Book a Week 2016 - BW51: Happy Winter Reading Wonderland

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 51 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 - Happy Reading Winter Wonderland:  

 

Winter is the king of showmen,

Turning tree stumps into snowmen

And houses into birthday cakes

And spreading sugar over lakes.

Smooth and clean and frosty white,

The world looks good enough to bite.

That’s the season to be young,

Catching snowflakes on your tongue.

Snow is snowy when it’s snowing,

I’m sorry it’s slushy when it’s going.

 

~ Ogden Nash 

 

 

 

It is a Winnie the Pooh day today -  quite rainy and blustery,  which is appropriate as Winter approaches us in the Northern Hemisphere while it is officially summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Whether you are ensconced all comfy and cozy next to the fireplace or sprawled out on a sunny beach, both are perfect places to read or dream.   Can I have a rousing refrain of this year went by way too fast.  I'll be taking the last two weeks off from lessons to prepare for and celebrate  Christmas as well as work on plans for another round of 52 books.  Of course,  we are going to do it all over again.  I'll post the 2017 52 Books in 52 Weeks announcement sometime this week as well as the I'm Participating link for you to sign up.

 

It is also time for our Winter / Summer Solstice mini reading challenge. What words come to mind during this season?  Solstice is the two times a year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.  So if you want to broaden your scope, try looking up synonyms for not only solstice but also celestial, equator, or sun to name a few.  Be creative and use one of the words in the Nash poem above.  Look for a book in your stacks with the word you choose in the title.  

 

Have fun following rabbit trails to the book of your choice. 

 

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

 

 

History of the Renaissance World - Chapter 91 and 92

 

 

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

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week 50

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

Good morning!  I haven't had much time to read this past week but dove into Robert Jordan's 6th book in the Wheel of Time - Lord of Chaos.

 

Yesterday  celebrated my FIL birthday and early Christmas with my hubby's family.  Good thing we decided to stay overnight as the traffic was horrible and it took us three hours versus the normal one and a half to get here.  Staying  at a lovely garden hotel with creeks and ducks.  We are off to breakfast, then a walk with FIL before heading home.  Will check in later tonight.  

 

 

 

LostSurprise -  Congratulations on completing Bingo. PM your snail mail and email address to me.

 

 

 

[Stacia]

Tam,

 

 

congrats on finishing the Bingo card!

[Stacia]

I posted last night but I'll put an extra comment here -- I finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the *wow* type book that I was hoping for. Interesting, a bit slow-moving in parts, but recommended for those that love time travel books. A caveat -- I do not deeply ponder the science behind the time travel & whether it "works" or not, so if you're the type who analyzes that stuff in detail (& for whom it ruins the story if the science doesn't "work"), keep that in mind; I have no idea how the time travel paradox would stand up to scientific scrutiny.

 

I am now reading Complication by Isaac Adamson, a book which was a nominee for the 2013 Edgar Awards for Best Paperback Original. Riveting so far. I'm thinking Jane, Jenn, & mumto2 might get pulled in by this one too.

 

 

A serial killer with a penchant for severed hands. A watch that runs backward and forward – at the same time. An Eastern European gangster known only as Rumplestiltskin. The Nazi invasion of Prague, Soviet-era Czech secret police, 16th century alchemy and black magic – mild-mannered American Lee Holloway never thought any of these would intrude upon his ordinary life.

But that was before he received a mysterious letter from a woman named Vera, a cryptic missive implying Lee’s estranged brother Paul, who disappeared years ago in Prague, was actually murdered in an attempt to steal The Rudolf Complication, a priceless watch commissioned by the eccentric Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, rumored to hold the power of eternal life. When Lee goes to Prague to investigate, his involvement with the enigmatic Vera, as well as the guidance offered from a mysterious travel book, triggers a series of violent and bizarre events that force Lee to confront disturbing truths about his brother as well as himself. Unless Lee can reconstruct the final hours of his brother's life, and separate truth from myth in this haunted city, he might not get out of Prague alive.

Complication is a twisted, mind-bending, contemporary thrill ride– in the spirit of such mind-bending narratives as House of Leaves and Memento.–set in the dark heart of Europe, a place where old ghosts and ancient legends still walk the streets.

 

[Stacia]

Oh, Jane, I saw on amazon that Stav Sherez will have a third book of the Carrigan & Miller series coming out in January. For now it looks like it may be available only on kindle (wah!) but I may break down & get it anyway.

 

I so rarely read series books, but I read the first two this year & thought they were really well-done thrillers/mysteries.

 

   

 

The books, if anyone is interested:

A Dark Redemption

Eleven Days

The Intrusions (the one coming out next month)

Edited December 18, 2016 by Stacia

[Ethel Mertz]

I read 3 light books this week, two by Lucy Gage (Ward Sisters series). Nothing too remarkable about any of them. I don't think I'll have much time for reading this week... I haven't wrapped anything yet, the tree still isn't up, and everyone has colds and vocal performances coming up.

