Jane in NC Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28372019-the-bookshop-on-the-corner The Bookshop on the Corner was a surprise. I thought it was going to be more of a novel but halfway through it became chick lit. The beginning was good. A British librarian finds herself unemployed due to our nationwide trend of turning libraries into volunteer organizations and comes up with a creative idea on how to share her love of books with communities that are no longer served by libraries. I loved that part of the book.... The rest was uneven due to the need for love interests to enter in. In the end I gave it a 3 but I was really loving parts of it. Well that is a theme we have heard from you before! And it serves as a reminder that it is always a good time to donate to libraries. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 Book 52 for me, Dark Emu, which was bloody brilliant. Congrats on 52, Rosie! What an odd book! Butterflies in November by Icelandic novelist Audur Ava Olafsdottir defies classification other than to use words like "zany" or "whimsical". It is certainly that. Our first person narrator needs to escape life as she knows it. At the last moment she is made temporary caretaker of her best friend's son, a four year old deaf prodigy. This pair hit the road in Iceland for a series of bizarre adventures and observations in the often bleak but gorgeous landscape outside Reykjavik. What happens might be called magical realism--or is it just a train wreck of strange coincidences among eccentrics? Initially I thought this might be a Stacia or a Nan book but now I am not sure. It is just such a weird novel... Things sort of seem to be winding their way to a conclusion around page 250 but there were still a number of pages left. That was when I realized that the book ends with more than 30 pages of "recipes" related to the incidents within the book. Let me offer a couple: Or how about "Undrinkable coffee"? Why am I not surprised that Butterflies in November was a hit in France? Butterflies in November was definitely a weird read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 Just in case you all haven't seen this list: 10 Books By Indigenous Authors You Should Read. (Primarily based in North America.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 For Moby Dick fans ~ The Whale - Vintage to welcome Hera and Demeter ~ If pigs could fly And I like this ~ Reading is like Dreaming with Your Eyes Open Regards, Kareni 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 I enjoyed browsing through The Love and Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking by Jeanine Donofrio. It has a beautiful layout; however, there is only one recipe that I'm tempted to make. I believe it was Jane who mentioned Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate our Shared Humanity by Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Our Thanksgiving guests enjoyed looking through it and intend to obtain a copy. ** I read and enjoyed Lisa Henry's Adulting 101 which is a male/male romance. (Adult content) Publishers Weekly - "Henry . . . brings pure fun and a feel for pop culture-fueled young adult insecurities to a coming-of-age comedy of errors full of Netflix, pizza, family warmth, and awkward sex." ** I also continued my re-reading of Laura Florand's oeuvre. I enjoyed revisiting these contemporary romances. (Adult content) Snow-Kissed (this novella will likely make you cry; it's available as a standalone or as part of this anthology: You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology) Sun-Kissed: A Novel (Amour et Chocolat Book 7) (this romance features a hero and heroine in their fifties; the heroine is the mother of the hero in Snow-Kissed) Regards, Kareni 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 Happy birthday, Robin! Looks like a wonderful day. I'm back to reading Alexander Hamilton (it's the same bio Lin-Manuel Miranda read that inspired him to write the musical) and trying to decide on my next mystery/thriller/suspense novel. Not sure where I want to go with that. I really want to read this too. If you're familiar with the show's lyrics, in there he mentions a meeting of King George and John Adams and the footnote in the book mentions Miranda got this from the HBO series based on McCollough's John Adams. That added yet another book to my list. I love The Martian. As it always does, xkcd explains it so well: https://xkcd.com/1536/ That xkcd us perfect. That scene from Apollo 13 is one of my favorites, as are many movie scenes in which they have to make something work and someone puts on the ubiquitous pot of coffee. Remarkable Creatures has been on my "to be read" list since Lyme Regis is one of my favorite places. Not sure why I have not gotten around to it. Lyme Regis is also one of my favorite places too, all thanks to you. Shall we read Remarkable Creatures together in the new year? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 I'm in the book blahs & in-between books. I stopped reading the Valeria Luiselli book. I liked it but I'm not in the right frame of mind for reading it right now. I'll come back to it at another time. Wish I could find something I want to read right now... