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Library Bookshelf

Started by Marilyne, March 29, 2016, 03:20:53 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

CallieOK

Sue, the biography I found said Alabama.

maryc

Callie,   That is quite interesting that you made that connection between Bea and someone that you knew way back when.  I wonder if you all have read A Red Bird Christmas.   That one is set in a small Alabama town that might possibly be or resemble her home.    I didn't have time to finish the Jan Karon book before it had to go back to the library so I just put another hold on it so I can finish when my number comes up again.    I'll be interested in hearing how you like the Ken Follett book.  I haven't read any of his books since Pillars of the Earth.    Right now I'm reading another story about WWII in England.   It has a lot of similarities to the Maggie Hope Mysteries that I read a while back. 
Mary C

SCFSue

Thanks, Callie.  I think I read some time ago that she had attended the U. of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (our Auburn Tiger's fiercest enemy!).  But that was some time ago and I am not really great with my  short term memory since a bad fall a year and 1/2 ago.

Sue

CallieOK

maryc,   I'm not liking the new Ken Follett book as much as I did the others in the series.  Not sure if it's because I've read just about as much as I want to know about the battles between Protestant Elizabeth I and Catholic Mary Stuart in medieval England - or because he's writing in short simple sentences like so many authors do now.
I brought up samples of the first few books in the Pillars of Fire series and his writing style is much more to my liking in those books.

In addition to "A Column of Fire",  I'm trying to keep up with the book discussion over in SeniorLearn on "Barchester Towers".   It's also about an English Catholic/Protestant fuss - during the 1800's when the Methodists and other denominations were becoming popular.

Too much of a good thing??

"How To Find Love In A Bookshop" (Veronica Henry) and "The Identicals" (Elin Hilderbrand) have just appeared on my Loan List.

Maybe I'm on Overload   :crazy2:

maryc

Yes Callie,  Those old battles just went on and on.  For myself it is hard to maintain interest after about so many skirmishes. :(     I do need these lighter reads mixed in to keep me happy. :D
Mary C

MarsGal

#1085
I am still working on the Liaden Universe series. This one is hardcover, so I needed something to read on my Kindle when not carrying a book. What I came up with is Wind in the Willows which I never read. Nice story.

Marilyne

MarsGal, I've never read Wind in the Willows either.  Maybe your mention of it will inspire me!  :)

I didn't have a chance to do any reading at all today, so I'm still near the beginning of Standing in the Rainbow. Since I've read it a couple of times before, I'm in no hurry, and kind of like taking my time and enjoying it all over again. Definitely a story that would only appeal to those of us who are in our 70's, 80's or 90's, and can remember the years right after WWII, and through the 1950's.

maryc

I've just started a book that I downloaded to my Kindle from Amazon.   It was a deal from Book Bub.    The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street by Trevanian.   This is a new author for me.    It looks like a different slice of life from the '30s.   Here is a brief  review:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30889.The_Crazyladies_of_Pearl_Street
Mary C

Marilyne

mary - I read the review of The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street, and I can tell that I'm going to like it.  I haven't checked either of my library sites yet, but I hope that one of them has it.  Speaking of Irish immigrants in New York, my daughter recently read, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith.  She enjoyed it so much that she immediately went back to page one, and read it all over again!  It's been at least thirty years since I last read it, but she wants to talk about the story and the characters, so she's urging me t o read it it again.   

Funny thing about "Tree", is that I can remember when my mother received the book as a Christmas present, back in the early 1940's, when it was a best seller.  I was too young to read it then, but that copy was always in our bookshelf over the years, and I recall reading it when I was about thirteen.  It was likely the first "adult" book that I ever read, and I loved it so much!  Lots that I didn't really understand at that age, but I've read it a number of times over the years, and enjoyed it every time. 

maryc

Marilyne, it's funny you should mention A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because I've been thinking of re reading it myself.  I was pretty young when I read it also.   It was a good story and since reading several others about the Irish in New York I've thought it would be worth reading it again.   Also several years ago we went on a short visit to NY city and while we were there we saw the bridge.   I had to think while we were there of the many stories that took place during those early years  within the shadow of that structure. 

I wonder how many of the readers here have read the book New York by Edward Rutherford.   That was interesting though it went back many years before the great immigration.
Mary C

CallieOK

I think I've read all the Edward Rutherford books and enjoyed them.  I love well researched Historical Fiction.
Should reread "New York" - now that granddaughter lives there.

