Robin M Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Happy Sunday, dear hearts. Are you ready for a mini challenge? Me too! Book covers that are dark and haunting, colorful, and bold, present a mystery, a challenge, all intrigue me. Sometimes it the title alone that draws my eye. Use to be I only looked for books by familiar authors. Then, several years ago I joined a challenge in which one of the tasks was to pick a book by its cover. The hard part - don't read the blurb and find out what it is about beforehand. I discovered the temptation to read the synopsis, then a few pages to see if it drew me in impossible to resist. Especially in person. However, I could resist when looking at books online. Since then I have chosen books a few times using this method and usually end up with something excellent. Also, I couldn't pick books by authors I've already read. Utilizing Amazon's new releases I wondered through their virtual literature and fiction section and the following covers are what drew my eye this time. I added C.J. Archer's first book in her Clock and Steel series, Witchmaker's Daughter to my virtual stacks. All her covers are intriguing. The rest have been added to my wish list. So your mission this week is to pick a book by it's cover. Have fun, be bold, let your eyes feast and see what tickles your fancy. Link to week 32 Visit 52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as share your book reviews with other readers around the globe. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Late night last night as we watched Transformers and were up until 2:00. Great movie. Went to the Dodge dealership yesterday and completely difference experience from all the rest. Since we were already in their system to buy, our sales guy handed us the key to the Charger and said 'have fun, see you when you get back." Test drove the two cars to compare and glad we did. Settled on the Dodge with the 6.4 V8 hemi. Will be delivered in about 10 days in time for our anniversary or hubby's bday. Woohoo. Still in the Eon Warriors universe and reading #4 Kiss of Eon. Will get back in to Wind Whales of Ishmael and Far Pavilions soon. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 How lovely to get a new Dodge in time for your upcoming anniversary and husband's birthday! I read Case Histories - 3 Stars - This is a mystery with a few cold cases that the main character, Jackson Brodie, is hired to resolve. I was hooked right from the get-go and it kept my attention. The book’s strength lies in its fabulous character development. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the ending and didn’t care for the fact that there were quite a few loose ends and unanswered questions. I felt cheated. 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. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Today only, free for Kindle readers ~ This author may be best known for the opening line (in a different work), "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton "The fascinating Victorian-era science fiction novel about a subterranean society. The story of the Vril-ya—a superior race of telepathic beings who dwell beneath Earth’s surface and are accidentally discovered by a young man exploring a mine shaft—was written by English writer and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Bulwer-Lytton has been dismissed by many literary critics (a “bad writing” competition has even been named for him), yet he enjoyed major bestselling success in his day, and he is the originator of several enduring phrases including, from this very book, “pursuit of the almighty dollar.” Bulwer-Lytton had many devoted readers, but The Coming Race attracted the attention of occultists such as Helena Blavatsky, and later became popular in certain Nazi circles. “Vril” was even incorporated into the brand name of the British food product Bovril. Apparently inspired by the author’s fascination with the nature and potential of electricity, this cult classic is not only an entertaining read but also a unique journey into the whirlwind of ideas that captivated readers in the late nineteenth century. " Regards, Kareni 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Love the book covers! I am very visual and pick many of my books by the cover frequently although I read the descriptions after loving the cover. I plan to go and investigate a couple of those covers a bit further before I pick.......I love the icy cover for Migrations but .......have a feeling I wouldn’t like it from the cover. Beautiful but not inviting! 😉 Woot! So glad you we able to order the car......it will make a great addition to the upcoming bday/anniversary! I finished Cirles of the Moon yesterday and instantly started Spells for the Dead both in the Soulwood series by Faith Hunter. I am not very far as I have several books that Overdrive will snatch away in a few days and my Dd seem to have permanently taken over my reader with the WiFi off for a book she is trying to finish. So I am trying to read other things while wanting to read Spells for the Dead which isn’t due for 19 days. This situation seems to mean I am reading nothing and browsing online a great deal! Trying to finish The Queen’s Secret by Karen Harper and am pretty irritated with it. The “secret” in this case is appears to be something that is probably fictional, definitely scandalous in it’s time ......yes, the book is a fictional account about QE2’s mum, Queen Mary but I was hoping for better secret. At this point her secret seems to be in the background so I will continue reading about how much she dislikes Wallis Simpson, which I am sure was true! Harper’s previous book The Royal Nanny https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26795367-the-royal-nanny?