I started a new thread with the same name for us.

The old one was closed.

I did this because I was told when this thread gets too large it is difficult to go back and find particular posts.

You will not be able to post in a closed thread.

I decided to try something different for our trip; I'm only taking old New Yorkers and books to read on my iPod Touch. I've discovered that I like reading on the little backlit screen, and that I can get oodles of free public domain books to keep me out of trouble. It looks like I'll be continuing to read A Tale of Two Cities in this new format, and also an old ghost story - Topper. Remember the television show anyone?

I am also continuing to read Mockingbird (ho hum) and The Help in traditional format.

Topper

Yes, I remember Topper. And as much fun as it was the original movie was even sharper. Still good for a laugh.

Barbara

Sherry, A Tale of Two Cities is a book that I would put in my top 5 all time great reads list. The classically beautiful writing that opens and closes the book. I love the soaring themes, the great story and the interesting characters . What more can one want? I think I must have at least 5 different editions of the book. Though I will admit the use of online notes helped to bring out all the little tidbits that would have gone over my head.

I agree with you about Mockingbird, I've read 100 pages, but decided to put it aside for a bit. There just is not enough meat to this book, imo.

I am now reading Idiot America: how stupidity became a virtue in the land of the free by Charles P. Pierce. I'm on page 43 and enjoying the authors acerbic wit.

Sherry said: "I am also continuing to read Mockingbird (ho hum) and The Help in traditional format."

Sherry, I like to carry old magazines to read when I'm traveling. They're so portable and easy to leave behind!

I just ordered The Help from Amazon. I can't remember where I heard of it. Perhaps it was the Readers and Reading board.

Jan O'Cat

Oh crud, the link for The Help is wrong in my last post. AOL won't let me use the Add book/author link, so I do the html brackets and sometimes they come out wrong. Cest la vie. Maybe I'll change over to Safari later and edit it.

Jan O'Cat

Alias said: "The classically beautiful writing that opens and closes the book. I love the soaring themes, the great story and the interesting characters . "

I can't think of another book that begins and ends with such great quotes. And what a hero in Sidney Carton!

Jan O'Cat

I am still reading Meredith's Treasure - Philip Harbottle.

Mountain Peak seemed almost asleep - a sweltering little township in the shadow of impersonal mountains, soaking in the torrid Arizona sunlight until every board was warped, and every trace of paint had been blistered. Few had the energy - especially during the summer - to do any repairs. The inhabitants of Mountain Peak were apprently content to drowse the grilling hours away.

I'm closing in on the end of The Poisonwood Bible and will get to start Mockingbird tonight or tomorrow.

One thing I always regret about reading a book so far after everyone else is the lack of opportunity to discuss and collude over things. There have been several little niggling things that bothered me in The Poisonwood Bible.
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The section below contains at least two HUGE spoilers and probably many smaller ones! You're warned!

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Like I've just read a section from Rachel (the eldest sister, vain and shallow) in which she says "there was a moment there when I could have grabbed her or something" about Ruth May getting snakebit. Is this the literal truth--that there was a moment when she could have saved her--or is it just guilt thoughts, such as Leah has about taking Ruth May out with them to begin with?

And about Adah getting over her lameness: do you think this is possible? I have trouble believing it in two respects, (a) that a child could be actually crippled by a family's beliefs about her, and (b) that after 18 or so years of being physically disabled, she could be cured by a program of retraining her body and not believing herself lame.

Wouldn't a child who is so frustrated by always being slow and behind, and who isn't actually physically disabled, eventually use her "bad" leg and arm, at least in some way? Or, wouldn't a leg and arm (not to mention spine, pelvis, etc.) that aren't used from birth through full development, have atrophied to the point of not being fully redeemable? Elective mutism I can accept. Elective physical limitations, even if unconscious, are harder.

I do understand that Adah's limitations are a metaphor for the life of the mother and girls in their father's house, but this part of the story was hard for me to swallow. I'm sure Kingsolver wouldn't have included it if she didn't have some foundation in research, but still.

