Book a week 2015: W11 part two - we have a mystery

[Robin M]

Hey gang,

 

Happy Spring!  Well, March is mystery month and gals, we sure have a mystery.  The majority of our Book a Week threads are stuck in the twilight zone.  Somehow they got linked to one of the private social groups.   I did a lot of sleuthing yesterday and picking up on all kinds of straws. But finally found the one I think is the cause.  It may have something to do with the tags. All the threads with Book a week 2015, reading tags are somehow tied to the autism social group.  All the threads without tags, I can open.  I passed this on to OtherJohn and hopefully, whatever the reason, pray he'll be able to fix it so we can access our old threads.   And since we know how long it took to fix the multiquote - finding a needle in a haystack, we'll continue on with a new thread and NO TAGS!  

 

And spring is usually a time for a makeover anyway, right?   So let's book it, as my son would say and get this party started again.  

 

What are you reading? 

[Loesje22000]

Math textbooks while preparing the 8th grade math exam of dd.

And somehow dd knows what not will be asked, and doesn't know what will be asked.

:banghead:

[Uff Da!]

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

 

I'm not reading much as I have spring fever, want to be outside walking/running/kicking and when I'm inside, I'm flirting with every single string instrument in the house.  The violin does not approve.

 

My Bible study group just started working through Conversation Peace: The Power of Transformed Speech by Mary Kassian.  This looks like a very good study and the videos remind me of Bill Nye. :leaving:

[mumto2]

Really glad to have our thread back. I felt very lost with no posts to read yesterday. I already feel out of sync with the thread because of being in a different time zone than I normally am. I really love waking up to a whole bunch of new posts!

 

I am almost done with the Jessica Dotta Born of Privilege series that I was so enthusiastic about last week. I loved the first book but am no where near as thrilled about the rest of the trilogy. The main character really bugs me now......will be happy to be done.

 

I am also reading Faith Hunter on the side. Has anyone read the mage??? series. I may try those when I finish the skinwalker series.

[Mom-ninja.]

I'm going to out myself and admit that I have no idea how to tag or what they are for.

 

Last week I read my text book mostly. Got a 98 on my exam so turns out it pays off to read the book. :)  

[TeacherZee]

I am almost caught up on my senior essays. I have to listen to some firstie speaking assignments this weekend but other than that I am tackling To the Lighthouse.

 

I also have some exciting news, a lot of my reading in the fall will be university related as I am going back to school to get my Masters in Special Ed focusing on issues with reading and writing (dyslexia, dysgraphia etc.)

[mumto2]

I also have some exciting news, a lot of my reading in the fall will be university related as I am going back to school to get my Masters in Special Ed focusing on issues with reading and writing (dyslexia, dysgraphia etc.)

Great news!!!

[Chrysalis Academy]

:seeya: Hey guys!  I missed the thread.

 

I started a wonderful book yesterday: Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard. http://www.amazon.com/Restoration-Agriculture-Mark-Shepard/dp/1601730357 This is the field I work in, so it's relevant for me, but this is a particularly inspiring book about the food system and farming in general.  It's made me want to get a handle on my own tiny postage-stamp lot and do more with it!

 

I finished my 2nd Peter Ackroyd novel - The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.  I really liked it.  It is a (fictional) novel that tells the"true" story of where Mary Shelley got the idea for writing her book Frankenstein, and it features Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, as well as Victor himself.  And a monster.  Nice twist ending, too, not annoying twist but deliciously shivery twist.

 

The girls and I will finish Taran Wanderer, book 4 of the Chronicles of Prydain, tonight.  Let me just say, Wow!  This book is so much better than the first 3 in the series. We are really blown away by it.  The series, and the protagonist, have really matured, and Shannon and I are loving it.  Morgan misses Eilonwy, though!

[Lady Florida.]

Well that's an interesting twist. I rarely bother with tags, so it never would have occurred to me that they might be the cause.

 

That's great, Teacher Zee!

 

I finished North and South, and my IRL book club book, When I Found You. The latter fell flat at the end, but I think it will be a good book to discuss at the meeting.

 

Right now I'm in another funk. I like Stacia's recommendation The Razor's Edge but can't seem to stick with it. I can't seem to stick with anything really. I started reading Wolf Hall and while I like it, I can easily put it down. No matter what I start reading I think, "This is good but I don't feel like reading it right now." Maybe it's because of this cold I have (I'm the last of the three of us to come down with it). I think I might just wait until I feel better to decide what I want to read next.

[Onceuponatime]

I'm lying here recovering from a virulent stomach virus that is going through the community. I'm soooo happy it is spring. Yesterday, I finished The Tale of Hill Top Farm, with Beatrix Potter as the main character. It was kind of cute and weird at the same time, because you could "hear" the thoughts of some of the animals.

 

I've also been reading a strange story on the Gutenburg site, Before Adam by Jack London. It is the tale of a man who dreams he is one of his remote ancestors, really remote, like living in trees remote. For pleasure, I am rereading This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart.

