Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Great stories VR. You're right, we don't talk about short stories much. I read them a lot in college and then didn't read them for many years. Lately I've enjoyed collections by A.S. Byatt, Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Berg. I just picked up a collection by Bobbie Ann Mason. I bought Lorrie Moore's collection Bark, but the book didn't really click. I'll read it again when my frame of mind changes.
We don't talk much about poetry either, but J.A. Jance wrote a memoir in poetry & prose called After the Fire that I thought was marvelous. It is..."an incredible collection of truth and courage. It is an intensely personal look at life, death, and recovery." She started writing these as a 24 year old newly wed and the poems were first published in 1984 before any of her novels. In 1968 her husband took a university-level creative writing class that was closed to her as a female. She writes on as her 12 year first marriage collapses under the weight of her husband's addiction and her own unwitting denial and co-dependence.
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thanks for your suggestions Abigail!
I was looking for the name and author of a novel can't locate - a woman goes to India to claim her inheritance - an old house in a small village and it is about her getting accustomed to the villagers and they to her and in the process I found an article in the Rotarian Magazine by Joe Queenan about libraries - a hotlink in the article leads you to a Rotary suggested reading list which is very interesting.
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Jel....Queenan agreed to buy the home he and his wife lived in, in Westchester County, NY.....because it was located directly across the street from the local library! That is my dream home!!!!!
My younger son lives directly across the street from the local botanical gardens! That would be my second favorite dream home! Hmmmmm....
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VR, I adore short stories! My favorite is still "The Swimmer" by John Cheever.
Already polished off both Jesse Stones, quick & easy, good reads.
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badg!!!! I saw the film!😉. DH and both DSs are former lifeguards and along with DD life long swimmers! I loved the story! The DSs idea for a nice vacation includes a swim in whatever public pool, lake, bay or ocean there is in the area! My personal favorite place to take a dip is in Barton Springs...Lake Tahoe is on my bucket list....DD has an indoor pool in her building that sits on the ocean....now how nice is that??!!!😇
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this thread is a virtual mother lode...., I am accumulating such riches on my list.
VR- the mention of poetry urges me to share a book an old friend sent to me as I neared end of chemo. Ten Poems To Change Your Life. I've always wanted to like poetry better than I do, but I think you need training. It's not like prose... How we talk.
Anyway, the first poem introduced me to Mary Oliver. The one poem was worth the whole book. I've since read other poems of hers, a fabulous one on hummingbirds, who became special friends during surgery recovery. But in this anthology, The Only Life You Can Save, was beautiful and quite resonant to me. Worth just googling the poem.
Thank you all for continuing to bring the light in!
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jack.....thank you for sharing such a lovely poem! Minus suggested poems....I have to think about what might be my favorite poem...I do have a favorite ballad....they aren't mentioned here either...but they too are certainly worth mentioning..
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How cool would it be to go to this school!
School might be out for summer, but teachers at Biloxi Junior High School in Mississippi are already preparing for the fall. A group of teachers and volunteers are turning the 8th grade English hallway into an "Avenue of Literature" by painting the 189 unused lockers—which had been sealed shut for security reasons for more than 15 years—to look like the spines of popular books.
The teachers are hoping that by surrounding their students with books of all genres—including classics like Gulliver's Travels and Moby Dick, and newer titles, like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and The Hunger Games—they'll inspire them to explore and love literature—no matter which book they choose. Elizabeth Williams, one of the teachers working on the project, told WLOX, "We want students to come back to school in August and walk on the hallway and be absolutely amazed with what we've done and be curious. We want that to be the driving spark for reading in our classrooms."
Private and public donations, as well as a $600 grant from Biloxi First, funded the project, which will be celebrated at a ribbon cutting ceremony today.
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that is an awesome hallway! Maybe I could borrow the idea for the guest room
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My problem is that real books cover most of the walls in most of the rooms in my house. And if there's a free wall, there books on the tables & the floor. I'm sure you've all seen this, but it's one of my favorites.
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BTW - image courtesy of Owl Square Press. They have wonderful graphic things for book lovers.
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Love those school lockers!
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Those of you who liked The Boys in the Boat might also like A Higher Calling by Makos. It is a true World War II story of chivalry, valor, grit and determination in the battle for the skies of Europe
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Granny, thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed "Boys on the Boat" and will look for "Higher Calling.
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hi all, I have to brag about my mom. In the little more than a year since she moved here from FL, she's organized the library at her senior-living place, gotten the public library to bring two boxes of books (incl large-print and books on tape) every month, and getting help for people with e-readers. Now she's getting a book club started! They had a dozen residents at the first meeting last week. Mgmt agreed to fund the books thru the activity dept. People will get to keep their books so now what to read? Fri we went shopping using a gift card from some lovely ladies and mom bought several books incl a great choice IMHO: The Nightingale. They meet next week to talk about book ideas. Cool!
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badger!!!! Sign me up so I can join your mom!!!!😍😍😍😍
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Finished The Dorito Effect. Pretty much knew what the author had to say, but nonetheless, enjoyed reading the book. Now I could tell people who need enlightening about nutrition, that they should read the book! For sure, for some readers the ideas are sobering. For others, like myself, it is still sobering, but well worth the effort of reading it cover to cover....All I will say is that if one thinks shopping at Trader Joes and taking muliple vitamins and supplements is the key to good nutrition...they are in for a surprise....
