Author |
Message |
Seamonkey
| Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 9:51 am
Kimmo.. I've read Running With Scissors and have his sequel, Dry in the waiting to read pile (actually more than one pile).
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Ric_Munoz
| Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 8:54 pm
"Dry" is not nearly as funny as RWS, but it IS a lot thought-provoking. I loved them both passionately--Burroughs is simply amazing.
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Seamonkey
| Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:08 am
Ric, have you read his Sellevision?? That was a hoot of a light read and since I used to be a QVC customer, was a great parody too.
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Ophiliasgrandma
| Monday, August 18, 2003 - 3:35 pm
KIMMO AND MAK don't say I didn't warn you about Mrs. Dalloway. Can't wait to see your takes on it. Watching paint dry is a Quiditch match by comparison!
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Mak1
| Monday, August 18, 2003 - 5:15 pm
Lol, OG, I guess I'll wait until I'm snowed in this winter to tackle it.
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Not1worry
| Monday, August 18, 2003 - 6:08 pm
While sitting through Spy Kids 3D, I saw the previews for Cheaper By the Dozen with Steve Martin. It looked NOTHING like the book! I loved that book. I found it on my shelf, it's actually my mother's copy. It has a price of 25 cents on it. Re-reading it now because once I started flipping through it I couldn't stop.
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Ric_Munoz
| Monday, August 18, 2003 - 9:34 pm
Seamonkey: Yes I did read "Sellevision" -- high-larious. In fact, I read his three books one right after the other, in this order: RWS, D, and S. There's lots of neat stuff on his website, too, including his radio commentaries on NPR. If you haven't already, give them a look/listen--they're lots of fun as well.
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Seamonkey
| Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 12:02 am
Cool.. glad to find someone else who likes his stuff!!
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Laura11103
| Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 1:30 pm
I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible, about 2/3 done, it's so fantastic, I can't believe how much I love this book. I'm definitely gonna buy the rest of Barbara Kinsolver's books. The thing is, after reading such an amazing book, I hate to go back to something not so good. It's been awhile since I've read a book I loved this much.
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Seamonkey
| Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 1:45 pm
Laura, I LOVED The Poisonwood Bible!! It was the first of Kingsolver's books I ever read and I've now read all of her novels, some essays, not all of the short stories. I love her writing.. But.. Poisonwood is quite different from the rest of her stuff and many Kingsolver fans didn't care for it.. However I like her entire spectrum and bet you will too. A book you might like, not a novel, but since you are enjoying PD.. is Don't Let's Go to the Dogs tonight by Alexandra Fuller.. true story but engaging as a novel with the addition that you learn some real history and sadness of the areas of Africa once known as as Rhodesia, etc.. I know what you mean not wanting that next book to be a disappointment.
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Not1worry
| Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 5:45 pm
I liked the Poisonwood Bible, but I enjoyed the other Kingsolver books much more. It's been a while since I read one. I'll have to check Amazon and see if there's any new ones I missed. An intersting book about missionary children in Africa is called "The Happy Room" by Catherine Palmer. It's Christian fiction and a little on the sappy side. But the theme of the kids being sent off to African boarding school so their parents could save everyone else's souls was very engaging. Reading "Flirting with Pete" by Barbara Delinsky. I love this thread, you guys have given me so many great books to try. I've been reading Delinsky since high school. She used to write Harlequin romances and her characters were always the best. I started reading Harlequins when I found out they had some naughty parts in them. All my sex ed came from those books. I just got an email from the libary that Evanovich's "To the Nines" is in for me. Yay!
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Seamonkey
| Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 9:59 pm
I finished Remembering Kate, great book! Next book is nonfiction, Jon Krakauer's (yes he wrote Into Thin Air about tragedy and trimuph on Everest and yes I read that), Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith book about a murder among Mormons in 1984.
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Azriel
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 1:41 am
While I was on vacation I read 'Here on Earth' by Alice Hoffman. I liked the book as a whole, but I wasn't wild about the ending. I also read 'The Shelter of Stones' by Jean M Auel. I had read the rest of the Earth Children's series ages ago and I'm glad I finally got to read this one. It was just as well written as the rest of the series. I just started reading 'haunted' by Meg Cabot.
