A Book(s) Thread

[AGBF]

I just finished Still Life With Bread Crumbs, which had been in a stack of books waiting to be read for quite a while. It is by Anna Quindlen. It was a wonderful, uplifting novel and a was very interesting read. Maybe I could just relate to the protagonist a lot; she reminded me of myself in many ways. At any rate, reading it made me happy.

Then, today, I leapt into pure escape fiction with Lee Child's Jack Reacher story of Midnight Line. You had better all update me on what you are reading. As I have said many times, I get my best ideas of what to read from postings on Pricescope!

Deb/AGBF

 

[VRBeauty]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread, Deb. I have to admit that I didn't read much this year - hmm. I did read the latest by Jan Karon, one of my favorite authors... truthfully, it was not one of her best and would probably only interest loyal "Father Tim" fans. I also read "A Great Reckoning" by Louise Penny - not quite her latest, since I'm reading (and buying) that series in paperback. I enjoyed this book and as always it tempted me to "cheat" and read Penny's latest in hardback!

Anyhow, I'm hoping to read more in the coming year!

 

[monarch64]

The week of Thanksgiving, in preparation for yet another year of attending The Nutcracker ballet, I ordered and read Gregory Maguire’s Hiddensee. Very, very good. Maguire never disappoints me.

Received The Anatomist’s Apprentice for Christmas but haven’t opened it yet. It’s a mystery by Tessa Harris.

Also received Women Walk the Line, a collection of essays about women in country music who “changed our lives.” The essays are written by women music writers; edited by Holly Gleason, who also wrote the book’s essay on Tanya Tucker. I’m excited to dive in.

 

[AGBF]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread, Deb. I have to admit that I didn't read much this year - hmm. I did read the latest by Jan Karon, one of my favorite authors... truthfully, it was not one of her best and would probably only interest loyal "Father Tim" fans. I also read "A Great Reckoning" by Louise Penny - not quite her latest, since I'm reading (and buying) that series in paperback. I enjoyed this book and as always it tempted me to "cheat" and read Penny's latest in hardback!

Anyhow, I'm hoping to read more in the coming year!

I have been waiting until the most recent Jan Karon comes out in paperback to buy it and read it, VRBeauty. Since I happen to be one of Father Tim's diehard fans, I am sure I will enjoy the book although I am sorry it is not one of Karon's best.

I used to go to the library and now I buy all my books. It is disgusting of me. I really should make a resolution to return to the library. Going there used to be a great pleasure. I mean for all my life. Now I just want to own my books. (Except the ones that didn't get good reviews.) It has become a sickness of some kind!

 

[VRBeauty]

I used to go to the library and now I buy all my books. It is disgusting of me. I really should make a resolution to return to the library. Going there used to be a great pleasure. I mean for all my life. Now I just want to own my books. (Except the ones that didn't get good reviews.) It has become a sickness of some kind!

And here I feel bad because I get most of my books from the library, thereby depriving their authors of income! We compliment each other quite nicely!

The only series books I routinely buy new are the Karon and Penny books, and the Number One Ladies' Detective Agency books (which I pass on to my SIL). That and a handful of mostly non-fiction one-offs - and still my nightstand and bookcases are overflowing!

I did enjoy Jan Karon's "To Be Where You Are," by the way. It has some wonderful story lines and it continues one of my all-time favorites. The book as a whole just seems to get a little clunky with so many threads going on at once. I probably should have paced myself a little better when I read it! And I guess I should be grateful she's still writing at all!

 

[AGBF]

And here I feel bad because I get most of my books from the library, thereby depriving their authors of income! We compliment each other quite nicely!

The only series books I routinely buy new are the Karon and Penny books, and the Number One Ladies' Detective Agency books (which I pass on to my SIL). That and a handful of mostly non-fiction one-offs - and still my nightstand and bookcases are overflowing!

I did enjoy Jan Karon's "To Be Where You Are," by the way. It has some wonderful story lines and it continues one of my all-time favorites. The book as a whole just seems to get a little clunky with so many threads going on at once. I probably should have paced myself a little better when I read it! And I guess I should be grateful she's still writing at all!

Not only do I buy The No. One Ladies' Detective Agency Books for myself, but I buy them for my niece as well. She is about to pass her set on to her older sister (the one who is working on a Ph.D in Spanish and is married to an African). (I had given that niece (the older one) the BBC TV show on DVD made of the books since I figured that she didn't have a lot of time for leisure reading.) Everyone in the family watched the BBC series and everyone now wants to read the books!

