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Book a Week 2017 - BW2: Happy birthday Haruki Murakami!!!


Robin M
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Caught up! This is eating into my exercise time and Fitness Blender is calling my name so this will be quick.

 

I had a problem with Overdrive- it doesn't work with my Kindle.  But I tried it and so it is checked out to me on the kindle but I can't read it.  So now I have put it on wish list on my laptop.  I guess I should try to return it on the kindle, if I can.  Do I really need to buy a new Kindle Fire?  Mine is at least five years old.  But it works for Amazon purchases very well.

 

I bought ds a Fire (brand new) this past July. He has problems with listening to audio books through Overdrive on it. I don't know why. 

 

 

I feel like I need to defend Diana Gabaldon! The Outlander series, while it has romantic elements, is not a bodice ripper. It's more time travel historical fiction. The Song of Fire and Ice series has plenty of s*x (with less romance) and I've never heard anyone say they're embarrassed to read those books. I've read all the Outlander books, and Gabaldon does a great job of mingling history, biology, and medicine, and the conflict between modern (WWII and 1960s) vs. historical cultural norms.

I understand people may not like her books and I have no issue with it, but to group her writing with Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey... Ack! I had to say something. If you've never read her (and you don't mind a love story), give the first book a try.

I did. Hated it. Fiery passion hated it. Couldn't finish it. I disagree with with you in that I don't think the author did a good job with say....medicine. The author lost my respect at the very beginning of the book when her protagonist, a WWII nurse mind you, did NOT recognize *blood* on some stairs. Nope. Sorry. My very picky editor inside can not forgive such mistakes. Then it's nothing but almost raped...saved, almost raped...saved, almost raped....saved, raped by "new* husband, beaten by husband and he is sickeningly turned on by beating his wife, almost raped again...saved, ad nauseam. I bristled at every conversation between the two. Don't get me started on the whole thing about his sister and her "honor" and how he basically couldn't forgive her and was disgusted by her because he thought she had been raped, but oh wait! he found out she hadn't been raped and he forgave her. I have a profound problem with people, fictional or real, that think a woman has lost her honor if she was raped. I can not get past it. 

 

So many things I hated about that book! 

 

Stacia was Wuthering Heights and I have Outlander!   :lol:

 

I've already posted my disclaimer. We all have opinions about *books* but the readers of those books are not held in the same light. We all have the freedom to express our thoughts about books because it is understood that we are not judging a person's merit. Disclaimer over.

 

There are other books which were ruined for me because of small details that are mistakes. I'm that nit picky. Don't have a celiac kissing someone who just drank beer (while even describing the beer taste in his mouth) or put a slice of toast on her plate and then just "move it onto the side" and expect me to think you've done your research. It flat out ruins a book for me when an author makes such mistakes. Don't have a person on a medical diet due to her compromised immune system in which she can't eat anything that might have any bacteria in it, and then have her eating honey. That you as her *doctor* gave her. Nope. Just nope. It all bugs me! 

 

Yes, I have a few issues.  :tongue_smilie:

 

Erin, I hope your surgery today goes well and you have a smooth and fast recover. And I hope you have Outlander with you to enjoy post-op. If you don't I would even send you a copy. I care about friends and support their misguided favorite book selections. Hugs to you as recover. 

 

 

I also read Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey.  A great non-fiction book that I thought was motivating and informational.  As with books like this there were a few parts that got a little too "science-y" and technical but those paragraphs were easy to skim.  Highly recommend to everyone.  If you suffer from anxiety or depression or love non-fiction books then I double recommend this to you. 

 

I read that last month. I loved all the science-y bits! But then you like Outlander....that explains it. ;) I agree with you that this book is great. If it doesn't motivate you to get up and start moving then I don't know what will.  :thumbup:  

 

 

 

I finished The Other Einstein by Heather Terrell today. It was a really good book about Albert Einstein's first wife. The book has a great mixture of fact and fiction in it. It made me think more about the role women were expected to play in the past and how women who did not meet that role were treated.

This is on my TR list. At some point.....

 

So many books. 

 

 

 

Since we're all confessing...

 

I inhaled all things V.C. Andrews

I sneak read my mom's bodice rippers as a girl

I like Hemingway (love Old Man and the Sea)

I am secretly in love with Dirk Pitt. In fact, my last dog was named after him. I don't care what anyone says about Clive Cussler. I highly enjoy his books, and thank him for creating my fantasy man.  :001_wub: Dirk :001_wub:

 

 

 

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I grew up in a household that received a morning and an afternoon newspaper, several magazines.  Neither of my parents read fiction often.  If my mother had a hidden stash of bodice rippers, it was well hidden.  I think my mom's guilty pleasure was doing crossword puzzles.

 

I will confess to buying a couple of Harlequins though.  One of my best buddies loved to drive long distances when we were much younger.  I am able to read aloud for hours--even in the car.  So friend was at the wheel, I had the Harlequin, and there was much merriment on the interstates of this country.  It was uproarious. We would rewrite the book as it was read and then often start outlining our own improbable romances.

 

A lighthearted moment in the old curmudgeon's past?  Stacia has used an old curmudgeon emoticon to describe me.

 

Lines have already been drawn in the Hemingway wars.  Not only have I read most of his work, I also have read several biographies.  My absolute favorites are the Nick Adams stories.  I think that it is an injustice to literature that most young people are exposed to Hemingway via The Old Man and the Sea.  It is not a young person's book!  I assigned Nick Adams stories to my son back in the day. 

 

Hemingway tipped his hat to Turgenev.  Science fiction writer William Gibson gives the nod to Papa Hemingway.  In retrospect, I should have probably done some sort of Turgenev => Hemingway => Gibson assignment back in the homeschool days but there were always too many books to read.  Instead we did Conrad/Achebe/Apocalypse Now analysis among other things. 

 

If I have a guilty pleasure in reading, it is the murder mystery.  I was once able to read just about any mystery but the Old Curmudgeon has gotten fussy here too.  I can't handle graphic violence especially towards children.  I find many of the cozies lacking in complexity--if a mysterious stranger appears in the second to the last chapter to wrap up the loose ends, I want to throw the book in the compost bin.  And, as many of us have lamented, we have grown weary of the spouse of the detective dying trope.

 

Happy reading to everyone!

