Book Lovers Club
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Some books I've enjoyed this fall are: Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed, Help Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, The Retreat by Sarah Pearse, Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie, The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page, I'm just starting The River We Remember by William Krueger
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Ruth - GREAT to see you. I really like Krueger and will make note of the others.
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Wonderful Ruth. I was just thinking today, I'm not comfortable unless I have at least 7 books waiting. So I'd scheduled time to go to the Friends of the Library used/overstock sale this Saturday.
My ex-DH passed along a lovely, wood glass fronted book case that has been sitting empty since he brought it up last fall. And there are stacks of books in every room that didn't fit in existing book cases. So I did some re-arranging tonight. I do try to keep authors together, so corrected some of that between the 12 bookcases in various rooms. You'd never know that just 2 years ago, I gave away 10 boxes of books.
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Back to classes on Monday! So I’ll be back to class related reading.
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I just read 'A River We Remember' bu William Kent Krueger. It takes place in 1958, when a murder rocks a small Minnesota town. What happens next brings out many secrets & touches on the emotional scar of war, racism, family dynamics and much more. Very good, once I started it, I didn't want to put it down.
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Ruth - I like Krueger. The last one I read was 'Iron Lake'. I'll add your recommendation to my wish list.
I spent the holidays reading Ann Beattie 'The New Yorker Stories'. Since there are 48 stories, I set it down about half way through and was about to give up. Took a break but I'm glad I finished. The way she writes character's internal thoughts and interactions & involvement between the people in all the stories are always right on. Good interview with her in the end. Her comment about writing/composing on a computer: "It's like Schrodinger's cat: You turn it on, and a different typeface comes up. You hit the wrong key, and the page splits in half. Your e-mail message says 'Still sending' long enough for you to take a shower."
Also ordered & read 'The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street' by Trevanian. Fascinating coming-of-age story from the point of the son of a vulnerable young mother, abandoned by her husband - a charming con. And oh my - POOR in an Albany, NY slum. The time period is between "the" wars (WWI and WWII) and during the depression. Supposedly it's a fictional recreation of the neighborhood of his youth. Definitely a 'lost age'.
Next up - Alice Munro.
And tomorrow is the first Saturday, so I'll go to the Public Library warehouse for their monthly surplus book sale. It's packed and not in any order but type of book, so it's a scramble to grab what you think might be interesting. But I can come out of they with two grocery bags full of books for $20.00.
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The price of surplus books (new & used) at the monthly Library warehouse sale has gone up. So two very large bags of books was $50.00. Oh my - $3.00 for some books that are $30 in the store. Since I usually read 5 books a week and prefer a book I can hold in my hand - this is a great bargain. Then I take them to my used bookstore and get credit for 1/2 their price on my purchases there.
I read The Private Patient by P.D James, Cemetery Girl by David Bell, Hit Parade by Lawrence Block, Eye of the Wolf by Margared Coel (Native American mystery series), and currently reading Ballistic by Mark Greaney. The latter is my first dip into the "Gray Man" series and captivating, but brutal. Really it's too darn cold to do anything but sit in my chair with a quilt & read!!!
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Hi Gals and thanks for the recommendation for this thread, Minus. I currently have Covid and am feeling punk. When better I will share my reading.
Already enjoyed reading through everyone's recommendations.
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Reader - Ugh - hope you feel better soon.
Read a Nicholas Sparks and a Colleen Hoover last week. Fast & easy. Now I'm reading "Dances with Wolves" - another great library sale find which I've never read.
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Just finished a fascinating memoir "The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women's Movement" by Mahnaz Afkhami. I learned so much of the three steps forward two steps back of women's rights in that part of the world. I also heard the author speak at a book festival last year.
Since I'm just jumping in here, in addition to all memoir I also love mysteries like those of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and more recently Louise Penny, Harlan Koban and light- hearted fare written by Alexander MacColl Smith, particularly the Isabelle Dalhousie series.
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The Frozen River: A Novel
Ariel LawhonKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Dec 5, 2023 - Fiction - 448 pagesGMA BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of
Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal
system and wrote herself into American history.I just read " The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon. It's a historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife, who never lost a mother & very few babies. It is very true to the times &, I think, to Martha herself. (I read her diary too, which would be rather a slog unless you are a history nerd like me). It was a fantastic book. Once I started, I couldn't put it down!!!
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Reader: SO glad you're here. Sometimes I read something serious. Most of the time I don't. Still - what ever you're sharing is great.
