Book a Week 2016 - BW3: Martin Luther King

[Robin M]

Good morning, my darlings.  This is the beginning of week 3 in our quest to read 52 books.  Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress.  Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature.

 
52 Books Blog - Martin Luther King:  Brought to you by wise and wonderful Eliana.  
 
In the United States, Monday January 18th is Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. He was a black leader, civil rights activist, and Nobel Prize laureate. The holiday was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983, after many years of petitioning, including a song by

.

 

The King Center includes a brief bio of Dr King, a summary of his philosophy, and a documents archive. On the History Channel, you’ll find many articles, videos, and more about Dr. King. MLK Day is also designated as a day of national service.Check out  National Service.Gov for events happening around the country as well as more information about Dr. King, lesson plans and service projects.

I'd like to start us off by sharing a video with a

which begins with a challenge which is at the heart of our discussion here: when will we stand by the principles we have espoused and committed to as a nation?  Please watch video then come on back.  


Ready? 



I volunteered for this week because our discussion last year, and my own tentative readings, had left me wanting to give more time and reading space to African American history and culture.

I had intended to write a post focused on African-American literature - novel, plays, poetry, essays - with a few history books and memoirs to round them out... and also to try to create a rough outline of some key texts. ...but our conversations this past week have shifted my intentions (though I'd still like to share the other ideas another day!).

My focus this week is on race and racism - analysis, personal reflections, fiction, poetry, and even drama.

Before drowning you all with my overflowing TBR list, I want to highlight two of the books which have been a catalyst for intense conversations and soul searching for many of us here: 

Between the World and Me: a very personal description of being a Black man of my generation, framed as a letter to his teenage son. It isn't a comfortable read, and it doesn't offer any real analysis or solutions, but it does give a vivid, powerful sense of how this one person has seen and experienced the world.

The New Jim Crow: This book draws a clear line from slavery to Jim Crow to our present-day systemic racism.  It is an essential book for understanding some of the challenges our society faces today.


As we've read and talked, I've been struggling to understand "race" - where did this concept come from? how has it shifted over the years? (and why?)

Here are 4 books which might help in this examination:

Racecraft: a collection of essays which looks at the social construct of race and the ways we  use it to try to make sense of our experiences and observations. The authors are making an analogy to the ways in which the idea of "witchcraft" has been and is used is some cultures.

History of White People: As I've thought more about the ideas of "race", I've been wondering where this "whiteness" came from. I know it hasn't always included the ethnic groups that might now be grouped under that designation (Italian, Irish, and Polish come to mind), but I want to see if this book can give me a clearer overview of how and from where our current cultural construct originated.

Two books in my stacks which touch on the same issues, but from a different angle: Whiteness of a Different Color and Working Toward Whiteness, both of which look at immigrant experiences and their efforts to become "white".
 

I've wondered about how we evaluate the impact of our assumptions.

Whistling Vivaldi examines the effects of stereotypes and identity, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteriachallenges us to talk about race, with each other and with our children. Racism without Racists looks at systemic racism and its implication, and Blinded by Sight brings the startling research that the blind aren't any more colorblind than the sighted...and explodes the myth that a colorblind society would be a more just society.

But, as I struggle to find my place in this big picture issue, I am drawn to the work of Tim Wise. I recently finished his Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama. It isn't a deep book, or as compelling as the Coates or the Alexander, but, near the end of the book he says:

 

"Confronting racism is white folks' responsibility because even though we, in the present, are not to blame for the system we have inherited. We have inherited it nonetheless, and continue to benefit, consciously or not, from the entrenched privileges that are the legacy of that system... If we are to make use of the assets (as we really cannot help but do) accumulated over a period of several hundred years - including, of course, assets whose possession owes directly and indirectly to slavery and its legacy of racial subordination that enriched many and brutally oppressed many more - then we cannot, ethically, turn our backs on the debts accumulated at the same time."

 

...and, further on
 

 "...white silence is the only privilege whites can voluntarily relinquish: the rest obtain as a matter of merely living as a member of the dominant group...speaking out will not be easy: resisting injustice never is. And for white folks, so long practices at maintaining our silence, it may well be among the more daunting tasks we have undertaken. But not to do it... is to collaborate...to give our consent, to undermine our personal and national pretensions to democracy. To remain silent, to fail in this endeavor is, in a strange way, to shirk our patriotic duty...and to make our claims of national greatness out to be lies.â€

 

And he ends with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr: "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle."


I want to hear more. More about what I can do, beyond hearing, beyond caring, beyond my own little garden of life. Especially given the warning sounded by Reproducing Racism which asserts that these injustices might be "locked into place" without significant structural changes *soon*.  So, I am on the hold list at my library for Dear White America.


Then I looked through my list above and I noted a glaring absence. Do you see it? 

Every book above looks at racism from the assumption that it is a gender-equivalent experience. Even the little reading I have done tells me this is not true.

Although I see a number of books about race and the feminist movement (Women, Race, and Class and When and Where I Enter ( both high on my TBR list), but very little which directly addresses the issues I'm thinking about. One exception is bell Hooks' Ain't I a Woman - I tend to enjoy her writings in small doses. I have several I am nibbling at, but am not sure I will finish. But this one I will try to read all the way through.   I am also pulling a very dusty book off my shelves: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens, which is a collection of Alice Walker's prose focusing on what it is to be a black woman, in a range of contexts.

A memoir which contrasts with Coates' on a number of levels is Negroland by Margo Jefferson.
 

"At once incendiary and icy, mischievous and provocative, celebratory and elegiac—here is a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, and American culture through the prism of the author’s rarefied upbringing and education among a black elite concerned with distancing itself from whites and the black generality while tirelessly measuring itself against both.â€

 

But, perhaps, there are things which can only be expressed in fiction? Without all the statistics and other data, without how it fits into the real-life bio of the author/memoirist?

Several of us read The Sellout last year - a biting, sad, hilarious satirical novel which reached me in ways I don't think a more serious, factual account would have done.

