Book Lovers Club
Comments
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I just ordered 'Toms River' by Dan Fagin. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/health/on-the-trail-of-cancer-a-review-of-toms-river-by-dan-fagin.html?_r=0
I grew up in central NJ and remember when this topic was all in the local newspapers. NJ is one of the most toxic states for dump sites due to chemical and refinery business here. Keep in mind that many of our big pharma companies have a dark past in the chemical industry that goes back to Germany WWII. (That's another story....) Ciba Geigy dodged responsibility for many years dumping and poisoning the drinking water and grounds in the Toms River area. Sometimes it's simply easier to pay fines then to stop polluting but eventually they were made to stop - at the cost of many lives. Now you have one of the largest retirement communities in this area located in Toms River. I won't drink the water when I visit MIL. Anyway Ciba Geigy is the parent comapny of Novartis who manufactures Femara and Zometa. http://www.novartis.com/about-novartis/company-history/
I hope this book doesn't raise my blood pressure.
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cp...Toms River also won the Pulitzer...
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cp...back in the day when the DH and VR were looking for a place to put down roots...we considered some communities in Jersey. VR being a VR kept trying to get info about all the polluted areas there and it was difficult at best to come by info. So we decided to live on Long Island instead....the epicenter of the world of breast cancer....
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vr - I believe if you turned off all the lights in the tri-state area at nighttime -- sadly the grounds and water would GLOW!!
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Just finished a Linda Fairstein book - Lethal Legacy. Her protagonist is an asst. DA who has good cop friends. The best part about this book was the setting - New York Public Library. There's a murder or two and some court time. Mainly there's tons of info about the NYPL - the history, the benefactors, the building & how it's changed, the lions, the research, book collectors, the collections themselves, etc. For anyone who loves libraries it's a good read.
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minus two- it looks good as I like mystery type books about art, history or places. I just ordered it and am now wondering if I read it before...... I read one crime/mystery book that took place in the metropolitan art museum but maybe it was the library.
Oh well - I guess I'll remember when I read it. Has anyone read Ann Cleeves mystery series? She looks like a very popular author with long list of books.Another book I really enjoyed was the 'The Forest Lover' by Susan Vreeland. She wrote several popular books - Girl in Hyacinth Blue
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I just finished reading The Husband's Secret--enjoyable and suspenseful.
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Elizabeth, The Husbands Secret was better than I expected and certainly did have some twists!
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VR and VR's mom just read Being Esther. Of course VR's mother was first to finish reading the book. It is the story about a very old woman. A small story with huge emotion. As I read it, I knew mom would connect with the character. Mom found in Esther, another woman, who was living her life. It was as though the author was living in mom's home and watching and listening to her. Will I become like my mom and Esther as I grow much older? If I survive to be that old? Do I want to live to be that old and live through so many losses? Not a delightful story, but one worth reading and appreciating our elders.....
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I have The Husband's Secret on my kindle and will start it soon! I just finished The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. It was told in alternating chapters by a plantation slave and the plantation owner's daughter. The plantation owner's daughter is based on a real person, Sarah Grimke' , a woman abolitionist. It was a good read.
I've got several in my TBR pile and not sure which to choose.
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My husband and I just got back from a visit to Chicago. One of the places I wanted to go to was 57th Street Books in Hyde Park. It would be easy to miss...just one small door on the side of a old red brick building built in 1864 leads to the basement store. It was so much fun to browse through all the rooms that went on and on, back under the building. Loved the old worn floors and low ceilings. This is a serious bookstore, a favorite with academics at the nearby University of Chicago. (Where my daughter works.) It's Michelle Obama's favorite bookstore. We tried to drive by the Obama's house but couldn't even get close. Secret Service black SUV's had the roads blocked off
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That looks so fun!!
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Oh that looks so interesting!
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For mystery/thriller fans, Amazon has/had a list of " 100 mysteries to read in your lifetime," ranging from Poe to Agatha Chrstie to LeCarre to just-published. I had read a LOT of them, but downloaded maybe a dozen. A great list!!
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I just finished Sycamore Row. It kept my interest. Some of the court scenes could have been shorter. I guessed the ending but still liked it.
Glad to hear that you liked Invention of Wings, Gina. My book club is reading it for June. I couldn't finish A Mermaid's Chair by Kidd. In fact, I gave it away and it was a hardcover copy.
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Wave - thanks for the tip about 100 mysteries. So many authors & books that I'd forgotten. Maybe it's time for more re-reading.
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two books to recommend: The Three Weismmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine.. It is a homage to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. An elderly mom and her two adult daughters are exiled to Westport Ct to wait out the outcome of the mom's divorce from her husband of 48 years. The daughters are very different personalities, adults but still in their childhood roles, the mom is very upbeat, you get the dad's side too. there are many adventures, love! family! different types of families. I really liked it.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikery by Gabrielle Zevin the book opens with a a widowed, relatively young grumpy bookstore owner being visited by a representative of a publisher with the winter list of books to sell him, he is very rude to her. He then has a rare book stolen from his store and a baby dumped on him. Much growth and change, much discussion of writing, books and short stories, much information about the publishing industry and life on an island that seems much like martha's vineyard. Also very satisfying - very quick to read book.
