Book Lovers Club
Comments
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In the fiction category - I'm enjoying a batch of old books - mostly mysteries. Robert Parker's Jesse Stone novel - Sea Change. A divorced Florida heiress washes up on the beach & Stone discovers her secrets. Sara Paretsky's Fire Sale. V.I. Warshawski is an amazing protagonist and this could be a parody on an empire like WalMart. John Sandford's Easy Prey. For those new to Sandford - Lucas Davenport is his cop who gets led more often by his gut instinct than by clues. A wonderful old Dick Francis book Blood Sport. Set in America, I either missed it first time around or had totally forgotten. Timely in that the protagonist in this one is battling crippling depression as he tries to find stolen famous stud horses. Fatal Obsession, a 1983 book by Stephen Greenleaf. I think this is the first I've read of San Francisco PI John Marshall Tanner & will look for more. And last but not least, Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax. An elderly lady is bored and goes to the CIA to volunteer as a spy.
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Another one whose Virginia grandmother said, "I swanee," all the time. My husband teases me for saying "yonder."
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VR- I am a literacy volunteer too, however helping with a literacy class morphed into creating a literacy/sewing class mainly for Karen and Burmese refugees. We meet once a week to sew with sewing machines which I spend a lot of time finding and getting repaired. I have met such wonderful people (sewers/quilters and refugees) and have been honored to be invited into their homes, to their weddings, naturalization ceremonies and most recently a "temporary little Buddha ceremony". Seeing our language and our customs from another perspective is very enlightening!!
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Jelson...How wonderful! Isn't it amazing how a simple act morphs into a fantastic journey? And when you step back and realize how the experience enriches your own life... it's like being on crack! LOL!!! I always tell my students I am learning more from them than they can ever imagine!
The greatest compliment was when one of my students told me she was paying forward what she learned from me with her friends! The one thing she was proudest of was her ability to read the fine print on a coupon and then ask the store manager for a rain check! I find it is all about building their confidence and improving their self-esteem. I can't imagine what I might feel like if I was dropped in a strange country with a strange language and culture. I might crawl into a shell. Really! My students are so courageous and motivated.
My students are from all parts of the world...places where I doubt I will get to see but can visit in my mind. They rock my life!
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you are both doing an awesome job!!!0 -
VR & Jelson - kudos!!! I always thought I'd go read to kiddos at a library story hour when I retired. Ended up with BC instead. Maybe down the road.
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minus...I thought I was way too busy to make the commitment. But once I dove in, I found it easy to find the time to work with my students. No one can fire me and there is no flunking...so there is no pressure whatsoever on any of us.
Check out your local literacy chapter and see what they have to offer.... You might be pleasantly surprised.
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VR, lets not sugar-coat it, sometimes Literacy volunteers takes you......to the dark side. For example, the time my student asked me to help him write a letter to Jerry Springer, who he admired. This some how led to getting tickets to his show - me thinking for my student and his girlfriend, him thinking - for himself and ME. So yes, one morning at 5:15 am we drove to Stamford Ct to be in the audience of the Jerry Springer show. We got lost, he had a gps, usually programmed by his friend, now to be programmed by the two of us, one techno-phobe, one illiterate ( I am NOT a very good teacher) anyway, after listening to the GPS shrieking go back go back, recaliberating or something like that, we bought a road atlas somewhere in westchester and made it to the show on time. Quite the efficiently run operation, (but so were the trains under Franco) and what with the bared breasts, rear-ends in the audience and the fights on stage - I think we were both embarrassed and shocked. My student said he thought the fights were staged and the "guests" paid but he still likes Jerry Springer. An adventure I would never had had, but for Literacy Volunteers!!!
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jel...and I thought my life was adventurous!! You go girl!!!!
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brigadoon: I finished The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. Excellent twist! Highly recommend you read it.0 -
I'm still reading a batch of books that were my Mothers. This weekend I finished the 1956 book Men To Match My Mountains by Irving Stone, The Opening of the Fara West, 1840-1900. It's a historical narrative but not fiction. There aren't footnotes so it reads more seamlessly, but there is a list of sources for all quotations by page, a comprehensive index and an extensive bibliography. Stone has written this in terms of the people who opened the land & built the civilization of the area that becomes California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. It's fascinating how he contrasts the growth & change & politics in the four areas - everything from cattle drives to the railroad to the Spanish mission to the gold & silver miners to the formation & building of the major cities. Lots of things I hadn't known before even though I've spent my whole life in the west.
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I just finished The Kitchen House and The Orphan Train, two books I read about on this chat. Moving on to The Shadow of the Wind.
Thanks so much for being here.
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I just finished Have No Shame which I found I had already read but still enjoyed. I am now reading When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I read Don't Let Me Go by her and loved it.
Glennie - The Snowman is next on my list!
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brigadoonbe- Did you mean that you didn't remember reading Have No Shame until you finished it? If that's right, I just started to do the same thing with Love In the Present Tense.... I started it and thought this sounds familiar. Since I retired, I keep a journal with the book title, a synopsis and review and date that I read it. Sure enough I had read it a year before.