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=jMzClYTGw4&rank=2 ended up being weirdly accurate historically (I met a historian who has access to the Sandringham archives and is the expert on that era right after reading this book.........she happily shared her knowledge of little known facts about the hidden prince in a lecture I attended which lined up well with the book. She was astounded when I mentioned the book as not even the bbc has access to the real royal records. I wonder if she read it as she wrote down all the details I could remember and was heading home to find her own copy). I also have a couple of recently cozy mysteries that if I don’t read now the wait will be long! 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Some bookish posts ~ The Magic of Libraries: Where Fantasy Meets Reality by Rachel Ayers https://www.tor.com/2020/03/27/the-magic-of-libraries-where-fantasy-meets-reality/ From SBTB: My Knitting TBR (Note: read the comments) https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2020/08/my-knitting-tbr/#comment-836583 The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 Pages Or, 50 Afternoons Well Spent https://lithub.com/the-50-best-contemporary-novels-under-200-pages/ Regards, Kareni 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 This feels like quite a challenge! I agree with @Dreamergal that Migrations looks beautiful. That combination of ice and birds is flight is lovely. Yesterday I started reading Age of Innocence. I've never read anything by Edith Wharton before and I'm surprised by what a page-turner it is; I expected it to read more like Henry James. I'm also surprised at how didactic it is. But I'm only a few chapters in, so I won't say any more. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I realize it's late in the day, but Blood of the Earth (A Soulwood Novel Book 1) by Faith Hunter is $1.99 today. Soulwood is in the same world as the Jane Yellowrock novels. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Audio: "Murder at Washington Square" by Thompson. This is a book I would have picked by the cover. Beautiful artwork IMHO. Don't know how to link it so the cover shows. Reading: "A Death in Vienna" by Silva. Hopefully finishing this one up today or tomorrow. Excellent. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, melmichigan said: I realize it's late in the day, but Blood of the Earth (A Soulwood Novel Book 1) by Faith Hunter is $1.99 today. Soulwood is in the same world as the Jane Yellowrock novels. Thank you!🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Kindle book on sale today. Not super-cheap, but discounted nonetheless. The 10 Laws of Enduring Success 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) Late late late. Sorry, got caught up on the K-8 board. This week I finished Twain & Warner's The Gilded Age, a social satire of political corruption and speculation fever of the post-Civil War period. Next on our US History reading list: Frank Norris's The Octopus. Meanwhile I took a break for Melville's much-reviled AP English classic novella Billy Budd. Very different reading from high school! In my head it was being directed by John Waters. The homoeroticism is not nearly so beneath the surface as I'd remembered; I read passages out loud to dh and he was shushing me when one of the girls came near. He and I were clearly just blithely innocent in high school, for all our worldy knowledge gleaned from The Village People in the '70s. Now I'm following up with a Jean Genet chaser, Querelle of Brest, which is like Billy Budd if innocent, angelic Billy was a street-savvy homicidal (but still devastatingly handsome) demon of the docks. ETA: Adult content, btw, not that anyone is likely to accidentally put Genet in her Amazon cart. Edited August 17, 2020 by Violet Crown 7 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 This isn't quite Robin's challenge, but the cover for my Penguin Classics Billy Budd is pretty good: a sort of faux-scrimshaw decoration. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I enjoyed The Right Sort of Man: A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery by Allison Montclair which I think might find other fans here. It's set in post world war II London and features two women who have started a marriage bureau. I will happily read on in this series (of two books thus far). "In a London slowly recovering from World War II, two very different women join forces to launch a business venture in the heart of Mayfair—The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Miss Iris Sparks, quick-witted and impulsive, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, practical and widowed with a young son, are determined to achieve some independence and do some good in a rapidly changing world.But their promising start is threatened when their newest client is found murdered and the man arrested for the