What are you reading or what books have you read or heard about? (Part TWELVE) Ongoing general thread. Showing 201-250 of 2,793

[Nina]

What book are you reading Joy? I am reading the Prairie Heritage series and am on book four. The first one is "A Rose Blooms Twice," by Vikki Kestell. I seem to be into series but soon as I am finished I am going to read,"Snob." Are you familiar with it? I think you might like it.

[Nina]

I can't watch.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "What book are you reading Joy? I am reading the Prairie Heritage series and am on book four. The first one is "A Rose Blooms Twice," by Vikki Kestell. I seem to be into series but soon as I am fini..."

I'm reading Time and Again by Jack Finney. It's a fiction story involving time travel back to the old days in NYC, the days of the horse and carriage. It mentions lots of famous landmarks like famous The Dakota apartments. Even has old photographs. But it isn't very compelling. I just keep reading to find out how it ends.

I'm not familiar with Snobs by Julian Fellowes. One GR member, in her review, complains about "too many digressions into intricate details of the upper echelons of the class system."

[Werner]

For awhile, I've been holding off on starting any new reading, while I waited for an interlibrary loan book I'm told is in the mail (and coming from within the state!) But when it STILL didn't arrive on Thursday (and therefore I know I won't get it until Monday at the earliest), I went ahead and started on a newly-received free review copy of Goodreads author Bran Gustafson's debut novel, Coyote. It's reads quickly; and given all the reading time I need to make up, I may well finish it by Monday.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks for posting, Werner. Hope your interlibrary loan book arrives soon. Thank goodness for interlibrary loans!

[Werner]

Thanks, Joy. My sentiments exactly about interlibrary loans!

[Nina]

Yes, our needs wouldn't be met as successfuly without interlibrary loan and sometimes it's fun just to see where the books are coming from. Joy, Kurt V. is a master and no wonder people like you are still reading him. He was my son's favorite in high school.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, actually, this is the first time I've ever read anything by Vonnegut.
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut
My post is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jim]

Men make up their minds about books faster than women, study finds...
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Men make up their minds about books faster than women, study finds...
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016..."

Interesting article. I'll have to study it more later.
What caught my eye was this sentence: "male readers want an author ‘to get to the point quickly". I feel the same way!
I'll have to read on to see how I compare in other areas.
Thanks, Jim, for drawing our attention to the article.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Men make up their minds about books faster than women, study finds...
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016..."

PS-Two other words which caught my eye in the article were: "rambling introductions". I HATE rambling introductions! I want to "get to the point!"

Detailed descriptions also bore me. That's the trouble with the book I'm currently reading, Time and Again. The minor details are annoying after a while. It seems that the author is obsessed with minor details. He writes descriptions of every little move made by the protagonists, whether they matter in the end or not. I'm learning very quickly to SKIM! lol (I always used to think I'd miss something, but in this book you can skim and miss nothing important.)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "Men make up their minds about books faster than women, study finds...
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016..."

PPS-As I think about it, no matter what the statistics say, I don't think it matters whether the reader is male or female. There are so many other psychological reasons for our like or dislike of a book. We all have had different backgrounds and experiences which color our outlook and determine our likes and our dislikes.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Has anyone read Helen Mirren's autobiography, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures?

Wiki says: "Rather than writing an autobiography, Mirren was commissioned by Alan Samson at Orion Books to write about her life in a series of chapters based on pictures from her extensive personal collection of photography and memorabilia."

Wiki also quotes Mirrren as saying: "I do believe in naturism and am my happiest on a nude beach with people of all ages and races!”

Wiki also says: "In 1990, Mirren stated in an interview that she is an atheist. In the August 2011 issue of Esquire magazine, Mirren said, 'I am quite spiritual. I believed in fairies when I was a child. I still do sort of believe in the fairies. And the leprechauns. But I don't believe in God.'"
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_M...

[Nina]

Helen Mirren was never my favoritie so I doubt I'd care about her life. Unlike Judy Dench whom I really liked from the time she appeared in British sit coms. "As Time Goes By,"

[Nina]

I get tried reading if the author belabors the point over and over again. I think Jane Smiley did this in her latest book. Now I have forgotten the title/one word.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Yes, Nina, I LOVE Judy Dench!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I get tried reading if the author belabors the point over and over again. I think Jane Smiley did this in her latest book. Now I have forgotten the title/one word."

