Jan's comments
(member since Jan 12, 2009)
Jan's comments from the Readers and Reading group.
(showing 1-20 of 45)
Does anyone have a link to a site where new books coming out are listed? I had the link but now can't find it.
"Community of Living Things: Forests and Woodlands" and "Field and Meadows"
In that case, I would have just tossed them. :-)
That reader was more conscientious than I would have been. I would sent a check just for the cost of the books. :-) I sure would like to know the titles.
Jane Fonda was desperately miscast in The Dollmaker role. I picture someone more like Kathy Bates.
Any other candidates you can think of?
Yes. The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow. It was extremely depressing but is a book I found powerful and memorable. I can still remember how I felt while reading it.
Schmerguls wrote: "Looking at the blog "A commonplace Blog" I found a list of the 10 most depressing novels:
Scott Laming has compiled a list of the top ten depressing novels of all time:
( 1.) Cormac McCarthy,..."
I finished the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and enjoyed it from beginning to end. I am putting it up for consideration for next year's discussion list. I'm currently reading The Glass Castle. It is a memoir by a woman whose parents were quite odd, to put it mildly.
I'm still trying to find my way around this message board. After posting the above, when I went back to check on it, I couldn't find it. I hadn't remembered under which category I had posted it. Give me some time, please. :-) This is a great board but I'm all thumbs when it comes to navigating it.
I had heard of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society but the title was off-putting and I never did get around to reading it. Recently, a friend let me borrow her copy so I figured I'd give it a try. I was hooked immediately. I am reading it slowly, as I am savoring each and every page. I don't usually recommend a book until I have finished it because there are times when the ending was disappointing. This time I am recommending it even though I'm only about half-way through. It is a delightful book.
I just finished First Family by David Baldacci which I enjoyed very much and have started on Michael Connelly's latest, The Scarecrow. I've been in literary Heaven. Finally.
JanOMalleycat wrote: I don't usually listen to audiobooks at all; I just don't have the concentration when I'm only listening.
When I started listening to them, I thought it would be that way for me. However, it surprises me that I can pretty much concentrate on the narrative. If I do wander off, I "rewind" and listen again.
>>I now take my CD player to the library with me so I can listen to a couple minutes of an audio before taking it out!<<
That is something I never would have thought of. Great idea. Sometimes I pick up an audiobook at the library and pop it in the player on the way home; instantly I want to go back and return it to the library. Narrating books is truly an art.
>>What can I say, I am boring?<<
Not at all. Different strokes. In my opinion, The Given Day is made more realistic by insinuating the sounds of the native "Bostonians" into the flow of the narration. I have returned many audiobooks because of the poor reading and tone of the voice, but I found this one exceptional and am looking forward to another one read by Boatman.
"I am not crazy about audiobooks that are "performed".
I don't mean to belabor the point, but the Boatman audiobook I'm currently listening to isn't one you would describe as performed. It's natural, but truly gives the flavor of the book and the residents of Boston, where it takes place. He doesn't come across as acting the part, just reading very smoothly and interestingly.
>>I think Michael Boatman is an actor.<<
I didn't know that. I do know that I will look for other audio books he has done. It makes listening to the book a pleasure.
>>I have listened to a couple of Greg Iles and David Baldacci<< >>The narrators make the difference for me.<<
I believe both those authors have several readers. Do you have a preference? I'm currently reading The Given Day by Dennis LeHane, read by Michael Boatman. He is about the best narrator I have heard. He gives wonderful intonations and dialects appropriate to the book and has a very listenable voice.
>>JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Here is an interesting interview with Hallie Ephron and her collaborator<<
Very interesting. Thanks.
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Jan, did your library have the Ephron mysteries?"
The library system has all five, so I will do like you; start with the first. I hope it's even half as good as Never Tell a Lie. I'm currently reading Baldacci's latest, First Family. I'm enjoying it so far, and it is more detailed reading than NTAL, but now that I had a break, I'm ready for it.
The Peter Zaks mysteries by Ephron are available on e-Bay at good prices if anyone is interested. The books, in order, are Amnesia, Addiction, Delusion, Obsessed, and Guilt. I haven't read any of these yet, so I can't give them a rating.
I checked Amazon and found out that Hallie Ephron wrote several previous suspense books under the name of G.H. Ephron, along with a co-author, Donald Davidoff. I'm heading for the library!
