Book a Week 2017 - BW44: Welcome to Nonfiction November

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week 44 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year. Greetings to all our readers and those following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

Wave goodbye to the ghosts and goblins of October as we embark upon the world of facts and figures with Nonfiction November as well as dive into the sphere of the  Topaz gemstone, our birthstone of the month. This month we are celebrating All Souls Day, Constitution day, Veterans day as well as Thanksgiving here in the U.S.   Let's not forget the end of Daylight Savings time or the Look for Circles day, Forget Me Not day, Have a Hike day, Absurdity day, and last but not least, You're Welcome day.

 

Our birthstone of the month is Topaz. You may choose to spell out the word, reading one book per letter or read a book with the name or the colors of the stone in the title.  Or perhaps find an author whose name is Topaz.   You may decide to find a book set in the time period where the birthstone was discovered or surrounding the myth and lore or set in countries where the birthstone is currently found.

 

Topaz is derived from the Greek 'topazion' said to originate from the Sanskrit 'tapas' meaning 'fire.' The gemstone varies from colorless to blue to yellow to brown.  Topaz is mainly mined in Brazil, but is also found in China, Japan, Russia and Australia as well as India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The stone is one of the twelve chosen for Aaron's breastplate, the symbol for the sun god, Ra, and the sacred stone of the Hindu's Kalpa tree.   There are many metaphysical properties attached to the stone depending on the color from knowledge to creativity to strength.

 

Our armchair travels are taking us through the world of nonfiction which encompasses a broad spectrum from the financial to the historical to the creative to the travelogue to the array of self help books.  Explore the familiar or dive into those topics you have been curious about but haven't read yet.

 

Check out Tompkin Libraries helpful guide to the Dewey Decimal System for non fiction books.   Browse through the Guardian's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time, or  Goodreads Popular Nonfiction Reads.   You may also want to join in on the Nonfiction Blogging and Instagram Challenge hosted by Sophisticated Dorkiness and company.

 

Currently in my bookstacks are Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole,  Roland Huntford's Race for the South Pole, and Nathaniel Phibrick's In the Heart of the Sea, as well as David Grann's Lost City of Z.  

 

Learn something new this month and have fun following rabbit trails.

 

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to Week 43

Edited November 11, 2017 by Robin M

[Robin M]

I'm currently armchair traveling with Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame, in Around the World in 80 Days.  James and I are reading Benjamin Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism which is quite interesting and learning the historical background of how some of the terrorist groups came about.

[Violet Crown]

My reading has slowed tremendously as the homeschooling year has ramped up. This week I barely finished Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea, which by the way gets the Academy's second place finish for Most Blatant Christ Figure in a High School Novel, for the Old Man's via dolorosa scene:

 

He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. He tried to get up. But it was too difficult and he sat there with the mast on his shoulder and looked at the road. A cat passed on the far side going about its business* and the old man watched it. Then he just watched the road.

 

Finally he put the mast down and stood up. He picked the mast up and put it on his shoulder and started up the road. He had to sit down five** times before he reached his shack.

 

Inside the shack he leaned the mast against the wall. In the dark he found a water bottle and took a drink. Then he lay down on the bed. He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and then over his back and legs and he slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up.

Still reading mega-chunksters by Athanasius, Rabelais, and Hakluyt, which I hope to finish by the end of the year.

 

*"I'd especially like to thank W. H. Auden, without whom this cliché wouldn't have been possible."

 

**We suppose three would have been too obvious even for Hemingway.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Mothersweets]

Good morning everyone! 

 

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I loved this! It was just the thing for October - spooky but subtle and the crumbling English manor house made the story unputdownable. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7234875-the-little-stranger?from_search=true

 

White Nights (Shetland #2) by Ann Cleaves. I like Jimmy Perez so much. These stories just kind of ramble along until hey! whaddayaknow - it's solved and Perez can get back to thinking of his girlfriend, lol. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3093685-white-nights?ac=1&from_search=true

 

 

Robin, I watched Palin's Around the World in 80 Days documentary and it was fascinating! I didn't realize there was a book. 

[Loesje22000]

I didn't finish any book this week: I had hardly time to read :(

 

About 10 days ago we received the message we will get inspection this year a.g.a.i.n.