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!!! They are even (at least some) the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations. I am so skeptical of fancy covers after the nonsense b&n put out but these look like they really might be wonderful.

Can you elaborate on this? I just chose the non-Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Dr. Zhivago. Partially due to reviews, but also for the fun of reading the translation that was actually on the best seller list in 1959 since I am choosing Dr. Zhivago for my best-seller-in-spouse-book-year bingo square. I admittedly know nothing about Russian translators, and I am eager to know more.

 

FWIW, I can pass along that Tiina Nunnally has a good reputation for translations from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Her translation of Kristen Lavransdatter is one of my all-time favorite works. By contrast, I couldn't stand the older translation by Charles Archer. I thought it was awful.

Edited by Penguin
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Hemingway tipped his hat to Turgenev.  Science fiction writer William Gibson gives the nod to Papa Hemingway.  In retrospect, I should have probably done some sort of Turgenev => Hemingway => Gibson assignment back in the homeschool days but there were always too many books to read.  Instead we did Conrad/Achebe/Apocalypse Now analysis among other things.

 

Oh, oh, wait, not so quick! Jane, could you please spell this out some more for me? Both Turgenev to Hemingway to Gibson and Conrad to Achebe to Apocalypse Now? I have read some books by Turgenev and Hemingway and Gibson, but would never have made any connection. I recently read three books by Achebe, but have never read anything by Conrad or seen Apocalypse Now.

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Oh fiddle, I'm behind on this thread and on my reading.

 

My book feel off the couch and thus my reading stopped -- that a lame excuse, but all I've got to give. That and the story doesn't have me hooked enough to really keep me wanting more yet... and I need some quotation marks! Come on, just give me back the quotation marks. And I think there's been periodic removal of question marks too. I spent way too long going back through previous chapters to see if all punctuation had been reduced to periods, but it hasn't, but I still have a feeling that there is a bias against question marks and an absolute hatred of quotation marks. There are the occasional question mark, but all punctuation is suspect at this point. This book being a million pages long isn't helping me either -- well that's not really a problem, the punctuation is.

 

And then I dip into this thread and see great reviews that I want to read more books, but then I'll just add more books to my list and I already have too many books at home. Well, you can never have too many, but I've committed to actually reading the ones I check out versus checking them out and then holding on to them for 5 months before returning them unread to the library. And I'm now also scheduling holds for more of these great books yall keep talking about so if I don't get reading again asap, I'm going to be underwater.

 

So... I guess I need another quick book to read because quotation-mark-hater-book and I are not going to be done by the end of the week and I must do a book a week.... I wonder what I should chose. 

 

And so sorry that I'm not keeping up with the general conversation either... I'm trying. 

 

It sounds like you're reading a Saramago novel! Pages and pages with no punctuation but a period.  Or Marquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch where he literally will go 8 pages without a period. Or anything else. I kind of hate reading books like that (although I do like Saramago, mostly). It makes me feel breathless and anxious to keep reading without a pause.

 

Can you elaborate on this? I just chose the non-Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Dr. Zhivago. Partially due to reviews, but also for the fun of reading the translation that was actually on the best seller list in 1959 since I am choosing Dr. Zhivago for my best-seller-in-spouse-book-year bingo square. I admittedly know nothing about Russian translators, and I am eager to know more.

 

FWIW, I can pass along that Tiina Nunnally has a good reputation for translations from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Her translation of Kristen Lavransdatter is one of my all-time favorite works. By contrast, I couldn't stand the older translation by Charles Archer. I thought it was awful.

 

You just made my day! After people spoke highly of Kristen Lavransdatter here, I picked up a copy at the library's book sale and tried to read it this summer. It just dragged for me, so dull and hard to get into. I just checked, and it's a Charles Archer translation! Maybe I'd like it better with the translator you suggest? I'm going to give it a try. Thank you!

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(snip)

 

You just made my day! After people spoke highly of Kristen Lavransdatter here, I picked up a copy at the library's book sale and tried to read it this summer. It just dragged for me, so dull and hard to get into. I just checked, and it's a Charles Archer translation! Maybe I'd like it better with the translator you suggest? I'm going to give it a try. Thank you!

I can't remember where I read this, and I just failed to verify it online but I recollect that Archer tried so hard to edit out the references to homosexuality that he ended up making the scene a confusing mess. Maybe I read that in the Intro to the Nunnally translation, but I really don't know that for sure.

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SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

 

It was a fun read. Beard has a conversational style of writing, and a witty sense of humour.  I enjoyed her insights on the connections between culture and power in ancient Rome. It was interesting to learn how Roman citizenship was considered a “gift,†how open to outsiders Rome was, and how fundamentally radical the Roman idea of being a citizen of two places (Rome plus your city) was. I was also stunned to discover that spoils from war, stayed with the house of the victor, and did not go with him, if he moved. Apparently, ancient Roman real estate had few "exclusions," as it was supposed to promote the public image and reputation of Rome.

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I have a question about Goodreads. Do you use it to make a cumulative list of all the books that you have ever read, or only log the books you have read since you started Goodreads? 

 

Over the years, I have attempted paper lists but never got very far. Obviously, it is quick to do it on Goodreads. I wonder if there is a way to add a bunch of books without it showing up on feeds of friends. Seems like that could get annoying when somebody on your feed rapid-fire adds 50 books or more.

 

I think you need to have 20 books on your shelf before Goodreads will give you recommendations (at least that's how it was when I signed up), so when I started, I just stuck 20 books on there that I had already read - some that were recent reads, others that popped into my head though I hadn't (and probably still haven't) read them since high school. Other than that, everything on my Goodreads is what I've read since joining Goodreads.

 

It doesn't bother me at all when someone adds a bunch of books to his shelf at once.

 

I keep meaning to say this too, so I'll echo this.   :grouphug:  

 

Yes, good luck and get well Erin and Nan!

 

Shukriyya, Penguin, anyone else - I wonder if you'd be interested in doing a read-along of From the Beast to the BlondeMaybe chapter-a-week, like some here do with the SWB books, or maybe at a quicker pace - two or three chapters a week, whatever everyone thinks they can manage and would enjoy.

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I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell! So wonderful!

