Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Very interesting! Were your friends involved with the Robert Redford Gatsby or the Leonardo DiCaprio Gatsby? I loved the costuming and opulent mansions of the second movie, but nobody can beat Redford for me (in any role 😍).
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ruth...she wasn't a friend, for sure. That said...Robert Redford version. She also scouted locations for The Godfather films. Speaking of which, there are some wonderful stories about Mario Puzo and how he came upon the idea of writing the original story...quite amazing when you think about how, all these years later, the story has such staying power in the American conscience...he lived with his family in a walk up apartment in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. Yeah, I know...who would name a neighborhood, Hell's Kitchen? He was broke, but would not be dissuaded from writing his epic...
btw...that woman...she has all of her info.in slides. I reached out to one of the local universities and told them that someone has to get all of her stuff digitalized and get those gowns into the hands of the Costume Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The woman is eccentric...but...it would be a huge loss if her memories and collection is not saved..0 -
VR - I have my Mother's copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is also a 1940 edition. It does not say "first edition" but also does not have any other numbers or re-print data. Someone wrote on the flyleaf "Copy 15" and there's a stamp that says KEITH-0BRIEN, INC. My Mother was in Chicago at the time, and although she would have spent the food money on books, I can't tell if this was used or new. And can't find any info about a long gone Keith-Obrian, Inc. I read this same copy for the first time when I was around 15 and I remember it still had a cover. By the time my Mother died, the cover was gone.
I also have Mother's 1936 copy of Gone With the Wind inscribed by her to HER mother - "Hope you like this Mother!" I read all 1037 pages in record time when I was around 13 - reading with a flashlight under the covers after I was supposed to be asleep.
Oh I used to love hunting for books at yard sales. And I remember having several "dates" that involved going to used book stores in San Francisco MANY years ago. Bookstores were always a draw - and will be again once we're through with this Covid interval.
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Minus....here’s some info...
First Edition Identification and Notes
Published in 1940 by Charles Scribner in an initial print run of 75,000 copies at $2.75, a first printing of For Whom the Bell Tolls has the letter A present on the copyright page and may have the Scribner's seal present, although it hasn't been conclusively determined whether this is in fact a point of issue. First state dust jackets do not have a photo credit under the photograph of Hemingway.
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I read a couple of Faulkner’s stories, one in high school and one in college. Can’t remember the names.
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I thought I would need three hankies but finished My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me without a sniffle. Quick read about a man's experience before, during, and after his wife dies from ovarian cancer. Before she passed, she wrote a Modern Love column in the NY Times titled You May Want to Marry My Husband to help him cope with life after loss. His family is amazing. We could all use such support in our lives.
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Sold On Monday by Kristina McMorris is set during the Depression Era of 1931. A young newspaper reporter sees two small boys playing in the yard of a dilapidated house near a sign that reads 'Children For Sale '. He takes a picture, writes a story, and things go wrong from there. There are some interesting twists and turns and it's quick read.
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some light reading.really. How to Catch A Killer by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.
Each serial killer's story is told in a few pages. Then, she sums up in a one or two paragraph takeaway its historical significance. Interestingly, one story felt like it just happened a few years ago when people were meeting through nefarious chat rooms.
Ramsland takes the reader around the world in search of the most horrific serial killers.
Yeah, I know...with all the great literature out there...why choose this book? I will be damned...i haven't a clue why I grabbed this book off of the library shelf...but it really is a page turner!
And that Modern Love story column...i had followed the story and if my memory is correct...if he is still with the woman he met following his wife's passing...she kind of looked like a slightly younger version of his wife. I sincerely hope he finds his heart mended. His wife really gave him a gift...the chance to peacefully love again.
I have a friend whose close working acquaintance passed. A year later, at a charity event, my friend was coincidentally seated next to the widower. Neither of them had met before. It wasn't until a half hour into conversation that my friend realized who he was.
A year later, when they married, the NY Times wrote their love story. They are together going on 15 years....
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Badger, what I loved about that book was the description of his wife. The enthusiasm she had for her life - and her work - was wonderful. I have three granddaughters (7, 13 and 22) and I hope thatthey love their careers and their lives the way she did. What a gift!