Nella Larsen's Passing was a compelling, chilling read - and her Quicksand is now on my TBR stack.

Morrison is most renowned for the intense, horrific whirlwind that is Beloved, but I found her quieter, more realistic Home spoke to me more. (And her Playing in the Dark makes some fascinating assertions about the unspoken racial impact on much of American literature.)

Baldwin's Fire Next Time is a powerful piece of nonfiction, but I've never read any of his fiction, so I am adding If Beale Street Could Talkto my lists.



For the genre readers among us:

I am determined to finally read some Olivia Butler! Kindred is on my shelf, but there are several which have intrigued me for years. Nor have I read any Delaney... I have some trepidation, he's outside my preferred range of sci-fi, but I am glancing at  Nova and Babel-17


As a break from all that prose, some poetry and drama:


Langston Hughes has long been a favorite poet; his Selected Poems is wonderful. Sonia Sanchez is a new favorite. Her Shake Loose My Skin has left me wanting more and more... it is powerful, lyrical, moving verse that gave me a glimpse of a black woman's experiences and culture.

Citizen: An American Lyric addresses many of the issues we've struggled with here, but, somehow, shook different things within me.

I also have Lorde's Black Unicorn and Komuyakaa's Neon Vernacular in my stacks - poets I've heard of, but never tried.

A Raisin in the Sun is a classic play for good reasons, and if you haven't seen or read it, I recommend it.

One can't talk about African American theater without giving a place of honor to August Wilson. His Fences is an explosively powerful, touching drama, part of a ten play cycle which traces the Black experience over ten decades.

When my husband and I went to see Othello last year, I discovered Desdemona, co-written by Morrison, which gave a different perspective on the story.

While reading No Cause For Indictment about the Newark Riots in the 60's, I was drawn to try some of  Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) plays.  They are not comfortable plays to experience - reading them was hard enough, I imagine seeing them would be even more harrowing. The anger and violence is shocking, but they also express a strand of reaction and experience that I've never looked at before.  His volume  of his well-known plays: Dutchman and The Slave are probably as much Jones as one can take at a time.

I am thinking of revisiting For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. I was too young when I read it as a teen.   I think I need to come back to it now.

Two other plays I read last year which don't match their more famous siblings above, but gave me valuable perspective and a reading experience I enjoyed: A Soldier's Play and Five on the Black Hand Side.


 

I'd like to close with a few quotes from Dr King and a

which includes a line which speaks to my deepest hopes:

 

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.â€

May we, soon and in our days, see this proven true.  I believe all our caring, thinking, talking, and striving are part of the bending of that arc, and I have been holding on to a quote often attributed to Dr King, but not sourced: 
 

 â€œTake the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.â€

 

(also seen as "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase")


Here are a few quotes from Dr King's speeches and writings which echo, for me, some of our conversations:
 

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.†- "A Time to Break Silence" [quoting, and agreeing with, an executive committee's document]

 

 *******

 

“We are challenged to  rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.†- "Facing the Challenge of a New Age"

 

 *******

 

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.† - "A Time to Break Silence"

 

 ******

 

"We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation" - "I Have A Dream"

 

 ******

 

"I must confess, my friends, the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will be still rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again with tear-drenched eyes have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. … When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."  - "Where Do We Go From Here?"

 

 

Brava and thank you, Eliana  :wub:

 

***************************************************

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 2 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

Hey, howdy, hey. Sorry to get the post up late.  I had too many distractions this morning to figure out how to embed the videos so please make sure you click the links to watch them.  

 

I'm on page 966 of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy.  More than halfway through now - Yea!  Thanks to last week's post and learning about all the different languages, I'm understanding more of the book. Meanwhile I continue to look things up as I come across them.  Very interesting book. 

 

Listening to the 2nd Harry Potter book with James in the Car. 

 

For Martin Luther King week, I have Babel-17 on my eshelves so will attempt to read.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2016 by Robin M

[Negin]

I read The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America - 4 Stars - I read parts of this during an extremely long wait in the doctor’s office with my daughter. There were lots of giggle-out-loud moments, and, of course, I’d interrupt her reading to hand her a short paragraph or two to read. It was fun to have her chuckle also. It also made the wait go by so much quicker. This isn’t my favorite Bryson book by any means, but as always, I thoroughly enjoyed his humor and wit. Many don’t seem to like this book, claiming that Bryson comes off as grumpy and overly critical. I wouldn’t recommend this book if one is sensitive to that sort of tone or feels offended by criticism of certain aspects of America (its consumerism, for example). If you’re the type to take such things personally, do not read this! His humor may be offensive and crass to some, but I didn’t mind it at all. This book was like experiencing a road trip across small-town America with a very witty and observant travel guide. 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

[Minerva]

Thank you Robin and Eliana for the MLK links and thoughts. I just came back from Youtube where I sobbed through several of MLK's speeches. 

 

In honor of MLK week I will read Quicksand (which you can buy for 99 cents for you kindle right now). 

 

I just finished the Arab Marshes by Wilfred Thesiger. The book is about the seven years that Thesiger spent living with the Marsh Arabs (Madan and other tribes) in southern Iraq during the 1950's. The marshes have since been drained and the tribes have dispersed, so a way of life that had existed for thousands of years has since vanished.  The book may be one of the only places we can go to for information about these people. I highly recommend popping over to the Pitt Rivers Museum website to look at some of the photos that Thesiger took during his travels.  I am having troubles linking it, so you'll have to find your way there on your own.

 

I finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader with my kids yesterday. They loved it. We will read The Silver Chair next although both of my kids were unhappy to read that neither Lucy nor Edmund will be in the next book. I am really ready for something that isn't Narnia but will take one for the team. 

 

I also finished the poems in Suite Ruin by Tony Hoagland. Here is a poem I loved:

 

The Word

 

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between "green thread"
and "broccoli," you find
that you have penciled "sunlight."

