Goodreads Ireland discussion
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What Are You Reading
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Khaled Hosseini's book And the Mountains Echoed will be on special tomorrow at Amazon. I don't know the price but if you haven't read this wonderful book, it's a good opportunity to do so. It was GR's book of the year and I LOVED it. Just letting everyone know.
Susan wrote: "Khaled Hosseini's book And the Mountains Echoed will be on special tomorrow at Amazon. I don't know the price but if you haven't read this wonderful book, it's a good o..."Susan - Thanks for the heads up. I still haven't read it or the second one which is on my shelves.
Susan wrote: "Khaled Hosseini's book And the Mountains Echoed will be on special tomorrow at Amazon. I don't know the price but if you haven't read this wonderful book, it's a good o..."I looked and don't see anything except the kindle version for $7.99. It's 7 am here on Sat.
Susan wrote: "Khaled Hosseini's book And the Mountains Echoed will be on special tomorrow at Amazon. I don't know the price but if you haven't read this wonderful book, it's a good o..."Susan - it showed up later and I got it. It is a special or lightning deal with limited availablity. When I bought the hardcover for $6.99 around 10 am 66% were gone.
I am so glad you got it. It's a wonderful book but I am biased. I love all of his books and have heard him speak twice. He is a doctor and his wife is a lawyer and runs his foundation. Talk about an American success story.
Susan wrote: "I am so glad you got it. It's a wonderful book but I am biased. I love all of his books and have heard him speak twice. He is a doctor and his wife is a lawyer and runs his foundation. Talk about a..."I loved Kite Runner and keep letting other books in my pile get ahead of his second book. I assume each one stands alone and I can read the third before I read the second.
@Barbara, they all stand alone. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
@Gerry. That's one hell of a strong recommendation. Is it a stand alone novel, or would I have to read the first novel?
Have added it to my to read pile Gerry. Your very convincing :)
@Gerry, I looked at the reviews on Amazon and it was an either love it or hate it book. All the reviews were 5 or 1 stars. I think I'll have to give it a try. It sounds so interesting. Have you read any of his others?
While I was looking forward to Barnes and Noble NYC before my trip and was disappointed by its similarity to most book shops I've been to after my visit, I really can't recommend enough that, if you are in NYC at any stage, visit Strand Book Store on Broadway and 12th.What a book shop! A definite store for the book lover! We went through the doors at 915pm on a Sunday night, and the place was rammed with customers, and seemingly not the sort of customer buying the latest celebrity memoir that you'd ordinarily get at this time of year. The promo tables are filled with serious literary fiction, with some new releases mixed in with staff recommendations and hidden gems. Then there's the floor to ceiling shelves, which combine new with second hand items, and apparently stretch for 18 miles.
I could've spent a day in there, but thinking of my other half who was waiting patiently, my luggage limitations and my wallet, I only spent about 45 mins in the place and picked up 4 books, one for my partner, as well as
John Williams' critically acclaimed novel, Stoner, and two modern classics that I'd never heard of before but picked up off the promo tables, something that rarely happens these days-The New York Stories by John O'Hara and City of Nighy by John Rechy. I could easily have trebled that amount of purchases with books I found and put down in that short space of time, but it was interesting to see others not being so frugal, with people literally filling shopping baskets with books.
My favourite moment of the shopping trip, though, was while we were standing in a very long line to pay, the guy in front asked us what part of Ireland we were from. He was from Mayo. We asked if he was on holiday as his accent was broad Irish, and he said technically-he had arrived in NYC for a fortnight's holiday in 1984 and never went home!
I can't recommend this bookstore enough. I'm so envious of the locals who have this resource within travelling distance, and I'll possibly make another trip down before we head home. If not, it'll be the store I'll be looking forward to visiting the next time we come over, and I know that it'll be one that I'll not be disappointed by! :)
Allan, I love that shop without ever having set foot inside it. There's something lovely about exploring a new bookshop and that sounds like one of the best.
Next time I'm sure you'll have a lot more time than 45 minutes to explore it properly.
Next time I'm sure you'll have a lot more time than 45 minutes to explore it properly.
You have to read what you like without apology, Jamielynn. Reading is for pleasure, first and foremost.
A change is as good as a rest, Jamielynn.
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Me too! I was only going to go to return the two I had out and was finished with. I opted instead to renew them and go some other time. My house is so comfy and warm! Also, traveling has worn me out.
I hardly had a chance to read yesterday and when I tried to read today I fell asleep for about three hours.
I'll be awake for a while tonight so I'll get some good reading done tonight curled up in bed.
Enjoy your reading, guys.
I'll be awake for a while tonight so I'll get some good reading done tonight curled up in bed.
Enjoy your reading, guys.
