Book Lovers Club
Comments
-
wenweb, I feel the same way about singer/songwriters and composers. You hear a beautiful piece of music and think, where'd that come from?!
0 -
Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!
I did not finish Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan) by wednesday, its library due date - I decided not to rush through it and diminish my enjoyment. It was a great read, a mystery about events in the 1500's - when printing was the new technology and events in the modern age - when computers and the internet are the new technology. Old scholars mix it up with young computer "geeks". I will return it today. Now reading Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman (cannot resist a book with a parrot on the cover). Will pick up the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry which is on hold for me.
settling in to watch The Middle and Modern Family while waiting for the pumpkin pies to bake, which I guess was pre-empted by Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving??? I stumbled on a PBS nature show about a guy living with a flock of wild turkeys - fascinating! The scenery was breathtaking, you could feel the air and smell the grass - a beautifully shot documentary - even without the surprising things you learn about wild turkeys - told in the most loving way.
Well about two years ago I had picked up a book from the free book shelves at the library with, of course, a portrait shot of a wild turkey on the cover - could not resist! but had tucked away - It turns out to be llumination in the Flatwoods by Joe Hutton - "a season with the wild turkey" - the book which inspired the documentary!
so many books, so little time!
Julie E
0 -
Oh man, I just finished a great book! I can't remember if anyone has reviewed it here before, but it is Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese, who is a doctor. It is fiction, set in Ethiopia and the United States. Twin brothers are born from a secret affair between an Indian nun and British surgeon. Beautifully written, many plot twists, and lots of interesting medical 'stuff' too (I had brought it along when I went for my annual physical, and I think my GP is going to read, and enjoy it, too). I was finishing it up while washing quilts at the laundermat today. Luckily no one else was there as I had tears running down my face!
0 -
Ruth. Yes, it has been talked about here. It's one of those books that is either loved or hated. I loved it from the first paragragh...
0 -
Ruthbru, yes, "Cutting for Stone" was amazing. I then went back to read the author's two previous books, both non-fiction accounts of parts of his earlier medical career. Think they were "My Country" and the "Tennis Partner ." Both were excellent.
0 -
I read 3 to 4 books a week -- can you tell I'm retired and an English degree grad? Some recent good ones: all three by Tana French, including "broken Harbor," her latest. Also recommend "Alys, Always," "Tell the Wolves I'm home" and " Round House." For nonfiction, I liked "wild," "Brain on Fire" and "double Cross."
0 -
I love Tana French, too!
I'm in the middle of an epic saga of sorts, The Shark Dialogs by Kiana Davenport. Traces a family from present to the 1700s and back, in Hawaii. Rich in folklore and detail (but not to the extent of Michener), and a part about the leper colonies just about broke my heart. Picked it up for bookclub, otherwise I doubt I would have chosen it. But I do like it.
Next up is by Tan Twan Eng, who wrote The Gift of Rain, one of my favorite books EVER. EVER. This one is The Garden of Evening Mists, and I hear it is just as good.
Happy Reading, everyone!
0 -
Finished Where'd You Go Bernadette and have to say I didn't start liking it until the FBI got involved. Then I couldn't stop smiling. Liked it more & more as the plot unfurled. Good book!
Now on to Gone Girl!
0 -
I just finished reading The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen. It was a novel about a West coast's town attempt to quarantine itself during the 1918 flu epidemic.
0 -
Elizabeth1889, if you enjoyed The Last Town on Earth, maybe you would also like year of wonders by geraldine brooks - where a town in England (1666) quarantined itself during the plague- without even understanding the way the disease was transmitted.
On a happier note! I just finished Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodmann - a truly enjoyable read abotu a middle-aged Scottish woman who inherits her grandfather's home in the lower levels of the Himalayas in 1960's India. She moves in with her parrot!!! The book covers it all - expatriates, diplomats and their children, Muslims, Hindus, Gurkhas, Tibetan charcoal makers, bagpipers, violinists, fortune-tellers, bollywood singers.... I highly recommend it.
0 -
Spent today reading & napping. Finished Gone Girl. Worth the wait - really good book!
0 -
I've always liked Betty White, so just read her short book If You Ask Me. It took about an hour, just some observations about life, fame, animals etc. etc. Kind of like reading letters from your (very cool) old auntie.
0 -
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This is a novel about a ten year old boy born with severe facial deformities, whose many surgeries necessitated his being home-schooled until the fifth grade. Entering middle school for the new kid is always daunting but when you have a face that makes people gasp, it is even harder to fit in. The story is told from the boy, Augie's point of you, from those of his parents, older sister, classmates and others. What really resonated was the love and warmth of Augie's family and how difficult it is to struggle through the ages of 10-12. I admit to have gotten all happy/teary at the end.
a good read
0 -
Jelson, Thanks for The Year of Wonders book suggestion.
I just finished reading Vaclav and Lena, a sad and sweet novel about two Russian immigrant children who become best friends.0 -
Elizabeth1889 - I plan to eventually check out The Last Town on Earth. Funny, I have Vaclav and Lena on my to- read book shelf (given to me by a friend who works in a bookstore from which she can bring home advance copies/uncorrected proofs of new books). Today I picked up the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry on reserve at the library but that meant I had to put down Julia Stuart's Pigeon Pie Mystery - which I had just started.
