| Author |
Message |
Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 4:53 pm 
Sugar, I still haven't gotten to it. I actually bought that one but since I have a blog reviewing books, I have so many free arcs to read but I will get around to it soon. I think the Flagg book comes out the 29th or something like that.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 5:03 pm
How interesting, may I ask what your blog is called or if you would provide a link if that is not too personal a question?
I used to manage book stores and miss it to this day. I expanded the company's recommend program in my store with all the employees taking part and it was wonderfully successful. Our customers loved it and looked forward to what the staff thought of many books. Great for sales as well. I don't miss retail or the crappy parts of the job, but the books and the people, ...heavy sigh.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 5:48 pm
LOL about James Patterson ~ Some of his books are so 'phoned-in' and yet I love them every once in awhile!
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 6:35 pm
Oh I've read a lot of them. It's like I'm possessed. 
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 6:55 pm
A bookstore would be a dream job.
My blog is https://oneblogtwobroads.com/
I started it with landi, who also posts here, but it is really just me posting reviews. It has been the best thing ever to be able to hear from authors and to have publishers send you free books and ebooks. Also a dream. Now if I could just get paid for it....
I do still buy a lot of books on my own. I could probably start my own library.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 6:56 pm
I don't read James Patterson. I am very leery of authors who pump books out like every other month.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 8:21 am
Thanks for the link.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, November 18, 2016 - 10:50 am
Just finished listening to The Short Drop and enjoyed it; now I'm on to listening to A God in Ruins. We had our final dress rehearsal last night, so I'm looking forward to 1. having actual reading time for books (I enjoy listening, too, but I like doing BOTH better), 2. time to cook, and 3. time to work out at the gym. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, November 18, 2016 - 11:41 am
Besides reading Fannie Flagg's book, I started Andy Cohen's new book, Superficial.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, November 19, 2016 - 4:42 pm
The Fannie Flagg book was okay. Not my favorite of hers but she does write such a lovely small town story.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 12:33 am
Even though The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay sports a MASSIVE cast of characters, this conclusion to his "Promise Falls" trilogy surprised me with its extra-fast pace. It's definitely the best book in the trilogy. I'm still waiting for him to write a bad book!
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 9:21 am
I began The Woman in Cabin 10 and gave up 140 pages in. It has lots of good reviews on Amazon but I have to agree more with those who gave it a poor rating. I found the main character too whiny to even empathize with her situation. I felt like I was reading The Girl on the Train again only not as well written.
Glad to hear The Twenty-Three is good Uncle Rick! I'm next on the reserve list at the library and am looking forward to the conclusion.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 9:43 am
Wow that is good to hear. I've got a lot of good Barclay reading to look forward to!
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 10:34 am
I am reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. The subject matter of racism always bothers me, I don't understand that mindset. I find it even more despicable with what is happening with the current president elect and his posse. In short, I am not really enjoying the book but that is likely the point.
I remember when I moved to New Orleans from the Midwest and was astonished at the racism I learned about and saw. Not that racism doesn't exist everywhere, but I had never had such a front row seat. I spent most of my time with my jaw hanging open is shock, surprise and disgust.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 8:08 pm
Ian McEwan's latest is called Nutshell and, in a nutshell, it's unlike anything you'll read anytime soon. Few people write as beautifully as he does and with this book, his first-person narrator is a gestating baby. (!) The baby describes for the reader all of the shenanigans that are going on between his mother, his father, his mother's secret boyfriend and assorted other characters the baby "observes" along the way.
I guess if we can have a young (dead) girl narrating the story in a best-seller like The Lovely Bones, we can certainly have a soon-to-be-born baby telling the story in Mr. McEwan's newest offering. I liked it (but then I like everything he writes)! 
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Friday, November 25, 2016 - 12:26 pm
Uncle_ricky, I went to the library after reading your post and saw Nutshell in the new books area. I have checked it out and got a kick out of the 1st sentence. I probably won't read it for a week or so as I have a few others to read first and have surgery later next week.
I should probably get offline and get to reading, lol.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, November 27, 2016 - 12:57 am
I really hope you like it, Sugar! It's a tad esoteric in spots, but overall it's immensely readable and the one constant is wondering how the story plays out.
