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Book Lovers Club

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Comments

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 612
    edited March 2013

    Jelson, that link didn't work, but I'll tool around on FB and see if I can find it.

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    https://www.facebook.com/ForReadingAddicts

    try the above. I googled For Reading Addicts and got this url which worked. sorry about the first one.

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    Hey,  Does anyone know why some authors choose not to use quotation marks?  I just started reading The Good Phychologist (that unfortunatley I like) and it drives me nuts!! 

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 612
    edited March 2013

    Several authors do that, Saramego comes to mind, Faulkner, Crace. Once I get in the flow, I can handle it. It requires a different bit of concentration, doesn't it? Almost makes the book seem more stream of consciousness.

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    Yes Ann, and I have to keep re-reading parts to figure out if the characters are thinking or talking.  

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    OMG AnneW- I am reading Jose Saramago's The Elephant's Journey right now!!!! No quotation marks. No paragraphs and No capitalizing of proper names!  It just kind of flows though and I can "hear" the voices and figure out who is talking. 

  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 3,696
    edited March 2013

    Just wrapped up reading Jennifer Haigh's News From Heaven... two days behind VR's mother. She whipped through the book and really enjoyed it. VR, not so much... ran out of steam towards the end. But it was well worth reading because it lead to a wonderful conversation with VR's mother about her mother's friend who was brought up in an old Pennsylvania mining town and could have easily been one of the book's characters. She was an amazing woman. Reading the book gave texture to not only the characters lives, but also to this wonderful woman that I didn't know well but now I understand better...

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 612
    edited March 2013

    Jelson, how do you like The Elephant's Journey? I need to look that one up. Blindess was one of my favorite Saramego. Deep, dark, chilling--he was an amazing writer. I have a few others of his I haven't read yet, but will soon.

    I'm also reading QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING. It's really good, and reminds me to be proud that I am an introvert.

    Also reading BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK by Ben Fountain. Not as good as I had hoped. It's a long walk just to get through this. But I do think he has totally nailed the mind and emotions of our soldiers who return from war.

  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 359
    edited March 2013

    Enjoyed the 'The Snow Child'

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Snow-Child-A-Novel/dp/0316175668

  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 3,696
    edited March 2013

    Anne....a few weeks back I read this book:

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Introverts-Way-Living-Quiet/dp/0399537694/ref=pd_sim_b_8

    The Introverts Way by Sophia Dembling....

    I was recently visiting with a cousin and she had read this earlier book about introverts by Dr. Marti Laney:

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Introvert-Advantage-Thrive-Extrovert/dp/0761123695/ref=pd_sim_b_1/192-7490572-9182710

    We spoke about this idea that Dr. Laney mentions:

    "Introverts are like a rechargeable battery. They need to stop expending energy
    and rest in order to recharge. Extroverts are like solar panels that need the
    sun to recharge. Extroverts need to be out and about to refuel." ~Marti Olsen
    Laney

    I think this definition of introverts is very enlightening.  I always felt I was an introvert, despite people telling me that I'm not.  But according to Dr. Laney's definition, I most certainly am!  My cousin and I commiserated about how we've been labeled "icey" or "bitches."  Dembling gives a very compelling explanation for why we're labeled that way.  It's not that we don't enjoy people's company, we just don't enjoy being part of the action.  We prefer to find "one on one" in the crowd...or better yet, not be part of the crowd because it really DOES deplete our energy.....and if we absolutely must be part of a crowd, we need a few days to recover....Go try to explain that to our extended families......

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    I had heard this many years ago and it's so true.  I'm definately an introvert Wink  

  • Elizabeth1959
    Elizabeth1959 Member Posts: 78
    edited March 2013

    So am I.  I wonder if many readers are introverts.  Also, my least favorite comment is when someone tells me I'm quiet.  I think I'd rather be called icey.  I'm going to bookclub tonight.  Our book this month was Mad Women the other side of life on Madison Ave in the 60's and beyond by Jane Maas.  I liked it.  As a fellow working mother, I could relate to her comments.  I was also impressed with her success -  wow.

