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Book a Week 2020 - BW14: Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring


Robin M
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13 hours ago, Robin M said:

Who hasn't dropped by lately to let us know they are doing okay? @vmsurbat1, @Nan in Mass, @tuesdayschild, @SereneHome, @loesje22000 Anyone else I'm


We are in good physical health for the moment. We have a lockdown light here. But that is heavy enough. With no choir and no church activities life is becoming empty.

The exams dd had to take in the Netherlands are cancelled, and the borders are closed so I can’t visit my family now.

I am still reading books 🙂 

For the moment I am reading Clementine, a biography about mrs. Churchill.

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Realized I haven't updated on my reading (or lack thereof) this (or last) week yet.  I did finally finish the two books I'd been working on forever:

27. The Fated Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Lady Astronaut #2) - Next installment in the series.  Enjoyable.  4 stars.

28. The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (audiobook) - I've been a big fan of this series, but didn't connect with this one as much.  This could do with the whole lack of attention I've had lately due to Coronavirus, but is probably also likely to do that this book took over 600 pages to ... not end.  So much story, and so little resolution.  It basically ends with a 'to be continued'.  Not one of the many ongoing plot arcs are resolved. Argh. 

I started Girl, Woman, Other for the IRL bookstore bookgroup, which did not meet on its scheduled date (just as well, I'd barely started the book) but will meet virtually a week from Friday, which hopefully will light a fire to finish it by then.  I am enjoying it.  

On audio, I've started The Goldfinch.  Not that far in yet - he's in the middle of the big accident (haven't yet gotten to what the cause is).  I started the ebook of The Dark Forest, which is the sequel to The Three-Body Problem.  Unfortunately not drawing me in, and it's another long one.  Not sure what's got me starting huge tomes when I'm having trouble concentrating?!   Speaking of which, I had planned on my next German book being the 1200+ page The Eighth Life.  I think I might choose an Erlendur instead.  I have a couple more of those lying around...  And I may put aside The Dark Forest to start on Ken Liu's book of short stories, which is the other selection for my SciFi book club.

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I Just finished a new Science Fiction book called A Pale Light in the Black by KB Wagers https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43697435-a-pale-light-in-the-black.  It wasn’t in the radar but after seeing it sitting in the new book section in my Overdrive for two days I decided someone needed to check it out and I am glad I did.  It is what I consider to be a space Opera......lighter less violent than the Expanse series (Robin that was on your list) with lots of entertaining characters.  It worked for a Bingo square that frankly I had little hope of filling.....not telling which because it would be too much of a spoiler😉.  Not the Linesman but if comes on your radar and you like Sci Fi worth checking out! 

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20 hours ago, Kareni said:

I'm glad to have provided a link of interest, @Dicentraand @Violet Crown.

**

A few more bookish posts ~

6 Comfort-Listen Podcasts to Transport You Beyond Your Living Room by Natalie Zutter

In Defense of Needlework  by Elyse Martin

The Merry World of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Jo Walton

Regards,

Kareni

Loved these - especially the Needlework - thank you Kareni!

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Goodness. Is it Wednesday afternoon already? (checking phone to see what day it is -- yep, it is Wednesday.)

I went into face mask sewing overdrive with a neighbor (we were each in our own sewing rooms) to make and deliver 24 (more?) masks for the immediate neighbors. I found it really stressful due the need for them, the sense of urgency that people need them NOW, and my usual perfectionist worries that they aren't going to be right, whether the design or materials or craftsmanship. I'm going to make a few more for extended family members but am taking a break this afternoon and catching up with y'all. 

I had been listening to Edith Wharton's House of Mirth while sewing, but I could see this wasn't going to have a happy Jane Austen ending. So, I read the synopsis on line, which confirmed my suspicions, and have abandoned it. Just not the right read this spring.

Instead, I'm sticking with sci-fi-lite and mysteries. 

Sci-fi lite:
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It is a pleasant and light diversion, but clearly the work of someone who crowd- funded the book. 

Today I turned to The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.  I've just started listening to it, and am already very happy to be immersed in the further adventures of Miles Vorkosigan.

