Book a Week 2016 - BW11: Happy St. Patrick's Week

[Jane in NC]

Good morning all!

 

I finished The 6:41 to Paris while drinking my first cup of morning coffee. The novel has two alternating voices, two middle age passengers sitting next to each other in a second class compartment on a train.  Fate has brought together this couple who was romantically entangled back in their twenties, a relationship that ended abruptly and dramatically.  Decades later, he would like to apologize, she would prefer to take him to task for his former cruelty.  We read their thoughts for there is no conversation between them (other than a few "excuse me"s.)

 

The New York Times reviewed the book here.

 

 

The 6:41 to Paris was published here in the States by a new independent press, New Vessel.  Like Archipelago, New Vessel is bringing us books in translation but, unlike Archipelago, their list includes some non-fiction.  I recommend looking at the website just to peruse their cover art.  Also, like Archipelago, New Vessel offers a subscription package.  Given my backlog of books, I simply cannot consider it but it is tempting!

 

The 6:41 to Paris was the 16th book of the year for me.  What I wanted to note though is that about half of the books I have read this year have been in translation.  So far, I have read books that were originally written in eight languages:  French, Spanish (2), Catalan, German, Italian, Russian, Icelandic and Norwegian. I continue to read a book of short stories translated from Greek (Something Will Happen, You'll See). 

 

Mumto2 has mentioned a couple of mystery authors who found their way into my library bag.  This morning I started reading Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody.

[mumto2]

Good morning all!

 

I finished The 6:41 to Paris while drinking my first cup of morning coffee. The novel has two alternating voices, two middle age passengers sitting next to each other in a second class compartment on a train. Fate has brought together this couple who was romantically entangled back in their twenties, a relationship that ended abruptly and dramatically. Decades later, he would like to apologize, she would prefer to take him to task for his former cruelty. We read their thoughts for there is no conversation between them (other than a few "excuse me"s.)

 

The New York Times reviewed the book here.

 

 

The 6:41 to Paris was published here in the States by a new independent press, New Vessel. Like Archipelago, New Vessel is bringing us books in translation but, unlike Archipelago, their list includes some non-fiction. I recommend looking at the website just to peruse their cover art. Also, like Archipelago, New Vessel offers a subscription package. Given my backlog of books, I simply cannot consider it but it is tempting!

 

The 6:41 to Paris was the 16th book of the year for me. What I wanted to note though is that about half of the books I have read this year have been in translation. So far, I have read books that were originally written in eight languages: French, Spanish (2), Catalan, German, Italian, Russian, Icelandic and Norwegian. I continue to read a book of short stories translated from Greek (Something Will Happen, You'll See).

 

Mumto2 has mentioned a couple of mystery authors who found their way into my library bag. This morning I started reading Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody.

The 6:41 to Paris sounds interesting. I plan to do a good search for it when I am reunited with my normal internet provider. I had to go to a library to look at Stacia's picture yesterday. I am really looking forward to just clicking and enjoying again!

 

I hope you enjoy the Frances Brody book. Even though it's not a village mystery series in the sense that all the books take place in one village. I have found that my vision of British Village cozy books is pretty much non conforming. :lol: I tried to make it work! Each of the books in this series do take place in a village (or small town) and stay pretty true to the villages. A good friend lives quite close to the setting for Dying in the Wool. We visit and walk in that area a few times each year so the scenery descriptions are bang on.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I picked up Shylock is My Name from the library yesterday, and started it last night.  Hmm, I'm not sure I'm going to like it. I'm giving it a chance to see the development of the Shylock character, but I really hate what he's done with Portia - my favorite Shakespearean heroine.  I had the same objection to The Serpent of Venice which I abandoned. I think I may be officially over Christopher Moore as an author.

 

Sexist rant: what is it with male retellers who take one of the strongest heroines in Shakespeare and turn her into a shallow and self-absorbed rich girl/princess?  I'd like to see Jeanette Winterson or Margaret Atwood or somebody like that do a modern Portia.  :rant:

[Lady Florida.]

Btw, Kathy, Richard Scarry is my favorite children's author. I even have a favorite quote by him saved over on my Goodreads page...

 

And, just so you know, many, many of the highly-beloved Richard Scarry books in our house have Scotch tape as an integral part of them! :lol:

 

So, :cheers2:  to books being worthy enough to need Scotch tape!

 

I'm not a fan, so I had to go an look it up on your Goodreads page. Thank you for making me feel better. 

 

I just feel bad because it's the first time I've ever requested a book that's making the BaW rounds, and I deface it before I even start reading it. As ds would say, Madame Pince* will be very disappointed in you.

 

*For the non-Harry Potter fans, Madame Pince is the librarian at Hogwarts. She is very serious about the care of books.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Lady Florida

[Kareni]

I finished Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics for my book group meeting tomorrow.  It was a compelling read, and I now feel better informed about some of what was going on in the 1930s and a whole lot more informed about crew!

 

 

Today I finished Rachel Grant's romantic suspense book  Cold Evidence (Evidence Series Book 6).  I didn't care over much for the characters at the beginning of the story; however, they grew on me.  The storyline also strained credulity.  This is probably not a book I'll re-read; however, it was enjoyable in its way.  Though it's book six in the series, it can stand alone well.