This caused me a lot of stress (so it was extra wonderfull to meet Jenn and forget everything for a while)

but now I am overthinking everything.

 

Dd thinks I am changed in a stresschicken and wonders what she can do to get the normal me back... ;)

[fastweedpuller]

I finished Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman today.  I gave it three stars but it was one of those books where you can please take the mental image of El, Slowly Thinking While Reading this Book.  I felt like it took forever.  Perhaps because his (and other social psych) theories are so widespread, and also perhaps because I was merely reading it, not consuming-for-a-test reading it, it plodded for me.  I had to do a lot of re-reading, too.  So in instances as this, you ask yourself:  is it me?  or is it the book? 

 

Perhaps I shouldn't answer that, remain the fence-sitter.

 

That said, many of his ideas are very vigorous, and I only wish I had such a friend and collaborator as he had in Amos Tversky.

 

ps HUGS Loesje!!  And Angel too :(

Edited October 29, 2017 by fastweedpuller

[Violet Crown]

That is very stressful Loesje. I'm sorry. Hugs from afar.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Lady Florida.]

First a few replies from last week.

 

Stacia, congratulations on reaching 52!

 

 

“Audiobooks Don’t Countâ€: A Suggestion of Extreme Privilege  by Sarah Nicolas

 

 

 

Kareni, thank you for this link. Years ago I was in the audio books don't count club. In talking to a fellow homeschool mom I realized how foolish I was. Almost their whole family - mom, dad, and 2 of their 3 children had dyslexia or other reading/reading comprehension problems. A lot of their schooling was done on audio books. I've since become a fan of audio books for my own pleasure, but for many it's the only way they can truly enjoy books or use books to learn.

 

 

I finished two more books and that completed my October birthstone challenge.

 

Last Plane Out of Saigon - This was co-written by a sociology and law professor, and an attorney who kept a diary during his time in Vietnam. The sociology/law professor used his chapters to explain what was happening. The attorney's chapters were his diary entries (polished for publication). It was very anti-Vietnam War but it never pretended to be balanced. Most people think of the iconic photos of the helicopter evacuation when they think of the end of the Vietnam war, but that was an evacuation of the U.S. Embassy. The war actually ended two years earlier and the author of the diary (Richard Pena) was on the last of those planes. He and two others were the last soldiers to leave after the peace agreement was signed.This was a difficult book to read. Vietnam veterans are often the forgotten veterans, possibly even more forgotten than Korean War vets because people want to pretend Vietnam never happened. For many, the term Vietnam vet brings up an image of a crazy looking old guy with an unkempt beard who panhandles under the interstate bridge. For someone my age these were the boys I went to high school with. Men my age were at the very end of the draft and the war, but those only a year or two older than me were drafted and sent. 

 

Just One Look, Harlan Coben - I enjoyed it and it's been a while since I read a thriller but this one had almost too many twists. It was still a good, fast read.

 

My October Opal books were:

 

O - Just One Look

P - Last Plane Out of Saigon

A - Nicholas and Alexandra

L - London Under

 

Currently reading -

The Johnstown Flood

Death and Judgment

 Little Dorrit (audio)

[Lady Florida.]

Robin, I enjoyed The Lost City of Z. I hope you like it. Dh and I just watched the movie a few nights ago. While I liked the movie I can't say if it stayed close to the book (and the true story) because it's been quite a while since I read it.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman today.  I gave it three stars but it was one of those books where you can please take the mental image of El, Slowly Thinking While Reading this Book.  I felt like it took forever.  Perhaps because his (and other social psych) theories are so widespread, and also perhaps because I was merely reading it, not consuming-for-a-test reading it, it plodded for me.  I had to do a lot of re-reading, too.  So in instances as this, you ask yourself:  is it me?  or is it the book? 

 

Perhaps I shouldn't answer that, remain the fence-sitter.

 

That said, many of his ideas are very vigorous, and I only wish I had such a friend and collaborator as he had in Amos Tversky.

 

 

It's not you, it's the book. Fascinating topic, but I agree, the book is plodding.

 

My reading has slowed tremendously as the homeschooling year has ramped up. This week I barely finished Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea, which by the way gets the Academy's second place finish for Most Blatant Christ Figure in a High School Novel, for the Old Man's via dolorosa scene:

 

 

Which gets first place? I'm thinking Aslan of Narnia, but maybe that's not High School.