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    soo ashamed to admit that I was diverted from the Nobel Prize winnning author's The Elephant's Journey by the latest Sookie Stackhouse supernatural southern adventure by Charlaine Harris - Deadlocked.........just finished it (excellent!) - will get right back to Saramago and will report when I am done!

  • WaveWhisperer
    WaveWhisperer Member Posts: 557
    edited March 2013

    Anne, I, too, just finished and enjoyed 'Quiet.' I scored at the extreme far end of 'I' on the Myers-briggs personality test. The book was so confirming and encouraging, after years of being told on employee evaluations that I needed to be more outgoing, to speak up more. The Extroverts who reigned wanted to change me into them; their behavior was what was expected, in order to succeed. I later ended up running the organization, and was forced into a role that did require me to be more extroverted, a stressful experience. But I never tried to 'convert' the quiet ones.



    Also enjoyed ' Snow Child' and 'Billy's Halftime Walk' less so. Recently finished and enjoyed Jodi Picoult's new one; Maeve Binchy's last one before she died, 'A week in Winter' ; 'After Visitng Friends,' and 'The Book Thief.' Now reading 'Autobiography of

    Us''

  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 359
    edited March 2013

    Most definitely an introvert here who works in an environment surrounded by alpha extroverts.  Very stressful....  I better get that book!

  • LuvLulu07
    LuvLulu07 Member Posts: 596
    edited March 2013

    Introvert here with moments of extroverted-ness.  Definitely need my alone time to re-charge!  

  • ginadmc
    ginadmc Member Posts: 183
    edited March 2013

    I'm an introvert, too, also surrounded by type AAAA++++teammates! I'm certainly going to read these most recently mentioned books. I prefer to be one-on-one than in the center of a crowd. I do not like to be the center of attention and I know I need my time away from the action to remain sane. Just give me a quiet room and a good book...Gina

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited March 2013

    Jelson thanks for the reminder about Charlaine H's new book. I have to get it.



    I havent read any new books lately. I SN rereading a series (In Death) by JD Robb. There are at least 36 in the series, the new one just came out two weeks ago. I can't read it til I finish my reread. I am on #30. So not too long. Then I can get to the new Sookie book, oh boy. Something to look forward too. BTW, I still can't finish Gone Girl. I am gonna make myself read a chapter every week til I finish the Damn thing! LOL

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 612
    edited March 2013

    Just started MY YEAR WITH ELEANOR by Noelle Hancock. I love it. Eleanor Roosevelt challenged people to do something every day that scares them. The author took the challenge for a year. It's full of info about Eleanor, and the author's fears mimic many of my own. This book is better than therapy for me, it is so full of insight that resonates!

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    AnneW, I will certainly check out My Year With Eleanor, but first I have to finish the Elephant's Journey, As You Like It (prep for an evening at the theater!!) and Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson - which brings me to the reason I signed on- Cooking Memoirs (though I don't think this is a memoir or the dishes real (mussels in chocolate?).

    I think VR wrote about a few cooking memoirs so I thought I would share a compilation of 50 I just received in an email - food for thought!!!

    http://www.abebooks.com/books/features/food-memoirs.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-C130113-h00-memoirAM-123314TG-_-01cta&abersp=1

  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 3,696
    edited March 2013

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0gGQn5AVR4

    Anne...I'm on it!!! Gonna pick up a copy of her book....Here's a youtube video that she made.  Bless that gal...I wonder if she's single.  I'd set her up with my older son!  He's done stand up comedy and is a writer too.  They'd have soooo much in common!Innocent

  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 3,696
    edited March 2013

    Jelson...speaking of food....did I post this very interesting cook book?

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933615982/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=3540674667&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1TPBDC94ZJ7BVE2PWM5J

    The Science of Good Cooking is facinating.  Do I use the word "facinating" too often and too much?  It is.  I discussed the book with one of my rabid cooking loving cousins and she RAVED about the book.  I wondered why she didn't let me in on the secret.  It's facinating!