[Stacia]

Cool news, TeacherZee!

 

Congrats on the rockin' test grade, mom-ninja. And, like you, I don't even know about tagging posts.

 

I feel like we should all be wearing trench-coats & fedoras as the mystery BaW thread disappearance continues.... <insert mysterious music here>

 

Speaking of fedoras, I didn't get much reading done the last couple of days because a local theater was showing Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen two nights. As it's my favorite movie, I went both nights! :lol:  A girl's gotta have her priorities straight!

 

Still working on Wolf in White Van. I like it but find it is easy not to pick it up since it's in ebook form. So, I just requested a hard copy from the library. I am 2nd on the waitlist for it & will probably get back to the story once I have a hardcopy in hand.

 

In the meantime, I poked around the library for awhile yesterday while my dd had to be there to find some books for a project. I ended up with a stack (no surprise!) & ended up having a fun conversation with the librarian when I was checking out. (She was looking at the books I picked & said she was impressed/happy to see my choices because they were different from what so many people pick. And then we started talking about great books, do authors really write only one great book each?, etc.... Just a long, free-ranging literature conversation that was immensely fun.) Anyway, I was thrilled to find not one, but two Patrick Modiano books on the 'new' shelf at the library. Modiano is the French author who won the 2014 Nobel for literature. After the award, I think a few publishing houses scrambled to translate & publish some of his works as most Americans have no idea who he is & have not read his work. I've started reading one of them, Missing Person. It's very elegant & spare, almost noir-ish in tone... (I can already tell this is a book Jane would enjoy.)

 

Twenty-seven years after its original French publication won the Prix Goncourt, this elliptical, engrossing rumination on the essence of identity and the search for self finally enjoys its first U.S. edition (which uses Weissbort's smooth 1980 English translation). Set in postwar Paris, it follows an amnesiac now known as Guy Roland, employed for the past decade by a kindly private investigator. When the PI retires, Roland sets out to lift the veil on his past. As he ably conducts this most personal of investigations, Roland begins to suspect that he may have employed multiple identities, leading a mysteriously compartmentalized existence. He may even have been fleeing the German occupation when his memory was wiped away. Roland's explorations bring home his mentor's observation that we all live in a world where "the sand keeps the traces of our footsteps only a few moments." Even as it opens the door to new mysteries, the enigmatic ending underscores the human drive to preserve those footsteps for as long as we draw breath.

 

Don't know if I'll get around to all of the books I picked up, but my stack has:

Missing Person by Patrick Modiano

Honeymoon by Patrick Modiano

Ransom by David Malouf

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

Zorro by Isabel Allende

 

[Stacia]

Kathy and Onceuponatime, hope you're both feeling better soon!

 

Kathy, I know what you mean about the book funk. That's how I felt this past week when I was so sick. (And, OUAT, I feel for you as it sounds like you have something like what I had last week. Ugh.)

[Stacia]

I finished my 2nd Peter Ackroyd novel - The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.  I really liked it.  It is a (fictional) novel that tells the"true" story of where Mary Shelley got the idea for writing her book Frankenstein, and it features Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, as well as Victor himself.  And a monster.  Nice twist ending, too, not annoying twist but deliciously shivery twist.

 

Thanks for mentioning this one. It sounds right up my alley!

[Jane in NC]

(Insert visual image of Robin, our fearless leader in deer stalker hat, carrying her magnifying glass.)

 

Thanks Robin for getting us back on track!

 

Beryl Bainbridge's Every Man for Himself is a nice work of historical fiction set on the Titanic told by a nephew of J.P. Morgan who has access to the upper crust travelers but due to birth circumstances also rubs elbows with those who work for a living by designing boats and their interiors.  This book won the Whitbread Best Novel Award in '96 and was republished by Europa in 2012.  I would be happy to mail it to one of my fellow readers should anyone be interested.

 

I am currently reading Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night, the second in the Chambers series by James Runcie, story collections that serve as the basis for the Grantchester program on PBS.

 

Enjoying being back with my peeps!

Jane

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thanks for mentioning this one. It sounds right up my alley!

 

Oh, I hope you like it.  I read the two books in The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series last year, and while I kinda liked them, maybe a little bit, they didn't seem at all connected with the original book - they were written in very modern prose, much more modern sensibilities.  Not believable as Victor at all.  This book definitely felt like it was set in the early 1800s, and it felt like the Victor of Shelley's Frankenstein.

 

Two other books of this type I've enjoyed (what is this genre? It's not exactly fan fiction, what is it?) are related to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.  One is Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson and the other is Hyde by Daniel Levine.  Trigger warning - they both had disturbing scenes, the first of s@x within a marriage, and the second of childhood abuse.  But they were both well-written, thought provoking extenders of a favorite story, so if you do like the Ackroyd book, and Jekyll & Hyde, you might like them.

