Book Lovers Club
Comments
-
ginadmc: Thank you for mentioning A Hundred Flowers! Gail Tsukiyama is indeed a beautiful writer. I'm adding this to the top of my list.0
-
I've loved all of Ann Patchett's books. Patron Saint of Liars was her first and remains a favorite of mine!0
-
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
It tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, whom scientists know as HeLa. Sixty years ago she was a poor Southern tobacco farmer. Her cells-taken without her knowledge-became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, and were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects etc. etc. The author did a lot of research and worked with Henrietta's family to tell her story, the cells story and looks into the ethics of the multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials.
0 -
Ruth... I wish you lived near me and was one of my walking companions. I have been lax in getting around to reading the Lacks book and would truly enjoy someone like yourself telling me more about the book. Got to get around to reading the Cleopatra book too. But I sure wish one of my companions read it instead and told me about it as well.
I started reading Mike Gallagher's book, Fifty Things Liberals Love to Hate. Saw him discuss the book on BookTV. While I imagine most liberals would not think of reading the book, it really is a book that everyone should read. He uses quite a bit of humor to get some great viewpoints across.0 -
Can anyone help? I need a book rec for a friend who is going into her second trial in an attempt to stop her metasteses. She has 3 days of sitting around a lab waiting for blood to be drawn each hour. Was looking for a read that was "light" but not completely mindless. Not too trashy, not too intense?
0 -
Sorry about your friend. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple. Read it. Loved it! Just came from the library and the librarian that I recommended it to loved it and her daughter is reading now and loves it too! It is such a fun book! Pure escapism!
0 -
Sorry about your friend but hope the trial works.
Anything by Kris Radish - fun, light and sometimes true to life reads.
0 -
Harplu13-
I recommend The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared.
LAUGHED OUT LOUD AND it is educational too - while he is having all kinds of adventures in the present in Sweden you also learn about his past in which he participated in most of the world shaking events of the 20th century, was instrumental in nuclear proliferation, and hung out with Einstein's stupid brother and Mao's wife.
0 -
thanks for the great recommendations. I ordered one by each author and just saw the rec by Jelson. I will definetly be ordering The 100 year old man. Her best friend is Swedish and the book seems perfect. She starts next week and hopefully this trial will do the trick and get off the cancer rollercoaster.
0 -
Somebody just recommended Betty White's new book to me. I'm not even certain the name, but she said it was really funny.
0 -
Yes, voracious, I think we would have great 'walk and talk' sessions together!
0 -
Finished the two Dogs books (A Dog's Purpose, and A Dog's Journey) this weekend.
What a nice set of books, I'm glad I borrowed them. Finished at 4:30 and raced to the library to get another fix before they closed at 5. Picked up an older Dean Koontz, and a wee little 106-page sci-fi / fantasy by Marion Zimmer Bradley called The Gratitude of Kings.
I'm #62 on the wait list for Gone Girl!
0 -
Didn't realize that Gone Girl is very much in demand! I'm about a third into it - liking the alternating past and present chapters. And the character development is really good so far. Wondering what will happen ........
0 -
Read Nick Hornby's More Baths Less Talking. Continuation of his reading diary. Found out he loves Meg Wolitzer's writing and wonders why there aren't more writers like her. Wonder if he's read Tropper or Semple's new books. I am happy to say that they are certainly in her class of writers.
He also muses about long books. Four hundred pages he thinks is enough. He was asked to review Dicken's Our Mutual Friend. While coming in at 800 to 900 pages in paperback...the book, downloaded in his iPad was a "terrifying" 2500 pages!
Ahhhh! Reading!!!! It's such a lonely and sometimes "terrifying" job... but there are still many of us that enjoy doing it.
Care to share some of your thoughts about the longest books you read. BTW... Hornby had read Our Mutual Friend before and didn't like it the first time. He said all you need to do is read the fifth chapter...0 -
hi VR, re: longest book, what springs to mind is Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard.
The paperback is 1,050 pages. Great read (awful movie).
0 -
VR, the Nick Horby book looks like what I need right now!! Thanks for the tip.