 

[marymm]

In the past month or so I read the first books in 2 different series, and really enjoyed them and plan to continue with the two series. While I'm waiting for the 2nd books to come in to my local library, I find I've been thinking about both first books ... always love it when books grab me so that I continue thinking of the stories weeks later!

1. Simon Toyne's Solomon Creed series, 1st book = The Searcher (a mystery set in Arizona by British author Toyne)
2. Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffith series, 1st book = Talking to the Dead (main character Fiona Griffith is a detective in Wales)

I hadn't previously read anything by either author before, but after I complete the current series for sure I will be checking out Toyne's The Sanctus Trilogy and anything else by Bingham.

 

[AGBF]

After I finished Midnight Line by Lee Child, which was a very satisfying Jack Reacher book, I went on to another favorite escape author. (He is another author who has let me down, as Lee Child has, a great deal recently, though. Therefore I do not automatically buy his books. I take some out of the library after reading the reviews.) The author is John Camp and I like both his Lucas Davenport (the Prey series) books and the Virgil Flowers series of books. The book I just read was a Lucas Davenport book, Golden Prey, and it , also, was satisfying. I had really given up on John Camp (John Sandford is his pen name) for a while. All his books seemed to have been being ghost written by the worst writers on earth! I am now reading a Virgil Flowers book by John Camp called Deep Freeze.

 

[missy]

@AGBF thanks for bumping up this thread. I’m back to reading and just read for the first time “The Little Prince”. The Katherine Woods translation.

Wow what a masterpiece and even though it might be a YA book I LOVED it. My DH is reading it next. Such a worthwhile book to read if found one hasn’t read it yet. Chock full of wisdom about life.

 

[monarch64]

Missy, my copy of Le Petit Prince is a paperback from high school French class days. My brother has a translated hardcover edition from the seventies. It is a timeless classic. There is an animated movie that is beautifully done on Netflix (I think it's still available) and you'd like it even though it's geared toward children. Add it to your list and maybe watch with your nieces.

 

[AGBF]

I have not read Le Petit Prince in years, but like Monnie, I may still have a copy somewhere. You ladies have given me an idea, however. I should send my niece (the one in the Spanish Ph.D program) a copy of the French version. She studied French this summer and would really enjoy it when she has the time to read for pleasure again. (My brother came down to visit yesterday-the father of this niece-and told me she is reading Don Quixote in Spanish and he is reading it in English to support her. He said it is 1,000 pages long and she is angry with him because he has been doing other things and is only on page 37!) I never read that book. It reminds me of the type of book dragonfly had on her mammoth list of self-assigned reading. I wonder how she did with that!

I thank you both for posting!

Deb/AGBF

 

[missy]

Missy, my copy of Le Petit Prince is a paperback from high school French class days. My brother has a translated hardcover edition from the seventies. It is a timeless classic. There is an animated movie that is beautifully done on Netflix (I think it's still available) and you'd like it even though it's geared toward children. Add it to your list and maybe watch with your nieces.

Thanks Monnie for the rec! I just checked and it is still on Netflix and I'm excited to watch it with my nieces or just my dh depending on our nieces crazy busy schedules.

(Next YA book is Wonder. LOL in my head I am still a YA. Must move up to adult books soon haha).
I do have 1984 right here and have been meaning to reread it so perhaps today is the day. I prefer hard books to kindle books and I have a lot of real books in our library that are needing to be reread...looking forward to it!

 

[missy]

I have not read Le Petit Prince in years, but like Monnie, I may still have a copy somewhere. You ladies have given me an idea, however. I should send my niece (the one in the Spanish Ph.D program) a copy of the French version. She studied French this summer and would really enjoy it when she has the time to read for pleasure again. (My brother came down to visit yesterday-the father of this niece-and told me she is reading Don Quixote in Spanish and he is reading it in English to support her. He said it is 1,000 pages long and she is angry with him because he has been doing other things and is only on page 37!) I never read that book. It reminds me of the type of book dragonfly had on her mammoth list of self-assigned reading. I wonder how she did with that!

I thank you both for posting!

