Goodreads Ireland discussion
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What Are You Reading
Sara I love your weekend reads updates. You seem to consume books. It's fantastic. I don't think I have given up on a book. I'm always hopeful it will improve and redeem itself.
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Sara, you've managed to get a few bargains today alright! :) I bought the Barrytown Trilogy a few months ago in order to read The Commitments, as I want to get The Guts on audiobook, as I've heard such good reports about it. Have you read much of Doyle's work? I think I'm going to go for the Waters audiobook as well, btw-it hasn't been released in the UK yet, but it sounds like a lot of fun!Personally, I'm currently half way through Alan Johnson, ex British Home Secretary's award winning childhood memoir, 'This Boy', which details the harrowing conditions in which he grew up. I'm also listening to-and loving-our Buddy Read, 'In Dubious Battle', and will probably start a reread of our unofficial group read, 'Unspoken', while it's currently fresh in people's memories.
Sara, cheers for the heads up. That certainly sounds like an interesting twist on the Superhero concept. I read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson earlier this year and its a nice twist as well but not as comic.Like the idea if readin A Feast of Crows and A Dance if Dragons in a new way. They pissed me off as with characters AWOL for so long. If I do I re read I might ask you for that order.
@J.S can you define what you mean by the 'popular' fiction you avoid. You' ve some very popular writers and books in your read shelves with 4 and 5 stars that would fit that bill so i'm curious what you mean.
Paul wrote: "@J.S can you define what you mean by the 'popular' fiction you avoid. You' ve some very popular writers and books in your read shelves with 4 and 5 stars that would fit that bill so i'm curious wha..."Quick reply, going offline soon here.
I usually avoid NYT bestsellers like Hunger Games or Game Of Thrones; also things that come in a series, anything romance, much of sci fi/fantasy except for N Gaiman and the old Heinlein stuff. So not sure what you refer to as "popular". --- Michener?
( The GR list is not at all inclusive of what I have read. Am not diligent about listing it here.)
Strange exclusions and inclusions to the list but if it keeps your reading happy. A lit of genre fans feel they're pushed to the margins in awards and bookshops so odd to include Scifi/fantasy in the popular crowd
Paul wrote: "Strange exclusions and inclusions to the list but if it keeps your reading happy. A lit of genre fans feel they're pushed to the margins in awards and bookshops so odd to include Scifi/fantasy in..."
What is Hunger Games -- or Game of Thrones?
If it's a commercial blockbuster, I avoid it. Unless it is humor, like The Devil Wears Prada.
Here's the problem. I'll read anything. Put a cereal box in front of me, I will read it ever since childhood. Most people on GR are avid readers from childhood no doubt.
Did you want to nitpick anything else? It's time for my white wine spritzer. Or maybe a cosmopolitan....
I wasnt nitpicking. You throw out the most cryptic statements and I was just looking for clarity. And remember. Gamo of Thrones didnt start out a blockbuster. I thought GR was a placefor debating but your very nice dismissal puts me in my place.
Sorry for disturbing your drinking. Keep off the cheap stuff - remember garbage in garbage out.
Thanks Sara. I'll add that to my list. If it's not on the GR database I'll add it in the next couple of days.
Sara wrote: "So over the past two days I have bought 8 new books. I will share them all in an attempt to make the rest of you feel better about your book buying habitsThe Way We Never Were: American Families ..."
Sara - I briefly considered going to the book sale today at Politics and Prose but Friday traffic led me to decide to wait for the weekend. Both Maureen and I have said we're not buying any books at the sale:) If I get around it, I may make a list of the many books I've bought in the past couple of weeks.
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@Barbara I do Meals on Wheels (delivering meals to seniors) not too far from Politics and Prose, so when I finished there at 1 PM it was a quick drive. I went during the weekend for the last one, and it got too claustrophobic for me. I am interested to see if you and Maureen both stick to your resolve. I wish you the best of luck. You should reward yourself though for getting through your tough week of work related reading.
