Book Lovers Club
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Found another "old" author I've never read - Jeremiah Healy. His mystery series is set in Boston with Detective John Francis Cuddy. The book I'm reading - Right to Die - from 1991, is about death with dignity. Interesting current topic for a book that's 25 years old.
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Eagerly waiting for my favorite former English professor's second book to come out. I promised him that I would recommend it to people I knew just as I did with his first book
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hi all, been off line for a while wrapping up old job. No time to read (gasp!) was one of the reasons I left. Looking forward to new job starting tomorrow with better work-life balance.
Had been nibbling away at but yesterday finally finished Evicted by Matthew Desmond, a book about the housing crisis for people in deep poverty. Compelling read and I learned a lot.
On the TBR pile: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove, which I liked; Death on the Prairie by Kathleen Ernst, a Chloe Ellefson mystery (the friend who gave it to me first asked if I liked the Little House series), and all three books in the Guardians trilogy by Nora Roberts, just finished and passed along to me by mom.
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OK M0mmy - don't keep us in suspense. What is the professor/author's name? I'm sure it's somewhere in these 200 pages but I'm too lazy to go look.
I'm taking time off from books to catch up with my magazines. I had stopped all subscriptions but one to Bookmarks magazine. Then when I had BC treatments I started several back up. They were easier reading & lighter to hold. I'm gradually letting most of them expire again.
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His name is Steven Parlato
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Thanks M0mmy - I sent his name to my DIL, who was very involved with YA books for a long time. Maybe she knows him. Anyway, I'll put him on my list.
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Here is a look back at Obama's lit picks over the years — because it can't hurt to read like a great leader: http://ew.com/books/2017/01/18/barack-obama-book-recommendations/
Ruth, reading (per your positive recommendation) The Girls by Lori Lansens and loving it - thanks!
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I just found a book my father often read - Snow Bound, by John Greenleaf Whittier, A selection of his poems. In my childhood, my father always would ask if we wanted him to read Snowbound whenever it snowed. It is a small leather bound book with gold edges. Inside he wrote "bought in Washington, D.C. 1916. He did work for the government in Veteran's Affairs. This book is a comfort - With my sisters permission, I am glad I searched in book case at her house.0
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Glad you like it, Lilac. I just finished Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. A very good vacation read (I'm on vacation in not so warm Arizona). It's a fictional story of family dynamics in a blended family.
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Ruth - thanks for the note on Commonwealth. I like her but have been putting it off due to the length. I'm still reading magazines. I got seriously behind over the holidays.
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I started reading Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer while sitting in the dentist chair waiting for him to make my new crown. I needed a big time distraction! So far on about page 50 it is an intriguing read with the main character a spy, double agent during the Vietnam war. The book won the Pulitzer prize for fiction and the reviews influenced my selection even though I usually find Pulitzer prize winning books difficult to read - sometimes I just don't get the narrative.
Anyone else read this book? Thoughts?
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Haven't read it magic but it sound intriguing.
Halfway through My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. A shy eight year-old's outrageous grandmother passes away and the girl has to find people from granny's past and make amends. I wish the characters were being developed a little faster but I'm liking it better as I go.
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I finished The Gathering by Anne Enright earlier this week. It was a 2007 Booker Prize Winner, and I'm very partial to Booker Prize books. This was about an Irish family with 12 children and 7 miscarriages. The children are grown and one of the brother's dies - which causes the family gathering. The sister who is telling the story keeps reflecting on the past and what things really happened, and should she tell, all the time she's dealing with her own problematic marriage. Interesting writing. Here's a comment about her two teen age girls: "Are they good children? Are the decent human beings? In the main. Though Emily is a bit of a cat, and cats, I always think, only jump into your lap to check if you are cold enough, yet, to eat."
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VR - what are you reading? I miss your reviews.
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minus...thanks for asking...but would you believe my sinuses are STILL revolting! I thought I was doing better, but then I had to fly last week and I am a wreck again! I called my ENT and told him I thought my head was going to explode! I am now on so much medication that I am hopeful things will fall into place and the pressure will subside. My eyes are so red and glazed over that it is creating blurry vision, I barely can read what needs to get read...this happened to me a few years ago and he had to roter ruter my turbinates....I am beginning to suspect that I need to have them done again. Sooo frustrating... this episode started in late October and it really is getting me crazed! that said...i am still working on reading Why They Do It. I am also reading a few architecture books...and I am still doing my literacy volunteering and with my students I continue to read whatever pleases them. Presently I am reading with one student, The Women Who Made New York. While there are so many famous women FROM New York, the author, instead chose to examine women who made a mark on the great city. Just when I think I know enough about New York, there comes along one of these gems that sparkle and makes for interesting discussion and ultimately learning!