[mumto2]

I posted last night but I'll put an extra comment here -- I finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the *wow* type book that I was hoping for. Interesting, a bit slow-moving in parts, but recommended for those that love time travel books. A caveat -- I do not deeply ponder the science behind the time travel & whether it "works" or not, so if you're the type who analyzes that stuff in detail (& for whom it ruins the story if the science doesn't "work"), keep that in mind; I have no idea how the time travel paradox would stand up to scientific scrutiny.

 

I am now reading Complication by Isaac Adamson, a book which was a nominee for the 2013 Edgar Awards for Best Paperback Original. Riveting so far. I'm thinking Jane, Jenn, & mumto2 might get pulled in by this one too.

 

Glad to hear you think I would like it! :) I put it on hold when you mentioned checking it out and it's already in my stack. :lol:

 

I'm currently reading Exposure by Helen Dunmore https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25613408-exposure. So far it's good. It came off of one of our lists. Cold War espionage storyline which I used to love. This one is done well. A British intelligence officer in 1960 takes a file that is top secret home with him and takes it to a hidden room in his house. Before returning it he has an accident and lands in hospital. After surgery he makes a frantic phone call to a colleague and begs him to grt the file and return it to the office........big problem, colleague has a German born wife. At this point I think other's may like Exposure. Maybe even Jane..... :lol:

 

Still listening to the City of Mirrors. Love it but it's long. I just had to put the book on hold because I will never finish it before overdrive takes it away. I stream my audiobooks so it will go but the book should be here in the next couple of days so all is well.

[Jane in NC]

I did it!! I finished HoRW and am ready for next year's science read!

More thoughts on Jasper Fforde: I realize that the Thursday Next books are not YA, but the level of silliness and snark certainly gives the feel of of a YA novel. Or maybe I am just searching for reasons that I am not connecting with this book. Hmmm...Philip Pullman's alternative world for young adults drew me in though. So is there just too much snark for the sake of snark here? 

 

Both Fforde and Margaret Powell (Below Stairs memoir) pepper their writing with an expression that I find to be archaic:  "mind you". Does anyone really use this in real life?  Mumto2?  I have never found it in common usage amongst any of my British friends. Mind you, it started to drive me nuts.  But then I am sufficiently petty minded so that I can be distracted by things of this nature.

 

By the way, does anyone want Below Stairs?

 

Complication looks interesting, Stacia.  Let me know about the level of violence though.

 

My library system does not have the second Sherez book so I may need to invest in that one.

 

With last week's disruptions, I did not make it out of the introduction to Vulture in a Cage.  I made some progress with the Dorothy Dunnett novel To Lie with Lions.  And that reminds me to nudge Rose to pick up Niccolo Rising sometime.  The last section of HoRW will have prepared you well for the 15th century politics and personalities that Dunnett brings to life. Mind you!

 

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

Oh, Jane, I saw on amazon that Stav Sherez will have a third book of the Carrigan & Miller series coming out in January. For now it looks like it may be available only on kindle (wah!) but I may break down & get it anyway.

 

 

 

The books, if anyone is interested:

A Dark Redemption

Eleven Days

The Intrusions (the one coming out next month)

 

These look like something I'd like and for me I'd want the Kindle edition. The link you gave for The Intrusions leads to a Kindle edition, but if you click on other editions it brings up paperback (but no hardcover). The Kindle and generic ebook editions will be published sooner, but it does appear there will be a print edition too - in February. You can either come to the dark side or just wait an extra month. ;)

 

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/52120044-the-intrusions-carrigan-miller

[Stacia]

These look like something I'd like and for me I'd want the Kindle edition. The link you gave for The Intrusions leads to a Kindle edition, but if you click on other editions it brings up paperback (but no hardcover). The Kindle and generic ebook editions will be published sooner, but it does appear there will be a print edition too - in February. You can either come to the dark side or just wait an extra month. ;)

 

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/52120044-the-intrusions-carrigan-miller

 

:lol:

 

Thank you!

 

I guess I should have looked more closely. I can easily wait for a Feb release of paperback because I always have so many books on request from the library that I'll have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime.

 

Yes, I think you would enjoy the Stav Sherez novels. I'm also thinking you might like Complication (the one I'm reading now) too....

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thanks, Jane! I'll give that a nudge on my TR list.

 

I haven't posted my year in books yet, because I've read 237 and I'm kind of informally pushing myself to get to 240. Why? No reason, really, it's just a nice round number, divides well by the number of months in the year, the OCD is out of control, or whatever  :001_rolleyes:  ;)

 

I'm still working on the following:

Cleopatra and Anthony - really good historical coverage of the events behind Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra

Stories of Your Life - still working on this sporadically. I've really enjoyed several of the stories

A Short History of Africa - a serviceable brief chronological history

Lab Girl audio, read by the author. Quirky and interesting

 

Newly begun, and enjoying:

Stamped from the Beginning An absolutely excellent historical analysis of the ideas about race, racism, segregation, assimilation, anti-racism, and how they developed. It's filling in a lot of holes in my historical understanding of this country's origins as well as uncovering some "Enlightenment" ideas you don't hear about too often any more.

Ivanhoe - I've never read this, but it's on Shannon's to read list coming up, so I guess I'd better!