@Everyone It occurred to me after making that list, that I also remembered picking up Hild as a remainder. I double checked though, and it didn't come home with me...nor is it listed on my receipt. I suspected I put it down while looking at a different book. I always feel very sorry for the staff during the craziness of the member sale. Hilary Clinton was also scheduled for an event tonight (at an off site location), and my friend who works at the store is in charge of all event books. He was pulling his hair out when I saw him.
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I think I would feel similar to you Paul about characters being AWOL so long. I'm not sure which book features Arya, but I would miss her if she's not in a Feast of Crows. Sansa is starting to grow on me too. For Sanderson I've read his Mistborn trilogy (one of the best systems of magic in epic fantasy) but nothing else. For Yu I also really liked Sorry, Please, Thank You, a collection of short stories, but really disliked How to Life Safely In A Science Fictional Universe although many in my book group enjoyed it.
Sara, I'll also be interested in whether Barbara's and Maureen's resolve holds up re book buying at the sale. If I was a betting man...!Barbara, I look forward to seeing the list you compile if you get time, if only to see what the four Steinbeck novels that you picked up at the library sale last week were!
Arya turns up in all books so dont think shes missing for too long. Sansa is ignored for a while. For an unlikeable character at the start she does grow on you.I've yet to read The Mistborn series but its been recommended on numerous occasions.
Steelheart is his first attempt at scifi as far as I know.
I think you're probably right there Allen. Book markets and restraint don't go hand in hand for most here.
@Sara. That's handy. I like it so much better when I can just click 'to-read' without all that hassle.
Theresa, its very good.Some really interesting parts in it.
Theresa wrote: "@Sara. What a haul! You make me feel a lot better about my binge. Now at home in the BAOB there's some serious reading to do. :)@Paul. As a cartographer you probably know the Atlas of Irish Histo..."
Theresa - I may list all the books - new and used - that have come into my house the past 2 weeks, if I have time this weekend. But four (actually 5 as I just ordered another Thurs.) of them are knitting related as I took an all day class in designing lace shawls and spent around $150 on Japanese stitch dictionaries and a hard to find Shetland lace book. Oh well....
Sara wrote: "@Declan I don't know why I linked on Amazon for the Charles Yu. It's in the Goodreads DB here :o). @Barbara I do Meals on Wheels (delivering meals to seniors) not too far from Politics and Pros..."
Sara - I did make a list of the Steinbeck books I have recently acquired so I can avoid buying one I have. I just started The Dubious Battle last night and decided I have to read more Steinbeck. I have to start The Tricking of Freya which I requested from the library and is due Weds. (it'll be a bit overdue).
I searched the Maryland Library system for a digital audiobook version of Love in the Time of Cholera which I have to read for the end of July for my bookclub at Busboys and Poets. There is not a single copy in the entire system. So I may go for the Audible version. I figured a classic would be easier to find, but the selection is still unfortunately limited. Oh well, I have 5 Audible credits so I should stop whinging. I have it in print in both Spanish and English but thought I'd listen to it in English and then read the Spanish.
Allan - I will try to get that list together. I realized this morning that I have about 6-8 hours of work to do this weekend (sigh) - no rest for the weary :) and I should be vacuuming (hoovering) but at least the dishwasher is filled. I could threaten to not do any grocery shopping and see if my son will go pick up the basics. But he is helping a friend move house today.
Theresa, I didnt have a copy but Trelawn did and was a big fan.
We're not sure where Trelawns copy ended up. its around somewhere .Good purchase though.
Hi theresa no apologies needed. Paul is the obvious go to guy for map related queries.I have an earlier edition than you but it's very good. I bought it as a companion to study notes for a college course and thought it was very interesting and well presented. the maps displayed the accompanying information very well.
Emma. Theres aerial photos covering the country from 1970-73 as well. So it makes it really interesting to compare the 73 , 1995 , 2000, 2005 and 2011 plus the latest Bing or Google which can be loaded up. I've used maps from the Downs survey, right up to the most up to date. I did historic mapping courses that were fascinating and got to work on the OSI historical archive stores maps which were amazing.