Mystery:
Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke. This is the second mystery featuring an African-American Texas Ranger. It isn't a light read due to the backdrop of small town divides in income and race and our the family conflicts Ranger Matthews is dealing with. But Ms. Locke is a good writer who deftly handles all of it while delivering a decent mystery too. 

I haven't started listening to them yet, but know I will have fun listening to the BBC 3 dramatizations of some of the Lord Peter Whimsey mysteries. They are on audible, and you get more than one mystery/ download. The one I chose has Murder Must Advertise, Nine Tailors and Busman's Honeymoon. 

Real fiction:
House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma is set in Zimbabwe against the turmoils of Robert Mugabe's rule. It is a really good read, but just not what I want to pick up these days! 

 

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@JennW in SoCal  Great job on the masks!  I think I have made 16 so far and have to say it’s sort of strange to be worrying about fit etc after primarily quilting for years.  I am mailing some so won’t know if they fit well for a few days.

A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was my favorite in the Becky Chambers series.

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Today only, free for Kindle readers ~

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The bestselling novel that established F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary reputation and brought to vivid life the glory and despair of the “Lost Generation.”

Raised by his mother, a charismatic eccentric determined to show her son the very best that life has to offer, Amory Blaine spends his childhood traveling from one party to the next. For this worldly sophisticate, life is heaven—until reality comes crashing through the door.
 
When a burst appendix limits his mobility, Blaine is sent to live in Minneapolis, where he finds that his unique sensibility does not endear him to the other boys. From prep school to Princeton to the crushing inhumanity of the US Army during World War I, Blaine searches for his proper place in the world. His quest brilliantly personifies the struggles of an entire generation that came of age in a time of great turmoil. "

Regards,

Kareni

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Some bookish posts ~

An intriguing story ~ Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer

https://www.tor.com/2020/04/08/little-free-library-naomi-kritzer/#comments

WOMEN OF INTRIGUE: UNCONVENTIONAL FEMALE PROTAGONISTS IN LONG-RUNNING CRIME FICTION SERIES

https://crimereads.com/women-of-intrigue-unconventional-female-protagonists-in-long-running-crime-fiction-series/

LUDWIG BEMELMANS, BELOVED AUTHOR OF MADELINE, ONCE SHOT A MAN.

https://crimereads.com/ludwig-bemelmans-beloved-author-of-madeline-once-shot-a-man/

Nonfiction Books for When Fiction Stops Working

https://frolic.media/nonfiction-books-for-when-fiction-stops-working/

Regards,

Kareni

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56 minutes ago, Kareni said:

An intriguing story ~ Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer

https://www.tor.com/2020/04/08/little-free-library-naomi-kritzer/#comments

What a wonderful story ..........I desperately want to know what happens next. I hope it gets turned into a book.

I initially started reading it thinking about the picture I saw today about neighborhoods using little free libraries to house things your neighbors may need in the time of Covid as well as books.  I saw a photo with toilet paper as well as books in one!

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Regarding the story Little Free Library ~

1 hour ago, mumto2 said:

What a wonderful story ..........I desperately want to know what happens next.

Me, too! I read the story aloud to my husband who liked it and emailed the link to my daughter who also enjoyed it. I shared the link with my book group as two of the members actually have Little Free Libraries.

Have you read anything else by Naomi Kritzer, mumto2? I enjoyed a collection of her stories. I'd like to read her novel, too.

Regards,

Kareni

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20 minutes ago, Kareni said:

Have you read anything else by Naomi Kritzer, mumto2? I enjoyed a collection of her stories. I'd like to read her novel, too.

 

My Overdrive appears to have both her Catfishing on Catnet and her fantasy series Dead Rivers.  I decided to try Catfishing first as I am intrigued by an AI controlled website about cats.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41556068-catfishing-on-catnet

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On 4/7/2020 at 9:49 PM, Robin M said:

Who hasn't dropped by lately to let us know they are doing okay? @vmsurbat1, @Nan in Mass, @tuesdayschild, @SereneHome, @loesje22000 Anyone else I'm missing?