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing

that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive, 
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thank you for that, Eliana. That clip brings tears to my eyes in the context of what happened next. It's important to remember. 

 

I read Between The World & Me and The Sellout at the end of last year, and I'm next in line for The New Jim Crow at the library.

 

Current reads are somewhat scattered, but I am trying to focus on the HotRW themes. How I enjoy this book more than HotMW! I'm not sure why, the time period and its developments are so much more interesting to me. I just picked up Aristotle's Children which looks very interesting. Shannon and I will read Richard III next, and I have a couple of middle ages audio books on hold.

 

Books read in 2016:

13. The Tempest - William Shakespeare

12. A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest - Hobson Woodward

11. Paper Towns - John Green

10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

9. The Last Policeman - Ben Winters

8. Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I - Tracy Borman

7. The Annotated Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

6. William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope - Ian Doescher

5. Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie

4. Prometheus Bound - Aeschylus

3. The Procedure - Harry Mulisch

2. The Conqueror - Georgette Heyer

1. The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh- David Damrosch

 

Do you ever look at your recent Read lists, and think it looks totally random?  For some reason I find this list particularly incoherent. I'm sure themes will emerge with time . . . 

Edited January 17, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Jane in NC]

Wow, Eliana!  You are wonderful!  Thank you, thank you.

 

There are times when I feel as though I am a remedial BaWer, following behind everyone else.  I remind myself that the point here is to read and that no one seems to mind when the conversation is entered months or even years later.

 

Censorship is on my mind this week.

 

Last year, Rose read the Strugatsky's brothers classic Soviet sci fi novel Roadside Picnic which inspired a famous Soviet film in the 1970s.  It also lives on a video game called Stalker (one with which I am totally unfamiliar--a status that will continue.)  Apparently the Soviet censors did not feel that Roadside Picnic was sufficiently uplifting for that nation's youth.  Being halfway through the book, I feel somewhat at a loss in determining what was offensive to the censors but perhaps that shall become clear.

 

Now to refer to the clip of Dr. King that was linked above but in a different context:  we are not surprised when things happen elsewhere, say Russia or China, but here in the US?

 

Not quite censorship in this case, but author Ilija Trojanow was denied entry to this country in 2013.  As reported by PEN, on his third attempt he was allowed in as a speaker at the Goethe Institute. Trojanow was born in Bulgaria but as a child fled with this family to Germany where they were given political asylum.  Trojanow writes travel books.  Joining in on the Indian theme, I picked up Along the Ganges.  Must be dangerous stuff.  (Apparently his criticism of the NSA has not been well received, hence the denial of entry.  My, my...)

 

Still reading D'Ambrosio's essays. 

 

Sending good wishes to all of my BaW friends, especially those who are under the weather or undergoing difficult times.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Jane in NC

[aggieamy]

So far this week I've been able to keep up with this thread.  Oops.  It just popped up that there are three new replies!  I'm already behind.  

 

Eliana - Wow.  You've set the bar high for guest thread posts.  Thank you for all your research.  Very interesting.

 

My book club this month is reading Catch-22 and so far DH and I both HATE it.  I read a review that it was supposed to be funny and I had to double check to make sure it was referring to the same book I was reading.  DH is petitioning that we give up on this book and read another one this month instead.  I think we'll have an interesting discussion.

 

I've started on:

• the 13th book in the Ian Rutledge series. (A Lonely Death)  I'm listening to the audiobook and I'll report back on what I think on it.  I know a few of us have read the first two and have heard the series gets a lot better.  I've jumped ahead considerably into the series to see if they do improve.   I'll report back when I'm finished if I'll read any more in the series.  
• the second in the Charles Lennox series (The September Society).  I'm only a few chapters in but it seems to be as well written and entertaining as the first so far.

 

I've finished:

• The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer - I've seen mixed reviews on this because it's more of a Regency mystery than a romance but I wasn't bothered by that.  I thought it was a fun story and had some fantastic secondary characters.  Highly recommend.  
• The Good Samaritan Strikes Again by Patrick McManus - I would describe all his stories and Dave Barry meets the Great Outdoors.  I find them laugh out loud funny but my husband can read a book of the stories and merely chuckle.   

Edited January 17, 2016 by aggieamy

[Chrysalis Academy]

Amy, I feel your pain - my book group read Catch-22 at the end of last year, and I bailed. I did read it in college, but had absolutely zero desire to revisit it.

 

I'm always happy when people like Georgette Heyer! I feel like I was raised on her, she taught me to be the reader that I am.  I giggled when I clicked on the "most read authors" on goodreads and found that my #1 author was GH - with 49 entries!!!  Next most read was Robert Jordan with 15, and David Eddings with 12, but those were both series.  My next non-series author has only 10 entries, but it's Shakespeare, so I feel ok about that! But yes, you could say that I'm a Heyer fan!

[Tawlas]

Morning everyone.  Still making progress through my six books, though so focused on History of the Ancient World now that I'm only a few chapters from done.  Can't wait to finish, then there'll be a flurry of shorter books done shortly thereafter lol.

 

Some very interesting links up thread.  I'm Canadian and don't know more than vague ideas regarding MLK, although lately I've become more and more interested in white privilege.  Other aspects of my life have brought all kinds of privilege to the forefront, and I find it fascinating how much I don't know I don't even know!  There's so much to learn!

 

I have company over this weekend so I'd better scram lol.  Have a great week!

[Pam in CT]

Eliana.   :svengo: .

 

 

All right, y'all, I'll be back in about three hours.

[Jane in NC]

I forgot to mention that I finished the Icelandic police procedural Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason.  Thanks Jenn!  The Icelandic setting provided a fascinating backdrop but the police detective is the sort of flawed fellow that I like in this genre.  This volume brings up some interesting ethical issues.  I look forward to reading more in the series.

[aggieamy]

Amy, I feel your pain - my book group read Catch-22 at the end of last year, and I bailed. I did read it in college, but had absolutely zero desire to revisit it.

