Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Minus: Don't give up on Penny, you might enjoy as have many others. Often I will return to an unfinished book and find it more enjoyable than first time around. Louise Penny is comfort food for me with all her endearing characters. The latest one, for me, is like a Snickers without nuts or nougat! The outside chocolate is good, but missed the rest
Camino Island by Grisham is an easy read, a nice sea side vacation.
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I stopped reading Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. .just couldn't get into it..the beginning seemed to drag.
Then I gave it a second try. Loved it and even reread a second time!
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I confess I've never read Donna Tartt. The books seemed so long and then my niece said it was boring & she didn't even finish. Anybody like Tartt? I may have to revisit my decision.
Mommy - does your DH really listen to hints? I usually got things for the house like an electric frying pan.
Edited to add - VR, how are you doing? Miss you!!!
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minus! Thanks for asking about me...mostly sticking to non-fiction. Still reading Robert's biography of Churchill. Reading Leonardo de Vinci and the Secrets of the Codex. Excellent. Just finished Island of the Center of the World. Also excellent.
Soon, I will be attending a zoom lecture on Larson's The Splendid and the Vile. A second zoom lecture of the book, by another lecturer, will be held in December. Looking forward to attending both of them....
reading has been difficult these last few months. Had hand surgery last September and in June. Pretty hard to hold ANYTHING. AND if that wasn't bad enough...I got out of the cast in the first week in August, then fell the third week in August, and broke my wrist and was back in a cast until two weeks ago...
that said...all is well and hope my beloved book lovers are doing well too!0 -
He does! He knows I am a huge Elvis nut! Usually when I drop hints like this, he listens.
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Oh my goodness, VR, you have had a bad time of it! Hope you can have some nice, uneventful days now that you are healed up! Tell me more about the Zoom lecture, please!
When I was in college, I read a short book that made a big impression on me. Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychiatrist who spent four years in Nazi death camps during WWII. Most of his family, including his pregnant wife, perished in those camps, and his own life hung by a thread. This book is a reflection on how we can find meaning and purpose in life by how we choose to cope with unavoidable suffering. A very heavy topic then, and now as I read it again 45 years later.
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thanks Ruth....crazy coincidence...a few days after I broke my right wrist, my granddaughter broke her left wrist. For a.few weeks, we looked like BOOKENDS!
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Oh No VR - and are you right handed on top of everything else? We've all been isolated, but you've really been stuck. One positive note - I bet no one asked you to do the dishes or scrub the tub.
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Really enjoyed Bruce Goldfarb's 18 Tiny Deaths The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics. Lee was born in 1878 to a wealthy family in Chicago, think International Harvester. Her parents enjoyed the arts and classical music and built a house large enough that the Chicago Symphony could play for them at home. The house was designed by HH Richardson who I have only known as the architect for several amazing buildings here in Albany, NY so I was inspired to learn more about Richardson and learned that the Glessner house in Chicago is now a museum - which was a bonus. Anyway, Frances, as a middle-aged, divorced woman was inspired by conversations with her older brother's friend George Magrath, a Medical Examiner in Boston to devote the rest of her life, her energies and fortune to create a center for legal medicine at Harvard University and to advocate for the replacement nationwide of coroners with physician Medical Examiners. She also created a series of seminars for police personnel to educate them in forensics and especially scene of the crime observation. The 18 tiny deaths refers to the meticulously accurate 1;12 scale scene of the crime models she created to allow those participating in the seminars to view crime scenes in three dimensions. By her wits, charm, intelligence, persistence and incredible hard work, she accomplished some of her goals and although a woman who had not even attended college, gained the admiration of academics, physicians, lawyers, Erle Stanley Gardner! and perhaps was most loved and respected by those in law enforcement. Goldfarb was a journalist and the book reads well. Unfortunately, the quality of forensics is still haphazard across the US and even in Albany County we have 4 part/time coroners, with no medical training and legislation to replace this purely political system with a Medical Examiner keeps getting defeated.