 

"The frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest are about to get hot…

The only thing Navy underwater archaeologist Undine Gray fears more than facing former SEAL Luke Sevick is never scuba diving again. But when a dive on a Cold War-era US Navy submarine ends with an accidental explosion, she’s terrified of going into the deep, forcing her to beg the most experienced diver she knows to take her back to the bottom of the cold Salish Sea.

Luke wants nothing to do with the woman who destroyed his career a dozen years ago but finds it impossible to turn his back on her plea. Caught off guard by an attraction he doesn’t want to feel, he’s eager to be done with this mission of mercy. But when they dive on the wreck, he only gets sucked in deeper. Someone has been digging on the Navy sub…and it appears the explosion that almost killed Undine was no accident.

To find the truth, Undine must navigate murky waters and the unexpectedly hot undercurrents swirling between her and Luke. Worse, divers are searching for something lost in US waters during the Cold War, and they’ll do anything to keep Luke and Undine from finding it first."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

Book #29: City of the Rats by Emily Rodda (third Deltora Quest book).  I think City of the Rats is my favorite Deltora Quest book.  I'm so happy that my little guys are loving the series as much as my olders and husband and I did the first time we read it.

[JennW in SoCal]

For anyone interested, here is a link to a small photo album from our trip.

 

AND, I've been meaning to ask, who would like some post cards of the Harrison Longitude clocks from the Royal Observatory or of TinTin (which I bought at a cool graphic novel/comic book shop in Paris)?  

[Jane in NC]

For anyone interested, here is a link to a small photo album from our trip.

 

AND, I've been meaning to ask, who would like some post cards of the Harrison Longitude clocks from the Royal Observatory or of TinTin (which I bought at a cool graphic novel/comic book shop in Paris)?  

 

Great photos, Jenn!  What fun.

 

I would love a Tintin card!  I always use the postcards from BaWers as my bookmarks.

 

[idnib]

I've had a bunch of other stuff happening so my current reading is in shambles. I'm currently reading The Landmark Herodotus The Histories and it's really wonderful. I'm trying to take along with the Goodreads Classics and the Western Canon reading group, but I've fallen behind despite my best intentions. They are moving at a fast pace, though, so I'm thinking they might decide to slow down a bit.

 

II'm still working away on House of Leaves and I've started Siddhartha, literally because the other books I'm reading were to large to carry around easily to the kids' activities and I wanted to read something about India after A Passage to India.

 

 

I'm about to start Anne Bishop's Marked in Flesh.  I took a step back in time with Lee Child's Jack Reacher series in The Affair.  I've been reading the series sporadically and currently have A Wanted Man and Never Go Back in my stacks. After I saw Child speak at a convention, I picked up 61 Hours and was hooked. Eventually I'll go back and read the beginning books in the series. 

 

Lee Child books are my guilty pleasure. It's DH's fault for introducing me to him. He and I once had a discussion about why Reacher is more appealing to women than most of these types of characters, and his assertion was that it's because Reacher brings nothing but a toothbrush, eats whatever, and produces no laundry.

 

I finished Ransom by David Malouf.  Wow.  Thanks to Eliana for mentioning it awhile back, and Robin for putting it on March's Australia list. I'm so glad I read this book. It makes the particular scene in the Iliad, the ransoming of Hector's body from Achilles by Priam, come alive in a way that feels very true to the original, but is a robust and meaningful story on its own.  An excellent retelling, in conversation with The Iliad.  I really enjoyed it.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

The 6:41 to Paris was published here in the States by a new independent press, New Vessel.  Like Archipelago, New Vessel is bringing us books in translation but, unlike Archipelago, their list includes some non-fiction.  I recommend looking at the website just to peruse their cover art.  Also, like Archipelago, New Vessel offers a subscription package.  Given my backlog of books, I simply cannot consider it but it is tempting!

 

 

I love all the cover art, but like you I cannot justify another subscription right now!

 

For anyone interested, here is a link to a small photo album from our trip.

 

AND, I've been meaning to ask, who would like some post cards of the Harrison Longitude clocks from the Royal Observatory or of TinTin (which I bought at a cool graphic novel/comic book shop in Paris)?  

 

Thanks for the photos. Y'all look like you had a blast! I would love a Royal Observatory postcard but will step aside if there are too many requests. I'm hoping to make it there myself this year.

[LostSurprise]

I just finished up Go Set a Watchman (Harper Lee's finally released sequel), Death's Acre (forensic anthropology), and Halting State (Charles Stross near-future science fiction). I enjoyed all of them. They all were uneven but had ideas or story-telling which made them fun. 

 

Currently working on: 

 

a few graphic novels by French-Canadian Michel Rabagliati...none of the usual graphic novel fantasy or sex but tons of enjoyable real-life stuff...extended family life in Quebec, etc. I like it so far. 

 

Yes, Please. Amy Poehler's biography, on audio (which she narrates with clips from lots of other people)

 

a folksy crime novel from 1970 called The Friends of Eddie Coyle. This one is for a group but I read some to dh in the car this morning and the character's voices are really fun. The way they speak is character-telling. I enjoy that. 

