THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion
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WHAT ARE YOU READING AND WHY!!
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Fiona (Titch)
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Mar 11, 2012 02:41PM
Finished The Ballroom On Magnolia Street - Sharon Owens
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Harry is such a splendid fellow!!!
Just finished Curiosity, with a Capital S for review, going back to reading stack mentioned in last post.
Research. Great book. Very interesting and well written.
im reading a Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin Epic fantasy at ist best !
I have just finished the delightful Broken City. Was very surprised at the writing and once I got into the book, I couldn't put it down. Now I am going to read The Truce for review.Also finished A Gathering Light
I'm now reading Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors, a Goodreads author.It's an historical novel (as told by a mature Frenchwoman living as an emigre in London in 1815) spanning the years 1780 to the early 1810s.
I have a deep fascination with Revolutionary France and the France of the First Empire (under Napoleon Bonaparte). This novel is the perfect fit for me.
I am reading
by William Landay. Excellent legal thriller. Dialogue and characters totally believable. I recommend this book and this author. I hope he writes a million more book because I'll be buying them.
I decided not to read The Truce last night as I couldn't think straight, so I started reading Private Eyes.
I'm re-reading all of Raymond Chandler's work as a teaching lesson for my upcoming crime thriller. Trying to learn how to set a mood by a place description. How does this work:"Ryder Park was about half a block big, bordered by Slater Avenue and two residential streets on three sides. The fourth side was a pinkish cinder block wall separating the park from some residences. The wall was the site of a war between the graffiti taggers and park maintenance crews. It was hard to tell who was winning. The park had some nice trees but the landscaping was sparse, the sidewalks cracked and tagged. There was a playground area but no one would bring their kids to this park except to sell them. It was the kind of park where the trash cans were emptied wearing welders gloves and the workers purposely didn’t pay much attention to the contents of the cans."
Just the draft I wrote yesterday and I'll probably tweak it. I'm enjoying the project.....so far.
I just started Jodi Picoult's latest book, Lone Wolf.
Mod
"Ryder Park was..."
well done! sets a very stark and vivid setting- superb images
For me it depends, though usually I'm a one book reader. If I do two then one is fiction and the other is non-fiction. It depends on how much else I have to do. If I'm actively writing then I'll only read one book. Currently it's one at a time.
I just started Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. We are studying visual storytelling in school and his visuals are great. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
Kaamil wrote: "I just started Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. We are studying visual storytelling in school and his visuals are great. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors."That's a wonderful book. Enjoy it.
I finished The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell, the latest Mallory novel. I read it because I like this series by the author. Highly recommended.
Just finished The Virgin and the Gipsy by D.H. Lawrence. I read it years ago, but had more or less forgotten what happens. Perfect novella - Lawrence is simply brilliant - I left a review.Edited to add that I forgot the 'WHY' of the question - it was for the genre challenge in another group, but it's so good to read Lawrence again.
Right now I am reading "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame Smith because it looked like a fun read and so far it definitely is.
This morning I finished Private Eyes and also read Husband Won't Buy Wife a Kindle - Franklin Eddy. Now I am reading Star Gazing and I am loving it so far.
I discovered Priscilla Royal recently. She writes great medieval mysteries with Prioress Eleanor as her "sleuth" and an unlikely priest name Brother Thomas, with a sketchy past. Great atmospherics, lovely historic detail, and page turning plotting. Her most recent is A Killing Season. Here's my review.
I just finished--Immortal Bird, by Doron Weber. I recieved this as a free book on Goodreads giveaway. Love free books.A heartbreaking story of a fathers never ending struggle to deal with his sons tragic illness and death.