 

We were beaten over the head with the symbolism in my high school English class (I went to parochial school). Hence my years-long dislike of both Hemingway and symbolism in novels.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm enjoying my currently-reading stack at the moment. I have two nonfiction - Utopia for Realists (recommended recently by Eliana) which is excellent, and Why Buddhism is True, which is also great. Both are unusually well-written for this kind of nonfiction (in contrast to Thinking) - very clear and fresh prose.

 

I'm also reading the brand-new Chantal Acevedo novel, The Living Infinite, which is excellent so far, Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, and Swastika Night, a little-known feminist dystopia from the 1930s, which may have influenced Orwell, Atwood, and others. Still listening to The Moonstone.

 

I finished two notable books yesterday: a reread of Lord of the Flies, which I found inexpressibly brilliant in the context of other dystopian writings of the early 20th century, and Missile Paradise, a book set in the Marshall Islands following 4 characters through various misadventures. One Marshallese, 3 American characters. I don't usually love contemporary fiction with no fantasy/scifi elements, but I was sucked into this book right away and really enjoyed it. I found it while doing some "reading around the world" research - it's not a Marshallese novel, in the sense that it's written by an American, but it was on a "best books set in Oceania" list, and it did not disappoint.

[aggieamy]

  Let's not forget the end of Daylight Savings time or the Look for Circles day, Forget Me Not day, Have a Hike day, Absurdity day, and last but not least, You're Welcome day.

 

 

Actually I'd like to forget that if it's allowed.

 

 

My reading has slowed tremendously as the homeschooling year has ramped up. This week I barely finished Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea, which by the way gets the Academy's second place finish for Most Blatant Christ Figure in a High School Novel, for the Old Man's via dolorosa scene:

 

Still reading mega-chunksters by Athanasius, Rabelais, and Hakluyt, which I hope to finish by the end of the year.

 

*"I'd especially like to thank W. H. Auden, without whom this cliché wouldn't have been possible."

 

**We suppose three would have been too obvious even for Hemingway.

 

Hahaha. I do love a few witty swipes at Hemingway's writing. 

 

 

White Nights (Shetland #2) by Ann Cleaves. I like Jimmy Perez so much. These stories just kind of ramble along until hey! whaddayaknow - it's solved and Perez can get back to thinking of his girlfriend, lol. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3093685-white-nights?ac=1&from_search=true

 

 

Through no advanced planning on our parts at all DH is reading Shetland #1 and I'm reading #2. (I decided to skip #1 based on a few comments here.) We're both about 50% and will report in later. So far I really love how she does the mood and setting. Those long days and nights are intense.

[Violet Crown]

Which gets first place? I'm thinking Aslan of Narnia, but maybe that's not High School.

 

We were beaten over the head with the symbolism in my high school English class (I went to parochial school). Hence my years-long dislike of both Hemingway and symbolism in novels.

Narnia doesn't count because it's a full-bore allegory: the Christ figure is the entire didactic point. The winner is Robyn Jenkins' The Cone-Gatherers, which is Of Mice and Men for Scottish secondary schools, and features a character who is literally sinless, and is literally hanged on a tree by the wicked for the sins of the world against the innocent. But Hemingway got knocked down to third place when dh reminded me of the existence of Billy Budd.

 

And I feel your literary pain. I had a wonderful freshman English professor who spent the year beating "hunt the symbol" as a critical approach out of our idiot heads.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Violet Crown

[aggieamy]

Piggy backing on Kareni and Lady's discussion on audiobooks I think it's important to realize that audiobooks can be a great help to families here where English is not the main language spoken at home. I've done some engineering projects in communities where most of the people were immigrants from Mexico. (I don't know if I'm saying that PC or not. Just kindly correct me if I'm an offensive jerk.) We struggled with communication because if the parents couldn't speak English then they couldn't read Spanish so we couldn't just have flyers printed up in Spanish and use those to communicate. I wish schools did more to supply the ESL communities with audiobooks. Then entire families could listen together. Perhaps that shall be my retirement/kids are grown project.

[Violet Crown]

Hahaha. I do love a few witty swipes at Hemingway's writing.