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 I believe it was Jane who mentioned Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate our Shared Humanity by Barbara Abdeni Massaad. Our Thanksgiving guests enjoyed looking through it and intend to obtain a copy. Yes I did mention Soup for Syria. Gorgeous book, isn't it? I really want to read this too. If you're familiar with the show's lyrics, in there he mentions a meeting of King George and John Adams and the footnote in the book mentions Miranda got this from the HBO series based on McCollough's John Adams. That added yet another book to my list. Lyme Regis is also one of my favorite places too, all thanks to you. Shall we read Remarkable Creatures together in the new year? John Adams is an engaging book as are all of the McCullough books that I have read. And yes to a readalong of Remarkable Creatures! Grand idea. I'm in the book blahs & in-between books. I stopped reading the Valeria Luiselli book. I liked it but I'm not in the right frame of mind for reading it right now. I'll come back to it at another time. Wish I could find something I want to read right now... Extra hugs to Stacia. Are you an audio book person? I am envisioning that this might be a good time for you to put your feet up, close your eyes and listen to a pleasant voice sweeping you away. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Mom Ninja.....wondering how you are feeling? I am doing much better which is great but it means I have quit taking Benadryl which is always a problem for me. I sleep wonderfully when taking it and spend a few nights with very little sleep after. Needless to say I have finished some fluffy books. ;) I am also much better. I was able to go to and enjoy the wedding. However, no reading has happened. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 :cheers2: , Rosie, on 52! Mom-ninja, I know you have a Calvin & Hobbes fan. Saw this Calvinball tee & thought you might want to know about it. (Use code HOHOHO at checkout for 20% off through the 28th.) 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) When all else fails, I reach for Kurt Vonnegut. I pulled Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage (which I've never read) off my shelf. It's a miscellaneous collection of stories, letters, speeches, family history, etc... from Vonnegut. The first section talks about his book Slaughterhouse-Five being burned by a school janitor in Drake, North Dakota, on instructions from the school committee there. Vonnegut wrote a letter to the chairman of the school board in Drake. An excerpt... ... I gather from what I read in the papers and hear on television that you imagine me, and some other writers, too, as being sort of ratlike people who enjoy making money from poisoning the minds of young people. I am in fact a large, strong person, fifty-one years old, who did a lot of farm work as a boy, who is good with tools. I have raised six children, three my own and three adopted. They have all turned out well. Two of them are farmers. I am a combat infantry veteran from World War II, and hold a Purple Heart. I have earned whatever I own by hard work. I have never been arrested or sued for anything. I am so much trusted with young people and by young people that I have served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, Harvard, and the City College of New York. Every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be commencement speaker at colleges and high schools. My books are probably more widely used in schools than those of any other living American fiction writer. If you were to bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy, and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are. It is true that some of the characters speak coarsely. That is because people speak coarsely in real life. Especially soldiers and hardworking men speak coarsely, and even our most sheltered children know that. And we all know, too, that those words don't damage children much. They didn't damage us when we were young. It was evil deeds and lying that hurt us.<snip>... I read in the newspaper that your community is mystified by the outcry from all over the country about what you have done. Well, you have discovered that Drake is a part of American civilization, and your fellow Americans can't stand it that you have behaved in such an uncivilized way. Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.... The man is balm for my soul. Edited November 27, 2016 by Stacia 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen. Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 I read "Blackberry Pie Murder" by Joanne Fluke and my 10yo read "Pilgrim Cat" by Carol Peacock. ☺ 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Ibnid, that is my favourite scene in Apollo 13. Hmmm... I bet it has been long enough that I can reread The Martian. I,ll have to see if our library has it, though, because my son ripped our copy in half so his friend could read it too while they were backpacking, and neither half returned home because nobody wanted to carry already read weight. Stacia, I just discovered that Bone (Jeff Smith) was banned! I was looking for something with an example of his awesome monster eyes that I could use in a post about painting eyes on my website when I came across an interview with Jeff Smith talking about being banned! This is not something I would give very young children, but my older children loved them! Youngest was even willing to read them in French. Banning is very strange... Nan 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 Link to week 48 - please continue conversation in new thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.