Jump to content

Menu

Book a Week 2020 - BW12: Happy Birthday Billy Collins


Robin M
 Share

Recommended Posts

15 hours ago, mumto2 said:

@Violet Crown  Before I forget Paddle to the Sea was a movie school children in the Great Lakes area watched multiple times growing up. I loved it...........it can be watched for free via a Canadian website someone on WtM linked recently.  MaybeWee Girl would enjoy the movie.

Thank you! We've now seen it (YouTube has it), and it was so pleasant to see a made-for-kids film that isn't animation.

Wee Girl, who is becoming a bit of a book snob, enjoyed it but carped at all the places it deviated from the book.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, mumto2 said:

@Dicentra  Thank you for finding the link!  Maybe I will entertain myself with Canadian film tonight........Dh just gave Dd an early birthday present,  can’t remember the exact title but it’s basically the Best of Red Green,  so Canadian TV is happening in my house currently.🙂   We lived near Detroit for years and watched a great deal of Canadian television including Red Green which is hilarious.      Just found the first episode on YouTube if anyone wants to watch it  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXPuYZ4DEQ.  I just sent the link to a friend in who is very bored.

 

"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." 😄

The Possum Lodge oath: Quando omni flunkus, moritati. 😉

And his closing line of his "Mid-Life Musings" segment which seems appropriate in these times:

"Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." 🙂

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some bookish posts ~

The Joys of History and Academia in Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

https://www.tor.com/2020/03/10/the-joys-of-history-and-academia-in-susanna-clarkes-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/comment-page-1/#comment-858718

Artist or Wizard? Five Books About the Magic of Creativity

https://www.tor.com/2020/03/18/artist-or-wizard-five-books-about-the-magic-of-creativity/

A Reddit thread: Books that have an atmosphere of lonely summer nights?

https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/fke7mj/books_that_have_an_atmosphere_of_lonely_summer/

Five Recent Novels About Climate Catastrophe

https://www.tor.com/2020/02/11/five-recent-novels-about-climate-catastrophe/comment-page-1/#comment-853457

IN 1899, ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE TOOK DICTATION FOR HIS DYING FRIEND'S MYSTERY NOVEL

https://crimereads.com/arthur-conan-doyle-grant-allen/

Regards,

Kareni

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read a couple of science fiction books over the past few days ~

and

Bright Shards (The Vardeshi Saga Book 2)

by Meg Pechenick.  I enjoyed them both and look forward to the next book in the series. Here's the blurb for the first book:
 
"Twenty-five years ago the Vardeshi came to Earth. Then they vanished without a trace. Graduate student Avery Alcott always knew they would return. When they do, she’s the only one who can speak their language. She’s quickly recruited to join the crew of an 11-man starship on a one-year mission into the depths of space. Avery leaps at the chance to leave behind everything she’s ever known. Wearing a Vardeshi uniform, adapting to their culture, following their orders, she’s as close to being one of them as she’ll ever be. But there’s more to interstellar diplomacy than knowing the right words to say. And shedding her identity turns out to be harder than she expected. When her ship, its crew, and the fragile human-Vardeshi alliance are threatened, Avery’s humanity—the very thing putting her at risk—just might be the one thing that can save her."
 
Regards,
Kareni
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DS2 's birthday is in March and bc he is part of B&N kids club they sent us a coupon for free cookie.  I kept putting it off on taking him and then virus happened and I wouldn't let him go. His entire bday plan was completely derailed bc we are all stuck at home. So I wanted to at least get him his cookie.  I called and they were still open and said I can come in and get his cookie. Today was my shopping day so I stopped in to get his cookie.

By now you are all wondering why I am posting this on a book thread.......well.....they had  The Lovely War on sale for $5 if you made a purchase at the cafe and they let me buy it for that price even though technically the bday cookie was free!

So, while I broke my promise not to buy any new books this year, I made myself so happy with a new book today (after I was exhausted from all that stupid grocery shopping!)

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember reading Asterix, But My dc al real a few in Spanish and also in English while we were studying ancient Rome. They still talk about various aspects.