Ruth - Glad to see you. Hope you are doing OK. Thanks for the Frozen River referral.
I'd really like this thread to stay active. I know VR has likely dropped off, but I think of her in NYC with the wonderful lions at the library.
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Has anyone read Eudora Welty? If so, where to start?
Thanks for the welcome Minus! Ruth will look that one up.
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Reader: I've dabbled in Welty and like what I've read. A couple of years ago I ordered "The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty" with an introduction by Ann Patchett (2019). It's a large book (564 pages) with very small print. I'm ashamed to admit that I read one or two stories and then set the book down. I do want to read the rest, but it requires very bright light and a pillow on my lap to help hold the book. No reading in bed for sure. I look at it sitting on my shelf regularly & then pick up something "easy". (guilt here for sure)
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I have read one or two Eudora Welty stories but don't remember them offhand. She lived in Jackson, MS. When we travel through Jackson heading north, I always see signs alerting people to the Eudora Welty home.
I just read a Sarah Graves "mystery" novel set in Eastport, Maine, where she lives. The title was The Book of Old Houses. We have visited Eastport. It's one of those charming Maine towns. I have a pottery spoon rest I bought there and use. I'm not a fan of "whimsical" mystery stories and this falls in that category. More to my dh's taste in reading. I did find the setting interesting.
Currently I'm reading books by Tana French, who lives in Dublin. I like her and dh doesn't! He reads what I call "silly mysteries." Isn't that judgmental? LOL. I'm also reading Laura Lippman. But I don't read nearly the number of books that Minus reads. I spend a lot of time on NYT word puzzles. My excuse is brain exercise.
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Carole - would "whimsical" be the same as "cozy" mysteries? I've read a few, but not my first choice. I too like Tana French.
Brain exercise is a GREAT reason - not really an excuse. Years ago I did cross word puzzles, but now I guess I'm too lazy.
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Minus, the term "cozy" popped into my head after I had posted.
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I wish I could do crossword puzzles. For all my reading and word love, I am terrible at CWs, take forever to get a few right then give up. Don't know quite why.
I call Alexander MacColl Smith a cozy mystery writer. Is that what you mean? Gritty is good too though! There's an English writer, Lisa Jewell that I like. Very scary.
I also like historical novels but wore out on the WWII ones for a bit. One of the book clubs I was in tended to focus on them. Loved "Clementine."
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My latest book is Carson McCullers - The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Another 1940 book that I never read.
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I read the Carson McCullers novel and some of her short stories. She lived in Georgia and raised peacocks. Something I learned when I was a graduate student at University of Georgia.
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I read McCullers "member of the wedding ". Flannery O Connor raised peacocks also. Perhaps a southern thing. Delightful.
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My mistake. It was Flannery O Connor who raised peacocks. Thanks, Reader.
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Finished an autobiography about the man who started an organization to help rural, poverty ridden Guatemalans purchase land. It's called simply "Buy this Land" and was quite inspiring. The organization exists to this day.
I need some light reading now for a while after the last two I've read. Great books but with hard to remember names etc. Needed attention.
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I met Lisa Jewell last summer at Book Bonanza! She is smart, very kind, and has a beautiful accent, also very pretty.
my guilty pleasure is romance, and especially paranormal romance. My favorite author is Elizabeth Hunter and her Elemental Mysteries series, plus all the spinoffs. I also love Preston and Child’s Pendergast series. JD Robb (Nora Roberts) In Death series is another favorite. Futuristic cop thriller and romance.
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If you’re interested, I read on my iPad with the kindle reader app and Libby from my library. There’s a Bluetooth ‘page turner’ ring thing and a giant iPad holder clamp (looks like those phone holders for cars but way bigger) I can position the iPad to my line of sight and lay on my pillow and read, turning pages by pressing the button on the ring thing. Got them both from Amazon
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kyrex - no - but thanks for the references. I like to read a 'real' book or magazine that I hold in my hands. I really don't like to read from electronic devices. I do have a very old Kindle that I once thought I'd take on trips to save room & weight, but I don't care for it at all.
Just finished "Child of my Heart" by Alice McDermott. It was a lovely tribute to friendship & growing up one summer at the shore (Eastern end of Long Island). And so much more, but I don't want to be a spoiler. "…McDermott once again peers into the depths of everyday life with inimitable insight & grace."
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That's truly wonderful Ruth. Thanks for posting
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Doing a digital humanities project for a Lit course this term. My choice of text for the project was The Radium Girls by Kate Moore.
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