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Library Bookshelf

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

Previous topic - Next topic

CallieOK

Marilyne,  I think I've read all of the Ivan Doig books and enjoyed each one.  I'm not familiar with Montana - but it's enough like places we lived in Colorado that I can "relate".

A neighbor brought 5 "real books" :)  she thought I'd like.   I've read "Only Woman In The Room" (memoir of Hedy Lamar) and "Little Fires Everywhere", a novel by Cynthia Ng.  Didn't think much of the memoir but enjoyed the novel.

Finally got an e-book copy of Sally Field's memoir - after a long time on the wait list.  So far, it's about her anxiety issues wanting to cling to her mother and being sexually abused by her step-father.   I may give it up if she doesn't get past the "poor pitiful me" stage.  (Sorry - but I'm really getting tired of reading about 'overcoming terrible childhood experiences'...or not)

Off to play Bridge.   Have a Great Day, everyone.

Marilyne

MarsGal - I just now put a library hold on, Last Bus To Wisdom. I can tell, from what you said, that I'm going to like it. I don't think I've read anything by Ivan Doig, but the name sounds familiar? 

maryc - I also put a request in for The Gift of Years. "growing old gracefully", is a theme that I always hope will be an inspiration for me. If I like it, I'll probably also buy a paperback copy.

I just finished an interesting non-fiction book, called, An American Summer - Love and Death in Chicago, by Alex Kotlowitz.  As you can tell, it's about the ongoing gun/gang violence in the black communities within Chicago.    It's not a pleasant read, but it's important.  The author, has been working with young teens for many years, trying to change the mind-set and improve the hopelessness and the living conditions for these young men.  I would recommend it, if you are interested in such things.

Callie - We were posting at the same time, so I just now saw your message.  I'll return later with more comments.  :wave:     

Tomereader1

When reading Ivan Doig, start with "The Whistling Season".  Absolutely fabulous! :thumbup:

JeanneP

Glad I am learning about some new (to me) writers now. I think I have run out of the ones I have followed for years. So many new young ones but not all have I found worth following.
JeanneP

MarsGal

I finished Last Bus to Wisdom last night. For some reason, it the writing style reminds me a little of O'Henry. Maybe that is because the boy's nickname was Red Chief, like in O'Henry's short story, "The Ransom of Red Chief." The only question it all left me with is, since the narrator is the boy all grown-up, did he ultimately get his dream job.

Now I am on to reading Riding the Bus with My Sister, by Rachel Simon. So far, it is as captivating as Last Bus was.

Marilyne

Yesterday I took back a bunch of books that were either due, or that I had lost interest in reading. A couple of them, I hadn't even opened, but just felt like they had been around here too long. 

I now have, Time is a River, Mary Alice Monroe; Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens; All We Ever Wanted, Emily Giffin; Last Bus to Wisdom, Ivan Doig.

Sorry Tome, I would have started with The Whistling Season. if I had seen your message yesterday.  If I like "Wisdom", then I'll get "Whistling", next. 

Callie - your mention of reading a book by Mary Alice Monroe, is what prompted me to check out Time is a River. I couldn't remember the name of the book by her that you're reading, but just now looked back a few messages, and see that it was The Butterfly's Daughter.  They only had a couple of her books in the stacks, and I'm sure that wasn't one of them. I can always have it sent from another library in the system.

I remember that I liked the Sally Field memoir, but I've read better celebrity "tell all books", in the past. It did hold my interest, and like  many celebrities, she had an unusual childhood. Sally comes across as being so normal, so I was kind of surprised to read some of the things in her life that were far from the norm.

After I got home from the library, I sat down with Time is a River, just to make sure that I hadn't read it in the past.  No I hadn't, and yes, I got hooked on the story right away!