The Circle - re-reading it in preparation for the upcoming movie. I found this book to be an incredibly creepy cult/dystopian novel and I'm just as chilled by it this time as I was when it first came out. I'm surprised out how un-liked this book is, I've found it to be disturbing and prescient. Ok, not the greatest characters or plot, and it's definitely a book standing on a big soap-box, but I think it's a great satirical utopia and i appreciate the warnings about unintended consequences of technology.

Genghis Khan and the Quest for God - by the author of The Secret History of the Mongol Queens and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, both of which I read and enjoyed and which have been discussed here. Looks great so far. Stacia, I bet you would like this, you're the one that turned me on to this author.

 

 

Hopefully I can finish at least 3 out of that stack over the next two weeks!

 

ETA: I just realized that I have exactly 240 books on my main To-Read lists for next year. So if I don't add a single book, I should get through them all in the next 12 months. How unlikely is that, though???  ;)  :D

Edited December 18, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Negin]

I read How to be a Victorian A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life – 3 Stars - This book was interesting, but certainly not riveting as I had hoped it would be. After a certain point, the amount of detail made it rather tedious. I ended up skimming those parts a bit. The author tried out many of the practices that she talks about – corsets, methods of transport, cooking, and so on. The worst part for me, and what I personally think was far too excessive, was the fact that she did not wash with water for four months! Sorry, but that’s plain out disgusting in my eyes. Four months?! Come on!  Other than that, the book is thoroughly researched and would be of great interest to those who are love Victorian history. 

 

 

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.

[Ali in OR]

I finished The Mysteries of Udolpho last knight for my 18th century read and I enjoyed it, though it is too long (I was on my kindle but a paperback on Amazon says 763 pages) and some of it reads as kind of silly today. So much fainting! I think it was published in 1796--is that the romantic era? So much praise of nature--just feels romantic.

 

I have We Have Always Lived in the Castle now, and I should finish up a King Arthur book and Grapes of Wrath to finish Bingo. I'll start working on the year end wrap-up and analysis for next week--looks like I'm at 72 books right now. It's fun to analyze them and see how many in different categories, etc. And should have time to read this week.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Ali in OR

[Stacia]

Genghis Khan and the Quest for God - by the author of The Secret History of the Mongol Queens and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, both of which I read and enjoyed and which have been discussed here. Looks great so far. Stacia, I bet you would like this, you're the one that turned me on to this author.

 

 

Hopefully I can finish at least 3 out of that stack over the next two weeks!

 

ETA: I just realized that I have exactly 240 books on my main To-Read lists for next year. So if I don't add a single book, I should get through them all in the next 12 months. How unlikely is that, though???  ;)  :D

 

Ohhh, I didn't realize Jack Weatherford had another book about Genghis Khan. I'll have to find that one to read in the upcoming year! Love his writing (vs. other non-fiction writers like Erik Larson). Thanks for letting me know!

 

:lol:  about your 240 obsession! (I could never imagine reading that many books in a year unless I chose to read mainly picture books!)

[mumto2]

I did it!! I finished HoRW and am ready for next year's science read!

More thoughts on Jasper Fforde: I realize that the Thursday Next books are not YA, but the level of silliness and snark certainly gives the feel of of a YA novel. Or maybe I am just searching for reasons that I am not connecting with this book. Hmmm...Philip Pullman's alternative world for young adults drew me in though. So is there just too much snark for the sake of snark here? 

 

Both Fforde and Margaret Powell (Below Stairs memoir) pepper their writing with an expression that I find to be archaic:  "mind you". Does anyone really use this in real life?  Mumto2?  I have never found it in common usage amongst any of my British friends. Mind you, it started to drive me nuts.  But then I am sufficiently petty minded so that I can be distracted by things of this nature.

 

By the way, does anyone want Below Stairs?

 

Complication looks interesting, Stacia.  Let me know about the level of violence though.

 

My library system does not have the second Sherez book so I may need to invest in that one.

 

With last week's disruptions, I did not make it out of the introduction to Vulture in a Cage.  I made some progress with the Dorothy Dunnett novel To Lie with Lions.  And that reminds me to nudge Rose to pick up Niccolo Rising sometime.  The last section of HoRW will have prepared you well for the 15th century politics and personalities that Dunnett brings to life. Mind you!

No to the "mind you." Hiya (which I hate) is common, even my husband says it. Grrr, but no to mind you.

 

I had wondered about you and Jasper Fforde especially as an audio. I think I only read two but dd loved them all when she was about 14. Loads of swear words but adult situation wise the ones I read were pretty clean. She loves Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens (second book). I think that might be why I enjoyed the first book but not the second. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens so it simply wasn't as charming. ;) Regarding the YA, dd gave The Eyre Affair as presents to her friends that year after I cleared it with the mums. They all loved it....so it definitely is a YA hit.

[Mothersweets]

Hello everyone!  Last week I read  A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #2) by Louise Penny. This one was set during Christmastime so it fit perfectly. :) I figured out who the killer was about halfway through (which makes me feel so very clever - ha!)but not how it was done so it was still very compelling. I'm loving this series and want to start listening to the audiobook versions so I can hear the correct pronunciation of the French names/phrases.