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Seamonkey
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 8:43 am
Wanted to add that the Mormonism Jon Krakaur is writing about is the fundamentalist sects and he compares them to the Taliban, with good reason, so far.. Only a chapter or so in and already becoming alarmed.
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Kimmo
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 12:01 pm
Jane Smiley's "Moo" was very funny! A satire of life, politics, etc on a Midwest college campus. It ended very sweetly, which surprised me, but it was nice. I'm almost done with "Running with Scissors"...It is hilarious (of course, Ric and Sea have already said that)! Yet awful, yet life-affirming, it's almost impossible to believe this is his LIFE, but then, how could someone make this up? Looking forward to reading more. Next: Zadie Smith's "White Teeth".
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Calamity
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 3:16 pm
Being a collection of short stories, Changing Planes was predictably hit-or-miss - a number of the tales were fabulous, some were just okay, and a couple left me cold. Still think the idea that connects the stories is simply brilliant (spending one’s layover time at an airport by “changing planes” and visiting other worlds). With a few exceptions, the illustrations didn’t impress me and I don’t think they were necessary anyway. Rather difficult to describe the stories, but my favorites included a society where genetic engineering had run amuck; a people who shared “social dreams”; a culture that has spent generations laboring on the creation of a vast empty Building; the border battle between two communities and their respective mythologies; the seasonal migrations of a society; and the disturbing results of an experiment to create people who did not need to sleep. I can’t even think of how to describe the most gorgeous story, about a people who live on a world devoid of danger and how their language has evolved. What I will most remember about the book though, is the final devastating line of a tale about a winged people. It is one of those thoughts that can haunt you forever. In between my encore reading of Harry Potter 5, I’ve been enjoying The Hidden Language of Baseball, a colorful and interesting account of the long proud tradition of signs (and stealing signs) in baseball. Perfect reading for the summer. Next up is It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White Way. I guess I don’t need to explain what it’s about, lol!
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Kimmo
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 5:22 pm
I don't know how I got posted twice, I did only click the button once! My apologies.
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Seamonkey
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 9:36 pm
Kimmo, better twice than not at all Nice variety there, Calamity!! I like variety.
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Not1worry
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 11:08 am
Just finished "Flirting with Pete". I was in tears at the end. Even though I figured out what was going to happen, it was still wonderful. I am a sucker for a good happy ending. For the first half of the books, I was aggravated about jumping back and forth between the two stories. But I got over it. It's been a while since I read "The Accidental Woman", but I think I liked "Pete" better.
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Azriel
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 11:51 am
I guess I'm in a reading frenzy. I read 'haunted' by Meg Cabot in one afternoon. It was a small book and I flew right through it. I was disappointed to find out at the end that it was actually one book out of a series and had an open ended ending. blah This morning I started reading 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold. I was facinated by it and couldn't put it down. I finished reading it this evening. It is without a doubt the best book I have read in ages.
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Not1worry
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 12:26 pm
Azriel, I picked up "Lovely Bones" while killing time in Walmart. I stood riveted and read 3 chapters before I figured I'd better get a copy and read the whole thing. Talk about a page turner.
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Mak1
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 1:09 pm
A Lot to Make Up For by John Buell, a Canadian author. It's a quick read that really delves into the characters. I'm enjoying it.
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Seamonkey
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 1:22 pm
The Lovely Bones was quite good, i thought. I've also read her non-fiction account of her rape and the trial and recovery from both events. Alice Seybold is a good writer and I hope to hear more from her in the fullness of time.
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Azriel
| Friday, August 22, 2003 - 7:58 pm
I had seen where others had read The Lovely Bones and the premise of it seemed just a little too weird to me. (a dead teenager writing about her grizzly murder from heaven) I'm glad I decided to give it a go because it was an excellent book and I will be looking for Alice Sebold's other book.
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