Marilyne

I also read New York, by Rutherford. I had forgotten a lot of my American History, so found the book very informative.  The Dutch heritage was interesting.   There was a movie out just a few years ago called Gangs of New York, that took place in NYC in the 1860's.  It was said to be an accurate history of the gang wars between the new Irish immigrants, and the NY natives, who were mostly from Holland.  Also used the real names of the gang leaders, and lots of corrupt officials in NYC government at that time. I had heard of Boss Tweed, but didn't know who he was until I saw that movie.  I think Daniel Day-Lewis, won Best Actor Oscar that year?  Leonardo DiCaprio, was also in the movie.  It was a good movie, but EXTREME graphic violence.

maryc

Callie,  Wouldn't it be fun to be able to get your granddaughter to read New York at the same time that you did so you could talk about it from her viewpoint.    It probably would be a little hard to pick out some of those places now as some of the landmarks would be gone but overall the general layout of the city is still there.     I know, I know it is dreaming to think that one of our grandchildren would have time or interest to be reading anything that we would be interested in but it's a nice thought. ::)
Mary C

CallieOK

maryc,  she is A Reader but simply doesn't have time to do that kind of reading right now. 
Recently, I told her about reading a novel set in the old Barbizon Hotel For Women  - now a vacant building.  She had worked nearby and walked past it on her way to the subway stop.

She knows I look up the Google Map street view of any place she mentions and "wander around" the area.   I even found her window in the apartment building where she lives!
She teases me about being able to find my way around if I visit.  (Not likely - and I would NOT do well in the middle of all those tall buildings so close together!) 

maryc

Callie, The Internet is a wonderful tool in keeping connection with our young family members.  I've done the same with my grandson who lives in Savannah.    I like to be able to visualize the places where they live and work even if I can't go there.  Our son drives truck and whenever he phones I ask where he is travelling  to.    I have told him that I like to be able to "place him in my mind" based on his destination for the day.  When they went to France this year he did a good job of posting pictures to Facebook so that we were able to enjoy the sights as they went along.
Mary C

MarsGal


Marilyne

maryc - I started reading The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street, yesterday, and could hardly put it down.  I can tell I'm going to like it.  As you said, an interesting take on the Depression years.  I'm just a little way into it, but I love his writing style!  I looked at his list of other books, but the only title I recognize, is The Eiger Sanction.  I haven 't read it, but I think AJ did?

maryc

Marilyne,   I've been getting behind in reading since the World Series started. :-[    Al is a Yankees fan but this year he seemed to be interested in following the Series so I got started and wanted to see it through.   I've had two books going at the same time so the reading has been pretty slow.  I did sit down last evening and read quite a bit of The Crazy Ladies.   It is good and easy reading.    The other book is one that my brother sent and is a WWII story in and around London.  I think I mentioned it before that it is very similar to the Maggie Hope series that I read just a couple months ago.   Anyway, since he thought enough to send it, I thought I would finish it.   At the same time I've been trying to construct a simple family tree for one of the great granddaughters.    She is 9 years old and seems to have such an inquiring mind.   I've thought it would be nice for her to see in pictures how she was connected to all of the rest of usand how we fit into her family.  When I was a youngster we lived in a small town that had many, many Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc.    I never really was able to fit them all into place on the family tree until much later in my life.  Maybe that is just a quirk with my thinking that I ought to be able to place every relative on their correct branch of the "Tree".   ;)
Mary C

Marilyne

mary - We usually don't follow the Series, unless the SF Giants or Oakland A's are playing.  However, I was rooting for the Dodgers this year, in remembrance of my father.  He was a huge Dodger fan!

I was curious about Trevanian, the author of "Crazy Ladies", and found a fascinating biography online. "Crazy Ladies", is actually his autobiography, done in novel form.  He spent his childhood, during the Depression and WWII, living with his mother and sister, in Albany.  As depicted in the story, it really was considered a poor slum district, during the time that he lived there.  Trevanian is his pen name .

maryc

Marilyn,  I hope you are enjoying Crazy Ladies as much as I am.  I like the reference to the Hit Parade.  That was not to be missed at our house and his mention of all the old songs brings up fond memories.  His mother was quite ingenious as were many mothers of those years.  I recognize some of my own mother's economy measures.😏
Mary C

Tomereader1

I know none of us lives on "Pearl Street", but to all our "Crazy Ladies" here, I finally was able to get the book from my library, and will probably start it tonight!  You all are making it sound like so much fun, I can hardly wait.

