Book Lovers Club
Comments
-
0 -
Great MagicLight. I've seen that before, but I don't think it can be emphasized enough.
0 -
what is love by Mac Barnett. The book, as my beloved sister would say, is perfect. Sent a copy to my newest grandson who arrives in early March.
Happy New Year dear book lover sisters0 -
holidays behind us…time for serious reading.
Eula Biss…Having and Being Had…..off to a good new year of reading….love her work!0 -
Re-reading Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day" again. Just finished Jeffrey Deaver's " The Devil's Teardrop" (interesting look inside the FBI), Michael Connelly's "The Law of Innocence" (the LIncoln Lawyer is himself on trial - and defending himself), Paul Coelho's "The Witch of Portobello" ('how do we find the courage to be true to ourselves - even if we are unsure of who we are'), and an older Louise Penny that I'd missed "A Rule Against Murder" (Gamache at an elegant back-woods Canadian resort).
Wonderful to be reading again - and I'm pretty much ignoring everything else. I'm trying to finish up the books I'd "horded" before COVID. Two more to go,. Nephew gave me a gift card to an indie book store for Christmas & since their used shelf is so appealing, I got 12 books. Niece gave me a gift card for Amazon so I ordered another 6 or 7 books. What could be better!!!
0 -
I am reading a delightful book called Dakota Attitude which has interviews from every town in North Dakota.Over the space of 14 years, the author Jim Puppe, a Vietnam Veteran & who worked for many years for the US Department of Veterans Affairs, traveled to every town in the state and talked to people about their lives. Most of the interviewees were older, so had stories from life long ago. Many of the stories are touching, some are funny, some are of people who did extraordinary things and then came home to live more peaceful and 'ordinary' things.
0 -
This book has been out a bit, but just got it from my library. Michael Lewis - The Premonition. Michael Lewis's interviews with real life Public Health officials, VA physicians, CDC docs, etc. re: the state of the US public health services. To say it was/is chaotic provides some insights into how we are now in the 3rd year of this pandemic and communications are disjointed, services like testing require hours of wait times, etc. I'm about half-way into this book and keep checking the people cited and dig into them and their take on the problems with public health as an underfunded, understaffed, and un-respected discipline. A fascinating, informative read and I best hurry along before it is due back to library.
The following is a 60 minutes interview done by John Dickerson with Lewis and other key players
0 -
magic…i read the book a few months ago.agree with everything you say. I also googled the key players. None of what I read surprised me. At.all. Not going to say anything about the ending…but if you google, you will some sobering thoughts.
that said, I didn’t think it was among his stronger books…0 -
voracious..Agree, not his best work.
0 -
I've been reading a lot - just not posting. Got thoroughly involved with Vivian Gornick Taking a Long Look - essays on culture, literature & feminist issues. Then I pulled out her book Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader to re-read (LOL) Just fantastic. I need to pull out her 'autobiography' Fierce Attachments and read it again, but settled for re-reading Kate Chopin The Awakening.
Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day, Never Let me Go, etc.) is one of my favorite authors. I had been waiting to get his new book Klara and The Sun with the gift certificate my niece always sends for Christmas. Finished the book last night. It's about parents buying an AF (artificial friend) (humanoid robot??) as a companion for their children who are ill (dying?) ('lifted'). The book is narrated by the AF - Klara - and set not too far in the future. Interesting thoughts about responsibility & moral judgements as AI & robots become more prevalent. Do/can they have feelings? Here's one of the quotes on the back cover: "...Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: What does it mean to love?"
VR - horrified to read about you various bone breaks on another thread. Those darn lions aren't doing a good job of guarding you. Please take care.
0 -
thank you, Minus! I was having a rough go of it with my hand….had two thumb surgeries….couldn’t grasp things for the better part of a year….as I’ve mentioned before, my joints are shot due to Ehler’s Danlos…but I roll with the punches….patience and fortitude….Over the years, I have learned my limitations and have also learned to ask for help….I only wish I could become Samantha Steven’s in Bewitched….just twitch my nose and let things come to me without having to ask for help….but….whatever! Life is good and I continue to read exceptional books…
0 -
Yikes, sorry about your medical travails, VR!
