Book Lovers Club
Comments
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OK, I think I will take my Outlander book to my 2 doctor appointments and see if I can get into it.
As long as I am sitting my as well read! LOL
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SusieMTN - Be careful, they will call you in for your appt and you will say, wait til I finish this chapter!!!
Enjoy!!!
Julie E
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Just saw this website, Lisa Simpson - the cartoon daughter is a booklover - and the site is interactive.
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I liked the first Outlander, thought it great fun, but the rest of the series didn't seem as good to me.
Don't give up on Russian novels! Just remember, each person has three names. Every first name has a diminutive/nickname and a formal name.
I recently finished Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen and want to read more of her work. A haunting, sparce novel dealing with grief, set in Japan. Then I went to Little Bee, whose main character is very memorable, but the book is so full of shocking moments that you can't tell anyone much of the plot. Last night I started The age of orphans, by Laleh Khadivi, about an orphaned Kurdish boy, which came highly recommended.
I'm trying to find something for my mom. She really enjoyed Once upon a town, about the troop trains going thru Nebraska, and I'm thinking memoir more than novel. She doesn't like "pop" fiction; she really likes Ivan Doig, whom someone mentioned. Suggestions?
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Has anyone read:
Firefly Love - Kristin Hannah
A Secret Kept - Tatiana de Rosnay
The Kommandant's Girl - Pan Jenoff
I have a Borders gift card and with the present state they are in, I fear if they file BK (or they may have done so today) the gift cards will be null and void. When Linens and Things went BK, they refused to take gift cards.
I appreciate any reviews.
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Wellwater- Sorry I have not read any of the ones you have listed.
I am almost 3/4 of the way through Ken Folletts Fall of Giants. It is a good read and I find myself looking forward to getting back to it each evening. It is all about WWI which I find interesting, yet a bit much at times. It is very political book. His characters and their stories are intriguing and I am happy when he brings it back around to them. So I would say it is a good read, though I am not yet finished. However, I think Pillars of the Earth was much better.
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wellwater, I can't help either with those books either, but if I were you I'd either just buy one or more of them (at least then you'd have something for your card), or quickly go on line and read reviews -- Amazon works for "people" reviews, and the NYT and others are good for professional reviews. Then plunge in and spend! The report I read said they ARE filing, and soon, so spend while you can.
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Yeah, my partner works at Borders, and that's all the talk there. Now they may survive bankruptcy, just close some stores and refinance their debt. But they may also go under. Then we get the joy of figuring out how to manage on just one salary, and maybe unemployment.
I haven't read any of those books, BTW. Sorry.
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Thanks...I went ahead and ordered them.
I hate that we're going to lose this store. I LOVE going to Borders and do buy my books there. With the coupons they have it's a good deal. And yes, it may cost a few bucks more but it's been worth it as far as I'm concerned to have the chain survive. One of the more enjoyable things is being able to hold a book in your hand and browse through it, to walk down the many aisles and pull out so many different topics...to talk with employees there who are readers and love sharing their opinions on the books.
And, of course, there are the employees who lose their jobs....in such a rotten economy where finding another job is so hard to do. It's a shame.
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That is one of the great things about Borders - their employees are readers, and love literature and the people who like to read. I've obviously read a lot about their problems, and it annoys me that everyone seems to love them, but they've been mis-managed so badly that their debt has increased 5X or more in the past 10 years or so. We've already lost many of the independent booksellers due to the large chains like Borders and B&N - what happens if they go under, too?And I love the feel of a book - ereaders will never replace that, even if sometimes they're more convenient.
I'm reading Finding My Voice by Diane Rehm of NPR radio. Not the most smooth reading, but very interesting to find out about her background. I have to read more to see if I recommend it, overall.
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I'm sorry for Borders going under and so many stores closing -- and most of all, people losing their jobs. I liked our local Borders well enough although honestly I liked other bookstores better (and other Borders better) and it won't impact me much when it closes.
The chain bookstores put several locally-owned bookstores out of business, and that bothered me too. I still shop as much as possible at the one locally-owned store that has weathered all kinds of competition and we still have a B&N, so I have options. I hope others do as well.
