You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Chapter Crushers (Team C)
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I agree the bones books are easier to listen to than read them. I'm listening to Devil Bones and am actually enjoying it :)
KimeyDiann wrote: "@Jmom, Messenger, book three in The Giver Quartet is the book I'm asking about. It shows up as 178 pages on amazon (and GR) for the kindle edition."Unfortunately we go by the first GR version to come up. We've found that e-books seem to use different ways to count pages.
I'm using a couple of vacation days today and tomorrow, so I am making great progress. Today I read Long Day's Journey into Night, which won the Pulitzer for Drama in 1957. When I was in college, I went into New York City to see a Broadway production of this play, and I remembered it being fantastic. It still is, though a tad depressing. Eugene O'Neill actually wrote in 1940, but it was not published until 1956, after his death. It's apparently based on himself and his family. One critic wrote, "I think he wrote it as an act of forgiveness. Not a pontifical forgiveness, mind you, not as an absolution for the harm that had been done to him. That he was damaged by his family is only a fact now, a piece of truth to be put down out of respect for the whole truth; there is no residual rancor. He seems to be asking forgiveness for his own failure to know his father, mother, and brother well enough at a time when the need for understanding was like an upstairs cry in the night; and to be reassuring their ghosts, wherever they may be, that he knows everything awful they have done, and loves them."
I finished A Year in the Merde and ended up really enjoying. Paul finally has sex, so even though he still thinks of it all the time (I think sex is the most used word in the book)) his attitude is better - he wants to get to know his partners and wants more of a relationship with most of them. Lots of descriptions of the Parisian attitude, which Paul eventually adjusts to and becomes very good at the Parisian shrug.
I finished my reread of Mr. Mercedes for the Mystery Edgar Award. It's was as excellent the 2nd time around.Going to find something else to read, now. I've got a couple of choices.
@Jmom, that is what I thought but figured I'd double check anyway. Thanks. :) I'm about 3/4 of the way finished with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and I'm still not particularly enjoying it. In the preface Mark Twain says that even though he intends the books for children, he hopes that it would remind adults of their childhood and how they once were. I guess that explains the detailed descriptions of the games played and other events that do nothing to move the story along... and are quite boring to me. I know this is supposed to be a classic, but I'm afraid I don't see the appeal.
sorry guys I was really sick yesterday and didn't update but I am back :)
Sorry to hear that you were ill, Tasha! Hope you are feeling better :)
Stephanie wrote: "Sorry to hear that you were ill, Tasha! Hope you are feeling better :)"Thanks Stephanie I am feeling a little better now
I listened to Devil Bones for Emmy Award. I really liked this read :) this is the last book for me for the toppler because I'm not sure if I will have time to read another book before noon tomorrow. This has been a fun toppler despite the first two books I read being pretty dull :) I'm glad the last book I read was a bit more entertaining! If you don't like reading the actual Kathy Reichs books, give them a listen instead. I found it was easier to follow along with than reading :)
I just finished We'll Always Have Parrots, which won a "Lefty" from Left Coast Crime. I've been listening to an audio book of Anansi Boys, and I hope to finish it today. I still have about five hours left, though. After that I am probably done for this toppler. I don't think I would have time to finish another book.
Hope you are feeling much better, Tasha!I started a book for the adult industry category and it's actually quite well-written. It's Tangled and it's told from the man's POV. I've chuckled a few times already. However, I don't think I'll have it finished in time. I'll try, but right now I'm at work and feeling very tired. Hope to get a 2nd wind when I get home.
No problem about the spreadsheet Tasha. Hope you continue feeling better!I'm listening to Love Among the Chickens and should be able to finish it. I don't have much of Toby's Room left. Don't know why it's taking me so long, maybe because it's not a happy book, and I've been falling asleep (napping more) when I get home.
Finished Neuromancer. Inspired by Casceil, I'm going to see how far I get with We'll Always Have Parrots. Sounds very fun : )
Kimey, I finished reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I think it is 3/3.5 stars for me.
I actually finished Tangled for Adult Industry last night. It was much better than I expected, so I stayed up late to finish it. Written by a woman, told from the POV of a man. And he's a real cad and until the unbelievable happens: he falls in love! Well-written sex scenes (although all the simultaneous orgasms had me rolling my eyes), good chemistry between intelligent characters, decent story (although predictable). Giving it a 4.
Wow I feel like I dropped the ball :(
You shouldn't feel like that at all, Nicole :) watching one of the movies or reading even one book helps with the scoring :)
Was hoping to get more read, that's all.
