Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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What are you reading or what books have you read or heard about? (Part TWELVE) Ongoing general thread.
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Werner
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Jan 29, 2016 12:51PM
Joy, I like your dictionary definition of "supernatural." I don't like Clarke's distinction either; I think he invented it so that he can be fascinated with the "paranormal," but not get critics who deny the "supernatural" mad at him. :-)
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Jim wrote: "IMO, the genre is often just a personal preference. I've read a lot of definitions of SF & fantasy & found most of them as unsatisfactory as defining the difference between craftsmanship & art. I t..."I don;t read much SF but I like whatever I have read of Bradbury.
Werner wrote: "Nina wrote: "What about "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?" Is it Fantasy? And the "Chocolate," series of books and "Practical Magic?" There are so many that border on S.F. or Fantasy it seems to me. Or..."
Thanks for your explanation of "The NIght Circus," and what about Chocolate and Practical Magic? Both were made into movies. Perhaps they too would be supernatural. Sometimes I really like those type if they aren't too far out.
Nina, I'm not familiar with either of those two, so I honestly couldn't say. Sorry! From the Goodreads description, I would say that Practical Magic sounds like supernatural fiction. The Goodreads search function brings up over 100 frames worth of hits when I search for "chocolate." Do you know the author of the one that you're asking about?
Werner wrote: "... I don't think you're being too pedantic. You and I both have analytical minds, and that sometimes does help in understanding things better, because it recognizes patterns that can shed light on how things are related, and ways in which they're similar or different."Yes! You said it so well, Werner!
Werner wrote: "Joy, "magical realism" is a literary term that critics started using in the late 20th century to describe a type of writing (mostly done at first by some Latin American authors) where the setting i..."Werner, I haven't read anything by Sharyn McCrumb but I did read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez which is in the genre of magical realism. I remember liking it. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I tried to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by the same author but hated it. See my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PS-You might be amused by the short synopsis which Shelfari.com provides for _Love in the Time of Cholera_. They call it a "Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis". See it below:==================================
(view spoiler) LOL
==================================
FROM: http://www.shelfari.com/books/11594/L...
Werner "Chocolate" was written by Joanne Harris. It was later made into a movie. I loved both the book and the movie was just as good. It was the first of a trilogy. Second book"The Girl with no Shadow," and third book, "Peaches for Father Francis," I think that is the right title for the last book but not certain.
Werner, I totally agree with your opinion of "One Hundred Years of Solitude," as I had really liked, the Cholora book and couldn't get into the Solitude at all.
Joy H. wrote: "Werner wrote: "... I don't think you're being too pedantic. You and I both have analytical minds, and that sometimes does help in understanding things better, because it recognizes patterns that ca..."Yes, very good description of snalyticla minds. I think of those minds being psycological at examing other people's mindset.
Nina, you mentioned the word "psychological". It reminded me of the author, Sue Miller, because her writing has a psychological aspect to it (at least it did in the two books of hers which I've read). The two books were:
The Lake Shore Limited and
While I Was Gone
I wrote the following in my reviews of the above:
"I like the way Sue Miller analyzes her characters. She has a psychological approach."
"It's this psychological aspect of the author's books which I enjoy."
In _While I Was Gone_, the main character does a lot of reflecting about herself and others... about their personalities, their temperaments and other aspects of their natures.
In a GR review of the same book, a GR reader writes:
===========================
"This novel is a psychological examination of the main character who is narrated in a very reflective first person style. This psychological unveiling is why I loved this book!
Sue Miller really understands people. Her insights into human behavior is startling at times in its accuracy."
ABOVE QUOTE IS FROM THE GR REVIEW by Misti at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
================================
Below are links to my reviews:
_The Lake Shore Limited_: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
_While I Was Gone_: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PSTwo other books I liked by Sue Miller are listed below with links to my reviews of them:
The Senator's Wife ----- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Good Mother ----- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(Sue Miller has presented the above story in such a way that you gradually get drawn in. That seems to be the nature of the books of hers which I've enjoyed. She slowly draws you in.)
Two of Sue Miller's book which I did NOT finish because they did not draw me in were:
For Love ----- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Family Pictures ----- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
You just never know when an author, whom you sometimes enjoy, may disappoint you. Not every book is a guarantee.
Nina wrote: "Nina, I'm glad you agree with me. It's nice to be validated. :)
Nina wrote: "..."Chocolate" was written by Joanne Harris. It was later made into a movie. I loved both the book and the movie was just as good. ..."Nina, I didn't like either the book, Chocolat, or the movie, "Chocolat" (2000).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241303/?...
