Book Lovers Club
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Still slogging through GWTW. In addition, I am also reading a biography on the late Prince Phillip. Also have books on Mary, Queen of Scots, the War of the Roses and a book my hubby bought me for an early birthday present. Gonna have a busy winter of reading.
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If you like suspense novels, check out a book by Sarah Waters. I just read The Paying Guests. Set in 1922 London, an upper middle-class widow and her 'spinster' daughter are forced to take in borders to make ends meet. A Hitchcock/Poe scenario unfolds as a result of the daughter's interactions with the paying guests. Very disturbing (in the way that makes me want to read another of Waters' books).
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In the 'history with a twist' department, I really enjoyed Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's a New York Times Bestseller. Every year that George Washington was president, he took a tour of his newly created country. He wanted both the take the pulse of the ordinary people and reinforce the idea that the ex-thirteen colonies were now ONE nation. In 2018, the author, his wife, and dog retrace these journeys, weaving history and his own personal reflections into his narrative.
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I decided to take a break from everything on my lists & just read for escape the last two days - and do NOTHING else.
Thoroughly enjoyed an old Lawrence Block book (1995) The Burglar who Thought He Was Bogart. Bernie Rhodenbarr owns a book store in NYC by day but can't break himself of the burglar habit at night. Lots of 'literary' references. Block is always a fun read.
My second read was Robert Galbraith (2015) Career of Evil. Galbraith is of course J.K. Rowling and her stories about Cormoran Strike the ex British Special Forces investigator, who lost a leg in the Gulf War & is now a private detective, are gripping. His relationship with the woman he originally hired as a temp, Robin, undergoes a distinct transformation. I would not have have guessed the ending of this third book in the series.
What a nice two day 'vacation'. Back to the grind tomorrow.....
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No Compromise The Work of Florence Knoll.by Ana Araujo. To say that she revolutionized interior design is an understatement. Things I took for granted, like walking into a furniture store and seeing “rooms” was invented by Knoll. And fabric swatches? Knoll too. What a FABULOUS book. Only disappointment…photos are black and white….whatever! Still, a fantastic appreciation for an interior designer…
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Thanks VR.
I did a totally decadent thing & stayed up most of the night reading "Blue Moon" - a 2019 Lee Child 'Reacher; novel. I've been saving this since before the lock down. What fun.
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minus! You have more reading to do….DH just finished the new Child book, Better Off Dead. Just asked him if he enjoyed it…knew what his answer would be because he didn’t come up for air for three days…Not a peep out of him! “It was good,” he replied! Hope you get to read it soon!
Happy Thanksgiving dear sisters! Hope it isn’t too hectic that you can’t indulge in your favorite past time! Cheers to the holidays and good reading to all0 -
VR - the one I just finished is the last book Lee Child wrote by himself. Then he's written a few w/his brother & plans to hand over the series entirely. Glad to hear your DH thinks the quality is still the same.
And yes - Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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minus…believe me when I tell you that when I handed the book to him, I was a bit concerned that he might not read it and even if he did, I wasn’t sure that he would enjoy it. The fact that I didn’t see him for two or three days gave me an ounce or two of pleasure. I figured he must have enjoyed it. I am thrilled that he thinks the quality of Child’s brother’s writing is great and more importantly, the plot is exceedingly good. I wonder how much the plot’s ideas come from Lee and how much comes from his brother. Would love to see a youtube video explaining the brothers’ thought process in advancing Reacher’s character….
i am familiar with a few mother/daughter team of writers…but I am not sure that there are many siblings out there writing together….nice to see that the Child brothers are successful0 -
Charles Todd is a mother and son writing team. I like their stories a lot, set in England after WW1.
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carole! How nice
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the Devil in the Gallery by Noah Charney is a fascinating SHORT book about “scandal, shock and rivalry" in the art world. Hadn't realized until I finished reading the book (in one sitting), that I read other books written by him.
Also enjoyed reading, Letters to a Stranger edited by Colleen Kinder. Each letter is two or three pages long. They are written by writers who had met strangers and had had memorable experiences. Has that happened to any of you? I am sure it has. That said, the beauty of these essays is that they are written superbly by writers. Wonderful book.