maryc

You all got my attention when talking about Ivan Doug's books.  I went looking and have The Whistling Season and The House of Sky from HOOPLA and from the library.  Meanwhile I had up OR Downloaded another audio book called Inheriting Edith by Zoe Fishman.  I'm concentrating on finishing that because it will go back first.  It a light but good little story following a common plot about a young woman who quite unexpectedly inherits a home at Sag Harbor along with the mother of the owner who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer disease.  I will get to the other titles soon.  Marilyne,  Time is a River is a good story that I think you will enjoy.  I'm including a link here to a tourist attraction/farm that we visited in that part of North Carolina when we were there a year ago.  https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+hill+farm+-+alpaca+farm+banner+elk+nc+28604&oq=APPLE+HILL+FARM.+BANNER+ELK&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l2.16010j0j9&sourceid=silk&ie=UTF-8
Friends of ours from here went to Boone,NC when they retired about 30 years ago.  When her husband had to go into a Nursing Home their daughter retired from her librarian job in Sacramento and came back to Boone to be near them. She found part time work at this Apple Hill Farm.   So while we were there visiting her parents she took us to Banner Elk to visit the farm. It is such an interesting place with alpacas sheep,goats etc.  It feels like you are on top of the world when you are up on those mountains.
Mary C

JeanneP

So many books you mentioned above soung interesting. Thing is I only read LP now and getting less and less coming out in LP.My libery seem to be buying more books by uknows authors. I see them on Book Bub list on computer for 99 to $1.99 .
JeanneP

Marilyne

maryc - I finished Time is a River, and you were right, I did enjoy it.  Mary Alice Monroes's books are usually good, and always hold my interest. Next, I think I'll read Doug's, The Last Bus to Wisdom.. Looks like I'm the only one who posts in this folder, who hasn't read any of his books?

I don't know where I heard about the other two books I have out - All We Ever Wanted, and Where The Crawdads Sing?  I don't think they were recommended here, so I must have read about t hem online. 

JeanneP - Many of these books come in Large Print, especially the ones by popular authors like Mary Alice Monroe.  If you ask, the library will often order you a book in LP, from another library in the system.

MarsGal

I've just put in a request for Deepak Chopra's Buddha, which is billed as a biographical novel.

I'll finish up Riding the Bus with My Sister this morning and then drop it off at the library. It is due back on Wednesday. While it is a nicely written book, it was a bit more drawn out (although not a long book) for me. It is the accumulation of a whole year of riding a bus, the people she met along the way and their varying reactions to her sister, and reminiscences . of their childhood.

SCFSue

Not long after I moved to Auburn, I attended a weekend at one of the South Carolina beaches.  I picked up a longtime poster at the previous Seniors/Friends (Joan-- can't remember her last name) at the Atlanta Airport.  We drove down to the weekend gathering.  Mary Alice Monroe was just becoming well known and she came over to our gathering to give a talk--and arranged for us to go into Charleston for a behind the scenes visit about the work she was doing with turtles at the beaches nearby.  I'm wondering if other of the women attending that weekend are still here on S & F?

SCFSue


CallieOK

Neither "Time Is A River" by Mary Alice Monroe nor "Riding The Bus With My Sister" is available in e-book from my library.   I'm surprised the M.A.M. book isn't there.

I skipped to the last two chapters of the Sally Field memoir.  I thought it was strange that she had never looked through letters. books, journals, etc. until she decided to write a memoir - and then didn't remember the events she found mentioned.

E-books on my Loan list right now are a Poppy Markham mystery,  "We Are All Welcome Here", Elizabeth Berg, and "When Life Gives You Lululemons", Lauren Wiseberger (decided I need a "fluff" book to balance the others.  ;D

I'm reading the 3rd of 6 books a neighbor brought me (about Sally Hemmings) and still have "Beneath A Scarlet Sky" and "The Woman In The Window" left.

Maybe "one of these days", it will stop raining and storming and I'll be able to sit on the patio and read while enjoying all the flowers my lovely family planted in pots, planters and as "fill-ins" around the perennials in the two flower beds.

Happy Reading, Everyone

Tomereader1

I am going to be a real pest, and ask again, is there any way to recover a post that just suddenly disappears?  I was spell checking, and it went away and I couldnt find it.   I would certainly appreciate help, I think someone posted on this subject awhile back, but I don't know where to look?  Help! !

Marilyne

Tome - I'd like to help you, but I don't know the answer?  I  suggest that you go to the computer Q & A folder.  Lots of people can help you there. >>> https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=8.1380

maryz

Somebody else once said it was "CTRL Z".  I tried it, and it worked once, but didn't the next time I did it.  It probably depends on why/how the post happened to disappear (which I usually don't know).  Good luck.
"When someone you love dies, you never quite get over it.  You just learn how to go on without them. But always keep them safely tucked in your heart."

