Book Lovers Club
Comments
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A few pages back we were talking about Scandanavian mystery writers -- I've really enjoyed
Jo Nesbo (with a slash through the last o) -- Norwegian
Ake Edwardson --Swedish
Asa Larsson -- Swedish
James Thompson -- and American who writes about a Finnish detective married to an American living in Finland.
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voracious- your post about Jeff Dyer was so enthusiastic I will go get one of his books!
Alpal- I agree the first 100 pages of Cutting For Stone was a bit slow at times, but it picked up and I loved it, I'm sorry you didn't- toss it to the side!
I am always guilty of finishing a bad book, I always think, 5 more pages and it will get better. Then I'm so far into it I need to finish it. Ahhh well, live and learn.
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VR - Everyone I know said it was a wonderful book. So I downloaded it to my Kindle and started reading and read and read and read. It's done now and I will say that the last 50 pages held my interest long enough for me to finish it. Thank heavens.
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Laurie..I must warn you...British Jeff Dyer isn't everyone's cup of tea. But folks like me, and my mom and my best friend, voracious readers, 1,2 and 3 are GREAT fans of his!!! As I mentioned, way, way, way, back, I had my mother read Out of Sheer Rage while she was visiting me a few years ago. I wanted to see her reaction to the book while she was ENJOYING reading it. So here's what happened. I gave her the book and she began reading it on a lounge chair on my front porch. VR was sitting with her and waited patiently for the first giggle, which happened all of 2 minutes after she began reading. About 10 pages into the book she looked up at me and said, "I have a question." My reply, "Shoot." She asks, "Is he on drugs?" "Hmmm...good question," I reply, "why do you ask?" So my mother, the voracious reader, retired nurse said, "Well, if he's ON drugs, then he needs to come off them and if he's NOT ON drugs, then he needs them!" She then went on to finish reading the book, in one sitting, but I had to take her indoors because she was disturbing the neighbors with her howling laughter!
Then there's my 92 year old uncle whom I recommended Jeff Dyer's books to. He's voracious reader #4. He always says, now that he's "up there" he's got to read REALLY fast! Anyway, he said to me, "Jeff Dyer is a great writer, if you can only understand what he's writing about."
So there you have it...The Ying and the Yang about Jeff Dyer! And one more thing about him. If you watch him on Youtube...he looks quite "normal." But you know the saying, "You can't judge a book by it's cover!"
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Revkat...Speaking of Scandinavian authors...there's the "International Best Seller" We, The Drowned by Danish Carsten Jensen. I got the book for my husband to read. He got through the first 100 or so pages and abandoned it. After reading the Larsson books, he began reading Mankell and others, so I thought why not have him read the Jensen book as well? I haven't seen anyone here bring up the book, so I'm asking now, "Has anyone read it and enjoyed it?"
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http://www.mysears.com/La-Z-Boy-Chelsea-Outdoor-Recliner-reviews?tab=details
Not sure if this link works...but here's what I treated myself to for Mother's Day! I picked two of them up yesterday and they are now on my front porch. VR is going to be enjoying herself reading on her front porch this summer. Not that last summer was bad with her Martha Stewart lounge chairs... But these chairs that I bought yesterday are INSANE!!!
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Now Allison, Alpal.... Here's why I asked the question WHY you picked the book. You said it was because other people told you how wonderful the book was. IMHO you have to be VERY discriminating from whom you accept book recommendations. My mother and I had a recent conversation about how much she enjoys visiting me for the summer because she gets to read the books I recommend as well as see DVD's that I loved watching through the year. Her library in Florida doesn't get the material as quickly as I can get it for her while she's visiting AND since she doesn't have many activities to do while visiting me, she relaxes on my front porch reading, when she's not at one of my local libraries partaking in THEIR various activities. Anyway, my mother said to me, when she's visiting me and I ship her off to my brother's home for a few days, he also gives her books to read that he claims are "fantastic." Often, she will read the books that he recommends while she's with him, but she doesn't enjoy them as much as she enjoys the books that I give her. So she said to me she wants to find a way out of reading his books without offending him. The important message here, Alpal, is that you want to find books to read based on the recommendation of people who have similar taste. Just because a book is #1 on the New York Times Bestseller's list, doesn't mean it was meant for you to read. The DH just finished the #1 book, David Baldacci's latest thriller. He LOVED it! I wouldn't read it. Not MY cup of tea. I learned early on, my taste in books is usually not found on the best seller's list. I remember seeing the film Valley of the Dolls when I was a young girl and then reading the book. I also read Peyton Place and The Bridges of Madison County. They were all books that spent YEARS on the best seller's lists! They were all awful books, IMHO. However, I LOVED reading the biography of Jacqueline Susann.
