Laurel’s
Comments
(group member since Dec 30, 2013)
Laurel’s
comments
from the All About Books group.
Showing 121-140 of 703
#33
The Bungalow3 green stars - Good enough for green, but too shallow for me. Not a fan of Chick Lit. BUT, for my Good Yarn geography challenge this was a triple score: Bora Bora, a beach, and a bungalow.
A good-enough book, but like a lot of "Chick Lit" it suffers from being too shallow. It's a quick, beach read, and it even tugs a few heartstrings - I just wanted more. More of a love story. More of a mystery. More character development. A fun setting, and the Gauguin connection was interesting, but I didn't really come to care about any of the characters. It would make a nice Hallmark movie, though. So if that is your thing, you will like this book.
Cumulative pages: 13,334
#32
The Book of Lost Friends5 blue stars - This is right up my genealogy alley. History, lost family, family secrets, and a believable love story. Maybe two love stories. Lisa Wingate may have a "formula" but there's nothing wrong with stories where you know what you're going to get. I liked Benedetta and her determination to be a good school teacher. Plenty of wounded characters, and they all find healing in the end. It also has something to say about the black experience, and racial inequity.
Cumulative pages: 13,044
#31
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon5 blue stars - This was just a lot of fun!
Cumulative pages: 12,656
#30
The Transatlantic Book Club3.5 pink stars rounded up - still enjoying this series!
Cumulative annual pages: 12,336
Almost October. I am 6 books behind in my goal. Not impossible, but I'll have to read 6 books a month through the rest of the year. I got caught up with my Daytimers group. Yay! This month's book is
READ The Book of Lost Friends
Farther behind in A Good Yarn. Nevermind the previous alphabet challenge. I haven't finished the new A books for September:
READ The Alehouse Murders
Anglesey Blue
My B choices:
One for Sorrow - Set in Byzantium. It would also complete "O is for One" from the previous challenge.
READ The Bungalow
and maybe Backyard
Currently reading:
READ The Transatlantic Book Club
And waiting for this via ILL:
READ Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
Oh yes - my long read of
Wolf Hall
Well that should keep me busy!
#29
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir4 red stars - A very personal look at being a Hmong refugee, told through Yang's relationship with a beloved grandmother. The strength of this book is in the stories and customs passed down through oral tradition to Kalia. The audiobook is narrated by the author. Her childlike, high-pitched, tentative voice adds a certain pathos to the stories, especially her remembrances as a child. It provides a look at the complexities of bridging two cultures, making a home in a radically different part of the world, and is a reminder that almost everyone in this country is an immigrant, or has an ancestor who was an immigrant.
Cumulative pages: 11,952
Welcome, Matt. I used to live in Nebraska way back (Ralston). I do a lot of commuting too, and love audiobooks! Currently listening to The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
#28
Boone: A Biography3 green stars - a good read, but heavy on the legend. Sometimes hard to sort out fact from fiction.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Pages read this year: 11,675
#27
The Book of Longings5 blue stars - a compelling and mostly satisfying story of a woman during the time of Jesus
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Cumulative pages: 11,137
A reprieve for now! The landlord has said he hopes the new buyer will keep me on, and he is writing it up that way. He is staying at least through December. Grateful to have more time to sort through my options, plan retirement (or not), and save a little more money toward having my own place.I have started
READ The Book of Longings
and I have the ebook of
READ The Alehouse Murders downloaded from the library and will probably start it today.
I don't have much left of
READ Boone: A Biography so I hope to finish that this week.
Woohoo! Finished another book! It's nice to be able to read again.#26
Murder in a Scottish Shire3 green stars - a mix of good and bad. I liked the characters, but hated the fake Scottish dialect.
Total pages this year: 10,721
You may have noticed that my reading for August has been mostly nonexistant, except for a couple of audiobooks. I've been dealing with another very emotional and all-consuming life event. My landlord (of 15 years) just up and decided he is selling. I don't know how long I have, but he told me to "start looking." My rent here is VERY low (he only raised it once in all that time) and I have had the freedom to create the garden of my dreams. It is my heart and soul, my sanctuary, the longest I have lived in one place, and I am profoundly grieving. So reading has pretty much gone out the window. I'm 66, work part-time, income is adequate, but I basically live paycheck to paycheck. No savings at all. I will have a pension, so that is good.My heart has fixed on the idea that I will never be happy if I don't have my own place. So I'm suddenly trying to learn about mortgages, and maybe buying will even be "cheaper" than renting. It sure seems like it. Maybe I'm crazy, but.... Wish me luck.
