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Library Bookshelf

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

Previous topic - Next topic

maryc

Marilyne,   I WAS enjoying listening to The Dutch House until the CD player on my laptop started acting up.   Before that I had tried listening with my little boombox and that seemed to have some ailment as well.   My last resort will be to go out and take a nice long drive in the car and listen to the remaining 4 or 5 CDs. ;D

The other book by Kristin Hannah is zooming right along.   Al always like to watch those reality TV shows about Alaska and as I'm reading this it reminds me of how self sufficient those people are who have homesteaded there.   It is a lot of very hard work just to survive and our characters in this book seemed to be far from prepared for that life.

I just spoke with my brother and he told me about a Trilogy that he is reading that sounds good.  It is called The War Trilogy by Diane Moody.   The write up about it says that is spans the years pre WWII to the end.  The first is called Of Windmills and War and quite a bit about the Resistance and getting  orphaned Jewish children to safety.  It is "on my list".
Mary C

FlaJean

The War Trilogy sounds really good.  I like stories in that time period.

The Paris Architect is also a very good book.  It tells a story of a Frenchman concerned about himself when the Germans take over Paris and how he is drawn into helping a rich industrialist in helping the Jews.  It has a feel good ending.  Over a couple of years I have read it a couple of times.

Marilyne

Jean - I'm also intrigued by The War Trilogy, and plan to put a hold on it at my library.  I've also heard lots of good things about The Paris Architect, so will order that one too. 

Mary - While you're out driving around, listening to The Dutch House, please stop by and pick me up!  8)  It's only a couple of thousand miles out of your way! ha ha   I'm so looking forward to hearing it read by Tom Hanks, but it will be months before it's available here.   I agree that The Great Alone, is a good example of the difficulty of surviving a Winter, in a wilderness/hostile environment. A good story, that I hear is also being made into a movie! 

I just finished another good novel, that I received as a Christmas present . . . Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens.  I recommend it as a good, fast moving story, that will hold your interest.  More on that later.       

maryc

Marilyne,I'd be happy to swing by for you listen to The Dutch House with me.  :o Wouldn't that be something!?  I've got one more device to try.  That is the Blue Ray player.  If it doesn't play right on that then it mush be with the discs.  I reached a certain spot and it started stammering.  So we'll see what happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing was mentioned here a while back but it just didn't seem to be available through my library system.
Mary C

phyllis

I'm about half-way through The Great Alone and I can't say that I am enjoying it but it is keeping my attention so I'll stick with it awhile.  It is depressing to me and fighting the winter "doldrums" is always a problem to begin with.
phyllis
Cary,NC

maryc

Phyllis,I can understand how The Great Alone could be depressing for some.  It's just that sort of a grey and rainy day here today as she speaks about in Alaskan winters.  The thing about this story that frustrates me most is the helpless situation of the daughter.

Oh and BTW I did get my audio book to play  on my Blue Ray.  The technology of this machine is amazing.  When I tried playing the discs that gave me trouble with my other equipment I got a message telling me that It couldn't play the disc but to check it for fingerprints.  Sure enough!  Problem solved!
Mary C

JeanneP

For those who enjoyed the book "Arthur Trulove"by Elizabeth Berg. Try to find her new one"the confession Club. I just finished it. Hard to put down .read most of it today and hated it to end. Some of the people from Trulove appear in it. I just hope she writes more using same town and people.such a good writer.

Getting harder now to find good writers. So many seem to be passing.
JeanneP

Marilyne

JeanneP - I'm glad you liked the Arthur Truluv stories!  You might like to read other books by Elizabeth Berg?  She has written lots of good novels, that I think you would enjoy.  Here is a page to click on, that will give you a list of her books. I've read a lot of them, and liked most of them very much.  Recently I read, Dream, When You're Feeling Blue, which was a good story of a family of sisters during the War years.  https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=elizabeth+berg+list+of+books&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8.

Last week I mentioned, Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens.  I thought it was a good story, and hope that some of you will consider reading it . . . I'd like to know what others think, both pro and con?  I think it's been on the NYT Bestseller List, for a while, but not sure?  I no longer get the list in my newspaper every week, like I used to, so I've lost track of the what's popular in either fiction or non-fiction?     

maryc

I had  a text today from a friend who is a retired librarian and a part of a writer's group.  She is on her way today to Charleston,SC for a writer's gathering. Among the speakers are Mary Alice Monroe and Elizabeth Berg. Two others that I'm not familiar with are Signe Pike and Kate Quinn.  That should be an interesting weekend.

I'm about halfway through Where the Crawdads Sing.  It's been an interesting though sad story.  It's always amazing to me how the heroes or victims (however you choose to classify them)  have such remarkable ability to rise above poor beginnings.  I suppose it's just the story of "opportunity".
Mary C

MarsGal

I finished The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh. What a disappointment. I expected a book that concentrated on the epic itself, not one that spent way too much time on how the person who found the tablets got pushed aside by the academics because he was a native to Iran and did not have a degree from one of their universities. Next up was a lot about the king who created the Great Library and a bit about him. There was a little about the library itself and only a little about the epic itself.

