Book Lovers Club
Comments
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I am just finishing How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal. Light reading, somewhat formulaic, but is keeping my interest. I will have to try her other books.
And I just picked up All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Any opinions on this book?
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brigadoonbenson, I also enjoy Catherine Ryan Hyde's work, but I have not read the two books you mention. Just finished 'Walk me Home' and 'Take me with you'. I find them an easy read, but I really enjoy the way she tells a story. I will check out her other books.
I don't remember if anyone has mentioned Bill Bryson, but I have read several of his books and enjoyed them, specially 'At Home', as I enjoy reading about everyday people in history and what their lives were like. Just recently finished 'In the shadow of the Banyan" by Vaddey Ratner. The main character is a little girl in Cambodia at the time of the Khmer Rouge takeover; not exactly a biography, but she mirrored her own experience. Amazing anyone survived that. And lastly, 'Picking Bones from Ash' by Marie Matsuke Mockett.
Just starting 'Interpreter of Maladies' by Jhumpa Lahiri. Not into it too far yet the decide! Thank you all for all the suggestions you post. Averaging about three books a week with most coming from this forum! Enjoy the weekend everyone!
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Sweetcorn, really enjoyed "All the Light We Cannot See," one of the summer's best, and have recommended it to friends. Touching. Enjoy.
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Moni! Many if us have RAVED about Bill Bryson's books. Way, way back on this thread you will discover how much his books are treasured! I loved At Home. Took me some time to get through the book, but it was worth the time! His writing is interesting and clever.
I've been skimming a lot of books. Zero'd in on The Story of Ain't. Who knew that the back story of how words get into the dictionary would be so interesting. And exactly who are these people who do the deciding? Where are they from? What an interesting book!
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Waiting for Sanibel Flats from inter-library loan. It's the first in Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series.
Just finished Stephen King's new book Mr. Mercedes and really enjoyed it. It's a departure from his horror novels. This one features Bill Hodges, an ex-cop who sets out to solve a cold case (a nut-job who plowed into a crowd of people in a stolen car).
Also read two by Dean Koontz: Innocence and From the Corner of His Eye. He's one of my fave authors, what a good writer. He's been doing less of the ooky-spooky and more of the metaphysical, which I appreciate (as a sci-fi fan).
Welcome new thread members and happy reading all!
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This is the parking garage of Kansas City's public library!
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Oh Ruth - isn't that fun. Thanks for sharing.
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Yes, when I visited a friend in KC,, she took me there!!0 -
I'll try to post a few more pictures of it. It's in an old bank. Here's the front entrance.
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Main Entrance Hall, and theater in the vault.
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Children's Reading Room and the Grand Reading Room....I think I will move to Kansas City!
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beautiful pictures
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Just finished A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. I had read it years ago but this is a copy from my Mom's books. Interesting how our perspective changes over the years. I liked Shadowlands, the story of Lewis' meeting & marriage to Joy and her death. Just have vague memories of the 1993 movie but saw it as a play a couple of years ago and it's very moving.
My Mother loved books. She gave book reviews all her life and her books are well notated w/pencil marks & underlinings. It's been interesting to see what she considered important or what struck a chord in her. But I was shocked that she actually cut a slice right out of the middle of a page that is an inch tall. Can't imagine her doing that but now I'm curious what was in that slice that was so important to her that she "defaced" a book.
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Ruth, what an amazing place!!0 -
Minustwo: I really enjoyed the movied Shadowlands also. And I'm really curious about the slice your Mom cut into a book??!! Are certain pages missing? Can you find another copy to see what she cut out? Very curious!0 -
You have to search out the missing parts & report back! A mystery to solve!
I have been reading, but nothing good to report.....
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Nope - no pages missing. Just one small slice about 1" wide. I plan to go to the library soon & see if I can find the answer.
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Speaking of C.S. Lewis, my Mother had all of his books except Chronicles of Narnia. That's another thing that just doesn't make sense. As children we read The Hobbit, The Secret Garden, The Borrowers, of course Mary Poppins & pretty much everything published How did we skip Narnia? I didn't read it until someone gave a set to my young son. Mysteries w/no answers.