Nina, the only one-word book by Jane Smiley that I can find is Moo (first published 1995) . But I only did a quick search.

[Jim]

Joy H. wrote: "PPS-As I think about it, no matter what the statistics say, I don't think it matters whether the reader is male or female..."

You & I certainly seem to be on the same page. I think I actually put books down faster now than I used to for several reasons. The big one is availability. As a kid, I had the very limited school library or the book mobile, which was lorded over by a draconian old witch who wouldn't get books if she didn't think they were appropriate. For decades after that, money, time, lack of inter-library loans, or even readily available through book stores. Often even lists of what were available had to be mail ordered, so I had fewer choices & made due with what I could get.

Dinner. I'll mention more later.

[Nina]

Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "I get tried reading if the author belabors the point over and over again. I think Jane Smiley did this in her latest book. Now I have forgotten the title/one word."

Nina, the only one..."That's not it Joy. It is a fairly new book. I wil try to Google it. It's our book for next month at my book club and I read it but already returned the book. I wasn't thrilled with it.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "You & I certainly seem to be on the same page. I think ..."

Yes, Jim, we're very lucky nowadays with so many books available to us in so many modes! We can afford to be fussy. :)

[Nina]

Joy, The Smiley book title wasn't one word; it was two. The title was, :Some Luck." and apparently I'm not the only one who wasn't thrilled by it and she actually had won the Pulitzer for an earlier book. Oh well, can't win them all.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "... It's our book for next month at my book club ..."

Nina, please let us know when you find out. Now you've got me curious. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "Joy, The Smiley book title wasn't one word; it was two. The title was, :Some Luck." and apparently I'm not the only one who wasn't thrilled by it and she actually had won the Pulitzer for an earlie..."

Thanks, Nina. Some Luck I'll take your advice and avoid it.

Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel A Thousand Acres (1991). I remember that I liked it. It was adapted to film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120323/Some Luck

You know what they say... you can't win 'em all! :)
Oh! I see you said that! LOL

[Jim]

Joy H. wrote: "Yes, Jim, we're very lucky nowadays with so many books available to us in so many modes! We can afford to be fussy. :)"

I guess availability was the big reason all the way around. We do have a lot books available now & it's so easy to find where they fit in series, too. I literally spent over a decade trying to complete 2 different trilogies back in the 80s. I read the second book in both of them numerous times before finally getting the first & third. (Funny, but I was disappointed by the third in both cases.) Now I'm generally peeved if I can't have an entire series in days.

[Nina]

I think "Some Luck" is the end of the trilogy that started with "A Thousand Acres." I just couldn't get past the suspension of disbelief of the viewpoints of infants for chapter after chapter.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I think "Some Luck" is the end of the trilogy that started with "A Thousand Acres." I just couldn't get past the suspension of disbelief of the viewpoints of infants for chapter after chapter."

Nina, I know what you mean.

[Werner]

My oldest grandson Philip, who's 10, is an enthusiastic reader, an enthusiasm that I obviously encourage. He recently finished a short children's chapter book, Stone Fox (1980) by John Reynolds Gardiner, and was so excited about it that he insisted on loaning me his copy so I could read it too. (He didn't have to insist very hard; I was glad to share a reading experience with him.) Since it's short, I finished it in two days. When I told him this morning that I gave it three stars on Goodreads, which means I like it, he hugged me and exclaimed, "Grandpa, I knew you'd like it too!" :-)

Now, I'm at last into my long-awaited read of my interlibrary loan book, The Sleeping Partner, the third and so far latest volume in Madeleine E. Robins' Sarah Tolerance series, which I've mentioned in this group before. When I finish this one, I'll be caught up with the series for the present. (Ms. Robins will need to get busy and write the fourth installment!)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "My oldest grandson Philip, who's 10, is an enthusiastic reader, an enthusiasm that I obviously encourage. He recently finished a short children's chapter book, Stone Fox (1980) by Joh..."