 

 

2016 Reading List

1. Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth~memoir, history, ‘50s, England, medical, series.

2. Skunk Hill: a Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsin by Robert Birmingham~history, archaeology, Native peoples.

3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik~fantasy, fairy tale, magic, Poland *

4. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel~speculative fiction, pandemic, Midwest, Shakespeare.

5. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel~fiction, history, audiobook. 16th century, England. *

6. Strange Things Still Happen edited by Angela Carter~fantasy, fairy tales, female-focus, Africa, Palestine, Norway, Hungary, Mexico, US, China.

7. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger~fantasy, steampunk, series.

8. A Guide to Forgetting by Jeffrey Skinner~poetry, sonnets, free.

9. The Scavengers by Michael Perry~youth fiction, post-apocalypse, survival, genetic engineering

10. Zoobiquity by Barbary Horowitz~non-fiction, biology, animals, medicine.

11. The Designer’s Guide to Global Color Combinations by Leslie Carbega~nonfiction, art, color theory,China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, India, Iran, Europe, Africa, US.

12. The Designer’s Guide to Color by James Stockton~nonfiction, art, color, swatches.

13. Fireworks: Nine Profane Tales by Angela Carter~short stories, fiction, fables and fairy tales.

14. The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson~history, memoir, WWII, Germany.

15. These Is My Words by Nancy Turner~historical fiction, pioneer, epistolary, 19th century. **

16. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Philip Hoose~non-fiction, ecology, birds, US, Cuba.

17. Knit Wear Love by Amy Herzog~knitting, sweaters, construction.

18. The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman~knitting, socks, patterns.

19. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee~fiction, series, Civil Rights, family.

20. Death’s Acre by Dr. William Bass~non-fiction, forensics, crime. 21. Halting State by Charles Stross~science fiction, future, gaming, Scotland.

[LostSurprise]

This week I finished:

 

Uprooted – Naomi Novik 3/9/16 - Loved this! I hope she writes a sequel.

 

 

I read that in January and I really liked it too! 

[KathyBC]

Good morning all!

 

I finished The 6:41 to Paris while drinking my first cup of morning coffee. The novel has two alternating voices, two middle age passengers sitting next to each other in a second class compartment on a train.  Fate has brought together this couple who was romantically entangled back in their twenties, a relationship that ended abruptly and dramatically.  Decades later, he would like to apologize, she would prefer to take him to task for his former cruelty.  We read their thoughts for there is no conversation between them (other than a few "excuse me"s.)

 

And? Thumbs up or down? I love the concept.

[Kareni]

For anyone interested, here is a link to a small photo album from our trip.

 

What wonderful photos!  Thanks for sharing them.  You and your husband (I presume) both look very happy.

 

**

 

I've just begun the third book of Ilona Andrews' The Edge series:  Fate's Edge.  I read books one and two from this series recently but needed to get this one from the library.  I'm enjoying it so far; it's a re-read for me, but I've forgotten almost all of the storyline.

 

"Audrey Callahan left behind her life in the Edge, and she's determined to stay on the straight and narrow. But when her brother gets into hot water, the former thief takes on one last heist and finds herself matching wits with a jack of all trades...

 

Kaldar Mar-a gambler, lawyer, thief, and spy-expects his latest assignment tracking down a stolen item to be a piece of cake, until Audrey shows up. But when the item falls into the hands of a lethal criminal, Kaldar realizes that in order to finish the job, he's going to need Audrey's help..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[6packofun]

I took a step back in time with Lee Child's Jack Reacher series in The Affair.  I've been reading the series sporadically and currently have A Wanted Man and Never Go Back in my stacks. After I saw Child speak at a convention, I picked up 61 Hours and was hooked. Eventually I'll go back and read the beginning books in the series. 

 

I started this series at the beginning and am on book 13 (I think?) Gone Tomorrow.  I just love this series.  I always read a few more serious, literary books and then throw a Jack Reacher in between!  LOL

 

Just FYI, you can read the books in any order but certain ones have story arcs.  61 Hours, Worth Dying For, A Wanted Man, and Never Go Back have a continuing story line between them.

[-M-]

Hello, BaWers!

 

Since my last post, I concluded a MOOC centered on Othello, which, in addition to supplementary articles and lectures, provided ample motivation to closely reread the play. Although I look forward to seeing the current Chicago Shakespeare Theater production over spring break, this recent encounter with the text reminds me that the play, while meant to be seen and heard, can be remarkable reading. Questions on which I reflected included: Is the conclusion inevitable? Is this really a play about race? What are we to make of the women in this play? Are we the audience complicit in Iago's machinations?

 

Upthread, someone discussed works in translation. Let me recommend The Cold Song by Norwegian author Linn Ullmann. I think I may (finally) be growing too old for unrelentingly sad and/or disturbing novels about dysfunctional families and their communities (e.g., The Destroyers), but Ullmann pulled off something special with this family drama masquerading as murder mystery.

