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Book a Week 2019 - BW17: Happy Birthday Robert Penn Warren


Robin M
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Welcome to week seventeen in our 52 Books rambling roads reading adventure. Greetings to all our readers, welcome to all who are joining in for the first time and everyone following our progress. Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as the central spot to share links to your book reviews. 

Happy Sunday and Happy Easter to all who celebrate. This month is National Poetry month and to help us celebrate, we are honoring the birthday of writer, essayist, and poet Robert Penn Warren. He was born April 24, 1905 and died at the age of 84 on September 15, 1989 from cancer. He wrote numerous novels including All the Kings Men and poetry including Promises: 1954-1956 and Now and Then: 1976-1978 for which he won Pulitizer prizes.  

 

Tell Me a Story

by

Robert Penn Warren

 

[A]

 Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

 I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse.  I heard them.

I did not know what was happening in my heart.

It was the season before the elderberry blooms,

Therefore they were going north.

 The sound was passing northward.

 [ B ]

 Tell me a story.

 In this century, and moment, of mania,

Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

 The name of the story will be Time,

But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

 

Learn about Robert Penn Warren through Brainpicking's Power and Tenderness: Robert Penn Warren on Democracy, Art, and the Integrity of the Self; Find out more and listen to his 1964 interviews with civil rights activists whom he interviewed for his 1965 book Who Speaks for the Negro?; and check out PBS's documentary Robert Penn Warren: A Vision which aired in 2018. 

 What are you reading?

 Link to week sixteen

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Happy Easter, my lovelies.  I just downloaded the 12th book in the October Daye series, Night and Silence  which is up next in my e stacks.  Currently reading Mine to Possess, #4 in the psy changeling series.  

I have done pretty well with my book buying ban the past few months and including Night and Silence, only added 4 ebooks to my stacks.  Think I'll continue for a while as I more than enough books at the moment in my stacks to keep me busy.  😎 The ban forces me to be more selective in what I do buy or download and prevents me from downloading the e freebies willy nilly.   

Today's project house task - pick out sinks and cabinetry for the bathroom and kitchenette.  Fun, fun!  

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Robin, Happy Easter to you and Happy Easter and Passover to everyone here. Hope that your day is as productive as can be! 

I need to have a book-buying ban. Oh dear. I have far too many books, more than enough that I'll ever need. 

I read Everything I Need to Know About Family I Learned from a Little Golden Book - 5 Stars - I love these Little Golden Books for adults. Little Golden Books take me back to my childhood. When I was in second grade in Tehran, my teacher at our international school, gave us the address for a bookstore that had the Little Golden Books. It was hard enough to find English books in Tehran, never mind the Little Golden ones. Oh, how I loved the days that my mom or dad would take us there! 

9780553538519.jpg

MY RATING SYSTEM
5 Stars
The book is fantastic. It’s not perfect, since no book is, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine. 
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.

 

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Best wishes to all who are celebrating today....

Some bookish posts ~

This is fascinating:  'Extraordinary' 500-year-old library catalogue reveals books lost to time

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/extraordinary-500-year-old-library-catalogue-reveals-books-lost-to-time-libro-de-los-epitomes

Dutch Artists Paint Giant Bookcase On An Apartment Building Featuring Residents’ Favorite Books

https://www.boredpanda.com/street-art-utrecht-apartment-building-transformed-into-bookcase-jan-is-de-man/?utm_source=mail.yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

The 18 Cookbooks That Cookbook Authors Actually Use

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-18-cookbooks-that-cookbook-authors-actually-use?ref=scroll

Regards,

Kareni

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I ended up borrowing a book from a friend this week and finishing it quickly - The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield's autobiography. It was good.

And I'm still working on J. Gresham Machen's The Virgin Birth of Christ (which, oddly enough, is referenced in Butterfield's book). I'm about 80% through. Will I finish this week? Here's hoping, lol!

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Happy Easter and Passover to all who celebrate.

I finished my “Something Blue” book by trying a book from P.L. Gaus’ Amish Country Mystery series called Cast a Blue Shadow.  It wasn't bad but I didn’t download another in the series either.  Set in a small college setting with some characters who were Amish, some Mennonite, and some converted.  Honestly it lacked the charm that Amish mysteries usually have which I missed but was possibly more realistic.

