Book Lovers Club
Comments
-
Library run this afternoon. Picked up the following:
The Splendid and the Vile - Erik Larson
Oona Out of Order - Margarita Montimore
Killing Floor - Lee Child
The Book of Koli - M.R. Carey
Strip Tease - Carl Hiaasen
Minus, we subscribe to two newspapers. Yes, actual print papers! One is the Wisconsin State Journal. We get that delivered daily to our front walk via car around 4 am by the faithful Mike, who gets a nice cash tip every Christmas. We read that for state & national news, comics, and puzzles. Also we get the local weekly via US mail. We read that for local news, government (city, county & school board), and to see who got married/divorced, was born or died, got a traffic ticket, or bought/sold a house. Gotta love a small-town newspaper. Next-best thing to a police scanner or beauty-shop gossip.
0 -
badger...welcome back! Carl Hiaasen IS one hilarious writer. If you get a chance, look for his 60 Minutes interview from way, way, way back when. He explains where his ideas come from. He has said, he doesn’t have to look under rocks for ideas. All he needs to do is read The Miami Herald and characters and situations spring to life. He just sharpens his pencil and the graphite does the rest! That said, in one of his books he starts off with a hurricane and the animals escape from the Miami Zoo. Interestingly, THAT did happen...a few years AFTER he wrote the book. Damn...that man has a fertile imagination.
With all of that said...I think his finest book ISN’T a novel. It is Team Rodent. Non-fiction, naturally. It is all about Disney World. And, from the title, you can guess, he doesn’t have anything nice to say about the park. What an eye opener. I wonder, since writing the book, if things have changed there for the better...
my favorite comedic author....hmmmm....well I should say...my favorite author is Geoff Dyer. A few weeks ago, I read that Steve Martin developed his style of writing from Dyer. Recently, I also read many, many people reading his books during this isolating period of time.His books are a joy to read. Every single one. If you want to know where to begin...start with Out of Sheer Rage. The most funny book ever written. From cover to cover
0 -
Thanks, VR, I will add Team Rodent and Out of Sheer Rage to my TBR list.
Not surprising about Hiaasen's ideas coming from the Miami Herald. "A Florida Man" stories are fertile ground for weirdness.
0 -
I'm pretty sure it was someone on this thread that turned me on to the CJ Box Joe Pickett series. Thank you! Just finished another one, always a good read.
Next up for me is my Book Club selection, Winter in Paradise by Elin Hildebrand. I like her books.
0 -
Don't know if it was me but I love CJ Box. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak & read (after Covid of course) he's a hoot.
I'm reading Bad Blood - the story of the Silicon Valley blood testing Theranos hoax. It's just unbelieable how Elizabeth Holmes sucked in so many people.
0 -
I'm 25% through The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. SOOO good! Other books recently read:
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore. A quirky fun read. On her New Year's Eve birthday, an 18-YO turns 19 but wakes up in her 51-YO body. With each passing year, she leaps to another age at random, still a young woman on the inside but ever-changing on the outside. Interesting concept.
Killing Floor by Lee Child. The first Jack Reacher. I like starting a series at the beginning and reading in order. Good book. I ripped through it in a few hours. There are 20-some books in the series, and I look forward to reading them all. (Tom Cruise is so not Jack Reacher.)
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey. A post-apocalyptic book set in a world where people live in small enclaves to protect themselves from genetically-engineered plants and trees that have turned bloodthirsty. The first in a series. Didn't enjoy book #1 enough to want to read the rest.
Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen. Witty but not my fave by Hiaasen. An exotic dancer gets back at a crazy ex-husband and a corrupt Florida politician.
Total Power, the newest installment in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series now written by Kyle Mills. All-too-real scenario where bad guys shut down the US power grid.
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand. A woman and a man have a three-day fling each summer while living their separate lives. Pretty good for fluffy stuff.
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Recommended by my librarian friend. A zombie pandemic has decimated civilization. Why are some children immune? Told from the perspective of a gifted young girl who escapes the safety of a special school and helps guide mankind's survival.
One By One by Ruth Ware. Love this author. A corporate retreat in a mountain chalet turns deadly when an avalanche strikes, people are trapped, and are murdered one by one. Who dunnit? (Yes, the premise is from And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.)
