Book Lovers Club
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minus...bill bryson is one of my favorites
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Really enjoyed The Astronaut Wives Club. Society expected a lot of these women, who played a supporting role in American history. Quick read but good brain food.
"As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. They had tea with Jackie Kennedy, appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and quickly grew into fashion icons.
Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage, was the envy of the other wives; JFK made it clear that platinum-blonde Rene Carpenter was his favorite; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived with a secret that needed to stay hidden from NASA. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, providing one another with support and friendship, coffee and cocktails.
As their celebrity rose-and as divorce and tragedy began to touch their lives-the wives continued to rally together, forming bonds that would withstand the test of time, and they have stayed friends for over half a century. THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB tells the story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history."
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Why do I love my books when 1) I forget probably 99% of what I've read and 2) I keep buying and reading books? Today, while cleaning out stuff to give to charity thrift stores I came across my copy of Anuradha Roy's The Folded Earth. The book had so many page markers that I had to sit down a bit to remove the many highlights of that read. One of those was for the line "orphanages for old people" that I found worth noting and do recall how it struck me on the initial read, yet if it had not been for the dozens of other markers, I'm not sure I would have recalled reading this book. I feel sad about this experience. It is as if I've been told a very personal story by a friend, but then forget it only to asked sometime later if I recall what was told me. It's embarrassing that I could have forgotten such a treasure.As with this note, I want to explore my thoughts and feelings about literature/stories yet knowing that I'm not the only one having this existential question (maybe that is too grandiose a way to put it but it does make me ponder the relationship of literature to my life). Nevertheless, I will pose this question-
- How do you feel when coming across a book you've obviously read but cannot recall the story or the imprint it made upon you?
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magiclight, interesting question. The imprint remains even if the source is forgotten.
Good thing, too. I've read a lot and forgotten a lot, even before chemo-brain. ;-)
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Badger...your right on. We all get imprinted and I've read somewhere (source forgotten) that those imprints influence daily decisions in so many ways and we are not aware of them. I wonder where I was imprinted with my love of books. BTW, I'm going to reread The Folded Earth and suggest it to my book club.
Currently I'm reading Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. I now have a little better understanding of the century long genocide of Indigenous Peoples. Perhaps the most important concept is that of The Doctrine of Discovery which Ortiz explains as "European nations acquired title to the lands they 'discovered' and Indigenous inhabitants lost their natural rights to that land..." p. 198. Now I understand why the US celebrates Columbus day - All this goes back to the 1400's and a papal bull granting rights to Christians for any land they found that was not Christian. Thomas Jefferson reaffirmed the Doctrine of Discovery in 1792, the Supreme Court in 1823 and continues to be reaffirmed today in Standing Rock.
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Merry Christmas fellow bookworms!
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Great mug Ruth. I can't imagine either.
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hahaha, I need that mug!!
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🌈
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I just read a novel entitled "The Girls" by Lori Lansen. It is written through the eyes of conjoined twins who are 29 years old at the time they decide to write the story of their lives. Both write separate chapters (which they do not share with each other) and are very distinct and from different points of view. Although it is fiction, it FEELS real. Very good, interesting and thought provoking.
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Thanks so much for the review Ruth. Just bought The Girls used online for £0.09. Being into Arbus also means a story about craniopagus (joined at the head) twins are right up my street.
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Let me know what you think when you're done, Lilac.
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finished The Boys on the Boat for bookclub. It is about the 1936 US 9 man rowing team from the University of Washington. Overall, i liked it. More for the stories if what these guys had to do to get thru college and stay on the team. I thought the stuff about Berlin and Hitler were distracting. Either do it completely or not at all for me.
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I/ve finished all of faye and jonathon kellerman's policiers, new ones not out until the middle of feb and the fall. so am getting ideas from this thread: reding now the golden boy, very good memoir about a boy in china in the late forties. read last the bookstore, I was disapointed in it: a young english girl comes to manhattan to get a phd in art istory at columbia, she finds a wealthy young man with family society life and gets engaged to h im. he gives her a great engagment ring which she keeps in a tea kettle becaus her job is in a used book store and she doesn't want to seem above it all. the heir treats her terribly emotionally and soon ditches her twice. she has his baby, one encounter uprotected. at the end of the story the ring is still in the kettle
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Abigail, I am sorry you didn't like The Bookstore - if I had noticed that the ring remained in the kettle, I would be annoyed too. I was fascinated by the rich guy, Mitchell, the way I would be fascinated by a snake.