 

I think I'm going to have a book hangover for a couple of days......my other books, Erasmus' The Praise of Folly, Herodotus' Histories, Justin Martyr's First Apology...are just not having the same appeal. I wonder why? :lol:

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I did. Hated it. Fiery passion hated it. Couldn't finish it. I disagree with with you in that I don't think the author did a good job with say....medicine. The author lost my respect at the very beginning of the book when her protagonist, a WWII nurse mind you, did NOT recognize *blood* on some stairs. Nope. Sorry. My very picky editor inside can not forgive such mistakes. Then it's nothing but almost raped...saved, almost raped...saved, almost raped....saved, raped by "new* husband, beaten by husband and he is sickeningly turned on by beating his wife, almost raped again...saved, ad nauseam. I bristled at every conversation between the two. Don't get me started on the whole thing about his sister and her "honor" and how he basically couldn't forgive her and was disgusted by her because he thought she had been raped, but oh wait! he found out she hadn't been raped and he forgave her. I have a profound problem with people, fictional or real, that think a woman has lost her honor if she was raped. I can not get past it.

 

I didn't have a problem with Jamie's behavior or reactions to his sister's rape because it wasn't far from reality for him in his time. My issue was with Claire. Even in her time this would have been shocking but she doesn't show any outrage. Then there's the whole falling in love with your rapist bit. Ugh.

 

But yeah, it's the book not the reader that I hated. As I already said, my dh read the series. I also have several friends, including my closest friend, who loves the series.

 

 

Hmmm, I think I found a book that I might be embarrassed to read on the subway . . . .

:lol:  :smilielol5:

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I just finished Louise Penny's Still Life. Loved this mystery and am glad to have a new series to read.

 

This series has been spoken of so highly here and it takes place in an area I know well so it's been on my tbr list for a while. Encouraged to see another positive review for it. I'm generally not a mystery reader unless it's bloodless and bodiless lol but I'd like to forge pathways into this genre because it will open up a whole expanse of possible reading material. Which I guess is a good thing  ;)

 

 

Shukriyya, Penguin, anyone else - I wonder if you'd be interested in doing a read-along of From the Beast to the BlondeMaybe chapter-a-week, like some here do with the SWB books, or maybe at a quicker pace - two or three chapters a week, whatever everyone thinks they can manage and would enjoy.

 

This book is what I chose for the GR 'Into the Forest' challenge for number 10. a non-fiction book about folk or fairy tales or mythology. I'd love to do a read-along. She's a wonderful writer.

 

Lines have already been drawn in the Hemingway wars.  Not only have I read most of his work, I also have read several biographies.  My absolute favorites are the Nick Adams stories.  I think that it is an injustice to literature that most young people are exposed to Hemingway via The Old Man and the Sea.  It is not a young person's book!  I assigned Nick Adams stories to my son back in the day. 

 

 

Since we're all confessing...

 

I inhaled all things V.C. Andrews

I sneak read my mom's bodice rippers as a girl

I like Hemingway (love Old Man and the Sea)

 

 

I read The Old Man and the Sea in high school and loved it. I don't feel moved to read any of his other work but I'd consider rereading TOMatS. I also liked WH so with those two somewhat unpopular likes I guess that puts me in a camp of....one  :lol: 

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I'm interrupting the book discussion this morning with an important public service announcement.

 

Go see La La Land!!

 

Dh and I saw it last night, and loved it. I found myself simply smiling with happiness during the musical numbers. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants (and needs) a happy, non-cynical, escapist movie. Los Angeles looks dewey and bright, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are dewey and bright, the music is terrific, the choreography is perfect and the cinematography is jaw dropping.

 

 

 

Totally agree!! I've seen it twice and have the soundtrack. :) Wonderful movie and I was so glad to see that it won so many different categories at the Golden Globes. It's refreshing to see a movie with a good plot and zero explosions, car chases, or superheroes, lol.

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I feel like I can't keep up with you all! And I considered myself fairly well-read! I'm just floating along, enjoying the conversation and picking up good ideas for new books to try!

 

(Of course, if this were a live conversation, I'd be likely to sit and soak up the conversation without saying a whole lot, so there's that...)

 

I wrapped up City of Thieves by David Benioff night before last. Really enjoyed it. The author did a good job of capturing the horrors of living through a siege without being gratuitous. And the book had an underlying note of hope, despite the subject matter. And it was snowy here, so I felt very much drawn into the world of Leningrad in winter. :)

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(snip)

 

Shukriyya, Penguin, anyone else - I wonder if you'd be interested in doing a read-along of From the Beast to the BlondeMaybe chapter-a-week, like some here do with the SWB books, or maybe at a quicker pace - two or three chapters a week, whatever everyone thinks they can manage and would enjoy.

I would be up for that! I still have to pick books for the Into the Woods challenge, and that looks like a good one for #10.

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Because none of us have enough books in our TBR stacks yet:

 

NPR's morning edition story: Fulfill Your 2017 Reading Resolutions

 

I was really afraid to click on the link but did so anyway.  And was relieved to find that there were only 6 books on the list!  Some of which are already on my to read list and many of which I'd never heard of and might want to check out.

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Can you elaborate on this? I just chose the non-Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Dr. Zhivago. Partially due to reviews, but also for the fun of reading the translation that was actually on the best seller list in 1959 since I am choosing Dr. Zhivago for my best-seller-in-spouse-book-year bingo square. I admittedly know nothing about Russian translators, and I am eager to know more.

 

Pevear/Volokhonsky are considered the best, but who doesn't love a good debate about the merits of a translation? :) because of the grammatical differences in Russian and I guess to some extent you could say the flexibility of the language, translations need to either sacrifice some of the character of the literature or English grammar and flow. P/V keep the best fidelity to the text while also creating something beautiful and readable. Constance Garnett was the first to translate a lot of Russian literature into English so her translations are wide spread but can be dry and she sacrifices more of the Russian character to make the English flow better. Maude is another famous translator who is highly regarded. He leans slightly more toward grammatical English, which is not my preference but is the preference of others. For something like Ear and Peace which have a significant amount of French text, Maude and Garnett both translate the French seamlessly into English whereas Pevear translated it into footnotes. Drives some people crazy but you can also make the argument that French was not the native language of Russian readers and the book was meant to face that contrast.