I also read the first in a sewing cozy mystery which was fun.  It probably was more library than sewing as the main character was a small towns new librarian and the sewing descriptions were super short.  I totally enjoyed Elizabeth Lynn Casey’s Sew Deadly and have already checked out the next in the series.  Sew Deadly counts as one of my “First in a new to me cozy series” Ten books.  I like this category as it’s easy and fun! 😉

Still working my way through the latest in CJ Sansom’s Shardlake Tudor mystery series.  Edward is now King and Shardlake is working for Lady Elizabeth behind the scenes.  Tombland so far has been centered in Norfolk and the unrest surrounding the implementation of the enclosure laws.  It’s very good but an 800 page paper book takes me awhile.  

I am also listening to the latest Lady Darby mystery by Anna Lee Huber❤️and I have a Lee Child And a Mary Balogh started on my Kindle.

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50 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

Happy Easter and Passover to all who celebrate.

I finished my “Something Blue” book by trying a book from P.L. Gaus’ Amish Country Mystery series called Cast a Blue Shadow.  It wasn't bad but I didn’t download another in the series either.  Set in a small college setting with some characters who were Amish, some Mennonite, and some converted.  Honestly it lacked the charm that Amish mysteries usually have which I missed but was possibly more realistic.

I also read the first in a sewing cozy mystery which was fun.  It probably was more library than sewing as the main character was a small towns new librarian and the sewing descriptions were super short.  I totally enjoyed Elizabeth Lynn Casey’s Sew Deadly and have already checked out the next in the series.  Sew Deadly counts as one of my “First in a new to me cozy series” Ten books.  I like this category as it’s easy and fun! 😉

Still working my way through the latest in CJ Sansom’s Shardlake Tudor mystery series.  Edward is now King and Shardlake is working for Lady Elizabeth behind the scenes.  Tombland so far has been centered in Norfolk and the unrest surrounding the implementation of the enclosure laws.  It’s very good but an 800 page paper book takes me awhile.  

I am also listening to the latest Lady Darby mystery by Anna Lee Huber❤️and I have a Lee Child And a Mary Balogh started on my Kindle.

Are there some Amish mysteries that you would recommend?  I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, so Amish/Mennonite books tend to be nostalgic for me.

A few years ago I found out that my (step)dad's grandparents were Mennonite, but they had left the church.  I was able to trace the genealogy all the way back to Switzerland.

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Happy Easter everyone!

Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol. This is a middle grade graphic novel about a girl going away to summer camp and desperately hoping to find friendship there. I liked the artwork and the story went along just as I expected it to. My 12yo read it and liked it ok. I think I was expecting it to be more like one of Raina Telgameier's novels about growing up but this one didn't quite have the charm of those. I gave it 3 stars.

I started listening to A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and read by Nicholas Guy Smith. 

Still reading Strange and company and also downloaded one that Negin posted about a few days ago - Coming Home by Rosamund Pilcher. Sounds good - thank you Negin!

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1 hour ago, Junie said:

Are there some Amish mysteries that you would recommend?  I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, so Amish/Mennonite books tend to be nostalgic for me.

A few years ago I found out that my (step)dad's grandparents were Mennonite, but they had left the church.  I was able to trace the genealogy all the way back to Switzerland.

 

How neat!  My view of accurate probably isn’t very accurate or realistic but I do enjoy Amish mysteries.  A couple of years after we moved to England there was a reality show where several Amish teens came to live in England which was followed by British teens living with Amish families in the US.  It was extremely popular and I spent hours fielding questions because I was American and I had read all sorts of fictional books.  My mom and I had a good time trying to figure out the answers!

So here’s some favorites:

Kate Burkholder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6115138-sworn-to-silence?ac=1&from_search=true These are NOT cozies, definitely adult content and should be read in order because of an ongoing storyline.  @JennW in SoCal discovered these years ago and I love them.  The main character left her Amish family under grim circumstances and returns the area as the chief of police.  

Marta Perry’shttps://www.goodreads.com/series/56307  I think I have read these.  While my kids were little I subscribed to the Love Inspired Suspense series which frequently had books featuring Amish characters and I remember Marta Perry as being a favorite author from that time but have no records. I just checked my Overdrive for Love Inspired suspense and discovered quite a few are available so I checked one out to try, Plain Secrets by Kat Wilkinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13545607-plain-secrets?ac=1&from_search=true.  It’s been awhile!

This is one of my favorites that I have kept.  Karen Harperhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373455.Dark_Road_Home.  I believe Karen Harper has some other similar series I haven’t liked them as well.

