Sherry (sethurner)'s comments (member since Oct 28, 2008)

Sherry (sethurner)'s comments from the Readers and Reading group.

I just started a Nevada Barr mystery set in Isle Royale National Park. The title is Winter Study, and it is based on a real ongoing study of wolf packs in that park. She had another book set there, one of her first entitled A Superior Death, and that was the one that started me on the series.

Nevada Barr

Winter Study

I generally don't read Christmas themed books, though I enjoy re-reading Truman Capote's Christmas Memory story over.

Lois, have you read Let the Great World Spin?

I finished Song of the Lark this morning. It took ages, not because it wasn't good - it was very good - but because I had it loaded on my iPod, and only read it in spare moments. I enjoy Cather's writing, with its emphasis on place, and on the lives of both ordinary and extraordinary people. She also has a sense of place, and of how place shapes a person.

This novel is about Thea Kroneberg, a young woman with great musical talent from a little Colorado town. It traces her girlhood, early family life, lessons, travel and study, loves, and eventual career as an international opera star. I've read that it is the most autobiographical of Willa Cather's novels; it suggests something of the sacrifices an artist must make to excel.

I'm never sure how to interpret how other readers use the word "depressing." Is it not humorous? Is it dark or serious subject matter? Is is a tragic ending? All of the above? Many of the novels on the list are favorites of mine (Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, Night, The Bluest Eye) and while they didn't raise my spirits, they were well written and they did have themes worth considering.

That said, if I'm emotionally down I stay away from dark fiction, but I don't make a rule of reading only upbeat stories. My husband and I have a disagreement about The Road, which is dark, dark, dark. He thinks the conclusion is positive (power of love, capacity for self-sacrifice) while I think the author is completely pessimistic about humanity. Even there, the book is one which inspires discussion and provokes thought.

For what it's worth, I think Ethan Frome fits on the list of "depressing" novels. I declined to teach it in American Lit just because I thought the themes were beyond the maturity of my students, and I was afraid they'd throw their books at me.

Thanks for the mention of The Dollmaker, I've been meaning to read that for ages.

Oh Lord, I thought The Elements of Style came down from the mountain with Moses!

Schmerguls we don't aften read the same titles, but I was glad to see you enjoyed two I also liked, Stones for Iberra and Long Way Gone. The Judas Tree sounds so familiar, I can't decide if I read it or if it was on my mother's bookshelf. :)

Happy Halloween to all here. I'm celebrating by reading a charming YA novel by Neil Gaiman called The Graveyard Book. It's much tamer than you'd think from the title.

The Graveyard Book

I was interested earlier this month in a man who served with Father Damien. When I participated in a historical society cemetery tour as the wife of a local businessman, I learned that Brother Dutton, who had been originally a Yankee soldier from Vermont, ended up in Molokai. We have a local school named after him.

I finally finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog and went to my local discussion last night. There was a good turnout, and most people had finished the book -- not all. I was amazed we had as good a discussion as we did and still not reveal the ending. The group was split half and half. I like the parallels between the concierge Renee and the girl Paloma, and liked the way they developed and changed by the end. Some people were put off by the philosophical chapters, little essays really, or were annoyed by the cynical child.

Do you read the Readers and Reading message board regularly?
I check the boards once a day if I'm at home.

How often (per week) do you post a comment?
I couldn't guess. I try to chime in occasionally.

If you do not post comments, or post infrequently, is there a reason?
Overall I have less and less to contribute, since I find many of my personal reading choices to be out of the mainstream and many books I enjoy to be unappealing to other posters. It has been years since I have found a group who wants to read fiction together on a schedule and discuss in depth, but that was what I enjoyed most. I am not interested in many of the non-book threads, so I just skip them. I suspect I miss lots this way, but it's a way to cherry pick topics I find of interest. For that reason, I like the threaded format.

Do you have any suggestions for improving/changing the board?
No. Boards like this serve a social function, and sometimes provide ideas for title to try. I'm not sure they need to be much more. For what it's worth, I like Goodreads much more than AOL.

I also enjoyed Stones from Ibarra when I read it ages ago. I wish I could be more specific, but I cannot remember anything except my enjoyment. SHe wrote another book too, Consider This, Senora.

Harriet Doerr

Count me in as a fan of A Reliable Wife. I like something "dark and haunting" now and then.

A Reliable Wife

I have three books going. From the library I'm reading a slender little volume called My Jim, which is narrated by the wife of Huck Finn's sidekick. Those who are disconcerted by dialect, beware.

In the car I'm listening to a silly little novel entitled Hey Cowgirl, Want a Ride? written and read by Baxter Black. Two old cowboys find a curvy blonde near her wreck small plane. Who is she and why are people trying to find her.

On my iPod I'm reading Willa Cather's Song of the Lark, which promises to be the best one. I'm not far enough to report much, but so far it's set in Colorado.

My Jim A Novel

Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride?

The Song of the Lark

Lois, moon was an artist in residence at Beloit College, and that's where I heard him speak. Later I listened to PrairyErth and liked that too, though not as much as Blue Highways. I think it's a book that speaks primarily to Midwesterners. I still look for how many calendars (if any) are hanging in cafes.

PrairyErth (A Deep Map) An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country

Blue Highways A Journey into America

My DH just finished The Little Stranger and just raved about how good it was. He certainly had a couple late nights reading. :)

Oh, Travels With Charley is a favorite of mine. I think I just have a weakness for travel narratives. I think Steinbeck was ill with cancer when he set out on the odyssey - I heard Wm. Least Heat Moon (another regional and travel writer I like) say that he was inspired by Steinbeck's travels and writing.

Cheef, I have read most of what Dickins wrote, it's just that some of them were a while back. I don't think I've read The Old Curiosity Shop or the entire Old Curiosity Shop though. I took at least one grad course in Dickens. DH claims we both read Tale of Two Cities in a class, but I must have had some memory block.

I just finished the Guernsey and Potato Peel Book, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't as excited as some other readers. The characters are appealing, and I was interested in the history of Guernsey's occupation, but found the story a tad sentimental and predictable.

On the other hand I am blown away by the story and the writing style in A Tale of Two Cities. I know I read it in high school, but I must have been brain dead because I do not remember vast parts of the plot, and I certainly don't remember the wonderful language Dickens employs. It's horrifyingly violent, which must be why it isn't taught too often. Horrifying and riveting.

DH and I drove 400 miles north to Michigan's UP on Monday and got back today. Though the weather was sunny and warm, it really looks like fall is arriving up near Lake Superior, much more than here. That, plus they are an hour ahead of us, so waking up this morning I had to turn on a light - a real shocker!