[Kareni]

I'm happy to see this post; I missed you all yesterday.

 

My book group had a lively conversation when we met last night to discuss Amy Greene's Long Man.

 

I've read two other books since last posting:

 

 

Laura Florand's Once Upon a Rose (La Vie en Roses)  was an enjoyable contemporary romance set in France. 

 

"She stole his roses.

Fleeing the spotlight, burnt out rock star Layla--"Belle"--Dubois seeks refuge in the south of France. That old, half-forgotten heritage in a valley of roses seems like a good place to soothe a wounded heart. She certainly doesn't expect the most dangerous threat to her heart to pounce on her as soon as she sets foot on the land.

He wants them back.

Matt didn't mean to growl at her quite that loudly. But--his roses! She can't have his roses. Even if she does have all those curls and green eyes and, and, and...what was he growling about again?

Or maybe he just wants her.

When an enemy invades his valley and threatens his home, heart, and livelihood, Matthieu Rosier really knows only one way to defend himself.

It might involve kissing.

And that might be just the start."

 

 

I also read The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred which is a romance I've heard stellar praise for over the years.  I think that I was expecting too much as a result.  The book is written in the first person which is not my favorite approach.  The author also has a tendency to end chapters with statements along the lines of "blah, blah, but I would have done otherwise if I'd known what terrible thing was going to happen next."  It would have been understandable a time to two, but I became tired of it.  That said, it was still a pleasant read.

 

"Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans-everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer. Suddenly, Nick is gone-leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy -- until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back...and he's not alone. Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions-the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Stacia]

Oh, I hope you like it.  I read the two books in The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series last year, and while I kinda liked them, maybe a little bit, they didn't seem at all connected with the original book - they were written in very modern prose, much more modern sensibilities.  Not believable as Victor at all.  This book definitely felt like it was set in the early 1800s, and it felt like the Victor of Shelley's Frankenstein.

 

Two other books of this type I've enjoyed (what is this genre? It's not exactly fan fiction, what is it?) are related to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.  One is Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson and the other is Hyde by Daniel Levine.  Trigger warning - they both had disturbing scenes, the first of s@x within a marriage, and the second of childhood abuse.  But they were both well-written, thought provoking extenders of a favorite story, so if you do like the Ackroyd book, and Jekyll & Hyde, you might like them.

 

Thank you! I will definitely look those up. I love Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde -- consider it to be one of the finest examples of novellas ever written. Over the past few years, I've really enjoyed the genre you're mentioning (I agree that it's not really fan fiction, but I have no idea what it is) w/ variations on Poe's Pym, variations of Stoker's Dracula, etc.... Sounds like I'm finding some great books to read in October!

[MIch elle]

I love reading these threads but have never participated before.  I currently am in 3 different book clubs/mo

 

I've read these past few weeks:

 

The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro =- liked

All The Light You Cannot See, Anthony Doerr- liked

Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty- liked

The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty - liked

When I Found You, Catherine Hyde -liked

Putting Away Childish Things, Marcus Borg - loved

Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein - liked

Effortless Healing, Joseph Mercola

Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins - too dark 

 

Currently reading:

 

Mr. Emerson's Wife, Amy Belding Brown

Small Victories, Anne LaMott

The God I Never Knew, Marcus Borg

 

[Jane in NC]

I love reading these threads but have never participated before.  I currently am in 3 different book clubs/mo

 

I've read these past few weeks:

 

The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro =- liked

All The Light You Cannot See, Anthony Doerr- liked

Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty- liked

The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty - liked

When I Found You, Catherine Hyde -liked

Putting Away Childish Things, Marcus Borg - loved

Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein - liked

Effortless Healing, Joseph Mercola

Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins - too dark 

 

Currently reading:

 

Mr. Emerson's Wife, Amy Belding Brown

Small Victories, Anne LaMott

The God I Never Knew, Marcus Borg

 

Michelle!  How lovely to see you here.  Welcome aboard--and please don't be a stranger.

 

 

[Kareni]

Welcome, Mich elle! 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

:seeya:  Mich elle. You know just how to jump in... with a list of books! Awesome. :thumbup:

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thank you! I will definitely look those up. I love Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde -- consider it to be one of the finest examples of novellas ever written. Over the past few years, I've really enjoyed the genre you're mentioning (I agree that it's not really fan fiction, but I have no idea what it is) w/ variations on Poe's Pym, variations of Stoker's Dracula, etc.... Sounds like I'm finding some great books to read in October!

 

Oh, do tell! I'll add these to my list, too.  I have read The Historian but would love another good Dracula spinoff.   I haven't read Pym, but I do like Poe so I should.

 

ETA: oh, look at this cool thing my library has! I just put it on hold:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sphinx-Ice-Realm-Translation-Narrative/dp/1438442122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426881947&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sphinx+of+the+ice+realm

[Stacia]

Oh, do tell! I'll add these to my list, too.  I have read The Historian but would love another good Dracula spinoff.   I haven't read Pym, but I do like Poe so I should.

