Archive through January 11, 2003
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Let's Share - What are you reading??? (ARCHIVES):
Archive through January 11, 2003
Seamonkey | Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 12:07 pm     I finished Slaves in the Familyby Edward Ball and it was AMAZING! I'd highly recommend it to anyone. Not light fluffy reading but quite readable and quite important. Thought-provoking. I could go on and on but quite a journey in this book. Now starting a shorter book, fiction Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, the book tells of two young men who were "re-educated" during China's Cultural Revolution. The author himself, a film-maker, went through "re-education" and now lives in France. |
Twiggyish | Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 04:14 pm     My daughter and I just finished the first in the Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket. I have a sneaky suspicion about the author. Since we also read Harry Potter books, it seemed a logical choice. On a different note.. have any of you read James Michener? I love his books. Yes, they do take a long time to finish..LOL |
Seamonkey | Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 10:34 am     That's interesting, Twiggy.. so you think Rowling is working on shorter stuff along with the HP series?? I read many of Michener's books long ago.. usually quite compelling and engrossing.. I think he went back to the creation of earth a few too many times, but nonetheless well worth reading.. I especially loved the one about the archaelogical dig/history.. And, I finished up the slim volume by Dai Sijie, that takes place in China and was well-written, sad and amusing at once. Next book, I've been looking forward to for awhile.. Still Waters by Jennifer Lauck.. it is the sequel to her most excellent memoir, Blackbird about her childhood and this one picks up at age 12. Not1worry, you might look into this one, it seems that much of her growth and healing came with the help of religious counselling..I'm being vague because I haven't started reading yet, except the jacket blurbs and endcovers.. |
Marysafan | Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 11:10 am     Hey Twiggy....I love James Michener. I have read quite a few of his and have some others that i need to get to one of these days. I just found "Space" at a garage sale this summer...that is one that I have always wanted to read. My favorite one was Centennial...and I loved the mini-series they made out of it. Historical fiction is probably my favorite fiction...and he is one of the best in my opinion. Finished Maeve Binchey's Chirstmas short story book and am looking at "The Fox" by DH Lawrence. I saw the movie twice on consecutive nights with two different dates back in 1968. I sure hope the book is better than the movie...but it is short... and I only picked it up because the movie was the movie I saw on my first date with hubby....also the last one I saw with previous boyfriend lol! So it brought back fond memories...and being that I spent a whole 10 cents for it...I thought I should read it! |
Vixeninvegas | Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 12:27 pm     Hi all fellow book junkies!!! I just finished Stephen King's "The Stand" great read & I started "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. I go back & forth between scary books & trashy romance novels - I'm dying for Jackie Collins to put out a new one |
Wiseolowl | Friday, January 03, 2003 - 08:00 am     I'm sure that I've read every Mitchener book. And I like the way how if he's writing about Hawaii or Alaska or othe areas, he goes back to the very beginning of time and takes us through. It reminds me of the British writer, Edward Rutherford whose historical novels of Britain -"Sarum" and "London" do the same thing. In the case of the latter books - both best sellers-they give a sense of historical continuity which I find fascinating - even down to the genetic peculiarities of the characters that are passed down through the centuries. These tend to be "big books" - but when each page is interesting - it at least gives you value for money!! |
Cablejockey | Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 06:27 am     I just finished reading John Saul's Midnight Voices. I found some of it a little disturbing, especially that children are the victims in this story. The book all over was a good read. |
Seamonkey | Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 08:57 am     I finished Still Waters (Jennifer Lauck).. and it was some excellent closure to the first book of her memoir, Blackbird.. what a strong child she was, and what a triumph her adulthood has become. Not1.. I was a bit mislead by the jacket notes, not really any counseling of a religious nature, though Jennifer did develop some relationships with various people who had known her brother when he was in seminary, trying to learn about his life. Anyway.. next book is also non-fiction, The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril by Washington Post reporters and editors Leonard Downie Jr and Robert G. Kaiser.. so far an interesting description of what journalism often is, should be, might be and sometimes is.. Cablejocky.. John Saul can be quite disturbing, but so can things that happen to children in real life, unfortunately.. Saul definitely draws one in.. |
Twiggyish | Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 11:21 am     I have an idea and I don't know how this would work... What if we form our own book club? This may need it's own thread. |
Hermione69 | Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 05:36 pm     Twiggy, I would love forming a TVCH book club. It would be really cool to read the same book at the same time and talk about it. I vote yes! (Also agree that it would need its own thread!) |
Knightpatti | Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 07:49 pm     I vote yes, too! |
Fluffybbw | Monday, January 06, 2003 - 02:15 pm     I vote a big YES Twiggy! |
Mak1 | Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 07:27 am     I just started Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding. One part made me laugh so hard last night, I couldn't see the book through the tears. It's going to be a fast read! |
Rissa | Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 05:53 pm     Oh Mak1 I am so glad you are enjoying it!!!!! I just loved it, read it twice in a row. LOLOL Thought it was MUCH better then the first one and just wait until you hit her interview ('bout half-way)... make sure you aren't drinking anything with bubbles!!! LOL |
Marysafan | Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 07:51 pm     I finished "The Fox" by D.H. Lawrence. it was a quick read only about a hundred pages and no chapters. I liked it as it really cleared up the confusion from the movie all those years ago. The book was definitely better than the movie. I started the "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters. I have wanted to read this book since high school. I came across a copy at a garage sale this summer...so I decided now was the time. It will be a quick read...so I should be able to start the new book club selection with the group. I will visit the library tomorrow in search of a copy....they will be SHOCKED to see me...they know I have more books than they do! |