And of course I'm a huge fan of the library. I've looked at e-readers but I haven't found one that has me convinced I'm even close to needing one so I'll be a hard-copy reader for awhile yet.
bookart, I hope your Borders stays open for your partner's job's sake. And I'll be interested in your review. I'm a fan of Diane and have so much compassion for what she's gone through with her vocal cords.
Nothing new to add to reviews but I came by to pick up some recommendations.
Happy reading!
Edited to add: Not too long ago, I did read The White Garden, by Stephanie Barron (aka Francine Matthews). Got me interested in Virginia Woolf again but not enough to read any of her books yet. Good novel, not great, but an interesting premise and absorbing enough to keep me interested to the end. If you like light mysteries, or are interested in Virginia Woolf, or in Vita Sack-Ville West's White Garden (as a gardener, designer, or otherwise), you'd probably enjoy this one.
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How awesome is this link/posting .. You ladies Rock here on Breast Cancer.org site! ohhhh, how I love you all! Support, Sisterhood and Great Warrior Spirits.
Vicki Sam
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We have been told here in Australia that if we have a Borders Gift Card we have to spend an equal amount to redeem it. So if you have a $50.00 card you have to spend another $50.00 of your money to use it.
Of course there has been a big fuss about it so I don't know how it will end up.
Is it the same in America?
BTW..I love this thread. At the moment reading "Run" by Ann Patchett. The first book of hers I've read.
jezza
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Have been peeking on this thread for ideas of books--thanks!
I am just finishing book called "One Day"--spans over 20 years -- shows what is going on one day in each of the 20 years--sounds strange but is pretty good. Next book to read is Secret Daughter.
I now have a kindle that was given to me--haven't bought a book yet on it--will be different reading there instead of actual paper....will be easier for travel!
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jezza
Not like that here.
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Finished Triumvirate Mckim, Mead & White. Any architecture lovers? A must read. The author is a professor of architecture at New York University. I would love to take a walking tour of NY with her. Now I am reading The Flatiron. These books read in succession are amazing! Having read Erik Larson's classic Devil in the White City about Chicago's architecture and how some of those same architects contributed to New York's architecture is also a must read. I finally have an understanding about how skyscrapers were born. I also read about IM Pei, another library oversized Q book. I wasn't crazy about many of his works, but I was impressed with the breath of his work. I was quite surprised to notice that the first Jet Blue terminal at JFK airport, first created for National Airlines, was designed by him and is slated for demolition. Very sad.
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I have gotten myself into quite a pickle - I find myself in the middle of several books at the same time and I DON'T LIKE IT!!
my friend who works in an independent bookstore gave me an "advance" copy of Geraldine Brook's Caleb's Crossing, about the first Native American who graduated from Harvard College in 1665. Almost nothing is known about him except he came from Martha's Vinyard. She wants it back ASAP. Then Gary Shteyngart gave a reading and a friend invited me to attend. All his books were checked out or "in transit", so I reserved his first, The Russian Debutante's Handbook assuming it would take awhile for me to get, and found his reading so delightful, I bought his latest book, Super Sad True Love Story right then and there and of course the next day I got a call from the library that the Russian Debutante needed to be picked up along with the Armistead Maupin - Maybe the Moon I had forgotten I had ordered.Listening to the intro and to Shyteyngart himself made me remember that I had started but didn't finish, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union since they are both Jewish writers and their work is sometimes set in distant or alternative futures. This is on top of the Reginald Hill (Dalzeil and Pascoe) Midnight Fugue I bought in paperback a few weeks ago and read a few pages of.
I must get control of this situation!!!
Nature Grrl - I have only read and enjoyed Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mystery series, neither of her novels.
Julie E
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Jelson -- I don't usually read fiction and I loved Super Sad True Love Story! Ditto for my mom! I love going to author readings! Must have been a joy to hear Shteyngart read from his book! He lives near where my son lives and works...and when I'm visiting, I'm always on the look out for him!!!
BTW...I always read multiple books at a time.