IMDb Description: "A woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop in a small French village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community."
But then again, you love cooking and I don't. LOL
All that talk about cooking turned me off.
Thanks, Joy! And thanks for the links; I'll have to check out that Shelfari one. :-)Nina, from the Goodreads description, I'd say that Chocolat sounds more in the general fiction line; but of course it's a very short description, and I haven't actually read the book.
Joy, I am sort of a Frankophile. That is probably not the right spelling but I hope you get the idea and the setting alone made me enjoy the book and also I loved the characterization of the people even the extra villagers. The following books are also intriguing especially the part the priest plays however; the plot is quite different so that could account for your not liking it. But didn't the chocolates sound yummy?
Werner wrote: "Thanks, Joy! And thanks for the links; I'll have to check out that Shelfari one. :-)Werner, DO check out my spoiler. It's funny and it really doesn't give much away.
==================================
(view spoiler) LOL
==================================
Nina wrote: "... the plot is quite different so that could account for your not liking it. But didn't the chocolates sound yummy?"Yes, Nina, it was too strange for me. I'm never comfortable with strange stuff. However, chocolate candy is always welcome. :) I love chocolate. :)
Talk about strange... after watching the SAG awards last night, I streamed 6 episodes of "Transparent" via Amazon Prime into the wee hours of the morning. That is one unusual movie. Jeffrey Tambor won the award as the "trans" parent. With movies like that in the main stream, our grandkids won't stay innocent for long. So much strange raw sex. We were so innocent when we were young. I'm not sure if that was good or bad.
"Transparent": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3502262/?...
"An LA family with serious boundary issues have their past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out. "
Joy, I did read that spoiler link. That was cute! :-)
Werner wrote: "Joy, I did read that spoiler link. That was cute! :-)"Werner, it occurs to me that it might be fun writing a "Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis" for Shelfari.com. :)
Not all of them are as funny as the one I posted. For example, the Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis for Leaving Time (by Jodi Picoult) is:
=======================================
"An ode to motherhood in all its forms -– the good, bad and the ugly."
FROM: http://www.shelfari.com/books/3720557...
======================================
Interesting and concise but not funny. At least it's an interesting point of view.
PS-Here's the home page for Shelfari.com, in case someone might like to search the website: http://www.shelfari.com/ - It can be interesting.
PPS-I found another funny synopsis at Shelfari.com:BOOK: Watership Down by Richard Adams
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis: "It's about bunnies."
FROM: http://www.shelfari.com/books/19995/W...
I love it! LOL
Here's another good one (for Firestarter by Stephen King):Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis:
What can Charlie McGee do with fire when she really gets mad?
FROM: http://www.shelfari.com/books/18900/F...
Nothing is left to our imagination any more and I think romance is a thing of the past in the new movies and life.
Nina wrote: "Nothing is left to our imagination any more and I think romance is a thing of the past in the new movies and life."Gee, Nina, I hope that's not true. We need romance in our lives. I'm hoping they'll still make some good romantic movies without all the raw sex. I wonder how the young people feel about that.
That's why I am looking forward to Downton Abby tonight as I think it at least portrays romantic interludes and every once in a while there is a good romatic movie that you must use some of your imagination and not have sex blatanly protrayed. And this is another subject we have explored as to how we deal with mistakes in books we are reading. This occurred in a Hallmark movie we were watching the other night. They referred to the breed of dogs on the screen twice as terriors and they definitely weer spaniels. Isn't that a huge mistake for a national show?
Nina, thanks once again for reminding me about the upcoming Downton Abby show tonight. I almost forgot!As for errors in books and on the screen, they're probably the fault of editors. Aren't they supposed to fact-check these things?
I recently mentioned elsewhere in this group that in an old movie, I heard Bette Davis say that a piano composition, "Fur Elise", (which was was being played), was by Brahms, when it was actually by Beethoven. I know because I used to play it on the piano. I entered it as a goof at IMDb.com and it's on the appropriate webpage for goofs. You can see it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036230/t...
(They call it a "factual error.")
One of the lines I liked in the Rosamond Pilcher's book, "September," was :when the sun goes in and out of the clouds it's a blinking day."
We look at the world once, in childhoodThe rest is memory." Louise Gluck
"Life is a field of corn. Literature ishshot glass it distills down into." Lorrie Moore
These quotes are from the book, "The Art of Memoir," by Mary Karr
Nina, thanks for the interesting quotes.Here's a related one:
"The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end, that's all there is."
