| Author |
Message |
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - 6:37 pm 
With over 11,000 Goodreads reviews (4 out of 5 stars average), it's safe to say that that Kitchen House is worth exploring! 
I finished A Certain Justice and liked it a lot. RIP P.D. James! 
I devoured the latest by Linwood Barclay (No Safe House), which was a sequel (of sorts) to his earlier No Time for Goodbye. The new one was nicely placed, as usual, and slightly complex, but ultimately a lot of fun, also par for the course with him.
I just started Flood by Andrew Vachss, his debut. Let's see if his writing lives up to all the praise I've come across in researching his career.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, December 19, 2014 - 6:45 pm
The Farm (Tom Rob Smith) is only $1.99 on Kindle today! (My list is WAY too long for Christmas break-- but I'm going to give it a good try!)
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, December 20, 2014 - 7:42 pm
I hope you like The Farm, Teach! It's been on a lot of Best of 2014 lists and deserves to be - I really enjoyed it.
And for those who want to be treated to a top-notch profile of Seabiscuit/Unbroken superstar Laura Hillenbrand, look no further than this one that appeared in the New York Times a couple of days ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/the-unbreakable-laura-hillenbrand.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 20, 2014 - 10:44 pm
I read the description of The Farm and thought you must have liked it, Uncle Ricky..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 20, 2014 - 11:22 pm
That was a great read about Laura.. more in depth than what was at the end of the book.
Notice that reference to The Boys in the Boat.. not surprised that he benefitted from reading her writing..
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, December 22, 2014 - 5:09 pm
Yes, I noticed that, too, Sea. So what with all of you raving about the Boat book, I have no choice but to add it to my list.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 22, 2014 - 8:13 pm
I think you will like it..
I'm still in awe of this memoir and learning so much about the mind.. especially of this person, the husband, and hers as well.
And I am about to bookcross dead tree books, so am re reading The Knitting Circle before I set it free..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 1:25 pm
Finished Diane Ackerman's memoir, and The Knitting Circle, planning to read Bear in the Back Seat, and the second book.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 5:12 pm
I'm reading orphan train by Christina Baker Kline. It's a good read and a part of our nation's history I didn't know about until quite recently.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, January 01, 2015 - 8:59 pm
I finished the two Bear in the Back Seat books, some good stories, and now I know bear cubs purr while nursing, but the books are so repetitive..
Lendable on Kindle.
Now reading Robin Roberts' memoir, Everybody's Got Something. Very good.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, January 01, 2015 - 10:29 pm
Finished listening to The Boys in the Boat, and I'm now listening to Henning Mankell's Before the Frost. It has his daughter Linda in it as a police officer as well, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
I'm also reading The Secret Speech on my Kindle as I don't think I ever made it past the first three or four chapters.
I upped my reading in 2014 over 2013 by 10 books, but I fell short of my goal. This year, our library's adult reading challenge is year-long, and it equates to 1 book per week. Going to give it a shot as I only have one English class now, and it is a lit. class not a writing class. Instead of reading 20,000-30,000 words of essay a week, I can read BOOKS!!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 12:22 am
I read 85 books in 2014, up from 70 in 2013.. still spending what used to be more reading time on games and walking/working out.. balancing act.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 5:44 pm
Only 67 in 2014 for me - I'm a slacker!
Finished the Andrew Vachss novel(Flood) and though a bit long, I liked it enough to seek out his other books. It was his debut, so I'm going to assume he gets better with experience.
Then I read We Were Liars by e. lockhart (her name was in all lower-case on the cover, so I think that's how she prefers it). I didn't realize it's categorized as a "young adult" novel. It held my interest and the twist in the latter half was startlingly unexpected.
This morning I finished the latest by Ian McEwan (The Children Act) - I thought it was excellent. His protagonist is a judge in the British legal system who has to handle very tough hot-button cases. The story focuses on her getting very personally involved with someone at the center of a highly-emotional case. I love McEwan - he consistently delivers compelling (adult) stories.