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The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances by Ellen Cooney You are kind of dropped into this book - an inn keeper - who is the gate keeper to a dog sanctuary and a young woman who has applied to learn to be a dog trainer. You learn that Evie, the young woman, has just left a drug rehabilitation program and is searching for a place to belong and for something meaningful to do. Mrs Auberchon is a very precise and seemingly cold type person, apparently holding in a lot of hurt. Although Evie's experience with dogs - and much else is through reading, the Mountaintop School provides no training manual - so as she works with the dogs intuitively, she create her own guide. The book provides a fascinating look into dog rescue and rehabilitation which of course carries over into people rescue and rehabilitation - also the meanings of family, trust and home for people and dogs alike are addressed. No sex!! good book!!
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Badger: How awesome!! Go Mom!!
I have not heard of the Dorito Effect,, looked it up on Amazon,, and Wow,, it is rated 4.8 out of 5! that's pretty impressive. Granted it's only 35 reviews, but still,,,, Will have to look for it.
I read the Mountaintop School for Dogs too, and really enjoyed it. Currently reading Craig Johnson's latest in the Longmire series: Dry Bones.
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Shy bid/suggestion for Dry Grass of August by Anna Mayhew. it's for people who want to move past Stockett's The Help, except tarter/more ascerbic. (Searched but didn't see if anyone had suggested it here.) Read it after The Help and wish I'd read it first!
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Glennie - do report on the Craig Johnson. I've only read one of his books but really liked it.
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MinusTwo: I'm almost done. I have to say I've enjoyed the whole series. I liked the TV show too, and was sorry that it was not renewed. There will be new episodes on Netflix, but I don't have Netflix.0 -
you guys probably think I forgot about you! But no, it's every time I pick up my book I am asleep in 15 minutes!
I'm about 10 days pfc and have high hopes. I just finished Brave Companions by David McCullough. Yay! Enjoyed it, but it was hard tricking myself to stay awake.
On your recommendations here, I am switching gears and just started Stephen White's Priveledged Information. Excitedto be moving on!
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Go Katy go!! Happy to see you back into reading again.Enjoyed the last Craig Johnson, Dry Bones, but things left unsettled,,, need next book STAT. Now I'm reading Jo Nesbo's stand-alone novel, Blood on Snow.
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The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa a single housekeeper with a 10 year old son is assigned by her agency to work for a former mathematics professor who has lost his short term memory through a car accident. He has run through many previous housekeepers so she takes on the job with a bit of trepidation. The professor is absorbed in his mathematical formulae and she expresses interest in them. Her son comes to the job and the professor helps him with his math homework - he is a patient and empowering teacher. Much of their interactions revolve around the discussion of equations and the relationships among numbers and eventually a mutual love of baseball is discovered. The respect, kindness and empathy the characters show for each other is very beautiful. Very sweet.
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I like to learn about places/times/cultures through novels -so I have spent time in contemporary Bangkok via John Burdett's series which follow a young Royal Thai police detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep - a devote Buddhist, son of a GI and a savvy and successful prostitute. Because he and his mom traveled with her wealthy lovers, Sonchai is fluent in English and has a more global perspective than the normal Thai cop. Each book deals with some type of corruption, in this book, the 5th in the series - Vulture Peak you learn about the global trade in human organs. Action takes place in Dubai, Monte Carlo, Hong Kong and Singapore as well as Thailand. Although much of the book is about the sex trade, there is actually very little explicit sex. There is great character development.
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THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins, a psychological thriller told from the viewpoint of three different women. Women who are unreliable narrators, each with something to hide. It definitely kept my attention.
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Ruth - looking forward to The Girl on the Train. Tomboy - is its you who recommended The Temple of my Familiar? I finally picked up a copy this week but it will have to be on the bedside table for awhile. I decided I needed to re-read To Kill A Mockingbird before I hear much more about Harper Lee's new/old novel released yesterday.
I discovered Reed Arvin at a used bookstore several months ago and really liked his book The Last Goodbye. It's a lawyer/trial novel. I liked it so much that I've been keeping a watch out for another of his books. Oops, bought the same book again - and read it again & still liked it. Imminent Alzheimers?
Just finished John Katzenbach's first book, In The Heat of the Summer (1982). For those of you who are a certain age, his Dad was former Attorney General of the United States Nicholas Katzenbach. This son, John, became a newspaper journalist instead of a lawyer and his novel is how a newspaper writer in Miami judges what is just reporting the story & what is stimulating a killer to continue - and how close the writer & the killer become.
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I must say I did not like The Girl on the Train. Is there anybody else out there who feels the same way? Don't want to say why as some of you have not read it yet.
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I'm enjoying the buzz that Go Set a Watchman has created. Loading groceries and over heard two women walk by in the car park talking about it. With all the daily, rotten world news, I find it a welcome relief. I'm not sure about this latest book from Harper Lee but it is making everyone think hard about what we learned from To Kill a Mocking Bird. Has anyone started or finished Go Set a Watchman since the release a few days ago?
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