Werner, that was a great bonding experience with your grandson. Looks like the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. :)

I envy your enjoyment of your books. I can't seem to find one that really draws me in. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Maybe I'm too fussy. :) Thank goodness that every once in a while I find a book that engages me.

[Werner]

Yes, Joy, Philip definitely takes after me in his love for reading!

Hope your next book is a five-star read for you, that brings a lot of interest and enjoyment with it!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Werner. I tried reading a sample of Tolerance series #1 (by Madeleine E. Robins) but it had too many names referred to in the opening pages and the dialogue didn't interest me, didn't draw me in. So I bailed out. It probably got better later on but I don't have the patience to wade through the dull parts with so many names. Who can remember all that at once? There was no fleshing out of the characters.

Here's the link to the sample I used. It's in my brief private notations below:
=============================================
_Point of Honour_ (Sarah Tolerance #1) by Madeleine E. Robins (Goodreads Author) RECOMMENDED BY WERNER AT GR:
https://play.google.com/books/reader?...
THIS IS A SERIES. I DIDN'T LIKE THE SAMPLE. 3/10/16 UNINTERESTING CONVERSATON. TOO MANY NAMES
===============================================

[Nina]

Interesting about your shared experience of reading with your grandson. Once I shared a magnetic poetry board with four of my teen aged grandchildren. We all used the magnetic words and made poems to put on the board. It was such fun we did this for hours.

[Werner]

Joy H. wrote: "Thanks, Werner. I tried reading a sample of Tolerance series #1 (by Madeleine E. Robins) but it had too many names referred to in the opening pages and the dialogue didn't interest me, didn't draw ..."

Actually, Robins does a good job of developing and fleshing out her characters as she goes along; but you're right that she does this slowly, and the first conversation, between Sarah and Matt, is mostly a matter of everyday commonplaces (though the author is using these to convey certain pieces of information about the characters, the household and the situation). The names dropped in the beginning are mostly of historical figures to establish the setting; they don't have to be remembered for a role in the plot. But I'm guessing that Robin's prose style (which won't be to everyone's taste!) probably was irritating enough to you that it understandably tended to magnify the other factors.

Where reading is concerned, we all like (and dislike) different things; comparing our often disparate reactions is what gives Goodreads a lot of its fun and interest! I'm flattered that my interest in the book at least prompted you to check it out, though I'm sorry I didn't happen to steer you to a read you'd have liked better yourself.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Actually, Robins does a good job of developing and fleshing out her characters as she goes along; but you're right that she does this slowly, and the first conversation, between Sarah and Matt, is mostly a matter of everyday commonplaces (though the author is using these to convey certain pieces of information about the characters, the household and the situation). The names dropped in the beginning are mostly of historical figures to establish the setting; they don't have to be remembered for a role in the plot. ..."

Werner, your words "everyday commonplaces" definitely describes the type of thing I don't enjoy (especially in dialogue), even if their purpose is to explain the situation and characters. I can see doing a LITTLE of it but it seemed to go on for page after page. It became boring for me.

This is an instance where the literary idea of "show and don't tell" doesn't work for me. Sometimes a story needs exposition and I believe the reader has to be TOLD certain things instead of being SHOWN those things via long, dull, drawn-out dialogue.

I guess I don't have the patience to wade through so much of that sort of thing.

[Werner]

Yes, different readers have different degrees of (im)patience with a slow-moving book, and that's to be expected given our different personalities and reading experiences. I tend to have the patience of Job with slow plot development, and a very high tolerance (no pun intended!) for complex prose with a low excitement factor --but I have read, or started to read, books that proved to be too much even for me! So I can certainly understand where you're coming from.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Yes, different readers have different degrees of (im)patience with a slow-moving book, and that's to be expected given our different personalities and reading experiences. I tend to have the patience of Job with slow plot development, and a very high tolerance (no pun intended!) for complex prose with a low excitement factor ..."

Well put, Werner. I admire your ability to articulate these ideas. You make me feel better about my inability to appreciate certain types of literature.