Tonight I'll begin The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart - this is the book that brought him, circa 2002, his first round of great acclaim. His latest work (Little Failure) was rated one of the best books of 2014. But it'll be a while before I get to that one.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 6:17 pm
I'd say you aren't slacking so far this year!
In going back through the thread, I now have a couple of books lined up to read next.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 7:11 pm
Unclericky, when I got to the end of Liars, I said what?! out loud. That really was a big twist that I didn't see coming.
I finished my first book of the year, Saving Grace by Jane Green. It was okay. I didn't like Grace too much so that kind of made it hard for me to like the whole story.
I am reading Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. It was on a ton of the top ten lists of last year.
I am also reading I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short. Very enjoyable. There is just nothing not to like about him.
I read 97 books last year which is very low for me. I plan on getting over that 100 mark and then some, this year.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 8:58 pm
My first book of the year was What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell. It's a story of a family with bipolar disorder in several generations. It is told by shifting between the past and present, exploring family relationships, secrets, growing up and letting go. It was good.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 9:03 pm
I'm so jealous of you Mamie! I just can't do the more-than-one-book-at-a-time thing (wish I could). I'm glad you were stunned by the Liars twist, too. It's always fun to be surprised that way.
THANK YOU for the tip about the Martin Short book. I had no idea it existed. He played my all-time favorite character, Jackie Rogers Jr., (on SCTV and on SNL), so I have to read the book to get his thoughts about that character alone. I have NEVER laughed as hard (or violently) as I did the night (April, 1985) that SNL aired "Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad" - I cried and cried and cried - so hysterical. I can recite the entire skit from memory! I couldn't find a video clip of it, but I found a transcript and reading it made me laugh all over again!
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84pjackpotwad.phtml
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 9:38 pm
I never read two at a time until I started reviewing for booktrib. Now, I always have an actual book and one on my Kindle going at the same time.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, January 02, 2015 - 9:39 pm
I definitely cannot keep up with ya'll's reading, but I hit 32 books this year, and only one was under 300 pages. Given all the essays I read, I'll take it, but I'm definitely going for 52 this year, and I'd like to make it an even 60 if at all possible. I'm not working this summer like I've done the last two, so I should be able to make up a LOT of ground in those 10 weeks!
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Cablejockey
Member
12-26-2001
| Tuesday, January 06, 2015 - 7:45 am
I am at the beginning of Barbara Leaming's book Mrs. Kennedy. I thought that I read everything there was to know about Jacqueline Kennedy over the years, but this book brought out some material of her life that I didnt know about! Its a fascinating study of her years in the White House and what she had to put up with in her marriage. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/392952.Mrs_Kennedy
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, January 06, 2015 - 11:01 am
I am still reading and savoring Robin Roberts' book.. She has so much to say that I enjoy.
Also, trying to bookcross more, but some books were unread.. so I read Anne Tyler's The Amateur Marriage and yes.. it was really well written but such a downer in so many ways.
Now reading in dead tree format to bookcross, Alison Smith's memoir, Name All the Animals.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, January 06, 2015 - 12:04 pm
I didn't remember "Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad" but as soon as I read the transcript it came right back to me. That was so funny! "Sea Birds!" 
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, January 06, 2015 - 2:16 pm
So glad you remembered it, Jim. A day rarely goes by when I'm NOT quoting one of the lines from the skit!
Ms. Tyler does not play around, Sea, when it comes to downer material. That -- as you know -- is the main reason I love her writing as much as I do!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, January 06, 2015 - 7:35 pm
Finished the Henning Mankell audio, so now I'm on to a George Carlin audio book since one of the books on the reading challenge is a funny book. It shouldn't take long as it's only 8 hours long.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Thursday, January 08, 2015 - 8:08 am
I just devoured Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann. It was my second in a row that shifted between the past and present. This followed two main characters who lived 100 years apart, alternating each chapter. It started a bit slow for me because I preferred one character and story to the other. That soon changed as the stories progressed and similarities grew. By the middle of the book, I was having a hard time to put it down.
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