Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
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What are U reading these days? (Part Four) (begun 2/18/09)
I just read Origin The True Story of Wolverine because of a preview I saw for the new X-Men movie. It appears that they are trying to make Woverine and Sabertooth brothers. I bought this and read it the moment it came out, and I don't remember anything about them being brothers.I decided to read it again, and sure enough, not brothers. I hope they don't mess with the storyline in the movie.
I'm about to start reading _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz. It's the book which will be discussed in March by the Crandall Library reading group in Glens Falls.The group has discussed putting Toni Morrison's _A Mercy_ on its future reading list.
Becky wrote: "I am finishing up A Mercy by Toni Morrison..."MERCY got a quite good review from a Washingtton Book reviewer and radio commentator. I would be interested in your review when you finish the book. nina
Joy, did you see my mention of the reference to Lake George on page 97 of BRIDGE OF SIGHS ? nina
Nina wrote: "Joy, did you see my mention of the reference to Lake George on page 97 of BRIDGE OF SIGHS ? nina"Yes, thank you, Nina. I did see the post where you mentioned that about Richard Russo's _Bridge of Sighs_. The book is on my To-Read list.
Richard Russo was raised in Gloversville, N.Y., in northeastern NY, which is less than 50 miles from our town of Glens Falls, NY.
At the Amazon.com web page about Russo's _Nobody's Fool_, it says: "As he demonstrated in Mohawk (Random, 1986) and The Risk Pool (Random, 1989), Russo knows the small towns of upstate New York and the people who inhabit them; he writes with humor and compassion. A delight."
I loved reading _Nobody's Fool_, but couldn't get into _Mohawk_. For me, nothing could compare to reading _Nobody's Fool_. I loved it!
Some other books which mention our area of NY State are the mysteries written by a group of female authors known as the "Mavens of Mayhem". Below is a link to info about them: ====>
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...
I love Richard Russo & my other book group read Bridge of Sighs....Empire Falls is my favorite....
Neither did I, Becky. I started it, but couldn't get into it.
I am reading The Hobbit (fun) and Paragon Walk (a good Victorian mystery by Anne Perry). I love them both.
Nina wrote: "Joy, did you see my mention of the reference to Lake George on page 97 of BRIDGE OF SIGHS ? nina" Joy, do live right on the lake shore? nina
Operandi wrote: "I am reading The Hobbit (fun) and Paragon Walk (a good Victorian mystery by Anne Perry). I love them both."Ah, Anne Perry. I had heard of her, but never got around to reading anything by her. At the Goodreads web page for _Paragon Walk_, it says: "Perry has the great gift of making it all seem immediate and very much alive". Perhaps I'll put the book on my To-Read list.
I too enjoyed _The Hobbit Or There and Back Again_. I enjoyed it much more than J.R.R. Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_.
Really! I would eventually like to read LOTR. What was better about The Hobbit? Just curious, 'cause most people tell me the opposite.
Nina wrote: "Nina wrote: "Joy, did you see my mention of the reference to Lake George on page 97 of BRIDGE OF SIGHS ? nina" Joy, do live right on the lake shore? nina"Nina, I wish we did! We aren't on the lake but we're very near it. Below is the view we once had from our back deck, before the shrubs and trees grew up. Now we have only a partial view, but, as you can see, we're a minute from our association beach and dock area, which is partially in the photo. We can see more from upstairs(see the clickable thumbnail below showing the earlier view).
(clickable thumbnail)My heart broke as we lost our view. Every little twig was
like a stab in the heart, not to mention the pocketbook. LOL
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"A waterfront view is not a matter of life or death.
-It is much more important than that." :)
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Operandi wrote: "Really! I would eventually like to read LOTR. What was better about The Hobbit? Just curious, 'cause most people tell me the opposite."Operandi, _The Hobbit_ was much simpler to read... and I remember it as a sweet story.
LOTR, (_The Lord of the Rings_), on the other hand, introduced the reader to so many different characters and so many different episodes, one after the other. After a while, the weight of all that destroyed the atmosphere of fantasy for me. Instead, the once-entrancing atmosphere turned into a sense of plodding, as I plowed through the book in frustration, waiting and waiting for the plot to reach its final resolution. In a word... the story s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out too long. I was reading more and enjoying it less. So I quit in disgust and gave the book away.
I'm not alone in feeling this way. It seems that readers either loved or hated LOTR.
For those who loved it, it became almost a science, keeping track of all the characters and staying inside the fantasy. Indeed, it became a cult!