Since my dad read those books when he was a kid (and my dad is, you know, old) I assumed Mr Uderzo had already passed away. Oops.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Thank you! We've now seen it (YouTube has it), and it was so pleasant to see a made-for-kids film that isn't animation.

Wee Girl, who is becoming a bit of a book snob, enjoyed it but carped at all the places it deviated from the book.

When I was watching the movie as a child I don’t think I had a clue that the story was a book.  I was embarrassingly excited to discover it was a book when I started home education.....Yes, I bought a copy very early on.  I am glad she enjoyed it and has now learned the book is almost always better!😉

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stop the press! I actually finished a book this week!! An audiobook, actually. Seems the only way to wrangle my brain cells is to sit in a chair with hand work (quilting or embroidery this week) while listening to an audiobook. Anything else and I either fall asleep or succumb to the lure of the phone or computer. 

The lucky book that was started and finished was not necessarily the best choice!. It was the first of the Cork O'Connor series by William Kent Kreuger, Iron Lake. I had assumed these were standard mysteries, but I'd say it is more of a thriller, a testosterone fueled thriller. Kreuger is a fine writer, but all that macho swagger of the hero was a bit much.

I am **this** close to finishing Linesman. I'm reading before bed each night until my eyes get really heavy. @Kareni : are the other books in the series as full of politics as this one? Perhaps I can't keep all these planets and factions straight because I am reading at bedtime, but I want to spend more time with Ean than with the politicians. 

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, JennW in SoCal said:

I am **this** close to finishing Linesman. I'm reading before bed each night until my eyes get really heavy. @Kareni : are the other books in the series as full of politics as this one? Perhaps I can't keep all these planets and factions straight because I am reading at bedtime, but I want to spend more time with Ean than with the politicians. 

I just discussed this with my husband since I wouldn't describe myself as an analytical reader. He said that he felt the politics in the next two books was slightly muted because the scene is already set.  I'll confess that when I reread Linesman, I generally skip the Jordan Rossi chapters. Books two and three continue to have Ean as a focal character while replacing Jordan with other focal characters. With those books, I tend to not skip chapters. Does that help? I'm not political at all so just let the politics slide on by!

Regards,

Kareni

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, JennW in SoCal said:

Stop the press! I actually finished a book this week!! An audiobook, actually. Seems the only way to wrangle my brain cells is to sit in a chair with hand work (quilting or embroidery this week) while listening to an audiobook. Anything else and I either fall asleep or succumb to the lure of the phone or computer. 

The lucky book that was started and finished was not necessarily the best choice!. It was the first of the Cork O'Connor series by William Kent Kreuger, Iron Lake. I had assumed these were standard mysteries, but I'd say it is more of a thriller, a testosterone fueled thriller. Kreuger is a fine writer, but all that macho swagger of the hero was a bit much.

I am **this** close to finishing Linesman. I'm reading before bed each night until my eyes get really heavy. @Kareni : are the other books in the series as full of politics as this one? Perhaps I can't keep all these planets and factions straight because I am reading at bedtime, but I want to spend more time with Ean than with the politicians. 

 

You didn’t ask me😉 but I think less political or at least the same basic politics.  The second and third books were far quicker reads for me.

 

@Kareni Thanks for the link to the 12 pages of free books.  I picked out quite a few and had a great time doing it!  Sort of a everything in the romance category from typical historical s to contemporary with an occasional paranormal thrown in!

Edited by mumto2
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, mumto2 said:

You didn’t ask me😉 but I think less political or at least the same basic politics.  The second and third books were far quicker reads for me.


LOL. I knew others had read it but couldn't remember exactly who! I'll have to look for the next 2 books. 

As long as you are here....what was the name of the mystery writer who was from around your are in England? I remember reading the first book, and the young detective has a mom at home with health or mental issues. Are there more books?

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JennW in SoCal said:


LOL. I knew others had read it but couldn't remember exactly who! I'll have to look for the next 2 books. 