So, my point is twofold. One, you have to be VERY discriminating in accepting book recommendations. And two, listen to your gut when you're reading a book. If your stomach is turning, and you're not looking forward to turning the page, then you shouldn't be reading the book.
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I think book recommendations and restaurant recommendations are similar and like VR said it's all about who is making the recommendation... personal taste. Nice chairs VR. Having just had a tooth pulled yesterday, I was thinking that's what I was going to do today while watching my husband work in the yard
Also, about Cutting for Stone. I think it was the graphic descriptions of the many surgeries and all of the medical references that turn some people off IMHO.
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I DID enjoy Cutting for Stone!
Jacob is going back to the library today. Dropping it with a big THUD in the returns slot. Still enjoying my high!
Has anyone read Nada by Carmen Laforet? Post Civil War Spain, a young orphaned woman who goes to Barcelona to stay with family. I could not put it down. It was dark, intriguing. It felt like moving into a dark shadow. Creepy. But, I loved it.
Also, The Shadow of the Wind. Another one which takes place in Barcelona.
Lane
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Lane...you can drop the virtual copy of the book in Jo's Bonfire of the Goddesses fire and feel even better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Oh, yes, I do need to do that!
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Lane, I posted a question for you over at the bonfire that needs answering. BTW, johnnie's wife is in a wonderful French film that you can probably get on DVD at the library... When you return Jacob. It's called The Heartbreaker. It's a sweet film with great music!
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I'll look for The Heartbreaker on Netflix, since I've burned Jacob rather than returning it to the library! Thanks!
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Has anyone read Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay? It is about an American jounralist living in Paris who becomes obsessed with the outcome of the French Jews who were hideously rounded up by their own police in 1942. Probably, it was not the best book to be reading during by second TC treatment as parts of it were terribly sad, but I could not put it down.
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Elizabeth,
Yes! I loved it also. Have you read Losing Julia? An older one, also a war story. A very good love story.
Lane
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Hi Lane,
Yes, I read Losing Julia about ten years ago and it is still one of my favorite books ever.
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Another older book that was out of print for a while- Anya by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. It's a beautiful but sad story of a Russian jewish girl from Poland and what happens to her and her family during the Holocaust. It was one of my favorites.
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Guilty, guilty. She read Cutting For Stone because I told her how good it was and kept bugging her about reading it. I like Lane really enjoyed the book. I also really liked Sarah's Key. Last night I finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and want to read the other two. Oh today I had lunch with the woman I talked about a long time ago...an older patient whom I had told to read Elizabeth George and she read that really wild one with all the drugs and prostitution and foul language and then she passed it on to me because it was one I had not read yet and when I started reading it went OMG, I can't believe Betty read this. Well, I mentioned that I had finished Girl with Dragon Tattoo and she said she had read all three and if I thought there were some sick things in the lst one, wait til I read the other two. And she then said, some of the stuff in them was almost as bad as Elizabeth George! She has not forgotten that.So I apologized all over again and told her Really, her other books were not like that one, but she said that was ok, she had put them all on her shelf, but was busy reading other things. We had a good laugh over that. She is going to lend me the other two Larsson books. From now on I will recommend a book by name, not just the author. And Alpal, I apologize, but I really liked Cutting For Stone. Different strokes as they say.....a book I thought was not good at all was Room and I think it's a best seller....it just did not sound like a 5 yr old talking to me, even if the kid was raised under very strange circumstances.
I bought Going Gray the other day. Also two Elizabeth Berg books....I read several of hers a long time ago and liked them.
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Read Jacob de Zoet and finished it ONLY because of a local book club. Did not care for it much at all, though I was in the minority.
Finished Unbroken in a couple marathon reading days. It was truly a life interrupter for me.
Just started Emporer of All Maladies and am enjoying it. Probably need to add in a lighter fiction, though.