 

Speaking of murder, In a Dark, Dark Wood was a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon and a pot of coffee. There was nothing pleasant about Krakauer's Missoula or Klebold's A Mother's Reckoning, however. Difficult and heartbreaking, both. On a happier note, my husband and I seek admission to the club for readers who loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. What a charming book.

 

Here's my list:

 

January
â–  The Heir Apparent (David Ives; 2011. Drama.)
â–  Neighbors (Jan T. Gross; 2001. Non-fiction.)
â–  Our Class (Tadeusz SÅ‚obodzianek (adaptation by Ryan Craig); 2009. Drama.)
â–  Scored (Lauren McLaughlin; 2011. Fiction.)
â–  Ready Player One (Ernest Kline; 2011. Fiction.)
â–  Arcadia (Tom Stoppard; 1993. Drama.)
â–  Purge (Sofi Oksanen; 2008. Fiction.)

 

February
â–  The Shawl (Cynthia Ozick; 1990. Fiction.)
â–  The Book of Jonas (Stephen Dau; 2012. Fiction.)
â–  The Bunker, Volume 3 (Joshua Hale Fialkov; 2015. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Squirrel Mother (Megan Kelso; 2006. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Silence of Our Friends (Mark Long; 2012. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport; 2016. Non-fiction.)
â–  When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi; 2016. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Invaders (Karolina Waclawiak; 2015. Fiction.)
■ A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy (Sue Klebold; 2016. Non-fiction.)

 

March
â–  In a Dark, Dark Wood (Ruth Ware; 2015. Fiction.)
â–  What She Left Behind (Ellen Marie Wiseman; 2013. Fiction.)
â–  Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Jon Krakauer; 2015. Non-fiction.)
■ Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan; 2013. Fiction.)
â–  Othello (William Shakespeare; 1603. Drama.)
â–  The Cold Song (Linn Ullmann; 2014. Fiction.)

Edited March 17, 2016 by M--

[Mom-ninja.]

I used to get a lot more reading done pre youtube.  :unsure:   Although to be fair to myself some of what I watch is for school. Then I get sucked into the void....

[Stacia]

Jane, thanks for the info on New Vessel Press. I don't think I had heard of them. At least one of my library systems has some of their books! Looking forward to checking some of them out.

[Momto4inSoCal]

I finished ratio studiorum and I think I am going to go back and write out what a school day at the jesuit school would look like. I'm just trying to picture how a day it would play out and if there's anything I can really glean from it. I know it was based in University of Paris' education model which wasn't exactly classical but it seems pretty close to classical. Students were really immersed in Latin, they spoke only Latin on class, wrote their papers in Latin, studied grammar with Latin. We plan on studying Latin but no where near that level. They seemed to spend a lot of time in Cisnero's Orations. I downloaded the book (translated) on google books to look through it. I don't know how much I will miss reading a translation since traslating it seemed to be a large part of their school.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hold the phone!!!  Stacia's care package containing The Dead Mountaineer's Inn arrived yesterday, so that's what I'm reading for the near future.   Plus, the cover is green.  :D

[Jane in NC]

Jane, thanks for the info on New Vessel Press. I don't think I had heard of them. At least one of my library systems has some of their books! Looking forward to checking some of them out.

 

Actually we both need to thank the Tattered Cover, an independent bookstore chain in the Denver area that operates a bookstore at the airport stocking things other than best sellers.  Imagine, an entire wall of small press and literary books! At an airport!

 

[Ellesmere]

In honor of St Pat's day, a recommendation. I read this last year, but I really loved it and haven't shared it before.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/03/the-green-road-anne-enright-review-exquisite-collage

 

It's a lovely book, teetering on the edge between beauty and sorrow, and in some ways, a hymn to a lost Ireland.

 

~

 

Robin, when I was a girl, I used to love all those old mournful convict folk songs! It's hard to imagine, being sent to an unknown land on the other side of the world, almost certain to never return. 

I won't get it in time for this week, but I am requesting The Green Road from the library. Thank you for mentioning it.

 

I finished The Sound of Things Falling. So good. I am now reading Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail, another excellent recommendation from Stacia. 

 

I finished My Side of the Mountain with the kids. I had forgotten that my dd loved the book but hated the ending. She felt like it was unsatisfying, so we spent a good deal of time inventing alternate endings. 

 

We are Now reading There's an Owl in My Shower, also by Jean Craighead George. It's a short book but is causing me no end of trouble since both of my kids are now desperate to bring home a bird of prey to live with our family. They really could care less if it's an owl or a falcon. Either will do. 

 

I have been reading Aesop's Fables with my son who has a whole host of learning disabilities, and it has been such a great and sneaky way to work on reading comprehension. He generally is so reluctant to talk about what we are reading, even if done conversationally, but he is so eager to tell me what he thinks a good moral for each fable should be. His morals are usually hilarious and often way better than Aesop's. I am often terrified about this child's future, but this gives me hope. 

 

The kids adore Jean Craighead George and we've been checking on the owl cams every day. Thank you for mentioning There's an Owl in My Shower -- they will love it.

Btw, Kathy, Richard Scarry is my favorite children's author. I even have a favorite quote by him saved over on my Goodreads page...

