| Author |
Message |
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - 1:57 pm 
I really took my time with We Are Not Ourselves because I found myself not wanting it to end (though that was, of course, inevitable). Anyway, it's a stunning achievement by this first-time novelist. He wrote in such clear, clean sentences that were not overly simplistic or overly complex -- they were just right and kept the story moving at a nice pace -- itself a challenge for such a long book.
It stretches from 1941 to 2011 and follows a small Irish-American family through its trials and tribulations. The core storyline concerns the family having to face a health crisis and it really made me think of my own mortality - I think anyone who reads this book will come away with similar feelings. I recommend it highly!
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Friday, February 20, 2015 - 12:46 pm
Allow me a shallow moment to comment on what a hottie Oliver Sacks was... Wow!
This is the cover for his new memoir, On the Move: A Life , which comes out April 28th. I've read a few of his books and look forward to reading this one as well.
He just announced he has terminal cancer and wrote a beautiful piece for the NYT...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Friday, February 20, 2015 - 12:57 pm
Oops! Photo credit from...
http://boingboing.net/2015/02/13/oliver-sacks-on-a-motorcycle-i.html
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, February 20, 2015 - 2:28 pm
I love Oliver Sacks!! So sorry about his diagnosis.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, February 20, 2015 - 4:46 pm
I pre-ordered the memoir and bought his book, Oaxaca Journal which sounds really good.
Also I finished the travel memoir by Savannah Grace, which took them from Canada to Hong Kong, Mainland China, Mongolia and now starging the second volume, Backpacks and Bra Straps that starts with them going from Mongolia to Russia. I think there is a third volume and I plan to buy that too. There may be more, since from the map I can see that they covered much of Europe and Africa as well..
They did this on a pretty strict budget, with large backpacks.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 12:10 pm
Rieann,thanks so much for posting that link.. not just for what Dr Sacks wrote in NYTimes, but for so many of the wonderful comments as well.
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 12:38 pm
You're welcome. 
He's such an interesting man. I pre-ordered his memoir as well. Hope you enjoy Oaxaca Journal which also sounds good.
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 12:47 pm
Here is an excellent NOVA special about music and the brain with Dr. Sacks. It is based upon his book Musicophilia which I really enjoyed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRFI_kSSGr4
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 7:49 pm
There is worldwide love and admiration for him in those comments.. over 800 as of this morning..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, February 25, 2015 - 4:41 pm
Finished Savannah Grace's second book.. the third one is being written now.. they ended up travelling for 4 years! And she has logged 100 countries and counting and has an interesting blog.
I'm reading Derek Hough's book now:
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 10:10 am
Finished Derek's book, now reading non-fiction about the anti-vaccination scam and panic.. the doctor, who later lost his license, was in cahoots with malpractice ambulance chaser attorneys.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 7:47 pm
For book club, I read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. The main character was given up by her mother as an infant and spent her entire childhood in the foster care system. We meet her on the day she turns 18 and has to leave the last group home. It is heartbreaking, sad, frustrating, and hopeful. It was the author's debut novel, and a good one.
One of the book club's next books is The End of Your Life Book Club, a memoir by Will Schwalbe. I didn't enjoy it at all. Knowing at the beginning that his mother died of terminal cancer kind of put a damper on the whole thing. I do think a story about her life would be quite interesting. She did amazing things.
I'm reading an old David Baldacci novel now, Absolute Power. It's gripping.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2015 - 12:16 pm
Mak,I did like that book, but, I guess I have been around so many people with cancer after 5 years of driving them, and any number of them being terminal, that, while it makes me sad, and angry when I hear of how some were delayed in diagnosis by being ignored or mismanaged,I see how many of them continue to have hopes and dreams or things to complete.
The current book, The Panic Virus, besides being about the anti vaccination mess, is a history and right now reading the history of polio and vaccination.. what a mess.. I was a kid, and remember how some kids were actually kept inside in summer, for fear of it, and the concerns, had no idea of the panic, the botching of the administration of Salk vaccines, etc. I wish my mom was still around so I could ask her about what they went through back then.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, March 01, 2015 - 12:14 pm
Happy birthday a day late, Ric!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, March 02, 2015 - 11:18 am
Thank you, Sea. I get to be 19 for the 3rd time!