crime is the prospective husband they matched her with. While the police are convinced they have their man, Miss Sparks and Mrs. Bainbridge are not. To clear his name—and to rescue their fledgling operation’s reputation—Sparks and Bainbridge decide to investigate on their own. Little do they know that this will put their very lives at risk." Regards, Kareni 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Violet Crown said: I read passages out loud to dh and he was shushing me when one of the girls came near. He and I were clearly just blithely innocent in high school, for all our worldy knowledge gleaned from The Village People in the '70s. My friend's dad was a retired U.S. Marine, very much a "macho, macho man". When he saw The Village People on tv back in the day, he commented on how they were Real Men. He was such a sweetheart underneath his gruff exterior that no one ever had the heart to tell him about them. 🙂 Edited August 17, 2020 by Lady Florida. 2 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Violet Crown said: Late late late. Sorry, got caught up on the K-8 board. This week I finished Twain & Warner's The Gilded Age, a social satire of political corruption and speculation fever of the post-Civil War period. Next on our US History reading list: Frank Norris's The Octopus. Meanwhile I took a break for Melville's much-reviled AP English classic novella Billy Budd. Very different reading from high school! In my head it was being directed by John Waters. The homoeroticism is not nearly so beneath the surface as I'd remembered; I read passages out loud to dh and he was shushing me when one of the girls came near. He and I were clearly just blithely innocent in high school, for all our worldy knowledge gleaned from The Village People in the '70s. Now I'm following up with a Jean Genet chaser, Querelle of Brest, which is like Billy Budd if innocent, angelic Billy was a street-savvy homicidal (but still devastatingly handsome) demon of the docks. ETA: Adult content, btw, not that anyone is likely to accidentally put Genet in her Amazon cart. At some point I would love to see the book list you settle upon for AP Lit. It is the course that I started all the prep work for with my daughter but we never finished it as she had too many May exams (the SAT subjects) for her languages that year. We were still in England and our drive time was two hours to the exams which added to the stress. Before you ask I can’t remember what we finally picked, we had the gigantic internet list of all questions and all books used since the 70’s and I had it massively color coded with what she had already read etc. btw Love that cover! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 31 minutes ago, Dreamergal said: I would like to participate in this week's cover challenge, but do not know quite how to insert images. Can someone or @Kareni who taught me to quote help please. I'd like to help; however, I do not know how to insert images either! Regards, Kareni 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 28 minutes ago, Dreamergal said: Speaking of American Duchesses and finding freedom, is Amazon demanding you buy the Harry and Meghan book ? I am bombarded since the book was in pre-release. I am tempted, but I would only have to do a dumpster dive of the Daily Mail and see what outrages them to know the gist. The Telegraph has some hilarious quotes from that book if you feel like looking. I won’t be buying or checking out btw.😉 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 5 hours ago, Violet Crown said: This isn't quite Robin's challenge, but the cover for my Penguin Classics Billy Budd is pretty good: a sort of faux-scrimshaw decoration. That is indeed a lovely cover! I'd like to read Bartleby this year; if that goes well, maaaybe I'd be up for another go at Billy Budd (in my memory the worst book ever, lol). Now that I know that Melville had a lot of snarky humor and innuendo in him, it might well be a completely different read at 55 than it was at 15! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) I've got way too much on my TR list that I want to get to to manage detours just for covers, but will share that one of the books I'm currently reading I pretty much chose because of the title and pretty cover - it's somehow been calling to me, and I'm finally reading (and quite liking) it!: Of the books Robin mentioned, I already had Migrations on my TR list - actually just put the audio on my Overdrive holds list yesterday! But it says the wait is something like 22 weeks... Edited August 17, 2020 by Matryoshka typo! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I only finished one book last week -- Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. What a sweet book! An engaging story for the tween age group in which no one dies and that has a happy ending is a rare find. I was surprised by this book. It was well written, clean, and a quick read that I truly enjoyed. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Dreamergal said: I would like to participate in this week's cover challenge, but do not know quite how to insert images. Can someone or @Kareni who taught me to quote help please. 40 minutes ago, Kareni said: I'd like to help; however, I do not know how to insert images either! Regards, Kareni Find the picture that you want on goodreads or amazon or whatever. Right click on the image. A little box will pop up with choices. Click on "copy image". Come over here and paste (Control V). 