 

I'm always happy when people like Georgette Heyer! I feel like I was raised on her, she taught me to be the reader that I am.  I giggled when I clicked on the "most read authors" on goodreads and found that my #1 author was GH - with 49 entries!!!  Next most read was Robert Jordan with 15, and David Eddings with 12, but those were both series.  My next non-series author has only 10 entries, but it's Shakespeare, so I feel ok about that! But yes, you could say that I'm a Heyer fan!

 

My DH told DD last night that if any high school teacher tried to make her read Catch-22 then she should come tell him and he'll try to go talk some sense into that teacher.  

 

I discovered GH late in life - my mid 20's but I'm making sure DD has a better life than I did so whenever she and I are in the car together we listen to one of her audiobooks.  Right now we're listening to The Grand Sophy.  They are very kid friendly because the romance is very clean and there's nothing seedy about them.  

Every book I read of hers that I haven't before makes me a little bit sad because I'm getting closer to running out of her books to read.  Eek.  I try to pace myself.  

 

Do you like her mysteries also?

 

Who are you on GoodReads?  I don't see that we are friends but we should be.  There's a decently active GoodReads Georgette Heyer group also that you would like.  

Edited January 17, 2016 by aggieamy

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished listening to Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation with the kids and I really enjoyed it. Nye manages to throw in bits of humor along with interesting text. I learned some stuff which I of course love. I missed my calling by not majoring in evolutionary biology. Even my 7 yr old listened to it although I'm sure most went over his head. He loves Bill Nye and wanted to know why, "he looks so funny on the cover cause he doesn't look like that on TV." It made me smile. I tried to explain that the shows were made in the 1990s and Mr. Nye as gotten older. Ds looked at me with a cocked eyebrow as if this was something not quite possible.  :laugh:

[Mom-ninja.]

Amy, I feel your pain - my book group read Catch-22 at the end of last year, and I bailed. I did read it in college, but had absolutely zero desire to revisit it.

 

I'm always happy when people like Georgette Heyer! I feel like I was raised on her, she taught me to be the reader that I am.  I giggled when I clicked on the "most read authors" on goodreads and found that my #1 author was GH - with 49 entries!!!  Next most read was Robert Jordan with 15, and David Eddings with 12, but those were both series.  My next non-series author has only 10 entries, but it's Shakespeare, so I feel ok about that! But yes, you could say that I'm a Heyer fan!

 

I didn't know Goodreads had that nifty tool. I suppose Goodreads can do lots I don't know. 

[Minerva]

My DH told DD last night that if any high school teacher tried to make her read Catch-22 then she should come tell him and he'll try to go talk some sense into that teacher.  

 

I discovered GH late in life - my mid 20's but I'm making sure DD has a better life than I did so whenever she and I are in the car together we listen to one of her audiobooks.  Right now we're listening to The Grand Sophy.  They are very kid friendly because the romance is very clean and there's nothing seedy about them.  

Every book I read of hers that I haven't before makes me a little bit sad because I'm getting closer to running out of her books to read.  Eek.  I try to pace myself.  

 

Do you like her mysteries also?

 

Who are you on GoodReads?  I don't see that we are friends but we should be.  There's a decently active GoodReads Georgette Heyer group also that you would like.  

 

I read Catch 22 in high school and loved it. In fact I loved it so much when my neighbor at the time asked me what to name the dog she had just adopted, I named it Yossarian (Yoss). I should probably reread it now, since it is all very faint, but at that time in my life it definitely spoke to me. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

My DH told DD last night that if any high school teacher tried to make her read Catch-22 then she should come tell him and he'll try to go talk some sense into that teacher.  

 

I discovered GH late in life - my mid 20's but I'm making sure DD has a better life than I did so whenever she and I are in the car together we listen to one of her audiobooks.  Right now we're listening to The Grand Sophy.  They are very kid friendly because the romance is very clean and there's nothing seedy about them.  

Every book I read of hers that I haven't before makes me a little bit sad because I'm getting closer to running out of her books to read.  Eek.  I try to pace myself.  

 

Do you like her mysteries also?

 

Who are you on GoodReads?  I don't see that we are friends but we should be.  There's a decently active GoodReads Georgette Heyer group also that you would like.  

 

We are goodreads friends! I see your avatar on my friend list.  I'm Rose, no pic or anything.

 

ETA: Here's my goodreads link, in case anybody else wants to be friends: Rose on Goodreads

 

Yes, my mom loved romances, she read a lot of Harlequins when I was a kid, which I wasn't supposed to read but I'd sneak sometimes. Then an older co-worker of hers introduced her to GH and she was in love, and she shared them with me. My dad was initially really against it - Romance Novels! Surely I was too young! But we pretty much ignored him, The Grand Sophy was the first one I ever read, and still my favorite.

 

I do like her mysteries.  They are vaguely similar to Agatha Christie, especially the Inspector Hemingway mysteries - set in an English manor, full of conflict between the stuffy elders and the "modern" young people, with a clever detective and a bumbling constable as a foil.  That's kind of a general rundown of most of them. Very entertaining.  Her one darker mystery is my favorite, it's called Penhallow.  Very good psychological/family drama.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Stacia]

I've never read Catch-22 but my dd will be reading it later this year for her AP English class. Maybe I'll try to read it then. I've thought about reading it because I read & loved A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif a few years ago & remember reading in reviews that it had some similarities to Catch-22.

 

A first novel of the first order—provocative, exuberant, wickedly clever—that reimagines the conspiracies and coincidences leading to the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed Pakistan’s dictator General Zia ul-Haq.

At the center is Ali Shigri: Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of Fury Squadron. His father, one of Zia’s colonels, committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. Ali is determined to understand what or who pushed his father to such desperation—and to avenge his death.

