Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Just finished 'The Orphan Train,' recommended on this forum. Outstanding! I didn't want it to end! Highly recommend!
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Just finished Matthew Dicks' Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend which is in fact a book told from the perspective of 8 year old Max, an autistic boy's imaginary friend, Budo. I picked up the book at the library, mainly because of the title and had to renew it because I was a bit skeptical about whether I would actually enjoy it. well, I finally plunged in a was thoroughly captivated. Moral dilemmas, the purpose of existence, what is goodness, what is evil, the experience of death, what makes a good teacher - a detailed and believable! description of the "lives" of imaginary friends - like many are not thoroughly imagined, they don't have bodies, ears, they look like q-tips or spoons or puppies, they have different abilities, they exist only for as long as their human needs them - and that is Budo's moral dilemma. Dicks has written two other books - about "quirky" characters making their way in the world - I think he himself may be "on the spectrum" which gives greater depth to his writing.
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I know its been mentioned here, but I too cannot read like before. So hard to sit and concentrate. A bummer, and Im trying to get back to it.
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aviva...start out with something simple like a magazine or an oversized Q library book that has beautiful pictures. You know...those coffee table books. Don't beat yourself up anymore than necessary....your love for reading will return....
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Finally catching up with Deborah Knott in the series by Margaret Maron. I'm several years behind so just read 2010's Christmas Mourning. This is such a wonderful series set in North Carolina. Kezzie Knott had 12 children w/two wives and Deborah is the youngest. The first book was The Bootlegger's Daughter and daughter Deborah is a judge. You can imagine the opportunity for legal conflict. Lots of extended generation family stories and always a good mystery.
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whoa! The Bootlegger's Daughter! Yes! a forgotten series which I remember really enjoying - I am going to to check on fantastic ficion and try to sort through what I think I have read and what I probably haven't read. thanks for the reminder.
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Just got Connelly's The Burning Room to read while traveling.
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Teacher - I'll be looking forward to your review. I've always been a Connelly fan but currently reading the previous Harry Bosch book, The Black Box from 2012 and find I'm not really enthralled. That's unusual for me and I was wondering if it's me or if Connelly's getting tired of Harry.
Dare I say I've liked Lee Childs & Greg Iles better recently.
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My book club selected The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan. I'm 20 pages into it and bored already. Please tell me it gets better. I don't care what every single room in the Hidden Jade Path house looks like.
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Here's a link to an interesting article about people who read. Who knew we were so special? Apparently it's scientifically proven! Among our other attributes, we are the best people to fall in love with!
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Sandra - great article. I immediately forwarded to my grown son, who no longer reads. Thanks for posting it.
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Sandra...The Wisdom of Psychopaths devotes a chapter to readers and their ability to empathize. Neuroscientists have identified an area in the brain that is wired to empathize. What worried today's neuroscientists is that they noticed the actual changes in the empathy brain area in college students from today compared to 30 years ago. Back then, students read more "deep" literature.
Jean Twenge's book Generation Me, as well, devotes itself to numerous studies concerning empathy and mentions those college student studies too!
One of the reasons why I made a conscious decision, a few years ago, to read six novels each year has to do with the research you refer to. I was never a fiction lover, but I really felt the studies made sense. After reading The Wisdom of Psychopaths, that cemented my goal. I'm on novel 5 for the year. One more to go...in between my nonfiction books!
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunda...
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Interesting!! Thanks for the links!!!
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And here's one more link about people who still read fiction.
In the study, empathy was only apparent in the groups of people who read fiction and who were emotionally transported. Meanwhile, those who were not transported demonstrated a decrease in empathy.
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And on a slightly different topic... An article about whether it makes a difference if we read "real" books or do all of our reading on electronic devices. Either way, I love the 68% stress reduction. Now I know why I gave up cleaning for reading. And I appreciate the recommendations on this site.
It's no secret that reading is good for you. Just six minutes of reading is enough to reduce stress by 68%, and numerous studies have shown that reading keeps your brain functioning effectively as you age. One study even found that elderly individuals who read regularly are 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's than their peers. But not all forms of reading are created equal.(see below)
http://mic.com/articles/99408/science-has-great-news-for-people-who-read-actual-books
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I love this, minustwo!! I love print books!!! And now there is proof to back it up why they are better.0 -
P.D. James passed away today. I'm such a dunce. I thought P.D. James was a man. My bad. She was 94. What a life!0 -
wow,, 94,,, good long life.0 -
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I LIKE
Sandra, lol.0 -
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yes, I heard about PDJames. Detective Dalgliesh is such a full character. 94 is a long life.
Sandra I love that one!
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Finished Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Ehrenreich. I'd read one of her previous books, Nickel & Dimed, and really like how she thinks and writes. I expected to read about problems such as no child can ever lose anymore and everyone must always win. (How in the world can the kids learn about life - where people do lose their jobs & cars break down, etc.) But it's so much more that just that. In a 200 page book I've placed 16 stickey notes.
In her introduction she posits some of the problems caused by constant optimistic blindness - two of which are the financial meltdown & how positive thinking destroyed the economy; and the 911 attack - "where disturbing cues were later attributed to a 'failure of the imagination' - when there was simply no ability or inclination to imagine the worst".
And this is one of my favorite quotes about the power of positive thinking to get (attract) whatever you want (I love this):
"As everyone knows, ordinary magnets are not attracted or repelled by our heads, nor are our heads attracted to our refrigerators."0 -
I enjoyed both of her books too. My motto has been: hope for the best but plan for the worst. I have been surprised by people who think I'm being simply "negative" because I want to have plans in place, just in case,,,, like if the computer system at work crashes,, what will we do? Things like that. Positive thinking isn't going to fix it.0 -
Finished tuesday nights, loved it, just picked up 3 more five days left, julie timmer , n the angel tree have no idea where that came from , a robert parker, jesse stone 1
I switch off sometime reading more than 1 at a time, mayb every other night
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Marathon of reading Weds Thurs & Fri powered me through Edge of Eternity, the third book in the Century trilogy. Great book, in more than one way. Wonderful story, written well, but 1100 pages is crazy good.
I was alive for the span of time covered in book three so learned about things I'd heard but not understood as a child, and remembered many more things from young adulthood & college.
Now I have Orphan Train recommended here, thanks.
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minus two - don't know if it's being busy over the holiday and lack of time to read, but I'm not too far into The Burning Room. A friend told me its Connelly's best so I will get into it tomorrow when I have time
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