Nicole, the thing about Topplers is to enjoy the fun of participating. This was my third or fourth team toppler, and I have never been on a winning team. That's okay. I've had a great time. I really enjoy the week of staying in touch with my team, comparing books, and cheering each other on. And when the toppler ends, I find myself in a kind of post-toppler let-down. I don't want the party to be over. This was an unusually fun toppler, because the rules got me to read a wide-variety of high-quality literature I would not normally take on. I've owned a copy of The Sea for a couple of years. I finally read it this last week because it was a Man Booker winner. I'm very glad to have read it, and I found it very moving. I had never seen Cool Runnings before, and I was pleased to discover it. One of the big surprises was how much fun I had reading old plays that won Pulitzers for drama in the forties and fifties. When I was in high school, I did some acting, and I remembered A Streetcar Named Desire and Long Day's Journey into Night as being brilliant. Going back and reading them now, and comparing the view from over forty years ago was interesting. They were as great as I remembered them being, but they read so differently now that I am in my sixties and have a different perspective.
Nicole wrote: "Wow I feel like I dropped the ball :("There's no ball dropping in a Toppler! You read as much or little as you want (or can when life intrudes). Even in a Toppler where specific tasks have to be done, teammates are always willing to step in and help when one has trouble completing their task.
The only pressure should be what we put on ourselves - and that can be too much sometimes. Then it's time to chat with your team, relax, and go pick on another team (sabotage is encouraged). You also get to know a lot about other members. (You can tell a lot by what's tippled and how much tippling is done) Some of do as much chatting as reading. The whole idea is to have fun, fun, fun!
Hugs, Nicole. Pay attention to what's been said. We had fun while reading. That's all that matters.
Alright. Hugs, thanks guys. Do we stay on the same team for next time? I rather liked reading everyone's posts, even though I'm unusually quiet lately.
The next Toppler (in August) will be a 24 hour one and there won't be teams. Also the tasks will be much more relaxed. So the next week long Toppler will be in October and it will be a team one. Teams always change - there'll be some different people participating, and we always like to mix it up. So the August Toppler will be very relaxed (too hot to much thinking then), and by the October one you'll be feeling like an oldtimer :~D
The teams get mixed up each time, but given the size and number of teams, you usually know someone on your team from the previous toppler.
@Pragya, did you find Curious as depressing as I did? Great job everyone! 1 book or 20 doesn't matter, it was lots of fun!
Woot woot! Way to crush those chapters everyone!!
@Kimey I did when I first read it few months back. I was so annoyed that he stayed with his mom....
Kimey, yes it certainly was both interesting and depressing. But I am glad I could see it all from Christopher's eyes. Being in the mental health profession, books like these help me keep up my sensitivity and work on more ways to help them out.
That is a good point, Pragya. The only adult in Christopher's life that I really liked was his teacher. You could tell she was well trained to deal with special needs children. She was also pretty much the only person that knew how to communicate effectively with Christopher. I felt like everyone else either talked down to him or in ways that they knew (his family knew anyway) he didn't understand.
J-Mom started a new thread to follow up after the Toppler. She's asking us for the following info:"Could the trackers from each team make their final report here of total points, broken down between books read and movie watching? Breakdown is not for bonus points - only curiosity.
I know some of you love statistics and such, so maybe you could do some calculating, like how many books were read (total and by team), a list of what countries participants are from (I'm curious. Just the countries, not each each participant, unless you want to.), and any other interesting things you come up with.
What were the tippling beverages during the Toppler? If it was a cocktail, coffee drink, or some strange concoction - what was in it? Others may want to try it. Any hangovers? Any actions you'd like to require tippling in future Topplers? I think bad sex will become a permanent one.
Are you experiencing any Toppler Hangover symptoms? It may take a few days to recognize some of them :)
Did you learn anything new? Not as in how weird some of our members are, but facts, trivia, etc."
Debra wrote: "J-Mom started a new thread to follow up after the Toppler. She's asking us for the following info:"Could the trackers from each team make their final report here of total points, broken down bet..."
thanks Debra for the reminder I was on nights and couldn't do this earlier but it is posted now
J-Mom added this as well - a list of what countries participants are from If people want to reply we can add that to our post :)
Beth
Camilla
Casceil
Dawn - Canada
Debra
jaxnsmom
KimeyDiann
Lori
Melissa
Nicole - USA
Peggy- The Netherlands
Pragya
Roz
Stephanie - U.S.A
Tasha - Canada
Tejas Janet
BethCamilla
Casceil
Dawn
Debra
jaxnsmom
KimeyDiann
Lori
Melissa
Nicole
Peggy - The Netherlands
Pragya
Roz
Stephanie
Tasha - Canada
Tejas Janet
Also I mostly drank coffee if that's an available answer. cream and 6 splendas.
USA. I did tipple, Mostly water but I also enjoyed a glass (or several) of wine. One night I had iced peach tea with some peach flavored tequila in it. Very tasty!The only "hangover" I've experienced is the urge to check to see what categories I need to read for next.
LOL moments should be a permanent tippling event.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Long Day's Journey into Night (other topics)The Sea (other topics)
A Streetcar Named Desire (other topics)
Tangled (other topics)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
John Banville (other topics)Lois Lowry (other topics)
Zsuzsi Gartner (other topics)
Jane Austen (other topics)
Cormac McCarthy (other topics)
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I found them easier to listen to. The ones set in Canada were a little harder with all the french names, but the story lines were good.