I had great difficulty w/this story, mostly because I lost my youngest son 9 months ago. I would love to have someone to blame for his death, but I can't blame anyone for his illness. I understand that we each deal w/our sorrows in different ways. I pray that Mr. Weber will find some comfort. It's a good read. susie
Looking for inspiration as I work on finishing my novel, I read Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad. Loved the first story, which I mistakenly thought was the first chapter of a long, lush novel. In fact, the book is closer to a collection of linked short stories, which left me still hungering for more about the journey and fate of the heroine Sasha in the first story ... My full review can be read at www.the-reading-list.com
I'm reading The Hollow by Agatha Christie.
Susie, you have our most heartfelt sympathy for your loss! I pray that you'll find some comfort, too.
Here is my review of Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. If Consciousness Could Speak
Thirty years ago, Marilynne Robinson wrote her first novel, Housekeeping. What can one say that has not already been said about a novel that has the distinction to have been recognized immediately as a work of exceptional literary merit?
This sad story is about Ruth who is the narrator and her younger sister Lucille. Their upbringing has not been a stable one. They go to live with various relatives after their father deserts them and their mother we learn has committed suicide when the girls were very young. The only thing they have to sustain them is that they are together in this wandering life where they try their best to connect with someone other than themselves.
The home where they live is located on the shore of a mountain lake in a fictional place called Fingerbone. It is a place that could be anywhere, where the winters are fierce, the torrential rains cause flooding and the townspeople are few. Rarely does Fingerbone have visitors. Ruth and Lucille live with their grandmother for five years until she dies. Then two great aunts, Lily and Nona, move into the house to look after the girls. After a time it becomes difficult for the aunts who are set in their ways to invite the girls into their lives totally. What is unfortunate is that Ruth and Lucille wind up with relatives who are incapable of change. As a result, they are unable to seek the love they are looking for. The girls are wandering through life trying to find their own identity. They are sisters who are different. Lucille likes to work on her hair and dress up, whereas Ruth does not.
Aunt Sylvie arrives to take over the rearing of the girls who are approaching their teenage years. She is pleasant enough but somewhat odd in her habits that include keeping her clothes in a box under the bed, wandering in the garden singing to herself, not speaking much, and even disappearing out of the house. The girls begin to wonder if Sylvie will abandon them as well. Nevertheless they try to cleave to Sylvie as the woman who has replaced their mother.
The novel is poetic. The passages pour out like spring water, unblemished and are a pure joy to read and even reread. This novel was written with patience and that is how it should be read. In its subtleties lies the richness of the work. The lake in Fingerbone is a natural creation yet it plays as important a role in the story as the human characters in that everything in the story seems to involve its presence. In the beginning of the book we learn the lake has already claimed the life of Ruth’s grandfather and also her mother. The lake is prone to flooding when the rains are heavy and the waters come into the house. There is an uneasiness about the lake described in this passage which has a biblical reference to the flood in the Book of Genesis. “And let God purge this wicked sadness away with a flood. One cannot cup one’s hands and drink from any lake without remembering that mothers have drowned in it, lifting their children toward the air, though they must have known that soon enough the deluge would take all the children too. I cannot taste a cup of water but I recall that the eye of the lake is my grandfather’s and that the lake’s heavy blind encumbering waters composed my mother’s limbs and weighted her garments and stopped her breath and stopped her sight.”
The story is about the power of memory. The voice of Ruth comes from her consciousness. We realize that this is not a living person recalling from memory the past events of her life but rather a refinement of parts of her life that were once memorable to her when she was alive and it is her soul or consciousness that speaks to us. Ruth is no longer part of this world. What remains is her essence, written out in the narrative.
Scenic description is miraculous to say the least. Here is an excerpt when Ruth and Sylvie ride in a rowboat in the lake. “The fragmented image of jonquil sky spilled from top to top of the rounding waves as the shine spills on silk., and gulls sailed up into the very height of the sky, still stark white when they could just be seen. To the east the mountains were eclipsed. To the west they stood in balmy light. Dawn and its excesses always reminded me of heaven, a place where I have always known I would not be comfortable.”
