| Author |
Message |
Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, December 10, 2016 - 3:48 pm 
Tres, I hope you end up enjoying Bruce's book as much as I did. I had a horrible feeling -- before I began to read it -- that it would be awful (don't know why, but I did). Anyway, it was the complete opposite. It was, simply, tres bien!! 
This morning I finished the latest Michael Connelly, The Wrong Side of Goodbye. It wasn't your typical Harry Bosch thriller, but the two simultaneous plots were engrossing and fast-moving (which is something we can always rely on with Connelly). Bosch not being a part of the LAPD was a little weird, but then there ARE 28 other books available to enjoy where Harry crushes the bad guys even as he battles internal LAPD politics.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, December 10, 2016 - 8:58 pm
I finished Andy Cohen's new book and it was okay. I felt like it was the same as the last book. There were a few good stories.
I started Kathy Griffin's new book and am loving it. These are the stories I wanted.
I also finished The Twilight Wife by A. J. Banner. It was a good mystery with a few obvious clues but didn't take away from the story at all.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 10, 2016 - 10:38 pm
I am almost finished with the latest Edward book (and I'd forgotten that Edward appeared briefly in one of Craig Lancaster's non Edward book, about a boxer named Hugo.. but in this third Edward book, Hugo's there too!) and I don't want it to end..
I do hope he will write another Edward book, but I suspect it might be a couple of years.. hopefully sooner.
In these books, I'm not particularly drawn to the location (Billings, Montana, where Edward lives, as does the author) but just want to have the story go on with Edward and his family. This book is just so sweet in a not so typical way..
With the Blessings books (all seven, so far) I really want to move to this mythical location AND know the characters as well.
I hope I can find a next thing to read that engages me as much as these two series.
They aren't mysteries, they aren't exquisite literature, but the characters grab onto me and the feelings.
Sort of the same reasons I loved TV shows like Northern Exposure, Parenthood, Gilmore Girls..
I'm excavating in my living room .. and found a hardback Sue Miller bio of her father who had Alzheimer's.. and so that will probably be next.
I often find I especially enjoy non fiction written by fiction writers I enjoy.. And Sue Miller is a good writer..
This held true for Stephen King, who is open and honest in writing about his life, and Amy Tan, and Anne Lamott..
And NOT true with Danielle Steel.. wow.. I remember being drawn into her early books.. so she can write.. I didn't stick with her because the plots just kept kind of repeating.. but when she wrote a book about her son and the tragedy of his life being bipolar and his early death, I thought it would be well written and it certainly was NOT. Maybe it was just TOO real for her.. which I understand, but it didn't make for a readable book.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, December 11, 2016 - 9:07 am
I like your description of excavating in your living room, Sea. It sounds like me!
I just finished reading Gone for Good by Harlan Coben. It was very good! Although it didn't bother me, the only thing that I would mention is that there are a few parts that are graphically violent. Great story though.
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Sunday, December 11, 2016 - 5:43 pm
Ric and all, I'm almost halfway through Born To Run and am completely entranced by Springsteen's candid telling of his life story. I had no idea it would be as funny as it is. I need to be writing holiday cards and things but only want to read this book.
Sea, your description of wanting to move to the mythical place reminded me of Jan Karon's Mitford series. Years later, I still want to live in Mitford. Will put Blessings on my list.
I also wanted to tell you, Sea, that a friend of mine was going through a rough patch and decided to read Ove after I had raved to her about it. She loved it! So another thank you for that recommendation.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 11, 2016 - 6:12 pm
Tresbien, the firest Blessings book is Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, December 11, 2016 - 8:10 pm
Hooray, Tres, I'm very relieved. I, too, was surprised by all the comic scenes.
Speaking of comedy, Mamie and I are, once again, on the same coincidental wavelength. A little while ago I finished Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins. It is, without a doubt, the funniest book of the year. I wish it had been 2,000 pages long (instead of 291).
You really must read it yourself to appreciate it fully. But I can guarantee that most of the run-ins will make you howl. (There are 120 total run-ins.)
There are too many to list here, by the two that made me laugh most violently involved the encounter Tom Hanks had with Harry Styles (one of the singers in One Direction). The other is the night that Kathy introduced Jodie Foster to Sidney Poitier.
