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One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
16 comments:
At the suggestion of a colleague coinciding with a library book sale, I am reading Anna Karenina, and quite enjoying it--this is the first book I have read by a Russian author since Ayn Rand, and I'm finding it very interesting.
I'm trying to read Why We Buy (the Science of Shopping) concurrently with Why She Buys (which is about marketing specifically to women because they are apparently very powerful consumers who make purchasing decisions for themselves and for their whole household). It's been interesting thus far.
I enjoyed Rachel Dratch's book and I'm really glad she's found some happiness in her personal life (she unexpectedly became a mom at a relatively advanced age), despite some disappointments in her professional life. I believe she is also slated to co-star in a sitcom soon although I'm not sure if that show has been officially picked up.
I've read the blog-recommended:
The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers--How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death by Dick Teresi
and
Revenge of the Whale by Nathaniel Philbrick
and
Why Read Moby-Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Now, just so you know I can choose a book all by myself, I also read
Drop Dead Healthy by A. J. Jacobs.
All of the above were great!
Any recommendations for the next book?
Danika, how's "Anna" coming along?
Lisa, what's that book you put up for Employee Favorites at B&N? Mary might like that one.
Mary, glad you've found so many titles here. Did you like the Jacobs book? I seem to remember that Don has an opinion or two about that author.
Where's Don?
Hi Christine-
I liked Drop Dead Healthy! Like everything Jacobs does, he was over the top. But he has a relaxed writing style which is much like an extended blog.
I just finished Worth Fighting For (Lisa Niemi Swayze, Patrick's widow). She chronicles the cancer fighting, dying, death and grief of the last couple of years with her husband in excruciating, emotional detail. It was a good read, for the most part, but I couldn't help but notice a couple of passages that sounded an awful lot like rewriting memories to show them in a better light. And she mentions that they were married for 34 years at least a half-dozen times. It was a good enough read that I think I'll suggest it to the Hospice book club.
Lisa- If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!
Mary, I really liked Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes (that's my current staff recommendation Christine referred to)...but I question my taste in books sometimes, because when I first read it a year or so ago, I thought it was gonna become the next big book, that it would be mentioned by Oprah, etc. And none of that stuff has happened. I can barely get our B&N customers to buy it. But I thought it really summed up a lot of what has happened in America within the past few decades, realistically with just one family and some unexpected visitors they meet on Thanksgiving. The ending kinda blew me away because you know throughout the novel that something out-of-the-ordinary is going to happen, but you have no idea what it will be (you think you might know, but you don't).
Hey Christine, Don wants you to update more and then he'll comment. -_-
I'm working on Moby-Dick (Melville). It's a long read, but fascinating! After reading Why Read Moby-Dick (Philbrick), I couldn't think of a reason not to.
And, Lisa, I've put Strangers at the Feast into my queue. I just hope it doesn't have one of those Jodi-Picoult endings from out of nowhere.
Mary, I promise that although the ending might not be what the reader expects, it makes perfect sense. That's what makes it more effective, I believe.
Ok, just in case Christine doesn't update this month, I want to remember what I've read recently:
Rules of Civility (novel)
Swerve (Medieval/Renaissance history)
Lisa
P.S. Christine, if you or the girls are interested in seeing some set pics of MTV's "Underemployed," just click on my name.
Well, I finished Moby Dick (Melville). It was absolutely awesome! I can't believe I was intimidated by its thickness as a teen. I wouldn't have appreciated it then, I'm sure. It's a book that will require a re-read. I've always loved man-versus-sea, like Life of Pi, Wreck of the Whaleship Essex, Andrea Doria, Edmund Fitzgerald, USS Indianopolis, so on.
I also read two simple fictions by Hinsley, Plague and Ultimate Choice. They were free/cheap. Quick, fun, that's it.
Shades of Grey Trilogy. There, I've said it.
Christine, let's start a new thread & hope no one goes back to this one.
Please let us know when you're finished despoiling your brain, Mary :)
Danika-
Done. Totally done.
What is the literary equivalent of soap-in-the-mouth?
I read Lou Berney's Gunshot Straight, a free B&N download for the NOOK.
I was not expecting much (you get what you pay for, right?), but was pleasantly surprised. It had lots of unexpected twists which made up for the campy dialogue and predictable characters. Overall, it was a fun read.
Here's the problem: the ending was such a cliffhanger, and then the e-book offered the first few chapters of Book 2 for free (a series! and I didn't see it coming!), and I really would like to continue reading, but now I have to buy the next book. (Or read it free in the store.)
But what if this author turns out to be another Janet Evanovich?
The Birdman, Hayden.
This was a free B&N download. It read like an episode of Criminal Minds, but set in England.
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