What he quickly discovers is a snarl of events: Americans in Pakistan, Soviets in Afghanistan, dollars in every hand. But Ali remains patient, determined, a touch world-weary (“You want freedom and they give you chicken kormaâ€), and unsurprised at finding Zia at every turn. He mounts an elaborate plot for revenge with an ever-changing crew (willing and not) that includes his silk-underwear-and-cologne-wearing roommate; a hash-smoking American lieutenant with questionable motives; the chief of Pakistan’s secret police, who mistakenly believes he’s in cahoots with the CIA; a blind woman imprisoned for fornication; Uncle Starchy, the squadron’s laundryman; and, not least of all, a mango-besotted crow. General Zia—devout Muslim and leering admirer of non-Muslim cleavage—begins every day by asking his chief of security: “Who’s trying to kill me?†and the answer lies in a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen . . .

Intrigue and subterfuge combine with misstep and luck in this darkly comic book about love, betrayal, tyranny, family—and a world that unexpectedly resembles our own.

“Hanif gallantly escorts readers right into the barracks in the darkly comic A Case of Exploding Mangoes . . . Like Catch-22, Mangoes is global satire with a savage bite . . . Richly imagined.â€
–Miami Herald

“A sure-footed, inventive debut that deftly undercuts its moral rage with comedy and deepens its comedy with moral rage . . . The novel has less in common with the sober literature of fact than it does with Latin American magical realism (especially novels about mythic dictators such as Gabriel García Márquez’s Autumn of the Patriarch) and absurdist military comedy (like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22). Hanif adopts a playful, exuberant voice, as competing theories and assassination plots are ingeniously combined and overlaid.â€
–Kirkus Reviews

“Pakistan’s ongoing political turmoil adds a piquant edge to this fact-based farce . . . Hanif’s depiction of military foibles recalls the satirical wallop of Catch-22. [He brings] heft to this sagely absurd depiction of his homeland’s history of political conspiracies and corruption.â€
–Publishers Weekly
 

 

[Just Robyn]

Eliana, thank you. I clipped that to Evernote (where I also have your list of Medea recommendations). 

 

I read a book of 37 short stories by Amelia Gray: Gutshot. These are idea stories that are always strange and dark, sometimes interesting, sometimes Zen-inspired, occasionally nauseating, never emotionally engaging. Lacking in character development, but some ideas were so interesting and fun that it didn't matter. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Stacia, I think you would like Catch-22.  Granted, it's been more than 20 years since I've read it, but from what I remember it is up your alley.

[Teegarden]

I had a couple of long plane rides this week (family vacation to Yellowstone!) so I finished:

 

2. The Norton Psychology Reader (ed. Gary Marcus).

 

A good read for early in the year, because it's composed of excerpts from many longer works, so I now have lots of new books on my to-read list. I enjoyed the mix of subjects, and particularly the balance between interesting anecdotes and careful scientific studies.

 

Still deciding what to read next. I'm turning 20 tomorrow; I feel like I should pick something special for my first non-teenage book.

[aggieamy]

We are goodreads friends! I see your avatar on my friend list.  I'm Rose, no pic or anything.

 

 

Too funny!  We are friends ... I don't know why I was looking for a friend named Chrysalis. 

[Ali in OR]

Wow Eliana. Thank you. I think my brain has the capacity to maybe someday accomplish about 5% of yours on a good day, but I do want to thank you for sharing so eloquently what you process. I've had Between the World and Me on hold for a few months--I'm now #8 in line, so I expect that will come up in the next couple of weeks (several copies, 14-day book). I guess I don't have to read that before The New Jim Crow, which I'm also planning to get to, but I probably will.

 

The book I finished this week is A Moveable Feast, which I found very worthwhile after reading The Paris Wife and The Sun Also Rises a couple of years ago. I'm not a big Hemingway fan, but I did like this.

 

I currently have 3 going which is not my usual style. The Other Daughter is a book someone here must have mentioned last summer; it's been on my hold list for months and finally came up. I just started it and am reading it on the treadmill. Then I got all caught up in the Mansfield Park discussion last week so I started re-reading that. It's a longer one, so it will probably take me a few weeks. I think I'm probably in the pro-Fanny/Edmund camp, but I think I'm always pro-Austen heroines. I see Fanny and Edmund as being the "adults"--the logical thinkers, the ones who do as they should. How can you be against that? Finally, I started a book my dad's wife sent along to me to see if I want to make it my book club pick. Everything I Never Told You is about a family going through the aftermath of the teen daughter's suicide. Not an easy topic, but it's a quick read and I think will be a good one to discuss.

[JennW in SoCal]

Eliana!  A sincere thank you for the guest thread. I will revisit it, dipping deeper into it as the week goes on, as it is too much to take in this morning. And, as a future writer of a guest thread, a sarcastic "thanks a lot"!  Nothing like setting the bar high for the rest of us!!!

 

Negin -- I too enjoyed Bill Bryson's Lost Continent, and I think of it every time I travel around the country.  I'll be on audible.com bright and early tomorrow to download his newest book!

 

Minerva -- thank you for the lovely poem. I think I will start putting "sunshine" on my to do lists. Or put this poem in my bullet journal to remind me to take the time to be still.

 

Count me among those who abandoned Catch-22. One of my students had to read it this year for AP Lit. I don't remember her final thoughts on it -- I'll have to ask her this week.

 

Jane!!  So glad you liked Arnaldur Indridason!! 

 

And I'm a Georgette Heyer newbie, but definitely warmed up to her last year. I figure I now have a nice long list of her books to turn to when I need some lighter comfort reads.

 

And from the last thread, talking about a cup tea as a means of coping with life. I decided to try it this morning to get a grip after dropping my college boy off at the airport. It's his final semester of college, he will be turning 21 before I see him again, and he has a big job interview coming up -- it was a harder good bye for me than dropping him off at college when he was a freshman!  A cuppa was just the thing.

 

Also from the end of the last thread.  Kathy, aka Lady Florida, have you read River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River ?  I picked it up when my oldest ds was living in Orlando in order to learn more about Florida beyond theme parks. It is a terrific book, and has made me want to see so much more of your state.  I almost crashed my car (well, not literally) the first time I saw some Sandhill Cranes by the side of the road!  And my youngest ds and I amused the locals by our excitement at seeing an armadillo toddling by.

