| Author |
Message |
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - 1:03 pm 
Finished listening to Winds of War today. I'm still plugging through Fatal Crossing. With 50 essays coming in every week, there isn't more than 10 minutes of reading time a day, and I've only been able to read 2 or 3 days a week lately. Oh well - 8 more weeks, and I go down to only 23 English students when the trimester changes, and the books will still be there. 
I'm now listening to Tim Conway's book What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 7:52 pm
Sparrow Migrations.. all these intertwined lines, each in some way involved with birds or the flight that had to be ditched in the Hudson River due to Canada Geese being sucked into both engines.. anyway I kind of wanted it to keep going.
Now reading a memoir, Crash: A Mother, a Son, and the Journey from Grief to Gratitude by Carolyn Roy-Bornstein, MD.. mom to a son who suffered traumatic brain injury. So far it is well written.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, October 01, 2014 - 3:00 pm
I've had my fill of Charlie Huston. His early stuff was dark, dark, dark (but fun). I finished his latest (Skinner) yesterday and while it was better than Sleepless which I read last month, it still turned out to be way too much of a workout. And it wasn't fun, either.
I'm now enjoying yet another Linwood Barclay thriller, A Tap on the Window. After I finish it, there'll only be one of his left to read, his latest one from earlier this year. 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, October 01, 2014 - 6:20 pm
I finished Crash.. well written..
And now reading a memoir The Church of Tango: A Memoir by Cherie Mangus. After her husband died she went to France to take French lessons (they co-owned a home in France, but she was in Paris for the classes) and started thinking maybe she could have a life after loss.. she is back in LA where I am now but planning to go back to France.. but I know eventually she ends up in Argentina, meets a man and they start teaching Tango to make a living..
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, October 01, 2014 - 7:11 pm
I'm reading Garth Stein's new book, A Sudden Light. Loving it so far.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Wednesday, October 01, 2014 - 8:06 pm
I read Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich. Typical Stephanie Plum silliness. I liked it.
Now reading Maeve Binchy's Nights of Rain and Stars. I like the Greek locale and the mix of characters.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, October 02, 2014 - 5:18 pm
Finished listening to Tim Conway's My Funny Life and am still making slow progress on Fatal Crossing. However, I am also re-reading Outlander to pass the time until the series starts back up in April.
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Lakecat
Member
10-01-2006
| Thursday, October 02, 2014 - 6:19 pm
I'm making very slow progress with "Wild". It's yet to grab me. Reese Witherspoon will be in the movie from the book. Maybe I'll check out The Dahli Lamas cat. I've already downloaded it.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, October 02, 2014 - 8:37 pm
Aww, I loved that book..
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, October 07, 2014 - 9:15 am
Loved, as per usual, the latest Barclay I finished last night, A Tap on the Window. It's very comforting to know you can always count on him to deliver the goods every time, i.e., I'm still waiting for his first bomb!
Am now reading Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall. I heard the profile NPR did on her and the book and it sounded interesting enough to take a peek at.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, October 07, 2014 - 8:15 pm
The Church of Tango.. I felt like I should admire or like the woman writing the memoir but I kind of didn't.. oh well.
Then read Hopefully Ever After: Breast Cancer, Life and Me by Linda Barrett who is an author of romance and other novels I have never read.
Now reading War of the Whales: A True Story by Joshua Horowitz. About the military war ON whales, driving them to beach themselves with sound horrible to the whales, so as to dominate the ocean.
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Mak1
Member
08-11-2002
| Thursday, October 09, 2014 - 6:20 pm
I just finished Room by Emma Donoghue. It's going to stay with me for a while.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, October 09, 2014 - 9:46 pm
I'm all immersed in whales at this point.
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 4:05 am
Now reading War of the Whales: A True Story by Joshua Horowitz. About the military war ON whales, driving them to beach themselves with sound horrible to the whales, so as to dominate the ocean.
That makes me want to cry. How terrible!! 
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I've read a bunch of books lately, but I've been bad about posting them. One I finished was Before I Go To Sleep (mentioned here several times). It was a really good page turner. I passed it on to my sister-in-law who also enjoyed it, and now it has been passed on to my sister. I just saw a trailer for the movie which looks good as well. Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth are starring.
Uncle Ricky, I finally read a Linwood Barclay book. Yay! After your review here, I read Trust Your Eyes and enjoyed it. Bad Move is next!
I can't think of some of the other books off of the top of my head, but new ones I have started are memoirs by Rosie Perez and Lena Dunham, as well as the charming Dalai Lama's cat book... not a true memoir, but it reads like one. 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 9:10 am
I just read about the effort to save the location in Mexico where the gray whales go to give birth and show off their babies to people who come to see them in small boats (I hear it is just simply magical).. Mitsubishi planned to take over the entire area and dreate saltworks, complete with environment killing crap leaking out and of course the destruction of the entire bay or lagoon and it was quite a battle because it was in Mexico.. anyway it was saved!!!!