As long as you are here....what was the name of the mystery writer who was from around your are in England? I remember reading the first book, and the young detective has a mom at home with health or mental issues. Are there more books?

It might be Stephen Booth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/96265.Black_Dog?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=PMssv6VMEk&rank=1 . The bonus is I can see on Goodreads that you read it!  I did read the second one which was OK.  When I start again I will skip ahead a couple as I heard from someone they get much better a bit later into the series.  These were really popular at the village library with little old ladies which was interesting.......

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2020 at 6:14 AM, aggieamy said:

Good morning! Today is the first day since we've been home from NOLA where I've been up and out of bed feeling (physically) pretty good. Hurrah! Perhaps it's because I've went to bed early and read last night. 

Here's the bad news: I'm not enjoying the book my friend recommended for me at all. I can see why she thought I'd enjoy it. It reads like a Regency book set in modern fairyland (it's called the Nether in the book, I don't know if that's a common term or not but I'll mention it here in case it makes sense to others) with a little bit of intrigue. Except ... I don't read anything with fantasy elements and it's simply not my thing. Apparently my imagination is too old and broken to shut down reality for fiction in this circumstances. 

I'm going to have to channel my inner VC and be tactful with my response when I finish it.

Review it like you would as it you were beta reading.  You could tell her the truth "You know, fantasy isn't really my thing, but I really liked ...  characters, dialogue, one particular scene, the setting.  Or you could tell her your mind is just too unsettled with all that's going on right now to concentrate on reading it and will have to shelve for a while.   

5 hours ago, JennW in SoCal said:


LOL. I knew others had read it but couldn't remember exactly who! I'll have to look for the next 2 books. 
 

I read the whole series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't remember a whole lot of politics later on.  But I may be mixing it up with the Class 5 series by Michelle Diener. 😁

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Trouble with Poetry: A Poem of Explanation

by 


Billy Collins

The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night --
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky --

the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.

And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,

and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.

Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.

And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.

And what an unmerry band of thieves we are,
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Ferlinghetti --
to be perfectly honest for a moment --

the bicycling poet of San Francisco
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.

  • Like 8
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, mumto2 said:

Kareni Thanks for the link to the 12 pages of free books.  I picked out quite a few and had a great time doing it!  Sort of a everything in the romance category from typical historical s to contemporary with an occasional paranormal thrown in!

You are welcome! I might, ahem, have found a dozen books myself.

**

Some additional free books for Kindle readers ~

A Town and Country Season by Joyce Harmon

The Victory Garden: A Novel by Rhys Bowen

Lady and the Space Tramp by J.M. Page

The Devilish Duke by Maddison Michaels

On sale:

Available for 49 cents ~

The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories by TERRY PRATCHETT

Available for 99 cents ~

The Innkeeper Chronicles, Volume One by ILONA ANDREWS

Regards,

Kareni

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/23/2020 at 2:55 AM, Negin said:

Kindle book on sale today - autobiography/memoir

9780316241335.jpg

 


A quick read, a moving true story, and an inspiration to me to get out there and be in contact with those from other cultures right here in my own community -- like, refugees! [Which, alas, I've yet to do since reading this... BUT, I have at least stepped a little out of my comfort zone to volunteer 1 week each summer to be on staff with a foster kids camp -- that's been an amazing and life-changing experience!]

Edited by Lori D.
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last night I finished Headliners by Lucy Parker. I enjoyed this contemporary romance and imagine I will reread it at some point. (Adult content)

 "Sparks fly when two feuding TV presenters are thrown together to host a live morning show in Lucy Parker’s latest enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance.

He might be the sexiest man in London, according to his fan site (which he definitely writes himself), but he’s also the most arrogant man she’s ever met.

She might have the longest legs he’s ever seen, but she also has the sharpest tongue.


For years, rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have traded barbs on their respective shows. The public can’t get enough of their feud, but after Nick airs Sabrina’s family scandals to all of Britain, the gloves are off. They can barely be in the same room together—but these longtime enemies are about to become the unlikeliest of cohosts.