The Hobbit & the LOTR were some of the first books I ever read. I think I'd read them all 6 times by the time I hit 6th grade, when we did a play on the Hobbit. I got to be Bilbo! I remember when the teacher passed out the books I actually recited the first page, didn't need to read it. Love that series!
Jim, it's great that you were a reader at a young age. I was never an avid reader when I was younger and I wouldn't call myself an avid reader even now. I tend to read at a very slow pace and when I see the amount of reading the readers here at Goodreads do, I'm amazed.Ever since the Internet became part of my life in 1995, much of my reading time has be replaced by spending time online. So my book reading is down even more, but my Internet reading is up.
However, my interest in books is the highest it's ever been, due to the easy availability of info on the Net. These days I probably read more book reviews than I do books! :)
Joy H. (of Glens Falls) wrote: "Nina wrote: "Nina wrote: "Joy, did you see my mention of the reference to Lake George on page 97 of BRIDGE OF SIGHS ? nina" Joy, do live right on the lake shore? nina"Lovely view. Is this your retirement home or did you raise your family there? We had a vacation home at Lake of the Ozarks for eleven years and the house was lakefront. I used to wake in the morning and look out at the wild blue herons walking about our deck and aren't they something to watch as they take flight? Our house was a Tudor two bed, one bath cottage. Our builder/architect was married to an English woman and that might explain that our house resembled Anne Hathaway's from the outside and the old beams criss crossing the ceiling in the living room. Wild turkeys gathered in our yard under the persimmon trees. The land was originally owned by a Confederate family whose mistress escaped out the back door with the money from the cookie jar when the Yankees jumped from their boat and went pounding on the door. This is the story the natives tell. Supposedly she hid the money in the woods near where she and her family eventually had their tombstones. We owned those woods and had a very hard time finding the tombstones unitl one of my friends said to look for yucca plants as that was the usual place to bury someone in woods. nina ps we found them.
Nina wrote: "We had a vacation home at Lake of the Ozarks for eleven years and the house was lakefront."Wow, Nina, that's impressive!
I looked up Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks on Wiki: ===>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_...
Sounds like a huge lake. Wiki says "The lake has a surface area of 55,000 acres, over 1,150 miles of shoreline, and the main channel of the Osage Arm stretches 92 miles from end to end."
Our Lake George is smaller than the Lake of the Ozarks. Lake George is 32 miles long and varies in width from one to three miles wide. It includes 109 miles of shoreline, about 300 islands, and covers an approximate area of 44 square miles. It's the largest lake in the Adirondack Mountains and is known as "The Queen of American Lakes".
How old was your house on the lake? Sounds like it went back to the Civil War. Amazing.
To answer your question, we retired to our Lake George house in 1991 and lived there full-time for 12 years. Then I decided that living near a supermarket was better than living near a lake. So we bought a house in town. So now we split our time between the two houses.
Joy, We had a new house that was designed to look old. The architect took a year off work and went to CO to concentrate on the design. It did look like it should have been in England in Shakepeare's time. As I mentioned, the architect's wife was from England so I assume his many trips there studying perhaps the houses' designs stuck in his mind. It had huge cedar shakes and almost looked like thatch roof. Inside were cedar beams but they crisscrossed like the old houses or Inns. It was just a cottage like place with two bedrooms and one bath. A darling kitchen with small criss crosse beams that I hung dried herbs from and sat tall votive lights above. We had huge sliding glass windows in the living dining room that afforded a view of the lake for two miles and almost nothing across the lake from us but trees. No mountain views like your mountains but the Ozarks does have mountains. One of my most memorable sights was on an Easter morning when,of all things, it had started to snow and I watched at dawn, sea gulls gliding through the snowflakes with a pink background. It was simply beautiful. Proves you can travel the world and not have anything more lovely than a view from your own deck..Probably the same for you as the pictures I have seen of your lake seems the same way; lovely! nina
Nina, your house on the lake sounds very inviting and special. I can tell you loved it. It must have been hard to give up.Yes, we have such beauty in our area that we're not tempted to travel anywhere else anymore. We've learned that we have it all in our own backyard.
I once saw an ad which said:
"Don't resort to retirement; retire to a resort."
