Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Marybe:
I also do the airport books stores since I travel for business.
I'll have to look for these on next trip!
thanks
Jan
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I love the airport book stores - especially the 50% off ones! Still loving my Kindle - hope everyone who gets one for Christmas loves their's too. I'm still reading the free Agatha Christie's. They are so quaint and funny - don't remember thinking they were so funny when I first read them in high school - 45 years ago!
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Some of the bookstores at the airport have this deal where if you keep the reciept you can return the book after you read it and get another for something like 50% off....am not sure of the amount since I have never done it because I usually end up giving the book to someone else to read....can't remember which one, but don't think it was Border's...Hudson News?...can't recall.
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Paragon? Paradiem? Para something. They put the ones that you bring back on the 50% off rack and that's where I get mine! Only slightly used. Both paperbacks and hardbacks. Most of them are current bestsellers.
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Have we mentioned David Sedaris? Can't remember if it was here or somewhere else - if you don't mind the swearing, he's so funny you need to keep the poise pads handy - any book of his will do.
I realized some time ago that I posted about a good mystery/suspense writer Carol O'Connell, only I spelled it O'Conner - silly me - posting the correction now.
Some nice animal stories - Dewey, a cat that was dropped in a library book slot and lived thereafter at the library; Merle's Door, about the adventures of a dog as he roamed with his owner and on his own; Alex and Me, the story of a grey parrot and the researcher who discovered its intelligence and language skills. Last Chance Dog is a poorly-written but very informative book about alternative/holistic veterinarian practices such as accupuncture and herbs.
A Walk Across France is a story of a couple who work on salvaging their marriage as they trek across France; A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence and Encore Provence by Peter Mayle are all fun explorations of living as an expat in Provence. Beyond the Aspen Grove is a botanical exploration/family story/autobiography set in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
I'm not promising all of these books are even in print - some, such as Last Chance Dog, came to me as proofs, others are older books. All are a good read in some way. I can provide authors if asked - I'm just doing this from my head - sometimes I remember authors, sometimes I remember titles. Occasionally I remember both.
Has anyone read the Autobiography of Mark Twain, yet? I'm interested to hear how it is. I'm getting an e-reader for Christmas, I just might re-read the Agatha Christie's myself. I enjoyed them way back when. I like a lot of the old British mystery writers but read most of them years ago and moved on. A re-read may be in order. I also like the Nero Wolfe series - still trying to find all of them. I'm hoping they'll be available on the e-reader.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
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The airport in Madison WI has a Paradies shop and they offer the 'read and return' program. It's one of the few good things about air travel these days LOL! You buy a book for full price but return it to them, or another participating store, and get half the cost back. They turn around and sell the used books on a half-price rack. I've gotten some really good reads for half-price. My favorite 'find' so far is the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.
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Crusader1 and Marybe --
Put me in the category of those who liked The Reliable Wife. I thought the author was a good wordsmith and wove a good tale.
Plus, it wasn't too taxing on the brain to read!Finished watching all 8 episodes of the Pillars of the Earth DVD, so I'm back to reading As Always, Julia -- about Julia Child and Alva DeVoto. I LOVE the book!
The Pillars of the Earth DVD was also terrific! I LOVE Rufus Sewell who plays Tom Builder in the film almost as much as I love Richard Gere! Don't worry about me giving TMI, the DH knows what kind of crush I have on them and he's okay with it.
Enjoy reading...and watching!
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Bookart --
My friend schlepped me to a bookstore in Princeton, New Jersey last year to meet the author of Merle's Door. She loves animal books, especially about dogs. We had a wonderful time. He was such a nice man. He brought a powerpoint presentation about Merle. They really had such a beautiful life together. There wasn't a dry eye in the audience -- including me and I don't even own a dog!
I love going to Barnes and Noble or Waldenbooks to meet authors. Anyone else enjoy going???
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Here's Garrison Keillor's review of The Autobiography of Mark Twain that appears in this week's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/books/review/Keillor-t.html?_r=1&ref=books
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I LOVED Merle's Door....liked the way it not only told the wonderful relationship of a dog and his owner, but also there was a little bit of history mixed in with it. Someone told me to read The Art of Racing in the Rain when they heard how much I liked Merle's story, but I did not like it nearly as much I also liked the one about the Potato Peel Pie Society..that one also gave you some history along with the story about what it was like during the war and The Piano Teacher was the same way. I like learning about history and geography when it is woven into a story....don't know how accurate it is when in a novel, but it certainly appeals to me more than learning it is school ever did. Language Arts, Creative Writing, Speech, all of those courses I loved....anything else, forget it! I read a book that Garrison Keeler wrote not long ago...one I picked up at Joseph Beth BookSellers on sale and I have no idea what the name of it was....the main character was a writer and ended up moving to NY for work and wife stayed in the hometown..it was an easy read and funny as he usually is. I used to love to listen to the Lake Woebegone tales when they were on the radio....love stories told through the eyes of a child. Elizabeth Berg wrote some like that and then I read one The Summer We got Saved and My Last Year as Roy Rogers (don't quote me on those titles, but I am close) and both were laugh out loud books. And yes I love going to Barnes and Noble for book signings. My biggest regret is that I didn't find out Augusten Burroughs was at a big book fair in town this summer until an hour after is ended.