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That happened to me with Brain on Fire. I ordered it at the library, then when I double-checked on Goodreads, I had read it back in 2013.0 -
I did recognize it but was caught up in the story again. At least it was a good story.
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Sandra, I have been in Texas for 40 years, and also refuse to say it!
jane
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Oh my goodness. 4am and I have to get up at 8am to head off to the infusion center. I was reading Harlan Coben's The Woods. It's one of his older book - 2007 - about a NJ attorney/prosecutor and the case he is trying as well as about his sister's murder 15 years before - no spoilers from me. Honestly I couldn't put it down as the answers stayed just out of sight and kept changing. I would never have guessed the final twist, which didn't start to come out until the 3rd page before the end.
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Teacher, "Shadow of the Wind" is one ofmy all-time favorites! Enjoy! For those who like Lee Childs or Tana French, both have new books out!! Have Jo Nesbo's newest on my Kindle, waitimg to be read.
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wave....Got Child's latest book yesterday from the library! DH has already read the first 100 pages. Talk about a voracious reader!
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minustwo, ever notice the best part of the book is the end...and I find I'm always flying through it because it's so late at night or I have somewhere to be!
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I'm waiting for the new Childs and French to arrive from the library too.I loved Shadow of the Wind. That was a beautifully written book.
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Yes I loved Shadow of the Wind too....maybe it will get made into a movie.
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glennie - Did you read Cockroach # 2 Harry Hole and The Redeemer #6? I went to my library page to borrow The Snowman and found two in the series I still haven't read. I thought I was caught up. Guess I will be a little longer for The Snowman. I will let you know how I liked it when I get there.
I just finished When You Found Me by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I gave it a 4 but probably should have been a 3. I loved her Don't Let Me Go. The characters were so rich and I cared about everyone of them. This book had a story I wanted to read but I think her character development wasn't as good and I was ready for it to be over when it was.
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Yes, I did read those. I've extremely OCD about reading a series in order. My friend gave me a couple of Jo Nesbo books a few years back, and I held onto them until book 1 & 2 were finally translated into English. I just couldn't start the series at book 3. It actually took me a couple of books to really get into the series. I think Books 1 & 2 were perhaps not as good a translation or something? Somehow I found them more difficult reading. The Devil's Star (5) and The Redeemer (6)-- I marked at 5 stars. And The Snowman (7) also.
Have you read his non-series book: The Son ? it was excellent.
If you like Scandinavian authors: I totally recommend Jussi Adler-Olsen. The Keeper of Lost Causes is the first book. Absolutely LOVE that series. And I really like James Thompson's series set in Finland,, the first book is Snow Angels. Alas, he just died at the young age of 49!!
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I have to agree with Minus- the Unexpected Mrs Polifax is a great read. I am also waiting for the new JD Robb ( Nora Roberts). I have all of hers, about 35 or so. I love Eve and Roarke. I like Sanford's Prey series too.
Not sure I could handle the literacy volunteer stuff. I used to help out at school with the 3rd graders to help them read when they were behind. We always did a bit of phonics to get started. Wasn't supposed to but they did so much better when we did. But i was saddened by the fact that they were so far behind already.
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Moon - great to 'see' you. How are you doing?
I just finished the 1933 book Lost Horizon by James Hilton - again from the stash from my Mother's library. Interesting concept. I don't think I'd ever read about Shagri-La but I think I saw the movie once. It was after the rehearsal dinner for my first wedding in my fiance's motel room w/all his brothers & all the bridesmaids, etc. (of course my parents were horrified that I would even consider being in a motel room w/a man before i was married but I was in full rebellion). We watched Casablanca & Lost Horizons. I think I dozed through both.
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moon...at first I worried about how effective I would be and if I would enjoy being a volunteer. When I was trained, my instructors told me that my students would be very motivated. Well, they have been EXTREMELY motivated. It is NOTHING like working with children. They are also confident and curious.
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Ok, I just finished a book called Chiffonade by P.A. LaFraise. This was one of those books that was recommended to me and I didn't think I'd like it. I read it anyway because I like to read. It started out as a fun book and very fast moving and pleasurable.
About half way through, I was so enthralled with the characters, they felt like my family...plus I was learning a lot about southern cooking! Then toward the end there were a few things I never saw coming. I cried in horror, I cried with joy. I was also very happy to feel people can have secrets and not be damaged beyond repair!
I happen to know the author personally. This is her first novel. She is actually a science teacher. I was so scared I wouldn't like the book and have to lie to her face...yet here I am recommending it! No lying for me!
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Here are some authors I read a while ago and really enjoyed. Lighter read stories about people - not crime mystery. You can look up books/descriptions on Amazon.
Lisa Wingate
Karen White
Sandi Ault - only wrote 4 books similar to Nevada Barr
Sue Henry - loved her Alaskan series
Robert Hicks - Widow of the South
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