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What I'm Reading OCTOBER 2013
Heyyie Larry.. Thanks.. I value your reflection on Follett novels.. I have had many readers say that, though I myself haven't followed Follett that extensively to judge. But yeah.. some authors are too diverse offering different shades in their writings.. :)
Beth wrote: "My TBR pile has grown so much bigger since I joined Constant Reader. And I've read many things I wouldn't have otherwise.I read A Streetcar Named Desire today in preparation for the CR drama disc..."
heyyie Beth.. even my TBR list is huge.. I was an avid reader.. atleast i thought so with my small list of read books and a period when i completely stopped reading.. But yeah after joining Constant Reader my hunger for reading has revived.
Kenny wrote: "Linda wrote: "Larry wrote: "The daylight grows shorter as we enter autumn ... my TBR stacks grow ever higher."Larry, Don"t feel bad I feel like I need to buy a new house just for my books. We bou..."
Good thing ereaders and tablets don't get heavier with added volume of books. Otherwise I'd need a fron end loader by now!
I finished Eye of the Needle this morning. I read it when it first came out and enjoyed it then. I don't think it's lost it's punch, only the history of it has faded from later generation's view. My review... https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
p.s. Marge, I liked his Key to Rebecca too. :) I can't remember if I read the others or not, it's been so long.
Larry wrote, ". I know I've mentioned it how I've enjoyed the first two novels in his Century trilogy.."Follett's Fall of Giants was the first book I've read which really clarified for me how WWI began with all those countries that were involved.
Marge
Paakhi wrote: "Just finished reading The Timekeeper by Mitch Albom... Now reading Room which i started before The Timekeeper but its sluggish in the beginning so switched.."Paakhi, have you read any other books by Mitch Albom? I thought his first, Tuesdays with Morrie, was good, but I didn't like The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Are there any more of this books you can recommend?
Marjorie wrote: "Larry wrote, ". I know I've mentioned it how I've enjoyed the first two novels in his Century trilogy.."Follett's Fall of Giants was the first book I've read which really clarified for me how WWI..."
The Guns of August was the book that explained WWI for me , Marge.
Marjorie wrote: "Larry wrote, ". I know I've mentioned it how I've enjoyed the first two novels in his Century trilogy.."Follett's Fall of Giants was the first book I've read which really clarified for me how WWI..."
Marjorie, it is indeed good for that. What is really amazing is how the scholarship relating to World War 1 and World War 2 continues to turn out really good histories. I find a book like Follett's inspires people to read serous histories and that is a very good thing. After many decades, it is still worthwhile to look back at Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, but recently some really good books have been published on the subject of the Europe right before the war and what the causes of the war really were. Charles Emmerson's 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War and Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 are two of the better ones. I have said a number of times that you can't understand the world we live in without understanding World War 2 and you can't understand World War 2 without understanding World War 1. So, after that long ramble, I really like Follett because he does get people to think about the world we live in and gets them to wonder about how it all happened ... while he tells a good story.
I do wonder how a writer who can write a number of good books, even good books with flaws, can turn out a book as terrible as The Third Twin. (I think elsewhere I mentioned how bad TRIPLE was ... but that was another Follett book, and that one was okay.) But THE THIRD TWIN truly was awful.
Gina wrote: "Paakhi wrote: "Just finished reading The Timekeeper by Mitch Albom... Now reading Room which i started before The Timekeeper but its sluggish in the beginning so switched.."Paakhi, have you read ..."
Hi Gina,
For one more day and Have a Little Faith are two other books that reviews gave 4 or more star ratings. Have not read them personally though. I did not like The Time Keeper, as i found three stories rather diffused and it was left to the reader to weave them together. Besides some portions were hard to imagine or accept.. but its lucid and it will take you only 4 or more hours to finish the book. U can try it.. It is intended to give a message that we all know and have experienced more often...value time in every special moment of life. For me it was 2 star..
Almost finished with The Paris Wife. Next up: I can't decide!!!! Maybe Life After Life or Doctor Sleep or Save Yourself. Plus, I just downloaded a bunch from the current 21 century poll... one of those might bump the others.
I've begun reading The Suitors, which perhaps isn't the most riveting story in terms of plot, but I think I get the sarcasm that many, who disliked the book, claim they didn't.