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Banned Books link from Washington Post today
Take all books off the shelves. They're just too dangerous
Excerpts:
Let me tell you about something that a book did: It convinced me that the things inside it were true; it told me so many lies that I started to believe it. I loved it; it infuriated me; I broke its spine in half. Books have taken me into dark woods and the bellies of whales and spat me out dazed and blinking into my own living room and knocked me around backward and forward through time and delivered me gossip from the distant past and facts from the recent present.…
Books give you recipes for living, and some of the recipes are good and others taste foul the first time you try them. You read them with friends and come away with entirely different ideas of what has happened. They are uncontainable, uncontrollable, except if you never open them…
Burning them is odd. You would think that objects of such power would give off extraordinary heat or light, or explode, but they just burn as though unaware of what they are made of. They go off shelves and onto banned lists in the same manner, quietly, as though not conscious of their power.
You are right to be frightened of them, and it is very bad they are being brought back. You will realize they are much too dangerous when you think of all they can do.
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magic...let's not go there please...
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VR - The Letters to a Stranger sounds interesting. I'm going to think back on random people I've met who have changed my life. Yes there are several
Just finished James Clavell's Shogun (1975). Historical novel set in Japan in the 1600s & earlier. I read it when it first came out but ordered it to re-read. Oh my - 1150 pages. Not for the faint of heart, and certainly hard to hold in bed - even though this is paperback. I had to rig up a special lap pillow to read it in my recliner. But I liked the book just as much as the first time.
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MinusTwo: I just picked up the Clinton/Penny collaboration "State of Terror". A political thriller instead of Inspector Gamache and the Eastern Townships and such. A completely silly and fun/fast light reading is "Pug Actually" (Matt Dunn) --- a romance novel written from the perspective of the dog in England trying to get his person's love life in order. Hallmark gone to the dogs? Ha ha.
Does anyone remember The 10 Things You Learned In Kindergarten"? Number 10 was "Be aware of wonder" I try to apply that to my daily life.
I can highly recommend: "Crossing To Avalon: a Woman's Midlife Quest for the Sacred Feminine" by Jean Shinoda Bolen
edit: "wonder" is Number 14 on the full list.
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Elderberry - a good friend said she really liked the Penny/Clinton book. I remember "10 things...Kindergarten".
The word "wonder" has such an amazing reach.
I'll look up "Crossing to Avalon..." even though I'm past middle age. You might like "Everyday Sacred - A Woman's Journey Home" by Sue Bender. "...teaches us that each step along life's journey is a miraculous opportunity to learn...." Built around the metaphor of the 'begging bowl'. "We start every day afresh & find, at the end of the day, that extraordinary things have come our way."
That said, I'm not a fan of "self-help" books. But that's not really what "Women Rowing North" presents.
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MinusTwo: I am past middle age now as well. I am in the "Elderly" class. I am not a fan of self-help books either. "Crossing to Avalon" isn't one of those but felt enlightening.
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Elderberry - I do like 'enlightening'. That's exactly what "Women Rowing North" felt like. I wondered how have I not pondered all these issues? Or even recognized some of them? ("Women Rowing North - Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing as We Age")
It's my goal not to pick up another book until finish all the Christmas wrapping and write my Christmas letter. I may or may not succeed.
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MinusTwo: is that your "letter to Santa" or your global email letter? Hee hee.
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Oh well - I didn't succeed with my goal not to pick up another book until I finished some other chores. I had a breast ULS yesterday at a new hospital and had to appear 1-1/2 hours so they could download CDs of prior exams into their system. Then, because I was following a renowned radiologist who originally diagnosed my first cancer to his new location, I waited to see him in his office. Then waited to get a CD of this new exam. Had to have a book for four hours.
I have followed Scott Turow since his first book Presumed Innocent in 1987 and was really engrossed by his 2020 book The Last Trial. So nothing else got done. Turow writes legal/courtroom thrillers. This one involves a drug manufacturer, cancer research, accusations of fraud, insider trading & murder, FDA approval, and immigrant issues. And in fact ...'questions about how we measure a life.' NY TImes says:" What Turow has done...is give us page-turners that are also pleasing literary artifacts, mysteries that are also investigations into complicated social questions and complex human emotions."
