| Author |
Message |
Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, September 05, 2016 - 8:55 pm 
Finished Shift.. wow she does a good job of making you feel just how much nurses have to juggle and the tradeoffs of protocol, paper/computer work and patient care.
Going to start a novel The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian.. an elderly couple, the wife with terminal cancer, the husband several years into dementia, decide to take off on one last trip in their camper on Route 66. Good reviews.. we will see.
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Scotchbright
Member
10-05-2006
| Friday, September 09, 2016 - 7:38 am
Finished The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins - VERY good but very drawn out. The Moonstone is available at my library, but I need to finish The Girls and Sweetbitter first as they're expiring soon. Ahh...too much to read - what a 'problem' to have. 
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, September 09, 2016 - 12:59 pm
I thought the same thing, Scotch. You'll find that the The Moonstone will be an easier read (and more fun, too).
Yesterday I finished A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George, the celebrated author of the Inspector Lynley mysteries. This was the first in the series - she wrote it in '88 -- and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I look forward to all the others now that I've gotten my feet wet. 
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Friday, September 09, 2016 - 5:13 pm
Ric, I just finished A Little Life
and found it a very compelling yet an extremely intense read. Ordinarily, I might skip over a novel with so much focus on child sexual abuse, but the relationships and how the stories were told was so well done that I stuck with it, appreciating greatly the joys that came to the characters over their lives. Brilliantly written, though I had some questions, particularly about Brother Luke, once I was done. Thank you so very much for the suggestion.
On to Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl next.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, September 09, 2016 - 6:07 pm
Yay! I'm thrilled, Tres, that you came away so satisfied. It's a tough book to get through emotionally, but ultimately a positive experience!
Great minds think alike - Vinegar Girl is next on my list, too, just as soon as I finish the Patricia Highsmith book I'm currently reading! 
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Tuesday, September 13, 2016 - 12:05 pm
Reenie, thank you for the recommendation of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. My mom really enjoyed it and I'm next. We picked up a copy from the library.
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Rupertbear2
Member
07-15-2015
| Tuesday, September 13, 2016 - 2:38 pm
The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi.
Love these huge books (750 pages), that really absorb you. If I can see a book being made into a movie, it means I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, September 14, 2016 - 6:12 pm
The Patricia Highsmith I finished was Strangers On A Train - this is the book that shot her to fame, thanks primarily to Alfred Hitchcock's classic film version. I'd heard that the book was significantly different from the film, so I'd always wanted to see how much. It's quite different, but still a lot of fun. I'll eventually work my way through all her other books -- there are quite a few. She's one of the best crime writers the U.S. has ever produced.
Last night I finished Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl and, as expected, I loved it. She is part of a group of authors who are writing modern-day retellings of classic Shakespeare plays. Jeanette Winterson wrote the first one last year, The Gap of Time, based on The Winter's Tale, followed by Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name, based on The Merchant of Venice. Later this year Margaret Atwood's book (not title yet) will be based on The Tempest.
Vinegar Girl -- the third in the series -- is based on The Taming of the Shrew and it is marvelous. Set in Baltimore, as all of Tyler's other books are set, it's a sweet and endearing story of a young woman whose life is turned upside down by her ambitious scientist father and his unorthodox matchmaking exploits. I'm really biased when it comes to Tyler - she is a genius (nothing less) as far as I'm concerned.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Saturday, September 17, 2016 - 4:02 pm
Has anyone else read Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson? I read it a few months ago and rather enjoyed it.
I also read Lily and the Octopusby Stephen Rowley but did not really care for it.
I have been reading even more than usual as I am recovering from a rough year of health issues. Some of the books have been awful, don't know why I finished a couple of them.
Any suggestions for a light funny, laugh out loud fiction read?
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, September 17, 2016 - 5:18 pm
One Plus One - Jojo Moyes - lots of laugh out loud moments on an impromptu road trip through Scotland with a stinky dog! Sweet story as well.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, September 17, 2016 - 9:17 pm
Sugar, I have Be Frank With Me to read.
I also read Lily and the Octopus and though I liked it at first, it got too weird for me.
I just finished Carol Burnett's book In Such Good Company. Who of us doesn't just love her? Her stories about her show brought back a lot of good memories.
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Abby7
Member
07-17-2002
| Sunday, September 18, 2016 - 12:10 pm
Haven't read that one....but others.
.........and of course, this will NEVER get old:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RVBzQ0Lon1g
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Monday, September 19, 2016 - 2:52 pm
That was so fun to see again Abby7! Thanks for the link.