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 To catch up on what I've read since my last update here, I think this is it: 49. La noche de la Usina by Eduardo Sacheri (audio) - Needed an audio, and this was available, so thought I'd challenge myself with some Argentinian Spanish (narrated by the author). Set in Argentina, some plucky small town people scheme to get their money back from the town banker who has absconded with it after the economic collapse meant they couldn't access any bank money in $ - they have to break into an alarmed vault he's hidden it in to get it back. 3 stars. 50. Die Leiden des jungen Werther/The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - inspired to finally read this after Melissa M. reported on it recently. I really have no patience with Romantic authors. Yes, I know it's a foundational text of the era that inspired legions of young men to kill themselves for love, yes I know it's semi-autobiographical (obviously except for the ending!) But I apparently still have little sympathy for young wastrels swanning about in fields drawing trees and reading Homer (apparently his only book) while incessantly whining and bemoaning that the object of his obsessive love is married to someone else, then flouncily offing himself - with her pistol! Which she just hands over to him when he asks for it, even though he's been loudly threatening self-harm for ages. Hm. 2 stars. Now looking forward to re-reading the snarky spoof/riff on this that made me think I should read the source material. 51. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich - The first of Erdrich's books; a collection of somewhat interconnected short stories rather than a novel. 3 stars. 52.The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander - I thought I was fairly well informed on this subject, but this included a lot of depressing and very well documented info that was new to me. Excellent, a must-read. 5 stars. Ooo, and I've hit 52 books! Much later in the year than usual... 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, mumto2 said: At some point I would love to see the book list you settle upon for AP Lit. It is the course that I started all the prep work for with my daughter but we never finished it as she had too many May exams (the SAT subjects) for her languages that year. We were still in England and our drive time was two hours to the exams which added to the stress. Before you ask I can’t remember what we finally picked, we had the gigantic internet list of all questions and all books used since the 70’s and I had it massively color coded with what she had already read etc. btw Love that cover! I don't use a reading list to prep for the AP English Lit exam. When a child is ready to prepare for it, we look at exemplary exam questions together, and write down a list of novels that she's familiar with and could make work for various kinds of questions. Then I pay some English graduate student for a short tutorial on writing timed exam responses, since it's a skill in itself, and one I'm not good at teaching. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Congratulations @Matryoshka on 52! 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) 34 minutes ago, Violet Crown said: I don't use a reading list to prep for the AP English Lit exam. When a child is ready to prepare for it, we look at exemplary exam questions together, and write down a list of novels that she's familiar with and could make work for various kinds of questions. Then I pay some English graduate student for a short tutorial on writing timed exam responses, since it's a skill in itself, and one I'm not good at teaching. @Dreamergal: Not sure why sad? ETA: This is how we prep for all the APs. Dh or I just teach the subject in the secondary years, then briefly teach how to take the exams. We don't do any special content teaching for them. Edited August 17, 2020 by Violet Crown 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Dreamergal said: Thanks. The Telegraph requires a login and a trial of free trial of a month, so not sure I want that. I will however read the book through the library or actually buying it, just that it is a bit expensive now and I can buy 2 or 3 poetry books with that money. British royal family unauthorized biographies have been prime reading material for me for years. I remember when the Morton Diana book came out, there was a stampede in the British library to read it. I resigned to reading it months later until my grandmother bought it. She was raised in colonial India and had a great love for the royals and coming from such lineage it I feel it behoves me to read the book. 😊 I was pretty sure Meghan will walk away, but not so soon and certainly did not see Harry leaving. So that is my laundry list of excuses for potentially reading the book. 🤣 I however hope to redeem myself and my reading tastes a bit because I bought the Migrations book, hard copy version. Could not resist the pretty cover ! Our ties to the U.K. are still in place so dh reads a couple of UK papers daily and has been sharing the Finding Freedom articles. I lived the immigrant to England experience and she never really tried......no matter how many protocol binders she carried she appeared totally tone deaf to the general public. She always played to the American audience. It takes years......not weeks to really fit. I tend to prefer the occasional fictional royal history like the Karen Harper’s. 