Sara wrote: "Is anyone else planning on spending the day after Christmas curled up with a stack of books? I'm finishing up a documentary so it can go back to Netflix. After that I'll run to the post office and ..."I've had some time to read today, Sara, and I'm hoping to get a few more books finished before the end of the month (and the year). December was a slight reading month for me--I barely got a few pages read. I need to clean up my "currently reading" shelf, as well. Right now I'm about halfway through a Phil Rickman book, A Crown of Lights, the third in a series about an Anglican priest, Merrily Watkins, who is an appointed "deliverance consultant." They're sort of mysteries and sort of paranormal--and fairly absorbing reads.
@Jamielynn. I'm far more likely to fall asleep if I'm lying down, that's for sure, but it can still happen if I'm sitting up in a chair.
@Cathleen. December has been a poor reading month for me, two. In the few days left I'd like to finish the monthly read and one more.
@Cathleen. December has been a poor reading month for me, two. In the few days left I'd like to finish the monthly read and one more.
I finished my book club book for Saturday- Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie. Will finish an Anne Perry mystery today. Staying in as I have been fighting a cold for days. I am also doing work! Although I have 4 weeks off I have lots to do. I have to spend at least 3 hours a day on it, sigh. I think I'll read the Phil Rickman book I have on my shelves next.
I still think you'll get a hell of a lot of reading done in the coming weeks, Barbara, in spite of your work commitments. :)
It's just a hunch I have.
It's just a hunch I have.
Barbara wrote: "I finished my book club book for Saturday- Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie. Will finish an Anne Perry mystery today. Staying in as I have been fighting a cold for days. I am also doing work! Althoug..."How did you like the Sherman Alexie book, Barbara? Some of my friends here speak highly of him, but I've never read anything of his. Hope your cold passes soon!
It's funny how December has been such a busy month for everyone, unsurprisingly I suppose, and I'm in exactly the same boat, in that I've achieved very little reading wise. I'll be aiming to finish Between Two Rivers by Nicholas Rinaldi over the next few days, before getting stuck into one of the books on my now bulging TBR shelf, which I've even had to move books off over the last couple of weeks. I'm seriously going to have to stop buying books quicker than I can read them-that'll have to be my new year's resolution, which will no doubt be broken within hours!On another note, as an extra stocking filler to add to the tickets for some country and western show that I bought my dad for Christmas, I bought him The Sisters Brothers, which I think the group has read before, and The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman. He does sometimes read for pleasure, and I occasionally recommend books for him, but his interest can be patchy. I found out, however, on our return yesterday that he had finished the former by the end of Christmas Day, and is already stuck in to the latter, and has been thoroughly enjoying both. I could make a Goodreads Ireland member out of him yet!
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Sara - you are reminding me I have yet to start The Troubles. But it is our quarterly read. I have been focused on reading books with seasonal themes.Allan - wow - great your dad read one and is into another of the books you sent. That is awesome. I may have mentioned I got my son two books for Christmas:
Palante: Young Lords Party which is about the Puerto Rican group in the 60's similar to the Black Panthers and Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions - he's a big Guillermo del Toro fan.
Cathleen - I really like Sherman Alexie but I often wonder how others experience his writing. He is very funny and self-deprecating. As I say in my review, he loves to make fun of white folks' fascination with American Indians. I also find it tiresome but who am I to judge? When I lived in Boston, my neighbor was a former tribal chair of the Wampanoag and his brother was a medicine man as well as working for the state commission on Indian affairs. The Wampanoag, for those who aren't familiar with the tribe, are those who met the Pilgrims, and they gave us clambakes.
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kid...
I have some Phil Rickman on my shelf and have never read him. Do you guys recommend him? I don't know anyone who has read them so they have gotten dusty and cobweby on my shelves. I've been hesitant about reading him.@Barbara, what Anne Perry are you reading? I enjoy her books even if her real life is far more interesting.
Barbara wrote: "Sara - you are reminding me I have yet to start The Troubles. But it is our quarterly read. I have been focused on reading books with seasonal themes.Allan - wow - great your dad read one and is ..."
I just saw your review, Barbara. I'll read him at some point. It might be later than sooner, only because I have so many "on deck."
Susan wrote: "I have some Phil Rickman on my shelf and have never read him. Do you guys recommend him? I don't know anyone who has read them so they have gotten dusty and cobweby on my shelves. I've been hesitan..."Susan, I'd recommend the Merrily Watkins series. Phil Rickman also writes some horror/suspense novels, too, and I think he may be more well-known for those, but I haven't read any of them. If you do read the Merrily Watkins, I'd recommend starting with the first one The Wine of Angels because you get a lot of the back story of Merrily and of the location. They're classified as suspense and as mysteries and have some elements of the supernatural, so they're different than the usual mysteries/crime I read.