 

I've actually grown to appreciate and enjoy Hemingway's prose style; I've just taught this book too many times.

[Kareni]

About 10 days ago we received the message we will get inspection this year a.g.a.i.n.

This caused me a lot of stress (so it was extra wonderfull to meet Jenn and forget everything for a while)

but now I am overthinking everything.

 

Dd thinks I am changed in a stresschicken and wonders what she can do to get the normal me back... ;)

 

I hope that the inspection will soon be over and that life will return to its normal state.  (I must admit, however, to liking the term stresschicken.)

**

 

 

,,, I'll try to make a long story short.  Basically Aly has been having chest pains for two weeks.  ,,,

 

Sending good thoughts to you and your daughter, Angel.  I hope Aly will soon be pain-free.

**

 

Sending good thoughts to any and all who would benefit from some.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers ~

 

Pensées by Blaise Pascal

 

"An illuminating exploration of the nature of faith from one of history’s greatest thinkers

Blaise Pascal was not a gambler, but he posited one of the most famous wagers of all time: Every man’s life is a bet against God. It is a wager that any man can win, however. Sacrifice earthly pleasures—drink, lust, sin, etc.—and a lifetime of happiness awaits, in this world or the next. Live every day as if God exists, and you can’t lose.
 
Pascal devised his wager in the seventeenth century, but the lessons written by this brilliant man ring true today. In this collection of fragments intended as a defense of Christianity, everything is up for debate. From the nature of love to the relationship between scientific inquiry and religious faith, Pascal shows that skepticism and devotion go hand in hand."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

 

Shelter Sorts Dogs Into Hogwarts Houses, Leading to More Adoptions

**

 

Five Books Featuring Psychological Hauntings

**

 

Have a Peculiar Halloween with 8 Quirky Horror Stories

**

 

Take a Look at the Harry Potter Synopsis That Most Publishers Turned Down

**

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Ali in OR]

Finished two this week--Mink River which I loved and Gail Carriger's Soulless which was perfect for my attention span (or lack thereof) this week. I'm now at the point where I've done all of the Bingo squares that I think I can do accidentally or casually. Now I'm seeking out books specifically to fill squares to see if I can get a black out. Soulless was for the Steampunk square. I don't think I would seek out a book just because it has steampunk elements, as I don't think that part of the story grabbed me. I did like the urban fantasy aspects and felt these werewolves and vampires and their issues were much lighter than the Written in Red series (but some racy stuff too for those who prefer to avoid that--I won't hand it over to my 14 yo). Fun read--may continue the series at some point but not immediately.

 

Up next: I started A Morbid Taste for Bones, the first Brother Cadfael mystery for the medieval square. And I have A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea which someone here did for the seaworthy square.

 

[Negin]

Benjamin Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism which is quite interesting and learning the historical background of how some of the terrorist groups came about.

Robin, that sounds like something I might like. I've added it to my never-ending wish list. 

 

 

About 10 days ago we received the message we will get inspection this year a.g.a.i.n.

This caused me a lot of stress (so it was extra wonderfull to meet Jenn and forget everything for a while)

but now I am overthinking everything.

 

Dd thinks I am changed in a stresschicken and wonders what she can do to get the normal me back... ;)

:grouphug:

[Negin]

I read The Nightingale - 5 Stars - This is about the closest I've read to a perfect novel. I was initially reluctant to read it, since I’ve read another book by this author and it wasn’t my favorite by any means, it was just okay. I’m so glad that I gave this one a go! I was engrossed right from the start and could barely put it down. The characters were portrayed beautifully and the descriptions of France and WWII were gripping. One of the characters is based on Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian countess who personally escorted over a hundred downed allied airmen over the Pyrenees to safety.

 

I read one of the most emotional parts while at the bank and could barely see through my tears. If you love historical fiction, you’ll like this one.

 

My favorite quotes:

“…love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us.â€

 

“As I approach the end of my years, I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.â€

 

 

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]

Some bookish posts ~

 

Shelter Sorts Dogs Into Hogwarts Houses, Leading to More Adoptions **

 

 

 

Awwww, Molly is in Gryffindor!

[Lady Florida.]

Awwww, Molly is in Gryffindor!