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. Told in the voice of a young Nigerian woman trapped in a life of servitude but determined to fight for her dreams and choose her own future. Good debut novel.
I'm #6 on the waiting list for the new Lincoln Lawyer book The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly.
0 -
Wow Badger. Welcome back & great list. I want to spend more time with it but have a plumber on the way.
Instant response - 28 Summers - Does anybody remember "Same Time Next Year" with Alan Alda & Ellen Burstyn? 1978 - one of my favorite movies. Wonder about the similarities? I have a friend who buys Hilderbrand so she'll pass it on eventually.
0 -
Kind of off topic, but based on Badger’s post and “28 Summers,” does anyone else remember the old movie “Silent Night, Lonely Night” with Shirley Jones and Lloyd Bridges? Think it was made-for-TV based on a broadway show. Used to be shown frequently during holiday season and I so miss it. Would love to see it again
0 -
Interesting Melissa that we both flipped to an old movie. I don't remember "silent night" but I like the actors.
0 -
-
0 -
Great Ruth - and absolutely true. Glad to see you're well enough to be posting again. Keeping you in my thoughts.
0 -
I watched three episodes of The Crown today (spoiler alert, Diana should get the hell out of there!). Maybe tomorrow I will be ready to crack open a book!
0 -
Just finished The Splendid and the Vile. Excellent book! A saga of Churchill, family, and defiance during the Blitz.
Library run yesterday. Picked up the new Gamache by Louise Penny - All the Devils Are Here, Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace, and It's Not All Downhill from Here by Terry McMillan.
0 -
badger...us Larson lovers loved Splendid. Last week, Ruth and I attended a zoom lecture on the book from my local library. It was a wonderful discussion. Interestingly, everyone enjoyed reading the book. The lecturer, often picks fiction books, especially classics. She wondered if it was a good idea to choose more non fiction books to discuss. I hope so.......
0 -
Another fantastic book about Nazi Germany that is exclusively developed from ONLY primary sources is Julia Boyd’s Greetings from Nazi Germany:Travellers in the Third Reich.
what makes Larson’s and Boyd’s books so interesting is that we get to see a bygone era of writing....so rich...0 -
I am definitely getting the Travelers book. Sounds fascinating.
When I know a new Larson book is coming out, I quickly pre-order it. I KNOW I will love it and want to read it over & over again (along with fondling it....he's one that I NEED the book-in-my-hand experience. The other reason that I need my own copy is that I will want to go through every one of the 40 pages of source material, plus I need it handy to look up what happened to all the characters. His books are just a joy!
0 -
Ruth, my sister decided we all need to start staying in more again, so she just bought four Erik Larsen books and said “bite me COVID.
0 -
I just ordered three 'Bite Me, Covid" books;
*The Daughter of Yalta (recommended at VR & my lecture)
* Travelers in the Third Reich (which VR mentioned)
*Eleanor (the new biography of Eleanor Roosevelt by David Michaelis)
0 -
0 -
I have really enjoyed the Cormoran Strike series from Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowlings) and the latest book "Troubled Blood" is over 900 pages!! Reviews say it is really 300 pages too long and should have been edited better, however it will make a great "bite me covid" book.
0 -
I have enjoyed the Galbraith books, too, and am glad to learn a new one is out there. That is long, though.
0 -
glennie! When I check out books at my library...i usually ask for help from a Cabana Boy/Girl or valet...in my dreams!
0 -
Library run yesterday. Picked up two Lee Childs (Reacher #3 & 4) and two Erik Larsons (Thunderstruck & The Devil in the White City). While browsing, someone asked the librarian for The Splendid and the Vile, which I had just returned and was on the post-quarantine cart for re-shelving. (They quarantine books for 48 hours before putting them back in circulation.) I remarked on how much I enjoyed it and got to chatting Larson books with the other patron. She has read all his stuff and said her fave by him is the book about the storm in Galveston, which my library doesn't have but I can get through inter-library loan. So, putting Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History on my TBR list.
The new Terry McMillan was pretty good. It's Not All Downhill from Here is about the ups & downs in the lives of a group of older (i.e., my age) Black women friends. It read like a Tyler Perry movie.