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I have been hanging out with Franklin Roosevelt and friends. Just finished The Gatekeeper by Kathryn Smith, which is a biography of Missy LeHand, FDR's private secretary, advisor, and confident, and have jumped into His Final Battle-The Last Months of Franklin Roosevelt by Joseph Lelyveld.
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Jelson re the bookstore I was just thinking it wold be different. do you think she was for real or what mitchells father thought that she was a smart cookie. one unprotected encounter, she gets to keep the ring and lose the snake, the ring should give her a better place to live as a single mother until mitchel's people make contact which they crtainly will. and hhow about ana telling her to run, a good kid but perhaps not all that aware as to what was happening
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reading the bill bryson now, re the AT. love it!!
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With the movie coming out, I reserved Hidden Figures. It was very interesting. There are some dry parts (to me) where she really goes into detail about physics, math and aerospace science,, but overall it was really good. I was aware of Jim Crow laws and job listings separate by race and gender, but there was a lot that I learned here. Those interested in history would enjoy it, I believe.
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Just bought When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi. I'm in the middle of an Elizabeth George's most recent "Linley" novel A Banquet of Consequences, but looking forward to "..Air" next.
VR - been missing you. What books came in your stocking?
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Oh Minus! I read Air when it was published! I cried the whole way through it. Then, last week, I passed a B& N and it was in the window....and became sad...all.over.again! I know it was on all of these top ten 2016 lists...but...really...too painful...
I haven't been doing too much reading lately because I, once again, have been dealing with sinus issues that besides feeling like my head would explode, it has been affecting my vision. Suffice to say, i finally dragged myself to the ENT and he asked why I waited so long to see him. I had this happen a few years ago and he did a procedure that helped...until late October...and then I got a cold and everything went downhill....and I kept thinking it would get better with simple treatment...Humidifier, saline spray, flonaise, claritin, compresses....ibuprofen...
On Tuesday, I started a month's dose of steriods...starting to feel better...keeping my fingers crossed...
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VR - I'll keep you in my thoughts & send healing vibes. I guess I shouldn't start Air on a night when I need to get to sleep early. Hmmm. Well, I'll post when I've read. Maybe I'll be sorry. I bought it because Atul Gawande praised it and I absolutely loved Being Mortal.
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I love Gawande's writing as well....probably why I read it too....
Thanks for the good thoughts...minus. I appreciate it....
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Yikes, VR, hope you can get things under control!
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💕💕
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I've read so many of the books listed and loved them all. I'm not too much of a crime fiction person except for 2 authors.
Michael Connelly. When I want to escape to a good solid who dunit read he is my go to guy. The Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller books are favorites. The Burning Room, The Wrong Side Of Good-bye, The Poet, The Lincoln Lawyer, etc.
I also love Faye Kellerman. Her Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series is great.
I'm a fan of historical fiction also. And when I need a laugh or wisdom, I turn to Erma Bombeck.
I am in my third year of Stage IV, mets to the lung. Without a book to turn too, I have no idea of where I could go to escape.
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A Walk in the Woods was made into a movie a few years back, with Robert Redford playing Bryson, and Nick Nolte (who stole the show) playing Katz. Got mixed reviews, but I liked it (how wrong can you go with Redford and Nolte and, oh yeah, Emma Thompson playing Bryson's wife?).
If you enjoy it and Bryson, it is worth checking out Tony Horowitz' books: I like him better than Bryson (less whiney, IMO), but a similar genre. My favorites are Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook has Gone Before (which is what it sounds like: he retraces Cook's steps/journeys)... and Bagdad without a Map (from 1992, but in terms of Middle Eastern history, just yesterday...).
Reminds me, I still need to read Confederates in the Attic (also by Horwitz).
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I too totally enjoyed A Walk in the Woods. A bit off topic but I was reminded of this book I had read years ago and enjoyed. Short and fast read about the NJ Pine Barrens.
https://www.amazon.com/Tracker-True-Story-Tom-Brow...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483753694&sr=1-1&keywords=the+tracker
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mominme - I am a mystery fan, but still have to say that Faye Kellerman has always been at the top of my lists. I like her much better than her husband. Or her son now for that matter.
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And I'm the opposite, MinusTwo. I like both Faye and Jonathan,,, but prefer Jonathan. There's something about Milo,,,,
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