 

The Historian is the best Dracula spin-off I've read. Love that book. Some others that are Dracula/vampire variations:

Dracula: The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker (ok; kind-of interesting since it was written by one of Stoker's relatives)

Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman (I've read only the second one, Judgement of Tears, since that's what my library had)

The Vampyre by John William Polidori (pre-dates Stoker's Dracula; this was the one written during the Frankenstein writing contest -- worth reading to go along w/ the Frankenstein books too)

Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty (accidentally found this on the library shelves a couple of years ago & liked it)

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers (I think you might enjoy this one quite a bit)

The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen (fun twist as it tells Stoker's story from Dracula's POV)

Mosquito by Dan James (wordless graphic novel)

The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noemi Szecsi

Vampire series by Anne Rice

In Search of Dracula by Raymond McNalley & Radu Florescu (non-fiction looking at historical background, novels, movies/tv, etc...)

Vlad by Carlos Fuentes (creeped me out so badly that I didn't finish it)

The Castle in Transylvania by Jules Verne

 

Variation on Frankenstein:

Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux (read this one thanks to Jenn)

The Merciful Women by Frederico Andahazi

 

Pym & variations:

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

An Antarctic Mystery (or The Sphinx of the Ice Realm) by Jules Verne

Pym by Mat Johnson

 

General:

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (has a vampire, a monster like Frankenstein, etc....)

 

I think most of these are listed on my gothic/spooky/creepy Goodreads shelf, if you're wanting a link or further description.

[Stacia]

Oh, do tell! I'll add these to my list, too.  I have read The Historian but would love another good Dracula spinoff.   I haven't read Pym, but I do like Poe so I should.

 

ETA: oh, look at this cool thing my library has! I just put it on hold:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sphinx-Ice-Realm-Translation-Narrative/dp/1438442122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426881947&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sphinx+of+the+ice+realm

 

Read Poe's first! Then you can appreciate the Oscar/Felix dichotomy of Poe/Verne. Read my review of Verne's version here. :lol:

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yay, lots of additions for my October list! Thanks, Stacia!  :hurray:

[JennW in SoCal]

I seem to have a severe case of spring induced book funk.  My college boy has been home for the week, it is lovely outside so I'm planting the various bare patches around the yard, fertilizing and pruning, too.  And the backyard birds are a total distraction.  These little Bewick's Wrens in particular have taken up a lot of time as I play with the zoom lens to catch them while they are busy building a nest in the birdhouse.

 

 

 

Books in progress at the end of the week:

The Daughter of Time -- Josephine Tey

Elantris -- Brandon Sanderson

In the Kingdom of Ice -- Hampton Sides

 

Stacia, the book I just finished, Under a Wide and Starry Sky, was historical fiction about Robert Louis Stevenson, and its inspired me to read some of his works, even to seek out his less famous material. But I'll probably start with Dr. Jekyll&Mr. Hyde, assuming my book-funk-itis ends...

[mumto2]

Cool news, TeacherZee!

 

Congrats on the rockin' test grade, mom-ninja. And, like you, I don't even know about tagging posts.

 

I feel like we should all be wearing trench-coats & fedoras as the mystery BaW thread disappearance continues.... <insert mysterious music here>

 

Speaking of fedoras, I didn't get much reading done the last couple of days because a local theater was showing Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen two nights. As it's my favorite movie, I went both nights! :lol: A girl's gotta have her priorities straight!

 

Still working on Wolf in White Van. I like it but find it is easy not to pick it up since it's in ebook form. So, I just requested a hard copy from the library. I am 2nd on the waitlist for it & will probably get back to the story once I have a hardcopy in hand.

 

In the meantime, I poked around the library for awhile yesterday while my dd had to be there to find some books for a project. I ended up with a stack (no surprise!) & ended up having a fun conversation with the librarian when I was checking out. (She was looking at the books I picked & said she was impressed/happy to see my choices because they were different from what so many people pick. And then we started talking about great books, do authors really write only one great book each?, etc.... Just a long, free-ranging literature conversation that was immensely fun.) Anyway, I was thrilled to find not one, but two Patrick Modiano books on the 'new' shelf at the library. Modiano is the French author who won the 2014 Nobel for literature. After the award, I think a few publishing houses scrambled to translate & publish some of his works as most Americans have no idea who he is & have not read his work. I've started reading one of them, Missing Person. It's very elegant & spare, almost noir-ish in tone... (I can already tell this is a book Jane would enjoy.)

 

 

Don't know if I'll get around to all of the books I picked up, but my stack has:

Missing Person by Patrick Modiano

Honeymoon by Patrick Modiano

Ransom by David Malouf

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

Zorro by Isabel Allende

I really want to try one of the Mondiano books. Hopefully one will show up in one of my libraries soon. I have to say I used to love Indiana Jones but ds was somewhat obsessed......