I just finished The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Colt. The author's family (his dad & dad's siblings) can't afford their rambling summer home in Buzzard's Bay on Cape Cod (their section called "Wing's Neck," apparently a Boston WASP stronghold back in the day). Nostalgia ensues. The book won the National Book Award, and parts of it were great. But I think it could have lost 30-50 pages and been a better book. In the end, it was more about his family than the house, and although he shows us how he lost the idealized view he held of his Boston Brahmin family as he hit his teens, in some ways, he hasn't. My conclusion: a good book, not a great one; easy to put down & leave behind in a summer rental! (He has some great reflections on the books collected in the house over the century it was in his family!)
OTOH, maybe I gave it only 3 stars because I know my family -which has a home in another so-not-WASP area of the Cape - is the ilk which made his family sigh & comment on the decline of the neighborhood.... ;)
I couldn't get into that book myself, but my dad liked it.
I spent the last week reading Nate Jackson's Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile. Jackson played tight end for Denver for six years. It's billed as the best NFL memoir ever. Nope. It's good but just that. It will tell you more than you want to know about injuries, treatment of those injuries, and the machinations of some NFL coaches whose very humanity is debatable. You will also learn that the adage often repeated by NFL coaches that they expect players to "play while they are hurt but not when they are injured" is just absurd. Almost all the players are dealing with injuries throughout the whole NFL season and are doing whatever they can to be healthy enough to play. An honest look at a brutal sport and business.
I started Daniel Silva's The English Girl. This is the 13th book in his series about Gabriel Allon, the Israeli secret agent and art restorer. In this book, the mistress of the British Prime Minister has been kidnapped and Allon is asked to help in her rescue.
I read and loved A Streetcar Named Desire and am now reading The Kraken Wakes by the ever talented John Wyndham.
Cateline wrote: "I read and loved A Streetcar Named Desire and am now reading The Kraken Wakes by the ever talented John Wyndham."I read "Streetcar" for the first time this summer, Cateline, and I loved it too. I love the way Williams writes his stage directions. It adds a whole other dimension to reading his plays.
It was the first time for me as well Sue. :) I'm going to order more of his plays, the Dramatists Play Service version(s). I was surprised as how readable it was. I'd begun (I believe this one) a few years ago, and was stymied by the form. This flowed beautifully.
Here's a thought about how the physical books that I still do buy will be affected by the new Amazon MatchBook option that will arrive sometimes this month. MatchBook will allow you to buy cheap e-book versions (for $2.99, $1.99, $.99 or even free) of SOME physical books that you may have bought from Amazon all the way back to 1995. I think that it will hurt online used book sellers, because I really doubt that purchases of their books, even through Amazon, will be covered. So, if I have to choose who I buy a book from, unless the used book reseller is significantly cheaper, now I'm even more likely to buy it directly from Amazon. Is Amazon trying to hurt these used books sellers, many of whom sell through Amazon. I don't think so. It continues to wage its war with Apple, B&N, Sony, etc. But thinking about this matter makes me recall the old African proverb, "When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." Many smaller used book sellers are grass. My wife Cina and I now have four Kindles. I still remember sitting in a military pharmacy about three years ago. A retired sergeant major and I were talking about his Kindle. He leaned over to me and said, as he held up his Kindle, "It's the best invention since the Boeing 747." I think he's right ... even as I read more and more physical books from our local library. And now back to Silva's THE ENGLISH GIRL.
Billy Collins has remarked that E-readers are terrible for poetry ... that they often don't maintain the spacing of words on the pages that the poet wants the reader to see. One exception tends to be haiku. The sparseness of the words over three lines usually works well. I've been dipping back into Kenneth Yasuda's Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature and History on my Kindle this morning. This book was published in 1957, but was originally submitted to Tokyo University in 1955 as the author's doctoral thesis. It still is a wonderful introduction ... perhaps the best introduction that I know of ... to Japanese haiku. Or if you want to just plunge into haiku, you might want to try Robert Hass's The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa. I keep that one on a coffee table in our living room.
I have Hass' book of Haiku you mention above, Larry. It's great to pick up and open and read anytime at all. I may check out the other book as well.
Carol wrote: "The Guns of August was the book that explained WWI for me..."Thanks, Carol. I've had Tuchman's book on my shelf for a long time but never read it. About time I did.
