Book Lovers Club
Comments
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Ruth, I think "The Aviaator's Wife" would be an excellent choice for your book club. I read it and was fascinated with the Lindbergh I didn't know. The author did an outstanding job of making historical fiction seem like an authorized biography.
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Alot of it is true. I had read the Diaries of Anne Morrow Lindberg many, many years ago (and now want to reread them....I remember them as beautifully written) and know she did not release her last diary (written during WWII) because she had come to really disagree with his almost pro-Nazi stance. I also already knew that after he died, his daughter was doing research of a book on the family, and she discovered those other women and children. So I had already known that, as heroic as his aviation career was, that he was a cad in his personal relationships.
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Ruth, yes, I knew a lot of the book was based on Anne's diaries. Did it remind you at all of "Loving Frank," about the mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright? I thought there were some similarities in the way research and creativity were woven together, creating a book, based on fact, but with conversations that could not have been recorded. Also, fascinating and depressing to know the true nature of another famous man.
Also read a memoir by a college intern who had been seduced by JFK when he was president and continued an affair with him for many months. We've all read about his exploits, but this one, from her point of view, was quite revealing and, again, showed the ego and manipulation of a powerful man.
(Of course, the same thing can be said for dozens of other powerful politicians -- John Edwards, Mark Sanford, etc. etc...)
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(Not excusing the behavior of either group....) JFK/Edwards types, along with fame and power, have a certain 'charm' which is seductive, but the Wright/Lindbergh types, who have cold & distant characters...then you must be seduced by the IDEA of fame/power.
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Enjoyed My Year With Eleanor.
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I'm reading "Poser" My Life in 23 Yoga Poses. Anyone who enjoyed "My Year With Eleanor" would probably enjoy this read. It's a similar premise.
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A.J. Jacobs, Drop Dead Healthy:One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection reminds me of My Year With Eleanor as well. He spends a year studying and practicing healthy living... which of course nearly kills him and his marriage! Hilarious... But also a well documented book of all the hyped clinical studies that supposedly lead to better health...
Speaking of historical fiction, Jack 1939... Roosevelt taps Jack Kennedy to go on an European espionage mission.... I took it out of the library and MIGHT read it... or I just MIGHT give it to the DH to read. It's supposed to be a good book.
Reading ANOTHER fiction book now that's terrific! The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat is hilarious. A laugh on every single page! VR's voracious reading 88 year old mother tore through the book faster than VR!!!
And VR is going to throw in another great film to watch because you need to READ the sub titles... HIPSTERS is a Russian film that won the Russian equivalent to the Academy Awards for best picture in 2008. It was just released in the US. I got it from the library. Don't miss it!!! Not only do the Russians know how to write... With the Cold War somewhat over, we are now beginning to enjoy Russian filmmaking.0 -
I really liked Jack 1939.
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I just finished A Pledge of Silence by Flora Solomon. I really liked it. It was about a young woman before war time who goes into nursing and is sent to the Philippine's. She is stationed there when all hell breaks loose. It goes through her life from beginning to end. I recommend it.
Jack 1939 sounds good.
Has anyone read the new book Z yet?
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Will buy pledge of silence .Just reading The winter Palace.Even .more interesting if you have visited the Hermitage Museum located in the Palace.
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Thank you ladies for this site. I pick books from my kindle that sound good and end up trashing them they are so awful. Total waste of money. I have already happily read two from your lists.
It is great when you say if it is fiction or not, and a general idea about the book. xx
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VR, thanks for the suggestion about the Russian film.
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Laurie - A Pledge of Silence sounds good. I recently read We Band of Angels, a true story of the Army and Navy nurses caught in the Phillipines when Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was very good, well researched and had pictures and journal excerpts from the women.
I've been combing the back pages of this thread for book ideas for an upcoming vacation. There are so many good recommendations here!
Gina
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The Turtle Girl from East Pukapuka by Cole Alpaugh
An island (several of whose inhabitants are named after the authors of the books left with them by a downed WWII pilot) lies in the path of a tsunami and only one girl will survive with the help of a sea turtle and a drunken salvage boat pilot
Her fate is entwined with:
a young ski racer who almost dies and wakes up with "memories" of a south pacific island - but maybe it is just from watching the travel channel, two stoner idiot pirates who stumble upon a boat-load of cocaine, a beautiful island police officer, a cannibal who dances in a "cultural" tourist attraction and is a part time hit man for a drug cartel......
and a shark godobviously an odd and often funny read - it also provides insights into the impact of industrialization/tourism on the people of the current/formerly isolated pacific islands.
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Judging "The Great Gatsby"....by it's old and new book covers....
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Just finished two small books: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - beautifully written, reviewed here before and "Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism" by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. This is about a young priest who takes over the many jobs of a village priest as well as those of a administrator/teacher at a newly formed orphanage in war-torn Sicily. The nuns of the local convent created the orphanage when the village was devastated and the children are traumatized. The adults are very caring and concerned about the children's ability to recover emotionally and spiritually. The priest uncovers a box of puppets and a stage created by a former caretaker and decides to use the puppet theater to enliven his biblical lessons - and this is where the trouble begins......the story is about religious belief and free will. Exciting! creepy! I recommend it.
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Glad to see some posts again. Uncharistically I didn't get through even one book in a week. Busy getting port surgery & starting chemo & Neulasta for the da*n beast that's back w/recurrance to chest wall & mets to lymph nodes. Just kind of stared at the ceilings. I was trying to read the original Lolita, which I had never read. Could be the problem. Managed to get to the end but the fact that it was banned when I was in college in the early 60's doesn't make it good. Or maybe it was the drugs last week?