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David Scott Kastan book On Color is amazing for anyone interested in the intersection of color/art/history/film/music/poetry. Let me provide examples from 1) his chapter "Yellow (Perils) where he begins with a discussion of the work of Byron Kim's Synecdoche and 2) chapter At The Violet Hour by Claude Monet where he writes "...violet...became not merely the color of light but ...of the luminous itself." At one time orange was just the name of a fruit, then it became a color.
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Got so many books to read now, I may not get through them all before Spring.
Just got Alexander Larman’s The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abidication. It’s about the crisis revolving the effect the romance of Wallis Warfield Simpson and Edward VIII had on the Britain. Also got a biography of Queen Elizabeth II.
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omg…bernard labatut…when we cease to understand the world….one of the new york times ten best books of the year.
i can say…probably among the best books that I have read in a decade, this young man can write! What more can I say….except…by coincidence…I closed the book and on the back cover was a blurb by my favorite author…..Geoff Dyer.No words.
Happy holidays my dear sisters and a happy, HEALTHY new year to all
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Thanks VR. My niece & nephew usually get me book store gift cards. I can only hope!!!
Re-read CS Lewis "The Great Divorce" (1947) at the request of a friend who wanted to discuss. I don't agree with the premise in the preface, but probably shouldn't discuss here since it involves "religious" beliefs.
I have a friend who's daughter died of MBC in November so I re- read Joan Didion's "A Year of Magical Thinking". Also Lewis' "A Grief Observed". Thought I should refresh my brain with how he must be reeling & what was most offensive from friends. Then got on a Lewis kick & re-read all 7 books of the "Chronicles of Narnia". Maybe LOTR next.
It's like the gate opened & I'm on a reading kick again - at least 3 books a week. Just about finished with my stockpile pre-COVID. Bring on the gift cards....
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Found this snippet in Harper's adapted from "The Last Letter to a Reader" by Gerald Murnane:
"I have my own way of assessing the worth of a book, or for that matter any piece of music or any so-called work of art. I could say in simple terms that I judge the worth of a book according to the length of time during which the book stays in my mind..."
I can't figure out why I've never heard of him, let alone read any of his many books. He's in his 80s, so not a new author.
Anybody read him? Recommend yay or nay??
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minus….fascinating! I was moved by his quote. One can say that about any art. You certainly got my interest in the author because…..recently, I shared my favorite film with my sister, Afterwards, I asked her what she thought of the film. She said it was perfect. I asked her how she would describe perfect and she said…it is a film that after watching it, you think about it so much that it stays in your mind and…when you wake up in the morning, when your mind is beginning to stir…the film comes back into your mind and then touches your heart.
Those weren't her exact words. But that is pretty much what she said about the film, Divided We Fall directed by Jan Hrebejk. I have lost tract at the number of times I have watched it…probably more than a dozen times…
getting back to Murnane….i googled his name and the name of my favorite author, Geoff Dyer, and the names are often referenced together…here is one example…Going to have to look for his book of essays….thanks! And for all of those sisters celebrating Christmas and those who are not….may you all enjoy the holidays and a happy and healthy new year!
stay safe and happy and may you all find the time for enjoying great books!0 -
Interesting VR. We may hate his fiction, but.... we'll see. I Love what your sister said. I still have vivid memories of the film "The Piano". Ergo I find I double check anything Jane Campion is doing.
Happy Solstice.
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Highly recommend Dear Mrs. Bird and it's sequel, Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce. The books follow Emmy Lane and her best friend Bunty Tavistock as they navigate London during and after the Blitz. As Yours Cheerfully ends in January 1941, I am hoping for at least a third book. Emmy takes a job at a futzy women's magazine as a first step to her goal of becoming a wartime journalist. She ends up assisting "Mrs. Bird" in crafting answers to readers's letters. The main themes are friendship and womens' experiences during wartime. Very enjoyable.
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