That's what we did. :)
It's autumn when I miss the Lake house because we used to gather bittersweet in the woods with our Irish setter streaming across the paths ahead of us. Her coat was the color of autumn and once she died the place never seemed the same to us; plus, my husband wasn't retired at that point and the house and forty acres began to be burden but while we had it we did enjoy it. It did have an uncertain beginning; it was built in a convential manner; almost. It was built in two halves in a huge warehouse several miles from our lot at the lake. It wasn't a pre-fab and we had a basement dug to fit it onto. But, I had picked out carpeting and found that the factory then burned to the ground. We decide on an another one. I really liked the doorknobs the builder had on hand and ordered them. They were from Spain. It turned out the pilot who gathered them crashed his plane in Spain and died. That was sad. Then, when the houses were to be delivered; one of the halves got lost..I could go on and on but eventually we did have a house and fun being part of it. nina
And I do like your retirement quote. nina
Nina, the story of how your house began points up the fact that most everything we do has a difficult side to it.The renovation of our house took us through some difficult times too. As my mother once said, you can't enjoy a egg without cracking it first.
At one point, when I was complaining, I asked: "When does the fun begin?"
An old friend answered: "This IS the fun." I never forgot that.
I love the egg quote. And the "fun" quote reminds me of my sister in law who had taken her eight kids on a trip to see the Montreal World's Fair or whatever it was called and of course they were complaining and she said, "Shut up you are having fun!"nina
LOL - Kids... you can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em! :)One time our friends drove all the way from MA with their kids to visit us overnight. A little while after they arrived, the kids wanted to go "out" somewhere. Their mom said: "You ARE out!". Kids! They're never satisfied. :)
I'm about halfway through The Good Guy by Dean Koontz. I needed something to fill in the two days til I get borrow Watchmen. A bit late for one of my book clubs but right in time to finish it before the movie comes out this weekend. I'm getting it later today from the guy at PC video. He's the best movie person, he's in the perfect job. He knows everything about every movie, all the newest movies. We like the same types of movies. I know my husband dreads when he sees him there because I'm going to be at least a half hour talking to him about movies, LOL
I am reading the short story book by Stephen King-Just Before Sunset & my other reading group has decided to reread a couple of classic novels-To Kill A Mockingbird & A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.....Looking forward to discussing these!!
I can't remember if I ever read the book, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," but I recently saw the movie and it was great. I think Joy mentioned she has that book in her bookcase at home. nina
I just finished, "Bridge of Sighs," and I am withholding judgment until I think it all over. I thought it had a very interesting beginning and totally absorbing characters and I liked the settings. The middle bogged down for me. And then it peeked my interest until the very end which to me was not quite right. Joy, supposedly the action takes part about an hour by car from Lake George. If you decide to read it I would be most anxious for your review. nina
to Kill a Mockingbird is still one of my favorite books. I have A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but haven't read it yet. I didn't see the movie either so went I do get to reading it, it'll be all new to me.
Nina wrote: "I just finished, "Bridge of Sighs," and I am withholding judgment until I think it all over. I thought it had a very interesting beginning and totally absorbing characters and I liked the settings...."If I am not mistaken, the town in Bridge of Sighs is a fictionalized town....I know many of Richard Russo's stories take place in or around the Gloversville area or are fashioned after the type of mill towns that are in the area, whether real or not...Empire Falls took place in Maine but could have been Thomaston or Johnstown or Gloversville...
I liked Bridge of Sighs.....
Becky, did you think what Sarah did toward the end of the book was out of character? I don't want to say too much about it before Joy reads it. I think the town in Bridge of Sighs was a tannery town rather than a mill town. I thought he did a marvelous job with the characterization except I thought what Sarah did as I mentioned didn't fit her character at that point.. nina ps this had nothing to do with the race issue. nina
Jackie, Becky, and Nina:You're way ahead of me in your reading and your movie-watching. I finally finished _A Plague of Doves_ but am still working on _The Master_, believe it or not. A couple of mystery books are still on the back burner.
Netflix sent me "The Times of Harvey Milk", the documentary, and I'm in the middle of watching that. After that, I'll be getting "Milk", the movie which recently came out about Harvey Milk.
I did read Harper Lee's _To Kill a Mockingbird_ with an in-person book group several years ago. It was a great book and so was the movie with Gregory Peck. I find it interesting that the character, Dill, in the book is said to have been inspired by Truman Capote who was the Harper Lee's childhood friend and neighbor.
Nina, it will be a while before I read _The Bridge of Sighs_. I'm going to start reading _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz_, which is the local library's selection for March.
I also want to try reading _The Almost Moon_ by Alice Sebold, which is a selection of another in-person book group. I read her book, _The Lovely Bones_ and thought it was a good story, well written.
Jackie, one of these days I'll get to read Stephen King. :) I've got his book, _The Stand_ on my To-Read list.