 

And, just so you know, many, many of the highly-beloved Richard Scarry books in our house have Scotch tape as an integral part of them! :lol:

 

So, :cheers2:  to books being worthy enough to need Scotch tape!

:hurray: 

My mom saved two Richard Scarry books from my childhood, the first books I rec'd as gifts when I was a toddler. They went through a lot of Scotch tape when I was little. (One book was duct taped, in desperation.)

 

I just checked the Scarry books and noticed one of the kids taped added a library checkout card on the inside cover with a due date of "descembr".

[Ellesmere]

My green covered book for the week is an edition of The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver that has a green cover. I really wanted to read something from Ireland but my mind is still in February and St. Patrick's took me by surprise. But I did get a grow kit so the kids could have little pots of clover. Thanks to dh, the seeds actually were planted and all is well. The less I have to do with them, the more likely to survive. I did find all our Irish-themed books to read aloud with the kids and am enjoying that as always.

 

I have so much to say and not enough time atm to post about Between the World & Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Took forever to get it from the library and I should have just bought it anyway because I immediately thought of someone I should  loan (well, give) a copy to because I know we'll be able to have some good conversations about it.

[Butter]

Book #30: Mindspeak by Heather Sunseri.  I loved it.  By about 2/3 through I literally could not put it down.  With a chapter left I realized it wasn't going to end with this book.  Yup.  Trilogy, plus one related book that could be read standalone.  The good news is the trilogy has been out for quite a while so each book (Kindle) is $5.  Anyway, it's about kids who were genetically engineered clones intended to be human healing machines.  They have some other abilities, too.  The main character is 17 when she finds this out about herself, after her father's car is bombed and he dies (he was one of the doctors who did the cloning).  I'll be starting book #2 today.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Butter

[Jane in NC]

Hold the phone!!!  Stacia's care package containing The Dead Mountaineer's Inn arrived yesterday, so that's what I'm reading for the near future.   Plus, the cover is green.  :D

 

Green cover bests green beer--at least for the BaW crowd!  :coolgleamA:

 

[Stacia]

Rose, I would have called that cover blue. :lol:  (My mom & I often disagree what is blue & what is green. But, you know, I'm right of course. So, I'm not sure you can count that as a green book! :toetap05: ;) )

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

If you see any Irish dancers today, give them some love! Those kids have probably trained hard for months & have had a crazy schedule at this time of year especially! (I'm just a dance mom & I'm exhausted from our schedule & I'm not the one up there dancing so hard! :tongue_smilie: One more appearance tonight....)

 

I've had no time to read. At this point I'm lucky that we have some clean dishes & clothes!

[mumto2]

I started my Green Cover book today also. I have had Jane Yolen's Sword of the Rightful King sitting around for years. Neither dc ever wanted to read it for King Arthur so I guess I will use it for my bingo square.

[JennW in SoCal]

No St. Patrick's Day book reading for me, no green book covers or the word green in the title.  But, my music reading has me covered with a program this morning full of of Irish Jigs and standards like Danny Boy, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, and My Wild Irish Rose.  We'll be playing for a community of Alzheimer's patients, something my little group does once a month.

[Lady Florida.]

The non-fiction book I started reading for Oceania month has some green covered mountains on the cover. That's as close as I'm going to get.

 

Island of the Lost

 

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

If you see any Irish dancers today, give them some love! Those kids have probably trained hard for months & have had a crazy schedule at this time of year especially! (I'm just a dance mom & I'm exhausted from our schedule & I'm not the one up there dancing so hard! :tongue_smilie: One more appearance tonight....)

 

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I was raised by the Italian side of the family, but I am a Kathleen. Family surnames include Foley and Riley (which are pretty much the Irish version of Smith and Jones lol). This one day a year I let the Irish girl out. Tomorrow it's back to the Italian half.  :D

 

 

We do know a young lady Irish dancer. She's the one whose mother asked me about making her costumes. They're dancing 3 times today outside an Irish pub. I really wish I/we could go and see one of the performances but it's a 45 minute drive one way, and we all have several other things going on today. Ds has his midterm in Sociology tonight so he's been doing some last minute studying this afternoon. 

Edited March 17, 2016 by Lady Florida

[Chrysalis Academy]

Rose, I would have called that cover blue. :lol:  (My mom & I often disagree what is blue & what is green. But, you know, I'm right of course. So, I'm not sure you can count that as a green book! :toetap05: ;) )

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

If you see any Irish dancers today, give them some love! Those kids have probably trained hard for months & have had a crazy schedule at this time of year especially! (I'm just a dance mom & I'm exhausted from our schedule & I'm not the one up there dancing so hard! :tongue_smilie: One more appearance tonight....)

 

I've had no time to read. At this point I'm lucky that we have some clean dishes & clothes!

 

Sounds like the debate about the color of our house - pistachio green or pistachio blue?  It's totally green.

 

But, you're right about the book - it is blue! When I looked at it in the dim reading light last night, it looked dark green, but now that I look at it in daylight, it is blue.  But you know what? I plan on reading it in the daylight of the beach today, so I don't give a rat's patootie what color it is! Here's to mid-week days off.  We started the day at 6:30 for our town's annual St. Paddy's parade, went out to breakfast, and now we're heading for the beach. Got my green beads and my green fleece.  No green beer, unless I can find some that is gluten free!