If you try any of these please let me know what you think.

 

 

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43 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

 

 

How neat!  My view of accurate probably isn’t very accurate or realistic but I do enjoy Amish mysteries.  A couple of years after we moved to England there was a reality show where several Amish teens came to live in England which was followed by British teens living with Amish families in the US.  It was extremely popular and I spent hours fielding questions because I was American and I had read all sorts of fictional books.  My mom and I had a good time trying to figure out the answers!

So here’s some favorites:

Kate Burkholder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6115138-sworn-to-silence?ac=1&from_search=true These are NOT cozies, definitely adult content and should be read in order because of an ongoing storyline.  @JennW in SoCal discovered these years ago and I love them.  The main character left her Amish family under grim circumstances and returns the area as the chief of police.  

Marta Perry’shttps://www.goodreads.com/series/56307  I think I have read these.  While my kids were little I subscribed to the Love Inspired Suspense series which frequently had books featuring Amish characters and I remember Marta Perry as being a favorite author from that time but have no records. I just checked my Overdrive for Love Inspired suspense and discovered quite a few are available so I checked one out to try, Plain Secrets by Kat Wilkinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13545607-plain-secrets?ac=1&from_search=true.  It’s been awhile!

This is one of my favorites that I have kept.  Karen Harperhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373455.Dark_Road_Home.  I believe Karen Harper has some other similar series I haven’t liked them as well.

If you try any of these please let me know what you think.

 

 

My library is pathetic and I don't like e-books.  😞

I just checked and they have several of the Kate Burkholder books, but not the first one.  They look pretty interesting.  I'm not opposed to buying books... 😉  Are these graphic?  They seem like they might be similar in style to Dee Henderson's books?

The TV series you mentioned sounds kind of neat.  I wonder which group had the more difficult time adjusting...

 

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1 hour ago, Junie said:

My library is pathetic and I don't like e-books.  😞

I just checked and they have several of the Kate Burkholder books, but not the first one.  They look pretty interesting.  I'm not opposed to buying books... 😉  Are these graphic?  They seem like they might be similar in style to Dee Henderson's books?

The TV series you mentioned sounds kind of neat.  I wonder which group had the more difficult time adjusting...

 

The Kate Burkeholder books are fairly graphic in places and I occasionally sort of skim over the violent bits.  I think they simply need to be read in order because of an ongoing romance mainly.  I haven’t read a current Dee Henderson but these are definitely more descriptive then I remember her books being when it comes to the violent bits.

Regarding the TV shows, I looked around on YouTube and found some links.  Here is the first one for the Amish to England (I only watched the first couple of minutes but pretty sure it’s right.....wondering if it’s the first two shows because of length).   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uViUnBG7RK4.  It’s called The Amish, the World’s Squarest Teenagers.

 Then the Brits came to the Amish ....... Living with the Amish appears to be on YouTube here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R6wUr87wIAI

I watched these years ago and thought it was harder for the British overall.  

 

 

 

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Reading:

Still reading "The Year of Living Danishly" by Helen Russell. She has a great sense of humor and it's an enjoyable read.

Hope to finish this week but there is a lot going on at work and at home so there are no guarantees.

Audiobook:

I am listening to Terri Blackstock's crime novel "If I Live." Pretty sure I have read it before but cannot remember much of it. I should get this done this week because of all the driving I will be doing. I need another suggestion for an Audiobook that keeps me awake and alert.

 

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8 hours ago, Liz CA said:

Reading:

Still reading "The Year of Living Danishly" by Helen Russell. She has a great sense of humor and it's an enjoyable read.

Hope to finish this week but there is a lot going on at work and at home so there are no guarantees.

Audiobook:

I am listening to Terri Blackstock's crime novel "If I Live." Pretty sure I have read it before but cannot remember much of it. I should get this done this week because of all the driving I will be doing. I need another suggestion for an Audiobook that keeps me awake and alert.

 

I liked the If I live series too!

A couple of ideas for your audiobook search....... a couple of all time favorites

Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542496-the-anatomist-s-wife

CS Harris Sebastian St. Cyr series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39149.What_Angels_Fear?ac=1&from_search=true

and Lee Child’s Reacher just because I am back to reading those. 😂

Eta  Julia Spencer Fleming is good on audio too.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113002.In_the_Bleak_Midwinter?ac=1&from_search=true

 

I have been rereading Sayers and Christie by audiobook whenever possible in recent months.  I love having them read to me!

