A Book(s) Thread

[VRBeauty]

Aviastar - the Miss Fischer's Murders series sounds like fun - I'll have to give it a try!

Zoe - Please give us your thoughts on the latest Bennie Rosato book when you've finished it. I used to devour Lisa Scottoline's books, and I'm pretty sure I've read every book in the Bennie Rosato and Associates series. But... the last stand-alone book of hers that I read (Come Home, I think) was so that I just haven't been tempted to try any of her books again since then. It would be great if she's back on track!

 

[TooPatient]

When I saw this I thought of dragonfly. I bet she would score extremely high on this quiz! My score was pitiful. It has made me decide to read Crime and Punishment, which I am long overdue on reading! (But first I must finish the Mitford series and read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.)

Deb/AGBF


BBC Quiz...http://www.listchallenges.com/kaunismina-bbc-6-books-challenge

Still love this quiz!

Just went back and did it again. Recently read a few more from the list. I've got another 4 of the books that came up sitting on my nightstand as the next books in line to read.


Just finished:
The Old Man and the Sea
Treasure Island
Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde (plus several more short stories)


Currently reading:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Up next:
Lord of the Flies
The Grapes of Wrath
Crime and Punishment

Oh!
Re-read the entire Anne of Green Gables series a few months ago. Love them all!


ETA: How could I forget!?!? I also recently finished re-reading A Wrinkle in Time

 

[TooPatient]

For more modern books, I also took a detour and got sucked into the Wine Lover's mystery series by Michelle Scott:
Murder Uncorked
Silenced By Syrah
A Vintage Murder
Death by Cabernet
A Toast to Murder

Need to track down:
Murder by the Glass
A Perfectly Purloined Pinot
A Killer Margarita


And, of course, The Cat Who....
Just finished up Short and Long Tails
Need to find the last couple of the series. I have all the rest. Just missing the last two. (not counting the last of the series that was never published as the author died)

 

[packrat]

Oh gosh, I've not read the Cat Who books in ages! I don't even know if I finished them all.

 

[marymm]

I really like it when I can run some series in-between stand-alone books and lately I've been reading the Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery series - not sure how I missed this series thus far, but am finding the writing, Southwest/Indian/Navajo setting and characters outstanding.

I recently started Zoe Sharp's Charlie Fox series - Charlie Fox is a strong, gutsy British female character burying/dealing with her past and confronting/investigating current problems/crimes happening around/to her - I'm only on Book 2 of this series but am sold on the lead character and the English setting.

And I'm on Book 2 of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series - it is better than I thought it would be.

Thanks to aviastar's shout-out, yesterday I downloaded the first in the The Phyrne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood and will be reading that soon. Yay!

 

[VRBeauty]

lately I've been reading the Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery series - not sure how I missed this series thus far, but am finding the writing, Southwest/Indian/Navajo setting and characters outstanding.

I loved that series! I was so sorry when Tony Hillerman died, as I was really hoping for more time with these characters and their story... but he did have time to leave the series in a pretty good place.

 

[TooPatient]

I need more hours in the day to read!

My stack of books to read next keeps growing faster than I can read. Oh, the problems to have

 

[Dioptase]

I need more hours in the day to read!

My stack of books to read next keeps growing faster than I can read. Oh, the problems to have

Welcome to the club!

 

[Dioptase]

I picked up "Liane de Pougy" by Jean Chalon. Her life was just seriously unique to say the least:
Born in a middle class family in French countryside, she became the most infamous courtesan of the Belle Epoque (Gilded Age) and star of Parisian society life, befriended people such as Marcel Proust (she inspired him the character of Odette de Crecy in his "in search of the lost time") and Sarah_Bernhardt while having numerous affairs with weathly men and women (her lesbian affair with the American heiress Natalie Clifford Barney was quite the delicious scandal at the turn of the twentieth century).
She became and authentic Princess after her second wedding to a Romanian Prince.
At the end of her life, after her husband's death, she rediscovered faith and became a Dominican Sister. Under the name of Sister Anne-Marie, she used her wealth to help abandonned children before passing away at 81.