Earlier today I finished Steve Young's memoir, QB: My Life Behind the Spiral, about life in the NFL as the Hall-of-Fame leader of the San Francisco 49ers circa the early 90s. You don't have to be a Niners fan to enjoy it, but it helps to be an NFL fan because he reminisces heavily about many of the big games in his career. There's a lot about his Mormonism, but not oppressively so - it's actually quite interesting. The 372 pages move quickly and they're quite well-written. The section about his anxiety disorder and how he got it diagnosed much later in life than most people do was the highlight of the book. I was sorry to see it end.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 03, 2016 - 8:39 pm
I've been absent here.. as I remember I was reading a book that took forever.. and finished it.
and then.. I switched kindle fires and have lost track but I started reading Beverly Jenkins Blessings series from the beginning, again.. re-read books 1-6 (I still want to live in her fictional town of Henry Adams, Kansas) and then read book 7 and re-read it. Sigh.. Now I want book 8 to happen.
I just finished The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Enjoyed it very much.
Prior to my series binge I read Imperfect Birds: A Novel by Anne Lamott. Third in the Rosie series. I had forgotten how much I loved her fiction.
I picked up the new/third book in the Edward series by Craig Lancaster. I'm going to re-read the first two.
Edward is a character with Asperger's and OCD and while not the same as, I'm as fond of him in many ways as I was of Ove. So the first book which I'll start is 600 Hours of Edward.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, December 04, 2016 - 2:26 pm
We've missed you, Sea - terribly - your reviews are always a welcome sight on these pages!
Today I finished The Sellout by Paul Beatty, the first American to win the prestigious Booker Prize - he won it earlier this year, the first non-European to ever do so.
It's a difficult book to describe, and early on I wasn't sure I could stick with it. But stick with it I did and it turned out to be one of the most remarkable reading experiences of this (or any other) year.
Mr. Beatty gives us an unflinching glimpse into modern day racial politics with his African-American protagonist. The language is fiercely caustic but also laugh-out-loud funny in many passages.
The book WILL make you uncomfortable and if he didn't consciously set out to do that, Beatty certainly succeeds at doing so and I think that's what makes the book compulsively readable and, ultimately, a success.
It's a razor-sharp satirical work that will force you to think a lot more closely about American race relations than you ever thought possible. Getting through the 290 pages can feel like work at times, but it's a worthwhile journey once you reach the end. Paul Beatty is a supremely talented writer - there is no denying that.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Sunday, December 04, 2016 - 3:39 pm
Just finished Precious And Grace by Alexander McCall Smith. It is the latest in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency books. Although I still enjoy the series, the last 2 books have not been quite up to the usual standard.
Started Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen and still have Nutshell in line to read.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Sunday, December 04, 2016 - 11:01 pm
Pulled an allnighter last night as I wept my way through COCKTAILS AT THE CHEMO LOUNGE written by my friend DIANE DUPUY founder of the Famous People Players. If you go to their website you can probably order it. Diane discribes her Breast Cancer experience 8 years ago at the same hospital where I am going for my Ovarian Cancer treatment. She was juggling her family life, keeping her nonprofit dinner theatre afloat, and dealing with Chemo and radiation.
Despite the grim topic she keeps it light and breezy. Also, she is one of my personal heroes I have been privileged to meet. She is an extraordinary woman with an extraordinary family. Her mother is 100 years old. I was invited last year to give a speech on her mom's 99th b-day. It was such an honour and I had a blast.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, December 06, 2016 - 6:21 pm
This is too funny. I'm currently reading Anderson Cooper's Rainbows book on Kindle and I've just started The Sellout in a deadtree format. Clearly we all have impeccable taste!
I'm also listening to the book A Suitable Lie. I originally got it because the narrator is Steven Cree - one of the actors from Outlander - but the story is also good. It's about a widower with a small child; he remarries but then HE ends up being the one abused by his wife. I suspect I know the ending, but the listening has been enjoyable as Cree's Scottish accent is divine.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 06, 2016 - 7:05 pm
I liked Anderson's first memoir, which I had on CD.. loved his narration.
I've now re-read 600 hours of Edward, and Edward Adrift.. loved them as much as the first time I read them a few years ago. And now am reading the new third book, Edward Unspooled.
I am such an Edward fan!
I have read other Craig Lancaster books, but I just love the Edward books.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Tuesday, December 06, 2016 - 9:03 pm
I am reading "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis. The blurb on the cover says it's hilarious, but I've only had a couple of lol moments. I'm about 150 pages in and thought about quitting more than once. Guess I'll slog on for now. Btw, it was free. Somebody left it at the hotel.
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Wednesday, December 07, 2016 - 12:36 pm
I've just started Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born To Run and it's even better than I expected it would be.
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