Book Lovers Club
Comments
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VR - My son gave me a book a couple of years ago, 1001 Books you Must Read Before you Die. It's 960 pages. Since he's "not a reader" I'm not sure if it was a joke or for real, but I read every page. There is a short summary for each recommended book so there's more info than just the title to make a decision. As you might imagine, the book is festooned with yellow sticky notes. I'll never get to all of them, but thanks for reminding me it got shelved & forgotten with BC. That's in addition to the 'wish lists' in my computer and the 'must read' notebook by my bed. Sigh.
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minus..you just reminded me of another book that I own....and VR doesn't own many books...The Book of Great Books A Guide to 100 World Classics. I can't tell you how many friends I've loaned it to! Probably one of the things I will NEVER part with. I just look at the book and start to tingle because I know how much joy it's brought to me and so many of my friends!
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wiw. I'll have to see i f I can find copies of one of those.
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Right on Sandra!!!
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Sandra short of living next to a library...that's the kind of house I'd love to live in! For the record, I'm jealous of the wonderful author, Joe Queenan. His home, for many, many years, faced the library. How nice would that be ....to wake up in the morning, open your curtains and look out the window and see the birds, bees, trees AND the library....
Just finished reading The Novel Cure...Among the hundreds of books mentioned, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye was mentioned several times. Reading the book cures several types of illnesses. For those of us, whom the joys of sitting home is a little too much, Harold Frye teaches all of us to occasionally stop whatever it is we are doing, including reading just one more chapter, and get outside and let the pleasures of life unfold around you!
The book surely is a gem....must have touched a few folks in my community because in June, I just noticed my library will be discussing the book.
Now, on to Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things.
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I love libraries. I spent more Tim in the library than in school. It was the only place my parents would let me go to without supervision from age 10 or so. And NO, I really WAS at the library. My friends used to lie and say that's where they were going and then go where they wanted. I WANT ED to be at the library! So i guess I was a stick in the mud with very controlling home life. But, the library gave me a chance to leave that world and visit so many others. I found out the big secret when I was 11. Yep. I could read ANY book. Even the adult library ones. You better believe I used that! I read books so far above my grade level. I read medical books to get the real scoop on birth control. Remember in the late 60 's there was no knowledge unless you learned it the hard way. I was actually the go to girl for information on women's bodies..... but at least I knew I was telling them the right information! LOL the only thing I couldn't do was take out the adult books. But i could sit for 2 hours and read them there. The librarians never bothered me but I'm sure they knew what I was doing. With that upbringing I never censored a thing my kids read. But i always asked them what they took away from the books they read. All 4 are readers. Curling up with a favorite book or being introduced to new favorites is a miracle everyone gets to enjoy! Much Love and Happy Reading!
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I love libraries. It's the combination of the smell and the fact that I am hopefully going to be taking home something yummy to read. I get the same feeling when I go into a bookstore
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Put me in a Barnes & Nobles, where I can also get a good cup of coffee, and I am in heaven!
Finished The Absent One, the second in Alder-Olsen's Department Q series. I liked it as much as the first book & will probably read the next one after I read a couple other books on my night stand (that is saying a lot as I don't usually like series that much).
I've started The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. So far it is very interesting & engaging.
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Ruth, Interested to know what you think of The Goldfinch. Please chime in while reading, or when you are done.
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I just started, so I'm not sure where it is going.....but it has my interest. Will report back when I'm done.
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I couldn't get into The Goldfinch. Tried twice but if a book doesn't grab me, I don't waste my time anymore. I used to be more patient and make myself read 100 pages. No more. Life is too short and there are too many books out there. I don't mind an author setting up a story, just don't give me too much detail before you get to the story. I get frustrated by too many things to remember (because at that point you don't know what is important and what's not) then annoyed if some of those characters or places mentioned early turn out to have nothing to with the story. (You mean I kept that plate spinning in a corner of my mind for no reason?)
