Archive through March 31, 2003
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Let's Share - What are you reading??? (ARCHIVES):
Archive through March 31, 2003
Myjohnhenry | Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 03:38 pm     Sea...just had to say that I am watching Dr. Phil and he is talking with a couple where the husband has 4000 or so books that are taking over. They even had a picture of their bed with him sleeping with lots of books next to him on the bed. I think a good part of the problem was that they didn't have shelving/storage so there were books everywhere. I think most of us avid readers have had a stack of books, a variety of books scattered various places and even a book in our bed...but I doubt any of us are quite as bad as they made this guy out to be. Living in small apartments and after several moves I have really reduced my book collection at home and try not to let it grow too much...just don't have the shelving or space. I think my next move will be near someone like Sea so I can visit their home library. Edited to add on topic...I am reading the last part of "Finding Fish" and working on finishing "The Remnant" so I will be ready for the new one out April 8. |
Seamonkey | Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 04:27 pm     Ah yes.. I do have lots of bookcases.. the reason for the piles of "read" books in my living room is part laziness about hauling them across the patio and up the stairs to the bonus room.. partly because there is some dry rot at the top of those stairs, so I have to step carefully. The bed is kingsized, just me and a small cat. When I was married I did get clobbered when a tall stack of books fell onto the bed, and me.. yikes.. my labrador was equally startled by the raining paperbacks. Hubby (clueless as he was) wasn't hit and probably just grumbled and went back to sleep. But when I share a bed, books would be elsewhere I did get rid of quite a few books when I moved and definitely should place a few more.. .. oh well.. Oddly enough I'm halfway thru Dr Phil, so maybe I can check out the couple with the books. I'm still on the one with the biting dog.. Aha.. starting now.. Oh I even had a waterbed that broke and I filled the frame with books, covered them with a bedspread.. horizontal bookcase (I gave the waterbed frame when I moved) Now, I do read my books.. they aren't for reference. |
Mak1 | Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 01:49 pm     I just finished Love Medicine. Erdrich has a real talent for letting the reader get right inside the minds and hearts of her characters. Our weekend paper did a review of her newest book The Master Butchers Singing Club which sounds good, too. This book explores her European background instead of her Chippewa heritage. Here is a review, with a short bio of Erdrich at the bottom of the page: Louise Erdrich review Today I started The Future Homemakers of America. |
Calamity | Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 02:31 pm     I just finished Bobbie Ann Mason's short Elvis Presley bio. My dad's best friend was a huge Elvis fan and I've always liked some of his songs but I mostly read it because I liked Mason's novel 'In Country' so much. The Elvis book was a bit gushing in the early chapters but Mason gives an interesting perspective on how poor rural Southerners saw him and his success as well as how his background contributed to his drug addiction and exploitation by his manager. It sorta balanced out the tabloid image I had of Elvis. The book was okay in giving an overview of his life but the length didn't allow any in-depth exploration. There's a series of these mini biographies and I wonder how they can do justice to some of their subjects. Mason can write some breathtaking sentences though. I just started 'Private Myths: Dreams & Dreaming'. Rissa: I've heard of 'Promised the Moon' but haven't gotten to read it yet. I remember when John Glenn took his return flight to space a few years ago, there was some media coverage of the 1960's female astronaut program. I saw an interview with one of them who pointed out that since Glenn's trip was meant to study geriatrics it would make more sense to send a women since females make up the majority of the senior population. |
Seamonkey | Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 06:44 pm     I finished the Paula Fox memoir Borrowed Finery.. It was OK.. Starting {Where is the Mango Princess? A Journey Back from Brain Injury} by Cathy Crimmins... so far, bravely realistic and humorous, nonfiction. |
Maesin | Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 09:34 am     William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. Hard Sci-Fi. Loved it. I was a little worried that he would lose his edge, but thankfully that has not happened. I finally got around to James Patterson's 2nd Chance. Not bad. Same style, quick read. Michael Crichton's Prey. I was so happy to finish that book because then it was finally over. I thought he was too wordy and the end was just, well, I don't even know how to explain it! If he writes another I will wait to borrow the paperback. I am reading James Patterson w/Andrew Gross The Jester. Had I actually known what the book was about I never would have picked it up, but I am so glad I did. Totally different for Patterson. The book takes place in the time of the Crusades! So far I am really enjoying it, of course sometimes my opinion changes at the end of the book. Thanks for all the book reviews, I now have even more books on my "to read" list!! Happy Page Turning
