Book Lovers Club
Comments
-
Kindle gives me a headache.
I am reading Terry McDermott's new book, The Hunt for KSM. I thought his first book, Perfect Soldiers was the best book written about the backgrounds of the 9/11 terrorists. I wont bore everyone with the details of this book. All I will say is that VR's friends and family are fed up with VR lately because she is glued to her books and it doesn't seem like VR is going to come up for air anytime soon....0 -
I read miss peregrine's school for peculiar a few weeks ago and loved it. It is a young adult/middle school book but can be read on many levels. It combines a little history, time travel, adventure and a little bit of a love story. But don't think of it as a serious read -- it is fun too!
0 -
I will read Miss Peregrine's.... maybe a good book whilst with chemo brain.
VR - I can totally relate to being that immersed in a book nothing else matters... the world still spins around you... the world in the book is the only important thing in your life. How many times my DH says "OK bedtime"... and I'm like "hmm... just finishing this paragraph/chapter" one book later... !!
0 -
Laurie08: I was curious to see what you thought of Caleb's Crossing since I remember you didn't exactly love March. Glad you're enjoying it. I think you'll really like Mudbound.0
-
McSushi- You're right I didn't warm up to March until the end. There were some amazing lines in Calebs Crossing "Is it ever thus at the end of things? Does any woman ever count the grains of her harvest and say: Good enough? Or does one always think of what more might have laid in, had the labor been harder, the ambition more vast, the choices more sage?...This I do know, for the surfeit of loss in my life has convinced me: it will be easier to be grieved for than to grieve. "
I just downloaded Mudbound to my kindle, I'll start it tomorrow
0 -
Since I am a special education teacher, a friend recommended that I read Jodi Picoult's House Rules. The main character is a young man with Asperger's syndrome and lots of issues. The twin plots are how a family's life is impacted by having a child/sibling with a severe disability..... and a murder mystery. A very interesting and quick read.0
-
Ruth, I read House Rules and I so enjoyed that book. I have a friend whose son is autistic... its so sad. But I agree.. an interesting and quick read. Gives some kind of insight into that world.0
-
I'm always amazed at the amount of research that goes into each of Jodi Picoult's books-especially since a new one is released each March. But after reading each of them, don't you find them a bit formulaic?
0 -
Hi Bubbe... that is the ONLY Jodi Picoult book I have ever read so really cant comment. Saying that I have read some of the 'spoilers' of her books and even those gave me that impression. Bit like reading a John Grisham or Danielle Steele - pretty much know the outcome (and of course that is only MY opinion on those authors - in case there are any fans out there
) 0 -
i bought a couple newer books at a sale... i am so excited to start them
the secret life of bees
and
the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. all my books in the library are ancient.. which is good, but contemporary is refreshing. I like the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so far.
0 -
Hi everyone,
Just jumping in here to say I envy everyone. I started a book 2 months ago and haven't been able to finish it. I can't seem to remember what I've read of it. I'm blaming the chemo.
I like dropping in and seeing what's being read. I did buy some more books today to have on the ready.
apple- I read the Girl with the Dragon Tatto, and the next one is waiting for me. I liked it once I got into it.
0 -
I don't very often read Jodi Picoult because I also they do get a formulatic feeling. But I did like House Rules and found some of the family issues very true to life;and it was interesting to see the world through the eyes of the autistic boy and compare his thoughts/emotions/interests with some of the kids I've worked with.0
-
I cheat a little -- I buy books from Audible.com and put them on my Ipod, listen to them while I sew, do housework, walk....also set the Ipod to shut off after 15 or so minutes at night and it helps me to go to sleep, sometimes I have to backtrack a bit if I fell asleep to soon.
I do also read on my Kindle and real paper books too.
0 -
apple, The Secret Life of Bees was a wonderful movie, I will have to look for the book.0
-
She definitely captures what it must be like to be part of a family where there is a horrible illness, or social problem, etc. She can hold my interest - I hate to put her books down. A few have been made into Lifetime movies. I didn't think they did her stories justice. But I know myimagination is better than the director's, producer's, etc.
0 -
And don't you find that the books are always better than the movies ?
0 -
Tazzy- I was very happy to hear my 13 year old son say the same thing! Because it's true.
0 -
apple, I read The Secret Life of Bees and I loved it. I saw the movie, too, but of course the book was better.0
-
We have a darling farm just right around the corner. Bear Farms. they raise horses, llammas, donkeys, goats.. at least most of them seem pretty small.. about a 10 acre opertion. So I am driving buy one day and it looks like I see a donkey standing over a dead baby donkey.. I sigh, park, walk up to the door. Mr. Behr answers and when i say - it seems like you have a dead baby Donkey over there yonder (i do have a sense of humor)... he said " Yonder? Donkey? I don't have any donkeys - that's a horse and the baby is taking a nap.
ok .. so i feel like a fool. Then i asked him if he ever sold llamma wool (i have a friend who would love to buy some wool... he said ' Didn't you read that sign?" (i guess it said no solicitors)?
'oh well', i said ' have a nice day. .. sorry'.
Know the difference between Japanese and English haiku.The Japanese haiku and the English language haiku have several critical differences. In Japanese the haiku is composed of 17 sound units divided into three parts - one with 5 syllables, one with 7 syllables and another with 5 syllables. Since sound units are much shorter than English syllables, it has been found that following the Japanese example results in a much longer poem. The Japanese write their haiku in one line. In English, however, each part is given a line in order to clearly divide the parts of the haiku. This allows the reader time to form an image in the mind before the eyes go back to the left margin for more words. The line breaks also act as a type of punctuation.