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Who-Made-New-York/dp/...
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/11/see-illustrations-...
https://www.amazon.com/Why-They-Do-White-Collar-Cr...
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Yikes, hope you feel better soon, VR!
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VR - sorry to hear you're still under the weather. The Women Who Made New York sounds fascinating. Thanks for the links. I'll definitely look out for this one.
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((VR)) gentle hugs, Gentle Reader.
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minustwo I just put a hold on The Gathering (library ebook) based on that wonderful quote you shared. There are 8 people ahead of me on the holds list - apparently it's a popular read!
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Minus, ruth and bad...
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goldie - Wow - a library line for The Gathering - a 2007 book. I'll be interested to see what you think. The book is definitely not all light & happiness.
VR - hugs back at ya. And hoping you feel a little better each day. I love to think of you marching around NYC, through the park & around the Met & past the lions & down to the village.
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minus...i may not be reading as much due to this stubborn sinus issue...but it hasn't diminished my ability to march around Manhattan....come visit, like Beesie and her DH did a month or two ago, and I will have you spinning!
I drive everyone crazy when I head there. My goal is always to do a minimum of three things. A few weeks ago, for example, the Dd's mother-in-law asked if I wanted to go to the ballet. I said I would go before she told me what was playing. I said that unless it was rock climbing, I was game. But, I told her we would need to do at least two more other activities. So, we saw the ballet at the Joyce Theater, visied my favorite orthopedic shoe store, Enselow Shoes ( thanks to them and Turnpike Comfort I can march for miles), visited ol' President Chester Arthur's statue along with some other outdoor art in Madison Square Park AND we headed over to the Rubin Museum for a quiet bite to eat. And...The Flatiron, next to MSP. How I stand in front of it and marvel at it every time I see it! The funniest part of the day occurred when I stopped in MSP and started taking pictures of a temporary exhibit and the plaque explaining what it depicted. Before I knew it, this crowd of people gathered in front of me as I was explaining things to the DD's MIL and they listened to what I was saying. Then, I marched a few of them thru the park as though I was a docent or the Pied Piper! What fun!
Returning to the train station, the Dd's MIL asked me how I knew so much. I looked at her and said, " Because I love to read." 🤓❤️
AHHHH...and Patience and Fortitude...how I love to visit them too! When I look at them and think of all the famous writers who were welcomed by them too, it makes my heart skip a beat. When I started college and first trekked up the steps past the lions, I some how felt like I had arrived into adulthood. Entering the grand main reading room made me feel...so serious. So this place enveloped me like no other place in the city before or after. For me, it is and will always be a place of wonder...
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VR - I wouldn't dream of coming to NY without getting in touch with you. But yes, I would be spinning & probably can't keep up with you.
That has been one benefit of cancer - I have met some great BCO people. Had dinner with two wonderful ladies in Boston in 2015. Met with a really neat guy in AZ in 2016, in addition to lunch with a couple of ladies who were in Houston. What excitement will 2017 bring?
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minus...if you and/or any other sisters come to NY, I will make it my business to see you! I enjoy the company of our fellowship!
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I'm nearly finished with Hillbilly Elegy for my book club next week. Although I was looking forward to reading it based on so many positive reviews and its best selling status, I am disappointed. I think that this memoir (Oh my he is way too young to write a memoir) could be told by so many young men who grew up in dysfunctional families, in poor working class communities who found a way out through military service and college. Having said this, I do think the discussion of the book will be lively.
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Magic....I read it too. I agree....way more hype than it deserved...keep me posted. I am curious.
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I just read three Franklin Roosevelt books in a row. They would be probably be only interesting if you are a total history nerd like me..... anyone is interested let me know and I will review them for you.
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I'm trying to wade my way through Silence by Shusaku Endo. I've always liked Japanese history and I am interested in how the Portugese lost the "mandate" to convert that population to the Christian religion in the 17th century. And I like the idea of a philosophical debate. But I can't seem to move ahead. I'm not looking forward to extreme violence (as the hype for the movie mentions), but I haven't seen any so far. It's not that long. I'm on page 80 out of 204. I usually read 2-4 books a week. I've been working on this one for two weeks now. I'm not sure if it's the book or all the other things I've needed to accomplish the last couple of weeks. In any case, it hasn't sucked me in so I've been getting lot of stuff done - probably a good thing.
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I'm #2 on the library wait list for Hidden Figures.
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I thought Hidden Figures was awesome, Badger.
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