 

I've been enjoying everyone's Year in Books page - here is mine  Laura's Year in Books

 

I read 53 books this year and hopefully will add one or two more before Jan 1st.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

Both Fforde and Margaret Powell (Below Stairs memoir) pepper their writing with an expression that I find to be archaic:  "mind you". Does anyone really use this in real life?  Mumto2?  I have never found it in common usage amongst any of my British friends. Mind you, it started to drive me nuts.  But then I am sufficiently petty minded so that I can be distracted by things of this nature.

 

 

"Mind you" is a phrase I hear on a relatively regular basis. I can see it being distracting if it's overused in writing, though. I think I hear it in conversation more frequently than I see it in writing.

 

Mind you, I don't keep track, so I can't be sure.  ;)

[Onceuponatime]

I'm currently reading The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. I picked the book by its cover. So far it is enjoyable.

After that I will be reading Prague Winter, Madelyn Albright's autobiography, our next book club pick. It just happens to fit this week's challenge.

[Just Robyn]

Thank you to my secret Santa! I received my book today. Many packages have been coming in full of things I've ordered for other people, so it was fun to open something up for myself, and obviously I'm excited to read it. (I got I Wanted To Write a Poem by William Carlos Williams.) 

 

Also, thank you to Robin for organizing the gift exchange. I enjoyed putting together a gift for someone. My kids are no fun anymore; they just want money (so they can buy things outside my price range). ETA: I do force a little fun on them in the form of holiday socks and board games.

 

Jane, I hope your eyes are healing well.

 

I have had very little time to read, and I anticipate another busy, busy week. I was thinking I might get some free time with Christmas break, but I'm starting to think that was just me letting myself fantasize too deeply. I did finish listening to Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. It is narrated by John Malkovich, and I enjoyed both the story and the reader. It was a fun meta-fictional piece with Vonnegut in his own story and in which Vonnegut defines things in the barest, most truthful way. 

 

"Dwayne's bad chemicals made him take a loaded thirty-eight caliber revolver from under his pillow and stick it in his mouth. This was a tool whose only purpose was to make holes in human beings."

 

I started reading Angel of Oblivion by Maja Haderlap, which Jane sent me. I haven't gotten far, but I like the atmosphere of it and the differences between the mother and the grandmother. I started listening to Mindfulness in Plain English by Henepola Gunaratana. It is a little too New Agey for me, but I'll probably finish it because it's pretty short and I'm not sure what I'd really like to be listening to right now. By the time I figure out what I want to listen to, I suppose I'll have finished the book.

Edited December 18, 2016 by crstarlette

[Kareni]

Five members of my book group took a field trip yesterday.  We'd have been seven but a couple fell ill in the last few days.  We rode Amtrak for a couple of hours to a nearby city, ate Thai food, and visited a large used and new book store. Then we rode the train home.  It was a fun outing. 

 

During the ride home, we discussed a recent book we'd read.  There were rave reviews for one book which fans of American history might enjoy; it might also interest those with an interest in the history of medicine.  (I told my sister about it, and she just ordered it for her husband.)  It's not a new book having been published in 2011.

 

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President  by Candice Millard

 

"James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.

But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his con­dition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[ErinE]

For the first time since I started posting, I nearly didn’t have a book completed for this week. I’ve been working on two thick short story collections, but I was able to finish one in time.
 

• Family Furnishings by Alice Munro. Literary Fiction-Short Stories. Twenty years of short stories from the Nobel Prize winner. I did not enjoy my Alice Munro bingo read last week (Too Much Happiness), but I liked this one. Perhaps the collection was just more thoughtful. Some of the better stories from Too Much Happiness are in here which helped me make it through the 600+ pages in a week. I particularly enjoyed her personal essays.
• From Yao to Mao: 500 Years of Chinese History from the Great Courses. Nonfiction-History. A great summary of Chinese history that paired well with China by John Keay. My only complaint was the last couple episodes were ruined by the many excuses the professor offered for the deaths associated with land reform, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, a poor end to an otherwise excellent course.

 

I finished Westworld, the Micheal Crichton inspired series produced by Jonathan Nolan (Memento screenwriter and brother to director/producer Christopher Nolan). I really enjoyed the show, especially reflections on the nature of consciousness and the arc of storytelling. Highly recommended, but it has typical levels of HBO violence and s*xuality.

Many thanks to my Secret Santa for The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner. I’ve only read a little bit thus far, but I’m enjoying it.

[Jane in NC]

Five members of my book group took a field trip yesterday. We'd have been seven but a couple fell ill in the last few days. We rode Amtrak for a couple of hours to a nearby city, ate Thai food, and visited a large used and new book store. Then we rode the train home. It was a fun outing.

 

During the ride home, we discussed a recent book we'd read. There were rave reviews for one book which fans of American history might enjoy; it might also interest those with an interest in the history of medicine. (I told my sister about it, and she just ordered it for her husband.) It's not a new book having been published in 2011.

 

 

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

 

"James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.

But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his con­dition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history."

 

Regards,

Kareni

But, more importantly, Garfield offered a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.