Seamonkey | Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 08:11 am     Finished The News About the News.. kinda sad to confirm how actual investigative journalism is rarely supported any more.. Next book will be: AIDS Doctors; Voices from the Epidemic: An Oral History, Ronald Bayer and Gerald M. Oppenheimer. |
Teatime | Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 09:01 pm     Finished "Almost Heaven" by British journalist Martin Fletcher. He made a backroads America journey a few years ago and wrote about what he found. The racism and prejudices he points out about our country can be hard to read sometimes, but he is right on target. His meeting with horrid white supremacist Butler (his first name escapes me) was especially hard to stomach, for the author and reader. Didn't show America in it's prettiest light at times, but I'm glad I read it. Continuing the armchair travel theme: I just started my first Steinbeck ever, "Travels with Charley". Steinbeck hit the backroads of America in 1961 with poodle dog Charley to get reacquainted with the country he'd been writing about for so long. Wonder what's in store, so far he's only made it up the east coast a ways. |
Hermione69 | Friday, January 10, 2003 - 11:29 am     I am still muddling through "Tara Road" by Maeve Binchey. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it is not the sort of book that I have trouble putting down so I am not reading as much in one swoop as I usually do when I read a book. I read "The Grave Maurice" by Martha Grimes over the holidays. I think I may have posted that already? All of her novels are named after an English pub. I love her characters. If you have a teenage daughter, "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging," is the teen equivalent to Bridget Jones. It is laugh-out-loud funny and is one of the Virginia Young Reader selections for the 2002-2003 school year. Even adults would enjoy it. |
Seamonkey | Friday, January 10, 2003 - 09:50 pm     I read Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging before sending it to a teenager I kind of look out for.. I sent her the second book when it came out, but didn't read it myself.. I also bought a copy last year at Barnes & Noble.. they had a tree with "ornaments" with a kid's name and age.. I chose a 14 year old got Angus for her and also chose a neat little journal that came with stickers and a cool pen.. and asked that they both go to the same girl. The clerk was a young guy who told me the Angus book was a big hit with HIS sister and he thought the journal idea was good, too.. Anyway, I thought it was a real cute book. One good way to choose for teens is to go and get lost in the lists on Amazon.. and see which books the teens are enthusing about. Teatime.. you'll love Travels With Charley, read that many years ago.. but then I read most anything Steinbeck wrote.. I love travel or road trip books.. William Least-Heat Moon's are really good. I'm going to check out Almost Heaven. |
Wiseolowl | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 09:32 am     Just finished the following: Eye Of The Storm - by British author Jack Higgins - all of his books are good reads if you like good old spy- adventure books give it a 7+ The Cardinal Virtues by Andrew Greenley - this one is more controversial - the author is a Catholic priest?? am not sure - the book says he is one , as well as a sociologist - it's the second book of his I've read and have enjoyed both - but when I checked the book out of the library - the volunteer library person who was processing my books - turned her nose up and said - you aren't reading that guy - turns out she's a good , orthodox Catholic who described the author as defrocked - and not worthy of reading !! LOL - well I'm a Protestant so the theology didn't bother me - but do find his books enjoyable - this one describes the trials and tribulations of an effective parish priest in a wealthy Chicago suburb - and the struggles he has with orthodoxy and the real problems of his parishioners as well as the flak he gets from the diocescan bureaucrats and Cardinal - who are more interested in what the conservatives in Rome will think than the problems he faces. 8+ The Dark Side of Camelot.. Seymour Hersh.. from what I can tell the most objective assessment of the Kennedy Presidency - most of the other biogs have been written by Kennedy Whitehouser's and liberal historians - this one is written by a person who is not a Kennedy syncophant or right-wing Conservative - and it is fresh - written only a few years ago using sources that have only been recently available under Freedom Of Information rules - it is a truly chilling descripion of two men, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy - whose actions and policies were driven by pure lust for power - it puts the Nixon excesses in some perspective - it seems to be not what you do or don't do - but whether you get caught - I seriously recommend this book - although it will leave you with a sour taste-but an informed one 9+ It has encouraged me to search out what has been written in response to this book |
Marysafan | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 09:37 am     Wow....thanks Wise....I hope you will continue to post your reviews. Very insightful...and they peak my interest. |
Seamonkey | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 09:43 am     Wise.. that's chilling that a librarian would be giving her opinion, unasked.. yikes. I've read a Greeley or two and thought he was quite interesting. I agree about The Dark Side of Camelot .. interestingly one of the actors in the soon to be aired TV movie about JFK, Jr, mentioned the Kennedy era as being a "time of innocence".. SNORT!! |
Babyruth | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 10:02 am     Teatime, Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors..I devoured his books shortly after being introduced to his work in tenth grade American Lit class with "The Grapes of Wrath". I LOVED Travels with Charley. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on "Almost Heaven". I'm going to pick that up next. |
Mak1 | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 10:08 am     Rissa, thanks for the warning. The interview.....what a HOOT! I have never laughed so hard and so much reading a book. I finished it in 3 days. I hated to have it end. |
Mak1 | Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 10:16 am     Just started An Imaginative Experience by Mary Wesley, a British author. It grabbed my interest with the first paragraph. The author published her first book after turning 70 and wrote several books between then and the age of 90. She said people were surprised to read sexual scenes in her books.....at her age. She told them that even if you are not practicing it, you never forget it! |
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