 

I hope all who are inclined to celebrate have a happy St. Patrick's day! My dh's mom's maiden name was Guilfoyle, so we always raise a pint (or whatever) to toast her memory on St. Pat's.

[JennW in SoCal]

Speaking of Danny Boy....

 

 

 

[Literary Mom]

New to the thread. Alas, my book is orange - My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've read this year: Great Expectations, Pilgrim's Regress (C.S. Lewis), The Way of the Pilgrim, O Pioneers (Cather). I read Middlemarch and gave up in the middle of the book (350+ pp) just before mid-March. I wasn't enjoying it and didn't want to waste three more weeks on it. I only read for pleasure when I go to bed, so usually 30-60 min a night, which means I average a book every 2-3 weeks.

[Jane in NC]

New to the thread. Alas, my book is orange - My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've read this year: Great Expectations, Pilgrim's Regress (C.S. Lewis), The Way of the Pilgrim, O Pioneers (Cather). I read Middlemarch and gave up in the middle of the book (350+ pp) just before mid-March. I wasn't enjoying it and didn't want to waste three more weeks on it. I only read for pleasure when I go to bed, so usually 30-60 min a night, which means I average a book every 2-3 weeks.

 

Well aboard!  Always fun to have new kids in the playground.

 

[Kareni]

New to the thread.

 

Welcome, Literary Mom!

 

***

 

Last night I read half a dozen stories from a short story collection I'd picked up from the new book shelf at the library; admittedly I'm not the target audience for this book as the stories all deal with video games.   I checked out the book solely because I saw it contained a story by Andy Weir (author of The Martian).  Five of the stories did not speak to me, but one I thought was excellent and I recommend it.  It's titled 'Select Character,' and it's by Hugh Howey.

 

I'll continue to read in the hopes I find another great story.

 

Press Start to Play

 

"IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS.

 

You are standing in a room filled with books, faced with a difficult decision. Suddenly, one with a distinctive cover catches your eye. It is a groundbreaking anthology of short stories from award-winning writers and game-industry titans who have embarked on a quest to explore what happens when video games and science fiction collide.

 

From text-based adventures to first-person shooters, dungeon crawlers to horror games, these twenty-six stories play with our notion of what video games can be—and what they can become—in smart and singular ways. With a foreword from Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One, Press Start to Play includes work from: Daniel H. Wilson, Charles Yu, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, S.R. Mastrantone, Charlie Jane Anders, Holly Black, Seanan McGuire, Django Wexler, Nicole Feldringer, Chris Avellone, David Barr Kirtley,T.C. Boyle, Marc Laidlaw, Robin Wasserman, Micky Neilson, Cory Doctorow, Jessica Barber, Chris Kluwe, Marguerite K. Bennett, Rhianna Pratchett, Austin Grossman,  Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Liu, Catherynne M. Valente, Andy Weir, and Hugh Howey."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Ali in OR]

AND, I've been meaning to ask, who would like some post cards of the Harrison Longitude clocks from the Royal Observatory or of TinTin (which I bought at a cool graphic novel/comic book shop in Paris)?  

 

Dd and I ready Longitude aloud now...PM me know if you still have any longitude clock postcards left--we'll gladly take one off your hands.

[Loesje22000]

New to the thread. Alas, my book is orange - My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've read this year: Great Expectations, Pilgrim's Regress (C.S. Lewis), The Way of the Pilgrim, O Pioneers (Cather). I read Middlemarch and gave up in the middle of the book (350+ pp) just before mid-March. I wasn't enjoying it and didn't want to waste three more weeks on it. I only read for pleasure when I go to bed, so usually 30-60 min a night, which means I average a book every 2-3 weeks.

Welcome!

 

The green covers make me realize green is not often here as cover color.

But we also don't have St. Patricks day here ;)

[Lady Florida.]

New to the thread. Alas, my book is orange - My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've read this year: Great Expectations, Pilgrim's Regress (C.S. Lewis), The Way of the Pilgrim, O Pioneers (Cather). I read Middlemarch and gave up in the middle of the book (350+ pp) just before mid-March. I wasn't enjoying it and didn't want to waste three more weeks on it. I only read for pleasure when I go to bed, so usually 30-60 min a night, which means I average a book every 2-3 weeks.

 

Welcome to the BaW threads! We love having new people join us and hope you'll stick around.

 

I love Willa Cather's novels. I also loved Middlemarch (and might even re-read it this year) but am a big believer that it's perfectly acceptable to abandon a book you aren't enjoying. I have no qualms about not finishing a book. I even recently added a quote about it to my signature. :)

Edited March 17, 2016 by Lady Florida

[Robin M]

Happy St. Patty's day to you all!  ~slainte~ 


 

Rose -  I finished Ransom by David Malouf.  Wow.


Okay, now I have to move it the stack for reading sooner.
 

Mumto2 -I started Anne Bishop's Marked in Flesh this afternoon. I was surprised how seemless starting this book was. I haven't read an "others" book for a year and was able to connect with all the characters instantly. My memory just isn't that good......[/size]


I just finished and yes, it was easier to slide into after finishing the other three quite a while ago.  Totally enjoyed it and liked how it ended. 
 