And while not overly funny, but very poignantly sweet, is the story of the time Joan Rivers invited Kathy to join her to visit Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles at Buckingham Palace. Who knew Joan Rivers was close personal friends with the Prince and his second wife? These are the kinds of tidbits that make for extremely irresistible reading. Don't miss this one!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 11, 2016 - 10:03 pm
I think I knew that because of an interview Anderson Cooper did with his mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, who is a friend of Kathy. (I am not a fan, personally, of Kathy, and don't watch Anderson on NYEve anymore with her but am a fan of Gloria and Anderson.
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Sadly I finished Edward, Unspooled.. and the Sue Miller is ok, perhaps a bit out of date on Alzheimer's but I'm just getting started on that one.
AND.. dealing with a hard cover book is frustrating!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, December 12, 2016 - 10:28 am
Ric, I haven't gotten to those yet but you are right, I am really laughing out loud at her stories. I didn't realize she was such good friends with Jackie Collins.
I have Bruce's book too. I went on a memoir buying binge. I also have Lauren Graham and Anna Kendrick's book on the shelf.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 12, 2016 - 11:38 am
Finished Sue Miller's The Story of My Father deep in the night. Well done.. And she was trying to be a wife, and mother and write novels at the same time.
Next up is Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen, I Told My Mormon Parents I was Gay and That's When My Nightmare Began by Alex Cooper, with Joanna Brooks.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 15, 2016 - 9:09 pm
Well that was enlightening.. this girl was sent off and basically tortured.. but in the end managed to get help from an attorney pro bono and they took on the Mormon entrenched system in Utah which fought hard to block her having her own counsel and claimed it is the right of parents to subject gay offspring to harsh treatment to "set them straight".
Next up is Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th-Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, December 16, 2016 - 3:53 pm
Ric, the Harry Styles story was too funny. Candle Jenner. And I loved Tom's parting remark.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, December 16, 2016 - 4:17 pm
I know! Right??? Can you imagine if someone had recorded that encounter on an iPhone and then posted it on YouTube? It would get 50 million views a day for a month. I giggle convulsively just thinking about it - absolutely hysterical!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 17, 2016 - 2:17 pm
This book has so much history of Los Angeles and pictures too..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 1:04 pm
It could have been shorter but I learned things of interest and now know more about certain place names.
Starting a 3 book bundle by a British Through Hiker, starting with his first long distance hike through Spain.
I may not last if he keeps talking about the wonders of 🚬 smoking, though.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 1:25 pm
Sea, I put myself in line to get a library copy of the Floodpath book - sounds very interesting.
Yesterday I finished Edmund White's latest, Our Young Man, and it was excellent. Set almost entirely in 1980s during the advent of the AIDS epidemic, it curiously touches only briefly on the health crisis while we get to know the Frenchman protagonist, Guy, as he lives the life of a high-fashion model in New York who carries on two simultaneous affairs (of sorts).
As with all of White's other books, it's extremely well written (but contains a fair amount of graphic sex, so be forewarned). At age 76, I'm quite impressed he still has his mojo intact. The story was captivating from start to finish.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 2:52 pm
So this isn't about the man who was labelled as being the first case, I gather? Seems I read recently that they think hjv was here earlier anyway.
With Floodpath, I found I could skim at times, and I didn't bother with the gigantic amount of nites, so it isn't as long as it seems, but lots to learn about the history of getting water and power in LA, and about Mullholland and other early mivers and shakers.. also a lot about areas north of LA.
And the pictures are interesting.
No one to fall in love with a la The Boys in the Boat..
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 3:22 pm
No, the White book is fiction. You're thinking of Patient Zero, who was at the center of And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts, a major non-fiction work about the emergence of AIDS in San Francisco, New York and L.A. At the time the book came out, Shilts described a French-Canadian flight attendant as being Patient Zero of the epidemic. A few weeks ago it was announced that this was incorrect and that -- as you pointed out -- the disease originated much earlier than the Patient Zero timeline explained in the book.