I was also upset that after the hunt, Ruth May's death, the women leaving the house, Lumumba's assassination, and drastic world changes in every way, that there's no mention of Nelson (the "houseboy" for lack of a better word) until a short update paragraph well along. He was a vital element in the survival of the family and Leah's and Adah's developing understanding of the Congo. He was a protege of Anatole. He's a main character, but for hundreds of pages he just drops off the page. There are reports of other members of the village, one of Leah's children is named after a fallen playmate, but Nelson is just gone. It's so odd that at first I thought I was being set up for him to come back in some surprising way, but it doesn't seem to be happening--keeping in mind that I have another 50 or so pages to go.

These are just things that are bothering me and that I'd normally rely on our discussion here to explicate. It's still a good book. I'll write later about how I dated a guy from Congo/Zaire when I was in high school. It was right at the time that the Congo became Zaire. I've thought of him through every page of this book.

Jan O'Cat

Jan, I read it so long ago, I don't have much recall of the plot at this time. I do know I have so many notes in my copy that I refuse to lend it out.

I recall doing research on the Internet about Lumumba.

I tend to underline words and look for a theme. If you take just the first few page of the novel.
Ruin, pale, doomed, damnation, the forest eats itself, killing, disaster, hunger, apocalypse etc. It is like a drum beat of impending doom as they dot the page. A sort of Greek chorus.

I took out my copy and see on page 7 okapi is mentioned. I printed out a picture of this animal. It is a crazy quilt looking thing. It is mentioned again on 541. :)

It was a 5 star book for me.

It's too bad aol doesn't let you go back to posts. I think the discussion for this was on the old Oprah board. A huge plus with GR is you can go back easily and find the posts for a book.

Finally finished Meredith's Treasure - Philip Harbottle. Now I am gonna carry on readin Over The Edge - Jonathan Kellerman.

Sherry (sethurner) wrote: "It looks like I'll be continuing to read A Tale of Two Cities in this new format, and also an old ghost story - Topper. Remember the television show anyone? "

This was one of the old movies i watched in my "Days of Torpidity" during my illness. It crackled...and *sigh* to Cary Grant. I remember the old tv show but don't know if we actually watched it or recall only being aware of it.

deborah

I am also reading Black Maria, M.A. - John Russell Fearn.

OK, am I the only one getting confused with Archived posts. I'm finally figuring it out. Anyway, I just caught up with the ARCHIVED version of this topic.

JAN & BOBBIE.. I'm surprised to hear both of you started your careers at 40. I just pictured Jan as a long time teacher and Bobbie in a lifetime of politics. It's so interesting to learn more about all of you.
Jan.. I worked in bars/restaurants for years and really enjoyed it.

Tricia, who is only on Chapter 11 of Little Women but won't give up.

Traveler said: "I just pictured Jan as a long time teacher"

Are you saying you pictured me old, Traveler?

Jan O'Cat

Tricia, as I am 73 yrs. old and I became really politically active around 40 it kind of feels like a lifetime to me. LOL

Barbara

Bobbie57 wrote: "Tricia, as I am 73 yrs. old and I became really politically active around 40 it kind of feels like a lifetime to me. LOL

Barbara"

I became politically active at 15 when I was a "Teen Dem" working on JFK's campaign.

Since then, I have changed my party affiliation more times than I can count, depending on where I lived (if I needed to belong to a certain party in order to vote in the primary, especially if the primary is where the winner of the general election was really decided) and how pissed off I am at the party in power!

I have just finished Hey There

by Robert Randisi
It's the third book in the Rat Pack series, and I've enjoyed them all. They are set in the early 60's when the Rat Pack was in their hey day in Vegas. They are entertaining for what they intend. I think I have one more that's been published but I have not read yet.

Donna in Southern Maryland

Now, Now Jan.. you know I think of you as a frisky, young little kitty!!! :-)

Traveler wrote: "Now, Now Jan.. you know I think of you as a frisky, young little kitty!!! :-)"


:::::batting at Tricia's shoelaces::::::

Just finished a delightful book called Black Maria, M.A. - John Russell Fearn. Will now read The Shape of Murder - J.F. Straker. These are from Linford Mystery Library series.