 

Great score! Mom ninja

 

I hope everyone feels better soon!

[mumto2]

I love reading these threads but have never participated before. I currently am in 3 different book clubs/mo

 

I've read these past few weeks:

 

The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro =- liked

All The Light You Cannot See, Anthony Doerr- liked

Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty- liked

The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty - liked

When I Found You, Catherine Hyde -liked

Putting Away Childish Things, Marcus Borg - loved

Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein - liked

Effortless Healing, Joseph Mercola

Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins - too dark

 

Currently reading:

 

Mr. Emerson's Wife, Amy Belding Brown

Small Victories, Anne LaMott

The God I Never Knew, Marcus Borg

Welcome to the thread MIch elle!

 

You appear to be the first among us to habe read The Girl on the Train. Sorry I can't link you to last week but we talked about it there. I read that itwas the new Gone Girl so the question is "how did it compare?" If it makes the answer easier I don't like Gone Girl. ;)

 

 

 

FYI to everyone ...... I am 900 on the hold list! :lol:

[Shawneinfl]

Happy Spring everyone! Spring has definitely sprung in N FL - there is a green haze on everything from the live oak pollen but the weather is pleasant and we were able to go to the pool three times this week. I've been engrossed in a new non-fiction book I found in the new books section of the library - Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz. Isn't that a great title. It's given me lots to chew on - especially since child #3 starts high school in the fall.

 

I'm still going strong on my exercise program so I have three audiobooks going right now: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (for mother/daughter book club), Middlemarch by George Eliot, and American Sniper by Chris Kyle. I know, I know, could I be any more eclectic? I'm also going to do a quick re-read of The Peace Child by Don Richardson since he is coming to speak at our church this weekend. I kept that one from my Sonlight days.

[Robin M]

I am almost caught up on my senior essays. I have to listen to some firstie speaking assignments this weekend but other than that I am tackling To the Lighthouse.

 

I also have some exciting news, a lot of my reading in the fall will be university related as I am going back to school to get my Masters in Special Ed focusing on issues with reading and writing (dyslexia, dysgraphia etc.)

 

Awesome! 

 

[Robin M]

Really glad to have our thread back. I felt very lost with no posts to read yesterday. I already feel out of sync with the thread because of being in a different time zone than I normally am. I really love waking up to a whole bunch of new posts!

 

I am almost done with the Jessica Dotta Born of Privilege series that I was so enthusiastic about last week. I loved the first book but am no where near as thrilled about the rest of the trilogy. The main character really bugs me now......will be happy to be done.

 

I am also reading Faith Hunter on the side. Has anyone read the mage??? series. I may try those when I finish the skinwalker series.

I started it and couldn't get into it, and decided to shelve it and go back to it later. Don't remember much about it. Isn't that horrible?

 

I'm going to out myself and admit that I have no idea how to tag or what they are for.

 

Last week I read my text book mostly. Got a 98 on my exam so turns out it pays off to read the book. :)

Good job!

 

:seeya: Hey guys!  I missed the thread.

 

I finished my 2nd Peter Ackroyd novel - The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.  I really liked it.  It is a (fictional) novel that tells the"true" story of where Mary Shelley got the idea for writing her book Frankenstein, and it features Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, as well as Victor himself.  And a monster.  Nice twist ending, too, not annoying twist but deliciously shivery twist.

 

Sounds intriguing. Will have to check it out and add to our list for october spooktacular.

 

Well that's an interesting twist. I rarely bother with tags, so it never would have occurred to me that they might be the cause.

 

That's great, Teacher Zee!

 

I finished North and South, and my IRL book club book, When I Found You. The latter fell flat at the end, but I think it will be a good book to discuss at the meeting.

 

Right now I'm in another funk. I like Stacia's recommendation The Razor's Edge but can't seem to stick with it. I can't seem to stick with anything really. I started reading Wolf Hall and while I like it, I can easily put it down. No matter what I start reading I think, "This is good but I don't feel like reading it right now." Maybe it's because of this cold I have (I'm the last of the three of us to come down with it). I think I might just wait until I feel better to decide what I want to read next.

Ah, feel better soon!

 

I'm lying here recovering from a virulent stomach virus that is going through the community. I'm soooo happy it is spring. Yesterday, I finished The Tale of Hill Top Farm, with Beatrix Potter as the main character. It was kind of cute and weird at the same time, because you could "hear" the thoughts of some of the animals.

 

I've also been reading a strange story on the Gutenburg site, Before Adam by Jack London. It is the tale of a man who dreams he is one of his remote ancestors, really remote, like living in trees remote. For pleasure, I am rereading This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart.

You too!

 

 

Speaking of fedoras, I didn't get much reading done the last couple of days because a local theater was showing Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen two nights. As it's my favorite movie, I went both nights! :lol:  A girl's gotta have her priorities straight!