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I don't know if I've posted here before, but I read this thread all the time to get book recommendations. Thank you to everyone!
Just saw this posted on Facebook and thought it was appropriate for here (and probably has been posted before):
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Great strip. Thanks Beesie.
So in the article about The Great Gatsby (and yes Ruth, info about Michael Smith & the novel he wrote - "Nick" a prequel about Nick Carraway's life before he appears in Gatsby's world) they also mentioned Jane Eyre and one of the spin-offs from that novel after it went into public domain. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Low and behold, I must have heard about it elsewhere since it was at the bottom of my 'to read' pile. Thank heavens I didn't buy it again - as I often do.
It's about the mad wife in the attic before she came to England. Great descriptions of the Caribbean, Islands where she was from, the white planter class, the end of slavery, how & why Mr. Rochester came to go there to marry "Bertha" - or Antoinette as she called herself. It's a good prequel about a basically unknown figure - stuck in the attic except when Grace Poole falls asleep. Of course I no longer have Jane Eyre on my shelves either. I can clearly remember re-reading it 10+ years ago and deciding that would be the last time. That's part of the pain of divesting ourselves from all the tons & tons of books on the shelves.
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Beesie love the comic!
Living outside DC things have just been a bit too much lately. So I'm starting a new Alexander MacCall Smith book "A Distant View of Everything ". Take me away to Edinburgh, tea, and the story of a young philosopher married to a hunky musician 10 years her junior. It's one of his series. My DH and I were in Scotland a year ago and it was just delightful.
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Hi Beesie, great comic! I call my library card my passport because it takes me all over the world.
VR, I wondered about the ref to a "hazel-eyed identical twin" in Jason Rosenthal's book. To whom was the new love interest twinned? Kind of creepy that it's his deceased wife (I wonder if the new GF minds the comparison) but good for him that he was able to find love again.
I'm up to Reacher #21 from 2016. :-)
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Reader425- you are so lucky to have found Alexander McCall-Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series, you read the 11th in the series and there are already 2 more. Even though Isabel inserts herself into some tricky ethical dilemmas she finds her way out. I've enjoyed dipping into several other McCall-Smith's series - many of which take place in Edinburgh.
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badger....hmmmmm. hmmmm. hmmmm....
Badger...not sure...if anything happened to me I would leave directions for the DH or for a potential bride. That said, once, the DH told me, if anything happened to him, I shouldn't worry because he had already picked someone for ME! I asked whom? And he said it was his life long best friend....WHO WAS MARRIED! I asked if that was a small problem and he said....No! He then said....the friend would DEFINITELY divorce his wife so he could be with me! Soooooo...then I said...there is another caveat...what makes you think I would want to marry him? And then I said....what makes you think I would ever want to get married again? And, without missing a beat, I continued...if I want a companion...what makes you think I can't find one on my own?! The End. That's my love story!
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Jelson thanks for the tip. When I finish the isabel Dalhousie series I will need another. Do you have a favorite Edinburgh-based one?
I am also finishing up Louise Penny's Gamache series. I must get attached to the characters. Lots of descriptions of fine food is nice too.
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Good Morning! I finished reading The Last Days of John Lennon by John Patterson. It was a very interesting book. It combines historical facts about The Beatles and information about Mark Chapman leading up to the killing. Typical Patterson book with many short chapters. The book did make me stop to think about how people become famous mirrored with people that have mental illness and the ability to act. Not to mention the fact that The Beatles were a group for only about five years.
Loving the memes about libraries. Having been a public librarian for over 30 years, I totally support using them and being aware of what they offer. Our libraries here are struggling to remain viable during the Covid pandemic. Lots of virtual programming and curbside use, but it will be difficult to get customers back once things become more normal. I download most of my books through the library and love the service.
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JCSLibrarian, I have a question. I am incredibly frustrated with Dallas, in that our library cards expire annually and can be renewed in-person only. I don’t remember this being the case anywhere else I’ve lived. Our library hours were drastically cut long before COVID, so I couldn’t get there to renew my card, if just for online services, and of course now everything has been shut down. I find all this infuriating when I have owned the same residence in Dallas for almost thirty years, since 1992, the record of which is easily accessed in Dallas online property records. Is this typical?