Arthur Banning hummed nervously to himself as he trotted down the steps of the office block in which the Croydon branch of London and Provincial Properties Limited was housed. At street-level he paused to look back. The sun was a dull red ball in a darkening sky, and the wide entrance to the building lay in the shadow. In the years that he worked for LAPP he had been up and down those steps many thousands of times, but he could not recall ever before having experienced any emotion other than boredom in the process. Now it was different. Now he was full of emotions; fear at what he had done, exhilaration at what he was about to do, doubt of his ability to do it. At forty-eight , and steeped in the routine of job and home, a man does not take easily to adventure.

Entertainment Weekly (being the fine literary magazine that it is:), is claiming a book called This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper is a shoe-in for book of the year. It looks interesting although I haven't heard of the author. He has written previous novels including How to Talk to a Widower and Plan B. Have any of you heard of him?

Sadly, they also gave South of Broad by Pat Conroy a C. I hope they are wrong as I'm looking forward to reading this when I get it on hold from the library.
Becky

I read a negative review of the new Conroy book too. I'm going to read it, and I hope I don't agree with the reviewer.

Kate

The Conroy book was GREAT. But what do I know? I do not write for that fine literary publication, EW ;-)

I absolutely LOVED "South of Broad". No one does (or can get away with) florid language like Conroy can. And the man can tell a story! I see nothing confusing or similar about the two descriptions by Tom Wingo and Leopold Bloom that the reviewer in EW cited.....but like I said, what do I know?

I could not put the book down. I read an ARC and plan to buy the hardcover in a few days.

Glad to hear this JoAnn! I have the book coming from Amazon and can hardly wait. T he only thing that would have made it better was a July release. My reading time slows way down once school starts.

Kate

kate/Edukate12 wrote: "Glad to hear this JoAnn! I have the book coming from Amazon and can hardly wait. T he only thing that would have made it better was a July release. My reading time slows way down once school starts..."

Kate, I read Conroy's BFB in just three days. When do you return to school?

I cannot guarantee that you will love it like I did, but none of the things that bothered critics were bothersome for me.

Once August comes around I'm at school almost every day preparing the room, etc. I missed last week because my brother was here from NJ, but I did get the room ready before he came. Teachers officially go back on Aug 20, the kids come on Aug 24th.

Kate

He has written previous novels including How to Talk to a Widower and Plan B. Have any of you heard of him?

How to Talk to a Widower is a quick, light read...I read it over a year ago and remember only laughing at bits and pieces of it....some comedy, some painful moments...the reality of life.

Lois

Tropper's books that I have read include The Book of Joe, How to Talk to A Widower, and Everything Changes. I passed on Plan B, which did not appeal to me. I will probably try his new book. Of the three I have read, The Book of Joe is my favorite and Everything Changes was just so-so.

Deb/Madrano, I know one of your favorite books is The Universe Below


So I thought you might be interested in a show that premiers tonight on Nat. Geo. it's called Drain the Ocean.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/ep...

Kate, I know I have probably said this before but I am always surprised that the kids in Ohio go back to school so early. A few years ago, it became state law that public schools in MI go back after Labor Day (to help the tourism industry) so my kids don't go back until September 8!

I knew the southern schools went back early but never knew so many other schools go back early.

Kim, when do your kids finish the school year? If you tell me the first week in June I'm going to be very, very jealous. We'll get out this year around June 5th.

Kate

Our kids here in GA started last Friday, and we do not have year round school. Entirely too early.

Barbara, I know you like to read NY books. I saw this advertised in the Book Review and thought I would pass along the title to you. I've added it to my TBR list.

http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Boo...

The New York Times' Book of New York: Stories of the People, the Streets, and the Life of the City Past and Present (Hardcover)
by James Barron (Editor), NY Times (Editor), Anna Quindlen (Introduction)

Product Description
This unique volume uncovers the most fascinating and compelling stories from The New York Times about the city the paper calls home.

More than 200 articles and an abundance of photographs, illustrations, maps, and graphs from the preeminent newspaper in the world take a look at the history and personality of the world's most influential city. Read firsthand accounts of the subway opening in 1904 and the day the Metrocard was introduced; the fall of Tammany Hall and recurring corruption in city politics; the Son of Sam murders; jazz clubs in the 1920s and legendary performances at the Fillmore East; baseball's Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier at Brooklyn's storied Ebbets Field in 1947; the 1977 and 2004 blackouts; the openings and closings of the city's most beloved restaurants; and much more. Not just a historical account, this is a fascinating, sometimes funny, and often moving look at how people in New York live, eat, travel, mourn, fight, love, and celebrate.