I have to wait til tomorrow to get The Watchmen, my friend forgot to bring it. Boo-hoo.Anthony's schedule got mes up so I won't be able to see the movie til Sunday, so that gives me an extra day. If Anthony's not back, I'm going without him.
Watchman had better be good, Jackie, or you're gonna be very disappointed. LOL Sounds like you're chompin' at the bit. :)
Besides the new X-Men movie coming out on May 1st, this is THE movie to see. For me, at least it is.The director is the guy who did 300, which was the best movie that year, IMO.
I'm way behind the times. This is the first I'm hearing the title, "300". Thanks for the link. I skimmed the review. I see that it's related to some interesting ancient history.
Fantastic heroic legendary battle. The movie was spectacular. Everything about it was perfect. And having Gerard Butler in the lead role was a bonus, he's my favorite actor.The way it was filmed was unique.
I had never heard the term "graphic novel" before this. So I looked it up on Wiki. ====>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_...
I found the amazon.com page for the graphic novel, "300" here: ====>
http://www.amazon.com/300-Frank-Mille...
I found a list of the reviews of the movie, "300", here: ====>
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/e...
I'll be reading the reviews soon. I'm curious about this new type of novel.
It's all the rage these days. I guess they've finally realized comicbooks are moneymakers. People would look at me like I was an idiot for reading comicbooks as an adult but now it seems as if the rest of the adult world has caught up, LOLAbout 300, I like that type of movie, but all my woman friends loved it for the eye-candy. I don't think they were interested in the story, but rather all the hot well-muscled shirtless young men in short shorts, LOL
An interesting fact about the workout for 300, they all trained for 3 or 4 hours with their personal trainers and 4 to 6 hours with the set trainer daily! That's a lot of working out! No wonder they looked like they did.
My friend remembered to bring The Watchmen to work with him today. He told me NOT to read the final two chapters, to watch the movie and then I could finish the book. He said there's a great twist and he wants me to see it rather than read it. This will be a first for me. I'm not sure I can do it, LOL
I loved reading Heavy Metal, Creepy, Eerie & Vamperella magazines in the late 70's. I still have a few years worth of issues of all of them. They're grown up comics full of excellent artwork (mostly pen & ink), especially the Heavy Metal which had a lot of full color. The Heavy Metal movies were OK, but couldn't hold a candle to the neat stories in the magazines.My daughter likes the Psychic Academy, Vol 1 books & for years has had a subscription to a Japanese comic. You read it right to left.
I like a lot of their cartoon movies, but you have to be careful. Some are really rank porno - really nasty. They're often not marked as such, either. I used to get them at the video store & picked one up that I was planning on watching with the kids. For some reason I started it first & was glad I had.
I haven't read Watchmen, but am really looking forward to the movie.
Joy H. (of Glens Falls) wrote: "I'm about to start reading _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by ..."IT sounds like good writing but I do get tired of depressing books;dysfunctual families and their myriad problems. I realize there must be a problem or no story but to me these type of stories are all alike; just different characters. I sometimes wonder why we, the readers, actually enjoy reading about their misery??? Let me know how you feel after you read this. nina
I was quite taken when I was first introduced to Stephen King by way of THE SHINING. It seemed so original. Later I tired of him but he is a very good writer. I have heard other comments that since his dreadful accident he is no longer a good writer. What do you think? nina
Nina wrote: "I was quite taken when I was first introduced to Stephen King by way of THE SHINING. It seemed so original. Later I tired of him but he is a very good writer. I have heard other comments that sinc..."Nina-I have read just about everything that SK has written & I do think he hit a long dry spot after his accident but I think his last couple of books, especially Duma Key, seem to be of the old SK-very good!!
Jackie wrote: "My friend remembered to bring The Watchmen to work with him today. He told me NOT to read the final two chapters, to watch the movie and then I could finish the book. He said there's a great twis..."I saw the previews for The Watchmen when I saw Gran Torino-the movie looks very good....I like Patrick Wilson & Billy Crudup & I adore Jeffrey Dean Morgan....maybe my son will go with me to see it while he is home for spring break.....!
I just finished The Hobbit and am now on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Anne Rice (other topics)Janet Evanovich (other topics)
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Diane Setterfield (other topics)
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The reason I occasionally start the same topic as a different "Part" is because some newcomers may be daunted by topics which already have so many replies. They may feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of posts and may be deterred from jumping in.
So this new "Part" gives them a clean slate, so to speak.
As I say, please feel free to post in whatever "Part" you enjoy.
This is your group. Use it whichever way you like best. (within reason, of course
Joy H., Moderator