Marge
Larry wrote: "recently some really good books have been published on the subject of the Europe right before the war and what the causes of the war really were. Charles Emmerson's 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War and Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 are two of the better ones"Thanks very much, Larry. I've added those to my ever-growing TBR list.
Marge
I have read and loved Basho's The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches.I don't think it gets any better.
I really liked the "historical footsteps" re-tracing of the route: On the Narrow Road: Journey Into a Lost Japan.
John wrote: "I really liked the "historical footsteps" re-tracing of the route: On the Narrow Road: Journey Into a Lost Japan."I have Basho's book too but have only skimmed it. Must find the time to read it.
For me, there truly is no better haiku that that of Basho. I can read one of his haiku and just think about it for 10 minutes afterwards. During one period of my working life I made 18 trips to Japan. Too many of those trips involved sitting in rooms in Tokyo doing trade negotiations. One of the two best things about the trips was a visit up to Matsushima Bay, a place that Basho had written about in his poetry.
Larry wrote: "Here's a thought about how the physical books that I still do buy will be affected by the new Amazon MatchBook option that will arrive sometimes this month. MatchBook will allow you to buy cheap e-..."I can't for the life of me figure out why I would want an ebook version of a book I already own in the dead tree version.
Ruth wrote: "I can't for the life of me figure out why I would want an ebook version of a book I already own in the dead tree version. ..."Ruth, it gives me a chance to give some of my favorite books to friends and family members while I still have a copy to read for myself.
If we downsize I can still have my books, instead of the dead tree copies.
Ruth wrote: "I can't for the life of me figure out why I would want an ebook version of a book I already own in the dead tree version. "A lot of my old physical books are old and either too rickety to read anymore (heck, they were used when I bought them and I've had some of them for a quarter century!) or were from that era when saving paper by printing books in 7-point type to save paper was the norm. I freely admit the availability of a uniform type-size choice from book to book makes quite the difference!
But originally the big kindle motivator for me was after my mom became terminally ill. I was continually confronted with the issue of not having any idea what I'd want to read after finishing my current book while traveling, taking 4 or 5 likelies, weighing down my luggage, only to be in the mood for none of it when the time came.
That, plus my tendency to move every few years, and the chore of packing and unpacking and lugging and building shelves for and dismantling shelves for 3k+ books got less and less appealing with each move.
Now? I have about 3800 books on my kindle. The only physical books I have in the house either have sentimental value or aren't on kindle yet, and there's still about 1600 of them.....
Jennifer wrote: "But originally the big kindle motivator for me was after my mom became terminally ill. I was continually confronted with the issue of not having any idea what I'd want to read after finishing my current book while traveling, taking 4 or 5 likelies, weighing down my luggage, only to be in the mood for none of it when the time came."Jennifer, when my own mother was dying earlier this year, it was a great comfort to have my Kindle with me. I could read the newspaper, magazines, and almost any book that I wanted to. Moreover, I could read in a darkened room and not disturb anyone. I have told many people that the two "things" that sustained the most during this period were my wife and my Kindle. I don't have 3,800 books on my Kindle and I still have about 2,000 physical books but increasingly the books I read are ones that I have bought for the Kindle (maybe 450?) or library books.
Ruth's question was a good question, however, and I think that she appreciates where we're coming from.
Ruth wrote: "I can't for the life of me figure out why I would want an ebook version of a book I already own in the dead tree version."I only have a few replications, and they are mostly of the type that the paper version is very heavy and/or bulky.
If I consider it ruthlessly, we probably could cut our books by about one-third, but the necessity isn't there...yet. If it comes, it comes. ennh
And then there are the beautifully made books, not all of which cost that much to buy. I confess that when I hold a beautiful book in my hands and just turn the pages, it gives me a feeling that I think won't be replicated by any e-book reader.
Ruth wrote: "Larry wrote: "Here's a thought about how the physical books that I still do buy will be affected by the new Amazon MatchBook option that will arrive sometimes this month. MatchBook will allow you t..."My thought exactly, Ruth! They're always trying to get me to take the ebook in addition to the audible. Stupid.
I just scored a copy of Maddaddam from the library, so that's what I'll be doing for the next few days.
Larry wrote: "And then there are the beautifully made books, not all of which cost that much to buy. I confess that when I hold a beautiful book in my hands and just turn the pages, it gives me a feeling that I ..."Totally agree. :)
Don't get me wrong, people. I can see the usefulness of a Kindle. I have one myself. But if I'm not traveling, I much prefer a real book on real paper. And by and large a used book usually costs less than the Kindle edition.