 

Still working on Wolf in White Van. I like it but find it is easy not to pick it up since it's in ebook form. So, I just requested a hard copy from the library. I am

We have all the movies including Young Indiana Jones series on dvd.   Thrilling movie! But the first time I watched with James who is oh so sensitive, I was cringing because I didn't remember how violent it was.  He handled it better than I thought and we've gone on to watch them all.  Almost in the same league with Star wars, but not quite.

 

Happy Spring everyone! Spring has definitely sprung in N FL - there is a green haze on everything from the live oak pollen but the weather is pleasant and we were able to go to the pool three times this week. I've been engrossed in a new non-fiction book I found in the new books section of the library - Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz. Isn't that a great title. It's given me lots to chew on - especially since child #3 starts high school in the fall.

 

Our spring has sprung with a yellow haze.  Achhoooo!!!!

 

 

I'm reading Devon Monk's Infinity Bell, the 2nd book in the House immortal series. Quite good. 

 

Keeping fingers cross on the stomach virus thing.  Yesterday I spent half the morning in the bathroom and last night sitting up with a terrible case of heartburn.  Remind me never to eat at Subway again.

[Kareni]

  I have read The Historian but would love another good Dracula spinoff.  

 

 

My adult daughter loved the Historian, too.  Another book she very much enjoyed (not on Stacia's list) is Barbara Hambly's Renfield: Slave of Dracula.

 

"An imaginative novel that puts a fresh and frightening new spin on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

 

The servant Renfield was the most enigmatic character to stalk in the shadows of Dracula. Now he takes center stage in an ingenious re-imagining of Bram Stoker's classic novel that explores the chilling circumstances of his insane devotion to the Vampire Prince. An inmate of Rushbrook Aylum, the obsessive Renfield's personal mission is to hunt and kill Van Helsing and his companions, setting the stage for a battle between the living and the dead that takes him from Dracula's castle to the darkness of his own madness, and the truth of where it all began. Featuring characters and situations from Dracula, yet filled with new twists, Renfield is a rich, frightening, and astonishing alternate view of Stoker's legendary work."

 

From Booklist

"Hambly has retold Bram Stoker's Dracula in the voice of a minor character, Renfield, the madman who becomes the vampire's slave-agent in England. In Stoker's original, Renfield is a harbinger, extremely strong and violent, given to an unnatural diet of flies. When Dracula occupies the estate next to the asylum in which he is confined, Renfield attempts several escapes, claiming that his master is calling him. Hambly creates a past for this possessed man via his diaries and letters to his wife and gives him occasional lucid moments. When Dracula imposes himself on Renfield's deteriorated mind, he, bound to an active purpose, becomes yet more lucid. When Dracula orders him to kill Van Helsing, he isn't strong enough to refuse, but on the journey from London to Transylvania, he develops the strength to resist the count, find allies, and eventually retrace his journey back from lunacy to sanity. Hambly superbly weaves Stoker's plot and style with her own, producing one of the best recent vampire yarns." Frieda Murray

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Rosie_0801]

I began reading 'Wind in the Willows' to dd. I hated it as a kid, though I loved the nice little cartoon we used to watch on the telly. To my surprise, Dd and I are both enjoying it!

 

But my goodness, that guy is the king of run on sentences. If I'd written like that in English class, I'd have been hauled over the coals. I hate it when English teachers say you're not allowed to write in a certain way because it is bad writing, when you have read proper published authors doing the same. :p (Yes, I plan to outsource Dd's writing to the Well Trained Mind Academy when she is older, since I have not grown out of this prejudice.)

[Angel]

:hurray:  to getting us going again!!!  Thanks, Robin!

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (for mother/daughter book club),

 

This is on Skye's all time favorite's list.  I'm supposed to read it this year (actually, I was supposed to read it a couple years ago but it just wasn't the right time).  I look forward to hearing how you like it!  

 

But my goodness, that guy is the king of run on sentences. If I'd written like that in English class, I'd have been hauled over the coals. I hate it when English teachers say you're not allowed to write in a certain way because it is bad writing, when you have read proper published authors doing the same. :p (Yes, I plan to outsource Dd's writing to the Well Trained Mind Academy when she is older, since I have not grown out of this prejudice.)

 

:iagree:  I guess when your famous, nobody cares  :laugh:

 

I've finished two books and started my Agatha Christie.  We have had a busy week and a still busier weekend/Monday.  I hope to get my reviews in on Tuesday.  We are busy watching March Madness  :thumbup:

[TeacherZee]

I began reading 'Wind in the Willows' to dd. I hated it as a kid, though I loved the nice little cartoon we used to watch on the telly. To my surprise, Dd and I are both enjoying it!

 

But my goodness, that guy is the king of run on sentences. If I'd written like that in English class, I'd have been hauled over the coals. I hate it when English teachers say you're not allowed to write in a certain way because it is bad writing, when you have read proper published authors doing the same. :p (Yes, I plan to outsource Dd's writing to the Well Trained Mind Academy when she is older, since I have not grown out of this prejudice.)