[Werner]

Thanks, Joy. And you never need to feel badly about not appreciating some types of literature (I've got a few that I steer clear of, too!). It'd be a boring world if we all liked the same stuff!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

PS-Werner, I appreciated your pinpointing the things I was complaining about. You used such good words to clarify things. For example:
---"slow plot development"
---"complex prose with a low excitement factor"

I need to be drawn in and immediately engaged, one way or another, whether it be suspense or a topic which appeals to me, such as pondering over relationships and/or psychological aspects of people. I also like to wrap my mind around philosophical issues about life. Nothing too deep vocabulary-wise (or too academic) but enough to get my mind ticking.

[Werner]

Joy, I think you speak for a lot of readers on these points!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "Joy, I think you speak for a lot of readers on these points!"

Thank you, Werner. You certainly do inspire good discussions. Your positive attitude and understanding enable me to express myself instead of intimidating me. There are some people who are knowledgeable but they stifle discussion because they exhibit an air of superiority and over-confidence. I've learned to avoid them.

[Werner]

Joy, that's one of the nicest things anybody's said about me, thanks! You're a very gracious lady; and I enjoy our discussions too.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, what we have here is the beginning of a Mutual Admiration Society! LOL

There's an old song to that effect. Have you heard it?
It's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Myo...

[Werner]

No, Joy, I'd heard of that song; but not actually heard it. Thanks for sharing the link; I can like certain pieces of music even though I'm tone deaf, and I liked that one! If Barb and I had a theme song, that one would be perfect. :-)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, now you've got me curious. What do you hear if you can't hear the melody?

Anyway, from what I've heard from you about Barb, you two certainly are a Mutual Admiration Society!

[Nina]

I can';t think of anything I ever heard Eddy Arnold sing I didn't like. I especially liked "Hello My Friend," and that could have been our song(my husband's and mine) when he'd meet me at the airport when I had been gone on a long six week journey. That song was in my head when he would throw his arms around me. And Werner I second the admiration of Joy's about you being such a gentleman in the manner in which you give us your opinions. Our world needs you. Wish you were running for something. You'd have my vote.

[Werner]

Joy H. wrote: "Werner, now you've got me curious. What do you hear if you can't hear the melody?

Anyway, from what I've heard from you about Barb, you two certainly are a Mutual Admiration Society!"

I can hear the words (especially if they're clear, and not slurred; the singers in the link you shared did a good job with that), the tempo, and certain variations in sound. But I just can't clearly distinguish whether certain sounds are higher or lower than others (unless they're at the very extremes of the spectrum). It's probably difficult to explain to someone like yourself, who hears music normally.

[Nina]

Werner do you have that problem with people's voices?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I can';t think of anything I ever heard Eddy Arnold sing I didn't like. I especially liked "Hello My Friend," and that could have been our song(my husband's and mine) when he'd meet me at the airpo..."

Sounds very romantic, Nina.

Couldn't find that exact song but I found this one:
"Hello Again" - Neil Diamond:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBQVK...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnbMH...

It's a beautiful song. I think it's the one you're looking for.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Here's another good one.
Neil Diamond- September Morn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F-6S...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner wrote: "I can hear the words (especially if they're clear, and not slurred; the singers in the link you shared did a good job with that), the tempo, and certain variations in sound. But I just can't clearly distinguish whether certain sounds are higher or lower than others (unless they're at the very extremes of the spectrum)..."

Werner, that's interesting. Makes me value my normal ability to hear melodies.

I've always wished for perfect pitch. They say that people with perfect pitch can imagine the exact note inside their head just like we can imagine a certain color in our head.

[Werner]

Nina wrote: "Werner do you have that problem with people's voices?"

Probably I do, Nina; but in that context it isn't significant, because people usually don't vary the highness or lowness of their speech much when they talk normally, and they aren't trying to do it for any artistic effect. (We use the term "tone" deaf, but I'm not deaf to what we normally mean by "tone" in conversation --angry tone, bantering tone, earnest tone, and so forth. What I'm deaf to is more like what we call "pitch," between the high and low extremes of the register.)

Yes, Joy, we tend to take abilities for granted unless we meet someone who lacks one; but ability to appreciate music naturally truly is a gift to value!