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Pevear/Volokhonsky are considered the best, but who doesn't love a good debate about the merits of a translation? :) because of the grammatical differences in Russian and I guess to some extent you could say the flexibility of the language, translations need to either sacrifice some of the character of the literature or English grammar and flow. P/V keep the best fidelity to the text while also creating something beautiful and readable. Constance Garnett was the first to translate a lot of Russian literature into English so her translations are wide spread but can be dry and she sacrifices more of the Russian character to make the English flow better. Maude is another famous translator who is highly regarded. He leans slightly more toward grammatical English, which is not my preference but is the preference of others. For something like Ear and Peace which have a significant amount of French text, Maude and Garnett both translate the French seamlessly into English whereas Pevear translated it into footnotes. Drives some people crazy but you can also make the argument that French was not the native language of Russian readers and the book was meant to face that contrast.

 

I like the P/V translations best and will pay more for them if I'm buying a book. I read on the Kindle and the French in War and Peace was easy to translate. I just long pressed on the footnote and it took me to the translation. Then I hit Back and it took me back to where I was. 

Edited by Lady Florida.
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I cannot keep up with this thread, read my book, and homeschool. So I've given up. (Reading the thread, not homeschooling.)

 

But right now Wee Girl is reading her D'Aulaires Greek Myths (to herself!!!), Middle Girl is writing a ballad telling the story of the Defeat of the Armada, and I'm having one of those homeschool days where I fantasize that some homeschool skeptic drops by, is amazed at the Industry, Studiousness, and Cheerful Deportment of my children, and is converted on the spot. So I will use this opportunity to join in on the BAW thread.

 

Still reading Hakluyt's Voyages (vol. 2 now). Nearly done with the first section, which documents English travels through Russia and the Near East.

 

Much of it is awfully dry stuff, like the endless rules of merchants' charters, lists of trade goods, or repetitive ships' logs. But there are some gems, too, like the lengthy letters English merchant George Turbervill wrote to his friends back home, complaining about the country, its weather, and its inhabitants. In verse.

 

Drinke is their whole desire, the pot is all their pride,

The sobrest head doth once a day stand needful of a guide.

If he to banket bid his friends, he will not shrinke

On them at dinner to bestow a douzen kindes of drinke:

Such licour as they have, and as the countrey gives,

But chiefly two, one called Kvas, whereby the Mousike lives.

(Mousike = Muscovite.)

 

Loe thus I make an ende: none other newes to thee,

But that the countrey is too colde, the people beastly bee.

About 2300 pages to go. More interesting excerpts as I strike them, even if only for my own amusement.

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I've already posted my disclaimer. We all have opinions about *books* but the readers of those books are not held in the same light. We all have the freedom to express our thoughts about books because it is understood that we are not judging a person's merit. Disclaimer over.

 

There are other books which were ruined for me because of small details that are mistakes. I'm that nit picky. Don't have a celiac kissing someone who just drank beer (while even describing the beer taste in his mouth) or put a slice of toast on her plate and then just "move it onto the side" and expect me to think you've done your research. It flat out ruins a book for me when an author makes such mistakes. Don't have a person on a medical diet due to her compromised immune system in which she can't eat anything that might have any bacteria in it, and then have her eating honey. That you as her *doctor* gave her. Nope. Just nope. It all bugs me! 

 

Yes, I have a few issues.  :tongue_smilie:

 

Erin, I hope your surgery today goes well and you have a smooth and fast recover. And I hope you have Outlander with you to enjoy post-op. If you don't I would even send you a copy. I care about friends and support their misguided favorite book selections. Hugs to you as recover. 

 

 

 

I read that last month. I loved all the science-y bits! But then you like Outlander....that explains it. ;) I agree with you that this book is great. If it doesn't motivate you to get up and start moving then I don't know what will.  :thumbup:  

 

 

 

 

This is on my TR list. At some point.....

 

So many books. 

 

 

 

Since we're all confessing...

 

I inhaled all things V.C. Andrews

I sneak read my mom's bodice rippers as a girl

I like Hemingway (love Old Man and the Sea)

I am secretly in love with Dirk Pitt. In fact, my last dog was named after him. I don't care what anyone says about Clive Cussler. I highly enjoy his books, and thank him for creating my fantasy man.  :001_wub: Dirk :001_wub:

 

I tend to get caught up in the wrong details also. I hate it when author's put things in that just can't happen.

 

:lol: Also not what you were intending but I checked a Dirk Pitt audio book out today. I am waiting for a hold and needed something to listen to. I might just finish it.

 

Is your son using the fire to stream audio books or is he actually downloading them? If using overdrive listen tell him to try some more books. For some reason City of Mirrors and Norwegian wouldn't stream on dh's newer fire hd which I normally use. My old Kindle fire would work on both. Today's Dirk Pitt is working great. No idea what the problem is but I was getting a message that they wouldn't work on my device.

 

 

 

I think you need to have 20 books on your shelf before Goodreads will give you recommendations (at least that's how it was when I signed up), so when I started, I just stuck 20 books on there that I had already read - some that were recent reads, others that popped into my head though I hadn't (and probably still haven't) read them since high school. Other than that, everything on my Goodreads is what I've read since joining Goodreads.

 

It doesn't bother me at all when someone adds a bunch of books to his shelf at once.

 

 

 

Yes, good luck and get well Erin and Nan!

 

Shukriyya, Penguin, anyone else - I wonder if you'd be interested in doing a read-along of From the Beast to the BlondeMaybe chapter-a-week, like some here do with the SWB books, or maybe at a quicker pace - two or three chapters a week, whatever everyone thinks they can manage and would enjoy.

 

 

 

I would be up for that! I still have to pick books for the Into the Woods challenge, and that looks like a good one for #10.

 

 

I might be interested. Does number 10 mean later in the year?

 

 

Because none of us have enough books in our TBR stacks yet:

 

NPR's morning edition story: Fulfill Your 2017 Reading Resolutions

I have had at least one of these in the stack, Slow Horses. I had to return it but read a couple of pages. It seemed good. I will definitely get it back now!

 

 

I have also finished Miss Garnet's Angel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23430451-miss-garnet-s-angel for the birthstone challenge. Ethyl has already reviewed it and I can only echo her. Very glad I read it and I doubt I ever would have read it without the birthstone challenge. Thank you, Robin. As I side note Garnets, as in the stone, were discussed in the book very briefly.