😉 If you haven’t read it, The Gown https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39893612-the-gown was quite good. All about designing and making the Queen’s wedding gown. I actually planned the Tudors as an area of reading concentration this year and am not making much progress. I am thinking of reworking it as a category featuring British royalty past and present. btw Don’t be embarrassed about wanting to read the Harry and Megan book.......she totally irritates me. Now a book about Kate would tempt me!😉 Edited August 17, 2020 by mumto2 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 4 hours ago, Junie said: Find the picture that you want on goodreads or amazon or whatever. Right click on the image. A little box will pop up with choices. Click on "copy image". Come over here and paste (Control V). Well, drats. I use a Kindle Fire and "copy image" is not amongst the options offered to me when I right click on an image. Hopefully @Dreamergal will have better luck. Regards, Kareni 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Dreamergal said: Sad a bit about losing my memorization mojo. I was on a roll until the pandemic. Embarrassed about wanting to read the Harry and Meghan book. 😊 I would like to have a list of your AP reading list too please. LOL -- I'm hopelessly confused. Never mind! Alas we don't make up a specific AP reading list; just whatever happens to have been read and analyzed by the time the AP rolls around. Middle Girl took two literature courses in the year before her AP, so she chose from the novels, dramas, and epics for those courses: The Battle of Maldon & The Dream of the Rood Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Henry IV Part 1 Paradise Lost The Conscious Lovers Frankenstein A Tale of Two Cities Happy Days --------------------------- Othello The Duchess of Malfi Oroonoko The Mutiny on the Bounty Wuthering Heights The Sign of Four She ended up using Frankenstein on the exam itself. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 9 hours ago, Dreamergal said: I would like to participate in this week's cover challenge, but do not know quite how to insert images. Can someone or @Kareni who taught me to quote help please. If you using a pc, right click and save the image to your computer, then click on choose files below and attach it. Or right click on the image and copy image, then can paste in the post. I had never figured out how to do it from my phone, because it's constantly signing me out and half the time doesn't remember my password correctly. Grumble, grumble. Go the 52 books and experiment with the photos in the latest post. See if you can copy and paste them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 3 hours ago, Violet Crown said: LOL -- I'm hopelessly confused. Never mind! Alas we don't make up a specific AP reading list; just whatever happens to have been read and analyzed by the time the AP rolls around. Middle Girl took two literature courses in the year before her AP, so she chose from the novels, dramas, and epics for those courses: The Battle of Maldon & The Dream of the Rood Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Henry IV Part 1 Paradise Lost The Conscious Lovers Frankenstein A Tale of Two Cities Happy Days --------------------------- Othello The Duchess of Malfi Oroonoko The Mutiny on the Bounty Wuthering Heights The Sign of Four She ended up using Frankenstein on the exam itself. Great list! I think my mistake was contemplating altering course in the last year to include more modern works like Things Fall Apart which we both liked btw. but her heart wasn’t really in Murakami at that time etc. She wanted to read in French etc. So we happily shelved the whole idea. Something that I loved about home Ed. On a personal note, somehow my AP Lit teacher managed to teach the AP lit class my year and not include a single one of the suggested (on the exam) novels. We simply weren’t prepared to wing it after to listening to him discuss his huge success rate.😂We did get 3’s, all of us......one person got a 5 whose father taught the class previously. So I suffered from huge anxiety regarding that particular exam’s prep for Dd. The Queens Secret is being abandoned. More secrets appeared in today’s reading of twenty pages that are doubtful. This book may ruin my knowledge of WWII and make my dislike the Queen mum. Not worth it! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) 26 minutes ago, mumto2 said: She wanted to read in French etc. Reading in French could work! When I took the AP Lit, I realized that nothing we'd studied in English worked half so well as Sartre's Huis Clos, which we'd read in French class in preparation for the (now defunct) AP French Lit exam. So I used that. Edited August 18, 2020 by Violet Crown 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I am realizing that as I am listening to audiobooks so much, I now am more likely to judge a book by its narrator’s voice than by its cover! Though when I go onto Hoopla I do see a book cover and maybe that has some effect on me. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 8 minutes ago, Dreamergal said: Thanks. If you like the Gown you will like this book by Angela Kelley https://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Coin-Dresser-Wardrobe/dp/0062982559 It's worth buying in the Hard Cover. My daughter who is 4 loves looking at the pictures. Since you were reading a book about a fictional Royal Nanny, this is a non fictional book by QEII and Princess' Margaret's nanny. https://www.amazon.com/Little-Princesses-Queens-Childhood-Crawford/dp/0312312156 I've never lived the immigrant experience in the UK, but my BIL and his family live there that we have gone there often enough. It is more familiar to me than America simply because so much of Britain is still in India. My history with the British and the Royals is complicated because of colonization. But I was raised by a grandmother who absolutely adored the royals so I know more than I possibly should about them and have read books about Princess Margaret too and her life was just sad. I sympathize with Meghan simply because the tabloids were brutal to her. They have a pattern of doing this, we used to get British newspapers in our consulate library growing up and I remember reading about Fergie being called Duchess of Pork, Waity Katy, the York girls being torn apart for their weight and fashion and by horrible women and whiny men who write columns. The British upper lip will not work with an American woman especially one with a life before I was sure. I remember Prince Andrew after Falkland as a war hero , dashing and handsome. To see him now bloated, bloviating and associating with Epstein was appalling. Given the history of Princess Margaret and Prince Andrew, I think Harry was wise to leave now and carve a role for himself. I remember Harry and the Nazi costume and always wondered how someone with such a family history could think it was ok. I am closer to William's age so had a huge crush on him because he was so cute which has all but disappeared now with the Windsor genes strongly coming out. Anyway, consequently followed Kate and I saw her collectively being assimilated into the Borg so to speak. Kate before marriage in my view was joyful, playful, had a really nice figure as in curves but after marriage she does not look the same. Even accounting for more responsibilities the change has not been good I feel. All this rambling to say I expected Meghan to leave. Sorry for the length. Thanks, The Other Side of the Coin has been on my list for awhile. Eventually I will get to it......next royal book may be Lady in Waiting https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49945845-lady-in-waiting?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=L7l38ecAbq&rank=1 The British Press can be mean and Waity Katey experienced more than her fair share......I lived there for most of it. I do love how she supports British fashion and the high street, Dd and her friends really did want the casual clothing she wore. Fortunately Dd was happy with the Tesco etc knock offs. I have never understood how Megan honestly did not know it was coming........especially the press. I got tired of their whingeing very quickly. 44 minutes ago, Violet Crown said: When I took the AP Lit, I realized that nothing we'd studied in English worked half so well as Sartre's Huis Clos, which we'd read in French class in preparation for the (now defunct) AP French Lit exam. So I used that. Brilliant! You were obviously very well prepared. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 A quote that I love by an author that I also love: “I can’t pass a bookstore without slipping inside, looking for the next book that will burn my hand when I touch its jacket, or hand me over a promissory note of such immense power that it contains the formula that will change everything about me. Here is all I ask of a book—give me everything. Everything, and don’t leave out a single word.” – Pat Conroy, “My Reading Life" This is a picture that we took when we visited The American Book Center in Amsterdam five years ago. It was an amazing store and although we spent lots of time there, we could easily have spent an entire day just browsing. 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 9 hours ago, mumto2 said: You were obviously very well prepared. We had a great teacher. The cancellation of various foreign language literature APs (and the dumbing-down of the one surviving Latin AP) had the natural effect of killing off advanced foreign literature courses in US high schools. My French teacher left teaching soon after I graduated, in part because it was clear our high school -- following the lead of the parents and the College Board -- was going all-in for STEM and no longer interested in teaching the humanities beyond the base level required for entrance into STEM programs of "good" universities. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Today only, free for Kindle readers ~ The Victorian Age in Literature by G. K. Chesterton "A fascinating survey of Victorian literature from one of England’s greatest mindsDishing out his signature brand of harsh wit, G. K. Chesterton casts a critical eye on the poets and novelists that defined the Victorian age in English literature. “Her imagination was sometimes superhuman—always inhuman,” he writes of Emily Brontë. “Wuthering Heights might have been written by an eagle.” Ranging from sharp denunciation to genuine admiration, Chesterton critiques the works of Tennyson, Ruskin, Eliot, Byron, and Shelley, among many others. He explores the influence of religion on the world of art and expounds upon the gridlock he believes to be permeating England in the early twentieth century. Conversational in style but exacting in its commentary, The Victorian Age in Literature is an indispensable account of this influential era in literary history." ** Also free ~ Hunted (Everyday Heroes Book 1) by Margaret Daley Regards, Kareni 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Some bookish posts ~ CATS AND COZY MYSTERIES, THE PURR-FECT COMBINATION https://crimereads.com/cats-and-cozy-mysteries-the-purr-fect-combination/ A post from 2008: Fantasy of Manners by Jo Walton https://www.tor.com/2008/11/13/fantasy-of-manners/ Plus an interview with the author of one of the books whose cover @Robin M featured above: Charlotte McConaghy To the moon and back three times Regards, Kareni 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 More free books for Kindle readers ~ Patrick F. McManus' Circles in the Snow (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries Book 6) ... Some here liked this series, I think. @aggieamy, @mumto2, @vmsurbat Ninie Hammon's Black Water (Through the Canvas Book 1) Erin Bedford's Chasing Rabbits: The Lost Fae Princess (The Underground Book 1) Maria Herring's The Healing Glass (Age of Academicians Book 1) Kingdom of Fairytales: After ever after - a Kingdom of Fairytales Prequel by various authors H. L. Burke's Nyssa Glass and the Caper Crisis Morgan Cole's Marilia, the Warlord (Chrysathamere Trilogy Book 1) Regards, Kareni 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 19 hours ago, Seasider too said: My reading has slowed, for all kinds of reasons. Not only have I had a surge of other people and business needing my attention, I have also gotten hooked on Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I have four words for you: Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. I love him. Seriously, I would listen to any audiobook narrated by Nathan Page, regardless of topic. If I could choose his voice for my iPhone’s Siri, I would. I am not usually a swooner, but I have been enjoying his character so much in these Miss Fisher stories. Life has been demanding and I have cocooned a little while each evening, lost in Gatsby-era Melbourne, Australia. I have a stack of books and, finally, a leisurely day tomorrow, so I hope to get back into the swing of it [BAW]. Always on look out for great narrators, and heard Page voice on a commercial and like it. But What book should I look for for Nathan Page? The Miss Fisher books I found seem to be narrated by Stephanie someone. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) iI enjoy following the Danish royals, especially the Queen. Princess Mary, who is married to the heir apparent to the throne, is from Austraila, and she is also interesting to me. Don’t be embarrassed, @Dreamergal I finished two more Sophocles plays: Philocetes and Women of Trachis. Tomorrow is the Theater of War production and I am very excited about it! Actively reading this week: Light in August by William Faulkner Lisbon Poets, a bilingual book. I am getting a good intro to five poets: Luís de Cameos, Cesário Verde, Florbela Espanca, and Mário de Sá-Carneiro. Edited August 19, 2020 by Penguin 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Melusine by Sarah Monette -- This book was nothing like the Goblin Emperor (by this author under the name Katherine Addison and which I loved) unfortunately-- much darker, with multiple scenes that could trigger, and one of the 2 main characters was a selfish jerk with no improvement from his travails. It did have flashes of good story mixed in, but overall it really rambled and appeared to be several stories mashed together with no clear point. And sadly, this book does not actually finish the story either, but stops at a halfway point (at least not a cliff hanger halfway point). My only faint praise is that I kept reading til the end. I'm kinda thankful that my library doesn't have the next book, or I'd probably read it to finish the story -- and based on the reviews I read, would hate it. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 I just finished The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard which my book group will be discussing on Zoom later this week. Last month's book group book (A Primate's Memoir) left me with no desire to go to Africa; this book has left me with no desire to go to the Amazon. Clearly, reading book group nonfiction books is dangerous to my travel bucket list! That said, the story was compelling ... though not quite as compelling as the author's Destiny of the Republic which I read a year or so ago. "At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived." Regards, Kareni 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Quote Shantaram I actually really liked Shantaram. It is just so full of heart. I agree that the guy does use what you might call purple prose, but it's almost part of the fun. Here's the first line: " It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." I mean, doesn't that make you want to keep