My new audio book listen is called The Marriage of Opposites byAlice Hoffman. I am only a few chapters in, and am enjoying it. This is the first Alice Hoffman for me. https://www.npr.org/2015/08/06/427830933/marriage-of-opposites-paints-camille-pissarros-colorful-family-history

My Ebook reads are Vindolanda by my favorite historian, Adrian Goldsworthy. It is his first novel. The other is Catseye by Andre Norton.

maryc

Finished Where the Crawdads Sing.   What a beautiful book!!!

Have started another by Maeve Binchey.  Don't know how I missed this one earlier when I read her others.   This one is A Week in Winter.
Mary C

Marilyne

maryc - so glad you liked Where the Crawdads Sing.  It certainly did hold my interest, and was a unique story.  A few things were a bit far fetched/unbelievable - but that's the way with lots of fiction.  You have to be willing to stretch your believability somewhat.  They say that "truth is stranger than fiction" - but that goes both ways.  Did you ever finish The Great Alone, and The Dutch House?  Both excellent stories.

I have two books that I checked out last week, but haven't started them yet.  Once Upon A River, by Diane Setterfield, and This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger.  As soon as I finish this message, I'll pick one and start reading until time to think about dinner.  It's now 2:45, so I have two hours!

maryc

Marilyne,Yes I finished both The Great Alone and The Dutch House.  Both of those were so very good. The Great Alone had some interesting stuff about Alaska.    I didn't know there was another book by Kent Krueger.  He was another author that I really liked.  I'll keep that in mind.  My current read by Maeve Binchey is turning  out to be a good read as most of her other have been.  I remember the first of hers that I read many moons ago was The Copper Beach.
Mary C

SCFSue

Some years ago now, I attended a "house party" in South Carolina.  Mary Alice Monroe came to our gathering and talked about her first book.  She was very entertaining and a good speaker.  I enjoyed her chat and also the others who were attending (including 2 men which I found surprising!)  I've continued to read her books when I can find them at my local library.

Sue

Tomereader1

Kent Kreuger's new book is a standalone, not one of his Cork O'Connor mysteries. This new one is in the vein of his "Ordinary Grace" which was a lovely book.  If you've not read that, I recommend it.  I have his "This Tender Land" but just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

maryc

Tomereader,I really did enjoy Ordinary Grace.  It seems to me that I just happened onto that title and it caught my attention.  Stories of those times I can relate to.  Some are a little ahead of my own time and others a bit behind but it's the stories of people like myself and friends that hold my interest.  I'm anxious to get This Tender Land.  I haven't located it in our library but I'm going to try one nearby.  That librarian seems to tap into responses outside of our area libraries.
Mary C

Marilyne

I started Once Upon a River,  but I've given up on it . . . at least for now.  The first chapter was very good, with a good beginning and unusual characters.  Then the next chapter was about different people, and not so interesting. I'm sure they will all merge in the next few chapters, but I just don't seem to have the patience to read anything anymore that doesn't hold my interest. (Is that a sign of aging?) ha ha  ::)

I'll probably start, This Tender Land, later this afternoon.  I also read Ordinary Grace, many years ago and liked it a lot.  I didn't connect the author, Kent Krueger, until I saw all of your responses here.  Now I know in advance that I will like "Tender Land"!

maryc - I've read a number of Maeve Binchy novels over the years, and liked them all, so I'm definitely interested in A Week in Winter.  I'll put a hold on it at the library.

maryc

It's been a few days since I looked in here and it is quiet.   I just returned the audio tapes of The Dutch House and Where the Crawdads Sing and the book The Great Alone.   Since I had them for three weeks,  I shared the tapes with a friend.  All were excellent.  Today I picked up This Tender Land.  It had been requested a couple weeks ago and came from a library out toward Rochester, NY.  I read a couple of chapters and it looks like a good story but I'm going to need lots of tissues, I believe.  From the beginning it reminded me of a small book I read many years ago called The Education of Little Tree.  That youngster also was taken from the home of his Native American grandparents and sent to a boarding school very much like the one in this book.  Ahh, the things we've done for  "betterment of mankind" !!  :'(
Mary C

CallieOK

I just finished "The Girl You Left Behind" by JoJo Moyes. The title refers to a painting belonging to a young widow that was bought from a "garage sale" for her by her husband on their honeymoon.  Her new boyfriend works for a company that returns art seized by the Nazis to the original owners.  He recognizes the painting as one in a case he's working on. She, of course, does not want to let it go.  "And the plot thickens"  ;)  A bit more detail about Nazi cruelty than I would have preferred but a story that kept me reading "one more chapter" instead of going to bed.

"The Dutch House" e-book just appeared in my Loans.  Planning on starting it tonight.

MarsGal

I have only three chapters to go yet on The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman which is a novel about Camille Pissaro's mother. She narrates more than half of the story, but then it switches to Pissaro doing the narrating in chapter 7. Much of the book is set in St. Thomas, Dutch West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands). There isn't a lot of physical description of the island itself, but the turtles, wild donkeys, and the vibrant colors stand out for me. The book does give some idea of life in the tropics, the Jewish community, lack of women's rights, and a light touch on slavery at a personal level through the eyes of the narrator. No grand or sweeping descriptions here to bog down or distract the reader, just enough to get a sense of the people and their lives.