 

My reading this week:

 

Welcome to Night Vale -- almost done, maybe today!

Longing by J.D. Landis.  This is my second attempt at this book, but I picked it up again in anticipation of writing my guest spot on the thread. But I see why I abandoned it earlier. It is a bit of a slog, which is unfortunate because it is a rich subject and a true story about love, madness, and tragedy featuring Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahams with guest appearances by Franz List and Felix Mendelssohn. I may wait and write more about it when I get around to my guest thread. (If I don't chicken out from sheer intimidation after Eliana's tour de force!)

[aggieamy]

 

 

And from the last thread, talking about a cup tea as a means of coping with life. I decided to try it this morning to get a grip after dropping my college boy off at the airport. It's his final semester of college, he will be turning 21 before I see him again, and he has a big job interview coming up -- it was a harder good bye for me than dropping him off at college when he was a freshman!  A cuppa was just the thing.

 

 

 

Wait a second.  There was tea discussions on last week's thread.  Alrighty.  I'm off to read the thread and try to catch up.  First I have to get myself a cup of tea though. 

 

I'm still in the diapers and medium sized kid stage of life but I know I will be a mess when Little Librarian goes away to college.  I'll probably just have to go along with Chews on Books because I don't think I'll be able to turn him loose.  

[Jane in NC]

And from the last thread, talking about a cup tea as a means of coping with life. I decided to try it this morning to get a grip after dropping my college boy off at the airport. It's his final semester of college, he will be turning 21 before I see him again, and he has a big job interview coming up -- it was a harder good bye for me than dropping him off at college when he was a freshman!  A cuppa was just the thing.

 

 

I think I need a cuppa now (or maybe something stronger).  Folks, it just does not seem that long ago when I contacted my then college student son to ask him if he would meet up with one of my virtual friends and her son who were touring his college.  Needless to say, Jenn's son ended up in the same Midwestern LAC as my boy. 

 

I feel like a proud aunt.  Your geologist already has an impressive CV!

 

[Eagle]

Yesterday I finished reading An Unnecessary Woman. I mentioned last week that I wasn't sure at that point if I liked it or not. It was a difficult read when I could only spare ten minutes at a time for it. There was so much to take in: rich language, a vivid setting, and a long story (there are no chapters) segmented by flashbacks. I finally had an hour to sit down and finish it, and in the end I really enjoyed it. The character development was so well done that I felt like I was in her head near the end. Her crisis felt like it was my crisis.

 

I needed something a little lighter after that, so I have started Carry On, Jeeves. It is quite entertaining and a quick read. Perfect for the little snippets of time I have available.

 

Last week I also finished Ginger Pye as a readaloud for ds. The author repeats everything at least once, often twice or more, making for a much longer book than is really necessary. Nevertheless, ds thoroughly enjoyed it and I found it charming.

 

dsmith, you mentioned Arthur C Clarke's Rama series last week. That was a childhood favourite of mine. All four books are worth reading. In fact, I might dig my tattered copies out again!

 

My books for the year:

1. Laughing All the Way to the Mosque

2. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up (audio)

3. An Unnecessary Woman

4. Ginger Pye (read aloud)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Finish Last Week
Soulless by Carriger - This is a new series for me that I put on hold based on a post by mumto2 the first week.  It came available from OverDrive, so I ditched my other reading and completely enjoyed myself.  Here's my review. 

Books In Progress
Jesus Calling by Young - this a year long devotional that I am enjoying so far
ESV Bible - finished Genesis today
This Present Darkness by Peretti - only a few chapters in, will try to get back to this week
 

To Be Read
The Just City by Walton
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Dark Horse by Diener

 

DD reads much faster than I so I decided to bench Gulliver to read with another child.

 

Goodreads
 

[aggieamy]

This year I wanted to make a shelf of books I wanted to read this year so when I was looking for something I would make myself pick from that shelf.  DH liked the idea so he did the same.  We pulled books from the family bookshelves and added them to our personal "to read' shelves.  Whenever I pick up a library book for DH or myself it goes onto our "to read" shelf.  I also made one for DD in her room.  

 

Amy's to-read shelf:

 

 

Kevin's to-read shelf (ignore the funny angle - his shelf is up really high because he's a tall guy and I'm short):

 

 

In case anyone is interested here's our library.  On the top and bottom shelf of the left hand side are puzzles.  We don't have that many books because we are avid library users and minimalists by nature.  As you can see a majority of our books are children's books or picture books.  

 

 

And I just had this cute picture of DS doing puzzles that I wanted to share.  Because he's cute!

 

Edited January 17, 2016 by aggieamy

[Jane in NC]

Oh Amy, Chews on Puzzles Books is adorable!  We always loved Ravensburger games and puzzles too!

[Kareni]

52 Books Blog - Martin Luther King:  Brought to you by wise and wonderful Eliana.  

 

...

 

Brava and thank you, Eliana  :wub:

 

Brava, indeed!  Thank you, Eliana.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Amy, Chews on books is adorable. I just showed dd his picture with the puzzles. She loved (and still loves) puzzles. Too bad they weren't toddlers together!

 

Ali, I know I read The Other Daughter. I think someone may have read it first. I really liked it.

 

Narrow Gate Academy, Really glad you enjoyed Soulless.

 

Eliana, I promise to give all your links the time they deserve later this week. Your post is wonderful, Thank You.

 

I have several books started but haven't had a chance to settle into any of them yet.

[Kareni]

I read The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America - 4 Stars -

 

I think this is the first Bill Bryson book that I read back in the latter 80s or early 90s.  If so, it had a line that my husband and I still frequently quote.  It was something along the lines of, "Welcome to Iowa.  This is what death is like."  Don't ask me why, but that line really hit our funnybones at the time.

 

... I'm turning 20 tomorrow; I feel like I should pick something special for my first non-teenage book.