I adore reading and wish I had more time to do it, but work and life interfer. Do any of you recall that Twilight Zone classic where Burgess Meredith was the last man on earth and discovered the library and was so happy to have time to read all his favorite books and then he broke his glasses!?!?
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Marybe -- "I adore reading and wish I had more time to do it, but work and life interfer. Do any of you recall that Twilight Zone classic where Burgess Meredith was the last man on earth and discovered the library and was so happy to have time to read all his favorite books and then he broke his glasses!?!?"
WHO COULD EVER FORGET THAT EPISODE???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My worst nightmare!!!!!!!!
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Total escapism, but not trashy. "This is where I leave you" byJonathan Tropper. Laugh out loud, but pathetically sad at times. What drew me in was the phrase, "my marriage ended the way most do, with cheesecake and paramedics".
I had never heard of this author prior to starting this book, has anyone read any of his books?
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wenweb --- go back on this thread and look for what I have written! I RAVED about Jonathan Tropper's "This is Where I Leave You."
I read two of his other books. I forget the names of them. One of them is about a young guy who looses his older wife and raises her son. It was okay. But This is Where I Leave You is terrific! When I read it I was reminded of Terry McMillian's A Day Late and A Dollar Short. I highly recommend you read it.
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bookart - Love Carol O'Connell. Mallory is one of my favorite mystery/crime characters, and Judas Child (not part of the Mallory series) is another great read.
I'm a high school English teacher, and reading during the school year is a guilty pleasure since I always have papers to grade. Right now - TWO WEEKS to read! Heaven!
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Badger - Paradies, that's what I was talking about. Knew it was para something. They have all the newest best sellers and really good paperbacks. Every airport I've been in for the last several years has one of them. Thanks for the name - it was driving me crazy!
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Thanks voracious reader for the McMillian's referral. Haven't read anything of hers since Wating to Exhale.
Since I'm too busy reading in my spare time to read this entire thread, thought I'd mention some books that I have loved, but not seen listed (remember I didn't read the entire 16 pgs).
THE RED TENT, THE GIRLS,THIS MUCH I KNOW IS TRUE,HALF OF A YELLOW SUN,THE SPACE BETWEEN US, LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, MIDDLESEX, A FINE BALANCE.
Sorry I haven't included the authors, but as I am sure all of you know, you can find any title on Amazon.
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Hi, everyone!
Wenweb, didn't you LOVE A Fine Balance? One of my favorites the last 2 years. Also, by same author is The Long Road Home. I think I enjoyed it just as much, maybe just slightly less. Another good one is Rooftops of Tehran. I jotted down a couple you mentioned that I haven't read. I want to read Love in the Time of Cholera again. It's been YEARS!
I really enjoyed This is Where I Leave You, and The Reliable Wife.
My DH just had hip replacement surgery, so I have just quickly read the boards lately. Busy playing nursemaid. But, still jotting down books on my "to read" list when I get a chance.
Merry Christmas to everyone if I don't get time to post again!
Lane
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WENWEB, It looks like we have read a lot of the same books....I think I need to look up A Fine Balance since two of you recommend it.
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LWD, Yes I loved "A Fine Balance", also one of my favorites in the past 2 years. I will check on "The Long Road Home" thanks.
Marybe, you should definitely read "A Fine Balance"...it's a fine book.
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Layne 157 -
I missed your spoiler alert in July?? about Lindsey Davis's Nemesis in which you assuage my fears for the fate of Helena Justina. It has taken me this long to check it out for myself, I stood in the library and read the first few pages today, so sad, yet not as sad as it could have been - esp with infant mortality being what it was in ancient rome!....and I was going to alert you to Helena Justina's survival, so I was going back in time on this thread ( so many books, so little time!!) to make sure to whom this should be addressed and found your kind note to me that Helena survives! Just as well, I read more in the winter than the summer anyway. But we can still fret because it is 77 AD and doesn't the volcanic eruption which destroys Pompeii and Herculaneum occur in 79 AD???
oh, what about the Twilight Zone episode which ended with the train conductor calling out "next stop willowby"?
I don't remember what the story was about, but just whispering the phrase to myself sends shivers down my spine.
