Readers and Reading discussion
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Book Miscellany
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What are you reading now? Finished recently? 4/5 through 11/6/2009
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote:If you are not loving it by now, I doubt if the ending will redeem it for you. Not everyone likes this kind of book. And sometimes a book just does not live up to our expectations. I think that happens a lot.I think that might be it...I've heard so many good things about it and it's not living up to the expectations. But really, it is getting better!
I just finished The Reliable Wife. And even tho it has a 5 star review on Amazon, (but only 8 reviews) I would say don't waste your time. I thought it was overwritten, repetitive, and a little too soap-operish and silly. I couldn't buy into it and I hated most of the characters. This is one of those books where the author has to tell you exactly what is going on in the character's mind, over and over. Zzzzzzz....I don't think he gives the reader any credit for being smart enough to figure out why they were acting as they did. I skimmed most of the 2nd part.
If anyone is dying to read it I will gladly send it to them. Other people have liked this book! But this is one of those books I do not care about keeping on my bookshelves.
Mod
I just finished listening to Kent Haruf's "Plainsong" and "Eventide", both of which I had read years ago. What struck me most while listening to these books is how much Haruf leaves to the reader to fill in. Yet he gets his points across. His spare language is a welcome change from some of the grossly inflated books out there.
I was going to say something about how much I liked the one Kent Haruf book I've read, which might have been Plainsong, I have to check -- but what I really need to say, to get it off my chest, is that I just spent two hours reading through this site, just shifting from review to review to comment to profile to blog to review to whatever.... it's sort of like walking through downtown Manhattan at rush hour, bumping into dozens of people, with everyone stark naked. Good God there is a lot of stuff here of all sorts and conditions.
Mod
"I just spent two hours reading through this site, just shifting from review to review to comment to profile to blog to review to whatever.... it's sort of like walking through downtown Manhattan at rush hour, bumping into dozens of people, with everyone stark naked. Good God there is a lot of stuff here of all sorts and conditions."
Oh, Michael, you gave me a big laugh with this comment. It can be a bit overwhelming to say the least. You sort of have to make yourself leave the room!
Mod
Even though the book is about New Orleans, the least favorite place I have ever visited, dirtier even than Venice, the book is holding my interest.
>>I just got the book The Reliable Wife<< I recently heard about this book and immediately requested it from the library. Let me know how you like it. But no spoilers please. :-)
"I'm reading Handle with Care"
I'm reading this right now. At first I wasn't going to continue when I saw it was similar to My Sister's Keeper, but I kept with it and find it pretty interesting.
>>started The Reliable Wife. I am not crazy about it but will probably go ahead and finish it to see if the "reliable wife" redeems herself.<<Now I don't know if I should look forward to reading this book.
Oh, JoAnn, New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world. We always stay at The Richelieu Hotel on Rayal and walk and walk and walk from there (and eat). I always have the most interesting experiences and meet the nicest people there.I just started Old Filth and it's keeping my attention so far. Very nice indeed.
linreadsalot wrote: "I am in the middle of reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It is slow going for me at the moment."I read Wicked several years ago prior to the show and I didn't like it at all. However, after seeing the show I was glad I had read it because it did give me more background understanding of the show the first time I saw it.
I finished Wicked last night. I enjoyed it but was glad to get out of Oz. Ready to move on to something else now. Next up for me is Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber. I've not tried one of hers before. I know that many people like her. So will give it a go.
Mod
and Commander's Palace (where we found a huge palmetto bug in the ladies' room, bigger than my hand!)
I have Old Filth here too
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Bunny, we did have great food in New Orleans. But that is the only good thing I can say about it. We ate at Bayona, http://www.bayona.com/and Commander's Palace (where we found a huge palmetto bug..."
The giant roaches, you mean?
I live in Mississippi, a few hours away from New Orleans. We have those here as well.