MarsGal

I have that problem too, sometimes (especially when Shan is being helpful). Often I can get back to my pre-post by clicking on the forward button at the top of the browser. That only works if Shan or I accidentally manage to go back a page or two. I've never tried the Control Z function.

I've started reading Ben Franklin's autobiography and right away discovered that he was into doing his family genealogy, especially when he was in England. Franklin was the youngest son of seventeen children. The name Franklin is derived from freedman or freeholder. Yesterday I picked up the biographical novel about Buddha and read a few pages into that too.

Marilyne

Callie and MarsGal - I've been wanting to mention something about The Last Bus to Wisdom, that is of interest to those of us who are Great Lakes webcam watchers!  I'm about three quarters of the way through the story, and have just finished the part where Donnie's uncle tells him about his glass eye . . . acquired when he was working on an ore boat, that got caught in a horrendous storm, on Lake Michigan, near Mackinac  Island!  I thought it was quite coincidental.  I'm enjoying "Wisdom", very much, and will put in a request for more novels by Doug.

Callie - I hope you eventually get Time is a River?  A good read, although the basic theme has been done many times by other authors.  Elizabeth Berg for one, as well as other writers of women's fiction.  Nonetheless, the storyline  holds your interest, and the characters are likable.

maryc

Just finished All We Ever Wanted by Emily Griffin.   It was a quick read with a good message but it seemed to get kind of like a soap opera in places. ;)   Now back to This House of Sky by Ivan Doig.
Mary C

MarsGal

#1758
I gave up on Deepak Chopra's Buddha real quick. It didn't suit me. Then I started one of Paul Ceohlo's books, title is something like By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept. It was about what I expected and dislike it even more than The Alchemist.  I even tried Herman Hess's Siddartha in audio book form. Now that one it took a little longer for me to dislike. The narrator was soft spoken and the narrative almost poetic. Part of it's poem-like charm was a certain repetitiveness of phrases, but the is getting old. Also, I have no way to bookmark where I stopped in the YouTube offering, so when I stop and go back into the program later, it starts back the beginning again.

I am about to give up on trying to read a fictional book where the character is into self-improvement. I remember reading, years ago, The Celestine Prophesy which I may actually have finished. It didn't make much sense to me. It was another of the mystical quest for self awareness and improvement that was recommended reading for managers. I have come to the conclusion that I have a natural aversion to this kind of writing.

Ben Franklin's autobiography is much more to my liking. He does include commentary on how he constantly sought ways to improve himself and his situation in life. I know there are novels out there where characters seek to do the same without going all mystical/metaphysical or how-to preachy, but I can't seem to find them in my Google searches.

Jack McDevitt's latest in the Alex Benedict series has dropped into my library (I had it pre-ordered). He is one of my favorite SciFi writers.

Marilyne

#1759
MarsGal - I've read a number of books by Deepak Chopra, over the years, and always enjoyed his writing.  Most were self help or suggestions/outlines for achieving a rewarding life, or afterlife.  When I've seen him interviewed, or speaking on TV, he always grabs my attention and holds it.  A very calming voice, almost mesmerizing,  I haven't seen him speak in well over ten years, so I'm sure he looks much older now - but still with the same message.

I also remember reading, The Celestine Prophecy, when it first came out and was so popular.  It must not have impressed me either, as I don't remember what the "prophecy" was?   ::)

Maryc - I have, All We Ever Wanted, but I haven't started it yet.  Instead I'm reading another one that you recommended . . . The Gift of Years, by Joan Chittister.  I opened it yesterday and read the first chapter, called "Regret", and I was hooked.

Callie - I'm curious if you have read, You Are all Welcome Here, by Elizabeth Berg?  That was the first book I read by Berg, and I was quite taken with it - especially since it was based on a true story.  I remember the polio epidemics that came around every summer when I was growing up.  I knew a number of children who got the dreaded disease, but only one who was in an iron lung.  She only survived for a few years.     

JeanneP

Mary. I have all I ever Wanted here also. Will be next read. Right now reading Emily giffins First Comes Love. Not to bad. Sort of jumps between to sister. reminds me of my two. Just never got along it seemed.

I remember watching Deepak Chopra on TV years ago. Never did like him and so I doubt I could read his books.