Longest book...wow, I used to pick books based on their length, so I'd get more bang for my buck. The Source by Michener, or Pillars of the Earth by Follett? Or any of the Caro bios of LBJ...
0 -
Now reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Wonderful NOVEL. Also saw Jonathan Tropper again yesterday. What a pleasure!
0 -
Anything by Lisa Scottoline is great.
Love my Kindle and Nook Color --- Don't leave home without them. I download books for free from the library from the comfort of my couch.
0 -
Just finished catching up on all the recommendations. Thanks for all the wonderful selections, wish I had nothing else to do but read.
0 -
The Dean Koontz I got - 77 Shadow Street - wasn't that old after all, 2011 in fact.
I like the spooky stuff with a sci-fi twist so enjoyed it a lot. Very suspenseful ending!
Must not read any more books featuring people who cook. I gained several pounds that I attribute to Julie & Julia LOL!
0 -
Just finished The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Okay, I am a sucker for the book! Charming poetic story. Reminded me of another British novel, If Not Love.
0 -
I've moved up to #50 on the wait list for Gone Girl.
Picked up two books by Kris Radish based on recs here.
I'm reading The Elegant Gathering of White Snows.
Good book so far, and it's set in Wisconsin!
0 -
Badger - I loved that book Gathering of White Snows.
I am reading Straight Up & Dirty by Stephanie Klein - had to give up At Home by Bill Bryson, for now anyway. My brain just doesn't deal with big books at the moment. Anyway, its a blog like book of a newly divorced New Yorker... so far pretty funny.
0 -
badger Gone Girl is worth the wait, in my opinion. I'm over half-way through it, and have no idea what will happen next!
Couldn't get into Bill Bryson's At Home book either. I think that it's the type of book that shouldn't be read from cover to cover.
DH started reading Mrs. Kennedy and Me, he likes it so far. It will be nice to have a book in common that we've both read.
0 -
joy. I agree, Bill Bryson's At Home can be picked up and put down. I will leave it on the coffee table, read a chapter, put it down. I will eventually finish it.
0 -
Finished The Elegant Gathering of White Snows and enjoyed it. Walking plays a central role so I related to it very well. However, I returned the other Kris Radish book Tuesday Night Miracles for another time. I wasn't up to another women's encounter group experience so soon.
Picked up Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Moved up to #40 on the wait list for Gone Girl.
0 -
Badger Let me know what you think of "Bel Canto". I really enjoyed it.
0 -
based on descriptions like the one below (from his 2008 NYT Obituary), I decided to sample David Foster Wallace's writing
David Foster Wallace, whose prodigiously observant, exuberantly plotted, grammatically and etymologically challenging, philosophically probing and culturally hyper-contemporary novels, stories and essays made him an heir to modern virtuosos like Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, an experimental contemporary of William T. Vollmann, Mark Leyner and Nicholson Baker and a clear influence on younger tour-de-force stylists like Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer.....
In fact, I think this sentence is a fair imitation of his writing style. I chose to read The Broom of the System, not his best known work, but only 467 pages and it sounded, from the cover flap, like it was going to be funny. Well I suppose it was and his descriptions of people and events were insightful and detailed, some passages had a rhythm, almost like poetry. alot of unpleasant characters and silly plot lines which you have to make assumptions about their conclusions - if you were to care enough. Has anyone else read him and would like to share their views?
Julie E
0 -
I am 3/4 through Gone Girl and love it- can't put it down, thanks everyone!
I also really enjoyed Bel Canto, I have read it a couple of times
The Library called today and I will pick up The Kitchen House tomorrow, I believe someone here suggested it?
0 -
I've been saving Gone, Girl for an upcoming trip, so I'll be starting it on the plane on Tuesday and I can't wait. The Kitchen House is good. I recently read The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett and I really liked it. I just finished Still Alice and even though the subject matter (early onset alzheimers at age 50) was depressing, it was very well written. I'm going to check out another of the author's books, Left Neglected. I did like her writing style. I'm on the library wait list for Where'd you go, Bernadette but I'm still #200 so I may just have to get it on my kinlde. Happy Reading! Gina
0