 

Happy  birthday, Sophia! ~

 

Eliana!  A sincere thank you for the guest thread. I will revisit it, dipping deeper into it as the week goes on, as it is too much to take in this morning. And, as a future writer of a guest thread, a sarcastic "thanks a lot"!  Nothing like setting the bar high for the rest of us!!!

 

I fear I may be up next (or soon) with my Valentine's Day guest thread.  Eliana has set a high standard!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Eliana, thank you for your thoughtful & beautifully in-depth post.

 

Amy, love the photo of your son!

 

Sophia, happy early birthday!

 

I've just started reading Gnarr!: How I Became Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr:

 

 

In the epicenter of the world financial crisis, a comedian launched a joke campaign that didn't seem so funny to the country's leading politicians . . .

It all started when Jon Gnarr founded the Best Party in 2009 to satirize his country's political system. The financial collapse in Iceland had, after all, precipitated the world-wide meltdown, and fomented widespread protest over the country's leadership.

Entering the race for mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland's capital, Gnarr promised to get the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park into downtown parks, free towels at public swimming pools, a "drug-free Parliament by 2020" . . . and he swore he'd break all his campaign promises.

But then something strange started happening: his campaign began to succeed. And in the party's electoral debut, the Best Party emerged as the biggest winner. Gnarr promptly proposed a coalition government, although he ruled out partners who had not seen all five seasons of The Wire.

And just like that, a man whose previous foreign-relations experience consisted of a radio show (in which he regularly crank-called the White House and police stations in the Bronx to see if they had found his lost wallet) was soon meeting international leaders and being taken seriously as the mayor of a European capital.

Here, Gnarr recounts how it all happened and, with admirable candor, describes his vision of a more enlightened politics for the future. The point, he writes, is not to be afraid to get involved--or to take on the system.

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by Stacia

[Seeking Squirrels]

I've never read Catch-22, but DH loved it. We have it and I keep considering giving it a go. I've never heard of Georgette Heyer, but I love finding new authors. Any book in particular I should try first?

 

I finished listening to The Martian. I really enjoyed that book and the reader, one of my favorites in a long time!

 

Now I'm listening to Unstoppable by Bill Nye.

I'm supposed to be reading The Explosive Child, but still haven't started it. :/ I know I need to, but the whole subject is still overwhelming to me, so it's hard to get started.

 

I made a goal for myself of 25 books this year. (So much lower than in years past, but more than the last couple of years combined. :/ ) 2 down, 23 to go!

[mom22es]

 

Amy's to-read shelf:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, I just love the Art of Simple Food.  I learned how to cook from that cookbook.  My copy is falling apart.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I've never read Catch-22, but DH loved it. We have it and I keep considering giving it a go. I've never heard of Georgette Heyer, but I love finding new authors. Any book in particular I should try first?

 

 

 

I suggest The Grand Sophy, it's always been my favorite.

 

Then, she has a series of books with very young heroines - Arabella, Friday's Child, The Talisman Ring, Cotillion for example, which are very lighthearted and funny.  She also has a whole set with older, more mature heroines, like Venetia, The Reluctant Widow, Lady of Quality, and Bath Tangle.  And she even has a few with male protagonists, like Sylvester, Devil's Cub, These Old Shades, The Nonesuch.  She does the male characters just as well as the female characters. They are all wonderful, but I think I appreciate the older, more mature heroines even more than the young ones.

 

But then, I like Elizabeth and Elinor more than Marianne!  So maybe you should take that into account, too - which Jane Austen heroine do you prefer?

 

See how I kept that going from last week?  ;)  :D

[Onceuponatime]

I also abandoned Catch 22. Right now I'm glad I didn't abandon If On A Winter's Night. The author has begun to gather in all the threads and I'm going " Ho, ho, Mr. Calvino. So that's your game." Another literary inception, a little more mischievous and clever, perhaps, than The Man In The High Castle.

 

Undeniable is my next book. I'm glad to see the good review.

 

How do I link to a goodreads friends request from my goodreads site like Chrysalis did?

[mom22es]

I finished Age of Innocence.  I really, really enjoyed this.  It reminded of the first time I read A Room with a View.  I just loved the way Forster wrote his sentences and I felt much the same way when I started Age of Innocence.  This was my first time to read Wharton and I’m going to have to read more.    This was probably my favorite read of the year so far.

 

I had a road trip this past weekend, so I chose The Rook on audiobook to listen to in the car.  I don’t usually read this type of book, but it was just what I needed since I was doing so much early morning and late night driving. It did a great job of keeping engaged and awake – grin.  I should finish this in a day or so.

 

I’m also halfway through The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax on my kindle.  But since I’m currently sharing my kindle with ds I only get a little bit of time each day to read this one ‘cause ds is a kindle hog.

 

I’m starting Mansfield Park today because the discussion last week inspired me to pick it up for a re-read.  I haven’t read it in years and it will be interesting to see where I end up in regards to Fanny/Edmund.

 

All in all, a great week for reading.  One of my goals for the year was to read more Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning books/authors.  And this last week I finished two Pulitzer prize winners – yay.

[mumto2]

Happy Birthday Sophia!!!!

[Kareni]

A couple of bookish posts ~

 

A Conversation with Gene Luen Yang

 

"Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese, Boxers and Saints, and current writer of Superman, was appointed the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature by the Library of Congress, the first comics creator to hold that position."

 

**

 

And this post is about books with sad or bittersweet endings ~

 

A Happy Ending Isn’t Necessarily the Best Ending

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

How do I link to a goodreads friends request from my goodreads site like Chrysalis did?

 

If you go to your Friends page, look at the bottom of the right-hand column, and you'll see  a title "Invite Friend Link" which you can copy and paste here. Then when someone clicks on it, they automatically become your friend!

[Onceuponatime]

If you go to your Friends page, look at the bottom of the right-hand column, and you'll see a title "Invite Friend Link" which you can copy and paste here. Then when someone clicks on it, they automatically become your friend!