Edited by mumto2
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1 hour ago, mumto2 said:

I liked the If I live series too!

A couple of ideas for your audiobook search....... a couple of all time favorites

Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542496-the-anatomist-s-wife

CS Harris Sebastian St. Cyr series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39149.What_Angels_Fear?ac=1&from_search=true

and Lee Child’s Reacher just because I am back to reading those. 😂

Eta  Julia Spencer Fleming is good on audio too.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113002.In_the_Bleak_Midwinter?ac=1&from_search=true

 

I have been rereading Sayers and Christie by audiobook whenever possible in recent months.  I love having them read to me!

 

Thank you!

I have read / listened through Julia Spencer Fleming's series and it was great!  I am unfamiliar with Lady Darby and Sebastian St. Cyr even though I remember the latter having been mentioned in previous book threads. I am looking at Overdrive now.

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Waving hi!    This is my catch up reading post.   Posting first, and coming back later to read what each one here is reading, or has read.

 Completed: 

  • 50:   The Crime at Black Dudley:  Albert Campion Bk1 ~ Margery Allingham,  narrated by David Thorpe (2+) (Suffolk)  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2772024105
  • 51:   Look to the Lady: Albert Campion Bk3 ~ Margery Allingham, narrated by Philip Franks (3) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2591601857 .
  • 52:   Persuasion ~ Jane Austen, narrated by Nadia May  (4)  Classic  (Reread) I read this for the first time in 2013 and gave it 3+ stars, and have listened to it only once more since then. Fast forward to this month, and my third go through Persuasion: I'm sure the audio version helped to make the story more enjoyable this time through.
  • 53:   One Corpse Too Many ~ Ellis Peter, narrated by Stephen Thorne  (5) 
  • 54:   The American Agent: Maisie Dobbs Bk15 ~ Jacqueline Winspear,  narrated by Julie Teal (4)  Finally!  Winspear gifts Maisie with some 'love-filled' breaks. This story has the least depressive undertone out of all the Maisie Dobbs stories I've heard – Orlagh Cassidy is a good narrated but conveys “depressed” too well - I am keen to listen to the next book in the series, only if Orlagh doesn’t read it.
  • 55:  The Titian Committee:  Jonathan Argyll Bk2 ~ Iain Pears  (3)  While I liked this book, I didn’t enjoy the storyline as much as the first book in the series, it was much better; and, since I read TTC book spread out over a month I got tangled up a bit with some of the characters and their Italian surnames.
  • 56:  Grey Mask: Miss Silver Bk1 ~ Patricia Wentworth, narrated by Diana Bishop (3-)    Reviewed at 04/19 on this post 

Still reading/listening to:

  • Zechariah (KJV)  
  • The Luminaries ~  Eleanor Catton     this will count towards three of my 10x reading challenges:  spelling, chunkster, and, Downunder (NZ & Aust) authors.
  • The Case is Closed: Miss Silver Bk2 ~ Patricia Wentworth, narrated by Diana Bishop
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On 4/21/2019 at 11:47 PM, mumto2 said:

The Kate Burkeholder books are fairly graphic in places and I occasionally sort of skim over the violent bits.  I think they simply need to be read in order because of an ongoing romance mainly.  I haven’t read a current Dee Henderson but these are definitely more descriptive then I remember her books being when it comes to the violent bits.

Regarding the TV shows, I looked around on YouTube and found some links.  Here is the first one for the Amish to England (I only watched the first couple of minutes but pretty sure it’s right.....wondering if it’s the first two shows because of length).   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uViUnBG7RK4.  It’s called The Amish, the World’s Squarest Teenagers.

 Then the Brits came to the Amish ....... Living with the Amish appears to be on YouTube here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R6wUr87wIAI

I watched these years ago and thought it was harder for the British overall.  

 

 

 

Thanks for the tv show links.  I especially enjoyed the one with the Brits coming to live with the Amish.  In fact, I watched all 6 episodes that I was able to find.

Episode 4 was actually about a Mennonite family in Ohio.  It's likely that I'm (very distantly) related to them. :)

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3 hours ago, Junie said:

Thanks for the tv show links.  I especially enjoyed the one with the Brits coming to live with the Amish.  In fact, I watched all 6 episodes that I was able to find.

Episode 4 was actually about a Mennonite family in Ohio.  It's likely that I'm (very distantly) related to them. 🙂

😉Glad you enjoyed them!  I think there were only 6 episodes.