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Pevear/Volokhonsky are considered the best, but who doesn't love a good debate about the merits of a translation? :) because of the grammatical differences in Russian and I guess to some extent you could say the flexibility of the language, translations need to either sacrifice some of the character of the literature or English grammar and flow. P/V keep the best fidelity to the text while also creating something beautiful and readable. Constance Garnett was the first to translate a lot of Russian literature into English so her translations are wide spread but can be dry and she sacrifices more of the Russian character to make the English flow better. Maude is another famous translator who is highly regarded. He leans slightly more toward grammatical English, which is not my preference but is the preference of others. For something like Ear and Peace which have a significant amount of French text, Maude and Garnett both translate the French seamlessly into English whereas Pevear translated it into footnotes. Drives some people crazy but you can also make the argument that French was not the native language of Russian readers and the book was meant to face that contrast.

 

Do you have an opinion on David Magarshack?

 

I have Anna Karenina on my list, and that's the translation available at our library. I wondered if I should go with it or buy the Pevear/Volokhonsky version. I have always shied away from Russian lit because I was intimidated by it, and I'm afraid if I pick a bad translation I won't be able to make myself try again!

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I didn't have a problem with Jamie's behavior or reactions to his sister's rape because it wasn't far from reality for him in his time. My issue was with Claire. Even in her time this would have been shocking but she doesn't show any outrage. Then there's the whole falling in love with your rapist bit. Ugh.

 

But yeah, it's the book not the reader that I hated. As I already said, my dh read the series. I also have several friends, including my closest friend, who loves the series.

 

 

Yes! I was more outraged with Claire. No woman in her right mind would choose Jamie over her other husband. I even find the part about 2 husbands to annoy me. Sorry, but if my dh found himself sucked back in time, married another woman, and then went back and forth between her and me he would lose his head. Just sayin'

 

And yes, I have close friends who love the books. My mom loves them. I just tell them I'll stick with Colonel Brandon. 

 

 

I cannot keep up with this thread, read my book, and homeschool. So I've given up. (Reading the thread, not homeschooling.)

 

 

Yep, which is why I was reading this thread at 6:30 this morning instead of getting ready for my work out. It's ok though cause I still got it done. It's now lunch. 

Edited by Mom-ninja.
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I tend to get caught up in the wrong details also. I hate it when author's put things in that just can't happen.

 

:lol: Also not what you were intending but I checked a Dirk Pitt audio book out today. I am waiting for a hold and needed something to listen to. I might just finish it.

 

Is your son using the fire to stream audio books or is he actually downloading them? If using overdrive listen tell him to try some more books. For some reason City of Mirrors and Norwegian wouldn't stream on dh's newer fire hd which I normally use. My old Kindle fire would work on both. Today's Dirk Pitt is working great. No idea what the problem is but I was getting a message that they wouldn't work on my device.

 

Yeah, some books work and others don't. He is downloading them. The problem is always that it seems it doesn't download certain sections of the book or the whole book. I told him that happens on my phone sometimes, and I just have to download the sections that didn't work. 

 

Enjoy Dirk! I have no problem sharing him. 

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This book is what I chose for the GR 'Into the Forest' challenge for number 10. a non-fiction book about folk or fairy tales or mythology. I'd love to do a read-along. She's a wonderful writer.

 

 

I would be up for that! I still have to pick books for the Into the Woods challenge, and that looks like a good one for #10.

 

 

 

I might be interested. Does number 10 mean later in the year?

 

 

Excellent! We can do our challenge in any order, so number 10 could be later in the year but doesn't have to be. Anyone have a preferred start date or a preferred pace (or prefer not to set a group pace)? I think I would prefer to read two chapters a week rather than one, which would mean it would take almost six months to read, but I'm flexible. I'm just happy to have people reading it with me so I feel more like I really do have to take it off the shelf and open it - and not just flip through looking at pictures.

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Excellent! We can do our challenge in any order, so number 10 could be later in the year but doesn't have to be. Anyone have a preferred start date or a preferred pace (or prefer not to set a group pace)? I think I would prefer to read two chapters a week rather than one, which would mean it would take almost six months to read, but I'm flexible. I'm just happy to have people reading it with me so I feel more like I really do have to take it off the shelf and open it - and not just flip through looking at pictures.

 

I just ordered my copy, and it will be here Saturday so I can start anytime :) This is the sort of book that I would want to spread out. But two chapters per week looks doable. It appears to be out of print, but there are plenty of reasonably priced used copies on amazon.

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And yes, I have close friends who love the books. My mom loves them. I just tell them I'll stick with Colonel Brandon. 

 

 

 

 

 

:001_wub:  :001_wub: Colonel Brandon - I love him as a book character and as Alan Rickman brought him to life.

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Oh, oh, wait, not so quick! Jane, could you please spell this out some more for me? Both Turgenev to Hemingway to Gibson and Conrad to Achebe to Apocalypse Now? I have read some books by Turgenev and Hemingway and Gibson, but would never have made any connection. I recently read three books by Achebe, but have never read anything by Conrad or seen Apocalypse Now.

 

Hemingway wrote that he was influenced by Turgenev, particularly A Sportsmen's Notebook.  I think there is a parallel between that book and Hemingway's Nick Adams stories.  Also, Hemingway titled one of his short stories "Fathers and Sons" after the Turgenev novel.

 

I am not a Gibson reader but my husband is.  One day he asked to borrow my collected short stories of Hemingway because he had read an article somewhere in which Gibson called them a major influence on his writing.  That is all I know about that.

 

Achebe was appalled by the attention given to Heart of Darkness.  His novel Things Fall Apart can be read as a reaction to Conrad--certainly a critical commentary on colonialism.  After reading those two works, watch Apocalypse Now.  It paints Conrad's story against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

 

I feel like I can't keep up with you all! And I considered myself fairly well-read! I'm just floating along, enjoying the conversation and picking up good ideas for new books to try!

 

(Of course, if this were a live conversation, I'd be likely to sit and soak up the conversation without saying a whole lot, so there's that...)