 

http://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-james-a-garfields-proof-of-the-pythagorean-theorem

 

ETA: your field trip sounds delightful!

Edited December 18, 2016 by Jane in NC

[Jane in NC]

My Secret Santa gift arrived but I am exercising self control and not opening the box. Shall we make wagers on whether I can hold off until Christmas day?

[ErinE]

My Secret Santa gift arrived but I am exercising self control and not opening the box. Shall we make wagers on whether I can hold off until Christmas day?

My excuse is that I've ordered so much from Amazon that I didn't realize it was my secret Santa gift until I scanned a few pages...

 

When I realized I hadn't ordered it, it was too late. I couldn't wrap a book I'd already started.

[Stacia]

Now I'm starting every sentence in my head with, "Mind you,...".

 

:toetap05:

 

 

 

:leaving:

 

 

 

:lol:

 

 

[Kareni]

Regarding  http://www.maa.org/p...agorean-theorem

 

Jane, my husband just wandered by, and said, "Why are you looking at Geometry?"  I've forwarded him the link, so thank you.

 

 

My Secret Santa gift arrived but I am exercising self control and not opening the box. Shall we make wagers on whether I can hold off until Christmas day?

 

You could always, a la Frances, give the gift a 'tiny squeeze.'

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

In between book group field trips, sleeping, laundry, and writing holiday cards, I managed to re-read Lisa Kleypas' contemporary fiction/romance Sugar Daddy.  I enjoyed it once more (though I'll admit that the cover art on this new edition doesn't speak to me).

 

"SHE'S FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS
Liberty Jones has dreams and determination that will take her far away from Welcome, Texas---if she can keep her wild heart from ruling her mind. Hardy Cates sees Liberty as completely off-limits. His own ambitions are bigger than Welcome, and Liberty Jones is a complication he doesn't need. But something magical and potent draws them to each other, in a dangerous attraction that is stronger than both of them.

 

HE'S THE ONE MAN SHE CAN'T HAVE
When Hardy leaves town to pursue his plans, Liberty finds herself alone with a young sister to raise. Soon Liberty finds herself under the spell of a billionaire tycoon---a Sugar Daddy, one might say. But the relationship goes deeper than people think, and Liberty begins to discover secrets about her own family's past.

 

WILL THEY FIND THEIR HEARTS' DESIRES OR WILL HEARTBREAK TEAR THEM APART?
Two men. One woman. A choice that can make her or break her. A woman you'll root for every step of the way. A love story you'll never forget."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Those who enjoy reading regency romances might enjoy this interview with a regency romance author:

 

Elizabeth Mansfield
A Regency Romance Buried Treasure

 

This link will take you to an Amazon page sorted by price from low to high.  Eight of Mansfield's regencies are currently free.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Angelaboord]

Like many others, my time to read lately has been contracting. Last week I finished a book called Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on its Ear. This was a mother's story of her little girl who was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 19 months and the listening therapy based on something called the Tomatis method that made a tremendous breakthrough for them, leading to Ashley being removed from the spectrum at the age of 4. I discovered this book after reading the chapter on learning disabilities in The Brain's Way of Healing by Norman Doidge - all about therapies based on the concepts of neuroplasticity. Tomatis was a French doctor who studied hearing in opera singers and discovered that their faltering voices were not due to shredded vocal chords but to hearing loss. After working with them he developed a listening therapy that uses specially filtered recordings - of Mozart, specifically - to help retrain the ear to hear high frequencies better. The ear is also apparently quite connected to the health of the sensory system as a whole and because it also controls the sense of balance, Tomatis discovered that correcting the ability to listen (not just to hear, but to make sense of what you're hearing) led to improvements in posture, social skills, language, even the ability of dyslexics to read. Awakening Ashley as a book could have been improved by weeding out some of the many (!) exclamation points, but the information was good. I'm on a bit of a rabbit trail now, to see if this therapy can help some of my kids (who are not autistic but have an assortment of learning disabilities) and Abby (although information is sparse regarding its use with Down Syndrome.)

 

I'm about halfway through The Child With Special Needs, by Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider, which I am reading slowly because of the avalanche of information. I used this book with my oldest many years ago, but I'm finding that I don't remember much beyond the barest essentials.

 

And I read a little bit of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and a little bit of A Fatal Grace, the second Inspector Gamache book. I'm finding it hard to settle into anything, though, and I can't decide if further reading of Oscar Wao would be worth it or not. I like getting the SFF references, but why can no one have a decent relationship in literary books?

 

I am looking forward to the week after Christmas when I can hopefully take a breather and do some fun reading. I'm at 71 books for the year, technically, but if you take away all the middle grade books, the cookbooks, and the instruction manual sort of books without much text, I'm only at 46 books for the year. [emoji53] I'm hoping to squeak in a couple more before Dec 31 and then I'll try and post my Goodreads Year in Books, too. [emoji846]

 

--Angela

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Robin M]

 

Many thanks to my Secret Santa for The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner. I’ve only read a little bit thus far, but I’m enjoying it.