Deb/AGBF

Oh Deb I wish I could read The Little Prince in French and thanks for reminding me about one of the books I have read in its original language. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Wow I wish I could read it again in Spanish but I know my limitations and sadly my Spanish is not as excellent as it had been when I read this book. What a wonderful book though in any language and if you have not read it I recommend it.

As an aside I read somewhere (don't know if it is true) that García Márquez read the Harper and Row English edition and said it was better than the original. I can't really believe that but just adding it here if anyone knows the truth there. Not that it matters as either version is amazing if memory serves me correctly.

 

[AGBF]

I finished (and enjoyed) Deep Freeze by John Sandford. (John Camp writes under that name, so I really should use it when writing about his books.) When he is on his game, his writing is really amusing. I love that.

I also sent Le Petit Prince to my niece, who received it and called to thank me. She said she has heard many people speak about it over the years, so she has not even read it in English. I am so glad you mentioned it in this thread!

I would love to read One Hundred Years of Solitude one day, but I have many books stacked all over my bedroom right now. I am halfway through The Woman Who Walked In Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith now, but still have another of his books in The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series to read after that. I have fallen behind! That's about it for me. Where are all of you?

 

[missy]

I finished (and enjoyed) Deep Freeze by John Sandford. (John Camp writes under that name, so I really should use it when writing about his books.) When he is on his game, his writing is really amusing. I love that.

I also sent Le Petit Prince to my niece, who received it and called to thank me. She said she has heard many people speak about it over the years, so she has not even read it in English. I am so glad you mentioned it in this thread!

I would love to read One Hundred Years of Solitude one day, but I have many books stacked all over my bedroom right now. I am halfway through The Woman Who Walked In Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith now, but still have another of his books in The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series to read after that. I have fallen behind! That's about it for me. Where are all of you?

Oh I am so glad your niece is going to enjoy this book. Please let us know what she thinks after she reads it. Thank you for letting us know.

I am reading or I should say re reading Joan Didion's book "The Year of Magical Thinking". I love that I can re read books one because my memory isn't great but two because I always pick up things I missed the first time around.

Happy reading!

 

[december-fire]

Thought I'd mention the following book which I quite enjoyed.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

I'm on the Library waiting list for another book by Fiona Barton; The Child.

 

[AGBF]

Thought I'd mention the following book which I quite enjoyed.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

I'm on the Library waiting list for another book by Fiona Barton; The Child.

How about some some more detail, december-fire? I want to know if I would like it, too! (I do not know Fiona Barton.)

Deb

 

[december-fire]

How about some some more detail, december-fire? I want to know if I would like it, too! (I do not know Fiona Barton.)

Deb

Sorry, Deb! I don't like to give too much away about a book, but I guess my post was rather skimpy on details! More precisely, void of details.

This fiction novel looks at the wife of a man accused of a terrible crime, the abduction of a child. Her life goes from being the blissfully ordinary life she enjoys to finding herself and her husband the center of a media frenzy. The book begins with the death of her husband; another point in her life through which the author shows this woman's nature changing as she finds herself no longer living the life she expected.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I just finished the best book I've read in a really long time:

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

A seriously good, honest, funny read. In the beginning it's easy to lose the good and the honest in the funny, but it will all sneak up on you.

Loved it!

 

[missy]

I just finished the best book I've read in a really long time:

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

A seriously good, honest, funny read. In the beginning it's easy to lose the good and the honest in the funny, but it will all sneak up on you.

Loved it!

Just looked it up on goodreads and looks good Dee. Thanks for your rec. It’ll be nice to read something fun after all the scientific and medical minded books I have been reading lately. You had me at funny and dysfunction (goodreads word).

 

[Dee*Jay]

Can't wait to hear what you think of it Missy!

I just downloaded One Last Thing Before I Go. Going from one book to another of an author that I love is such a double-edged sword because the expectations are so high for the second one... Kind of like dating both of the Chitwood twins in high school... but I digress!

 

[AGBF]

I finished Precious and Grace, the last book in Alexander McCall Smith's series, then returned to another series I like. It is almost the exact opposite of that gentle book. All that the books have in common is that they were both written in excellent English by highly intelligent and well-educated authors (and both happen to be men).