Mod
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Cathy, I first thought it was a roach but I was "corrected". Anywhere else, they would be considered roaches LOL Whatever it was, it was disgusting to find inside a restaurant. Someone said to me....."American cockroach
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American cockroach
The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), also known as the Palmetto Bug or a Waterbug, particularly in the southern United States, is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest.[citation needed:] It is native to the Southern United States, and common in tropical climates
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Cathy, I first thought it was a roach but I was "corrected". Anywhere else, they would be considered roaches LOL Whatever it was, it was disgusting to find inside a restaurant. Someone said to me....."Sorry, JoAnn but they ARE roaches!
Mod
That's what I said, but I was corrected many times by people who love over New Orleans, including the manager of Commander's Palace to whom I mentioned the rest room "visitor". Now I know for SURE. GROSS. Thanks, Cathy!
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Cathy (Catsluvbooks) wrote: " Sorry, JoAnn but they ARE roaches!"That's what I said, but I was corrected many times by people who love over New Orleans, including the manager of Commander's Palac..."
They are either misinformed or in denial! (or maybe the Palmetto bugs have a good PR firm!) Those darn things particular love climbing and will crawl in trees or up walls. They are gross.
Lots of folks call cicadas "locusts" but they are wrong about that too.
Jan--I hope you read The Reliable Wife and let me know what you think. It has gotten rave reviews, I am but one voice in the darkness.New Orleans is one of my favorite places in the world. I think the shabbiness-- roaches, rats and all-- is part of its charm. Curiously, in all the times I've been there, I have never seen a rat, not to say they aren't everywhere. All you have to do is have one Hurricane and you won't see anything!
A lot of the people who live down in the Quarter call themselves Quarter Rats or some variation of that.
I have also read the House on First Street book and I was wishing I was a friend of the author's. She has an interesting life. My DD's in-laws live in New Orleans and I was hoping they knew her but they don't. Boo hiss.
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Cathy, I first thought it was a roach but I was "corrected". Anywhere else, they would be considered roaches LOL Whatever it was, it was disgusting to find inside a restaurant. Someone said to me....."We ate outside at Commander's Palace, so I didn't get to see the bugs inside :) I remember meeting a Palmetto bug on the stairs at work in North Caroline - I screamed out loud, it was so huge!
Leslie/cloudla wrote: "Jan--I hope you read The Reliable Wife and let me know what you think. It has gotten rave reviews, I am but one voice in the darkness.New Orleans is one of my favorite places in the world. I thi..."
I agree - I'm always fond of shabbiness. I remember someone on this board (years ago & it was Judy) said she didn't like the Del Coronado hotel because it was shabby, while that was exactly why I did like it.
Different strokes. I've never seen a rat in New Orleans, but I have seen them in Santa Monica.
Mod
I got an ARC of this book from LibraryThing. I did a review over there.. It was very interesting to me because of its explanation of the horror and shame attached to mental illness in previous generations. I enjoyed the research the author did into his mother's past.
Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "I'm about 2/3 of the way through Jodi Picoult's "Handle With Care" and enjoying it quite a bit."Nancy: I am new to this group on Goodreads, but am in the process of reading Handle With Care, and like you, am enjoying it. I usually read 4-5 books at a time so it will probably take me a bit to finish. I have read other Picoult novels and find her (for the most part) quite enjoyable.
Donnajo wrote: "I finished My Man Michael by Lori Foster & Extreme Caution by Jean Brashear. Undecided what to read next. Continue with reading The Best Laid Plains by Sidney Sheldon or start the first book grou..."Donnajo: Have not read any of these books, but if you haven't read Harlan Coben, run, don't walk to his books. Just One Look, Hold Tight, Tell No One are all page turners.
Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "I was notified that [b:The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society|2728527|The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society|Mary Ann Shaffer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I......"NancY: My book club read this one and loved it. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.
I have The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on hold and I am currently reading Cracking India on Jan O'Malleycat's recommendation. Shomeret
Shomeret wrote: "I have The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on hold and I am currently reading Cracking India on Jan O'Malleycat's recommendation. Shomeret, I'm so excited! I loved this book and hope you will as well. But I have that nervous feeling about recommending, especially because you and I seldom read the same books.