But this story continues after beachings of whales in the Bahamas (with Navy ships nearby, but denied). Seems the Navy had so much power over the groups set up to oversee it was a joke. Only 20% through the book and yea, sad, but II need to know.
Nice to have a page-turner, Rieann..
I just want the Dalai Lama cat books to continue.. so grounding and such a simple way to learn about Buddhist thought too. I have read one book BY the Dalai Lama and I really would like to read more.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 10:42 am
Such good news, Rieann! I hope you like Bad Move as well - that one really made me laugh.
And if you don't mind enduring this tiny bit of bragging, but I was very pleased the other day to discover that Mr. Barclay retweeted my "review" of A Tap on the Window.
===============================================
Linwood Barclay retweeted
Ric Munoz @munoz_ric · Oct 6 I finished #ataponthewindow by @linwood_barclay 2nite - delicious! He's utterly incapable of writing a bad book! #linwoodbarclay #penguinusa
https://twitter.com/linwood_barclay
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 3:05 pm
You are famous!!! I just get favorited by the OC Register guy on twitter but still not getting the paper on time or in the right location But just because I found a bad link for them, this guy appeared at my door the other night with the first 5 days of missed papers! Nice gesture.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 4:02 pm
That is nice, Sea! It's good to see that there are still caring customer service reps lurking out there to surprise us!
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Friday, October 10, 2014 - 6:27 pm
Finished a book my SIL gave me by Debbie Macomber "Right Next Door". A nice bit of fluff romance.
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Rieann
Member
08-26-2006
| Saturday, October 11, 2014 - 1:39 am
Seamonkey, that book must be so hard to read... but it is an important read. I had no idea about the military's involvement. Makes me mad!
Uncle Ricky-- After your excellent tweet about A Tap on the Window, I went and read about it and bought the Kindle version. LOL! It sounds great. You have created a new "Barclayite", or are they called "Linwoodies"?
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Saturday, October 11, 2014 - 7:17 am
Ricky, I also enjoy Barclay and Coben. I've read everything they've written.
Have you read Lee Child's Jack Reacher series? If you enjoy following one character, I highly recommend this series. I've read every Reacher book. I adore this character.
When they cast delicate pretty boy Tom Cruise as Reacher in the movie, I was shocked. Everything about Cruise screams, "I'm not and never could be Reacher." The ridiculous casting kept me from seeing the movie.
There's also James Patterson's Alex Cross series as well as his Women's Murder Club series. I've read all of both series and enjoyed them very much.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, October 11, 2014 - 10:41 am
I also enjoy Nelson DeMille's John Spenser series. Plum Island was the first one.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 2:06 am
How wonderful, Rieann - I'm so glad! I don't know how he does it, but I'm constantly amazed at how LB comes up with his plots. I'm keeping my fingers crossed you'll enjoy his stuff as much as I do. I think I like Linwoodie a little better than Barclayite - for the record.
Littlebreeze - Barclay and Coben are so similar, but yet so different -- wildly entertaining both of them.
As for Lee Child, I'm so very bummed I had to abandon him. Why? For the very reason you raised about that Cruise creature. I was rolling right along, reading the Reacher books in the order Child wrote them (and LOVING each one).
Then, after reading the 6th or 7th one, the horrific news broke about the Cruise casting. I couldn't believe it (who could???) - it had to be a joke, right? I thought to myself, "There's NO WAY Child can be on board with this."
I was dumbfounded when Child announced his complete endorsement of the casting! What??? This was too much. How could I continue to support this man's writing, knowing that a mockery of his character was about to fill the silver screen with a 5'7" midget like Cruise "portraying" a bad-ass hero who is 6'5". Again, what??? So, my silent protest of Child's endorsement of the casting resulted in me abandoning the Reacher series. I miss the character terribly, but at least I got to enjoy those first few books before the casting nightmare ruined how I envisioned Reacher forever! 
But speaking of Child, his praise for the book I finished tonight (Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall) appeared on the jacket of the book. It's about LAPD Detective Elouise Norton who is asked to solve a modern-day murder as well as the disappearance of her sister 25 years earlier. It's set in a couple of black L.A. neighborhoods (one affluent, one not) and is very well-written. I hope she writes more books with the same character. I enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed Michael Connelly's books (which you've probably read, too) - she just covers a different section of L.A.
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 7:04 am
Hi, Ricky. With or without a resounding endorsement by Child, a movie with ridiculous casting could never affect how I envision Reacher.
Reacher has lived on the written page for many, many years. That’s my vision of him and it’s indelible.
The movie is just spit in the ocean. It has no impact on my vision of Reacher.
I’m sorry that you're not experiencing the written character that you’ve enjoyed and that you miss terribly.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 8:42 am
Thank you, Littlebreeze, for your caring feedback. As you can probably tell, I tend to get overly emotional about these things. (A failing of mine, I'm afraid.)
Years from now I'll likely come to my senses, lift the embargo and resume reading Mr. Child's classic Reacher oeuvre. When that day comes, you and all the other lovely TVCH bibliophiles here will be the first to know!
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