TV is so bad these days. Special the Public TEl stations. They seem to be showing so many shows that have been on before. All kinds. Some the people in them have been dead for ages. I do see some new ones coming up in June on lots of stations. Just to many Crime and Medical for me.
JeanneP

CallieOK

Marilyne,  I recently finished "We Are All Welcome Here" - probably the 12th book I've read by Elizabeth Berg.
I thought it was interesting how she told a story about the effects of racism by contrasting a paralyzed polio survivor's experiences with those of a black person.

I'm currently reading "Unsheltered" by Barbara Kingsolver.  Blurb about the book on the library website says"  Unsheltered is the compulsively readable story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum in Vineland, New Jersey, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future. I'm just now getting into the story of the earlier couple.  Good so far.

As usual, this was one of several books I had On Hold that appeared in my Loans at the same time.  The other two are by Jodi Thomas and Susan Mallery.  Will probably finish each of them in a "one more chapter" session  :) .

JeanneP

After Eliz. Berg passed her son finish writing a book that she was working on. It wasn't that good. Can't think of the name. I haven't seen any more from him. She was a good writer.
JeanneP

Marilyne

JeanneP - Elizabeth Berg, is still very much alive and well. I visit her Facebook page often, and enjoy reading her messages there.  Here is a link to her page. Click on it, and read what she has to say about her books, and about her life.
https://www.facebook.com/bergbooks/

MarsGal

I am still reading on Ben Franklin's biography and have started Octavia Gone, Jack McDevitt's new book.

Next on my reading list for the second half of the month are two books featuring walks or walking. For the non-fiction I chose The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctica 1910-1913, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who was one of the survivors of Scott's last expedition. For the novel I chose Claire Cook's The Wildwater Walking Club. It turns out that this is the first of a series.

maryc

This is my third attempt to reply here.   The first time I was interrupted  by the telephone and the other two flew away before I could get them posted.  ;D
Mars Gal and Marilyne,  I've enjoyed The Gift of Years in reading just a chapter at a time and sometimes going back and rereading  a chapter more than once and marking my special places.   We've used a couple of chapters for discussion in our Bereavement group.   I've liked Deepak Chopra's writing ever since I discovered him many years ago in Family Circle or Woman's Day.   Those magazines introduced me to many writers that I read over the years.   They used to offer some very good articles.  Not so much any more.
JeanneP,   Since you have already read some of Emily Griffin,  You likely will like All We Ever Wanted.  Her style of writing really pulled you along into the story.
I'm enjoying Ivan Doig's This House of Sky.   His style is so poetic and as he writes about his parents I feel as though that is the way I would like to tell my parent's
story if I could write.  He speaks of them with such fond affection. 
Callie,  The book you mentioned by Barbara Kingsolver sounds like one I would like.  I'll make a note of it.....before I forget it!! ::)
Mary C

JeanneP

#1766
Marilyne
Think I am wrong in the Name. Now who am I thinking off. A Irish writer. Just can't think of her name. Wrote so many books. Will come to me soon. There was a son who finished her last book. Will hit me as I am laying in bed.
A thought , am I thinking of Maeve Binchy? I loved all her books. Shocked when she died.
Isnt Berg the one who has a lot of Children.? Been reading so long I am forgetting the old time writers....
JeanneP

SCFSue

Jeanne, Maeve Binchy wrote a lot of very interesting books set in Ireland.  I enjoyed reading lots of them, although I never bought one.  My library had most of them in stock.

SCFSue

Tomereader1

Hope everyone is enjoying a serene and lovely Mother's Day.  Actually was able to  celebrate yesterday, went to an exquisite Concert by the New Life Symphony Orchestra (Callie you have probably heard them or heard of them).  The music was awesome.  "The Flower Duet" from the opera Lakme was sung by Crystal Dugger and Mindy Dennison.  I have heard many versions of this gorgeous duet, by world-renowned sopranos, but these two were the best I've heard. Absolutely flawless.  Brought tears to my eyes. After the concert, my daughter, my dear friend and I went for dinner.  An all-around wonderful Mother's Day, we celebrated each other as we're all 3 mothers!

JeanneP

Just got the name of 5 book I think I would like. A lost always comes out in sundays paper. I will go into library Site soon and see if can find any of them. Doubt will be in LP. Very seldem do the ones printed show up.
Still pouring down here. Going to stay in PJs and read..
JeanneP