 

I wrapped up City of Thieves by David Benioff night before last. Really enjoyed it. The author did a good job of capturing the horrors of living through a siege without being gratuitous. And the book had an underlying note of hope, despite the subject matter. And it was snowy here, so I felt very much drawn into the world of Leningrad in winter. :)

 

I was disappointed with City of Thieves but I think it was a matter of timing.  Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal was more vivid for me. I could taste the wallpaper paste soup.

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Because none of us have enough books in our TBR stacks yet:

 

NPR's morning edition story: Fulfill Your 2017 Reading Resolutions

More books for my wishlist! I love Nancy Pearl and have Book Lust, as well as Book Lust to Go on my shelves. Very useful for challenge ideas as well as responsible for my book babies having more babies. 😄

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Pevear/Volokhonsky are considered the best, but who doesn't love a good debate about the merits of a translation? :) because of the grammatical differences in Russian and I guess to some extent you could say the flexibility of the language, translations need to either sacrifice some of the character of the literature or English grammar and flow. P/V keep the best fidelity to the text while also creating something beautiful and readable. Constance Garnett was the first to translate a lot of Russian literature into English so her translations are wide spread but can be dry and she sacrifices more of the Russian character to make the English flow better. Maude is another famous translator who is highly regarded. He leans slightly more toward grammatical English, which is not my preference but is the preference of others. For something like Ear and Peace which have a significant amount of French text, Maude and Garnett both translate the French seamlessly into English whereas Pevear translated it into footnotes. Drives some people crazy but you can also make the argument that French was not the native language of Russian readers and the book was meant to face that contrast.

 

Thanks for the interesting analysis.  I really started looking at different translations when I picked some Verne books for my kids' book club a number of years back, and there are some new translations whose translators give absolutely scathing reviews of the old translations and what a hack job they were (especially, apparently coming from once-serialized French novels that were translated in the 1800s and were edited and a bit censored for the more delicate tastes of English readers).  When dd asked to read Les Mis, I went through 3-4 translations at B&N.  The newest translation, though, rather annoyed me - it seemed even more wordy than the French (I compared)! I ended up picking a newish but not the latest translation for her. This is when I decided maybe I should get better at reading French and cut out the middleman...

 

However, there is no hope of my ever reading anything Russian in the original, so analysis of different translators is very interesting to me. I did go look at different translations before reading Anna Karenina, and I ended up going with the Constance Garnett translation I picked up for free somewhere over the newer translation (i'm guessing Pevear/V) - and I do think it may have been because the English flowed better.  The Zhivago audio I just abandoned was the Pevear/V translation - but it was the narrator bugging me, not the translation.  I've already requested the book of the P/V version from the library.  And I like having the French not translated, but then, I read French reasonably well... ;)

 

 

Shukriyya, Penguin, anyone else - I wonder if you'd be interested in doing a read-along of From the Beast to the BlondeMaybe chapter-a-week, like some here do with the SWB books, or maybe at a quicker pace - two or three chapters a week, whatever everyone thinks they can manage and would enjoy.

 

Me, me!  I love fairy tales and myths, and retellings thereof.  I do hope you maybe don't start right away, though, I seem to have overloaded my shelf in the flood of awesome suggestions here!  Hopefully I can manage a couple chapters a week, though.

 

 

 

I just finished Miss Garnet.  Liked it, didn't love it.  I think I liked the actual Tobit story parts better than the modern tale at times.  But an enjoyable read.  3 1/2 stars?

 

Hey, can I count Miss Garnet for the Female Adventure bingo square?  I don't have anything else for that square at the moment...

 

I think I'm going to start Ein Mann namens Ove, and Ancillary Sword is also waiting for me at the library (the problem with series!!).  I have Heart of the Sea on my phone, and am continuing to make progress on that when I have bits of down time with the phone handy.  I think I'm going to keep a nonfiction book on there going forward.

 

I need an audio book, now that Zhivago was a bust.  I tried to get Palace of Illusions on Overdrive, but it's not available (I'm on the waitlist).  Age of Innocence?  All the Light we Cannot See?

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Since it seems we have quite a few ladies who want to do a Beast and The Blond readalong, I have a suggestion based on your conversations.  June is halfway through the year and designated as fantasy month.   If you want to start in June and there are 23 chapters plus the conclusion (approximately 420 pages), I can start posting chapters # and pages on each Sunday thread intro.  One chapter a week will take you through the end of the year.  It will also give time for all to find the book.  Let me know if you want me to guide or just want to do casual.

 

Interesting article came in to my inbox this morning - The Parallels between Shakespeare and George R.R. Martin.

 

Speaking of Outlander, it's a love or hate relationship, which is quite all right.  Even those who love it, have 'what are they thinking' moments.

 

Did you know Harlequin has a romance for every mood from historical to blazing hot. 

 

Everything you wanted to know (or maybe not) about Casanova

 

Finalists for the RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non Fiction.

 

 

 

 

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When I read Anna Karenina, Volokhonsky did a remarkable job of translation imho.  With War and Peace, I read Anthony Briggs translation which was also well done.

 

For audio book narrations, the best thing to do is go on to audible and listen to the samples for each book.  You'll generally know right away if the narrator irritates you or draws you in. 

 

Add me to those who loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  Yes, I had a book hangover at the end and it took me a week before I could dive into anything new.  I say the previews on amazon video and it didn't match my imagination, so have avoided so far.  Same with Odd Thomas. Loved the books, but the video looked way too intense and scary.  

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Pevear/Volokhonsky are considered the best, but who doesn't love a good debate about the merits of a translation? :) because of the grammatical differences in Russian and I guess to some extent you could say the flexibility of the language, translations need to either sacrifice some of the character of the literature or English grammar and flow. P/V keep the best fidelity to the text while also creating something beautiful and readable. Constance Garnett was the first to translate a lot of Russian literature into English so her translations are wide spread but can be dry and she sacrifices more of the Russian character to make the English flow better. Maude is another famous translator who is highly regarded. He leans slightly more toward grammatical English, which is not my preference but is the preference of others. For something like Ear and Peace which have a significant amount of French text, Maude and Garnett both translate the French seamlessly into English whereas Pevear translated it into footnotes. Drives some people crazy but you can also make the argument that French was not the native language of Russian readers and the book was meant to face that contrast.

Thanks for the illumination, and I will reiterate that I have no knowledge base of Russian translators to draw from. I had long ago learned my lesson to research the translator (looking at you, Charles Archer) so I did agonize over it look into it before I bought.