 

[TooPatient]

Finished Lord if the Flies, Grapes of Wrath, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Currently working my way through a Hemingway collection.

Still waiting for me:
Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Great Gatsby
The Red Badge of Courage
Life of Pi

Plus too many more to list.

 

[VRBeauty]

I recently listened to "Emma" and "Highland Park" (both by Jane Austen) on some long drives. A nice way to acquaint myself with these classics, but that's enough Jane Austen for me for awhile.

So when I ran across "Me and Mr. Darcy" (Alexanra Potter) on the library's used book shelf, I decided to give it a try. Fun book, but with enough loose ends etc. to make it vaguely un-satisfying. Recommended only if you're in a very easy-to-please, just-roll-with-it mood.

Unfortunately I've finally caught up with Deborah Crombie on her Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series. Fortunately the next (for me) installment of the Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series will be coming out in paperback soon.

Have I already told you how awful I thought "Shopaholic to the Stars" was? Of course the whole series kind of falls into the literary junk food category anyway... but this one I wanted to spit out. The good news is I think I'm finally cured of this particular quirk/addiction. (Did I tell y'all about the time I was walking back into the office after a lunchtime foray to the library, carrying one of the "shopaholic" books, and ran into the Chairman of our board? She asked me what I was reading. I just said it was light reading - chick lit. I wasn't ready to tell the chairman that I was reading slapstick about a woman whose shopping addiction gets her into various escapades, rather than, say, one of the titles on Too Patient's list. Fortunately we were headed in opposite directions and Madame Chairman didn't ask any follow-up questions. )

Also read "the Wind In the Willows" recently. It was Inga Moore's incredible illustrations that got and kept my interest... they're fun and lush and just wonderful. I'm looking forward to passing this book on to my local elementary school's library come fall.

Thoroughly enjoyed "Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living" by Bailey White. The short vignettes - there are over 50 of them crammed into this slim book! - are just what I need right now.

I just started "The Perfume Collector" by Kathleen Tessaro. Never heard of it before I spotted it at a local used book store, but the lush cover caught my eye. I'm only one or two chapters into it - I'll let you know later whether it was worth my while!

 

[AGBF]

One of the ways my OCD kicks in (reference to phobia about jewelry thread), is when I feel I must list all the books I have read if I list any in this thread. I have tried not to be so compulsive, but it is hard for me not to try to remember everything I read since the last time I posted and to list everything! It actually keeps me from posting. Which is a shame because I like writing here and I like responding to others here and I definitely get my best ideas for reading material here!

I am on the 14th book out of 15 that have been released of Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Propelling my reading of the series has been my niece, Sarah's, love of it. (She has already finished all 15 books and she has a high-powered full-time job.) Our family is in New England, but Sarah has had to relocate to the Los Angeles area for her job, so I have been sending her books from Amazon as well as other things as "CARE packages". She is young and alone out there. I sent her the first two books of The Mitford Series, but it may be too religious for her. I find it sweet, but no one pushed religion on me as I was growing up, so I am mellow with it. I will let you all know if she enjoys it. I also sent her Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees. (I sent her older sister, who is married to a Senegalese man, The Poisonwood Bible. The older sister is very religious. She may find The Poisonwood Bible sacrilegious! I can't be in charge. All I can do is try my best.)

I guess by telling you about all this sending of books I am saying that I need to share my reading with others.

Deb/AGBF

 

[16ocean]

if there are any children of the 80's and/or if you like scifi "Ready Player One" was a fun read.
also "The Rosie Project", "The 19th wife" & "Boys in the Boat"(non fiction that reads like fiction). . . amazing!

 

[dragonfly411]

AGBF

I totally missed that quiz and am very honored to think you thought of me. Sadly I only got 49 on the rendition it gave me. I am actually in the midst of making myself a "You should have read this by now" list. The past four years have left a lot to be desired in terms of my reading coverage.