Cracking India is set on the border between India and what became West Pakistan during Partition. It's told from the point of view of a young Parsi girl who is bewildered by the turmoil after years of living in a very diverse yet mingled household and society.
Jan O'Cat
I am in the middle of reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I love it! It's a real stitch. I haven't read anything this fun and entertaining for a long time.
I started reading Prayers for Sale bt Sandra Dallas, and it seems like it is going to be great. I have reallly liked all of hers, especially Tallgrass.Deb in ATL
I've read a few of Harlan's books. Only 2 of his series but most of the other's. I've met him maybe 2 or 3 times. And saw him a few times. He lives in the town I go to needlepoint in and that is the same town I see him at booksignings. He's been to other's authors and I think I saw him there too. One time the m/t people might remember I saw him at B&N and he was just signing books for the store. And I didn't say anything to him and he found out and showed up at the board and wrote a comment on the board to me. So that was before I went to the first booksigning of his I went too. It was weird a few weeks ago a few of the people at needlepoint were talking about because his had kids at the same school as their children so they were saying they knew him. And a friend of mine was in his house before he bought it their friends owned it. He has a real nice house. donna Jo
Just started Heat Lightning by John Sanford. Only 40+ pages into it, but so far so good. I have been a Lucas Davenport fan for years.
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Michael wrote: Wondering if I am reading into it.... also wondering if the social nuances were quite as severe as Wharton presents them. Or was she projecting more of her own anxieties onto her sub...presents them. Or was she projecting more of her own anxieties onto her subject?" I wondered something along the same line when I recently read Wharton's "House of Mirth". The "social nuances" in that book were fairly cruel, I thought. "
Having just finished Age of Innocence, it seems like a moot point to me now. Worth considering again in the coolness of tomorrow, but... not at this moment. Those strictures bound up a certain code, but the choices that code forced upon people are still very real today -- so, in the end, I simply accepted the rules of the game, as Wharton depicted them, and followed the fates of the characters as she delivered them. What a beautiful book this is. It is not a book a young writer could have written. It may have its contrivances here and there, but a lot of life, love and loss went into its writing. And you can feel it almost every step of the way.... especially by the end.
Mod
Michael said: "Those strictures bound up a certain code, but the choices that code forced upon people are still very real today -- so, in the end, I simply accepted the rules of the game, as Wharton depicted them, and followed the fates of the characters as she delivered them. "And JoAnn asked: "have you see the movie made from this book (Age of Innocence)? I see that it is in my ON DEMAND choices.... "
Michael, I like the point you made here and you've made me realize that I read the book much as you did. Yes, there's a sense that Wharton intends the reader to be affronted by the awful strictures of this social group, but I read it as an exploration of another culture. Instead of being horrified, I was intrigued, in much the same way I am when reading a book set in colonial Vietnam or 19th century India.
That's not to disparage Wharton's craft (there can be no disparagement there) nor her perspicacity in recognizing the intricacies and demands of that culture without being very far removed from it in time or place.
JoAnn, I've seen the movie and liked it. It's especially fun in depicting the lushness and opulence of this society. The visuals show so much MORE than I'd imagined as I read. Scorsese's sweeping camera that suddenly hones in to direct our eye to a peculiar detail is a perfect vehicle to portray this world.
It seemed such an odd outing for Scorsese, but you immediately perceive the similarities to the movies for which he's famous. He's always giving us an insight into a closed society that plays by very strict rules. The meanness of Wharton's streets may be very discreet, but no less cruel than that of the low-level mafia in Good Fellas or the boxing world in Raging Bull.
There's a lot to be gained from maintaining a place in those worlds, not least money and pleasure. But there's also the comfort of being an insider and knowing the rules, however much they may chafe from time to time. Why else wouldn't Newland simply leave to be with Countess Olenska?