 

I read more than one review that noted that while Pevear/Volokhonsky are typically awesome, Dr. Z does not get the raves.

 

Here is a link to the Guardian review and The Independent

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/06/doctor-zhivago-boris-pasternak-translation

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/doctor-zhivago-by-boris-pasternak-trans-richard-pevear-and-larissa-volokhonsky-2171911.html

 

So I went with the older one. Well, I'll let you know what I think!

Edited by Penguin
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I'm reading The Circle by Dave Eggers in anticipation of the movie with Emma Watson coming out. 

 

It's very interesting, but the main character so far is a bit flat.  No one has any curiosity or healthy skepticism about this slightly creepy company, apparently.  LOL  I don't mind that the technical advancements being made by the company are not necessarily believable, however I expect a normal human *reaction* to the overreach in personal privacy and things like that.  It reminds me of an episode of Black Mirror (British tv series, each episode is different like a modern Twilight Zone).

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I just finished Louise Penny's Still Life. Loved this mystery and am glad to have a new series to read.

I finished book 4 of this series and am finding that the books get better as they go along. I didn't really like the first two but kept plugging along because of the buzz associated this series. I'm glad I didn't give up because the fourth book is really good. Enjoy!!

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Since it seems we have quite a few ladies who want to do a Beast and The Blond readalong, I have a suggestion based on your conversations.  June is halfway through the year and designated as fantasy month.   If you want to start in June and there are 23 chapters plus the conclusion (approximately 420 pages), I can start posting chapters # and pages on each Sunday thread intro.  One chapter a week will take you through the end of the year.  It will also give time for all to find the book.  Let me know if you want me to guide or just want to do casual.

 

.

  

 

Excellent! We can do our challenge in any order, so number 10 could be later in the year but doesn't have to be. Anyone have a preferred start date or a preferred pace (or prefer not to set a group pace)? I think I would prefer to read two chapters a week rather than one, which would mean it would take almost six months to read, but I'm flexible. I'm just happy to have people reading it with me so I feel more like I really do have to take it off the shelf and open it - and not just flip through looking at pictures.

 

 

 

I just ordered my copy, and it will be here Saturday so I can start anytime :) This is the sort of book that I would want to spread out. But two chapters per week looks doable. It appears to be out of print, but there are plenty of reasonably priced used copies on amazon.

I managed to find one at a local library branch that I should be near tomorrow. I am planning to stop and get it off the shelf and take a look at it. Obviously I'm fine with starting whenever. Interest does seem to be pretty high.

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Do you have an opinion on David Magarshack?

 

I have Anna Karenina on my list, and that's the translation available at our library. I wondered if I should go with it or buy the Pevear/Volokhonsky version. I have always shied away from Russian lit because I was intimidated by it, and I'm afraid if I pick a bad translation I won't be able to make myself try again!

 

I am not confident that I have read a Magarshack translation.  At least not since I realized the importance of a translator and got picky. I have seen commentary that he simply omits a lot that is hard to translate, and the weirdness and the jokes. I do think it is worth tracking down a good translation -- Amazon has the P/V translation used for $.01 ( $4 after shipping) and sometimes thrift books has better deals if you are spending 25$ or however much it is for free shipping now. Assuming you are in the US. 

 

Anna Karenina was my first exposure to Russian lit when I was in maybe 7th grade.  It was shelved in my childhood library one section over from the YA stuff, by title :) After I had run through everything I was interested in I just started on the next row.  I still have fond memories of the feel and smell of that book. No idea which translation it was. 

Thanks for the interesting analysis.  I really started looking at different translations when I picked some Verne books for my kids' book club a number of years back, and there are some new translations whose translators give absolutely scathing reviews of the old translations and what a hack job they were (especially, apparently coming from once-serialized French novels that were translated in the 1800s and were edited and a bit censored for the more delicate tastes of English readers).  When dd asked to read Les Mis, I went through 3-4 translations at B&N.  The newest translation, though, rather annoyed me - it seemed even more wordy than the French (I compared)! I ended up picking a newish but not the latest translation for her. This is when I decided maybe I should get better at reading French and cut out the middleman...

 

However, there is no hope of my ever reading anything Russian in the original, so analysis of different translators is very interesting to me. I did go look at different translations before reading Anna Karenina, and I ended up going with the Constance Garnett translation I picked up for free somewhere over the newer translation (i'm guessing Pevear/V) - and I do think it may have been because the English flowed better.  The Zhivago audio I just abandoned was the Pevear/V translation - but it was the narrator bugging me, not the translation.  I've already requested the book of the P/V version from the library.  And I like having the French not translated, but then, I read French reasonably well... ;)

 

 

I definitely have the problem of "Well, I'd like to read that book, but it is probably better in the original. Better start learning a new language :) heheh. That is part of the reason I started studying Russian but I am SO far away from reading actual Russian books. Not sure it will happen.  Harry Potter in Finnish this year, Harry Potter in Russian next year? We'll see!

 

(and for anyone wondering, no I am not obsessed with HP. It is just that it is well translated into just about every language and when you are trying to bridge the gap between language courses and real books, it is helpful to have a story you are familiar with.) 

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I can't remember where I read this, and I just failed to verify it online but I recollect that Archer tried so hard to edit out the references to homosexuality that he ended up making the scene a confusing mess. Maybe I read that in the Intro to the Nunnally translation, but I really don't know that for sure.

I have the Nunnally translation and the Note in the front states a "crucial passage" from one part was censored and enough other sections were deleted to total about 18 pages. The Note also criticizes the affectations in early translations. I only tried (and finished, all in a couple long sittings while down with one wintry weekend) the Nunnally translation and I enjoyed it.

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As Shukriyya mentioned earlier the BBC made a six part adaptation of Jonathan Strange that was filmed in several sort of local spots a couple of years ago. It aired within a couple of months of my finishing the book. We watched the first episode and loved the location shots but I decided to leave it on the recorder and watch it after more time had gone by. It was well done but not quite how my mind painted the book. I almost started watching it a couple of days ago but watched a Miss Marple instead. Now that so many are reading it I need to watch it.