Hey Erin.   Actually The Beak of the Finch is from me for 52 Books Bingo prezzie.  Amazon santa elf  left out the gift info.  Glad to hear you are enjoying it.  I heard from  your secret santa's elf today and you have gift on the way.   :hurray: 

 

:wub:  

[Kareni]

Reposting this from last week's thread ~

 

RE: free Kindle books

 

I recommend typing in open road media and sorting by price: low to high

 

For whatever reason, there are many free books today by that publisher. Perhaps some of them are always free, but I know the three I linked above are not usually free (or even 1.99). They have been on my private wishlist at regular price for one to several months now.

 

 

THE OPEN ROAD MEDIA SALE APPEARS TO BE OVER NOW.

 

I believe this huge gift of free books is through the 20th.

 

I found this intriguing author today ~ George A Effinger.

 

A number of his books are free, and I think they might appeal to some here.  Look at the link for a sorting from low to high cost.

 

For example, Budayeen Nights  by George A Effinger

 

"Long identified as a science fiction writer, except in his own eyes, George Alec Effinger had some of his biggest critical and commercial success with a series even he recognized and characterized as SF. Set in the marvelously realized, imaginary Muslim city of Budayeen, the three novels, When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun and The Exile Kiss garnered rave reviews, award nominations and a wide readership. In addition, Effinger came to be recognized as one of the foundational writers of cyberpunk. Although the novels are perhaps how Budayeen and their hero, Marid Audran, are best known, there are a handful of shorter pieces that add to the vividly drawn and deeply authentic picture of an imagined world and seven short stories, the first part of an uncompleted novel and a story fragment add to the mental images of this exotic and yet somehow completely familiar city and world that Effinger created. This book was originally published by Golden Gryphon Press and comes with a Forword and story notes by Effinger's widow, Barbara Hambly. The lead story in this collection, "Schrodinger's Kitten," won the Hugo, Nebula and Seiun Awards."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[mumto2]

Those who enjoy reading regency romances might enjoy this interview with a regency romance author:

 

Elizabeth Mansfield

A Regency Romance Buried Treasure

 

This link will take you to an Amazon page sorted by price from low to high.  Eight of Mansfield's regencies are currently free.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

These look good, Thank you! :)

[ErinE]

 

 

 

A number of his books are free, and I think they might appeal to some here. Look at the link for a sorting from low to high cost.

 

For example, Budayeen Nights by George A Effinger

 

 

 

"Long identified as a science fiction writer, except in his own eyes, George Alec Effinger had some of his biggest critical and commercial success with a series even he recognized and characterized as SF. Set in the marvelously realized, imaginary Muslim city of Budayeen, the three novels, When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun and The Exile Kiss garnered rave reviews, award nominations and a wide readership. In addition, Effinger came to be recognized as one of the foundational writers of cyberpunk. Although the novels are perhaps how Budayeen and their hero, Marid Audran, are best known, there are a handful of shorter pieces that add to the vividly drawn and deeply authentic picture of an imagined world and seven short stories, the first part of an uncompleted novel and a story fragment add to the mental images of this exotic and yet somehow completely familiar city and world that Effinger created. This book was originally published by Golden Gryphon Press and comes with a Forword and story notes by Effinger's widow, Barbara Hambly. The lead story in this collection, "Schrodinger's Kitten," won the Hugo, Nebula and Seiun Awards."

 

Regards,

Kareni

This looks interesting! Thanks for the link!

[Faithr]

I FINISHED LISTENING TO THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON BY JAMES BOSWELL!  

 

I started back in May.  It is a very, very long written in 18th century style language, with lots of Latin through into the mix, but I am so glad I got through it.  Overall, I enjoyed it.  I didn't listen consistently, so if people were more diligent than I it wouldn't take close to 8 months. 

 

I am reading my way through the Medicus series still.  Now on book 5:  Semper Fidelis.  I am enjoying them immensely. https://ruthdownie.com/

 

In January I am starting a 15 week group read of The City of God by Augustine, lead by a theology professor at Catholic U.  If anyone is interested, I can post a link.  It's on twitter.  That's another book on my tbr Classics list.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Faithr

[ErinE]

Have we linked to the Nature top twenty books of 2016? I found several books that I hadn't seen before. I really enjoyed Lab Girl (a lovely memoir on a working scientist's life) and Hidden Figures.

 

http://blogs.nature.com/aviewfromthebridge/2016/12/16/top-20-reads-2016/

 

I found the article on Hans Rosling and his quest to communicate scientific data interesting. I hope to see his book soon.

 

http://www.nature.com/news/three-minutes-with-hans-rosling-will-change-your-mind-about-the-world-1.21143

[Faithr]

The Most Wanted Man in China sounds fascinating!  I just put that on my tbr list!  Thanks, ErinE!

[Stacia]

Ds has final exams this week. He works quickly so he likes to take a book with him to read as he usually finishes early. He wanted something new that he hadn't already read.

 

I handed him The Plover this morning and told him that I loved it and had recommended it to many of you here in our book group. He said, "Mom, I think most people wouldn't read books you recommend because, well, you're you." He continued to clarify for me by saying, "Here's a list of the 99 weirdest books you've never read and you're like I read that one, and that one, and that one...."