---Carson on Downton Abbey on TV - Julian Fellowes
[posted by Jacki of our group on 1/20/14]
Jim, I was wrong remembering the word "summer' in the title I was looking for. I think because the story I remembered was set in the summer. The real title is "Dandeline Wine" and yes it was written by Ray Bradbury and I thought it was one of the best written stories I have ever read.
I'm familiar with Dandelion Wine, the short story, although it's been a lot of years since I read it. I read most of Bradbury's stuff as a teenager, not much since. I should probably get around to it again. So many books, so little time...The self-publishing & audio book industries have come a long way. I'm 2/3 of the way through Tony Bertauski's The Socket Greeny Saga. He originally published it as an ebook trilogy, but has now recorded an audio book version. I'm picky about narrators, but he's done a great job.
It's really great how the book industry is shaking out. I'm seeing a general rise in the quality of self-published books or else I'm just getting better at picking which ones I read. Might be a bit of both. I'm really excited that audio books are doing so well. They're getting less expensive & more pervasive all the time.
My grandson's job takes him traveling by car all over Northern CA and he is a great fan of Audio books. He is currently listening to "Huckleberry Finn." He said he read it as a child so was wondering if he still liked it and so far he does.
Yes, the audio books are great. I enjoy them; I've learned so much from the audio biographies, information I never would have had the patience to read. And audiobooks are especially appreciated by people who have vision problems and can't read print anymore.
Jim, too bad our library doesn't have Tony Bertauski's _The Socket Greeny Saga_. It DOES have the following hard copy book: Designing the Landscape: An Introductory Guide for the Landscape Designer by him.
You're right. What a blessing for those with vision problems.
I listened to Huck Finn last year. It was great. I've been revisiting half a dozen old favorites like that in audio format each year. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is the one that's impressed me the most by Twain so far. I read it in 6th grade - far too young to really understand it. Another one of those assigned reading assignments that English teachers seem determined to inflict upon young minds.
Jim wrote: "I listened to Huck Finn last year. It was great. I've been revisiting half a dozen old favorites like that in audio format each year. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is th..."I tried listening to it but it didn't draw me in. Maybe I didn't give it enough time.
Jim, my grandson that is listening to Huck Finn is thirty eight and he said the exact same thing to me once that you just wrote/he said he had to read assigned books in high school that he never understood and just recently he is re-reading or listening to them and they are so much more meaningful now.
Thanks for you info on the tree names. Just fascinating; especially the Frasier being named after a person. I knew roses were but not trees.
Joy, You are nine years younger than I am so no wonder you don't have great grandchildren. My oldest great grandchild will be nineteen in April. He is a freshman at Fordam.
Tony's pretty talented, Joy. Unfortunately, libraries usually don't carry self-published items yet. A few are getting some, but they're conservative.
Nina wrote: "Jim, my grandson that is listening to Huck Finn is thirty eight and he said the exact same thing to me once that you just wrote/he said he had to read assigned books in high school that he never un..."That sort of thing turned a lot of people off reading entirely. It's a crime. Some books worked & that's one of the marks of the best of the classics, IMO. The best are meaningful at different ages. Huck Finn & 'To Kill A Mockingbird' are 2 examples. Sometimes different things impressed me at each age, but others were the same.
One of my daughter's read "To Kill a Mocking Bird," in high school and she said that book taught her more about Civil Rights than any other thing she read in the newspaper and elsewhere.
Nina wrote: "Joy, You are nine years younger than I am so no wonder you don't have great grandchildren. My oldest great grandchild will be nineteen in April. He is a freshman at Fordam."Wow, Nina. A great-grandchild who is 19! I'll be lucky if I get see my youngest GRANDCHILD turn 19! She's only 2 weeks old. LOL I guess I'll have to live past 100. :)
My granddaughter recently visited the Fordham campus while looking for colleges. Our son says it's a beautiful campus.
Jim wrote: "Tony's pretty talented, Joy. Unfortunately, libraries usually don't carry self-published items yet. A few are getting some, but they're conservative."I looked at some of the GR reviews of Tony Bertauski's books. They are very positive. If he's that good, he should be noticed sooner or later by the libraries. Look at this very positive GR review of _The Socket Greeny Saga_:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
BTW, what does Socket Greeny mean? Is that the character's name?
Yes, that's the character's name. Certainly an odd one. I don't think you'd care much for the books, though. They're SF, a young man in the near future, a lot of virtual reality. My sort of read, not yours.
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