Organized by theme, the book includes original writings on all topics related to city life, including art, architecture, transportation, politics, neighborhoods, people, sports, business, food, and more. Includes articles from such well-known Times writers as Meyer Berger, Gay Talese, Anna Quindlen, Israel Shenker, Brooks Atkinson, Frank Rich, Ada Louise Huxtable, John Kieran, Russell Baker, and more. Special contributors who have written about New York for the Times include Paul Auster, Woody Allen, and E.B. White, among others.


About the Author
The New York Times is regarded as the world's pre-eminent newspaper. Its news coverage is known for its exceptional depth and breadth, with reporting bureaus throughout the United States and in 26 foreign countries. The Times has the largest circulation of any seven-day newspaper in the U.S. It has been awarded many journalism awards over the years, including a total of 94 Pulitzer Prizes and citations, which is far more than any other newspaper.



James Barron is a reporter on the metropolitan staff of The Times. He wrote the minute-by-minute stories on the 9/11 attacks for The New York Times on the web and the front page lead story on the 2003 blackout. He initiated the "Public Lives" column (later called "Boldface Names") and currently writes a podcast for The Times's Web site summarizing the next morning's front page. Barron wrote the timeline summaries for The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages :1851 - 2008, and is the author of Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product Details
Hardcover: 463 pages
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; 1 edition (May 20, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1579128017

Something tells me that it sounds like an encyclopedia of my life.

Barbara

Alias Reader wrote: "Deb/Madrano, I know one of your favorite books is The Universe Below


So I thought you might be interested in a sh..."

Alias, thanks for the heads up on this show. I'm adding the title to my "wants" when Netflix gets it, as it sounds good. Sadly, i don't get that channel.

I appreciate you thinking of me!

deborah

I am reading Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey through Hell and Back and I cannot put it down. It is an amazing story of a daughter lost to drugs and what her parents did to get her back and "fix" her.

I actually have a friend who did the same thing with her daughter --- had her "kidnapped" and taken abroad to be re-programmed, for years. Not an easy decision to make. Not to stir anything up, but almost all of such programs are run by Mormons.

Kate, our last day of school was June 11 this yeear.

Good luck to all the teachers going back to school!

Today I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This is a surprisingly light, humorous, easy-reading book despite the serious subject matter of sometimes violent, always venomous, racism in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's.

Skeeter Phelan, an upper middle class white young woman returns home from college and rather aimlessly drifts through her life of Junior League meetings and quiet battles with her too critical mother. She hits upon the idea of writing about the lives of the black maids employed by all of her friends and their families. She goes about the arduous task of getting any maids to talk to her in a time and place where such a betrayal could lead to firings at least, physical harm at worst. She is finally able to enlist Aibilene, a friend's maid who has lovingly raised 17 white children. Aibilene persuades Minny, an angrier, "mouthy" maid who has been fired 19 times in this small town.

Stockett reveals in an afterword that she grew up in Jackson and her family had an indispensable maid. She's captured the emotional complexity of this relationship well: love, anger, distrust, ambivalence, interdependence. All of the characters except the three women are thinly written and "types." That's a shame as I would have liked to have known more about some of them, particularly the peculiar but loving couple for whom Minnie works.

I was constantly irritated in my reading by anachronisms. I had to consciously remind myself not to let this bother me or detract from my enjoyment of the story. Misplaced figures of speech ("out the wazoo," "getting paranoid") I can forgive because it must be so hard for a young author to write authentic dialogue from a time and place she never experienced. It was almost funny to read about earlier-than-possible products such as Liquid Paper, which Skeeter found helpful in 1962 (I don't remember it being common before 1972 at the earliest.)

But the worst were the misplaced cultural references, such as a young woman sleeping with a "longhaired Yankee" and moving to San Francisco to become a hippie in 1962. If you're writing a cultural history, you should get the flavor of the times right. I think Stockett must be young enough that all events of the 60's are a conglomeration with no discrimination of actual time and place.