reading? Dreamergal, I am a massive Michael Ondaatje fan too - we had to study him at school. I think Anil's Ghost is my favourite, followed by The English Patient and then In the Skin of a Lion. I quite liked Warlight, but it wasn't up to his usual standard. Right now I am reading a lot of urban fantasy - Helen Harper's very funny 'slouch witch' series, Ilona Andrews' movie-like books, a few others. They're fun but fluff, really. I am desperate for a good rich fantasy read. Hanging out for the next Megan Whalan Turner book (due next year), the next Becky Chambers, I'd love the last Kingkiller book to appear (not holding my breath), something which is not grim, which has big ideas and great characters. I've read all Lois McMaster Bujold books, and The Goblin Emperor (many times). Apparently the genre is 'hopepunk', the opposite of 'grimdark'. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Kindle book on sale today - science/memoir 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 On 8/17/2020 at 9:29 PM, Pen said: I am realizing that as I am listening to audiobooks so much, I now am more likely to judge a book by its narrator’s voice than by its cover! Though when I go onto Hoopla I do see a book cover and maybe that has some effect on me. Yep. George Guidall and The Cat Who books ... *heart*. On 8/17/2020 at 10:02 PM, Seasider too said: My reading has slowed, for all kinds of reasons. Not only have I had a surge of other people and business needing my attention, I have also gotten hooked on Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I have four words for you: Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. I love him. Seriously, I would listen to any audiobook narrated by Nathan Page, regardless of topic. If I could choose his voice for my iPhone’s Siri, I would. I am not usually a swooner, but I have been enjoying his character so much in these Miss Fisher stories. Life has been demanding and I have cocooned a little while each evening, lost in Gatsby-era Melbourne, Australia. I have a stack of books and, finally, a leisurely day tomorrow, so I hope to get back into the swing of it [BAW]. Is this the TV show then? 13 hours ago, Penguin said: iI enjoy following the Danish royals, especially the Queen. Princess Mary, who is married to the heir apparent to the throne, is from Austraila, and she is also interesting to me. Don’t be embarrassed, @Dreamergal In my family we refer to the Danish Royals as the beautiful people. Princess Mary's whole family is so cute. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) FINISHED: The Silent Pool (Miss Silver) by Patricia Wentworth - All I'm getting finished this year are read alouds and audiobooks. It'll be interesting to compare the number of audiobooks I read this year versus other years in December. Anyway ... if you like Miss Silver books then this is a recommend. 🙂 I've now read 20/32 Miss Silver books. I'm kinda bummed about that. They're my favorite easy listen. Edited August 19, 2020 by aggieamy 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 @mumto2 I'm pretty sure you're not in the DeLand area, but I'm checking on you just in case. For the rest of you, there was some wild weather there yesterday, with a probable tornado. I'm not sure if they confirmed it yet. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) 57 minutes ago, aggieamy said: In my family we refer to the Danish Royals as the beautiful people. Princess Mary's whole family is so cute. They are indeed a cute family! I'm sure it wasn't easy for Princess Mary to marry into the family, but the Danish press is gentler on its royals than the British press. Prince Henrik, the Queen's husband (d. 2018) took quite a bit of flak from the press over his French-accented Danish but Mary seems to receive praise over her Danish. Queen Margarethe is SO talented. She has designed costumes for the Royal Danish Ballet, and her illustrations for LOTR were used in a Danish edition. I went to a premier performance of the Royal Danish Ballet in November 2019. My friend and I were sitting in our seats, and all of a sudden everyone stood up. The Queen had just entered her Royal Box 🙂 The show we saw was Blixen, based on the life of Karen Blixen / Isak Dinensen. Wow, that is such a great pre-pandemic memory. Such a short time ago and yet so long ago... Edited August 19, 2020 by Penguin 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 23 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said: @mumto2 I'm pretty sure you're not in the DeLand area, but I'm checking on you just in case. For the rest of you, there was some wild weather there yesterday, with a probable tornado. I'm not sure if they confirmed it yet. Thanks, we are fine! We aren’t in DeLand but yesterday’s storm was really something. I don’t think they have confirmed the tornado but as roofs were ripped off it certainally seems likely. These afternoon storms seem to be much more powerful than I remember them.......I haven’t spent an August in Florida for over a decade. My kids have been biking every day for many miles on the trails and got in seconds before the sky opened yesterday........btw they had texted so we knew they were heading in as we watched the black clouds coming our way. 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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