Finished Vinegar Girl and enjoyed it as I do everything by Anne Tyler. It's a very quick read, more like a novella imo, but I can't say it screamed out the taming of the shrew to me. Her main character is quirky like they all are but not overly shrewish imo LOL.
On to The Nest next.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, September 19, 2016 - 3:19 pm
I finished "Into the Darkest Corner" by Elizabeth Haynes. It was a different type story for me. I think it would hit to close to home for someone who had been abused.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 5:07 pm
Glad you liked Vinegar Girl, Tres. I agree that Kate wasn't shrewish, just brutally honest with her opinions.
Earlier today I finished Boy Erased: A Memoir by Garrard Conley. I heard him interviewed on NPR and he was very well-spoken as he spoke about his experience being sent, at age 19, by his parents to a conversion therapy program. His father being a Baptist pastor (in a small town in Arkansas) made it impossible for him to refuse the dad's demand to rid himself of his gayness.
The book is written in an interesting, shifts-back-and-forth-in-time style. I was totally lost when he wrote about the religious aspects of his story due to my life-long atheism. But it's a compelling story nonetheless. There were a couple of very frightening sections, e.g., the Ford car dealership where Conley worked held a staff Bible-study session every single morning (in one of the showrooms). I can't even imagine such a thing. It reminded me of a race I travelled to in North Carolina a few years ago. Before the starting gun was fired, the race director led the runners in an extended prayer session - it was over five minutes long. I'm pretty sure I was the only runner who abstained from the praying. Fortunately, no one gave me a hard time about not participating.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 6:38 pm
{{{Ric}}}
I hate being in situations like that!
Someone religious at Curves (and there are more than one would think) was talking about The X Factor US a few years ago when one of the yonng singers had two moms. This person announced she was praying for this girl.
I was like Hey, I've been voting for her.
And then it was announced that she was being exploited having lesbian moms.
I'm told my eyes got big 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 6:45 pm
Oh yes and I finished the novel I was reading The Leisure Seeker which was the name of the old camper the couple travelled in. Even with a bittersweet ending, I enjoyed the narrator very much.
Back to nonfiction.. Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, which I had on my kindle.
But I won't finish before a showing of his documentary "Being Mortal", which was on Frontline. I've seen it but will be viewing with discussion.. Alzheimer's group.
He does make good arguments for having checklists! They have made them at the shelter so that after training, you have something to check so you get things right.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - 4:36 pm
Finished Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger and while I initially found it slow, by the end I had shed more then a few tears and the story literally stayed with me. I had a hard time picking up a new book because I didn't want to let it go.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 7:13 pm
Sea, thank you for commiserating with me in your note this past Tuesday.
I finally got around to reading The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie (a writer I'd not heard of before). Mamie gave it a good review earlier this year and I noticed it recently at the library and checked it out.
I can't really explain why I loved the book, but I can't deny that it made a great impression on me. Probably because it dealt so heavily with families and the challenging characters (i.e., oddballs) who exist within those families. I was a little thrown off by the squirrels, but I was able to "go with it" and enjoy the strongly written main characters. It's definitely one of the better books of 2016.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Monday, September 26, 2016 - 6:57 pm
Just started a book that looks to be rather interesting, The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin by Stephanie Knipper.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, September 26, 2016 - 7:28 pm
Finished Gawande's book on lists and wow.. what a huge difference they make and for surgery what lives they save.
So many books.. hard to choose what is next.
But I got one of Augustin Burroughs' books that I haven't read Lust & Wonders: A Memoir for $2.99 on Kindle..
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - 8:32 am
Finished The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell and thought it was good. A mother moves with her 2 daughters to a flat in London with a large communal garden area. What appears to be a safe haven soon proves to be anything but. I liked the way the author slowly peeled back the layers of the characters until the attacker was fully exposed. Looking on Amazon, the author doesn't appear to have many readers but I would be willing to try another of her books.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - 11:44 pm
I'm reading a novel (amazing!.. I actually thought it was a memoir, but I'm liking it.. about an artist who is told she has RP and will be blind in a very short time, on a whim takes off on a trip with an old friend sort of around the world.
Definitely interesting.
Bluje Sun, Yellow Sky by Jamie Jo Hoang.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Thursday, September 29, 2016 - 10:20 am
Kappy, I also read The Girls in the Garden but thought it was a bit ho-hum. I felt the story dragged a bit and it took longer than it should have to end.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, October 04, 2016 - 4:23 pm
Finished "Revival" by Stephen King. I enjoyed it.
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