 

10 hours ago, tuesdayschild said:

Waving hi!    This is my catch up reading post.   Posting first, and coming back later to read what each one here is reading, or has read.

 Completed: 

  • 50:   The Crime at Black Dudley:  Albert Campion Bk1 ~ Margery Allingham,  narrated by David Thorpe (2+) (Suffolk)  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2772024105
  • 51:   Look to the Lady: Albert Campion Bk3 ~ Margery Allingham, narrated by Philip Franks (3) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2591601857 .
  • 52:   Persuasion ~ Jane Austen, narrated by Nadia May  (4)  Classic  (Reread) I read this for the first time in 2013 and gave it 3+ stars, and have listened to it only once more since then. Fast forward to this month, and my third go through Persuasion: I'm sure the audio version helped to make the story more enjoyable this time through.
  • 53:   One Corpse Too Many ~ Ellis Peter, narrated by Stephen Thorne  (5) 
  • 54:   The American Agent: Maisie Dobbs Bk15 ~ Jacqueline Winspear,  narrated by Julie Teal (4)  Finally!  Winspear gifts Maisie with some 'love-filled' breaks. This story has the least depressive undertone out of all the Maisie Dobbs stories I've heard – Orlagh Cassidy is a good narrated but conveys “depressed” too well - I am keen to listen to the next book in the series, only if Orlagh doesn’t read it.
  • 55:  The Titian Committee:  Jonathan Argyll Bk2 ~ Iain Pears  (3)  While I liked this book, I didn’t enjoy the storyline as much as the first book in the series, it was much better; and, since I read TTC book spread out over a month I got tangled up a bit with some of the characters and their Italian surnames.
  • 56:  Grey Mask: Miss Silver Bk1 ~ Patricia Wentworth, narrated by Diana Bishop (3-)    Reviewed at 04/19 on this post 

Still reading/listening to:

  • Zechariah (KJV)  
  • The Luminaries ~  Eleanor Catton     this will count towards three of my 10x reading challenges:  spelling, chunkster, and, Downunder (NZ & Aust) authors.
  • The Case is Closed: Miss Silver Bk2 ~ Patricia Wentworth, narrated by Diana Bishop

I have attempted to read The Crime at Black Dudley many times and not managing it has felt like a bit of a failure.😉. I have wondered if I would like the audio better and I think you answered that!

I just managed to hit post while grabbing a slipping computer.......the Argyll series, the first one was my favorite!

Maisie Dobbs can be so depressing and I keep going back for more!  I have identified several series I want to finish (or at least make progress on) this year and that is one.  I am now curious about the new narrator.

For the Lady Darby fans, I finished listening to the new release.❤️ It was excellent with some back story finally explained that I had wondered about.  I am about an hour into listening to the Milkman.  It’s good but thanks for the recommendation to listen, I don’t think it is a book I would enjoy reading.

i finished the last few page of Lee Child’s Without Fail early this morning.  Not the best in the series but it was my next in the series.  It’s another book that I have tried a few times.  I actually liked it when I actually read beyond a few pages.  Isn’t it odd when Kindle lets you know the point where you have stopped before?

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Haven't posted in a while; catching up now. Since the bluebonnets first appeared, I've read:

23. Emma Tennant, The Bad Sister. Modern re-take of the classic James Hogg novel, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, taking up the themes of class, witchcraft, and identity confusion in a 1970s feminist context. Category: Scots Wha' Hae.

24. Kenneth Fearing, The Big Clock. Noir, as written by a poet, and very good, though ending abruptly. Category: Crime & Punishment.

25. Gerard de Nerval, Selected Poems. Dual language. Late Romantic, or early Surrealist? Maybe if my French were better, I could tell. Category: Dramatic, Lyric, & Epic.

26. Elaine Dundy, The Old Man and Me. American girl in London, looking for ... love? sex? revenge? Not as wonderful as The Dud Avocado (American girl in Paris), but awfully fun. Category: Little Oval on the Spine.

27. S. T. Bindoff, Tudor England. A Pelican history, unfortunately now badly dated due to later scholarship on the English Reformation; also taking for granted the reader's Englishness and Protestantism, which make Bindoff both frustratingly under-informative (taking too much English historical knowledge for granted) and irritatingly chauvinistic. Category: Plucked From the Air.

28. Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette. One can't get too much wallowing in La Comedie Humaine. Balzac laments and moralizes on the awful behavior of the French of all social classes in the decadence of the Restoration Period, shaking his authorial head sadly as he spoons up more for his greedy reader. Bette is as bad as they come; but she has a lot of competition in this novel. Virtue really should overcome, but what can you do? Category: Brexit Special.

29. St. John of the Cross, Poems. Dual language. I actually did quite a lot of Lent-appropriate reading, it's just most of it wasn't the kind of books that one reads all of. But I did read the mystical poetry of San Juan de la Cruz, and about time. Too bad I have no real Spanish. Categories: Dramatic, Lyric, & Epic; Brexit Special.

30. Trollope, Is He Popenjoy? Okay as a Trollope novel, though somewhat recycling the plot of He Knew He Was Right, a superior novel. Ripped from the headlines of 1870s London, a Marquis who is possibly Trollope's most thoroughly nasty, vulgar character ever wreaks havoc on his family as he may or may not be passing off an impostor as his legitimate infant son, Lord Popenjoy. The scandal doesn't age well, the action never quite rises to a crisis at any point. and the thing is 600+ blessed pages long. I know Trollope wrote primarily for the money, but it rarely shows quite so much. No 10x10 categories, even.

Currently reading Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and simultaneously reading the children's version to Wee Girl. It's a little surreal, reading the original of each chapter and then the bowdlerized version. I keep wanting to pause and say, "You know, sweetie, this part is really about the Treaty of Utrecht and the English betrayal of Oxford and Bolingbroke." But I don't. I do think they shouldn't have edited out Swift's scatological passages; it's just the kind of thing kids would like.

 

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Last week I started Louis L’Amour’s The Lonesome Gods.  Yesterday I finished it. It was okay, I mean, the man could definitely tell a story, but he waxes philosophical too often for my taste, as is often the case in his longer, more serious books. 

I also listened to The Silver Linings Playbook, by Matthew Quick. I enjoyed it, and was rooting for the main character, but I find it sort of deplorable that the happy ending happens because two mentally ill people become involved and help “fix” each other, which is hardly the way it ever happens in real life, and I have seen too many friends of both genders hurt because they hang on in a relationship hoping their love can fix someone.

Still working on the Spanish Idioms book, and also very excited to get How to Bake Pi by Eugenia Cheng through inter library loan. It will be a challenge, I think. I’ve never tried reading a book about math for fun. Connecting it with cooking is probably about the only way to make it happen. 😉

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8 minutes ago, tuesdayschild said:

Wondering...... shall I keep reading or count it done after the first two books?

Looks like I read the first four which was all I could find at that time (which I do remember 😉).  I know I was less than thrilled with the third.....he goes to California, it wasn’t good but I believe the solution redeemed it to a 3.   So I would definitely skip the third.  This is one of those if you want to be done, be done, the fourth was better than the third but that is all I remember.

I am almost done with both Tombland (my Shardlake) and the Milkman.  Thanks to Milkman I now know far more about the Troubles in the 1970’s than I ever wanted to in terms of what it was like to live in Ireland then.  What it would have been like to have lived there as opposed to growing up where I did. This girl is only a very few years older than me so it’s easy for me to feel this character.  What a woman’s place was in that society at that time.   One of my first friends after we moved to England left Ireland with her husband in the 1970’s and never looked back but willingly accepted a really bad marriage in a way that I had a hard time reconciling with her personality.  Really strong woman with a strong personality and a career.  I understand her better now I think, perhaps her acceptance was cultural from what this book is saying.  I know I will never ask her but I am wondering.   Milkman doesn’t use names and is rather confusing.  People are first sister,  first brother in law,  maybe boyfriend.....the list goes on and there are a whole lot of them. ........This morning I glanced at the Bingo card to find out if it fit a category........Bildungsroman .........woot!

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Butting in to ask for some Austenesque romance that’s well written. I’m deep deep into this avoidance phase bc I have to read some dystopia for DS purposes and that is really not my thing. I’m reading all her books now over, and I’ve already read Death comes to Pemberly. No shades of gray here but only bc I can’t abide the writing.

@Violet Crown I read your post above and noted  The Dud Avocado to add to my Paris pile in case I move there this fall as I hope to. Have to get through summer first. See above...for dual language I’m currently prepping Pere Goriot, it’s more of a perennial project really...

Edited by madteaparty
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34 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

If I keep going on Balzac I'll get to Père Goriot, of which I remember nothing; but my French hasn't been up to sustained novel-reading level for a long time, so in English.