 

[dragonfly411]

To add,
I am currently working on the second to last in the Outlander Series, as well as a re-read of The Three Musketeers. I plan to follow that up with Atlas Shrugged and The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

 

[TooPatient]

AGBF

I totally missed that quiz and am very honored to think you thought of me. Sadly I only got 49 on the rendition it gave me. I am actually in the midst of making myself a "You should have read this by now" list. The past four years have left a lot to be desired in terms of my reading coverage.

49 is great!

My list comes from having gotten a truly horrible number and deciding I had better read stuff other than murder mysteries...

Did quiz again last night.... Still just under 30

 

[TooPatient]

VR -- that is hillarious! Life's little jokes... If you eat a pppyseed muffin you will be out of floss in you purse. Take a bite of a chewy, chocolaty treat and someone will walk into your office. Waiting all day for a phone call? Get to the front of a long line or hop in the shower.

Seriously though, I love the fast food books when I am,swamped with stuff. I am sure she would have understood. Seems so uncommon to see grown people reading any books lately. So many just have their nose in random websites or games.

 

[AGBF]

AGBF

I totally missed that quiz and am very honored to think you thought of me. Sadly I only got 49 on the rendition it gave me. I am actually in the midst of making myself a "You should have read this by now" list. The past four years have left a lot to be desired in terms of my reading coverage.

dragonfly-

You are inspirational. You really are. I have no idea what my score was, but I am sure it was far below yours. Also: I have not, yet, read either The Woman in White or The Shooting Party. I have been reading trash. That means things I find fun, things that no one would ever assign me in school. I should be ashamed.

Deb

 

[MarionC]

Oh gosh, I've not read the Cat Who books in ages! I don't even know if I finished them all.

OMG - I love these, but there are so many I can never remember what I've read.

I just finished All The Light We Cannot See and it was brilliant. & Not just because it has a diamond in it!

 

[TooPatient]

Oh gosh, I've not read the Cat Who books in ages! I don't even know if I finished them all.

OMG - I love these, but there are so many I can never remember what I've read.

I just finished All The Light We Cannot See and it was brilliant. & Not just because it has a diamond in it!

This is where my quirk of needing to buy books and keep them comes in handy. I bought them at Half Price Books on clearance for $0.50 to $1.00 each and then filled in a few at regular ($3.50 +/-). It is driving me crazy though! I have all but two of the books that were published.... MUST find them!
Then I just read in order.

It is too horrible that she does so the last was never finished and published. It makes me sad.

 

[VRBeauty]

Oh gosh, I've not read the Cat Who books in ages! I don't even know if I finished them all.

OMG - I love these, but there are so many I can never remember what I've read.

I just finished All The Light We Cannot See and it was brilliant. & Not just because it has a diamond in it!

This is where my quirk of needing to buy books and keep them comes in handy. I bought them at Half Price Books on clearance for $0.50 to $1.00 each and then filled in a few at regular ($3.50 +/-). It is driving me crazy though! I have all but two of the books that were published.... MUST find them!
Then I just read in order.

It is too horrible that she does so the last was never finished and published. It makes me sad.

I've read all of the "the cat who..." books, but I checked them out from the library. If you haven't already done so, be sure to read "Short and Tall Tales: Moose County Legends Collected by James Mackintosh Qwilleran." It's presented as the book of local legends that Qwil was assembling in the last few books in the regular series. It doesn't feature the feline stars of the series, but it is like a nice coda to the series nonetheless. I too was sorry this series ended so abruptly.

BTW, which two are you looking for? I'll keep an eye out for them...

 

[iLander]

I just finished Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend and they were fascinating!

These are about a level of rich we've only glimpsed here on PS. Not just a private jet, a private 747 with a koi pond and rock waterfall. Not just having a few Hermes bags, it's giving your servants Hermes bags. It's a staggering array of wealth written by an insider, a guy that actually went to school at one of the "right" 3 schools in Singapore, and he's not divulging his lineage or income. These books will have you running to google to look up jewelry brands that you've never heard of, because you can't afford $300,000 for a pair of earrings or over a million for a watch.