0 -
Jelson- Thanks for the suggestion of Wonder- I added it to my to read list.
I picked up Wild at the library this week but need to finish the book I am reading first. Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas. The story is of a young black woman from Chicago going to Mississippi to try to encourage more blacks to vote during the times of when the south is still very hostile and there is still segregation. I almost 1/2 way through and the perspective is interesting.
I was going to request The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry but it is too new- so I will save it for a kindle purchase.
0 -
Last night finished The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. going into it, thought it would be similar to The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and Disappeared - since superficially - old men (well Harold wasn't actually THAT OLD) unexpectedly, without preparation going on journeys and learning about themselves and other people along the way. But Harold Fry was much more introspective, not laugh-out loud funny and the whole book more emotional and philisophical . His journey led to self discovery and growth. I liked it!
The cover of Kevin J. Anderson's Death Warmed Over caught my eye in the mystery section while I was at the library - "for an undead detective, every case is a cold case"....(Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.), the first of a trilogy!
0 -
Jelson....I am happy to hear that you enjoyed reading Harold Fry! There were moments in the book where I felt the author "knew" me and at times I felt almost "naked." Is it possible that a book could touch one's soul?
0 -
Finished The Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Fry this afternoon, and I really enjoyed it. Certain points in the book I really didn't see coming. Found it very introspective, and could relate to much of it regarding marriage. Yes, a book can certainly touch your soul!
0 -
On my Kindle wish list!!
0 -
I recently read Loving Frank and being only 1 hour away from Spring Green WI and Taliesin, I can't believe I waited so long to read it. I was so curious about the murders, I read Death in a Prairie House Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders. It wasn't very long and had a lot of detail about FLW's upbringing and the murders. It made me want to take a drive in the country to Taliesin. I picked up Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt and Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult at the library this weekend. Still on the waiting list for Bernadette! Gina
0 -
Just bought an ipad and would like help with picking a good app for book downloading.Any recomendations?Would appreciate any help.
0 -
hi mum, I'm a low-tech type so no ipad help but someone is sure to have a rec.
Between books at the moment, considering an oldie- The Wind in the Willows.
0 -
Mumito, I have the following apps:
iBooks (Apple's free app) This will also allow you to read PDF's
Kindle (Amazon's free app for reading Kindle ebooks. You will need to also set up an account on Amazon to buy books. Some books are free)
Nook (Barnes and Noble's free app to download their books. Also needs an account to download from their site)
0 -
Thank you I will start with Kindle
0 -
Way, way, back in the day on this thread I mentioned my love for Joe Queenan's books. Anyone else a lover of his books? Here's a blurb on his latest book. Not only is it hilarious, but the number of fiction books that he mentions in his book is staggering. Fiction lovers should read the book just to learn what to read and maybe what NOT to waste your time with.....
NONFICTION: "One For the Books," by Joe Queenan
- Article by: MALCOLM FORBES
- Special to the Star Tribune
- October 27, 2012 - 4:40 PM
Joe Queenan has written about film, sports and travel but never at length about his greatest love, books. With his witty and insightful "One for the Books," he finally delivers. It has been worth the wait.
He begins with a sobering statistic: The average American reads a mere four books a year. Queenan confesses that "there is nothing I would rather do than read books" but rues the amount of hours in the day and, more poignantly, the fact that the clock is ticking. Such moments of pathos pepper this account of a life of reading, but in the main it is a joyful celebration of the books that have formed, inspired or just entertained him. Books have always been his "safety valve," both a source of edification and a means of escape, especially during his rough childhood in a Philadelphia housing project.
As with his memoir, "Closing Time," Queenan is quick and indeed keen to exhibit his many cranky idiosyncrasies. He is a bibliophile but has no time for first editions or signed copies. He reads voraciously but is too choosy to be wholly omnivorous. "Middlemarch" is a particular bugbear, a novel he has started six times and which, he is certain, will be the last book he will ever finish.
Writers get dismissed on thoroughly irrational grounds (Salman Rushdie for declaring himself a Yankees fan; P.G. Wodehouse for being "a poncey aristocrat"); books are shunned if they are afflicted by "graphic vileness" -- proof, it would appear, that you can judge a book by its cover. He avoids secondhand books ("people should consider it an honor to pay full price for a book by Don DeLillo") and has never gotten around to reading "Catch-22" ever since the copy he lent to a friend came back "defiled, debased."
A librarian labels Queenan "too snarky," but that is precisely why we read him. He is at his acerbic best when railing against the horrors of online book-buying, the insidious proliferation of Kindles..."
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/175849321.html?refer=y
0 -
VR, welcome back - figured you were consumed with the SABCS!
thanks for reminding me about Joe Queenan. I found him during the time I was taking my son to a math tutor at a nearby suburban library which had the most browsable stacks. What bliss, an hour a week, wandering among the shelves, pulling out and reading the flaps of random books - who could resist a book with the title Balsamic Dreams? I will search out his others.
Julie E
0 -
Julie....In the near future, children will ask, "What's a book flap?" ....OY!
0 -
Or a library
0 -
Just read Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Very weird & disturbing. It kept my attention, but now that I'm done, I have to say that I don't get it!
0