Oh I have both side by side. I mark up a section at a time. Perennial, like I said. I’m going to die before the old man😂

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8 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Butting in to ask for some Austenesque romance that’s well written. I’m deep deep into this avoidance phase bc I have to read some dystopia for DS purposes and that is really not my thing. I’m reading all her books now over, and I’ve already read Death comes to Pemberly. No shades of gray here but only bc I can’t abide the writing.

After I become a big girl and read Parable of the Sower and Book of Job for DS, we have Wuthering Heights and The Waste Land to do together and then he leaves me for 8 weeks. Send Jane Austenish romance ASAP, I say!

@Violet Crown I read your post above and noted  The Dud Avocado to add to my Paris pile in case I move there this fall as I hope to. Have to get through summer first. See above...for dual language I’m currently prepping Pere Goriot, it’s more of a perennial project really...

i hate to see a request go unanswered but fear my favorites are too fluffy for you!  😎 Curious about the dystopia title ....... I recently discovered I actually like some of that genre after reading Station Eleven.

I found this list which may provide some ideas https://www.silverpetticoatreview.com/2017/04/28/50-books-love-jane-austen/.  I have read both Jane Eyre and Rebecca which are on the list many many times.😉.

If you want some historical romances maybe Georgette Heyer,  Mary Jo Putney,  or Mary Balogh.  All of these offer good entertainment value and are offered pretty widely by library Overdrive so you should be able to try them.

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2 hours ago, mumto2 said:

i hate to see a request go unanswered but fear my favorites are too fluffy for you!  😎 Curious about the dystopia title ....... I recently discovered I actually like some of that genre after reading Station Eleven.

I found this list which may provide some ideas https://www.silverpetticoatreview.com/2017/04/28/50-books-love-jane-austen/.  I have read both Jane Eyre and Rebecca which are on the list many many times.😉.

If you want some historical romances maybe Georgette Heyer,  Mary Jo Putney,  or Mary Balogh.  All of these offer good entertainment value and are offered pretty widely by library Overdrive so you should be able to try them.

I love fluff 😉 is there somewhat well-written fluff? Lol. Will look at that list! Yes to ❤️ Rebecca and Jane Eyre 😉

the dystopian book I’m having a hard time reading is Parable of the Sower. It’s a good book, supposedly a classic in that genre but I’m not in that frame of mind, ever. 

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12 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Butting in to ask for some Austenesque romance that’s well written. I’m deep deep into this avoidance phase bc I have to read some dystopia for DS purposes and that is really not my thing. I’m reading all her books now over, and I’ve already read Death comes to Pemberly. No shades of gray here but only bc I can’t abide the writing.

 

Agreeing with mum and hopefully these aren't too fluffy for you - 

Danse de la Folie

The Parfit Knight

A Little Folly  and An Accomplished Woman both by Jude Morgan are very Austenesque, Indiscretion is another of his written in the same vein but I recently re-read it and found it s l o w.

Frederica and  Venetia are two Georgette Heyers that might fit the bill. 

 

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Regarding The Scarlet Pimpernel by  Baroness Orczy

1 hour ago, madteaparty said:

Something had possessed me to order this for DS a couple months ago...Maybe I should pre-read 🙂 🙂

The Scarlet Pimpernel was a favorite of my father's; when I was about 15, he harassed me until I read it. I did and enjoyed it. I had my daughter read it at about the same age; she so liked it that she went on to read half a dozen of the sequels. Maybe you should pre-read it....

Regards,

Kareni

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Is anyone else finding the little purple box extremely annoying?   If you have adblocker, click on the adp icon, then block element. You have to do it four times to get rid of it completely. 

I'm continuing with my silence theme. Finished Night and Silence, now back to the psy changeling series which fulfills several categories in the silence challenge. 

Love the links to the Silver Petticoat review and other austeneque  books.  Lots of good stories and authors to check out. 

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19 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Butting in to ask for some Austenesque romance that’s well written. I’m deep deep into this avoidance phase bc I have to read some dystopia for DS purposes and that is really not my thing. I’m reading all her books now over, and I’ve already read Death comes to Pemberly. No shades of gray here but only bc I can’t abide the writing.


I don't tend towards books labeled 'romance', but I love Jane Austen.  I have not yet read Georgette Heyer; I plan to at some point.