Jan O'Cat
Mod
I finished The Friday Night Knitting club by Kate Jacobs and all I have to say is I can't wait until tomorrow night's book club meeting. I read more than 1/2 the book this morning. Once I really sat down with it I couldn't put it down. I never expected it. Let's just say the book really hit me a different way than usual. I don't want to say too much about it. But will post some spoiler on my goodreads book shelve. donna jo
Donnajo, isn't great when a book strikes your fancy like that? Glad to hear that you liked it. It'll be neat to see what the other book club members think of it.Jan, your comments on Age of Innocence were a pleasure to read, returning me to my own fascination with the book. On another thread we discussed books to movies and i must admit this one is both an outstanding book but also a delicious movie. The details in both help make one feel & understand the era better than many other genres about the era.
Frankly, this is the reason i value Wharton's works. I feel that as she explains the society in which the characters live, she gives us insight from both sides--society but also the main character's behaviors. Brilliant.
deborah
Yes, I'm looking forward to the meeting tomorrow night. I just hope I'm not the only one to show up besides whoever in the store is leading it. I only say that because the one booksigning I went to there I was the only one but it turned out to be a plus for me because the author and I really had a good conversation. We talked for over an hour. And she even said she liked it that way sometimes because it was like two friends having a good conversation.
Just finished Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich. Funny, funny, funny. Did I tell everyone it was funny?Also, finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I LOVED this book. It grabbed my attention from the beginning and made me think, made me reflect and made me cry. A definite 5.
I am reading Four Plays by Tennessee Williams. Sofar I'm done with have of the book. 2 play done and 2 more to go. I enjoyed the ones I've read. As for my second book I am reading is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Started reading it 2 days ago. It is really interesting sofar. Has anyone read it before? =)~
Deborah said: "Jan, your comments on Age of Innocence were a pleasure to read, returning me to my own fascination with the book. On another thread we discussed books to movies and i must admit this one is both an outstanding book but also a delicious movie. The details in both help make one feel & understand the era better than many other genres about the era. "Thanks, Deborah. I've had another thought since last night when I said that there must be something to be gained from living in a society where the rules are highly defined, if difficult to follow. I was thinking about the sheer money and what it can buy, not to mention the comfort of knowing exactly what to expect from any circumstance. (Remember the ritual involved in the opera season?)
Why else, I wondered, would Newland Archer not leave to be with Countess Olenska? That question led me to think of another aspect of what can be gained from understanding the strictures. What Newland gained was some easy rebellion. It didn't take so very much for him to achieve a hint of the renegade. He may have gained for himself the satisfaction of a daring self-image as rebel or rake or avant-garde. I can't remember if there's any hint of this in the book.
And thinking of Newland being reeled back in by May makes me think of the power those social rules could give to women. May (I sure hope I have her name right) is a slight and reticient character, but she doesn't let her man get away.
Think also of the grandmother, somewhat of a rebel herself living all the way up at what street? And ruling the family with the classic iron fist in a velvet glove.
Jan O'Cat
Perpendicularandi wrote: "I am in the middle of reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I love it! It's a real stitch. I haven't read anything this fun and entertaining for a long time."That one's a classic of the good kind. Babblefish, my favorite.
Burgendya wrote: " I am reading Four Plays by Tennessee Williams. Sofar I'm done with have of the book. 2 play done and 2 more to go. I enjoyed the ones I've read. As for my second book I am reading is The Time..."
I've read this, and I liked it very much. Thought it was very imaginative and the time phases were handled nicely. I think there is going to be a movie.
JanOMalleycat wrote: I've had another thought since last night when I said that there must be something to be gained from living in a society where the rules are highly defined, if difficult to follow... "Uh, oh, you're getting ahead of me here, Jan! LOL. I have been thinking of this for the last two days, and stole some time just to research Wharton a teeny bit more. Yes, I totally agree with you about there being benefits from a society whose restrictions seem severe to us today. (Which of our customs will seem restrictive to a future generation? Or will we be seen as too liberated in some aspects?) And I was going to point out that, while the most restrictive position was that of women, the women were in fact the chief enforcers of the system.