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Jelson - I also think there must be something wrong with me because I never enjoyed any of Chabon's books, nor his wife's, Waldman. My brother has told me his favorite book of all time, AFTER Pillars of the Earth is Chabon's first book The Amazing Adventures Kavilier and Clay. Believe me, I've tried reading his books, but never got far into them. What's embarrassing is that his mother is my cousin's best friend and I often have to make up how impressed I am with both their writing. Maybe one day, I'll return to one of their books.....
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Voraciousreader-
Shyteyngart, when asked for advice about writing, said that he always says his dialogue out-loud, to hear if it sounds genuine. He gave voices to the characters in Super Sad....I think I would enjoy it if he himself did the voice on an audio version of one of his books. Just yesterday, I tried reading from Mark Twain's collected stories to my LVA student (he loved it!)and the intimacy, like Mark Twain was right there with us, sharing his observations - was similar to (at least the first few pages!!!) of the Debutante - and Chabon is not like that at all.
I read books on a theme, like you but not exactly.....Parrots! non-fiction and fiction - chosen simply because there was a parrot on the cover. Sheep and Goats too.
I have a cousin who transcribes audio interviews he has done with WW2 veterans. He self-publishes books and cds. Luckily I have read and listened to a few with enjoyment, so I can sincerely talk with him about it - otherwise - so awkward!
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Jezza - Haven't heard that here in US - try ordering online? The closing stores can't use the coupons but can accept gift cards - no restrictions.
Just got my copy of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasey. Not a reading book, but I am so excited! I have PLANS for my yard...
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Jelson -- You reminded me of the late, great Studs Terkel...
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I've finished Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It was a decent read all in all but definitely a history lesson at the same time, which was good, yet a bit much at times. Yet I will be looking for the second book in the trilogy, I want to see what happens with the characters.
I started Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which was recommended by this thread. I am about 100+ pages into it and I think it is wonderful. I love the short chapters and the way the author writes. Also, probably after the previous read, I appreciate the change in writing style. It's interesting and easy and keeps you wanting more.
*edited to highlight the titles
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Hi Laurie,
I want to read the Hotel..., too. I think my sister has it. Did you read Pillars of the Earth? I started a while ago but put it down. So many here have recommended it that I need to go back to it. I'm reading the Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir, it's about the fall of Anne Boleyn.It's a very interesting period of history and it's very well researched. I also have The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom and Restless by William Boyd in my pile to read. Happy Reading! Gina
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Very interesting and honest autobio by Diane Rehm - Finding My Voice. Some of the writing is not the best, but always interesting topic, and a great "voice."
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I finished Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet last night. I loved this book. I read it in three days and seemed to find excuses to keep reading instead of doing things I should do- such as laundry! Today I am going to start Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. I enjoyed A Fine Balance so I thought I would give another one a try. Has anyone here read it?0
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I don't think I can wait until I host our Book Club in June to read HOTEL. I want it now. But I may have to reread it later...So many books, so little time.
I'm slogging my way through Yellow Dirt (can't recall the author) about the uranium mining on Navaho lands and the subsequent health issues. It's for Book Club, too, so I feel obligated to at least skim it. Not nearly as engaging a book as Henrietta Lacks.
I think I'll jump over to the third Tana French in the meantime!
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Absolutely love this thread! I've been haphazardly reading through it for several weeks, and finally just yesterday sat down and read post by post - and added 35 books to my kindle wish list for future reading!! Thanks so much to you all for sharing - have read and loved lots of the books mentioned. Recent reads for me -
Great House - Nicole Krauss
The Emperor of All Maladies - Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
A Scattered Life - Karen McQuestion
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
In the middle of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Next on my list is The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.
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Finished The Forgotten Garden, very good and well put together with an unpredicted ending.
Just started A Summons to Memphis (which was my pick for my Book Club on the recommendation of some of you guys, so I am excited to get into it).
I have a stack of books waiting in the wings and keep adding more from your recommendations.....
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Ruth...Let us know whether or not you and your book club enjoys A Summons to Memphis.
One of my friends, my mom and I all enjoyed it. Had many discussions about it.
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