I have been so wrapped up in my f2f library book clubs that I haven't had a lot of time to post here or read any of your suggestions, but be assured they are on a list (that is supposed to be right here by my computer--ha ha!), but I looked up several,requested the ones they had, and will keep after them.  The cooler weather finally got here, only today a good bit of rain, which we need.  We were having 90+ degree weather for the first wk of November, weird! Now it's in the 50's where it belongs.  Guess the time change helped to change the weather's mind! LOL

Marilyne

Mary - I also remember listening to, "Your Hit Parade", every Saturday night for many years.  Very clever, the way he names four or five of the popular songs, on each page.   Some of the long forgotten ones from the 1930's, I now remember, like "Little Sir Echo", and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".  I had a number of things to do today, so didn't get any reading done.  It will be an early to bed night for me, but I'm going to try to read one chapter before I fall asleep.

Tome - Glad you'll be joining the rest of us "Crazy Ladies! :D  I hope you'll like it too. Be sure to come back and us know what you think? 
We're getting cooler weather here too.  Supposed to rain tonight, which will be a treat for us.


maryc

Welcome to the "Crazy Ladies" Tomereader.   It will bring back some memories.  I'm thinking of one story he tells about bouncing a ball against the house wall and having a neighbor shag him away.  We had a brick house next door that was a perfect wall for one of those games. ::)
Mary C

Marilyne

Yesterday I finished The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street, and I was sorry to see it end.  I really enjoyed it, and it's definitely one of my top two favorite books that I read this year.  What a great story teller Trevanian is, and he has a writing style that I absolutely love. The book is fiction, but is based on Trevanian's childhood, growing up in an extremely poor district of Albany, NY.  The time frame starts in the depths of the depression, around the mid 1930's, and goes through WWII. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post, he references the popular music of those years, and names so many wonderful songs that bring back memories.  One song that he mentions, is Little Sir Echo, from 1939.  That one really resonated with me, because we had an old wind-up Victrola at that time, and that was one of our records.  I looked on YouTube, and see that it was recorded by many bands and singers that year.  I listened to all of them, and I believe that our record, was the one by Guy Lombardo, with vocal by Carmen Lombardo.  His distinctive voice, and the bouncy rhythm of the band, sounds so familiar to me, that I'm pretty sure that this was the one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsOM3bgnBk&list=RDfrsOM3bgnBk

maryc

Marilyne,  Your thoughts on Crazy Ladies sound much like mine.  Funny isn't it how we can just stumble onto a good author that we haven't read before.  I've been a little bogged down with reading.  I shouldn't have started that one so soon because I had the WWII English one my brother had sent going but I just decided to take a peek into Crazy Ladies and got hooked. ;) .  Meanwhile the Jan Karon book that I had out from Library and didn't have time to finish came around for me again so I need to finish that before it's due again.  Oh well I'll still have Trevanian waiting for me as that is a Kindle book.  It's nice not to run out of good choices....just pushed me a bit.  Meanwhile I'm trying to get a beginning family tree done for our GGD for Christmas.
Mary C

Marilyne

Just now scrolling through Facebook, and I saw interesting posts by two of my favorite authors - Elizabeth Berg, and Fannie Flagg.  FF commented favorably on E. Berg's newest book The Story of Arthur Truluv.  I'm anxious to read it!  This is the first time I've seen FF's Facebook page, and I plan to "like" it, so I can return and see what she has to say in the future, about other books.  The page features her book, The Whole Town is Talking, which both maryc and I liked very much!  Highly recommended as a happy and unique book to read over the holidays, or to give as a Christmas gift.
https://www.facebook.com/fannieflaggbooks/?hc_ref=ARQC4eBgY7XpWZbwcgfBDomdWfWLc7P4bDIrXOQdsnAcLFdmMcw9XIi14k5i92v7vnU

maryc

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!    Just wanted to send an alert (if you hadn't noticed already) that David Baldacci's  The Christmas Train will be on Hallmark this Saturday, Nov 25.  This is one that I have on my Christmas book shelf.    I'm anxious to see what they do with this story.   Probably the usual "Hollywood" effects.  :)
Mary C

SCFSue

This is one Baldacci I have not read, but I enjoyed the movie last night.

Sue

FlaJean

I really enjoyed “The  Christmas Train” last night also.

Marilyne

I was looking forward to watching The Christmas Train, but I didn't realize that the Hallmark movies are not adjusted to be shown at the same time across the country!  Someone in the TV section mentioned that it was playing at 8:00, so I sat down, all prepared, and of course the timing was for 8:00 on the East Coast, and had already been shown three hours earlier at 5:00, here!  ::)
I should have thought about that, as Turner Classic Movies are shown the same way.  No problem though, as Train will play again this morning at 10:00.  So I'm set up to record it, and will watch it tonight.