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Well, I always skim (so I don't even notice spinning plates
) and it is for my Book Club (so if I didn't like it, the reasons would become part of the discussion) but I am enjoying Goldfinch so far.0 -
Good for you Ruth. Everybody else likes it, I'm just a weird-o. I had the same problem with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Tried three times with that one and even though the rest of my book club raved about it, I couldn't get past those first 20-30 pages. Too many spinning plates.
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sandra, you are not a weirdo
Everyone has preferences as to what they enjoy reading and there's not much we can do about what we are not able to get into or like. There have been many books (none of which I can remember now) that everyone said they enjoyed, and I just couldn't find a reason to like them. To each her own!!0 -
I didn't much like the Dragon Tattoo books either.
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I didn't like the Dragon Tatoo series either, and could not get into "Water for Elephants" EVERYBODY liked that book!! I also tried more than once to read "100 Years of Solitude" ( Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and one of John Irving's books " Son of the Circus", which I read more than half way through 3 times. I'm a big John Irving fan.
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Dragon had no points of humor or light for me, and no characters who were at all likeable as I recall. Elephants was alright, but I didn't love it.
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I too did not care for the Dragon Tatoo books. I did like Water for Elephants, but recently slogged through 100 Years of Solitude. It was like a required quest I guess, so I continued with mud dragging down every steps. (edited to say - I didn't hate the book, I just didn't much care for it). Wish I could be more like Sandra and just put a book down if it doesn't suit, but I keep thinking I'll "see the light".
Just read The Golden Egg by Donna Leon. She was born in NJ but has lived in Venice for 30 years. The book is apparently part of a series about Commissario Guido Brunetti and set in Venice. Wonderful "pictures" of the city. Some interesting philosophical discussions about corrupt gov'ts. I sent a note to a friend who lived in Italy for some years to see if the settings are really accurate.
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Still not getting Gone Girl. I keep trying . I'll just give up. I've only not finished a few. But just cant.
Our library here has coffee and tea for sale. It's a good place for peace and quiet yet still being amongst people.
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moon...I finally got around to reading Gone Girl...Meh. Author and humorist, Joe Queenan says in his wonderful book about his love of reading, One For the Books, that sometimes its wonderful to read a really bad book because it is written so wonderfully bad. Gone Girl, IMHO fits into that category. I can name a few more, but they're really not worth mentioning. I'm sure we can all name, thankfully, just a few, that fit nicely in that category.....
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to me, Gone Girl, was kind of like driving by the scene of an accident; you know you shouldn't gawk, but you still do
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There are a few books I haven't been able to get into and finish. The first was a long time ago but I still remember choking on The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. The most recent was Game of Thrones. Picked up the paperback on the half-priced rack at an airport. Got about 30 pages in and didn't like the characters so thought why spend time with them. Put it on the take-a-book shelf at work and it was gone that day. Still reading My Stroke of Insight. Love it. Now I know why I enjoy yoga so much. Namaste! ♥
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For some reason, I stuck with Gone Girl until the end, even though I was getting more and more turned off by the charcters. (Or should I say the characters lack of character.) It had some surprises, but they did nothing to the feeling that I'd just wasted my time.
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Reading Louise Penny's A Beautiful Mystery. I know we've discussed her before, but I think she's worth mentioning again. This book is set in a monastery in remote Quebec and centered around the Gregorian Chant. Of course there is the Surete and a murder, but there is so much general history & personal interaction & philosophical discussion that I just want to keep slowing down my reading. Here's one of the fun zingers: The difference between a violin and a fiddle - a violin sings and a fiddle dances. I haven't read all her books but will continue to look for them in my used book stores.
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I didn't care for Gone Girl at first either but stuck with it and started liking it about halfway through. Started enjoying it 3/4 of the way through. Glad I finished.
BTW happy 4th anniversary to this thread. ((Elizabeth)) ♥
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Much love to our foundress (is there such a word?), who is out in the universe somewhere, no doubt reading something slightly smutty!
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good catch Ruthbru. I can't believe it has been four years and we have pretty much stayed true to Konakat's wish for this thread - escapism, not BC or health books.
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