 

Rofl. I was laughing so hard! I guess my ds knows my reading habits well.

 

(And, yes, he carried The Plover into school this morning and I feel pretty sure he's going to like it.)

[Nan in Mass]

I am mostly reading website building howto material online. Since I can't do many of the things I would normally be doing at this time of the year, or any time, for that matter (it takes 3 deep knee bends to get through a door if I want to take my cup of tea with me lol), I am cleaning up my website, something I've been meaning to do for awhile now but put off because I knew it was going to take massive amounts of time. It is taking lots of starting-a-business research as well as website reading. And a million decisions, everything from artistic goals to the size of the social media buttons. Meanwhile, for fun, I am reading the next Bone book.

 

Nan

[mumto2]

 

I am reading my way through the Medicus series still.  Now on book 5:  Semper Fidelis.  I am enjoying them immensely. https://ruthdownie.com/

 

 

 

 

I just put the first book on my hold list. It's a series I have been meaning to read for auite awhile. Thanks for reminding me.

 

 

 

Ds has final exams this week. He works quickly so he likes to take a book with him to read as he usually finishes early. He wanted something new that he hadn't already read.

I handed him The Plover this morning and told him that I loved it and had recommended it to many of you here in our book group. He said, "Mom, I think most people wouldn't read books you recommend because, well, you're you." He continued to clarify for me by saying, "Here's a list of the 99 weirdest books you've never read and you're like I read that one, and that one, and that one...."

Rofl. I was laughing so hard! I guess my ds knows my reading habits well.

(And, yes, he carried The Plover into school this morning and I feel pretty sure he's going to like it.)

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: Tell him some of us do seriously look at the books you recommend.....the ones I can find and decide to read are frequently some of my favourites!

 

My ds told me the other day that I'm wasting my life quilting and reading. He seemed shocked to be reminded that even though I am retired from teaching sort of (he is online now but I still make sure things are getting done!) that I still am keeping the rest of his life filled with food, clean clothing, and transportation. He didn't like the conversation turning to the fact that for 20 years my life has has been all about my family. He thinks I read rubbish, I do much of the time. ;) When I added that I enjoy quilting which is my favourite creative outlet and it was hard to do with their needs the guilt crept in. I guess he thought knitting useful things with him as a recipient made more sense! Not sure which of us came out of that conversation feeling worse.

[fastweedpuller]

Mind you, I think we're all stuck with our anachronisms, maybe because we keep reading odd books...  (I even like saying "hiya!" :001_tt2: )

 

But like ErinE, I didn't quite get to finishing anything this week either. 

 

Speaking of things stuck in time!  Before the library took it back, I was giddily listening to A Canticle for Liebowitz.  Like many epics, heck, like ALL epics, it so badly fails the Bechdel test, but I found this narrative quite funny...even though it wasn't intended to be a yuk-fest, just merely satirical.  (My scifi bkgd is pretty shallow, and I am thinking of re-reading The Sparrow and Mary Doria Russell worships this book, ergo...)  but the story is soooo...pre-Vatican II.  I have a bunch of pre-VII clergy in my family, and, well, their lives were upended when the Church changed, so listening to this book makes me think how it was just such a time capsule.

 

Otherwise I am doing some post-election reading of Dark Money:  the Hidden History of Billionaires and the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer and The RIse and Fall of Nations:  Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World by Ruchir Sharma.  You know, for fun.   :lol: 

 

Has anyone been watching The Hollow Crown on PBS. Great Performances?  It's required some late nights for us but we are enjoying it...thinking particular of you Sunne in Splendour people...

[Chrysalis Academy]

Have we linked to the Nature top twenty books of 2016? I found several books that I hadn't seen before. I really enjoyed Lab Girl (a lovely memoir on a working scientist's life) and Hidden Figures.

 

http://blogs.nature.com/aviewfromthebridge/2016/12/16/top-20-reads-2016/

 

I found the article on Hans Rosling and his quest to communicate scientific data interesting. I hope to see his book soon.

 

http://www.nature.com/news/three-minutes-with-hans-rosling-will-change-your-mind-about-the-world-1.21143

 

Thanks for posting! I put a couple on hold and added a bunch to my TR list. I hadn't seen several of those at all but am looking forward to reading them. I'm listening to Lab Girl right now and I am enjoying it. It's quirky but good.

 

 

Ds has final exams this week. He works quickly so he likes to take a book with him to read as he usually finishes early. He wanted something new that he hadn't already read.

 

I handed him The Plover this morning and told him that I loved it and had recommended it to many of you here in our book group. He said, "Mom, I think most people wouldn't read books you recommend because, well, you're you." He continued to clarify for me by saying, "Here's a list of the 99 weirdest books you've never read and you're like I read that one, and that one, and that one...."

 

Rofl. I was laughing so hard! I guess my ds knows my reading habits well.

 

(And, yes, he carried The Plover into school this morning and I feel pretty sure he's going to like it.)