@ Theresa I have the football on the background. I enjoy watching some of the matches. Spain v Holland was great. But i'll reach saturation point at some stage and retreat to my book.
Theresa wrote: "@ Paul. Thank you for that as that was another book I bought, this time in the Waterstones on Trafalgar Square.... One of the many things I like about Waterstones is that they have arm chairs scatt..."Theresa - One of the books I bought was Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller. On Amazon UK it's £205-£366 for used/new copies. I scoured various websites and found that Schoolhouse Yarns in the US has copies for $65.00, so I bought one. Shetland Wool Brokers appears to be out of copies, but I got one in Oct. 2012 for a friend in Dublin. I have learned to look around and not assume the prices for "hard-to-get" books are best on Amazon. I got a copy of the rare book Life on Shetland by Ursula Venables in late 2012 for £14.33 and £8.14 for shipping. A month later one of the few copies available was around $100 on Amazon. I just came across a book titled "Knitting by the Fireside and on the Hillside: History of the Shetland Hand Knitting Industry c.1600-1900 " which is over $100, but the Library of Congress has it and my friend Maureen works there so perhaps she can borrow it for me.
Theresa wrote: "@ Barbara. Having looked at Amazon I see what you you mean about their prices. Although they are out of stock of the interesting books you mention, in the past I've used The Book Depository. Last a..."Theresa - I became a devotee of Shetland Lace knitting after my visit to the local museum in Unst, which is the northern most island in the Shetlands, where a group of local ladies demonstrated their knitting. I am a sucker for "ethnic" knitting and the history of it all.
I promised to make a list of the books I've brought into the house since early May. OMG - I have got to get busy clearing out some that I have to make space. Of the first 22, I "blame" my friends on GRI (well Sara gave me the 3 Amado novels), for all but 2 and the other 2 were GR's discoveries. Five knitting books were recommendations from a workshop I attended last Saturday. The last 2 were suggestions from colleagues. And I have yet to go to the sale at my local bookshop.
1.El Sueno del Celta Mario Vargas Llosa
2.The Book of Feckin' Irish Slang: That's great craic for cute hoors and bowsies by Colin Murphy,Donal O'Dea;
3. A Secret History of the IRA -Ed Moloney
4. Doctor's Wife - Brian Moore
5.The Falls: The People, the Community, the Memories - Vincent Dargan
6. Northern Ireland: The Orange State - Michael Farrell
7. Incidents of Egotourism in the Temporary World by Lee Klein
8. Every Dead Thing – John Connolly
9. A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler – Jason Roberts
10. The Milagro Beanfield War – John Nichols
11. Ironweed – Wm Kennedy
12. Answering Back: Living Poets Reply to the Poetry of the Past -Carol Ann Duffy
13. Nine Nights by Bernardo Carvalho
14. The Mystery of Rio by Alberto Mussa,
15. Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath
16. Steinbeck The Cannery
17. Steinbeck Of Mice and Men
18. Steinbeck The Winter of Our Discontent
19. Steinbeck Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters
20. Tieta -Jorge Amado
21. The Violent Land - Jorge Amado
22. one more by Jorge Amado – title?
23.Heirloom Knits – Sharon Davis
24. Lace & Eyelets: 250 Stitches to Knit Erika Knight
25. Japanese classic knitting patterns 250 cases
26. Knitting Lace 104 Japanese Knit Pattern Book Edging
27. Knitting Over the Edge:The Second Essential Collection - Nicky Epstein
28. The Scribner Book of New Irish Writing
29.The Virtues of Poetry - James Longenbach,
30.Heartbeat of Struggle: the Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama
31.The Structure of Scientific Revolutions- Thomas Kuhn
What a list BarbaraI've only a copy if one on the list and its John Connolly
Paul - you are then a bit impoverished in the book department. Just switched on the England/Italy game. It's in Manaus which is a hot place even now in the "winter" in Brazil.