0 -
ruth..thank you! I am a.o.k.! I always say…as long as it could be fixed….
0 -
Tonight I finished Harlan Coben's "Six Years". He spins such a great suspense yarn. The love of a young college prof's life marries another man and makes him promise to never look for her. But then he sees the obit of the guy she supposedly married, goes to the funeral, and starts uncovering secrets & lies... Charlotte Observer - "Coben pulls off his patented hat trick of putting one word after another in a way that keeps you looking for that next word until it's way past your bedtime."
VR - so are you reading paperbacks without your thumbs? Or have you switched to a Kindle or Nook? And what are you reading?
0 -
minus….i had the surgeries awhile back….i couldn’t grasp anything…including my tablet. Frustrating my surgeries…,the hospital was prevented from doing elective surgeries….for months! Throughout this pandemic, I have felt so sorry for folks in need of any surgery….
what am I reading….I have been enjoying my art and architecture books….best book that I could recommend is one I recommended a few weeks ago….it was one of The New York Time’s 10 best books for the year 2021….When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut. He has written two other books but they have’t been translated yet. I watched a few of his interviews on youtube. Unbelievable. I compare it with another one of the best books that I read a number of years ago,The Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif.Geoff Dyer is coming out with another book in the spring. Would love to know what Erik Larson is working on next…
0 -
Thanks to voraciousreader for introducing me to this thread. Reading is a better option than the binge watching of all FIVE seasons of Outlander which I did in the 3 days after my diagnosis. While in Seattle having an MRI core biopsy this week , I treated myself at the wonderful UW bookstore. I don't know how I had missed Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti Mystery series?! I read the first one that came out in the late 90s. "Death at La Fenice". Leon is American but lives in Venice and the books are set there. I will have to binge all of them now! The next one I read was the international best seller "The Anomaly" by Herve Le Tellier" translated from the French but a good translation from what I can tell. It is fantastic and hard to explain without giving away the plot but I couldn't put it down. I don't recommend reading it on a plane, however, as it opens with a Paris to JFK flight hitting terrible turbulence!
Happy reading all.
BoobBoo
PS. Just got results from biopsy on Friday PM. The mass, very close to the mucinous tumor was benign! I got a break there!
0 -
BoobBoo - welcome and thanks for sharing the books. AND - congrats that the mass is benign.
0 -
Shared this on another thread but I think it's appropriate here too:
Interesting snippet from Virginia Woolf's To A Lighthouse (1927): "...the pulp has gone out of our friendship." I think back on one time friends I am no longer in contact with and yes - with the 'pulp gone' & the friendship watered down, the connection just seems to flow away.
0 -
I just read Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown. Brown writes nonfiction books that read like a novels (reminding me of Eric Larson). You may be familiar with his book The Boys in the Boat (about the small town boys whose crew team competes in Hitler's Berlin during the1936 Olympics). Facing the Mountain tells the stories of four Japanese American boys who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were in the midst of fierce fighting. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to leave their homes and businesses when they were sent by the government to relocation (basically concentration) camps on U.S. soil. The stories of several other interesting characters are woven into the book. If you haven't read either The Boys in the Boat or Facing the Mountain, I would recommend them both.
0 -
I also just finished The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (who wrote the very good A Gentleman in Moscow). This story takes place in 1954 and is a coming of age novel in which two brothers head west to start a new life after the death of their father (they end up in New York......lots of twists, turns, and multiple points of view in the plot, I had no idea how it would end until the last sentence!).
0 -
boob! Welcome! Happy reading! Saw on our mucinous thread you have our support. Carpe Diem.
so…what am I reading now? Well, I have been reading chess books because the grandson has picked up on the game and has been quite the player! He is five years old. Bobby Fischer started playing at age 6.
also reading, Destination Art…I love books that take me around the world from my couch! The book jacket says the book contains “800 Artworks Worth the Trip.” Great! But I am not traveling much father than my couch nowadays….especially with the snowstorm we just had….
also reading short stories by Carver. Also have Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book The Bomber Mafia. Should get to it this week…..0 -
0 -
Nice Magic - I was appalled reading a list in my morning paper.