I am now reading The Burial Hour. I have not read all the books in this series; I have probably read about six and could not seem to stay reading in order for some reason. It is by Jeffery Deaver and features a quadriplegic detective called Lincoln Rhyme who operates out of his Central Park West apartment. He is a former New York City Police department detective who got injured on a job and who runs an evidence lab from his home. The murders tend to be gruesome to the point of what I can stand, but there is always so much suspense as the killer is chased, that I love the books. And the final victim that Rhyme is trying to spare has always, thus far, been spared, even if other people do not make it!

I did buy The Widow on Amazon. I appreciate that recommendation, december-fire. Now I will look into this book Dee*Jay recommends! Thank goodness for this thread!

Deb

 

[december-fire]

I just finished the best book I've read in a really long time:

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

A seriously good, honest, funny read. In the beginning it's easy to lose the good and the honest in the funny, but it will all sneak up on you.

Loved it!

I'll have to check that out. Thanks @Dee*Jay !

Just googled to confirm that this was a movie - I thought it was - I haven't seen the movie.

 

[december-fire]

Can't wait to hear what you think of it Missy!

I just downloaded One Last Thing Before I Go. Going from one book to another of an author that I love is such a double-edged sword because the expectations are so high for the second one... Kind of like dating both of the Chitwood twins in high school... but I digress!

One Last Thing Before I Go --- also a movie!

Soooo, the Chitwood twins, eh?
Will we be reading about them in your autobiography, Dee?

 

[december-fire]

I finished Precious and Grace, the last book in Alexander McCall Smith's series, then returned to another series I like. It is almost the exact opposite of that gentle book. All that the books have in common is that they were both written in excellent English by highly intelligent and well-educated authors (and both happen to be men).

I am now reading The Burial Hour. I have not read all the books in this series; I have probably read about six and could not seem to stay reading in order for some reason. It is by Jeffery Deaver and features a quadriplegic detective called Lincoln Rhyme who operates out of his Central Park West apartment. He is a former New York City Police department detective who got injured on a job and who runs an evidence lab from his home. The murders tend to be gruesome to the point of what I can stand, but there is always so much suspense as the killer is chased, that I love the books. And the final victim that Rhyme is trying to spare has always, thus far, been spared, even if other people do not make it!

I did buy The Widow on Amazon. I appreciate that recommendation, december-fire. Now I will look into this book Dee*Jay recommends! Thank goodness for this thread!

Deb

I'll be anxious to hear what you think about The Widow, Deb.
Hopefully, you'll find it interesting, enjoyable, or not a waste of money.

 

[Queenie60]

I finished Precious and Grace, the last book in Alexander McCall Smith's series, then returned to another series I like. It is almost the exact opposite of that gentle book. All that the books have in common is that they were both written in excellent English by highly intelligent and well-educated authors (and both happen to be men).

I am now reading The Burial Hour. I have not read all the books in this series; I have probably read about six and could not seem to stay reading in order for some reason. It is by Jeffery Deaver and features a quadriplegic detective called Lincoln Rhyme who operates out of his Central Park West apartment. He is a former New York City Police department detective who got injured on a job and who runs an evidence lab from his home. The murders tend to be gruesome to the point of what I can stand, but there is always so much suspense as the killer is chased, that I love the books. And the final victim that Rhyme is trying to spare has always, thus far, been spared, even if other people do not make it!

I did buy The Widow on Amazon. I appreciate that recommendation, december-fire. Now I will look into this book Dee*Jay recommends! Thank goodness for this thread!

Deb

Read the Jeffery Deaver books Deb - I enjoy the Lincoln Rhyme series.

 

[Elizabeth35]

If you liked Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah---read The Nightingale. I think it was far better than Winter Garden (which I am struggling through right now, not as engaging for me).

 

[missy]

Just received the hardcover book I am I am I am by Maggie O'Farrell. It's a memoir about her near death experiences. It was recommended to me by a friend so I am looking forward to reading it. I ordered a number of books recently that I have not yet started. I am good at buying them and not so good at starting them haha.

 

[Queenie60]

I just started "The Wife Between us" - will keep you posted

 

[Slickk]

I've been enjoying some historical fiction lately. I especially enjoy when there are concurrent stories being told, present day and past and they come together so beautifully.

I loved the Nightingale,by Kristen Harris
Just finished Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate. I loved it!!! So much so, it compelled me to do more research on the topic.
Another fave is Fall of Marigolds, by Susan Meissner.

Thank you all for the recommendations!