| Author |
Message |
Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, November 23, 2015 - 2:32 am 
The Driving Lesson by Ben Rehder.
Read this today.. it is aimed at YA audience, but perfectly adult in subject matter. Very touching and well written.
I also finished the polygamy book.. at the end she talked of a shorter version and I would have preferred a much shorter book..
I was pretty irritated.
Then she let us know she is Christine Brown's aunt, the obnoxious aunt who was on a panel with the Browns back in season one of Sister Wives.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, November 23, 2015 - 12:35 pm
Starting a memoir (with changes to the name of the county and town in Tennessee), The Jew Store: A Family Memoir by Stella Sussman.
Her father emigrated to NY from Russia. In 1920, he brought his wife and two children (The author was born in Tennessee in 1922) to Tennessee to open a store billed as having low prices. They were the only Jewish family in this town of 5000. According to the author, stores like this were called "Jew Stores" and were not uncommon at that time.
They left there in the 30's and the author returned to look around in 1995.. wrote the book at some point after that.
I am just starting, but already engaged and interested, getting some history, some Yiddish lessons. And it was on sale when I bought it, so even better.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, November 28, 2015 - 9:41 pm
I finished The Jew Store and it makes me want to read her two followup books.
Funny that she protected the town by naming it Concordia and then online there is a bio of her that announces what town she lived in.
So much of interest about the twenties and thirties in a small southern town with one Jewish family, lots of protestant churches, except episcopal, NO Catholic churches. And it seems that this is where some people still consider Catholic not to be Christian.. anyway all the misconceptions one would expect, especially considering the KKK was hanging out there as well.
So.. next book is a novel .. not my usual but sounded good. Vintage by Susan Gloss.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, November 30, 2015 - 1:47 pm
The holiday break always helps to get more reading done than usual. Some recent titles I've finished:
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz. To call it horrendous is a compliment. It was 400 pages and almost all of them were agonizing. When will I learn to bail if I'm not enjoying it at page 100? I really can't believe how awful it was. The number of characters (most of them inessential to the plot) were just mind-numbing.
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling. I loved her on "The Office" and on her own show which has had more valleys than peaks for me. But she does a marvelous job of capturing the highs and lows of her career (more highs than lows, fortunately).
Room by Emma Donoghue. Thanks to good reviews by Hecka and Teach, I was able to secure a library copy. I had no idea it was short-listed for the Booker Prize. I nearly stopped reading after 40 pages or so because I wasn't connecting with the narrative style. But I persevered and I'm really glad I did because I ended up loving it, despite the disturbing subject matter. The film version is supposed to be outstanding - I just have to wait until it's released on Blu-ray to see it. 
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, November 30, 2015 - 3:43 pm
I loved Room! I have to read Mindy's new book. I loved her last one.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, November 30, 2015 - 3:48 pm
I loved her first one, too, Mamie. I liked the new one more mostly because she wrote it with a little bit more of a mature voice. It's funny, of course, but the serious sections are more compelling than the light-hearted bits.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 03, 2015 - 8:25 pm
I enjoyed Vintage very much..
Then I read a heartbreaking but exquisitely written and expressed memoir, originally written in French, translated.
Two Small Footprints in Wet Sand: The Uplifting True Story of a Mother's Brave Quest to Save Her Daughter, by Anne-Dauphine Julliand.
Now starting a Gordon Ramsay book, Cooking for Friends.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, December 03, 2015 - 8:35 pm
I read Footprints, Sea. It was heartbreakingly lovely.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 03, 2015 - 8:38 pm
I hope the younger daughter has been saved by her transplant..
It really was extraordinary.. all the good that came from this tragedy, that surrounded them.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, December 07, 2015 - 1:15 pm
I finished another collection of stories and essays by Jonathan Ames, My Less Than Secret Life. The guy is a master mirth-maker -- I don't know HOW he does it. Granted, he is quite off-the-wall and his off-the-wall is definitely an acquired taste. One of the (true) stories in the book involved a woman who played an elaborate prank on him that was just stunning in its outrageousness. Ames can (practically) do no wrong.
Speaking of doing wrong, I'm 50 pages into the new John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries. Because I've been a devoted reader of Irving's stuff, I still buy his books instead of borrowing them from the library. This new one, so far, is making me regret I spent the moola. I hope I'm pressing the panic button too soon, but boy what a workout it's been thus far. I have to keep reminding myself that this is the man who wrote the 2nd-greatest novel of all time (in my opinion), A Prayer for Owen Meany, and for that reason alone I have to keep reading to the end. 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 07, 2015 - 6:05 pm
Hope it improves, Uncle Ricky.
I finished Gordon Ramsay's Cooking For Friends, which has lots of recipes. Even not being a cook, I enjoyed what he wrote about his family, and the photography very much. He is really photogenic.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, December 07, 2015 - 6:13 pm
Uncle Ricky, I am sad to hear that about Irving's book. I got an advanced copy so I didn't pay for mine but I too love his books. Garp is one of my all-time favorites.
I a reading I Blame Dennis Hopper by Illeana Douglas and it's a pure joy. Her love of movies and her personality are infectious.