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Seamonkey | Friday, March 21, 2003 - 07:31 pm     Mae, I really enjoyed Prey. Pattern Recognition is sitting in my pile of books to read; good to see such a recommendation. I finished Where is the Mango Princess... amazing story, very very honest and well done. And staying on the topic of brain injury, I'm starting Over My Head: A Doctor's Own Story of Head Injury from the Inside Looking Out by Claudia L. Osborn. |
Maesin | Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 12:03 pm     I think I am the off one with Prey. A lot of people really enjoyed it. I guess that's why there are so many books out there? Seamonkey, please let me know what you think of Pattern Recognition when you get around to reading it. I liked The Jester. I really liked the ending. Thank goodness. Now though I hate to admitt it, I am reading David Wells' book Perfect I'm Not. I even took the jacket couver off so people wouldn't know I was actually reading it. I am not even close to being a Yankees Fan!!! Baseball needs to get here fast so I can actually watch it instead of read about it! |
Mak1 | Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 04:06 pm     Lol, Maesin! I wouldn't want to be seen reading a Yankees book, either! I just read Field of Dreams, while waiting for the season to start. Today I finished Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham. I highly recommend it. It follows the lives of 5 friends who met as Air Force wives in 1952. It made me laugh and cry. The characters were believable and the writing is fast-paced. I hated to see it end. I just started the TVCH book club choice The Sculptress by Minette Walters. |
Seamonkey | Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 04:35 pm     Future Homemakers of America is in my stack and looks mighty appealing to me.. So far I'm finding that reading the one book about brain injury by the wife of the injured and now reading a book by the actual person who suffered a brain injury and hearing it from both of those views.. I'm really learning much.. |
Maesin | Sunday, March 23, 2003 - 02:33 pm     Thank you Mak1!! At least I know I am not the only person out there who will start clawing at anything baseball. Of course, I am kind of getting scared b/c I like the Wells' book. <sigh> Future Homemakers sounds like a very interesting read. I've added it to the list. Seamonkey, sounds like an interesting compare/contrast moment. It's always nice to read and learn at the same time!
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Mak1 | Monday, March 24, 2003 - 05:31 am     It's okay to like the book, Maesin, just don't be seduced into liking the team, lol. That sounds very interesting, Seamonkey. I'm looking forward to your comments after finishing both books. |
Calamity | Monday, March 24, 2003 - 10:49 am     Last night I put 'Private Myths' (author Anthony Stevens, forgot to note that before) aside in favor of Gore Vidal's essay collection 'Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be so Hated'. It's short but I've only read up to the section on Timothy McVeigh. The book is frightening and enlightening. And also very funny sometimes but maybe I just think that because if I couldn't laugh, I'd have to cry.
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Seamonkey | Monday, March 24, 2003 - 05:29 pm     Finished the second book re: brain injury. The first was written by the wife of an attorney (he worked for a bank and freelance) who was literally hit in the head by a teenager-powered boat/engine and the other was written by a doctor who was hit by a wrong side of the road car while biking and landed on her head. The first dealt with issues of being severely injured away from home (and with getting good care from the Canadian system, then having to deal with HMO back in the states), getting to the point of rehab, social issues.. among his changes was to have NO patience, no self control, so that he's be constantly masturbating or swearing. The daughter had been in the boat at the time of the accident and had issues to deal with. And he had to struggle with not just mental but physical problems.. learning to walk again. He eventually was able to return to work part time and it was actually quite successful, and then the bank didn't think they could handle that (although they had some other part time employees, even at his level) and only retained him after a threatened lawsuit.. then waited a year and laid him off (I hope they sued their butts over that.. the bank would have had to pay him disability, but instead had a good half time employee and mishandled it). The doctor wrote about her aftereffects.. she was almost without personality and prone to flooding if she had to deal with much. She also went through rehab and describes her time in three programs and having to come to terms with being very changed, yet continue to improve what she could but learn to accept her limitations. She's been able to use her medical expertise in specific ways, mostly volunteer. Each of these people had good support. People simply don't understand. I hope I'll come closer to understanding if I have the opportunity. Next book, still non-fiction.. Ravens in Winter by Bernd Heinrich. |