Other books I've read that have struck me as similar in tone but are not straight-up retellings or mash-ups (like with zombies):

Together Tea by Marjan Kamali - matchmaking mother, unwilling daughter, all turns out well with someone unexpected.  Really, really good.  Modern times, Iranian-American family.

Burning Bright by Melissa McShane (and two sequels) - set in an alternate history Regency period where there was no American Revolution, the Napoleonic wars are in full swing, and some people are born with Talent (like superpowers - telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, teleportation abilities - no vampires or werewolves here) - and those with high levels are of extra value on the marriage market.  Plucky heroine does not want to be married off and finds love where she doesn't expect it.  I really enjoyed this...  I'm using one of the sequels for my Flufferton square this year!

And yeah, I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel and Jane Eyre.  

Edited by Matryoshka
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17 hours ago, Robin M said:

Is anyone else finding the little purple box extremely annoying?   If you have adblocker, click on the adp icon, then block element. You have to do it four times to get rid of it completely. 

I'm continuing with my silence theme. Finished Night and Silence, now back to the psy changeling series which fulfills several categories in the silence challenge. 

Love the links to the Silver Petticoat review and other austeneque  books.  Lots of good stories and authors to check out. 

I keep meaning to get back to October Daye.  I liked the first one.😉

Re. The purple box which I don’t seem to have.  Btw.........I read the main thread last night late and didn’t feel like posting regarding the log in problems some are still having.  My kids made me download a new browser for my iPad and things are now working much better.  No longer being signed out all the time and when I am, I can instantly log in.  I am now using Firefox if that helps anyone.

I had planned to post about the Firefox on the Purple thread but can not locate it today, so putting it here for now.

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23 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Something had possessed me to order this for DS a couple months ago...Maybe I should pre-read 🙂 🙂

About Scarlet Pimpernel....I had one ds read it when he was a teen (high school perhaps?) and he HATED it! Your mileage may vary, but just FYI...

I never posted a reading recap this week, and at this point I ought to wait to do so tomorrow. In the meantime, I just had to pop in to share that I started listening to Code of the Woosters last night. I was in need of something different, and oh my, had forgotten just how delightfully silly and funny Wodehouse can be. I was thinking of AggieAmy the whole time.

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There is a fine Blackadder episode, Nob & Nobility, sending up The Scarlet Pimpernel, with the dimwitted prince played by Hugh Laurie, who is Wooster in the Jeeves and Wooster tv series. See? Conjunction. Recommended. Also recommended: the Samuel Johnson episode and the Regency actors episode: a full plate of literary-referential humor.

ETA: Where is Amy, anyway? This "busy with real life" excuse is unconvincing.

Edited by Violet Crown
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On 4/26/2019 at 5:11 PM, Matryoshka said:


I don't tend towards books labeled 'romance', but I love Jane Austen.  I have not yet read Georgette Heyer; I plan to at some point.

 

And yeah, I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel and Jane Eyre.  

Jane Austen's wit and social commentary (although she only commented on the class she wrote about) help keep her novels out of the romance category for me. I don't read much romance but I do love Jane Austen. I've only read two Heyer novels - The Grand Sophy and Cotillion. Of those I liked The Grand Sophy better but I'm not really interested in reading any more of her books. It would have to be "I have nothing to read. Oh, here's a Georgette Heyer book, I'll try it." These days though my problem is one of too many books to read, not too few. 🙂 

My version of flufferton books are detective (often of the amateur variety) novels and there are some that straddle the fence between mystery and romance. In that kind of story there's often a relationship that develops between a detective and a wrongly accused character. I don't mind the romance aspect in those kinds of books.

I liked Jane Eyre but didn't love it. I just don't get the appeal of Rochester and I probably will never understand it. I haven't read The Scarlet Pimpernel but have always thought I might like it. I don't know why I never seem to get around to giving it a try. 

Edited by Lady Florida.
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@mumto2  Thanks for sharing about your Iain Pears journey .... I think I'll stop too, while I'm ahead. (His first name makes an easy choice for spelling challenge "i" )

On 4/26/2019 at 2:04 PM, madteaparty said:

Butting in to ask for some Austenesque romance that’s well written.

These might work, or not:  Elizabeth Gaskell's   North & South ,  The Reluctant Widow  Georgette Heyer  (Venetia is Heyer's most romance-laden book,  imo).  Have you tried Stepanie Barron's Jane mysteries (definitely some romance in the two I read 😉 )?

 

 

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