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OMG Jelson...I read The Three Weissmanns and HATED it! The book had been featured on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Book Review! As I read the book, I wondered what the fuss was about the book that it deserved the coveted front page? Wondering, I thought back to the film, The Stone Reader. The film should be enjoyed by all book lovers. The film follows the filmmaker as he searches for the author of a single novel that got a fabulous review from the Times. When the filmmaker spoke to the publisher he couldn't recall the book nor author. The filmmaker reminded the publisher of the review in the Times. On the cover, the publisher had asked? No, inside the section, the filmmaker replied. And without missing a beat the publisher said...big difference. I recalled that scene in the film while reading the book. The Times is giving this mediocre book the COVER OF THE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW??? Since reading The Weissman's, I avoid reading most books that The Times puts on its cover.
Jelson, please tell me if you think the book was worthy of being on the cover. Perhaps it was a good book...but IMHO it wasn't deserving of the cover...
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Just downloaded a sample of THE THREE WEISSMANNS. Between the 2 of you, my curiosity is up
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wen....don't go by my judgment of novels....I'm a DUNCE when it comes to critiquing fiction!
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My tightknit book club members have been together for over 8 years. We usually agree on books so when one of us suggests something we've just read, the others are sure they will like it too. It's true most of the time, but not always. Sometimes we hate a book that everyone else loves.
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I have Boy, Snow, Bird which I just picked up from the library and wonder if anyone has read it?
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I have had to think about this a bit VR. First - I came to The Three Weissmanns with no preconceived notions. I may have picked it up in the local thrift shop ($.50 for paperbacks!) or at my friend's house. She works for an independent bookstore and has boxes of books on the landing to her upstairs - some are galleys/advanced readers copies? when I visit, I crouch there, oh like a turkey vulture sorting through for what might be tasty....... she tends towards very sad books about genocide in Africa or Scandinavian washed up alcoholic divorced detectives....I really have to dig deep to find stuff that sounds good to me! anyway, it does have a medallion on the cover saying it was a NYT notable book- I have to admit that. So, I liked the book because I liked the characters, that they grew, surprising themselves with how resilient they were. The book was about family, different families, cobbed-together families, imaginary families and what family means to different individuals. It was also about what "home" means to different people. I gained some understanding of the how an older man might rationalize leaving his wife without comprehending the fallout from such an act. I liked how it played off of Jane Austen. Bath = Palm Springs!
My mom would ask me how I chose the book I was reading, she would ask " what do they (NYT, NYRoB) say about it?" I would say, I don't know! I chose to read it because I liked the cover and I liked the synopsis on the front flap, thought I would try it!
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VR, Not a dunce by any means. I know that you don't prefer fiction. For me, fiction is escapism, plus I enjoy reading about other peoples (supposed) lives, how they think and manage situations. While I am reading I also like to think about how the author comes up with their train of thought, and how the story line come to be in the first place. I honestly enjoy historical fiction the most.
Jelson, Having only read the sample of "The Three Weissmann's..." provided by Amazon, I know what you mean about liking the characters. It seems like an easy read that you can look forward to at the end of the day. I haven't decided whether I will buy it or not.
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Jel....thanks soooo much for your candor about the book! I love reading about your grit determination in finding books! I wonder if non-book lovers can appreciate what us book lovers have to do to find enjoyable books! IMHO it rises to a sport! There should be categories for the sport of reading! Which category of finding a good book deserves a prize? Finding a great review of a book and then getting the book and loving it? Pulling a book off of a book shelf, not knowing anything about it and loving it? Getting down and dirty at a tag sale? Ahhhh...all the possibilities of where that next great book read is going to come from.....
Regarding the Weissmanns..... I guess I had very high expectations that got in the way of finding joy in the book.....
Reading Tova Mirvis's new book, Invisible City...Have patiently waited for this new book of hers. It's fiction, just like all of her other books. I met her at a book signing following the publication of her last book, The Outside World. It's about Orthodox Jewish life. She recently wrote a piece in The New York Times about her divorce and her choice to leave Orthodox Judiasm. I must say that I was shocked and truly blinded by what she wrote. She is a terrific author! I'm going say even better than the younger Anna Quindlen....
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Has anyone read a good book about cancer? I'd like as much info as possible.
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VR - I love your "finding the book" comments. Reminds me of John Dunning. I feel like I'm cheating. Because I seldom read new books I can take everyone's comments and make a huge list of 'wants'. But oops - I have lists in several rooms in the house & in my purse & in my car & on stray pieces of paper just everywhere - in spite of trying to consolidate on my computer.
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Minus....Joe Queenan writes in his book, One for the Books, about his book list. Hilarious! Keeping him in mind....another category for the book sport award would be....how many people are we worthy of from taking a book recommendation? Queenan describes in excruciating detail how difficult it is to consider a book recommendation and how it affects his book list....heaven forbid he one day complete reading all the books on his list....suffice to say....he is one picky person when it comes to accepting a recommendation! I kind of feel just as picky! And....now that I ignore The New York Times' recommendations, I almost feel liberated!😇
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I used to love roaming the fiction aisles and just remove books at random to read the synopsis. I found a lot I liked. My tastes range from scifi and fantasy to mystery and Thrillers, and historical romance. Every day I'd start at the place I found a new book to read and continue til I hit Z. Then start over with A. Its amazing how many authors you are exposed to. And it was how i found out about Nom de Plumes LOL But I switched it up sometimes to go to the autobiography section. Also checked out the applied science section. Yes at that time I knew Dewey! I knew what was what for each section. I just can't remember them all now. LOL
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Knowing who to trust regarding a book recommendation is even more difficult than who you trust to take a restaurant recommendation from
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