Bunny's comments (member since Jan 07, 2009)

Bunny's comments from the Readers and Reading group.

I'll go for Rumpole any season - thanks!

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I may be a bit slow on compiling the votes this year. I just scheduled cataract surgeries for the 6th and 13th of January. I know it is a simple procedure, but still..... I cannot schedule an appoi..."

Cataract surgery is so much fun! You see all these pretty colors for the 15 minutes or so it takes. I saw pastels, but DH saw primary colors, which seems strange to me. The surgery makes such a nice difference in your life, too - altogether good.

Alias Reader wrote: "Bunny, I am surprised you didn't pick up the new Stephen King. It is a 1000 page book, Under The Dome. Some are comparing it to his great novel, The Stand.

I plan on reading it in January. ..."


I thought that's what I was getting!! OK, I've written the title down - next time for sure.

Schmerguls wrote: ">>I probably read more than this, but I keep just putting books back on the shelf haphazardly, and then I can't remember which I read<<

I have found that keeping a list of books read, and writi..."


A very good suggestion, I'm sure :)

Rosie wrote: "bunny,
I read Small Sacrifices some time ago,and while the subject matter was atrocious, I liked book. It was made into a movie too with Farrah Fawcett."

I hope the movie shows up again on Lifetime - Farrah would be good in the role.

You have to watch it - truly marvelous on every level.

I agree with you, Sherry - I've read mountain climbing books all of my life with no interest whatsoever in trying it out. They made a pretty good movie out of Into Thin Air - decent. I like mountain climbing movies,too :)

I finally made it to Barnes & Noble last Saturday - I've been down to the bottom of my TBR books for weeks but too busy to get to the bookstore. As a result, I bought a whole lot of books - I'm not going to get stuck again!

An illustrated, big book of Edgar Allen Poe stories - I haven't read them in a long time.
Small Sacrifices and Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule - guess I'm in a true crime mood.
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge - this is an author I never hear about but is one of my favorite writers. Erudite and amusing always.
Duma Key by Stephen King -
Winter Study by Nevada Barr
Land Girls by Angela Huth
A Bohemian Youth by Josef Hirsal - well, we'll see about this - Dada in all its' glory.
The Stone Diaries by Carole Shields - A Pulitzer Prize winner that I haven't seen before - looks good.
We All Went to Paris by Stephen Longstreet - an old memoir by a man who was in Paris when everyone was in Paris, one of the few eras I wish I'd been part of. The other two are Happy Valley Isak Dinesen lived there and the Beatniks in San Francisco.
dingley falls by Michael Malone - OK - this one will take a month. Hugh book.
Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner
Memoirs of Egotism by Stendhal - Back to Paris -
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, and more by Miss O'Dell - Groupie's memoir - love that stuff.
Aunt Dimity, Paranormal Detective by Nancy Atherton - the first two books which I don't remember reading, but who remembers this kind of thing anyway :)
Curse of the Pogo Stick and The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill - more lovely Laotian myteries.
In the Merde for Love by Stephen Clarke - new for me - looks good.
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom - Irish mystery

That should hold me until the New Year.

I bought a couple of copies of Sabuda's Night Before Christmas for the kids, and they are beautiful. Thanks for the tip. I hadn't been aware of him before.

Watched Grinch last night (the original animated version) and loved it like always :)

I'm in the midst of Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule and enjoying it, although the subject matter (killing one's own children) is not dear to my heart. This woman is crazy!!!!

I didn't read much in November as it was a very busy month -

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk - forced to read this by a friend, I somewhat enjoyed this tale of a man who pretends to choke on food in restaurants as one source of income. Graphic descriptions of bodily functions, interesting thoughts on heroism, maternal love, friends and sanity. Recommended for those with a strong stomach.

The Guinea Pig Diaries by A. J. Jacobs - a quick and enjoyable read of a man experimenting with his life, a concept I'm fully in favor of. He tests several ideas, i.e., online dating, outsourcing (I didn't know one could outsource the time consuming trivia of one's life, like letters to the editor) and following George Washington's 35 (I think)rules of life. He learns something from every experiement. I'm looking forward to reading The Know It All in which he reads the entire encyclopaedia.

The Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - this book was pretty fascinating on one level as it tells the history of the opium trade between India and China, probably in the 1700's. Several characters tell the story, each well drawn and interesting. On the minus side, I thought the book was going somewhere. The author hinted at a final destination throughout -but it never got to where I thought it was going, and I was disappointed.

I probably read more than this, but I keep just putting books back on the shelf haphazardly, and then I can't remember which I read :)

Donna in Southern Maryland wrote: "Sherry (sethurner) wrote: "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..."

I like these mysteries sometimes - think it's time for another one and this sounds good.

Schmerguls wrote: "Lois, here are the last seven verses of Locksley Hall:

Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us range,
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.
..."

I do love Tennyson, especially Ulysses, but this one is very, very nice.

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Alias, I have not read A FINE BALANCE and never had any desire to do so...and I found this recommendation very odd."

I thought A Fine Balance was just awful. "funny"? "inspiring"? I don't think so, not unless you find rape, murder, injustice "funny". Not unless you find no progress, no rewards, no way out "inspiring". Yuck!

We spent a weekend in Mendocino once and had three terrific meals, one especially at Cafe Beaujolais (sp?) They had sturgeon on the menu, which I had never eaten, so I was torn about ordering it. The waiter, who looked like a tall, skinny Einstein, told me that if I didn't like it, they'd take it back and get me something else at no extra charge. Ummmmm, it was so good!

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I watched and loved the Eric Ripert show that was on yesterday on PBS. I had liked the videos, so was not surprised. This episode was a trip to an olive "farm" in Tuscany and showed how the oil is ..."

I like books like that, too - it went on my list!

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:


I've read quite a few of them - never wanted to read The Road, Toni Morrison or Lord of the Flies - Those are too depressing for me !)

The most depressing 2 books I ever read were Too Late the Phalorope by Alan Paton because it introduced me to the concepts of racism and betrayal - really hurt me that these things existed. The second was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote because I understood that heartlessness existed, and there was nothing to be done about it. Shocking idea. Both books depressed me for life.

I finished Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, which I had to do because a good friend gave it to me for my birthday last July, so you can see I was in a rush to read it :) If one is very fond of graphic descriptions of bodily functions, this is the book for you! I did enjoy it on some level - absolute insanity and lots of imagination. Definitely liked it better than his Diary which struck me as rather mundane. I knew where the plot was going from page 1 practically and thought it a worn out plot at that.

Am now reading, for lack of anything else as I've been too sick and too busy to go to the book store, Sea of Poppies by Amitov Ghosh. It's a very interesting look at the British run opium trade in India. Several characters tell the story, which is OK. I like all of them and have no idea where the story's going and how they're all going to end up together. Definitely I'll finish it.

I am being annoying this week, aren't I.

I'm rewatching Angels in America all the way through - 3 parts tonight, 3 tomorrow night. It's so good!