This English teacher is a pro run on sentence writer, but I do cringe whenever I "tell my students off" for doing it. Sometimes when we discuss their essays I will preface it with telling them that I do the same thing but that still does not make it right :)

[Jane in NC]

I wrapped up the second volume in the Grantchester series by James Runcie, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night.  The six connected stories within are thoughtful and "clean" in terms of language, no gratuitous violence.  Angel and Amy--you might like these books.

 

Wish me well, fellow readers.  Off to a library book sale today!

 

Jane (of the towering dusty stacks who really does not need to buy more books...sigh)

[MIch elle]

Welcome to the thread MIch elle!

 

You appear to be the first among us to habe read The Girl on the Train. Sorry I can't link you to last week but we talked about it there. I read that itwas the new Gone Girl so the question is "how did it compare?" If it makes the answer easier I don't like Gone Girl. ;)

 

 

 

FYI to everyone ...... I am 900 on the hold list! :lol:

 

Yes, I missed that thread.  One of my book groups read "Gone Girl" before I joined them. (I started Gone GIrl but I knew it was too dark so didn't get very far.)  They all agreed that they liked Gone Girl better; it was a more complex read than Girl on the Train.  I would have abandoned Girl on the Train but finished it because of the book group.  Girl on the Train was a page turner and I didn't see what was coming but there was no developed character that was likeable - AT ALL!  

[MIch elle]

I wrapped up the second volume in the Grantchester series by James Runcie, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night.  The six connected stories within are thoughtful and "clean" in terms of language, no gratuitous violence.  Angel and Amy--you might like these books.

 

Wish me well, fellow readers.  Off to a library book sale today!

 

Jane (of the towering dusty stacks who really does not need to buy more books...sigh)

 

I LOVE The Grantchester series on PBS.  I looked up the books but thought maybe I shouldn't read them because they might be a bit different from the TV series. 

 

Jane, have you been watching them on PBS?

[mumto2]

Yes, I missed that thread. One of my book groups read "Gone Girl" before I joined them. (I started Gone GIrl but I knew it was too dark so didn't get very far.) They all agreed that they liked Gone Girl better; it was a more complex read than Girl on the Train. I would have abandoned Girl on the Train but finished it because of the book group. Girl on the Train was a page tuner and I didn't see what was coming but there hwas no developed character that was likeable - AT ALL!

Thanks for the review. That is pretty much what I was expecting to hear.

 

I noticed the book on a prime display location after having looked at it in the library over a month ago and rejecting it. When I looked it up to read the description on an overdrive library I use, I discovered a wait list of almost 1000 and that they had 110 kindle copies. I have never seen that volume before so became curious and put myself on the wait list. In an informal research exercise BaWer's have discovered that an incredible number of Girl on the Train copies have been stocked in libraries. :lol: Can't figure it out but I will read it. ;(

 

I am pretty involved in my small local library (not the 100 copy one) and have probably had more conversation out of Gone Girl than anything else I have read recently in person. The popularity of Gone Girl is mystifying to me but an amazing variety of people read it just because it is popular!

[Kareni]

 

Wish me well, fellow readers.  Off to a library book sale today!

 

Jane (of the towering dusty stacks who really does not need to buy more books...sigh)

 

Not need to buy more books?  How can that be?  Are books not as essential as breathing (and chocolate)?

 

Have fun at the book sale.  I hope you find several irresistible books!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Last night I stayed up way too late reading the contemporary romance In the Cards by Jamie Beck; it was an enjoyable read.

 

"Lindsey Hilliard flees her charmed life in New York, searching for answers after her fiancé’s betrayal fills her with self-doubt. Unfortunately, her rented Malibu home is next door to Levi Hardy, the sexy but insufferable man who humiliated her years ago.

 

Hardened by a grim past he keeps concealed, Levi prefers maintaining a comfortable distance from folks, especially a nosy princess like Lindsey. But then a motorcycle collision brings him to his knees, forcing him to accept her assistance with his recovery. Sparks begin to fly when the woman who doesn’t believe in herself teaches the cynic how to have faith in others. Levi realizes his body will recover, but his heart won’t if Lindsey returns to the ex who wants her back.

 

In the biggest gamble of his life, Levi teaches her to trust her own voice, and hopes she’ll use it to say good-bye to her past and hello to a future with him."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Stacia]

And the backyard birds are a total distraction.  These little Bewick's Wrens in particular have taken up a lot of time as I play with the zoom lens to catch them while they are busy building a nest in the birdhouse.