The English is a little formal, slightly stilted, but it's fascinating and I tore through them both (they really should be read together and in that order). Amazing the level of wealth that is out there.

 

[VRBeauty]

A funny thing happened on the way to the book review...

I think it was AGBF who introduced me to Goodreads.com, probably right here on this very thread. I don't post there often or even keep track of all the books I read there... but every now and then I'm moved to actually write something about a recent read. So it was a few weeks ago, when I read the most recent offering by one of my favorite authors. I was disappointed, and wrote a Goodreads review to that effect. I figured that was that.

Imagine my surprise when I started getting emails telling me that people were "liking" my review! As near as I can tell, it's now one of the top five rated reviews of this book!

Alas this "feat" is not likely to be repeated since I rarely buy new releases - I usually wait for my favorite authors to publish their books in paperback or check get in queue at the library.

 

[AGBF]

After an "orgy" (having just read what I did, using that word in vain makes me uneasy) of reading junk, I have finally settled down. The "junk" was actually highly enjoyable should anyone else be a fan of the quick-paced adventure/spy genre. I read the first four books by Brett Battles in his Jonathan Quinn series. Those included: The Cleaner; The Deceived; Shadow of Betrayal; and The Destroyed. Then I read The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty, which I actually don't include in in the "junk" category. I really love her books, even if they are not really literature. Her characters at least interest me.

Finally I picked up Chekhov's The Shooting Party and started in reading all the introductory notes and introductions! (It was there that I read that I would be encountering a true Russian orgy when I read the book.)

I was actually very intrigued by all the discussion of the history of the detective novel in the notes about The Shooting Party, since when we read The Moonstone here for our book group (does everyone remember that?) we read that it was the first detective novel. One of the introductory passages before my new book says that Dickens' Bleak House was the second detective novel in English after Poe's 1841 Murders in the Rue Morgue-and that Wilkie Collins, with his 1859 The Woman in White and his 1868 The Moonstone-was Dickens' protegé.

But credit is also given to Emile Gaboriau, the Frenchman who created Monsieur Lecoq, a detective whose story was serialized in France in 1864.

Since I quite recently read Crime and Punishment, which people have been at pains to point out to me has a character who is a model for the current television character Columbo, I am somewhat alert to these early models upon which our detectives have all been based. Fascinating. But I realize that I am late coming to the party and that some of you have been immersed in these discussions for years. So, please, share your insights!!!

I will discuss the actual meat of The Shooting Party as I get more involved in the book and beyond the introductions!!!

Deb/AGBF

 

[VRBeauty]

I was wondering why "Devil in the White City," one of my most memorable (in a good way) books of all time, is back on best-seller lists more than ten years after its publication. It didn't take much digging to figure it out and yes, it is being made into a movie. Directed by Martin Scorcese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

As much as I loved the book and as much as I'd love to see how they translate it into a movie, I'm not sure I can stomach seeing the movie. I'm just not much for horror flicks and gore. Then again, I can generally watch "Criminal Minds" on TV, so maybe...

One aspect of the book that captivated me is how it simultaneously told two stories - that of the building of the Chicago Exposition, and its use of (and contribution to) turn-of-the-century technological innovations and cultural phenomena; and the story of the budding mass murderer and how he grew. I wonder whether the movie will focus just on the latter, or whether it will also be able to weave in the former?

If you haven't yet read Eric Larson's book, consider getting it now so you can read it before you see the movie!

BTW, with this reprise, "Devil in the White City" has now been on the NYT best seller's list for 309 weeks!

 

[VRBeauty]

Just finished "When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win WWII" by Molly Guptill Manning. I enjoyed this book on several levels, and I think most book lovers will. The author masterfully weaves the stories of two different efforts to provide reading material to America's WWII soldiers together with an overview of the progression of World War II. The military realized that it would need books to help keep morale up, provide diversions, and to remind the men of home as they were sent first to hastily set up training camps, and then to war. The first of these efforts first effort was a huge book drive that asked America's citizens, as well as its libraries and publishers, to donate books for soldiers to use and read in training camps and on deployment. Although this effort was largely successful, it could not keep up with the demand for books, especially once Americans were deployed abroad. The second effort was an unprecedented coordination among several publishers to publish hundreds of titles per year in a special paperback format designed specifically for use by soldiers.