 

I did the quiz based on our no longer with us Sheltie (my avatar) and he came out as Ravenclaw. No real surprise as he was a smart pup. He practically trained himself. His breed is the 6th smartest.

 

That shelter isn't far from me. I would have thought one of the local news stations would report something like that, although maybe they did I didn't see it. I only watch local news sporadically.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[mumto2]

I loved the doggie sorting link! :)

 

Loesje :grouphug: I was lucky and was never inspected, not required by law to register and since they never registered for school we were lucky. The retired inspector attended our church and we were questioned a lot so I always worried a better would appear. One of my friends had to be each year because of foster parenting. She loves to take pictures of everything and prepared a very long slide show on her lap top each year so the inspector could see everything her kids did. It seemed to work well in terms of her slide show took up a large part of the time allocated for the inspection!

 

I am currently listening to The Sisters Brothers for my western bingo square https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11319473-the-sisters-brothers. It is OK. I am not a fan of Westerns apparently.... :lol:

 

My birthstone challenge for October is almost done. I am currently reading Ammie, Come Home https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140403.Ammie_Come_Home by Barbara Michaels who is Elizabeth Peters. Very spooky........That will finish Opal! I think I am close on Tourmaline also.

[Kareni]

Some currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

Three mysteries from a lengthy series by M.Z. Kelly:

 

Hollywood Assassin: A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller (Book 1)

 

Hollywood Intrigue: A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller (Book 9)

 

Hollywood Lust: A Hollywood Alphabet Thriller (Book 12) 

 

 

paranormal romance: Lost Wolf (Curse of the Moon Book 1) by Stacy Claflin

 

female/female romance: No Strings Attached (Pink Bean Series, book 1)  by Harper Bliss

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Ruby the dog is a Hufflepuff. She would be a star seeker on a quidditch team, provided that the golden snitch was a tennis ball...

 

White Nights (Shetland #2) by Ann Cleaves. I like Jimmy Perez so much. These stories just kind of ramble along until hey! whaddayaknow - it's solved and Perez can get back to thinking of his girlfriend, lol. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3093685-white-nights?ac=1&from_search=true

 

 

 

Through no advanced planning on our parts at all DH is reading Shetland #1 and I'm reading #2. (I decided to skip #1 based on a few comments here.) We're both about 50% and will report in later. So far I really love how she does the mood and setting. Those long days and nights are intense.

 

I'm so happy to see all the Shetland love! I got hooked by the series, then read the books -- they are different but both quite good.  I also love Ann Cleeves' Vera series.

 

About 10 days ago we received the message we will get inspection this year a.g.a.i.n.
This caused me a lot of stress (so it was extra wonderfull to meet Jenn and forget everything for a while)
but now I am overthinking everything.

Dd thinks I am changed in a stresschicken and wonders what she can do to get the normal me back... ;)

 

Happy I was able to provide some distraction, Loesje! And hope it all goes well so your dd can get her normal mom back :laugh:

 

I finished, and really enjoyed Magpie Murders by Anthony Horwitz, which has an Agatha Christie styled murder mystery wrapped inside another mystery. I'm still reading Grand Hotel but am totally absorbed by the audiobook version of The Bear and the Nightingale. I'm thinking I need to go find some knitting or hand applique work so I can just sit and listen this afternoon. These titles should bring me to 52 for the year, but I'm not sure as my count might be off after abandoning Rebecca. 

 

 

 

[Zebra]

I believe that the ability to listen to something and actually hear it is important.   And I think that audiobooks can help you hone that skill.   I had a terrible time in college listening to lectures, but at some point after that I realized I needed to work on developing that in myself.   For whatever reason it didn't come naturally to me.  I started with talk radio, and moved on to audiobooks.

 

Last week I finished Alice Hoffman's new book Faithful.  I think I liked it.  It was different than her other books, not quite so supernatural.  It didn't feel quite put together to me.   I did identify with the idea of a painful past that holds you back and controls you until you are able to move on.   And how sometimes that takes a very long time and completely changes you along the way.