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minus...throughout my adult life, I have had multiple joint surgeries, so my latest “issues" are no big deal. In fact, people are so used to seeing me recovering from one thing or another, no one noticed I was out of a cast and then back in one two weeks later....
with respect to doing housework, I am almost embarrassed to say, I do close to nothing. I mostly point and say please and thank you and some how the work gets done. My three kids and the DH learned early on that they were going to have to take over most of the housekeeping chores. Made all of them into GREAT housekeepers and GREAT partners.So.....When you get lemons...you pass the time with Tom Collins!
life is good!0 -
Best thing I have done for myself is getting a Samsung tablet and getting Cloud Library through a local library. I have listened to and read many books, all without having to go to a library. Since Covid, I have stayed away from my local bookstore where hubby and I would drink coffee, visit with the friendly employees there and read to our heart's content. Books are such precious things and always have been to me.
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I have a wonderful book to recommend: This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger.
It takes place during the Great Depression and tells the tale of four orphans who escape from a terrible situation. It's Grapes of Wrath meets Huckleberry Finn and full of twists and turns. I was reading in the bedroom and was so absorbed that at one point I yelled, "Oh My God!" and DH rushed in to see what was wrong. Ha!! The style reminded me of Where the Crawdads Sing, which I also loved.
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Ruth - I always like Krueger. Thanks for the recommend.
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i am enjoying Making the Met 1870 -2020. This year the Met is celebrating its 150th anniversary. An exhibit was scheduled to begin mid March. Obviously that didn't happen. This book illustrates the story.Very, very interesting....and of course, Andrew Haswell Green makes his entrance in the story on the first pages....most people don't know his name but if I said he was titan who was the Robert Moses of his day, then you might get an idea how important he was to New York's history AND vision.
reading the book, the curators are quite honest about the collections and how they were acquired. Importantly, the stories behind the acquisitions are fascinating.
interesting, the collection of the Met is incalculable. Prints alone total over 1.3 million. Having read another book about the Met, no one can even calculate the value of the collection.Anyone want to guess
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ruth.....8 out of 9!
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THAT
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Oh wow - I got a 10. Yes, Ruth - thanks so much. Needed that today.
Interesting to see how I continue 'hoarding" books. The books I'm reading usually come from neighbors while I save my stash. Right now rereading - Lisa Scottoline Come Home. Next up Scott Turow The Burden of Proof. I can't find any Scott Turow on my shelves and I KNOW I would have saved some of his books along the way. Sigh.
Just ordered Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - "Some Instructions on Writing & Life". I got the 25th anniversary edition. Review to follow down the road.
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I wanted to read something just for fun, and came across The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal by Bryn Turnbull
The book is told from the point of view of Thelma Furness, the mistress to Edward, Prince of Wales, before he took up with Wallis Simpson. Like Wallis, Thelma was an American divorcee and a married woman when their affair began. The book brings you into the self-absorbed world of the very rich and privileged before World War II. I have done quite a bit of reading about the Royal Family and the author's characterizations of them ring true to what I know about them. A secondary theme of the book involves Thelma's twin sister, Gloria Vanderbuilt (whose daughter 'Little Gloria' in the book, grew up to be the Gloria Vanderbuilt I am familiar with, and the mother of Anderson Cooper). Thelma's sister Gloria was involved with one of the biggest scandals of that era. That scandal, and her relationship with Thelma, are also covered in the book.
If you want a gossipy escape with some history thrown in, check it out.0 -
Just finished reading a wonderful book. I’ll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg. It is a memoir about her parents as they decided to move from their home to an assisted living situation. She is very honest about the tangled emotions of her parents, herself and her siblings. While the subject matter can be sad, the book is heartwarming and very well written. Definitely looking for some escape reading for the next few days! Thanks for the suggestion Ruthbru.
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Oh I like Elizabeth Berg. I went to make sure I didn't have this one on my shelves and found that I have double copies of Open House (2000) and The Last Time I Saw You (2010). Hmmm. Guess I'll pull them out to read again before passing along. And I'll put this new recommendation from JSC & Ruth on my list.
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Hello Ladies
I've been missing for a while, but lurking. I will pick up some Jo Nesbo next time i'm at the library. I love your suggestions. Sorry for those that are ailing. Waving to all. A special wave to Minus two, voraciousreader and Ruthbru
Val
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Hi Valstim!
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Val - so glad to "see" you. Hope you are staying safe and everything is OK.
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yes i'm doing good. ailments but then who does not have them. I'm currently reading a novel about John Quincy Adams. It's really very good. I usually go for mysteries. It is by Harley Giles Unger.
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a FANTASTIC documentary...The Booksellers.
I streamed it from my library via Kanopy.
Wow!