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Took The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker on vacation with me and found it difficult to put down - but had to because it was a kayaking vacation and I couldn't very well paddle with it esp since it was a library book and we had 2 and 3 ft waves!!! anyway we didn't have internet or cell phone where we were staying and so I was able to immerse myself in the book. Very fast paced and "complicated" I say that because just about every character at some point says "it's complicated" when they are trying to get out of explaining something but that is a minor quibble which I attribute to the translator. Alot of info about the modern publishing industry and the highs and lows of being a best selling author. Briefly: a young author of a best seller has writer's block, he visits in a NH seaside village, his mentor - Harry Quebert a best selling author who is suddenly implicated in the death of a young girl who mysteriously vanished 30 years previously and whose body is discovered on his property. The young writer takes it upon himself to prove Harry's innocence. There is a lot of back and forth between 1975, the summer the girl went missing and the present period, 2008. You meet the townspeople, interesting characters, the girl who was murdered and there are many plot-twists and it is very exciting. Much discussion about the nature of love and what it takes to be a writer. No explicit sex or excessive violence.
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I recently read that book too, Jelson,, I really liked it. I recommended it to the librarian!0 -
VR will be shocked - but I've just read 3 non-fiction books in a row. Two are worth sharing.
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinor Pruitt Stewart - actual letters from a women w/a small girl who traveled to Denver and then further north to take up homesteading in Burnt Fork, WY in 1909 to prove that a woman could really ranch. Her joy in the mountains & surroundings & her life are contagious. The original publication date was 1914 with wonderful N.C. Wyeth illustrations restored in the 1982 printing I read.
The second is A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Bronte by Katherine Frank published 1990. In a previous life I was an English major and remember well the "pretty pictures" painted of Emily & Anne & Charlotte & Branwell sitting around the kitchen table writing together. What a difference to discover that Branwell is an alcohol & opium addict and Emily basically starves herself to death. I liked the writing so well that I'm going to look for Frank's book on the life of Mary Kingsley, A Voyager Out. She was a British explorer who made pioneering trips to West & Central Africa in the late 1800s.
How in the world did my Mother get involved in Women's Studies at the age of 80? Too bad I never knew since we lived so far apart and we had long gotten out of the habit of sharing what we read. My fault probably but I felt she was critical of my choices.
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minus...I'm sorry that you have regrets about sharing intimacies with your mom... I sometimes wonder what I will miss about my mom once she's gone. I've been so blessed to have her for so long....
Speaking of our love of reading...today, my youngest son sent me a text photo of his most recent library selections...I was delighted to see his choices and even more delighted by the fact that he welcomed sharing his choices with me...
Isn't it a wonder what we learn from our elders and then pass along to our children?
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Ruth, loved the library parking garage photo, as well as the others. So clever.
I haven't been here for awhile because Mike and I were on our long awaited, #1 on the bucket list, Alaskan cruise. It was truly the best cruise and the perfect vacation. I took my Kindle of course, but believe it or not, the urge to read left me when I began to see the wonders and incomparable beauty all around me.
Now that I'm home, I'm reading again. I caught the non-fiction bug too. I'm reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It is truly a "ripped from the headlines" book about the discovery of Ebola. Absolutely fascinating!
Here's some photos. First one was way up in the mountains above Ketchikan. Salmon were still trying to go upstream.
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The Quick by Lauren Owen very atmospheric - two young children - decrepit English manor, London - late 19th C, lots about class distinctions, women's roles, homophobia, social manners - good horror story with feisty heroines.
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I'm going for fluff with Lee Child's latest as I walk on my treadmill.
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Teacher - please send review when you finish. I really like his books.
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Great pictures, Sandra!
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Waiting for my turn with Lee Child at the library,, currently reading The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Futuristic end of the world stuff,,, Would actually make a great movie,,, I could see it being rather popular since end of the world/zombie stuff is pretty hot right now.
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Great pics Sandra! Glad you had fun.
I'm ticked. Got to the bottom of my library hold fir 2 books after 45 and 52 on the list and I can't download them. This is the last day to try and I called overdrive tech and still not working. I just lost them. Sigh.
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Moon! How frustrating!
Regarding Lee Child's latest book, Personal..., asked the DH how the book is...engulfed in reading it and peeking up for a moment to glance at me, he said, "Like all the rest, it's good."
So for all you Lee Child fans still waiting for a copy...it is worth the wait! Isn't wonderful how certain authors maintain their magic...book after book...and none of them are stale?
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