I finished Vindolanda by Adrian Goldsworthy last week. He did a wonderful job showing what it was like to live in and around a Roman fort at the beginning of Trajan's reign. The story follows a Centurio Regionarius (Centurion who is on detached service as a criminal investigator, or other military and administrative duties) while he investigates an ambush which quickly leads to suspicions of conspiracy and treason. The battles are at once exhilarating and horrific. Not for the squeamish. The Roman cavalry auxiliaries got quite a workout in this book, too with a nod to the Brigantians, the Dacians, and the Spanish cavalry units.

His other two books in the series are on my reading list. The Encircling Sea once again finds Flavius Ferox and his small group chasing down conspiracies and rumors of war, but this time involving invaders from the sea. Ohhhh, the third one, Brigantia, involves a murder, a summons to London and a trip to the Isle of Mona (Anglesey, Wales), supposedly the last stronghold of the Druids. Forgot to say that Ferox was of the Silure tribes/clans located in South East Wales who fought against the Romans with Caracticus until his defeat. I just love the Welsh connection.

FlaJean

So many interesting sounding books everyone is reading.  I've jotted down a couple.  Planning to stop by the library afterwhile.

MarsGal

Okay, I finished The Marriage of Opposites. Interesting story. What a hypocrite Rachel turned into. She insisted on going her own way, going against religious bans regarding marriage as well as a few other things. But darn it all, if she didn't try to stop her son from doing the same. So what we have is the life of a headstrong girl who turned into a loving (and perhaps a bit over-protective and controlling) mother. Hoffman treads lightly through slavery and women's rights as well as the restrictive attitudes of the Jewish community on St. Thomas, and still managed to stir up my emotions a bit. The last several chapters were spent in Paris. This is very much a story at a personal level rather than a family saga, I think.

This afternoon I will decide what my next audio-book listen will be. I am also between books. So many to choose from. But tomorrow I will be downloading my monthly lending library ebook which will be the next in the Galaxy's Edge series. So that is one I don't have to think about.

Marilyne

#2122
Looks like I'm not going to read This Tender Land, until sometime in the future.  I didn't realize that because it's a new book, and there's a wait list, it was only a one week checkout. I got side tracked, with a book recommended by my daughter, called,  In Some Other Life.  She's fascinated by the concept of Time Travel, and has read countless novels dealing with the subject.  So far this is pretty good . . . mostly about the choices we made in life,  and how different things would be,  if we made a different choice in an alternate life.

MarsGal - I haven't read, The Marriage of Opposites, but I'm pretty sure I've read other books by Alice Hoffman.  Isn't she the author of The Night Circus?   I'll look it up when I finish here.

Callie - I haven't read anything yet, by JoJo Moyes.  I guess I should start with Me Before You, which I think was her first book, and was made into a movie.  Both my dil and grand-daughter like her books, and have read most of them.  For Christmas, I gave gr-daughter, The Giver of Stars.  Don't know if she's read I yet?
I hope you like The Dutch House?

maryc and Jeanne - Keep us posted on what you're reading?  I'll probably get lots of reading in on Sunday, while the Super Bowl, is going on.  I'm not a pro football fan, even though it's the San Francisco 49ers who will be playing this year.  I'll look in on it, off and on, but that's about it.

Marilyne

MarsGal - I just looked up Alice Hoffman, and see that the book I read by her, is The Museum of Extraordinary ThingsThe Night Circus, was by Erin Morgenstern.

JeanneP

Really been some good books recommended on here past few months I have been going by them. got off the computer and TV for awhile.  Right now I am readings"The Water Dancer" TaNehisi Coates Just started. About slavery in 1800s. Little different for me.
Its cold so staying in more. Hard to get to house cleaning in this weather

JeanneP

CallieOK

Jeanne,  "The Water Dancer" just appeared in my e-book loans.  My book club will be discussing it in a couple of weeks.  Will be interested in finding out what you (and anyone else who's read it) think about it.

maryc

Marilyne,  Since your daughter is into time travel stories she might like Time and Again by Jack Finney.  That was a good one I read several years ago.  
  I was surprised to get This Tender Land so quickly.I thought it would be a long wait.
  Today Debby told me about a good movie she. watched on Amazon Prime called Jane and Emma....or the other way around.  I may look at it later this evening.
Mary C

MarsGal

Marilyne, I tried reading The Night Circus but couldn't get interested. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is one I want to read eventually. Was it good? Not my usual kind of read, but Practical Magic looks like it might be fun.

FlaJean

#2128
I read "The Girl You Left Behind".  An interesting story but after awhile I found myself skimming parts of the book to reach the conclusion.  When I read a book by a really good author, I enjoy every sentence.  They just don't waste words in telling the story.  I think the book could have used a good editor to tighten the storyline.

maryc

FlaJean, You said that very nicely! ::)
Mary C