With their reputations on the rocks, Sabrina and Nick have one last chance to save their careers. If they can resurrect a sinking morning show, they’ll still have a future in television. But with ratings at an all-time low and a Christmas Eve deadline to win back the nation’s favor, the clock is ticking—and someone on their staff doesn’t want them to succeed.

Small mishaps on set start adding up, and Sabrina and Nick find themselves—quelle horreur—working together to hunt down the saboteur…and discovering they might have more in common than they thought. When a fiery encounter is caught on camera, the public is convinced that the reluctant cohosts are secretly lusting after one another.

The public might not be wrong.

Their chemistry has always been explosive, but with hate turning to love, the stakes are rising and everything is on the line. Neither is sure if they can trust these new feelings…or if they’ll still have a job in the New Year. "

Regards,

Kareni

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Kareni said:

Last night I finished Headliners by Lucy Parker. I enjoyed this contemporary romance and imagine I will reread it at some point. (Adult content)

 "Sparks fly when two feuding TV presenters are thrown together to host a live morning show in Lucy Parker’s latest enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance.

He might be the sexiest man in London, according to his fan site (which he definitely writes himself), but he’s also the most arrogant man she’s ever met.

She might have the longest legs he’s ever seen, but she also has the sharpest tongue.


For years, rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have traded barbs on their respective shows. The public can’t get enough of their feud, but after Nick airs Sabrina’s family scandals to all of Britain, the gloves are off. They can barely be in the same room together—but these longtime enemies are about to become the unlikeliest of cohosts.

With their reputations on the rocks, Sabrina and Nick have one last chance to save their careers. If they can resurrect a sinking morning show, they’ll still have a future in television. But with ratings at an all-time low and a Christmas Eve deadline to win back the nation’s favor, the clock is ticking—and someone on their staff doesn’t want them to succeed.

Small mishaps on set start adding up, and Sabrina and Nick find themselves—quelle horreur—working together to hunt down the saboteur…and discovering they might have more in common than they thought. When a fiery encounter is caught on camera, the public is convinced that the reluctant cohosts are secretly lusting after one another.

The public might not be wrong.

Their chemistry has always been explosive, but with hate turning to love, the stakes are rising and everything is on the line. Neither is sure if they can trust these new feelings…or if they’ll still have a job in the New Year. "

Regards,

Kareni

One of the books that I am part way through is The Austin Playbook by Lucy Parker and part of the same series.  The names of the characters in your book sound familiar and I think they make appearances in my book which is 4th in the series, yours is fifth. 😁Yeah, I know, nothing like being an obsessed series order person!  
 

Also part way through The Last Passenger by Charles Finch.  It’s the last of the prequels and I am enjoying it.  I stopped last night because I know what must be going to happen thanks to having read the rest of the series and didn’t want to have problems sleeping.  

I started one of the freebies off the mega 12 page list and am hooked.  I definitely plan to finish  The Kissing Contract by Amy Andrews.  I am totally charmed by an island filled with bunnies!  

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, mumto2 said:

One of the books that I am part way through is The Austin Playbook by Lucy Parker and part of the same series.  The names of the characters in your book sound familiar and I think they make appearances in my book which is 4th in the series, yours is fifth. 😁Yeah, I know, nothing like being an obsessed series order person!  

Yes, the heroine of Headliners is the sister of the heroine of The Austen Playbook, and both leads appear in the two books. I actually preferred this book over the fourth, but I liked them both. Enjoy!

Regards,

Kareni

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bored, bored, bored.  One customer, curbside service.   And it's raining.  Told hubby this is the last Saturday we'll be open for while.  I'm going to appreciate having a full weekend off for a while.  However, my two very introverted hubby and son talked my ears off last night when I got home so maybe not. 😁  

Finished writing up Sunday's 52 books post and  contemplating whether I want to get some filing done or let it wait until Monday. I hate filing! 

My wonderful nephew in law said "Google "your name + apocalypse costume" and post the first image that comes up"  Sure thing.  This is what I got. 

Image may contain: text

ROFL!!!!!

 

Edited by Robin M
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...