It looks like "When Books Went to War" is the first book written on this subject, so it's also based on original research. It includes a lot of just plain delightful excerpts from letters soldiers to the authors of some of their favorite titles, as well as letters to the council responsible for printing the books, asking for specific titles or (more often) just more books. These letters also provide a glimpse into the life of the WWII soldier - now our veterans.

For the past few years I've been reading mainly for escape and comfort. This was a nice way to tip-toe back into the world of non-fiction.

BTW it looks like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was one of the favorite titles among soldiers abroad, because it reminded them of home. Who knew? I read this eons ago, and remember it as very much a girl's book and tale. I might have to read it again from a more adult perspective...

 

[Dee*Jay]

So I am an avid (translation: rabid) reader but I feel out of the groove when I was studying for the CPA exam a few years ago because I knew if I gave words a chance over debits and credits I'd never pass. I started reading again about a year ago but I was having trouble finding things I wanted to read (???) and I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited thinking "It's *Unlimited*! I'll have all the books in the world available to me!" Yeah... no... The selection, despite the program name, is VERY limited and seems to be filled with books about vampires or sex (or vampires AND sex, more frequently). Not that there's anything wrong with either vampires OR sex, but my literary taste runs a bit differently that that. And of course there were books out there I *wanted* to read but they weren't included in the Unlimited program, and what's the point of paying for books separately when I'm already paying to be able to read for one set price... right? (See how my brain works?!)

Well I finally had enough last week and I ditched my Unlimited subscription and got a E library card. My books still come through Kindle (albeit via a separate process using the library site), but the selection is better (in my humble opinion...). Granted there still aren't all the books in the world available to me for free (I've been trying to reread The Once And Future King for ages now... but I can't bring myself to pay for it!), but the ones that are available aren't so vampire/sex focused, so I appreciate that. Right now I've got on hold:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
First Frost by Sarah Addison (started it last night; seems a bit like The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake so far)
Funny Girl by Nick Hornby
Magician's Lie by Green Macallister
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

And I'm on the waiting list for:
Bathing the Lion by Jonathan Carroll
Before I got to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Slade House by David Mitchell

Amazing!!! I used to spend more time on Unlimited looking for something I wanted to read than actually reading the book itself and now I've got have a dozen + things I'm excited about at my fingertips! It's like literary Christmas in my head right now!!!

But the point of this post (and yes, there is a point, ha ha!) is that I just read Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen yesterday and it was pretty good. Not the absolute best thing I've ever read, but good enough that I would recommend it!

 

[december-fire]

Just finished "When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win WWII" by Molly Guptill Manning. ... BTW it looks like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was one of the favorite titles among soldiers abroad, because it reminded them of home. ...

VRBeauty, thanks for sharing the info on the first book. Very interesting. I'll have to check into both the books you mentioned.

Dee*Jay, I've read two of the books you listed: Before I Go To Sleep and The Goldfinch. I enjoyed both books. My main source for ebooks is the Library. I'm not one for re-reading books, so I'd rather borrow a book for free than purchase it just to read once.

In case anyone hasn't heard about BookBub.com, I think its a great source for free ebooks and reasonably-priced ebooks. Its free to sign-up, and you receive emails Monday to Friday with about half-a-dozen ebooks, some of which are free. I recently downloaded one of free ebooks and enjoyed it so much that I purchased the next three available in the series. Yes, I know I said I'd rather borrow an ebook from the Library than purchase it, however these aren't available at my Library. Also, I was about to leave on a short trip and was worried I'd have nothing to read! Just returned and never even opened my Kobo.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I just finished Before I Go To Sleep. A little cliché at the end, but an interesting story!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I was sorely disappointed with Unlimited as well and unsubscribed. I do like Scribd and I still subscribe to it. At least I can read most of Discworld