Thanks!

 

Here is mine, if anyone is interested.

https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?i=LTM2MjA4NTgyOTU6NDMx

[athomeontheprairie]

This is my first (real) BaW post.

I haven't posted any of my books for the year.

So far, I've finished Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder Triloogy. I loved the first book, the second one was only okay. And I finished book three because of a desire to finish. I've had horrible luck with the past several trilogies I've read-and I think it's enough to make me give them up for awhile.

 

I read "The Pearl" by Steinbeck. It has been on my shelf for a LONG time, unread. It's short and on a list of classics I want to read sometime in my life. I didn't love it, but it was decent. Short and Simple.

 

Currently, I'm working on "The finest hours". I'm really enjoying this, and my dh is tired of hearing me gasp everytime something horrible happens. I can't fathom what those men went through!

 

I have one book I've wanted to talk about for a long time. This book made me laugh out loud, so many times. There were several times I couldn't keep reading through the tears. Some people may not like it. There is language in it, if you don't like certain swear words, I wouldn't recommend it. I loved hearing about the Seal. Hearing what our Seals go through to train so that they are ready to protect our country. Amazing men.

 

On my TBR list is Catch-22, several of you upthread are making me rethink that book.

[Soror]

This week's plan:

Finish- The Lost Art of Walking, Younger Next Year and The Sword in the Stone (White)

I've got a couple more on my Kindle that slip my mind now

 

1. The Crystal Cave- Stewart

2. The Hollow Hills- Stewart

3. The Last Enchantment- Stewart

4. The Wicked Day- Stewart

5. Younger Next Year for Women (75% total- although I despised parts I want to go back and finish them off so I can count it!)

6. Very Good Lives- Rowling- very, very, extremely short

[aggieamy]

 I've never heard of Georgette Heyer, but I love finding new authors. Any book in particular I should try first?

 

 

 

I suggest The Grand Sophy, it's always been my favorite.

 

Then, she has a series of books with very young heroines - Arabella, Friday's Child, The Talisman Ring, Cotillion for example, which are very lighthearted and funny.  She also has a whole set with older, more mature heroines, like Venetia, The Reluctant Widow, Lady of Quality, and Bath Tangle.  And she even has a few with male protagonists, like Sylvester, Devil's Cub, These Old Shades, The Nonesuch.  She does the male characters just as well as the female characters. They are all wonderful, but I think I appreciate the older, more mature heroines even more than the young ones.

 

But then, I like Elizabeth and Elinor more than Marianne!  So maybe you should take that into account, too - which Jane Austen heroine do you prefer?

 

See how I kept that going from last week?  ;)  :D

 

Ditto The Grand Sophy suggestion.  Then I'd recommend Cotillion for another great book but it has a different feel. 

[Ethel Mertz]

So far, I've finished 8 books this year. Several of them were fast-moving mysteries. DS and I finished Treasure Island this week and I am about a third of the way through Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. I love this book and am learning so much about what WWII Germany was like.

 

I've also started reading Agatha Christie's Miss Marples series. They are a nice counter balance to the Bonhoeffer book. I've got the Alice B. Toklas book from the library beside me, though I haven't started reading it yet and a few others waiting in line. 

[JennW in SoCal]

 

Still deciding what to read next. I'm turning 20 tomorrow; I feel like I should pick something special for my first non-teenage book.

 

:party: Happy Birthday! 

 

I've been trying to think of something to suggest for the big 2-0, but nothing stands out in my mind as extra grown up or profound or special. Maybe because I don't tend to read anything terribly grown up or profound! But I have faith in your excellent taste in books, and your mom's, that you will choose something quite wonderful for the next book. 

[Stacia]

I feel like the BaW curmudgeon....

 

I like, perhaps even love, Hemingway.

 

I'm guessing I might like Catch-22.

 

I found Mansfield Park so boring & agonizing to read I never made it very far before quitting it. I have absolutely no desire to ever try it again.

 

:tongue_smilie: :lol:

[Seeking Squirrels]

I suggest The Grand Sophy, it's always been my favorite.

 

Then, she has a series of books with very young heroines - Arabella, Friday's Child, The Talisman Ring, Cotillion for example, which are very lighthearted and funny.  She also has a whole set with older, more mature heroines, like Venetia, The Reluctant Widow, Lady of Quality, and Bath Tangle.  And she even has a few with male protagonists, like Sylvester, Devil's Cub, These Old Shades, The Nonesuch.  She does the male characters just as well as the female characters. They are all wonderful, but I think I appreciate the older, more mature heroines even more than the young ones.

 

But then, I like Elizabeth and Elinor more than Marianne!  So maybe you should take that into account, too - which Jane Austen heroine do you prefer?

 

See how I kept that going from last week?  ;)  :D

Elizabeth for sure, she's always been my favorite :-) I'll give The Grand Sophy a go!

[PeacefulChaos]

Yikes!  I changed my Gravatar picture to show off my new hairdo and forgot, and I got down here and saw it and was like, WHAT IS THAT?!  :lol:

 

But I digress.

 

Let's see.... I won't weigh in on all the Austen talk, because I have a confession - I have never, ever read any Austen.  Will I be kicked out of the thread?  ;) :lol:

 

If there's anything that's super-duper good, let me know, and maybe I'll put it on my list of possible 'books to read' - but it'll be late this year or early next.  Lol!!

 

 

I'm currently working on The Heavenly Man, which I started a few months ago but stopped just a few chapters in.  It's too bad I had put it down then, because it's gotten more interesting now, after about 9-10 chapters.  The thing is, it's pretty simple - dude preaches, gets arrested, gets beat up, escapes, repeat.  So I'm kind of like... is there going to be other stuff for the next 19 chapters?  :lol:  BUT it's a really - REALLY easy read, so I can't complain.  Too much.  

 

Finished so far this year:

1. This Present Darkness - Perretti

2. Captivating - Eldredge

 

and Brother Yun/The Heavenly Man is #3.  :)