 

Jane - This past week was really fun.  My best friend and her husband have been doing an annual rental in February or March at Saint Simons Island along the Georgia coast.  They always invite me to join them for a few days.  On this go around, I put my bike on the car and loaded Pratchett's Discworld novel Making Money in the CD player to help entertain me through the drive.  Among the things we did was spend a day on Jekyll Island where we rode bikes, toured the art association's annual art fair, and visited the sea turtle rehab hospital there.  I also came home with a bag of yarn from SSI's amazing yarn store--and books for the grand nephews from the independent book store.  Lovely time.[/size]

So gorgeous there.  Stayed on St. Simon's eon's ago and had a fabulous time motoring around the island on mopeds.  
 
 
Stacia - thanks for linking about amazing little girl.  
 
 

Kareni -  I just finished Ilona Andrews' Bayou Moon (The Edge, Book 2);  it was a good read in spite of some icky aspects.  And, hey, the cover (which you can see here) has some green on it.

I didn't particularly like the first book in the Edge series so haven't read the 2nd.  Icky, huh?  hmm! 
 
 

Do you ever feel as though you're monopolizing the conversation??

Nope, you're not. More like contributing to the conversation and sometimes, the delinquency of our pocketbooks.  Plus you're saving me from feeling guilty that I've had less time to post more linkage love. Thank you, doll!
 
 
 

Stacia:  We're in the middle of Irish dance craziness, so I haven't had time to read. Super-fun but also super-long day on Saturday with the downtown parade & multiple dance appearances. Plus, throw in the time change & another dance appearance on Sunday & I mostly need a nap!!

So much fun and thanks for sharing a clip. 
 
 

Lady Florida - I also started my next audio book - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

We just finished that one and moving on to the next one.
 
 

Ethel Mertz:  DS is doing an e-fast (from all things electronic) this week as a requirement for his Confirmation Class. Alas, we grownups said we'd do it along with him in solidarity. I must confess that I am sneaking onto this thread while he is out of the house. At any rate, it looks like I will have lots of time for reading this week.

Sneaky, sneaky! 
 
 
Butter:  My 16 year old daughter went on her first date today.  I'm pretty sure this means I am old.  [/size]Also, she designed the coolest date ever.  The boy she asked is just a friend, also homeschooled.  But this week happens to be spring break so a friend of my daughter and her boyfriend joined them.  With her friend, Ani made a scavenger hunt with things to take pictures of worth a certain amount of points.  Everything from a picture of a flower to a bird (bonus point if it was a road runner) to a picture of one of the team members with the tiniest dog they could find (they went to a park that has a dog play area) to getting a picture of them with three strangers jumping in the air.  The winning team got to pick the first game they'd play after finishing the scavenger hunt (Ani and her female friend both brought a few games to play).  Then they went to a nearby ice cream place.  Way more fun than any date my friends and I came up with!

She's a smart cookie.  Planned something fun and what an interesting way to find out if the boy has a sense of humor or is an adventuresome spirit. 
 
 
 
 

Jenn:  For anyone interested, here is a link to a small photo album from our trip.
 
AND, I've been meaning to ask, who would like some post cards of the Harrison Longitude clocks from the Royal Observatory or of TinTin (which I bought at a cool graphic novel/comic book shop in Paris)?

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.  Waving my hand. I'd love to have a post card or two!
 
 

Idnib:  Lee Child books are my guilty pleasure. It's DH's fault for introducing me to him. He and I once had a discussion about why Reacher is more appealing to women than most of these types of characters, and his assertion was that it's because Reacher brings nothing but a toothbrush, eats whatever, and produces no laundry.

I hadn't thought about that! hmm! Probably! 
 
 

6pack:  Just FYI, you can read the books in any order but certain ones have story arcs.  [/size]61 Hours, Worth Dying For, A Wanted Man, and Never Go Back have a continuing story line between them.[/size]

Thank you!  I discovered that which is why I'm rereading A Wanted Man before Never Go Back.   
 
 
 

Melissa- On a happier note, [/size]my husband and I seek admission to the club for readers who loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. What a charming book.[/size]

Come on in! 
 
 
 
Welcome Literary Mom!!!!
 
 
 
I finished Anne Bishop's Marked in Flesh. I don't know what it is about her books.  I speed through as soon as I get them, then immediately turn around and do a more slow, more leisurely read in order to absorb the story.  Totally enjoyed it, holding my breath at points, smiling at others and ending with a pleased aw at the end.  The title is in green so guess that's my green book for the day.

[Nan in Mass]

Happy St Paddy's day All!

Any good snake stories in his honour?

[Stacia]

Cute t-shirt:

Well-Read Panda

[Loesje22000]

Found it!

STOW 3 has a green cover :)

But I don't plan to read it now.

Still working on War and Peace.

 

The BBC serie has been finished.

 

I'm not sure I'll be able to read whole War and Peace.

As we have a 2 book edition, I hope to finish the first book.