I remember reading Anya ages ago, but remember little of the book. I should re-read. I have a few of the old Chaim Potok books on my Kindle--I devoured his books when I was in high school and college. I wish Kindle had some of my other old favorites, like Irving Stone (The Agony and the Ecstacy, and Lust for Life in particular.)
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Thanks, Wenweb,
I'll look for Anya.
Funny, Marybe, I keep track of the books I read which I like, and I made a note, "favorite" next to Cutting for Stone. You just never know what will grab you at a particular time! I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a while ago and made note to get the others. I wonder how the movie was. Anyone see it?
I also enjoy Elizabeth Berg. I read Talk Before Sleep years ago. Don't think I could handle that one right now. Haven't read the latest. Let me know.
I liked Blindness and The Cave by Jose Saramago. Heard the movie Blindness was pretty bad. But really got into the book.
Anyone read the latest by Barbara Kingsolver?
Lane
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DH read the Larsson trilogy. We saw the films. He thought they were faithful to the books. When the American version premieres with Daniel Craig... They will probably ruin it. I was a little bit taken a back by the violence on screen, but I enjoyed the films, nonetheless.
Marybe! Going Gray.... I hope you enjoy reading it. I think my reputation is on the line!!
Irving Stone... Like Mitchner... A classic.
Now can anyone tell me about We, the Drowned?
Elizabeth... Go way back on this thread.. half the folks read Sarah's Keys!0 -
VR - I think that I, like your DH, will love the new Baldachi. Please note, that Marybe incriminated herself. I did not give her up! I'm just proud of myself for sticking with it and finishing it. Felt a bit like finally finishing a term paper in college!
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I read The Agony and the Ecstasy, but don't think I ever read Lust for Life. Need to get that one. Anne, I enjoyed Emperor also.
Lane
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Lane... I have to warn you about Baldecci's new book. He complained that there were so many characters.... He had to keep an index card. He still loved the book!
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You know, I am very stoic, but when I finished reading Lust for Life.... I cried.
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VR,
I'll keep that in mind! Thanks for your concern!
Lane
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Hey, Lane, I read Kingsolver's The Lacuna--parts of it grabbed me parts bored me. My sister loved it though, and we have similar tastes in reading. Blindness by Saramego blew me away. I've read a couple others of his, but not The Cave.
I did read all three of the Larsson trilogy, but haven't seen the movie yet. I'll wait for the English speaking version. Subtitles just mess with me!
Wish you lived closer--we could do some serious book swapping!
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Hi, Anne,
Well, we'll just have to swap lists!
I think Blindness was my favorite of the bunch he wrote.
Lane
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AnneW...You have the option of watching the Larsson trilogy in subtitle or dubbed versions. Mr. VR and I watch a lot of foreign films in DVD. Thank goodness we have both options. I am such a subtitle freak, that I even watch most British films with subtitles because I can't understand a thing they say! I could never understand those films on the big screen if they weren't subtitled.
And another thing about subtitles for anyone with little ones in the family. When my youngest son who is graduating college next week with a degree in Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, was around 3 years old, I remember him watching cartoons and using the closed captions. I asked him if he wanted me to "fix" the TV. He told me not to "fix" the television because he was teaching himself how to read! Brilliant, eh?
And speaking of dubbed...Jeff Dyer has a hilarious chapter in Out of Sheer Rage where he talks about Italians and their love of Spaghetti Westerns and how their Italian films are dubbed...IN ITALIAN! Which reminds me of Deborah Fallow's Dreaming in Chinese. While in China, because of all of the different languages and dialects, she said all television broadcasts there are subtitled!
Happy Mother's Day!
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I went to a wedding last night and the centerpieces were stacks of books (about 10) with a flower arrangement on top. Both the bride and groom are avid readers. They made an announcement after the toasts were given and we had eaten our dinner, that the books were our favors and everyone was invited to take one home with them. Inside each book was a little sticker with the bride and groom's name and the date . On each table there was a silver frame which had the description of what the books pertained to. Our table was Cooking, another was American History, another Women Authors, another English Literature, one Children's Books, etc. My husband did not go with me so I got his book also....got an Indian cookbook and Cold Mountain(saw the movie, but never read the book) from another table. I thought this was a rather unique idea.
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