I am also reading The Magician's Lie. It has sucked me right in.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, December 07, 2015 - 9:20 pm
I did buy Stephen King's new book, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I have been enjoying it. Not quite finished yet, but close. It's been worth the price.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 08, 2015 - 9:25 pm
I read a short one called Death of a Bookstore, journals from a manager at Borders in Chicago, the biggest one there, when it closed, before Borders died.
Now reading The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, which was on sale on Cyber Monday or one of those days. Got the Gordon Ramsay on sale too.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, December 09, 2015 - 9:06 pm
Finished Ice Run and enjoyed it (especially as the last few chapters take place on Mackinac Island).
I'm listening to a Phil Rickman novel, The Man in the Moss, and I am having a helluva' time following it. I loved Wine of Angels, but I read it on my Kindle, and I'm thinking I'll have to go back and read this one as well.
I got 2 deals on Kindle this week, so I'm also reading Ways to Die in Glasgow and Primal Origin. Only SEVEN more days of school and then I can read ALL Christmas vacation!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Sunday, December 13, 2015 - 7:41 pm
Finished " Bazaar of Bad Dreams" by Stephen King. It was good, as usual.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 13, 2015 - 7:53 pm
The Storied Life was good.. could have been longer..
Now reading another novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which is keeping me reading though I'm frustrated too.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 14, 2015 - 9:53 pm
OK, finished with that, well done..
Back to nonfiction and back to the White House.. The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House by Kate Andersen Brower. Looks to be interesting.. includes many people who worked inside over a span of years.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 9:59 am
This year's choice for my annual fluff book to get through the Christmas stress ~ Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark.
Then I'm hoping for The Nightingale to come in at the library.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 12:34 pm
I finished the John Irving this morning. It took FOREVER - 460 pages felt like 960. It's so depressing to realize that one of my all-time favorite writers has completely lost his mojo. I can't even begin to describe how boring it was. The repetitiveness alone was staggering. The story itself was all over the place and not the least bit compelling. I threatened to stop reading his stuff two or three books ago, but this time I really mean it.
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Iheartkaysar
Member
08-16-2005
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 4:39 pm
Hey uncle_ricky. Owen Meany is my all-time favourite novel. I loved Avenue of Mysteries, though it was no Owen Meany. I agree it was a tough read, but I found it worthwhile. Sorry it wasn't a good experience for you.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 5:31 pm
Oh my goodness, IHK, I'm truly shocked about (but totally respect) your review. I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind. I kept waiting and waiting (and hoping and hoping) that it would get better, but it never did.
I think my problem is that I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany too much - I've read it five times. It's my 2nd-favorite book of all time (next to The Brothers Karamazov).
And, back in 1978, on the morning after I finished reading The World According to Garp, I called directory assistance in Putney, Vermont and asked if there was a listing for John Irving. (The caption for the back cover photo indicated "John Irving lives in Putney, Vermont.")
The operator said there was a listing for that name and gave me the number -- I called it and a woman answered.
I asked "Is this the residence of John Irving, the writer?"
Not only did the woman reply, "Yes," she also said, "Hold on. John! Phone!" (the woman was his first wife, Shyla).
Then, shockingly, the man himself came on the line. I said, "I just called to tell you I finished reading The World According to Garp last night and thought it was great."
His response: "Thank you."
And then I said, "Have you begun writing your next one?"
And he said, "Yes, it's called The Hotel New Hampshire."
And I said, "I can't wait to read it." Then we said our goodbyes.
Then, in 1994, after I finished reading A Son of the Circus, I wrote him a letter (in care of his publisher, Random House). In it, I told him that while I enjoyed the new novel, it wasn't quite as good as A Prayer for Owen Meany and that I hoped his next one would be more like Owen. He wrote back a few weeks later -- a handwritten letter -- and thanked me for sharing my opinions with him. That letter is one of my most prized possessions.
Finally, in 1998, I got to meet him at a reading he gave for A Widow for One Year at the (now-defunct) Rizzoli Bookstore in Santa Monica, CA.
Before he began the reading, he made a very succinct and no-joke announcement, "Please don't ask me to autograph anything because I have a strict policy against that."
Once the reading ended, he bolted for the exit, but I managed to stop him and ask, "Would you mind taking a picture with me?" (He had said nothing about photo-taking.) He thought about it for a second, then said "OK, but make it fast because I have to get to the airport."
And, yes, that photo of the two of us is also one of my proudest possessions.
So you can imagine how awful I feel to say his new book is boring - something I thought I'd NEVER say about a John Irving book. 
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 6:02 pm
I vaguely recalled having shared in the past, on these pages, a couple of the encounters with Mr. Irving. A search of the archives reminded me that I've written about a couple of them already (the letter story and the photo story) so please forgive me for the reruns and the re-boasting.  Never again, I promise!
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 6:22 pm
Are you kidding?! I, for one, missed your previous stories about Irving... so REALLY appreciated your regaling us with them here today. You are one lucky dude. And I say that, having also met the author myself.  So please do NOT apologize or be embarrassed.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 7:18 pm
Thank you, Mame, very sweet of you to say. And I'm thrilled that you got to meet him, too. He's living full-time in Toronto now, so I hope this means you'll run into him again (though Canada's pretty big -- as you know -- and I'm not sure if he's in your neck of the woods).
Here's the photo of J.I and me (a tad goofy-looking, I'm afraid - it appears I'm telling him to look at the camera as if he didn't know what that was!) at the Rizzoli Bookstore reading event:
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