 

 

That is kind of the story of my life sometimes."Oh, I meant to watch that but found myself watching Miss Marple (or fill in a British mystery show) instead ..."

 

:001_wub:  :001_wub: Colonel Brandon - I love him as a book character and as Alan Rickman brought him to life.

One of my kids loves S&S so we watched it a few times over holiday break (or it was on while the board games were all out). Did not get tired of that scene where Alan Rickman first walks in while Marianne is playing piano. He was stunning.

 

 

 

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In addition to Underground (non-fiction), I picked up some light, funny, action fiction that I started earlier this evening: The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales. So far, it's pretty rip-roaringly fun & fast to read. It's like Die Hard (the movie, which has already been referenced twice in the book, lol) & a superhero movie in written form. Fun popcorn reading. :lurk5:

 

regionaloffice-e1460145786935.jpeg?fit=2

 

I have no idea where I first heard about it, but it was most likely on a list or article linked on here. Here's an article from Tor [Don’t Trust the Interns (or the Narrator): The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales], which makes me think I might have seen it in something Kareni posted.

 

I'm not super-far into it yet, but I'd say if you enjoyed Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, this might be a fun one for you to read too. The Guardian calls it a book for Buffy fans in its review. (I've never seen Buffy, but I think that's probably accurate.) The Guardian's review also points out that you should be a movie fan to read the book; I agree. I love action movies & can totally picture the scenes that Gonzales is painting.

 

I listened to this over the summer -- and abandoned it about half way through. It might be a better read in print but honestly, I never cared enough to find a print version and finish it. I seem to recall that it was the jumping into the back stories that finally did me in. I really wanted to like it as I'm a Die Hard fan, too.

 

I'll be curious what you think.

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Just finished my second book! It was a light one recommended by ds. He mostly read lighter weight stuff over college break. It's NPCs by Drew Hayes.

 

It was so much fun and just wonderful. It took me back to the light fantasy I read when I was younger, Robert Asprin, Craig Shaw Gardner, Christopher Stasheff...

 

If you know what an NPC is, you'll likely enjoy it. As someone who has GMed my share of tabletop RPG games, I was rolling with laughter in some sections and praying near the end that he would be setting me up for a sequel.

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Finished my first book, "Last Year" and am speeding towards the end of "Rascal" with the kids as our read aloud. I haven't generally counted read alouds in the past, but I am the only one doing the reading so I decided to throw caution to the wind and count it. I am hoping to finish "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" tonight and make a few more chapters progress in "The River of No Return."

 

And I'll never keep up with this thread.

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That is kind of the story of my life sometimes."Oh, I meant to watch that but found myself watching Miss Marple (or fill in a British mystery show) instead ..."

 

One of my kids loves S&S so we watched it a few times over holiday break (or it was on while the board games were all out). Did not get tired of that scene where Alan Rickman first walks in while Marianne is playing piano. He was stunning.

 

 

 

 

My favorite scene is when he is so tormented when she is sick and begs for something to occupy him. 

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So I had a bunch of things marked for multiquote that I wanted to discuss but then my computer restarted and I lost them all.  Boo!  I'm going to try and go by memory.

 

Mumto2 - DD got the Doctor Who Fairy Tales for Christmas but hasn't started it yet.  I just ran up to her room and moved it from the middle of the stack to the top of the stack on her nightstand.  :laugh:   We are new-Whoers so I won't be able to comment on how it works with the first eight. 

 

Salmon - thank you all for the recipes.  I bought some beautiful looking salmon at the grocery store and was planning on grilling it but DH informed me we are expecting a huge ice storm and he has no interest in grilling at the moment.  Hurumph.  Plan B is seasoning and foil packet.  I will report back.

 

Ice Storm - Anyone else in the midwest getting ready to be iced in?  The grocery store was crazy but the library wasn't.  I guess I'm the only one stocking up on milk and fiction. 

 

Moonraker's Bride - I added this to my to-read list based on the earlier conversation that I can't find in 8 pages of this thread.  Looks like just my type of book.  I looked to see what else the author (Madeleine Brent) has written and was shocked to find out HE wasn't a SHE.  I thought that was fascinating based on genre and our recent discussion of male/female authors. 

 

Harlequin - I just bought a western Harlequin!  I don't think I've read any actual Harlequin's yet so I'm excited to get started.  I'm wondering if it will count for the Western square on the Bingo ...

 

I grew up in a household that received a morning and an afternoon newspaper, several magazines.  Neither of my parents read fiction often.  If my mother had a hidden stash of bodice rippers, it was well hidden.  I think my mom's guilty pleasure was doing crossword puzzles.

 

I will confess to buying a couple of Harlequins though.  One of my best buddies loved to drive long distances when we were much younger.  I am able to read aloud for hours--even in the car.  So friend was at the wheel, I had the Harlequin, and there was much merriment on the interstates of this country.  It was uproarious. We would rewrite the book as it was read and then often start outlining our own improbable romances.

 

A lighthearted moment in the old curmudgeon's past?  Stacia has used an old curmudgeon emoticon to describe me.

 

Lines have already been drawn in the Hemingway wars.  Not only have I read most of his work, I also have read several biographies.  My absolute favorites are the Nick Adams stories.  I think that it is an injustice to literature that most young people are exposed to Hemingway via The Old Man and the Sea.  It is not a young person's book!  I assigned Nick Adams stories to my son back in the day. 

 

Hemingway tipped his hat to Turgenev.  Science fiction writer William Gibson gives the nod to Papa Hemingway.  In retrospect, I should have probably done some sort of Turgenev => Hemingway => Gibson assignment back in the homeschool days but there were always too many books to read.  Instead we did Conrad/Achebe/Apocalypse Now analysis among other things. 

 

If I have a guilty pleasure in reading, it is the murder mystery.  I was once able to read just about any mystery but the Old Curmudgeon has gotten fussy here too.  I can't handle graphic violence especially towards children.  I find many of the cozies lacking in complexity--if a mysterious stranger appears in the second to the last chapter to wrap up the loose ends, I want to throw the book in the compost bin.  And, as many of us have lamented, we have grown weary of the spouse of the detective dying trope.

 

Happy reading to everyone!

 

Jane - please assign me a Hemingway to read this year.  I've read Old Man and the Sea and didn't like it.  Whatever you assign I shall read with an open mind. 

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