Lara’s
Comments
(group member since Feb 12, 2016)
Lara’s
comments
from the Who Doesn't Love a Classic? group.
Showing 61-80 of 115
Book Concierge wrote: "NOT a classic, but gripping Non-fiction/history ...
Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides – 4**** Sides crafts a story that is gripping, informative, horrifying and ins..."
Adding this to my TBR. Sounds like it's right up my alley!
Rhi wrote: "I read Ethan Frome this morning; it was far too depressing for such an early morning read. I have Wyllard's Weird lined up for tomorrow"I keep meaning to read Ethan Frome but haven't gotten around to it...
Book Concierge wrote: "Lara wrote: "Am I the only one that HATES the way you have to tag books on this site? I loved it with Shelfari because the word cloud would come up with everyone else's tags and your most popular ..."
A lot of the time though I'm not sure if I've used tags in the past that would apply to that specific book. So that's why I end up scrolling all the way through, just to make sure I'm being thorough. Very obnoxious. I'm just not good of thinking of which tags to use unless I see them right in front of my face ;)
Am I the only one that HATES the way you have to tag books on this site? I loved it with Shelfari because the word cloud would come up with everyone else's tags and your most popular tags were below as well. The way it is here I have to scroll through my whole stupid list of tags to make sure I'm not missing/forgetting one!
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson★★★★
Erik Larson’s latest book is the story of the last voyage of the Lusitania. It was in the middle of WWI (before the US had entered the war) and German u-boats were becoming a serious thing to be feared. The Lusitania was a British ocean liner (one of the world’s largest) that was traveling from New York to Liverpool with a total of 1,266 passengers and 696 crew. Despite warnings from Germany, many people thought nothing of traveling through the British Isles during wartime. Since it was a passenger ship and not technically involved in the war, surely it would be safe, right? Wrong. On May 7, 1915, at the tail end of its ocean crossing, the Lusitania was torpedoed by U-20. It sank incredibly quickly for such a large ship (it only took 18 minutes). 1,198 people died along with it. Many of them were Americans.
Larson does a fantastic job as always of setting the scene and explaining all of the different moving parts: the tensions between Germany and England, the battle for control of the sea. He goes into a massive amount of detail about the struggles of war and President Wilson’s uneasiness with it all. He also highlights several passengers’ lives and their specific stories of the sinking. As a history buff, I’m ashamed to say that I really did not know much when it came to WWI. Though the sinking of the Lusitania did not immediately cause America to enter the war (that would happen almost 2 years later), many see it as one of the deciding factors in that decision.
I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Larson’s work. He never disappoints!
Can't wait!
ilikeboox wrote: "Oh! I see the "add book/author"! Thank you for taking time to tell me. I fixed them! That's very handy!
Should I post non-classic books in "Carriage House"?"
The Carriage House is kind of like an open discussion thread. We talk about anything there. For example: if you find an article you liked that you want to share or you just saw a good movie you want to recommend to the group. Those kinds of things. We're pretty open to any discussion here, we just ask that you separate your CLASSIC book reviews from the rest of them.
ilikeboox wrote: "I haven't been reading classics, so I haven't been posting. But I see there are some other types of books being mentioned. So....I have been reading a mix of things. To mention a few, I have read s..."When you're typing your post, look at the top of the box on the right. There's something that says "add book/author." That's how you do it. You can either add just a link to the book or a picture of the cover.
Also, this group isn't JUST for posting about classics. We like to encourage discussion about anything we're reading. It's just that if it ISN'T about a classic, you're supposed to post in a specific place. But don't feel bad. I haven't read any classics lately either and I'm in charge of this group ;)
This is pretty interesting: New Illustrations of 'Frankenstein'Did you know Frankenstein is about to be 200 years old? It was one of my all-time favorite group reads in this group. Thought these illustrations were very cool and worth a share.
Question: is there any way to delete a discussion post/topic? For example, the "Looking for a new moderator" thread. I did close it to new replies but I was wondering if there's a way to remove it? I don't know why but it annoys me that it's still there.