Theresa wrote: "How lovely to go to Unst and see the hand knitters. BTW Barbara did you realise that we are in the thread What Are You Reading!"
I did but was following Sara's discussion on her new books. We may need a thread on books we've brought into the house...
I might hold off on the knitting ones though ;-)
Barbara, that's an impressive list alright, of which I own 7, and would be tempted by a few more, including the Falls photo collection. You'll have to acquire a copy of East of Eden before you read the journal of letters, which I have to say is a book I'll be aiming to read as well, having loved the novel as our monthly read last year.
@Barbara. You may have a problem, but thankfully you're in the right place. :)
I think we all might be co-dependant?
Allan wrote: "Barbara, that's an impressive list alright, of which I own 7, and would be tempted by a few more, including the Falls photo collection. You'll have to acquire a copy of East of Eden before you re..."
Allan - I do have a copy of East of Eden. I bought it when GRI was reading it but the length was daunting. It's a nice edition
but my friends in the Joyce group found it incomprehensible that I had bought it. I am still waiting for my copy of The Falls to arrive.Emma and Declan - this is definitely a group of enablers.
East of Eden is an excellent read, Barbara, and like I said on the buddy read thread about Grapes of Wrath, it's also a great audiobook. :)
Paul wrote: "Cathleen, its under buddy read."Ah, thanks, Paul :)
actually i think it's in unofficial read. i think buddy read is for In Dubious Battle
Both book threads are in folders named after their titles, to make them easier to find.
Declan wrote: "Both book threads are in folders named after their titles, to make them easier to find."Found those threads at the very very bottom of all threads - whoa they weren't easy to find, but that's what happens because we are so prolific.
Acknowledging this may be off topic, I bought the following at my local bookshop sale today:
Days of Destruction, Days of Revoltby Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco
The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well
The Cold Song by Linn Ulmann
and Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the World's Greatest Sports Rivalry
And a music CD 9Bach by Tincian (music in Welsh)
jeezzzz - my post disappeared when I linked it to a book and then clicked on the link....
Barbara, I'll move those folders up near the top of the discussion board soon. Thanks for letting me know. I've had similar problems with GR before. Particularly when using it late at night.
@ Paul. Glad you found the dismissal clear enough though you raise new issues. Thank you for your interest in my reading list. I hereby stipulate to whatever you want to claim re: Game Of Thrones. As indicated, I haven't read that.
Debate? The GR description of its mission says nothing about debate. Perhaps you meant to say, discussion. I enjoy pretty much every thread here but was not aware of any being reserved for discussion. Nor would I be much good about being dead serious in cyberspace. You might not want to actually debate me, given my experience as a barrister going back before you were born.
Speaking of the bar, with the opportunity of making a pun, regardless of what I might imbibe outside of virtual reality of a virtual web discussion, you may be sure that I imbibe from glasses designed by Sybil Connolly for Tiffany ( and not the more usual Waterford). Now there's an interesting figure and I wish she'd written about herself, and also Eileen Gray could have left us a memoir but didn't. Another creative woman of the first half of the twentieth century who had to leave Ireland to make it big, is Edna O'Brien but she might [edit:] has an autobiography out there and that would be juicy as well. Country Girl
One wonders, if Maedb of the cattle raid would have been forced to leave Eriu or only stuffed into a Magdalene laundry? But this comment is probably veering off into the cryptic. There I go again !
So that's all I can tell you about the bar and my long association with the bar. Except for certain little pubs of the SE of Ireland but those are real and this is virtual.
*slainte*
As with every reply you create more questions than any answers. I think I 've decided you are talking a different language to us humans and therefore your experience as a barrister would not be a hinderencevto debate but your inability to converese in the English language. I could learn your language or you could learn mine but its probably not worth the hassle, considering the dismissals amd occasional thinnly veiled insults.
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Garbage In, Garbage Out.
Plus after age 50, one tends to eat dessert first. Why waste time reading something not enjoyed when there are 100 titles waiting to be read?