Recent titles I've completed include My Life As I Blow It by Sarah Colonna, who does stand-up comedy and wrote for Chelsea Handler's talk show. She's also the personal friend of a co-worker of mine. The latter has raved for months to me about Sarah's mirth-making skills and her book delivers plenty of that. I'll definitely read her follow-up which comes out later this month.
I'd been wanting to catch up with the two books Andy Cohen wrote and I finally did so, reading the first, Most Talkative, followed by his second, The Andy Cohen Diaries. He patterned his diaries after Andy Warhol's (which I also read/loved). Andy C.'s are not quite as funny as Andy W.'s, but they contain plenty of chuckles nonetheless.
This morning I began Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. I know nothing about it except that it's been compared to A Fault in Our Stars (which I did not read).
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, March 02, 2015 - 4:54 pm
I finished "Wicked Appetite" by Janet Evanovich. It was cute. Didn't know it was part of a series. Got it cheap at the dollar store.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Monday, March 02, 2015 - 7:25 pm
I have recently started "We Are Not Ourselves" on the recommendation of Uncle Ricky. I cannot put it down! Thanks for the tip
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, March 03, 2015 - 12:59 pm
That's wonderful, Reenie! You're very welcome, too. It's been a few weeks since I finished it, but I keep thinking about the three main characters even now. You honestly can't help but ask yourself "How would I handle this [the family's health crisis] if it happened to me?" It's a long, sweeping story and ultimately a very sobering experience reading it.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, March 05, 2015 - 10:16 am
The Panic Virus was extremely informative, frustrating..
Now reading Oliver Sacks, Oaxaca Journal.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Thursday, March 05, 2015 - 7:59 pm
I finished Gray Mountain by John Grisham and had to force myself to finish it. It had so many good reviews that I kept thinking it would pick up at any moment. Then I reached page 300 out of 340 and realized that I could put it down and not care if I ever read the ending. How bad is that?!
Yes, I learned alot about stip mining in Appalachia and the destruction being done there but overall, I found it very boring and not the usual Grisham read.
I'm glad to be back to Will Robie and The Hit.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, March 05, 2015 - 9:28 pm
Finished Oaxaca Journal all to soon and it was bittersweet in light of Dr Sacks' current medical condition.
Starting Tom Bergeron's book, I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can! which promises to be interesting and fun..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, March 08, 2015 - 4:04 pm
Tom Bergeron's book was interesting. I like how he made time for his family, flying back to Connecticut (they may have subsequently moved to California after their daughters were out on their own), and love his relationship with his wife, too.
Reading, almost done, with a 90 page book speculating on the fate of MH370, presenting a scenario that took it north where it may have landed in Kazakstan.. the plane disappeared the day after the US announced sanctions on Russia for actions in the Ukraine. and the other Malaysia flight that was shot down, same type of plane, was shot down the day after more sanctions were imposed. Interesting, for sure. This was one I could borrow from Prime lending on Amazon.
This was written by Jeff Wise, titled The Plane that Wasn't There: Why we Haven't Found Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, March 09, 2015 - 9:40 pm
Next I read a book by a woman in NYC who was fascinated by an alcoholic homeless woman who had been an Italian beauty queen before coming to the US. For years the author interacted with the intention of helping and later with getting the woman back to her family in Italy.. and with much angst and pain and anger, she did do that and the family put her through rehab. She returned to the US, married again but eventually relapsed and died at age 42.
And now I'm reading another Craig Lancaster book, The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter: a novel
I like Lancaster's writing.. he's writing from and usually about Billings, Montana.
His two Edward books are the best.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - 7:29 pm
Finished listening to Native Son - not my favorite selection of Wright...but it fulfilled the "finish a book you didn't read in HS"- although I read EVERY book in HS, this was just a book I started when I was trying to find a substitute for my students whose parents refused to let them read Song of Solomon. IMHO - there were more graphic scenes in Wright's novel than Morrison's, so I knew after 2 chapters parents wouldn't like it & I stopped reading.
I'm listening to Leon Uris' QV VII, and I'm reading The Secret Life of Bees. Unfortunately, my reading time is short this week - grading a two-day, two-essay midterm from my college class, and we've got final exams at the HS this week - not to mention marking period grades, trimester grades, and syllabi for the new classes that show up on Monday. ****yawn****
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - 8:50 pm
Loved Secret Life of Bees! Read most of Leon Uris' books in HS and they were always compelling.
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