I'm trying to figure out my next read as I'm about to finish my current book tonight...Can't decide between
Decisions, decisions....
FYI, the group bookshelf consists of all the books we've read together for group reads. We'll update as we continue them!
Done!
The main responsibility would be setting up the group reads. The rest is basically just keeping the discussion boards organized, starting a new thread every once in a while for reviews or what we're reading....that kind of thing.
Book Concierge wrote: "Lara wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "It might also be a good idea for us to "publicize" the group more among our friends. More members might increase participation."What do you mean by "publicize?..."
Ah I never thought about sending invites (didn't know you could to be honest). I have been posting in other groups though.
Book Concierge wrote: "It might also be a good idea for us to "publicize" the group more among our friends. More members might increase participation."What do you mean by "publicize?"
Since this book was published in 1950, I figured it could in the Classics category...★★★★★
Everyone’s heard of this one, right? Two men meet on a train and decide to swap murders with each other. Well, not quite.
Guy Haines is traveling from New York to Texas on the train in order to finally procure a divorce from his wife with whom he’s been separated for several years. Charles Bruno is on the same train heading for New Mexico to meet up with his mother for a vacation. They meet on the train and Bruno, who is for some reason taken with Guy, invites him to join Bruno in his private room for dinner that evening. There Bruno proceeds to go on and on about his idea for “exchanging murders” with Guy. Bruno could kill Guy’s wife, and Guy would murder Bruno’s father. Guy of course thinks this is just drunk talk and wants nothing to do with Bruno. When he finally gets off in Texas he is relieved that he’ll never have to see that man again. But Bruno has other ideas. Suddenly, Guy’s wife is murdered, but it all just has to be a coincidence, right? It couldn’t possibly have been Bruno. But then, when Bruno gets in contact with Guy about killing his father, Guy realizes this situation has gotten out of control and he doesn’t know what to do.
This novel is a modern classic for a reason. Bruno is such a wonderfully complex character. I could see why Guy was both drawn to and repulsed by him. At times I actually felt more sorry for him than I did for Guy. While it sounds like an exciting book full of action, the real delight for me was the psychology of it all. Bruno ate away at Guy like a slow burn. I could actually feel Guy coming apart at the seams. And then, of course, there was Bruno’s own self-implosion. I couldn’t put the book down for the last 100 pages because I needed to know how it ended! I definitely recommend this to anyone who is at all interested in the human psyche, and those that just like suspense novels in general. Great read!
★ ★ ★ 1/2
Attachments is a cute (and different) guy meets girl story. It’s 1999 and office e-mail is a semi-new development. Lincoln’s job is to monitor office workers’ e-mails and make sure they’re following the rules and whatnot. He feels kind of like a creep for doing so, but a job’s a job. While going through all the flagged e-mails, he comes across the witty banter of Jennifer and Beth, two friends that e-mail back and forth daily about everything under the sun, from relationships to silly little jokes. For some reason, Lincoln decides not to warn them about being flagged and falls into the habit of looking forward to reading their back and forth every day. He starts to feel like he knows these ladies, even though he’s never actually met them. Once he realizes he’s falling for Beth, he’s at a loss for how to proceed. He’s read all these intimate things about her life…and she doesn’t even know his name!
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read and just what I needed to help pull me out of this reading slump I’ve been in lately. The e-mails between Beth and Jennifer were always a pleasure to read and I could see why Lincoln was drawn to them. I could really relate to a lot of what Beth was going through with her boyfriend. And don’t get me started on Jennifer’s emotional roller coaster. My heartstrings were definitely pulled. Overall it was good, but the ending felt a bit forced to me. I won’t spoil anything but it kind of seemed like the author couldn’t figure out how to “fix” her problem and just kind of threw something together. Until the last 10 pages, this was 4 stars for me. I still enjoyed it though. I’m looking forward to reading more of hers.