To make matters worse, she acknowledges a couple of anachronisms in the afterword. It's better in my mind to have done it cluelessly than to know and leave them in.

To keep the plot moving Stockett injects a little mystery about why the maid who raised Skeeter suddenly left town without a word, as well as some unexplainable doings of the woman for whom Minnie works.

All in all, a recommend, despite my complaints. It's a book that catches you up, even if some of the references are jarring.

Jan O'Cat

Jan wrote:

I was constantly irritated in my reading by anachronisms
==================

Oy vey, between this (where was the editor?) and hating to read dialect, I wonder if I will get through this book. My inner editor always wants to correct dialect when I see it written.

JoAnn said: " hating to read dialect, I wonder if I will get through this book. My inner editor always wants to correct dialect when I see it written. "

JoAnn, I can't help you with this. I usually don't like to read dialect, but Stockett wrote it in a way that didn't disturb me. It sounded right to my inner ear, so it didn't trouble me.

I do want to say again that aside from having to swallow several grains of salt over the anachronisms, I found this an involving and sometimes charming book. It's definitely only to be taken as a light read, though I see from several Goodreads reader reviews that it comes as a revelation to some. I suppose any book that offers insight into a previously unknown world is good, but I have to think those were pretty clueless readers.

Jan O'Cat

I'm reading The Help right now. I'm enjoying it, and it will be a good light read to finish out the summer.

Kate

Jan and Kate, I am also reading and enjoying The Help, though I am going slowly. My problem is I have several titles going at once. To me books are like potato chips, can't read just one!

Jan, I have already read the first 20-some pages of THE HELP online and found it slow going due to the mental corrections I felt that I needed to make due to the dialect. LOL

I do think that this book has brought back a lot of memories for people my age who were raised with "help"...not necessarily to the extent that these women were, but someone who was part of the fabric of our lives for many many years.

I just went to my library website to reserve GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATOO and I'm 22nd in line. What?
I was so surprised. If it wins I may have to buy it off AMAZON.
I had reserved Cop without a Badge back in June and the position hasn't moved. I'm still 11th. Which is pretty strange that it hasn't moved at all. hmmmmmm

I finished "Come Back" (see post #37) last night and would give it a 4.

I think it could have used some editing for length and I also found the plethora of details about the sessions attended by the parents and the daughter kind of unnecessary. I got real tired of all the jargon and lingo, to be honest.

But it was a compelling, horrifying inside look at what a family goes through when one of its members is a drug addict.

Traveler wrote: "I just went to my library website to reserve GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATOO and I'm 22nd in line. What?
I was so surprised. "
==========================

It's on the current best seller list. It's # 2 on the NY Times Best Seller list, and # 11 on Amazon's list. I am surprised that you are only 22nd. It will be a difficult book to read at the same time the group reads it if one gets books from the library.

Another issue with selecting books on the current BS list is the books have already been read by many.

I've also found that if one reads the book way in advance people don't contribute much to the discussion because the details of the book fade and they are on to new reads.

That is also why I seldom nominate books I've already read or current best sellers. And I don't care to re-read even good books.

I ordered Pat Conroy's book, SOUTH OF BROAD, from the large print book club for Mom and it arrived yesterday. I'll read it before she finishes her Danielle Steele's from the library.

While on holiday I finally finished Over The Edge - Jonathan Kellerman and now I am reading No-One You Know - Michelle Richmond

Lynne, I'm very interested to hear what you think of this book. Reviews are mixed but I don't really count on the "pro's" reviews.
I also want to read Nancy Graces new book. 11th Victim. Just curious.
ALIAS.. I never nominate books that I've read and agree that I don't think we should b/c as you said no one remembers the details to discuss it. Plus its sort of any easy out.
I have to admit that I did not realize Dragon Tat was on the BS list. But you can get it for $8 on Amazon. So I'd buy it if I need to for the group. It'd be a great REGIFT. lol lol
I'm also not one to re-read a book although we have several in the group that enjoy doing it.
But I'm also not one to read 50 books about the same subject matter. How many books do I want to read about people living in the 1800's. Or about Queens of England. A few is great, interesting, etc.. but then I need something else to read.
As much as I have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series after reading the first 3 back to back I had to take a break.