Mak1 | Monday, March 24, 2003 - 05:43 pm     Thanks for the reviews, Seamonkey. What an interesting way to learn more about the subject...from both inside and outside observations. How strange it must be for the doctor to see these changes in herself, especially with her clinical understanding of the subject. |
Crazydog | Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 11:29 am     I am reading Ken Follett's "Jackdaws". It's about a band of female English spies who undertake a mission in France during World War II. I am also reading Charles Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby". |
Wink | Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 12:37 pm     I'm currently reading and very much enjoying Robert Ludlum's "Janson Directive" to be followed by Jeffrey Archer's "Sons of Fortune" to be followed by Ian Rankin's "Resurrection Men". |
Mak1 | Friday, March 28, 2003 - 08:22 am     I just finished The Sculptress, a good mystery. I couldn't guess whodunnit. I'm beginning The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd. It looks intriguingly odd. |
Hummingbird | Friday, March 28, 2003 - 07:15 pm     Gee, I have just realized that for one of the first times in my life I have been too busy for the past year to read for pleasure and have nothing to contribute to this thread. Makes me kind of sad. I have been devouring books since kindergarten and I miss reading novels!!!!! |
Allietex | Friday, March 28, 2003 - 08:16 pm     I just finished Jester by James Patterson. It is a complete departure from his usual books. It is set in France during the time of the crusades and is about a man who returns to find his wife missing. He becomes a jester so he can go into the nobles homes to try to find her. I loved it. Seamonkey, I am glad to know I am not the only one with more books than I should have. I buy a lot of books at used book stores and our local library has a swap section. They also often call me when they get in duplicate donated books and offer them to me. Therefore I have many books that I have not yet read. I also reread books that I like, some of them several times. Maybe some day I will clear out some, but I just love books and can't bear to part with ones I like. I might want to read them again. And I have such a wide range of interests that I have all kinds of books from the lightest romance to the most complicated espinage novels. Fluffybow, I also have several books going at the same time. People think I am crazy when I go somewhere and take more than one book, but I never know which one I am going to be in the mood for. Fortunately, I read quickly, not a speed reader jut very fast. I saw a T shirt recently and really wish I had one. The picture was a pile of books falling over and the slogan said, So many books, so little time. |
Hermione69 | Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 05:18 am     I haven't been in here in awhile, so glad you enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees, Seamonkey. It would be a good book club book, wouldn't it? A lot of discussion would come from that book. I just started The Sculptress last night. So far, so good. I'm intrigued. I've been a bit behind on reading, just haven't had the attention span for it. Hopefully this one will snag me. Have a good weekend, guys. I still have a twitchy eye (3 days now!) and will not be online long.
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Kady | Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 09:31 am     ~waves madly at Hermoine~ I am currently reading a book my son brought home from school called "Time Cat". It is very cute...about a cat who takes his owner back in time. It started out where they go back to ancient Egypt when cats were worshipped. It is a short little book that I keep in my jeep to pass time while waiting in line at the bank and stuff. I have also got started on "The Sculptress". It is starting out very good. I am a slow reader but should finish it this week since we are taking a camping trip Wed.-Sun. and I'll not have my computer. |
Seamonkey | Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 12:34 pm     I finished Ravens in Winter and started another book also by Barnd Heinrich, The Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. The first was a bit dense with detailed observations, but this guy is clearly, as self-described a "Raven Maniac" and totally loves his research which involved long hours up in trees in cold/windy/snowy weather and sleeping at a "camp".. with little heat, hauling hundreds of pounds of "bait" (carcasses galore).. anyway, this second book looks to be interesting (to me) so.. off I go.. quorking, croaking, cawing, chirping, trilling, rocking and rolling.. Hermi.. I'd love to see a movie of The Secret Life of Bees.. just for the HATS if nothing else. |
Mak1 | Monday, March 31, 2003 - 05:54 am     I finished Cheese Monkeys. I loved it until about the last quarter of it, when everything turned ugly, very disappointing. Today I'll start Janet Evanovitch's Four to Score. |
Babyruth | Monday, March 31, 2003 - 02:49 pm     Just started Queen Noor's autobiography, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, a few days ago. Very interesting so far... |
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