Julie E
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I think it ended with the guy dead on the tracks and there was snow and the conductor or porter or someone was telling the detective or police, that he just jumped off the train and then you saw them loading him in the hearse and it said Willoughby Funeral Home on it. I used to live for Friday nights....popcorn and The Twilight Zone. One of my favorites was the one where all the doctors had pig faces and this woman they were doing surgery on was considered a freak because she was pretty....Donna Douglas I think played the part. And then there was the one with the robot electra who was the grandma who came and cared for the kids and My name is Talking Tina and there were just soooo many good ones, Oh and the kid names Anthony who sent people to the cornfield or turned them into some sort of monster if they displeased him. I think it was on the middle age thread or middleaged memories that we discussed all the Twilight zones last year. Rod Serling was way ahead of his time and a lot of actors who later became famous were on there in episodes. Sorry to get off the book track
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Oh my gosh, I just found this thread... and so happy I did! I've read more in the past several months than I had in years, of course retirement gave me a little more free time and then this diagnosis and all the dr. appointments, chemo, etc. I never really mind having to wait if I have a good book to read. I loved The Help, Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I hated when I finished the last one because I know that there won't be any more of them. Looking forward to seeing the movie. I'm pretty sure Santa is bringing me a Kindle and my first purchase will be Winter's Bone. I've heard it's really good, anybody else read it? Love having this escape!
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Let me know about Eleanor and Franklin, Layne. I think that's going onto my Kindle wish list unless I goof and press the "buy now" button instead! Way too easy to push that button!
I'm finishing the 3rd Steig Larsson, and it's finally picking up a bit. Next up for my on-line book club (Constant Reader on www.goodreads.com) On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by David Mitchell (I think?)
Anne
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I just told my husband to order "Good Wives" for Christmas for me. So thanks for the recommendation. If you like books about the lives of women in the past; a good one is "Pioneer Woman-Voices form the Kansas Frontier" by Joanna L. Stratton. Its copyright is 1981 so you might have to search for it. What makes it especially interesting is the author's great-grandmother was an early feminist & complied letters & the oral histories of over 800 pioneer women, but died before she could do anything with them. The author found them all filed in a cabinet in the attic of her grandmother's home; put them together & published them in this book.
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I think I remember seeing that Pioneer Women book - I read some of it - hard, hard lives they led. I don't think I have it any more, unfortunately.
Has anyone ever read John McPhee? I loved his early stuff like Giving Good Weight, Survival of the Bark Canoe, Encounters with the Archdruid, Deltoid Pumpkin Seed, etc, but the latter stuff about geography like Basin and Range, Assembling California, etc, I've found hard going. But in general, if you get a chance to read a McPhee, do it - they're usually marvelous. (just checked Amazon - new titles sound intriguing...I see some McPhee reading in my near future)
Jacksnana - It is awful when a talented writer dies and that lovely flow of words stops. It is the perfect time to use the word bereft - it fits the emotion of loss when we don't know the person but treasure them anyway for their gifts to us.
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If the good wife ladies are anything like the pioneer ladies; I would have definitly died young, because either I would have killed myself or been killed by someone for whining continually about how hard my life was!!!!
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Ruthbru, I think you underestimate yourself. You've been strong enough to live through cancer...give yourself some credit. It's also all relative, they didn't know how easy life could really be. I think I would have been one of the saloon ladies though :>)
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A couple years ago PBS and a series where people would go back and live for awhile (maybe a month?) exactly like they did during different time periods; I know they did a pioneer family & Victorian England.....it did just about drive the people bonkers....even to MAKE your soap to wash your hair (which was a rare occurance). I'd be afraid of pregancy if I were a saloon lady, or even a married lady. I'd probably have to be a nun (and I'm not even Catholic!).
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Hi ladies,
This is a great discussion board..
Voracious..I love going to B and N to hear authors speak. MY DH and I just saw hoda Kotb at our local store promoting her book. She was diagnosed with BC at the same time she found out her husband was cheating on her. A quick read.Oh yes we aslo saw Alexander Mccall smith speak a few years ago..Ladies Detective agency books..Botswana. He came in his kilt.
I loved all the Steig larson books. I got my kindle last year for the holidays but use it mainly when I travel.
Just finished reading The new Anita Shreeve book..Rescue..okay..
Hugs,
Francine
I have so many books waiting for me at the library. I also love Jodi picoult books.
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Crusader1- Hoda Kotb. Oy. Now that must have been something listening to her speak. I hope she called out that SOB with her wonderful dignity and grace.
Here's a couple of more books that I thought of over the weekend.
http://www.amazon.com/Peaches-Daddy-Courtship-Captured-Imaginations/dp/1590200462
Peaches and Daddy.
It's a true story about the roaring 20's and an illicit affair.
Speaking of the pioneer women:
A Thousand White Women. I'm sure lots of you women have already read it. I think it was popular for reading groups a couple of years ago. If you missed it, it's a lot of fun to read.
Here's background on the Burgess Meredith episode of the Twilight Zone, Time Enough at Last:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_at_Last
Just want to add, whenever I misplace my glasses, I see Burgess Meredith in front of me. I also keep TWO pairs of reading glasses....just in case!
Nowaday, someone said, with the kindle and computers, we're just a lightening bolt away from being without our reading glasses! Hmmmm.....
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