| Author |
Message |
Anntie
Member
09-03-2010
| Sunday, December 16, 2012 - 3:22 pm 
Reading Shadow Creek by Joy Fielding. A good fast paced thriller.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Sunday, December 16, 2012 - 6:52 pm
Just got through reading "Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts." The five queens were all the granddaughters of Queen Victoria, and included the Tsarina Alexandra; Queen Marie of Romania; Queen Maud of Norway; Queen Sophie of Greece; and Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.
The book is pretty good, but the author insists on calling each queen by all three of their names at different times (their given name, their nickname and their Queen designation), sometimes all in the space of one paragraph. It's ridiculous and confusing. Otherwise, I recommend the book, it sheds light on WWI and WWII era queens who were at the center of world events.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 2:08 pm
If you haven't read Michael J Fox's second Memoir, it is a Kindle Daily Deal for $1.99 right now.. well worth it.
KINDLE DAILY DEAL
Always Looking Up
by Michael J. Fox
Rating: 4.1 Stars
Genre: Memoir
Price: $1.99 Save $17.96
Subject to change back to full price at any time.
There are many words to describe Michael J. Fox: Actor. Husband. Father. Activist. But readers of Always Looking Up will soon add another to the list: Optimist. Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Michael’s exit from a very demanding, very public arena offered him the time-and the inspiration-to open up new doors leading to unexpected places. One door even led him to the center of his own family, the greatest destination of all.
The last ten years, which is really the stuff of this book, began with such a loss: my retirement from Spin City. I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD Parkinson’s had consumed my career and, in a sense, had become my career. But where did all of this leave Me? I had to build a new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one..
Always Looking Up is a memoir of this last decade, told through the critical themes of Michael’s life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson’s. With the humor and wit that captivated fans of his first book, Lucky Man, Michael describes how he became a happier, more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 3:18 pm
Thanks for posting that Sea. It sounds like a great book for me to read right now. I don't have a Kindle, but I put in a request at my library.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 3:45 pm
Yeah, that would work, too! I've read it but it isn't lendable so hope kindlers will grab it if they haven't read it and others get the recommendation.
His first memoir was also good.
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Anntie
Member
09-03-2010
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 4:01 pm
Reading Elizabeth Flock's But Inside I'm Screaming. Good book.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 4:57 pm
Michael J. Fox is just a miracle of positivity in the face of adversity. I love that guy.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 5:54 pm
Yep.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 8:54 pm
I went to get it and it's listed at 9.99. Do you have a link?
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 17, 2012 - 10:15 pm
Hmm, maybe the deal expired.. I've deleted the email where I got the link. Sorry.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 5:21 pm
Thanks for looking. 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 7:59 pm
Bummer!
Anyway I finishedHigh Crimes and am just disgusted at people who put people in danger, leave them for dead, steal items that were to sustain life, etc.
Starting Fearless: One Woman, One Kayak, One Continent, Freya Hoffmeister's Record-Setting Circumnavigation of Australia about a pretty amazing German woman.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 8:06 pm
I'm still slogging through She Matters. I have to write a review by the 28th.
I also started The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie and loved the first chapter.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 1:38 pm
Wow, Mamie.. if you are slogging, it must be slow-going!
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 2:39 pm
Well I just (finally!) finished slogging through Christopher Plummer's hefty memoir 'In Spite of Myself' and I have to admit that the last quadrant of it was pretty darned good and (almost) made up for the rest of it. He does drop juicy bits throughout but unless you are a fellow classical thespian, it's just too detailed and slowgoing for me.
I was extremely upset about his (admitted) dreadful neglect of his daughter, actress Amanda Plummer, once he separated from her mother actress Tammy Grimes. If other celebrity parents could work, divorce, party and still raise their kids, it's infuriating that he basically took off when she was about 7, and never looked back. But they seem to have bonded now that she's older, which is nice. Insufficient in my opinion, but nice.
ETA: I do have to give him points for honesty though. He is pretty straight-up about his shortcomings.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 9:43 am
Lots of slogging going on here ;)
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Anntie
Member
09-03-2010
| Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 4:26 pm
Currently reading Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer. Not too far into it yet however I think that I will like it. It is set in the Twin Cities where I used to live and I enjoy reading Minnesota or Wisconsin authors.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Friday, December 21, 2012 - 7:17 am
Has anyone read The Lemon Tree? It was recommended by a friend, so I have it on request at the library -
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, December 21, 2012 - 10:21 am
I haven't read that one.
I am reading The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. Love the title and love the writing so far.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Friday, December 21, 2012 - 11:01 am
Pretty sure my next read will be Maeve Binchy's posthumously published novel A Winter's Tale. I'm in the mood for an engrossing novel after slogging through Plummer's bio for days on end.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 12:30 am
Hmmm, on second thought I might just go even lighter than that and read Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 5:28 pm
Reading Gone Girl and had the pleasure of two hours in a car so I went through a good chunk of it. I foresee no sleep tonight, though, as I don't see how I can NOT finish it - it just gets more and more intriguing!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 23, 2012 - 3:14 pm
Finished Fearless and now reading Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalatian Trail by Paul Stutzman.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, December 24, 2012 - 4:22 pm
Gone Girl's ending - well, hmmmm. Wasn't that an interesting (and frustrating) way to leave it?!
Read Sebastian Junger's short yesterday as well, "A World Made of Blood."
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 25, 2012 - 9:16 pm
I finished Hiking Through.. my third or fourth (maybe fifth) Appalachian Trail book.. which is neat because I feel familiar with the trail in many ways.. and an startingBrownie Points a novel by Jennifer Cobern.
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