Since then I've raced through two of the older Lee Child's Reacher series. Really liked Ann Patchett's The Patron Saint of Liars and Val McDermid's The Grave Tatoo - she's a wonderfully complex writer. Now I'm reading a book of short stories by Sharon McCrumb, Foggy Mountain Breakdown. For those of you who have never read McCrumb, she writes about Southern Appalachia and Viginia and most of her books have a basis in her own family history.
Went to see Susan Wittig Albert speak & bought Work of Her Own: A Woman's Guide to Success off the Career Track. Fascinating lady. I wanted to bring her home for a week to just visit. She worked her way up to VP at major University & chucked it all to write and grow herbs & vegetables & gardens. She's around 75 and looks 55. She was telling us where she gets her ideas and how she picks themes. Check out one of her China Bayles herbal mysteries. Happy reading.
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Minus Two-
very sorry about your recurrence, but good to hear you are getting back on track with your reading. Thank you for your recommendations - I read most/all of Sharon McCrumb and really enjoyed her writing style and the way she wove history into her modern day stories - I wonder if she has she published any new ones recently?. I read one Val McDermid - and thought it was really good, but too dark for me lately. I will check out Susan Wittig Albert at your suggestion. Glad you and VR have reinvigorated the thread!
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So sorry about your medical crap, minus. Hope everything can be gotten under control ASAP.
I have not had time to read for a happy reason: I am retiring at the end of May, and need to do about 50 million wrap up things between now and then. After that...look out Book World! I think I will start by finally reading the 633 paged Autobiography of Mark Twain which has been taking up space on my nightstand for the last two years.
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Jelson: I think you'll like Albert. The first one was Thyme of Death.
Ruth: Oh retirement !! Many,many years ago I was an English major. When I passed my comps & graduated I swore I would never read another book. It actually lasted several months. When I retired - I was like a kid in a candy shop. Read in the morning, read for lunch, read at night (and all night if I wanted to). You will have so much fun.
Thanks to all for your good wishes. Just got my care package from Amazon. In honor of Voracious, I'll only list the non-fiction now: Sarah Vowell - Unfamiliar Fishes (the take over & Americanization of Hawaii); Florence Falk - On My Own (not sure why I bought this one but maybe a feminist moment?); Joe Queenan - Closing Time which Voracious has told us about before. Wonder if I can hold out and finish my bag of used books first?
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I'm quite sure I first heard about goodreads.com on here. Amazon bought Goodreads just a few days ago. I hope it doesn't ruin the premise that goodreads is based on.
Be well.
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MinusTwo- thanks for the encouragement, I just reserved it through the library - and thanks for telling me which was first in the series and fortunately they had it!! I think it is very important to begin at the begining if it is a series.
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OK Gentle Readers (as an aside, that phrase in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre) - we all know anyone who came to this thread would not stop reading, so where are you? I loved getting all the many book ideas since we read very different things. And we're coming up on a celebration here - 100 pages.
I remember being Laurie's age with young children and my only reading time was after midnight when DS & DH were asleep, kitchen cleaned up, washing & ironing done, lunches made, bills paid, cub scout projects set up, cookies made for soccer, etc. I stand in awe of anyone with youngsters who is dealing with BC since I can't figure out how I did it when I was healthy.
Joan Didion is an author I look out for. Found one I hadn't seen at the used book store - Play It As It Lays. Turns out it's a novel, and a big disappointment. Back it goes.
Anyone else read Nevada Barr? I recently finished the The Rope which tells the story of how Anna Pigeon came to be a National Park Ranger in the first palace. I love all her stories about the National Parks. It's as good as a vacation (almost). Worth a look but all her books have some violence if that bothers you. Don't need to read in order.
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I didn't realize Amazon bought Goodreads. I've been a mamber of a book group there for about 15 years. Well before we moved to Goodreads. It's called Constant Reader.
My neighborhood bookclub just read DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC, and we all loved it. I knew nothing about President Garfield, and the author wove in the politics and the history so beautifully. We're going to read her (Candace Millard) other book RIVER OF DOUBT next. It's about Teddy Roosevelt and his trip to the Amazon.
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For all of you Destiny of the Republic lovers:
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Minus, I love Nevada Barr. I also love S W Albert. I think there was a new release out too.
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Liked both Destiny and River of Doubt.
If you want an interesting read about the wife of Warren Harding, (who is usually rated on the bottom of the 'bad presidents' scale) check out Florence Harding; The First Lady, The Jazz Age, and The Death of America's Most Scandalous President by Carl Sferrazza Anthony.
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I liked River of Doubt so I'll look out for Destiny.
Moonflower - yes, the new book SWA is Widow's Tears. The plant is actually called something like Mother's Death in England (I forgot what she told us) or also Virginia Spiderwort in the US. Interesting that at one time a paste made of the roots was used as a treatment for cancer. The book features Ruby instead of China and story jumps back to the Galveston Hurricane.
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Galveston Hurricane??? Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm! Great book about the hurricane!
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Voracious - you come up with great links. I clicked on Sondheim talking about writing the musical and found..."...they have an inflamed and malignant sense of entitlement". Hmm, that seems even more common today. And that part of the American Myth is that ...(they're taught to believe) that their dreams can come true and should come true and if they don't, someone else is to blame." Heavy stuff.
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