Really enjoyed All the Devils Are Here, the new Gamache by Louise Penny. It's a murder mystery set in Paris not Three Pines. Great read w/corporate skullduggery, heroic reference librarians, and a twisty plot where one doesn't know whom to trust. It's my fave by her (so far).
Just starting Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace. It's about the 116 days between the death of FDR and Pres. Truman, who knew nothing about the Manhattan Project, making the decision to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima.
Speaking of bite me COVID, our library is closing for in-person browsing due to the spike in cases here in WI. Can still request books on-line and pick up curbside.
0 -
badger, I really enjoyed Countdown 1945. It was very interesting.
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett was also excellent. Just finished that.
Currently my library has limited browsing hours but I haven't been inside yet. We've had curbside pickup since May, and now you just go to the door and show your card to get your books. Still just requesting online and picking up at the door.
0 -
badger...i LOVED Isaac's Storm! When Katrina was heading toward New Orleans, I wanted to throw my shoe at the TV! I was yelling like an INSANE person...HASN'T ANYONE READ ISAAC'S STORM? Omg!
As always with Larson's books, you always want to read more about the lives of the people in the book. In Isaac's Storm, you will be introduced to Rabbi Henry Cohen. Afterwards, I read more about him. Fascinating.
Countdown 1945...again, wanted to read more about the people. I did. Fascinating.
Terry McMillan...she is TERRIFIC.Loved A Day Late A Dollar Short.
0 -
I actually liked Isaac's Storm better than the Devil in the White City. Well after all, I do live next to Galveston and although was born in Evanston, IL - we left before I was 5 years old.
My niece says i HAVE to read this: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.
Sorry to say I was bored by Bad Blood - the story of Theranos and the Silicon Valley fake. Even though I was very familiar with the places and knew many of the people, still... Hard to see how she pulled the wool over so many prominent eyes.
0 -
minus...bad blood....I was following the story in the Wall Street Journal. So, when the book was published, I didn’t think there was more to learn. But, I felt there was more to the story. And yes, I agree with you that it is hard to comprehend how she pulled the wool over so many people’s eyes. But when you think deeply about it, it isn’t that hard to understand. There is another book that you might enjoy reading that tells another perspective. Snakes in Suits....that book is about corporate psychopaths. Think Bernie Madoff. The sad reality is that there are many, many psychopaths operating in corporate positions. From start to finish it was obvious that she was a paychopath....
and, I will tell you one more chilling thing. I watched her being interviewed by Charlie Rose before the you know hit the you know where, before both of them became infamous. I was listening to her and I said to myself, “What is that woman talking about?” You can go on youtube and find the interview. It was just stunning! I kept saying to myself, “Someone must give me the Cliff Notes because there are huge gaps here in my knowledge or....she is talking BS.” I was left stunned by the interview. I really thought I was missing something. It really bothered me for a while. So when the sh#tshow started leaking out in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, I read EVERYTHING. And I learned a great deal about how gullible and stupid and greedy some people were. And for a young man to come forward and figure everything out...jaw dropping...
then again, book lovers don’t have to waste their time reading hundreds of pages...all they have to do is read the short version of the story which has been told many times before....
the Emperor has no clothes.0 -
Minus, I agree with your niece: read The Silent Patient. A woman is in the psych ward after being convicted of murdering her husband. She hasn't spoken for years. A psychotherapist tries to find out what's behind her silence. I did NOT foresee the plot twists at the end.
I was very lazy yesterday. All I did was read, nap, and eat. Finished Countdown 1945. A very interesting book with short chapters and lots of pics.
Got so much sleep that I'm up before dawn. So I put on some coffee and started Tripwire, Reacher #3.
0 -
Finished Reacher #3 and 4 and requested #5 and 6. Just starting Devil in the White City.
Have an on-line request in for two Carl Hiaasens: Team Rodent (rec by VR) about the Disney company, and his newest one Squeeze Me.
I'm #5 on the wait list for The Law of Innocence, the new Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly and #14 for Deadly Cross, the new Alex Cross by James Patterson.
VR - sadly, the only Geoff Dyer I can get through our library system is Yoga for People who Can't Be Bothered to Do It. If I want Out of Sheer Rage, I will have to special request it.
0