@Cathleen, thanks for that. The two books I have are from the Merrily series. I wish I could read faster.
Susan wrote: "I have some Phil Rickman on my shelf and have never read him. Do you guys recommend him? I don't know anyone who has read them so they have gotten dusty and cobweby on my shelves. I've been hesitan..."Susan - I am reading A Christmas Secret and would like to read more - probably next Christmas.
@Cphe. I try not to judge books by there covers but I actively judge them by their titles. I would have never looked up that book if you hadn't mentioned it but It looks like a great read and it's very well received by its GR reviewers.
@Cphe. I've gone ahead and added it. It really sounds like a book I might love.
@Jamielynn. We're only human, which is why I said I 'try' not to judge books by their covers.
@Jamielynn. We're only human, which is why I said I 'try' not to judge books by their covers.
You might uncover a hidden gem, Jamielynn. :)
Ah I love new years even more than Xmas and the prospect of a better new year ahead
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I'm definitely going to try to read more. It's always difficult with work, school runs and life in general but joining this group has definitely put the push on me to read more frequently so hopefully I'll be successful. 20 books in one month would be amazing Sara
That's some goal you've set for January, Sara! I have to say that I should probably take a leaf out of your book and buy no new titles for a few months, because my TBR shelf, and indeed my TBL files in Audible, are getting out of control. But being a bookaholic might make my job a little harder...
20 books in a month is an awesome challenge, Sara. My money is on you to finish it.
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Piece of cake for you, Sara. I look forward to seeing how you progress.
The Dying Earth series is one of my favourites, Sara. Very easy to read with a nice undercurrent of humour all the way through. I'm sure you'll like it. Food luck with challenge. It's still a lot of reading.
Jamie Lynn wrote: "Declan It's wise to not judge a book by it's cover but some of them are so pretty I can't help but look at them! I guess that shows my level of intelligence LOL!Although I read The Secret History..."
Jamie Lynn - I am also attracted to books because of the cover. And I think that marketing research shows that this does help sell books. I wonder though if this is less true than it used to be. There are fewer and fewer bookstores to browse that lend to buying this way. On the plus side, thanks to Goodreads, we discover books via friends and groups here.
I too want to read more books on my shelves. And try to balance time online with reading. But I have read 122 books this year and think I'll make 125 by Dec. 31st.
Sara wrote: "Does anyone else have any reading goals for 2014? For the past couple years, from January 1st to April 21st (my birthday), I refrain from buying books. I also try to limit my use of the library. Th..."Hi Sara, That's quite a goal you have set for yourself. Good luck with that, but I'm sure you'll meet it. I will have reading goals; I set them every year, and since I'm a fairly slow reader, I always try to increase the number of books I read--and read more quickly! January is usually a good reading month for me since it's cold and I usually just hunker down. I have 3 education/education related books and at least 3 of the fiction books I have on my bookshelf that I want to get read before my new term starts again.
Sara wrote: "Does anyone else have any reading goals for 2014? For the past couple years, from January 1st to April 21st (my birthday), I refrain from buying books. I also try to limit my use of the library. Th..."Wow- very ambitious. I also try to avoid the library because I end up picking up loads of books. I also want to read more on my shelves and I like the idea of making it a goal. I am going to keep the same numerical goal of 100 books though I surpassed it by almost 25%. I wonder if I have any books on my TBR shelf that are 150 pages or less.
Sara wrote: "Does anyone else have any reading goals for 2014? For the past couple years, from January 1st to April 21st (my birthday), I refrain from buying books. I also try to limit my use of the library. Th..."Wow- very ambitious. I also try to avoid the library because I end up picking up loads of books. I also want to read more on my shelves and I like the idea of making it a goal. I am going to keep the same numerical goal of 100 books though I surpassed it by almost 25%. I wonder if I have any books on my TBR shelf that are 150 pages or less. Is there a way to search my lists for length?
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When I read your post, Barbara, I went and checked the number of books I'd read this year-it turns out I've read 101. Considering that over the years that I've been counting, I usually average about 80 books, I've no doubt that it's been Goodreads Ireland that has encouraged me to read more. So thank you Goodreads Ireland!
And just think, Allan, some were not set in Belfast and NYC. :)
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The only biography of Oscar Wilde one should read is Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann.
Richard David Ellmann was a prominent American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats. Ellmann's James Joyce (1959), for which he won the National Book Award in 1960, is considered one of the most acclaimed literary biographies of the 20th century and the 1982 revised edition of the work was similarly recognised with the award of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. A liberal humanist, Ellmann's academic work generally focused on the major modernist writers of the twentieth century.
Jane