack of multi-quotes, which I have to admit I'm having less than charitable thoughts about, means pages and pages in the course of a single day. Anyway I spent some of it hiking round the lake with my sweet pup while ds participated in a nature immersion course. There's nothing like a lake in winter, the spare, grey, leafless spindly branches, the birds' startling presence, plush little fingers of light in an otherwise monochromatic landscape. It occurred to me that looking at certain parts of the shore with its cross hatchings and pebbles, its wavy grasses and jagged edges was much like looking at a zentangle.

 

I am very much enjoying 'Solstice Wood'. Nan, my concerns about this book are the obverse of yours. The magical realism of 'Solstice Wood' is more accessible to me than the I imagine the fantasy realms of of her other books might be. So we'll see. Dh thinks I'll enjoy Alphabet of Thorn.

 

Eliana, your comment made me smile. Actually it felt like I'd gotten a heartfelt, humoring hug from you :)

 

I know there at least half a dozen more BaWer posts I want to comment on but t'is late and, well, see multi-quote whine up above.

Good about Solstice Wood. I happened to find Alphabet of Thorn more predictable than some of her other books, and slightly lacking some of the beauty in others, but you may not feel the same. It is more typical. I still liked it, just not as well as some others.

 

You are right about the winter resembling a zentangle, I think.

 

Nan

[Jane in NC]

I think Scales of Gold might be my favorite, in some ways... and for years after I first read it, I tried to find something that would give me even a fraction of the vividness of that glimpse of Timbuktu... and the ending, and its reverberation through Unicorn Hunt still leaves me aching for a world I've never seen much more of than Dunnett shows us...

 

While I too loved the vivid descriptions of Timbuktu and the scholarly presence there in the 15th century, the plot turns and ending of Scales of Gold were devastating for me. Thus I took a sabbatical from Niccolo despite my personal 5/5 challenge of 2014 in which I had hoped I would conclude the series. 

 

Thinking about the five Niccolo books that I have read so far, I find that I continue to be intrigued by Race of Scorpions because of Cyprus. That island is calling me....

 

[Openhearted]

I read To Find a Mountain by Dani Amore, a book I accidentally bought from the kindle bookstore. It is another WW II story of the Germans causing havoc in a local village, and the main character recalls how she killed a man. It reminded me of The Golden Hour that I had read recently.

Anyway I have read mostly books about war and killing, and now I would like something light-hearted, funny and easy. Any ideas? I looked at A Walk in the Woods and downloaded a sample. Surely no one dies in that.:(

[Nan in Mass]

I read To Find a Mountain by Dani Amore, a book I accidentally bought from the kindle bookstore. It is another WW II story of the Germans causing havoc in a local village, and the main character recalls how she killed a man. It reminded me of The Golden Hour that I had read recently.

Anyway I have read mostly books about war and killing, and now I would like something light-hearted, funny and easy. Any ideas? I looked at A Walk in the Woods and downloaded a sample. Surely no one dies in that.:(

As far as I remember, nobody dies, but the bits about the changing landscape, environmental damage, and strip mining are depressing.

 

Lighthearted and easy... Fredrica? Cluny Brown? Hitchiker,s Guide to the Universe (darker humour, the earth is destroyed)? Castle in the Air? Jeeves? Three Men in a Boat? Winnie the Pooh?

 

Nan

[Mom22ns]

I read and liked The Giver. Do I want to read the series? 

 

In my mind, it's not imperative. The follow ups are not nearly as good or as deep. Gathering Blue has none of the places or characters from the Giver, but they do pull together later. I've read the next two. They were both good not great. I don't feel like I would have been missing anything if I'd skipped it, but I didn't dislike them and they are quick reads if you are curious about what was out there in the beyond.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Ancilllary Justice.  Wow, for what was meant to be my fluffy weekend read, this one had some deep themes - the nature of identity, individuality, and free will.  The gender aspect was interesting, and rather confusing at first - it was instructive how the use of "she" as the neutral pronoun is so not neutral, it definitely creates a female character image in your mind.  I've always felt strongly that the opposite happens with the use of "he" for neutral - it's definitely not neutral.  I have especially noticed that now that I have two dds who are readers - they always comment and protest the use of "he" for neutral. It's far from neutral for them!

 

But the most interesting aspect of the book for me - the most interesting "literary analysis" type aspect, I mean, was how the author pulled off the point of view and the temporal pacing.  The story alternates between what's taking place in the present and what happened in the past - that's relatively straightforward to follow - but in the present she is an AI housed in a single human body, and in the past she was, at the same time, an AI controlling a huge troop carrier, and a unit of soldiers controlling multiple bodies, all of which she refers to as I.  It could be hard to keep track of, even for her, which was part of the development of the book, her learning what her "I" is and what powers, what emotions, and what free will, actually exists for it.  But I thought that the action scenes where events would be described through the multiple viewpoints of the same character were brilliantly written, and it moved the action along at a breathtaking pace.  I don't think this was an easy thing to pull off well, and the author did it.

 

Anyway, a book that demanded, yet rewarded, an attentive reading.  I really enjoyed it and will look forward to the next one in the series.

 

Books of 2015:

Ancillary Justice

The Case of Comrade Tulayev

Night

War of the Worlds

 

4 letters down!

[Chrysalis Academy]

In my mind, it's not imperative. The follow ups are not nearly as good or as deep. Gathering Blue has none of the places or characters from the Giver, but they do pull together later. I've read the next two. They were both good not great. I don't feel like I would have been missing anything if I'd skipped it, but I didn't dislike them and they are quick reads if you are curious about what was out there in the beyond.

 

I agree, the next 3 weren't nearly as good.  If you liked Gathering Blue, Son has more links to it, as well as linking The Giver back into the series more closely.  It was probably in second place for me, but a fairly distant second.  Gathering Blue was ok, and The Messenger I disliked immensely.  I had a hard time seeing the books as a series - the last three felt like a completely different world than the first one.  And while I was able to suspend disbelief over the "how does this all work" aspects of The Giver for the sake of a compelling story, the last three didn't suck me in enough to bother.