 

 

 

 

I love your wren, Jenn! I looked them up & it seems they've virtually disappeared from the eastern areas of the US. Your wren does remind me of regular visitors to our backyard, though -- the Carolina Wren. They're some of my favorite bird visitors because when my dc were young, they always thought the Carolina Wrens looked like chipmunks a little bit (w/ the light stripe over the eye). As the Carolina Wren is often a ground forager (or digs messily around in the bottom tray of the bird feeder, tossing oodles of seeds off the side), ds & I always thought it seemed like my dd (who is messy & tosses things here & there). :lol:

 

[Seasider]

Finished Howey's Wool trilogy and I confess I've been in that mourning stage when a fictional world visit ends. I have Good Lord Bird and I Capture the Castle out from the library, the mystery for me is which one to read first.

[MicheleinMN]

I'm reading Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series.  I finished book 7 and am listening to book 8. I keep trying to get into/finish Orlando by Virginia Woolf, but it's not really grabbing me. I also want to finish Paul Johnson's A History of the American People - so close but not quite done.

[mumto2]

I just finished another Josephine Tey. This time without Inspector Grant who I really like. Miss Pym Disposes was not a typical murder mystery at all. A huge amount of the book was read before anyone was injured and quite a bit more before someone dies. The story was based on a psychologist visiting an all girl physical education college in the 40's as a guest of the headmistress. She slowly becomes more uncomfortable with the environment as she becomes more involved with the students. It was an interesting read filled with observations about human nature but not a particularly great mystery because I knew who did it almost before it happened. ;) I suspect that this is a book that I will contemplate for a while.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/529894.Miss_Pym_Disposes

[Uff Da!]

I started "Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the  Lower East Side" by Rose Cohen to hold me over until my short stories by LeGuin/Branner to come in.  I think I'm being bombarded by Cohens/Coens these days.  I heard Leonard Cohen so many times while on vacation that I finally looked him up and discovered he wrote over 80 verses for that Hallelujah song.  At one point, when trying to write the verses, he sat on the floor in his underwear and banged his head against the ground.  And then there's the soundtrack from the Coen brothers "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" that keeps playing just because Alison Krauss rocks.  More Cohens but spelled Coen.....  It must be a popular name.

[Angel]

The girls and I just got back from seeing a lovely rendition of Little Women at our local Shakespeare theater.  I wish it hadn't taken us so long to discover theater, yet I'm equally glad that we continue to have the opportunity to experience it.  If you haven't introduced your children to the stage yet, even Shakespeare, I encourage you to do so!  

 

I wrapped up the second volume in the Grantchester series by James Runcie, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night.  The six connected stories within are thoughtful and "clean" in terms of language, no gratuitous violence.  Angel and Amy--you might like these books.

 

Wish me well, fellow readers.  Off to a library book sale today!

 

Jane (of the towering dusty stacks who really does not need to buy more books...sigh)

 

Thanks for the rec!!  I will add it to my list.  

 

All the best for the library book sale!!!  Can't wait to hear your finds!  Ours is coming up in April.

 

 

Not need to buy more books?  How can that be?  Are books not as essential as breathing (and chocolate)?

 

Have fun at the book sale.  I hope you find several irresistible books!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Amen! Sister!  You're preaching to the choir  :lol:

[Jane in NC]

Not need to buy more books?  How can that be?  Are books not as essential as breathing (and chocolate)?

 

Have fun at the book sale.  I hope you find several irresistible books!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

The book sale was fun, less crowded than in the past we felt.  I found a number of treasures including several knitting books (I find those published by Interweave to be irresistible!), two Angela Thirkell novels that I do not own and have not read before (swoon), and three other interesting novels:

 

• A Hero for Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov (1840 Russian classic)
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (1938 best seller that I'll pass on to Nan and her mom when I am finished)
• Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin (Pulitzer Prize winner in 1929)

The last is a curiosity that was  republished by the University of Georgia.  From the back cover:

 

Banned in Boston when it was first published in 1928, Scarlet Sister Mary is the story of a sexy, independent and outspoken woman who lives to please herself.  Abandoned by her husband, the heroine takes many loves, loses her firstborn son, and eventually "finds peace" as a church member, although she refuses to give up her love charm and her gold hoop earrings.  Scarlett Sister Mary shocked readers with its sensual portrayal of a black woman's private life, but it was universally lauded for its honesty and courage.  The first edition sold more than one million copies worldwide and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1929.  Julia Peterkin (1880-1961) wrote about life in her native coastal South Carolina in Scarlet Sister Mary, the novels, Black April and Bright Skin and the short story collection Green Thursday. 

 

 

I can honestly say that I have never heard of any of the books mentioned in the quote above and am thrilled to discover Peterkin.

 

 

 

[Kathleen.]

I read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll and my 8yo read "A Nest for Celeste" by Henry Cole.

[Kareni]

The book sale was fun, less crowded than in the past we felt.  I found a number of treasures ..

 

Glad to hear that you found some new treasures, Jane!  My small local library's recent book sale was also less crowded than I recall previously; however, there were also fewer books that interested me.  I'm looking forward to my neighboring city's bigger library book sale next month.

 

Regards,

Kareni