 

This week I am listening to Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth.   I am not usually much of a short story person, but I really like Jhumpa Lahiri.   I am also reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry which I am having a really hard time getting into.   This is by The Man Called Ove author, and I liked that book ok.  I didn't love it.  I'm getting ready to give up on this one though.  The 7 year old doesn't sound 7 years old, and has a lot of magical fairyland talk, and I am just not interested.   

[Lady Florida.]

All this talk about the Shetland books makes me want to get back to them. I own several on Kindle and read the first two. Every time I planned to get started on Red Bones, the third one, some other book distracted me. I think I'll move it up in my mental list of what to read next. First I want to finish the Inspector Brunetti book I'm currently reading. While I almost always have more than one book going at a time I don't usually read more than one mystery, police procedural, or other similar genre at the same time.

[aggieamy]

I was doing OPAL but since I'm only 0/4 I'm going to wait to finish my current O book until November so I can count it towards TOPAZ. Pathetic but I need a win in the challenges. Ha.

 

What are you ladies reading for Z?

[Kareni]

For that extra $325.00 you have in your pocket ~

 

Bookshelf Quilt

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

Sending good wishes to all in need.

 

Mat Johnson's novel Loving Day is a worthwhile read. Several years ago, some of us here on this thread were introduced to Johnson via his novel Pym.  What we found there remains true in this book: Johnson is a writer with a wild imagination, a story teller who pulls us in with humor and ease only to have his readers ask serious and difficult questions of ourselves.

 

But I need an escape.  I was happy to be reminded of Colin Cotterill's series featuring the coroner Doctor Siri and am reading Disco for the Departed.

 

I'm not into Halloween like many adults are but I was interested in attending a Dias de Muertos festivity at a local museum. While many of the activities were geared for children, we decorated sugar skulls, purchased Pan de Muertos ("bone" bread) and just enjoyed chatting with museum staff and volunteers while watching happy children.

 

On the fall theme, we roasted an heirloom pumpkin today. Most of the pulp is in the freezer but I did make a pot of curried pumpkin soup for dinner. Yum!

[mumto2]

I was doing OPAL but since I'm only 0/4 I'm going to wait to finish my current O book until November so I can count it towards TOPAZ. Pathetic but I need a win in the challenges. Ha.

 

What are you ladies reading for Z?

 

 

I think I will be reading The Zig Zag Girl https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22838934-the-zig-zag-girl?ac=1&from_search=true by Elly Griffith's who is a favorite series author of mine but I haven't read this series yet. It's a book I abandoned at one point so we shall see.

 

I read The Zookeeper's Wife for my Alphabetical by title. Very well done.

 

 

 

For that extra $325.00 you have in your pocket ~

 

 

Bookshelf Quilt

 

Regards,

Kareni

Oddly, I just bought fabric for the bookshelves yesterday. Seriously, I've been saving strips for books for the past year. I have a free online pattern that looks good if anyone wants the link. I still need more books and in this case I mean fabric ones! :lol:

 

I finished Ammie Come Home a few minutes ago. Enjoyed it.

[Kareni]

Regarding a bookshelf quilt ~

 

Oddly, I just bought fabric for the bookshelves yesterday. Seriously, I've been saving strips for books for the past year. I have a free online pattern that looks good if anyone wants the link. I still need more books and in this case I mean fabric ones! :lol:

 

I will definitely look forward to seeing your creation! 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Matryoshka]

I finished a whole bunch of very short books this week - and today finally finished The Imitation of Christ as well as an audio in the car dropping off my dd at homeschool camp in VT - if I include those it's seven...

 

119. Opal by Kristina Wojtaszek - For the Opal birthstone challenge, of course.  A very nicely told fairy tale with echoes of Snow White but also different. I really liked it. 5 stars.

 

120. Love Among the Chickens by Wodehouse (audiobook) - silly, fun British farce. Actually liked it better than Jeeves & Wooster. For the Chicken on the Cover square. 4 stars.

 

121. Die Verwandlung / The Metamorphosis by Kafka - for the Author I Think I Hate square, but if you read my comments last week, you'll see that Kafka has redeemed himself (unlike a similar try I took with Borges, who continues to annoy me).  Apparently I should not have started Kafka with a collection of what apparently was unpublished stuff from under his bed.  4 stars.

 

122. Perfect Happiness by Anjel Lertxundi - for the Basque square.  I picked it up just because I couldn't find much else translated from the Basque, but I ended up quite liking it.  4 stars.