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Melissa, our library cards are renewed every three years, to confirm one's contact info. I just did mine over the phone. Fewer people in Podunk WI than Dallas.
JCS Librarian, I love to browse the stacks and will go back to in-person visits when allowed. For now, it's online requests and curbside pick-up.
Just requested the last three past Reachers and am in the queue for the new one The Sentinel. Also requested two non-fiction books: 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Madison by Kevin Revolinski and The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature's Army at Work by Jerry Apps. His book about the logging industry sparked my interest.
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Reader 425 - Another of Alexander McCall Smith's series set in Edinburgh is 44 Scotland St. Quirky characters, I don't recall anyone truly being normal - great fun. I recently read a Victorian era murder mystery set in Edinburgh - the first of a series by Carole Lawrence called Edinburgh Twilight, it was a free Kindle on Amazon Prime, quite good.
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Melissa, here in SC, our cards are good forever unless you do not use them! Not sure why Dallas has so many barriers to using the library. The director of the Richland Library (where I worked) is now the president of the Public Library Association. She is a very forward thinking director and it has shown many benefits. I would definitely call a branch location and ask for some kind of dispensation. You might get a nice person that feels you should be able to use their services. Let me know how it goes.
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michiko kakutani’s Ex-Libris. 100 Books to Read and ReRead.
i have mixed feelings about the book. Her introduction is a masterpiece in writing in her description of why she loves reading and why it is important to read.
as a whole, I enjoyed reading some of her selections. Others, not as much. In fact, I was quite surprised by some of her selections....i guess you be the judge....
That said, I guess that is why there are so many books out there to read...and reread....
but I do give her a lot of credit because she can really, really write0 -
I took these 3 items to bed for my night time reading. See any problems?
If you guess, I will tell you what I was reading!
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You're reading on a device and have a bookmark?
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SandiBeach - you don't need a bookmark for an ebook reader?
I'm still making my way through the Miss Silver mysteries.
Just finished Maisy Dobbs #4 (series by Jacqueline Winspear) and I think I'm done with that series. It's just not holding my insterest anymore.
I'm a 1/3 of the way through Silkworm, which is #2 in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
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SandiBeach57, I don't need a bookmark and can do without reading glasses
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I just had to laugh..why did I think I needed my book mark...and I never read with my glasses.
Anyways, I just finished a quick read by Suzanne Redfearn, " In an Instant".
A vacation turned into tragedy. It is narrated by young girl who is in transition between life and death..viewing how the accident affected each friend and family member. It is about choices, survival and what is most important...family or humanity.
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Read through all past Reachers and am #6 in the queue for the new one The Sentinel. Planned some hikes for nicer weather from browsing 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Madison by Kevin Revolinski. Really enjoyed The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature's Army at Work by Jerry Apps. Now I want to find some of the CCC sites.
Up to #1 in the queue for the new Alex Cross Deadly Cross and #5 for the "new Tom Clancy" Shadow of the Dragon. Saw there's a new book by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child The Scorpion's Tail with protagonist anthropologist-sleuth Nora Kelly. Requested that one and borrowed the first one in this new series Old Bones. It takes place in the Sierra Nevada mountains where Nora and historian Clive Benton try to solve a mystery related to the ill-fated Donnor party.
For fun, I requested The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Someone turns up dead at the "perfect" wedding. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51933429-the-guest-list
For education, elucidation, and an antidote to the winter blues, I borrowed What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Singing to Eating - What Birds are Doing and Why by David Sibley. Gorgeous book! https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50778832-what-it-s-like-to-be-a-bird
Edit to correct author's name: it's Lincoln Child, not Lee Child, who writes with Douglas Preston. :-)
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A couple months ago I was invited to be part of a small group from around the BCO Boards. The moderators want us to brainstorm ways to make the BCO Community a more welcome place for all, especially newcomers, to engage in and to feel a sense welcome and belonging to when they (we) come here. If you have any thoughts, ideas, suggestions you would like to share with me, please send me a PM.
From our discussions, here is a question the moderators wanted us to bring back to the different threads we frequent: If they would set up regular Zoom Gatherings for various threads, would there be any interest? So, here is my group discussion question: Would there be any interest on this thread for a Zoom Gathering every once and awhile?
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