The goats they could mow
they would be happy and full
I'd make hats from their fur.
0 -
I love this thread! So many great book suggestions. Some of my recent great reads:
- Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Winter Garden
- Sarah's Key
Warning! Stay away from Wild -- Oprah's new book club read. Starts out with main character losing her mother to cancer. I didn't know that. Dropped it like a hot potato.
Books on CD or ipod are great if you can't focus on words on a page. My public library has lots of them.
0 -
My time, thanks for the suggestions. I loved "Unbroken," and now will try the others you mentioned...
0 -
Just picked up the Winter Garden, Sarah's Key was very good.Thanks for the warning on wild.Hate any books about cancer or Alzheimers.
0 -
Speaking of books and their film translations...Mytime...I just saw the film We Need to Talk about Kevin. I had NO idea it was based on a very popular book. Following the film, there was a special feature that I truly enjoyed. There was an interview with the author...who I thought was a man...until I realized...was a female author....who, when I read further about her, found that she changed her name, because she was a tomboy from "Margaret Ann" to "Lionel." I was facinated by the film, especially after reading the controversal cover story, a few weeks ago, of The New York Times Magazine, concerning whether or not we can predict which child will grow up to become a psychopath. Several years ago, I read Columbine, which is arguably the definitive book written about the horrible event. The book was excellent. At the end of the book, the author, who met with the FBI, explained that the FBI felt that Eric Harris WAS a psychopath. That was the first time that a "child" was given the label.....
Also, regarding books and films...I didn't read Birdsong or War Horse. But, I did see both screen adaptations. While I found the films to be interesting depictions of The Great War, it is Geoff Dyer's book, The Missing of the Somme that STILL resonates with me. His book concerns a road trip that he took back in the early '90s. He explored many of the memorials and cemeteries dedicated to those lost (including the horses) during the war. I mentioned a few pages back on this thread that I thought his book was a MASTERPIECE. My feelings towards the book haven't diminished with time....It continues to resonate with me as we move closer to the 100th anniversary of the war......
0 -
So many great book recommendations on here! I have one to ad. It's called The Kitchen House. I just finished it - very good book.
0 -
I'm currently reading the 12th book in the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series-"Deadlocked". The series is written by Charlaine Harris and is the basis for the HBO series "True Blood"(which I haven't seen-I'm not much of a TV watcher.)
Mary
0 -
Lostinmo... that's great that your son loves reading and for a 13 year old to say that the book is better... a great bookworm in the making.
Apple you are a veritable mine of information - good to learn something new every day and I just did.
0 -
Thanks for the recommendation of Geoff Dyer's book.
I'll refer it to my daughter; a horse woman and warrior (AIr Force Pilot) who's taking a break this summer from working on a Masters in Military History.
This summer is her first chance in years to read outside of academic requirements and she has so loved reading all of her life. I've sent her, and downloaded my self, the Military Historian Michael Stevenson's book: The Last Full Measure
I hesitated to send and download this book for obvious reasons, but it looks to be informative, not macabre.
We must never, ever forget, the end game of war is death.
Book Description on Amazon
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
In this brilliantly researched, deeply humane work of history, Michael Stephenson traces the paths that have led soldiers to their graves over the centuries, revealing a wealth of insight about the nature of combat, the differences among cultures, and the unchanging qualities of humanity itself.
Behind every soldier’s death lies a story, a tale not just of the cold mathematics of the battlefield but of an individual human being who gave his life. Covering warfare from prehistory through the present day, The Last Full Measure tells these soldiers’ stories, ultimately capturing the experience of war as few books ever have.
In these pages, we march into battle alongside the Greek phalanx and the medieval foot soldier. We hear gunpowder’s thunder in the slaughters of the Napoleonic era and the industrialized killing of the Civil War, and recoil at the modern, automated horrors of both World Wars. Finally, we witness the death of one tradition of “heroic” combat and the construction of another in the wars of the modern era, ranging from Vietnam to America’s latest involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In exploring these conflicts and others, Stephenson draws on numerous sources to delve deep into fascinating, period-specific detail—tracing, for instance, the true combat effectiveness of the musket, the utility of the cavalry charge, or the vulnerabilities of the World War II battle tank. Simultaneously, he examines larger themes and reveals surprising connections across both time and culture. What does the medieval knight have in common with the modern paratrooper? What did heroism and bravery mean to the Roman legionary, or to the World War I infantryman—and what is the true motivating power of such ideals?
Combining commanding prose, impeccable research, and a true sensitivity to the combatant’s plight, The Last Full Measure is both a remarkably fresh journey through the annals of war and a powerful tribute to the proverbial unknown soldier.0 -
Sounds like a very powerful book! Thanks for the recommendation.
0 -
I'll add something easy from my lazy day. Read Lisa Scottoline's new book Come Home. A fast read and different from her law firm ladies. Interesting looking at the relationships between parents & children & step children, who may turn into ex-step children as second marriages break up. Very revealing feelings we don't always think about - both the mother & the various children.
0 -
Tazzy= I love the fact that my DS had learned to enjoy books. a few years ago he started a teen series that I knew nothing about, so I read it to be sure it was appropriate. Now we fight over who gets to read the newest book when it comes out. LOL. He usually wins.
0