@KareniThank you for all the wonderful links. I do believe my buying ban is officially over.  🙂 

@DicentraConnie, love your screened in porch and the colors are perfect. 

@Ali in OR Yep, mysteries and paranormals, fantasy are my go to's right now. 

@Violet Crown  Thank you for the Travail of Passion

@Negin I enjoyed the Neverending story movie better than I did the book!  

@mumto2  It's been years since I read Homicide in Hardcover.  Really enjoyed it. I'll have to check out more of her books.

 

 

Oh how so very sweet of you to remember me even though I don't post all the time.

I am ok, doing very little reading but for some unknown reason putting together an order on book outlet!  Although there are a lot of books for the  kids in that order.

Here is a challenge I am issuing for myself - finish two books in April that I have been reading for months!! 🙂

 

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My guy at the bank just said guidance from the sba is "Kind of building the plane while they are flying it."  

 

Hope is the thing with feathers --  Emily Dickinson

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me."

We're all very hopeful these days.  I finished A Year of Writing Dangerously which was supposed to be read one a day, but I read several a day until I felt inspired to write.  Moving on to another one of Abercrombie's books: Kicking In the Wall: A Year of Writing Exercises, Prompts, and Quotes to Help You Break Through Your Blocks and Reach Your Writing Goals.  Already loving it. 

Also finished my other sip read L'Engle's Walking on Water.    She's smart, a little bit odd, but wise and makes you think.  

 

ETA:  I'm no longer getting emails from WTM when anyone posts.  If you are set up to receive them are you  experiencing the same problem? 

 

Edited by Robin M
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A few fun finds:

This is so cool and want to try one:  33 Bookshelf Inserts That Book Lovers Will Appreciate

20+ Creative Ways to Repurpose Old Books Plus Infographic

We've seen some of these, but there are few neat new bookshelves: 17 Mind Blowing Bookshelves You Need For Your Library

I think it's time to dive into a chunky book:  The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Over 500 Pages  I have Fifth Season as well as  Chabon's book in my shelves.  I've read several:   Winter's Tale is wonderful, Name of the Rose is engrossing, An Instance on the Fingerpost is intriguing, Jonathan Norrell fantastic, American Gods weird, Lonesome Dove is just long, and A Suitable Boy is a fascinating look at history and cultural and the characters may drive you mad but it's really good.  

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Looking forward to the Lord of the Rings discussion -- plus it will fit right in my reading year which so far is mostly re-reads. 

 Recent ones include the MurderBot books which were just as enjoyable the 2nd time.  And recently listened to for the first time (although I've read them many times) 2 of the Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold,  and then I reread her 1st 3 Penric books since they came out in book form all together.   

 

 

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Ditto the thanks for the "Little Library" story!

Finished Lord of the Flies for writing up the lessons for my class. SO impressed with Golding's writing. Powerful, and some beautiful metaphoric and imagistic writing. So amazing how he gently takes you through the downward spiral journey to reveal fallen mankind's basic nature. It is an intense and difficult book, but so glad to re-read it. 

Been binge reading light stuff for the past 2 weeks, mostly as  a stress relieve or "avoidance" technique" for dealing with the pandemic 😫:

- Emily of New Moon (Montgomery)
I really tried to like it, because I do like Anne of Green Gables, but Emily was not as likable, and then when the MUCH older (like 30+) distant relative Dean saves 12yo Emily from falling over a cliff, and says things like "saving a kiss for him until it means something" and keeps making enuendos about them being in a relationship when she's older -- ewww... Just WAY too creepy. I had to stop this one.

- A Share in Death (Crombie)
First in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. It was fine as fluff reading.

- The Brutal Telling, and, Bury Your Dead (Penny)
LOVE the Armand Gamache series! Quality writing, and she really reveals the evil in the human heart -- and not just of the murderers!

- Linesmen (Dunstall)
Fun! Just a light sci-fi "space opera", all about the cool world and the action. Perfect for stress relief reading, lol.

 

Edited by Lori D.
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