 

LOL!  Yes, tell ds that a lot of people *do* read books you recommend, because we want to get kicked out of our normal ruts! I hope he enjoys The Plover. I'm going to suggest it to dh when he finishes my last suggestion, Children of Time, which he isn't enjoying much, i don't think. It's such a grave responsibility suggesting books to him, because once he starts a book he doesn't abandon it, so if I suggest a stinker I have to watch him suffer through it for a long time!  I abandon books right and left, probably at least half of the things I bring home from the library, so I have no compunction about trying something someone suggests that may or may not work for me. But him? no way, he's not involved, he's committed.  :001_rolleyes:

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

Has anyone been watching The Hollow Crown on PBS. Great Performances?  It's required some late nights for us but we are enjoying it...thinking particular of you Sunne in Splendour people...

 

We're very eager to get to it, but we're being disciplined and planning to go in order, so we have the first Hollow Crown series to watch first. As soon as we get done with Shakespeare's Roman plays! I can tell we're getting a bit antsy to move on. Glad you are enjoying it! Have you watched Wolf Hall?

[fastweedpuller]

Hah!  of course, Rose, I was just thrilled when I heard they were adapting Wolf Hall.  But we haven't seen the "Henriad" earlier series...we figured we'd gorge on that between Christmas and New Year's week.

 

but then my husband claims I haven't met a costume drama I haven't liked (really that's not true at all...I just like more than he does)

[Just Robyn]

 

I believe this huge gift of free books is through the 20th.

 

For writers:

 

On Writers and Writing by John Gardner

 

Writers in America: The Four Seasons of Success by Budd Schulberg

 

The Company of Writers: Fiction Workshops and Thoughts on the Writing Life by Hilma Wolitzer

 

Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman by Ruth Gruber

[Lady Florida.]

I handed him The Plover this morning and told him that I loved it and had recommended it to many of you here in our book group. He said, "Mom, I think most people wouldn't read books you recommend because, well, you're you." He continued to clarify for me by saying, "Here's a list of the 99 weirdest books you've never read and you're like I read that one, and that one, and that one...."

 

 

 

:lol: LOL He's right about the 99 weirdest books list. If there is such a list you probably read at least 95 of them, and the others are on your TR list. LOL!

 

He's wrong about the recommendations though. And you can tell him that even people who don't normally read the type of books you like, have read your recommended books and actually enjoyed them!

 

 

 

Has anyone been watching The Hollow Crown on PBS. Great Performances?  It's required some late nights for us but we are enjoying it...thinking particular of you Sunne in Splendour people...

 

Oh, I haven't been paying attention and didn't realize this already started. I just added them to my watch list on my Roku. The two already-aired episodes will be available until early January. 

 

We're very eager to get to it, but we're being disciplined and planning to go in order, so we have the first Hollow Crown series to watch first.

 

I did watch the first part but it was so long ago that I'm thinking maybe I should watch it again. 

 

 

ETA: I might end up buying the series from Amazon Video, since we already own the first series (the Shakespeare ones).

Edited December 19, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[Kareni]

Readers of mysteries might like this review of Deborah Crombie's Kincaid and James series:

If You Love In Death’s Eve and Roarke, Deborah Crombie’s Kincaid and James Are for You!  by Janet Webb

 

Regards,

Kareni

[fastweedpuller]

Rose!  Yes indeed Hilary Mantel is busy working on her 3rd book on Cromwell!!  The NYTimes tells me so

 

The Year in Reading (a whole bunch of famous people who happen to read a lot, and what they read this year)

[Kareni]

Any Andre Norton fans here?

 

Squee from the Keeper Shelf: Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton

 

"So when I saw the first one of the Squee from the Keeper Shelf reviews go by I knew I had to ask to write about this book. THIS, piled in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the local bookstore, is the book that totally ruined romance for me for years. Because it is perfect. I will brook no argument. It is perfect and you must all read it.

 

And the reason it is perfect is that though it was written in 1965, it is devoid of fail. It is one of the best, most empowering, feminist romances ever, for reasons I will enumerate.

 

I think I read it the first time when I was maybe eleven. I had discovered Andre Norton’s Lavender-Green Magic at my Middle School Library and quickly ran through all the books they had (there were like 5 and most of her YA books, written before YA was a thing – Dragon Magic, Octagon Magic, Star Man’s Son, etc.) So I had my parents take me to our local mall in the crap hole town in Michigan I’m from, which had an actual bookstore in it. Lo and behold, there were many, many more Andre Norton books. And I found Witch World and read all of the ones in that series, and from there, hey, more books set in Witch World, of which Year of the Unicorn is one...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[ErinE]

For writers:

 

On Writers and Writing by John Gardner

 

Writers in America: The Four Seasons of Success by Budd Schulberg

 

The Company of Writers: Fiction Workshops and Thoughts on the Writing Life by Hilma Wolitzer

 

Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman by Ruth Gruber

 

Thanks for these!

[ErinE]

Hey Erin.   Actually The Beak of the Finch is from me for 52 Books Bingo prezzie.  Amazon santa elf  left out the gift info.  Glad to hear you are enjoying it.  I heard from  your secret santa's elf today and you have gift on the way.   :hurray:

 

:wub:  

 

Sorry, I was confused; it happens often! Thank you! I'm well into the book and enjoying it thus far.