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 3:45 pm
Finished Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born To Run and was completely absorbed by it having had no idea about his episodes with depression or his childhood with a difficult relationship with his father. You hear his voice in his writing; it's clear this was not ghost written by someone else. And he is very candid about his frailties and flaws. He learned a lot along the way, and I found his journey fascinating and enlightening. If you're interested in him at all, I highly recommend his book.
Now I'm finally on to reading Sisters In Law, Linda Hirshman's book about the friendship between Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Why do all of the books I have on waitlist at the library become available all at the same time? LOL
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 4:51 pm
Yes, that is who I was referring to.. too bad he was blamed, so many were blamed when mostly back then we had no idea what had hit us.
I've read that book of course and can't say how many times I've watched the movie.
Leave it to me to try to make a fictional work into non-fiction ;)
I'm breezing along with this guy on the Camino Trak.. not just Spain but starting in France. Seems like everyone was smoking, a lot, at that time! He talks of having three cups of coffee at breakfast and it sounds like 5 hand rolled cigarettes.
But the hike and his adventures and all the people he met are quite interesting.. so different from most through hikes in that they are basically walking from town to town and there are facilities where they can sleep and shower and eat, though they could also camp.
I follow some current day through hikers, for that experience. My favorite is trail named Wired (Erin Saver) from Portland and she has done so much hiking. She usually substitute teaches and is a nanny during the winter, squirrls away her money and then hikes all summer.
This year she is hiking year round and is currently in New Zealand. Yesterday she and others she has hiked with hiked up Mt Doom (the mountain that was used in the movie LOTR)
She hs called Wired because she blogs daily if possible and then interacts with her followers and their comments in almost real time.
She has done the Triple Crown in the US and so much more hiking.
Um, yeah, so I do like through hiker books!
Tresbien, I've heard nothing but good about Bruce's book! And the one you are starting now sound really interesting too.
I did read an autobiogprahy Sandra Day O'Connor wrote about growing up on a ranch.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 7:29 pm
I finished "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis. It got more interesting as it went along, as happens. A lot of time travel. I liked how they brought cats back from extinction. That was a minor point, but still. It was not LOL funny, as promised, but did have lots of amusing moments.
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Kappy
Member
06-28-2002
| Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 11:39 am
Adding To Say Nothing of the Dog to my wishlist at the library.
Finished Brit-Marie Was Here by Fedrik Backman, the author of A Man Called Ove. Not quite as engaging but overall, I do like how he handles the topic of being near age 60 and all that entails.
Finished The Forgotten by Baldacci. It's the 2nd in the John Puller series. Okay but nothing to write home about.
Finished Merry Christmas Alex Cross and yikes did it show a lack of effort! I don't know who I felt worse for ~ the character of Cross or the readers.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 12:41 pm
I am into Fozzie's second book about through hiking the PCT.. Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, through California, Oregon and Washington.
He really only mentions smoking 🚬 now and then, and he is keeping my interest. Not sure where book three takes us, but this set was free, and definitely worth reading 📚 for me.
I am simultaneously reading blog entries, after tge fact from Brown Girl on the PCT, and current dsy blogs from Wired as she has hiked in Australia and New Zealand.
Exercises my mind...
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 4:38 pm
I've been down - literally face down/head down - with a detached retina since Saturday afternoon. As a result, I listened to an entire Audible book: The Professor. It was a legal thriller and pretty good, if a bit predictable. I also listened to Virgins, one of Gabaldon's novellas.
As of today, though, I'm able to read again! The injected gas bubble, freezing and follow-up laser worked so I'm a fairly free woman. The bubble in my eye means I can't see much, so reading is actually causing a bit of a headache, so I'll be back to Audible this evening.
Discovered, much to my chagrin, that my library loan on my Kindle Fire (Anderson Cooper's Rainbow book) actually disappears when the loan is done, even when I've got the wifi off and the airplane mode on! I was about 60% of the way through and enjoying it, so I'll have to get it out again. My paperwhite doesn't delete loan books when in airplane mode, so guess where I'll be sending all future library books?! Ugh.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 5:24 pm
Oh, no, Teach - you poor thing! You're experiencing one of my worst nightmares. I'm sorry your life is being disrupted this way. I hope you make a full (and extremely swift) recovery!
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