I liked the serie very much, but consider the book a little bit slow (aka boring)

 

I discovered that Vivieca Sten is the author behind 'the Sandhamn Murders' as has been on TV.

And that the Library has them (in translation)

[Nan in Mass]

I am listening to Unseen Academicals. That has a green cover. And reading Shared Security. That has a greenish band on the cover.

 

Nan

Edited March 18, 2016 by Nan in Mass

[Runningmom80]

I'm reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown this week.  It's pretty good.  I've had about 2 years of stressful junk and I'm finally (with the help of an excellent therapist) digging out of my hole.  This book found me at the right time. :)

 

I finished Better Than Before last week.  It was boring. I'm not a fan of Gretchen Rubin's writing, yet I keep reading her books. :lol:

[Runningmom80]

 

I just finished up Go Set a Watchman (Harper Lee's finally released sequel), Death's Acre (forensic anthropology), and Halting State (Charles Stross near-future science fiction). I enjoyed all of them. They all were uneven but had ideas or story-telling which made them fun. 

 

 

 

I could not get into Go Set a Watchman.  I plan on giving it another try in a year or two.  Does it get better after the first few chapters?

[Butter]

Happy St Paddy's day All!

Any good snake stories in his honour?

 

I recently read that there haven't been snakes in Ireland since the Ice Age.  My whole life is a lie.

 

My MIL is glad there are no snakes in Ireland no matter what the reason (she lives in County Kerry).

 

Speaking of Ireland, three years ago today we left for a month visit to Ireland.  We loved it there.  We spent a lot of time with my MIL, but we also went to Cork and Dublin and Clare for a few days each.  Our plane left NYC around 6pm and being the day after St. Patrick's Day it was filled with Irish revelers including the mayor of a town in County Limerick.  Apparently St. Patrick's Day is more of a religious holiday in Ireland (though it is becoming more like America's St. Patrick's Day over time, particularly in the cities) and Irish people often come over to the States to celebrate.

[Mom-ninja.]

I am afraid to admit it but here it goes..... my children have never liked Richard Scarry books. :leaving: 

 

They are all strong Mo Willems fans. We love the pigeon in this house. My favorite book of his is Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. That book is very funny for grownups.  

[Runningmom80]

I am afraid to admit it but here it goes..... my children have never liked Richard Scarry books. :leaving:

 

They are all strong Mo Willems fans. We love the pigeon in this house. My favorite book of his is Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. That book is very funny for grownups.  

We love Mo Willems! They also love Richard Scarry books, which I also loved as child, not realizing how dull they are to read as an adult.

[Lady Florida.]

I am afraid to admit it but here it goes..... my children have never liked Richard Scarry books. :leaving:

 

 

 

Ds never liked them either (but I did like the quote Stacia referenced). He also never liked Dr. Seuss. Dh and I did nothing to try and get him to like either one, because we don't care for them ourselves.

[Jane in NC]

About Dr. Seuss:  When my son was in the neonatal intensive care unit, someone there recommended reading Dr. Seuss or anything with repetitive rhymes to my son.  Premies, I was told, need their energy to grow not fuss and--for some--repetitive rhyme is soothing. 

 

Of course, in our house there was a twist.  When my son was a few months old, I was hired by a text book company to look for errors in the proof of a math text. I was paid per error no matter the type--spelling, punctuation or math.  Naturally I read part of the draft aloud to my son.  Logarithms put him to sleep without fail.  I remembered that when we were homeschooling Algebra II.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I read most of The Dead Mountaineer's Inn on the beach yesterday, and stayed up too late to finish it.  It was a hoot, I really enjoyed it.  My kind of mystery, definitely a funny twist on Agatha Christie type ensemble murder mystereies, with a resolution that veers more toward the sci fi than the metaphysical.  Thanks for sending it my way, Stacia! I'm going to let Shannon read it before offering it up for grabs here.

[mumto2]

I am afraid to admit it but here it goes..... my children have never liked Richard Scarry books. :leaving: 

 

They are all strong Mo Willems fans. We love the pigeon in this house. My favorite book of his is Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. That book is very funny for grownups.

 

 

 

We were never big Richard Scarry fans either. There was a cartoon, Busytown? maybe, that they did watch occasionally.

 

Now Dr. Suess we liked in board book form. I read Mr. Brown can Mooo several hundred times!

 

 

 

About Dr. Seuss:  When my son was in the neonatal intensive care unit, someone there recommended reading Dr. Seuss or anything with repetitive rhymes to my son.  Premies, I was told, need their energy to grow not fuss and--for some--repetitive rhyme is soothing. 

 

Of course, in our house there was a twist.  When my son was a few months old, I was hired by a text book company to look for errors in the proof of a math text. I was paid per error no matter the type--spelling, punctuation or math.  Naturally I read part of the draft aloud to my son.  Logarithms put him to sleep without fail.  I remembered that when we were homeschooling Algebra II.

:lol: When we moved to England we had a year of home schooling from the library predominantly. We found some great books including this series for math. http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/ Browsing takes me forever right now so you guys can look, but there is a geometry one that I hated put me to sleep, so figuring it out for my 7 yo was really hard. Naturally he was obsessed with that book.

 

Algebra 2 put my son to sleep too.