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    Anne-thanks for the tip on "My Year with Eleanor".  The phrase do something that scares you everyday must have been passed along from her.  I have heard this before.  It's a scary challenge!!  There is another expression from Eleanor Roosevelt that I like: "Women are like tea bags-you never know how strong they are until they get into hot water"

    I came across another elephant book the other day that also sounds wonderful.  "Modoc". It's a memoir.

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    oh Wenweb - I loved Modoc. does the book you are reading have the cover of the backs of the seated child and elephant?? it is the most amazing and true story. even I could tell that the writing is awful - but the story is very well worth the read. It gives me happy chills to think about it. 

    enjoy!

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    Jelson,  I didn't buy the book yet, but yes, the copy I saw has the picture of the boy and the elephants backs.  I have great compassion for animals, probably because they are unable to advocate for themselves.  For elephants, I am extraordinarily sensitive because they are such compassionate sensitive animals themselves.

  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2013

    Reading and throughly enjoying "My Year With Eleanor".  She was a remarkable woman and her empowerment came after the discovery of Franklin's love affair with her secretary when she agreed to stay married to Franklin, but would no longer share her bed with him. Huh...

  • maryc2130
    maryc2130 Member Posts: 18
    edited March 2013
    I just finished Rhys Bowen's The Family Way (her newest Molly Murphy story). It drew me in and hooked me at the beginning, but the middle kind of lagged and the ending seemed too much - too many coincidences and some other implausible situations. That being said, there was a very exciting section of it that I enjoyed. Pregnant Molly definitely hasn't lost any of her high-spiritedness!

    Before that, I read a book that was recommended by Jelson, I believe, and also by someone on another site I go to who does reviews for Amazon. It was The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. I really liked it, more even for the interesting characters than the humor (although it definitely had its funny moments!) Looking forward to the second one.

    I started Mr. Churchill's Secretary (written by a friend of a friend) and was really enjoying it, but then I had three requested books come in at the library at once, and since they're all new books and can't be renewed, I figured I'd better tackle them first. One was the Molly Murphy, and now I have Leslie Meier's new one (Easter Bunny Murder? - something like that) and Deborah Crombie's The Sound of Broken Glass . I've read a few chapters of each since I left one at work, and I'm liking both so far.  Meier's Lucy Stone series is pure fluff, but I do  love the homey feeling of the books (even though I'm usually not fond of cozies), and she lives on the Cape and sets the series in Maine.  I live on the Cape and my mom lives in Maine so I always feel a connection, and I've enjoyed "watching" Lucy's family grow up in the books.  Crombie is a very good mystery writer.  I really enjoy her Gemma James/ Duncan Kinkaid series; the mysteries are good and the characters develop, rather than remaining stagnant as in so many series.
  • hightide1
    hightide1 Member Posts: 46
    edited March 2013

    The NY Times ran an obituary for Mildred Manning. She was the last surviving 'angel of Bataan'.

    These were the nurses held prisoner on Corregidor after the fall of Bataan.

    If you enjoy first person accounts of history, I recommend "We Band of Angels".

    These nurses had amazing stories to tell.

  • jelson
    jelson Member Posts: 622
    edited March 2013

    hightide1- on March 8another board, a sister BCO member posted that Mildred Manning was her beloved mil.     she posted urls to two other articles about her. http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/84/topic/762855?page=1307#post_3457774

  • hightide1
    hightide1 Member Posts: 46
    edited March 2013

    Thanks. The articles were interesting. Tried posting to Alexandra but the board went goofy.

    Seems like there are times when posts just disappear. Must be switching servers or something...



    I finished "Team of Rivals". Worried it would be dry reading but it wasn't. I definitely have a better understanding of Lincoln.

    I have Goodwin's book on the Roosevelts, " No Ordinary Time", but admit to be overwhelmed by the size of the volume.



    I am setting aside my lists and returning to mysteries as distraction.

    Has anyone read Louise Penny or Sara Paretsky? I am thinking I need to try someone new.

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