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who says you're dead by Jacob Appel, md is a book about medical ethics. Each story is about two pages long. Each story begs of you to think about what you would do for each ethical problem presented in each story. So, while it might take a minute or two to read each story, it might make you think much longer about what choices you would make if you were in the physician's shoes.
A must read.
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VR - That one is definitely going on my list. Should stimulate my brain - And maybe even some conversation when we can ever gather again.
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disclaimer! I adore Jasper Fforde!! He hasn't written a book I haven't liked, and I must recommend his most recent, The Constant Rabbit. The premise is that in about 1970, a few rabbits in Britain were spontaneously anthropomorphized, in what became referred to as The Event. Representatives of a few other species; weasels, foxes, elephants, a few bees..also were changed...While first treated as a novelty, over the decadesfactions began to emerge whose sentiments eerily reminded me of the divisions in our own country with a government whose policies are not simply implicitly biased, but outright biased. The action begins when a family of rabbits is about to move into a "cozy little village with conservative traditions" and all hell breaks loose, there are cross species romances, ethics, cultural differences and a draconian government plan to rehome the rabbits "for their own good" in a mega warren. Bizarre - yes, but very thought-provoking.
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Hello fellow bibliophiles! I've been off the boards for a while to focus on the pre-retirement push. It was a grueling slog due to too much work and not enough staff. In the past year, three supervisors left for greener pastures and a bunch of newbies were hired. Upper management was either overwhelmed or indifferent to the plight of the plebes so guess who was tapped to train and mentor the next generation. It's a youth culture now and I am no longer youthful. There was no real future for me there so I made plans to wrap up my projects, pass along my institutional knowledge, and ride off into the sunset. I feel good about my efforts but am delighted to be done.
So now I can sleep in, take afternoon naps, walk in the middle of the day, and read to my hearts content. Our local library closed for March & April due to the pandemic but started contactless curbside pick-up in June. One could request up to ten books at a time. In September they added in-person browsing three afternoons a week plus Saturday morning. One can check out up to 99 books at a time. I get six large-print books a week for my mom, who loves to read but whose library is still closed, and browse for myself. I see mom once a week, take her grocery shopping, and replenish her book fix.
I spent yesterday reading the 20-odd pages posted here to catch up since my last log-in. Got some great ideas, thanks all. Belated happy 10th anniversary to this thread. We still miss you, Elizabeth.
Someone asked about the Dean Koontz 'Jane Hawk' series. I read it and loved it. Great thrillers with a strong female protagonist premised on an interesting concept: nanotechnology-based mind control by evil elites. He's one of my favorite authors and this series did not disappoint.
Someone else asked about books that will make you laugh. I agree with the recs for anything by Carl Hiaasen. He is hilarious. In fact I just finished Skin Tight. From the back cover: "Somebody wants Mick Stranahan dead. Mick is sure of this, because he just had to dispatch a pistol-packing intruder with the help of a stuffed marlin head. But who would want to hurt a former Florida state investigator? The answer is plenty of people..."
Also agree with rec for Janet Evanovich's 'Stephanie Plum' series. The Grandma Mazur character is a hoot. The series is numerically ordered - One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc. From Goodreads: "Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie's opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey. She's a product of blue-collar Trenton, where houses are attached and narrow, cars are American, windows are clean, and dinner is served at six. Out of work and out of money, with her Miata repossessed and her refrigerator empty, Stephanie blackmails her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a try as an apprehension agent. And that's only the beginning of series that will set her on the trail of fugitives. Stephanie will have to sharpen her sleuthing skills, because she's got many a mystery to solve."
If you want dishy Southern wit, try Mary Kay Andrews. With titles like Little Bitty Lies and Hissy Fit, you can see why she's called Queen of the Beach Reads.
My recent reads include Total Power, the newest installment in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series now written by Kyle Mills, 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand, The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, One By One by Ruth Ware, and The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. As you can see, I am an omnivore. :-)
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Beaver - welcome back and congrats on your retirement.
I'm reading magazines this week. Really - I love the Smithsonian, Bookmarks, The Atlantic, Arizona Hwys, The Week, etc. - but I find if I don't take a week with NO books now & then so I can catch up on the periodicals, they get overwhelming. I still take the daily morning paper but it's usually after dinner before I sit down to read it. For several years I've subscribed to the daily Washington Post on line. This year I haven't kept up with that at all and find myself just deleting the issues after a month. Too bad because they had some interesting articles.
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