So they must have felt some value in their code. I think you can tell Wharton did, too, by the elegiac tone of the last 30 pages of the book. There has to be more than a bit of nostalgia underneath there, to have written so movingly about time's passage (as Newland and family age toward the end) and how it changed that world. She missed some aspects of the world that that society generated. When Wharton returned to New York in 1913 for a niece's wedding, she wrote that she found the city now "queer, rootless" and "overwhelming."
As for Newland's rebellion -- I didn't quite see it the same way. It didn't seem "cheap" to me; he was agonizing over his choices and, of course, this relationship with Ellen had long, long gaps in time and yet still fired his blood. That doesn't seem entirely compatible with an easy rebellion. It would not have been easy for him to defy all the conventions he had been brought up to value and take off with Ellen -- something she never agreed to, either, one can't help noticing. I think Newland saw a freedom in Ellen that was greater than her own personality, and a part of him was drawn to that freedom -- intensely drawn to it. But whether she herself, as an individual woman, would ever have lived up to what he was seeing in her as a symbol -- that I am not sure of. I don't believe the two of them really had a future together, even if they had been circumstantially freer to pursue it. Hence, also the ending.
A small postscript -- there is so much more that could be said on this one. But this point--the men were also trapped in these restrictions. Newland's situation with innocent May is so much like Levin's with his fiance Kitty, in Anna Karenina -- each loves the innocence, in a way, but also wants to change it as soon as possible, since it chafes, too. Levin gives Kitty his diaries; Newland reads poetry to May, and fantasizes about making her a more sophisticated young wife than the virginal maiden she must play. And he speaks quite negatively about the gaps between the man and the woman that those social customs created. Yes, he has a job. (Sort of, LOL.) Yes, he can dally with a married woman when he's single. But this reading made it clear to me that Ellen had had an affair, too, during her marriage (though it did not seem to have been with that secretary the Count sends over with his later proposals). From what was provided on Newland's earlier affair, it did not sound as though the woman had to pay any social penalty for it. A little hypocrisy all around permitted human nature to function within the ostensibly strict rules of the game.
Well, I would really like to go on about this one more, and will be happy to, later, but I can't right now!
About Age of Innocence. Maybe it's the historian in me but when i read this book, as well as House of Mirth, my mind went to what lesser monied people were doing. Many were heading west to make their own society, in a way. This particularly came to mind when Lily Bart could come up with no options. (Although, Edna Ferber had a character point out in Cimarron that when people get tired of the society's strictures in the East, they move west. His question was why they then repeat the same process of ostracizing, which is a brilliant question. Now then, this is paraphrasing & i am notorious for misremembering, so don't quote me! I know i have it in my notes but, naturally, can't locate it now.)
I'm intrigued by the Newland rebellion idea because i felt he was as much entranced by Ellen's own rebellious actions & society's response, as he was to the woman. It truly would have been a giant leap for him to change. I rather doubt he would have been a positve renegade model for others, however, because staying in the fold was quite well rewarded. Still, it interests me.
The idea that women were the chief enforcers is true, which is why the grandmother's inclusion of Ellen was accepted. While it appears it was a power they had it was really only a power invested in them by the men, imo. If they didn't wield the moral flag, what would have happened to them? Even a mother's love would only excuse a small amount in society's eye before she, too, would become fodder for rebuffs.
deborah
Bunny wrote: "Perpendicularandi wrote: "I am in the middle of reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I love it! It's a real stitch. I haven't read anything this fun and entertaining fo..."Have you noticed how often the number "42" comes up? Could be coincidence but i like to think of it as a wink from other Douglas Adams fans.
deborah
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Well, I'm finding it a bit boring.....I'm about 2/3 done. I'm hoping the ending is really good... "
If you are not loving it by now, I doubt if the ending will redeem it for you. Not everyone likes this kind of book. And sometimes a book just does not live up to our expectations. I think that happens a lot.