Now that it has been a couple of weeks, I'm beginning to be able to relax a little. I don't have enough information yet (the landlord said he would "talk to me" last week and still hasn't, so I don't know what his actual plans are, or what kind of time frame I am looking at. And I am waiting on a financial planner to get back to me, so I can figure out what is possible as far as income/ retirement etc. I kind of think retirement might not be in the picture for another year at least. That might be okay. I don't want to have to make two major life changes at the same time.
So - plans for September. My dad's memorial service is Sept. 11 in Rapid City, so driving out there again will give me some extended listening time in the car. I'm a month behind with Daytimers, so I'm going to skip
READ The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir for now and start our Sept. book
READ The Book of Longings
The audiobook is at the library waiting for me.
A Good Yarn discussed plans for Sept. and we decided to go ahead with our new geographical alphabet challenge. I'm going to set aside the unfinished "Reading the Alphabet" challenges for now, except maybe for
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire
I'll forge ahead with my two "A" books
Anglesey Blue for a specific place
and READ The Alehouse Murders for a generic place.
I will continue to try and read
Wolf Hall and its sequels by the end of the year, so having that be a much slower and spaced out read will help.
Ditto on the two Daniel Boone books, and
The Valley trilogy.
And we'll see how it goes.
#25
Dear Edward3.5 pink stars. Not a bad book, but not up to the hype it got either. I found it a bit superficial and Hallmarkish.
Total books: 25
Total pages: 10,417
#24
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos4.5 red stars - The humor is starting to get a tad repetitive. Still a fun, zany read!
Total books: 24
Total pages: 10,077
August: Did not finish anything of my July plans except for Murder with Puffins. My father (91 with Alzheimers) was hospitalized at the end of June and it was determined that he had aspiration pneumonia. He failed the swallow test, and per his advance directive of not wanting to be on feeding tubes if there was no hope of recovery, he was put on "comfort care" as of July 2. My sister and I took turns being with Mom to help with decisions, etc. I went on Monday the 5th, and after finishing Murder with Puffins, I turned to James Herriot as something uplifting and comforting to listen to on the long drive. My sister and I switched again on Friday and I returned home to prepare for a trip that would take me to Scranton, PA for Welsh Heritage Week. I had been asked to teach the Welsh folk dancing class, since we could not bring in the usual instructors from Wales because of Covid. I am one of very few certified Welsh folk dances instructors in the US, so it was a big honor and a huge opportunity for me. My father died on Sunday, July 11, and I left for Scranton on Wednesday, again with James Herriot for company. The next two weeks was a blur of dawn to midnight activity with NO time whatsoever for reading. Ah well. The books are still there now that I am back home.What I think I can actually finish this month is
READ Boone: A Biography
Queen By Right
Wolf Hall
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire
In the car, I have just started
READ Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Waiting for holds on book club books on audio (last month and this month)
READ Dear Edward
READ The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
I should be able to finish at least one of those.
Waiting in the wings, but maybe not impossible to at least make progress on
Neverhome
The Chocolatier's Ghost
Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer
The Valley
#23
All Things Bright and Beautiful4.5 blue stars. Another reread and just the thing I needed this month.
Total books: 23
Total pages: 9789
#22
Murder With Puffins4.5 blue stars. Not as good as the first book, but still a quirky, fun, read.
Total books: 22
Total pages: 9411
It's almost July, so here's my update. I've added a second reading of Wolf Hall - on audio - to occur simultaneously with the print book.
Waiting for the audiobook of the next Meg Langslow
READ Murder With Puffins
The next Daytimers book club book is
READ Dear Edward
I have talked A Good Yarn into NOT starting our next round of the alphabet until September. That gives me July and August to finish some themes that I had started and then postponed, and to catch up on some I never got to....
Queen By Right
One for Sorrow
Untimely Death
The Valley
Aunt Bessie Assumes
Neverhome
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
Zorrie
And there were more from last year....
Still reading
READ Murder in a Scottish Shire
READ Boone: A Biography
#21
Cold Earth4.5 blue stars - Intriguing psychological fiction. Will definitely read more by this author.
Total books: 21
Total pages: 9091