0 -
Reading banned books is not new, but now the banning and then the popularity surge is almost instantaneous. "Maus," a graphic novel about the Holocaust published decades ago, reached the top of Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN 3.89% bestsellers list after a Tennessee school board's decision to remove the book spurred criticism nationwide.
From 2010 to 2017 Mexican American Studies were banned in AZ and books used in those classes were removed. In 2017 that ban was deemed unconstitutional.
So here we are again in 2022 with books and topics about race, ethnicity, the Holocaust, gender and so on being vilified
0 -
still reminds me of Sarah Palin - burning books.
The sad part is that according to my morning paper, parents are even suing school librarians. For what it's worth, I believe there is a cannon of knowledge that schools should teach.
Edited since my original post was not user friendly towards parents.
As a parent & a former teacher, I am in favor of wide exposure to all kinds of books. Even as a former English major - there are lots of things I haven't read that I'd hope children will get to sample & at least discuss. If I had not wanted my children exposed to all sorts of things, I would have home schooled and made sure I lived on a deserted island so they would never have to explore opposing view points or meet people who weren't exactly like they were raised or had to give any thought to what they might believe.
0 -
Amen, Minus! If, as a parent, I were to be concerned with a book that was being read in my child's school, I would use that as an opportunity to have a conversation with that child about the issue. (I can't remember that ever happening with either of my kids.) Even my very conservative parents supported my right to read any age-appropriate book I chose. My dad might then argue against the book's point of view, but he always felt I should understand both sides of important issues. (I'm sure he thought I would then adopt his view but that’s a conversation for another day!)
Sometimes I am truly troubled by the direction in which this country is moving.0 -
When I was in 9th grade, the high school librarian refused to let me check out Tess of the d'Urdervilles by Thomas Hardy. I immediately asked an older friend to check it out for me and read every single page!
0 -
0 -
Love the cartoon satire0 -
anyone still upset that a few Dr. seuss books will no longer be published because we all know that Theodore Geisel was a racist when he wrote and illustrated some books….
as a literacy volunteer and a grandmother, I spend a lot of time in the children’s section of my library. I have taken the head children’s librarian, the library director AND the library board to task over age appropriate books which are NOT age appropriate. One book, for example, according to the publisher, was advertised for grades 3-8. When I pointed out that the book at a minimum should be read by 5th or 6th graders, all agreed with me. However, the problem was, most illustrated children’s books are mixed together and most parents do not review the books ahead of time.
climate change….have any of you read any children’s books about climate change? I have. Beginning with the earliest of readers to the late middle school grade books, a number of the books could give children nightmares. In fact, in one book that I perused, there was a child hiding under the blankets in their bed shaking from fear over climate change. Another book had a picture of a nuclear power plant in the distance, but….there was NO mention whatsoever of nuclear power in the book. I guess just mentioning the words nuclear power MIGHT give some kids nightmares…
I think we can all agree that banning books is a terrible idea. A good idea is to have a healthy DIVERSE number of well written books that are appropriately and correctly labeled and sectioned by age.My local library told me it would be difficult to do because the librarians cannot read every book that they buy. They depend on reviews and word of mouth when purchasing books. I think they need to do better.
One point that the library director made to me and I think is well worth repeating is that we are entering a very dark period NOT because there is a loud group that are fighting to get books banned, BUT because there is an even louder group trying to suppress books from being published in the first place…
THAT dear book loving friends is what is truly scary.
think about it…..for all intents and purposes, those Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published have been banned.
btw…i went to a zoom lecture where a professor, known for writing a book about whether or not Dr. seuss was a racist, gave his opinion. When I asked if he thought the books should no longer be published, he said he could think of many other books that children could read. Not letting him off the hook, I asked if agreeing to no longer publish the books was a form of banning, he finally demurred and said yes.
Scary0