 

123. Of Mice and Men (audiobook) - My first Steinbeck.  After hearing for years how horribly depressing Steinbeck was, I liked it much better than I'd anticipated.  For the Novella square. 4 stars.

 

124. The Imitation of Christ by Tomas à Kempis (ebook) - It crosses off the Random book from the 240 Shelf square. 

 

125. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards - Cozy Mystery Set in 1960's. I enjoyed the cat. :)  3 stars.

 

Currently reading:

 

- Cloud Atlas (ebook) - I have no idea where it's going, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. :)

 

- Rabbit Cake (audiobook) - Started this on the way back from VT.  Liking it so far.

 

- Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World - I kind of 'knew' a lot of this history in vague, broad strokes, but it's kind of horrifying to read the details.  Amazing the things they don't teach you in US History class... (and now I want to taste a Gros Michel banana...)

 

Coming up:

 

I took a whole bunch of essay collections out for the Essay Collection square, and I think I'm going to go with Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose.  I'm waiting on En busca del unicornio / In Search of the Unicorn for my next Spanish book that will also check the Middle Ages square.  I'll need to figure out a Topaz book for November...

[Mom-ninja.]

Thanks for the link to the middle ages book list. 

 

I finished The Chemist and I enjoyed it. I appreciated a novel in which the damsel in distress rescues herself and others included. Strong female character who is smart, resourceful, and can kick butt. Not only that but she is respected, admired, and feared for her abilities. My only complaint is the love story bit. I don't know. Just didn't get into that part of the story. I'm not a big romance person so there's that. I tend to roll my eyes at any romance. 

 

 

I started a new book and I don't know if I can finish. I like historical fiction, but there's a reason I usually avoid recent historical fiction. By page 50, I've found three errors that reinforce the author's point, but are wrong - one's minor, but two are major and easily googled. Yes, I checked because I found them so buggy.

I'm the same. If an author has made gross errors I can't bring myself to finish the book. That's one of my reasons for never finishing (or reading the rest of the series) the Outlander book. Even much later when I no longer remember the name of the book or the author, I will remember the annoying errors and they continue to irk me. 

 

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

 

 

Oddly, I just bought fabric for the bookshelves yesterday. Seriously, I've been saving strips for books for the past year. I have a free online pattern that looks good if anyone wants the link. I still need more books and in this case I mean fabric ones! :lol:

 

 

 

I would love the link.

[mumto2]

I would love the link.

Here is the link http://www.fabricatwork.com/fabric-at-work-bookcase-quilt-pattern.htm

 

Other helpful links:

 

http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2011/04/mini-bookshelf-quilt-tutorial.html

 

http://internationalstashes.blogspot.com/2014/07/jamies-bookcase-quilt-august.html

 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/rummm44/bookshelf-quilts/?lp=true. Personally I prefer the lighter colored bookcases.

 

And my book tie in......Harry Potter. I going to do plain old books first but this is my dream bookcase quilt! ;)http://www.fandominstitches.com/2015/07/harry-potter-bookcase-quilt-along.html

 

 

Eta fixed the HP link

Edited October 30, 2017 by mumto2

[Negin]

The Kindle version of The Summer Before the War is $2.99 today. 

 

[aggieamy]

*cheering and rioting in the streets*

 

Just when I gave up on the Opal challenge I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and it features an opal miner.

 

Also the book was excellent. And spooky. October challenge done!

 

 

[ErinE]

Loesje, I hope everything turns out okay. That sounds so stressful!

 

Books read last week:

 

• Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Historical fiction. A natural philosopher, a puritan, and a vagabond travel through Post-Restoration England and Colonial America. This isn't so much a story as a scientific history, with many long sections on Euclidean geometry, the development of calculus, the nature of light, the creation of gunpowder, and more. After finishing, I read reviews that said you should start with Cryptonomicon which I haven't read and I don't think I will anytime soon.
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaSalle. Lovecraftian Horror. A man from Harlem deals with the white devils he knows and discovers devils he doesn't. I've been on a Lovecraft kick, reading through a few inspired works, listening to an audiobook of short stories, and reading some of Lovecraft's short stories. H.P. Lovecraft was a sexist, racist, and anti-Semite and this novella takes a different twist, told from the perspective of a black man dealing with a racist world. It was too short, but an excellent story, similar to Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country.
• Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. Nonfiction-Romance Writing. A satirical look at the largest genre in the book industry. There are some great nuggets of information, but the snark could get wearisome. The "Choose Your Own Romantic Adventure" at the end is definitely worth a read. If anyone's interested in a copy, I can send mine to you.
• Billy Flynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain. Historical Fiction. An Army private, home on leave, attends a football game while reflecting on his wartime experience. I was the wrong reader for this book as I was bothered every time the author was wrong about familiar people, industries, and histories plus the blatant racism and sexism were ridiculous. It was an important subject, but handled poorly. My library's book club read.
• Horns by Joe Hill. Horror. A man accused of murdering his girlfriend wakes up to discover he's grown horns. Good creepy fiction.

For non-fiction, I've put in a request for Red Famine by Anne Applebaum, who wrote a great book on Russian internment camps, Gulag. I'm trying to finish up The Myth of the Eternal Return and I plan on starting either a Joseph Campbell book or The Golden Bough. I have a few more scary books to finish up along with Lovecraft's Monsters audiobook.

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers; this is a repeat ~

 

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary  by M. R. James

 

"Sometimes the greatest horrors lurk in the most mundane places

This collection features some of M. R. James’s greatest tales of the supernatural world crossing over into our own. In “Number 13,†an inn that previously belonged to an alchemist changes dimensions in the night. “The Mezzotint†features a painting of a house reenacting a gruesome scene from the house’s history. In “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas,†an antiquary who has discovered the location of a treasure gets far more than he bargained for.

James’s tales of the terror that hides beneath the prosaic continue to stun more than a century after they were written."

**

 

Also currently free ~

 

Beyond Death: The Afterlife Series, book 1  by Deb McEwan

 

Friends Like These  by Hannah Ellis

 

A Fugitive in Grass Valley  by I.M. Flippy

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And a couple of bookish posts ~

 

15 Cat Books in Sci-Fi and Fantasy for You to Read Right Meow

 

"In honor of National Cat Day on October 29th, we’re looking at some of the greatest cat books in sci-fi and fantasy. What qualifies a book as a cat book, you ask? Purr-sonally, I'd argue any book where a cat plays a memorable role in the story qualifies. If we've forgotten your favorite fictional kitty, let us know in the comments!..."

 

ALSO

 

What the Wenches Have Read in October from the Word Wenches site

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Penguin]

I finished The Snow Child over the weekend. Like Negin's The Nightingale, Eowyn Ivey wrote a book that was about as perfect as a contemporary novel gets for me. I could have lopped off the epilogue, and one of the foil characters was a bit caricatured but those are minor complaints. I loved the main characters, and the plot had just the right amount of ambiguity. And I loved the way she wrote about the Alaskan forest. It would be a very good choice for a 50-states novel.

 

This week:

 

I am back to my reread of Angela's Ashes. I had to wait for DS to be finished with it. Sharing it did not go so well - I kept losing his place  :tongue_smilie:. This morning, I started reading a children's book, The One and Only Ivan, and I am liking it so far. 

[Robin M]

Happy birthday, Kathy (Ladyflorida)

 

:party:  :party:  :party:

[aggieamy]

Happy birthday Kathy!!! You and John (Chews on Books) share a birthday. Hope your day is great and you get lots and lots of books for presents.

[Mothersweets]

Happy Birthday, Kathy! Have a great day  :party:

[ErinE]

Happy birthday Kathy!!!

[Butter]

What are you ladies reading for Z?

 

I had exactly one Z book in my to read file so I'm using that one.  Zera and the Green Man by Sandra Knauf.

 

Yesterday I finished reading August Fortress (rewrite) by Andrea Pearson.  It wasn't quite as well-edited as the previous two Kilenya rewrite books.  It's the most edge of your seat of the first three, though.

[Lady Florida.]

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

 

Happy birthday Kathy!!! You and John (Chews on Books) share a birthday. Hope your day is great and you get lots and lots of books for presents.

 

Happy birthday to John! Hard to believe he's 3 already. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[mumto2]

Happy Birthday to Kathy and John!