Sara wrote: "My thought exactly, Ruth! They're always trying to get me to take the ebook in addition to the audible. Stupid. ..."Sara, Amazon is many things, but stupid is not one of them ... just because you as an individual aren't influenced to buy the e-book doesn't mean that their marketing strategy isn't working across the class of individual consumers ... even if they are annoying some of those people.
I don't like what they've done to the home page: 'recommendations' at the top right if you've read a certain other book... Yes you can hide them, but I DO NOT like the intrusiveness.
Once in awhile, when I can't get a book from my library, I will buy a Kindle book and read it on my husband's Kindle. But I love my library books. I don't want to buy any more paper books, but I don't want to get rid of any I have. I find that the Kindle books keep going up in price. I love the convenience of using my library.
Gina wrote: "Once in awhile, when I can't get a book from my library, I will buy a Kindle book and read it on my husband's Kindle. But I love my library books. I don't want to buy any more paper books, but I want to get rid of any I have. I find that the Kindle books keep going up in price. I love the convenience of using my library. ..."Gina,
My first choice for fiction is always the library ... if they have the book. You are so right about Amazon books going up in price. And it's not just the jump to $12.99 or $13.99. There are some non-fiction books whose price may be $34.99 for the Kindle edition ... it tends to be ones for specialists, but still.
Larry
Jane wrote: "I don't like what they've done to the home page: 'recommendations' at the top right if you've read a certain other book... Yes you can hide them, but I DO NOT like the intrusiveness."Jane, the intrusiveness is going to get far worse but far more subtle at the same time. Hope that doesn't sound too creepy. People do need to think about and manage their information profile more than they do.
I've tended to buy primarily kindle deals---waiting for things I want that happen to show up there. I've noticed that the price for deals has gone up quite a bit recently too. I also like the ability to use the kindle for library downloads when they are available, especially at times I can't get to the library.
but paper books are still the preferred, definitely.
Sue wrote: "paper books are still the preferred, definitely. ..."I still prefer vellum and parchment, but I'll settle for acid-free paper ... technology does change and it does force those changes on us. ;-)
Hey all, I am new to this thread but thought I would let everyone know what I am reading..since I am a fan of WW2 type novels (amoung various other genres) I am reading the book Vitory:One the Attack by Ralph Peters and various other New York Times Best Selling authors. I have also aquired the book The Dogs of War by Fredrick Forsyth. It looks like a very interesting read
Sorry, typo..the book I am currently reading is actually a novella of short WW2 stories called Victory: On the Attack, by Ralph Peters et, al..
Larry wrote: "Sara wrote: "My thought exactly, Ruth! They're always trying to get me to take the ebook in addition to the audible. Stupid. ..."Sara, Amazon is many things, but stupid is not one of them ... jus..."
Golly, Larry, thanks so, so much for the correction. I've enjoyed you becoming a (self-appointed) mod here (apparently of opinions!) with great delight.
For the record, I'm a great user of Amazon--have been for 15 years, in many things besides books. I also have a kindle, plus I've migrated to mostly listening to audiobooks. Many people, on various threads, have stated many times their negative views about Amazon in many contexts. Yet I'm the only one you've attacked and corrected.
Oddly enough, I have absolutely no need to buy the ebook version just because I've just bought the audio. My agreement with Ruth about two different copies of the same book remains the same: unnecessary. And yes, stupid.
But thanks again for the correction.
Sara wrote: "Many people, on various threads, have stated many times their negative views about Amazon in many contexts. Yet I'm the only one you've attacked and corrected."Sara,
I am sorry you felt attacked. That definitely was not my intention. I will say that if you perceive disagreement as an attack you will find that many will not want to enter into discussions with you.
Peace,
Larry
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Yeah Robert... I too read him while I entered grad school"
Robert, Marjorie, Paakhi et al.,
There are good Follett novels and bad Follett novels, e.g. Triple (believe me, you don't a link to this book.) Few major writers vary so much in the quality of their efforts. And then there are some Follett novels that fall into a special category. I know I've mentioned it how I've enjoyed the first two novels in his Century trilogy while at the same time finding the coincidence piled upon coincidence in those books to be beyond absurd.