Tangible things are important in the story as elements suggesting the relationship between objects and the characters that seem to have no interest in the material world. “My grandmother had kept a collection of things, memorabilia, balls of twine, Christmas candles, and odd socks. Its contents were so randomly assorted yet so neatly arranged that we felt some large significance might be behind the collection as a whole. The socks appeared unworn. There was a shot glass with two brass buttons on it and that seemed proper.” The passage goes on about other things found like a wax angel, a velvet pin cushion, and old photos. It is the spirit of Ruth that passes through the narrative touching the tangibles with the words we read on the pages.
Reading the novel is like watching a clear sky become partly cloudy when gray clouds converge and swell very slowly as thunder is heard faintly in the background. Something intense is taking place beneath the quiet. Robinson has an inherent ability to transform descriptions of nature, inanimate objects, and simple actions into verses that teem with passion and sentiment. It’s obvious she cares about the characters she has written about. I found Housekeeping very enjoyable with the brilliant use of language and its unlimited possibilities.
This is actually a post about what I'm not reading and why. People have asked me about my Did Not Finish bookshelf. The answers are in my blog post:http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Mod
A heartbreaking story of a fathers never ending struggle to deal with his ..."
My heart, prayers and friendship go out to you Susie- may you know you are always among friends here
Sorry I haven't been here in a while. We've been really busy at work. Anyway, I'm reading
by Charles C. Alexander right now. I'm enjoying it a lot! I always try to read some baseball books to get primed for the season opener. There are only two seasons in our house: baseball season and the off season.
I hope everybody out there's having weather like we are. It's glorious!
Doug
Susie... I'll pray. Take care.
Leslie wrote: "Looking for inspiration as I work on finishing my novel, I read Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad. Loved the first story, which I mistakenly thought was t..."I enjoyed it, but it was truly an odd book, wasn't it?
Susie wrote: "I just finished--Immortal Bird, by Doron Weber. I recieved this as a free book on Goodreads giveaway. Love free books.A heartbreaking story of a fathers never ending struggle to deal with his ..."
It must have been so hard for you to read, Susie.
Lee wrote: "This is actually a post about what I'm not reading and why. People have asked me about my Did Not Finish bookshelf. The answers are in my blog post:http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_......"
I have recently started a not finished shelf. Sometimes the books that go on them surprise me.
I just finished the latest offering from my favourite cozy mystery series "Murder, She Wrote", Skating on Thin Ice. Now, I'm about to start reading the latest from my favourite wizard detective series "The Dresden Files", Dead Beat.
Mod
Just finished this very interesting account on Edward VI- Henry VIII's only male heir- who "ruled" England for only 7 years before his death at age 15. Took me two months to read as I am reading several other books as well- but a very interesting and "reader friendly" look at a period of Tudor History often overlooked. What really amazed me most is how little "Politicians" have changed over the past 500 years...regardless of political affiliation, all members of the "Council" were most interested in looking out for themselves and trying to read the political tea-leaves to insure and retain their own power- sound familiar LOL! Actually this was quite a facinating read- and enjoyed the extensive use of first person material- especially the excerpts from Edward's diary.
I am reading alternatively Modern library ranking 100 best novels of the XX century http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/...and good crime mystery novels.
I'm reading 'A Fine Dark Line' by Joe Lansdale. I enjoy his writing style. I like the oddness of Pete Dexter's work, too. Pretty open to anything except vampires, the undead, chick lit (to include romance in any excessive form) and science fiction.
Oh! And historical fiction. Won't touch it unless it's truly unique.
Mod
and good crime mystery novels."
interesting! any favorites so far amongst the Modern library ranking 100 best novels? I believe Bennett Cerf created the Modern Library
Rob wrote: "Right now I am reading "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame Smith because it looked like a fun read and so far it definitely is."They are making a movie of this, if you're interested. Quite a good cast too.
Now that I've finished reading Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors (feel free to check out my review, if you wish), I'm fully immersed in reading The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg. This particular book is a memoir from a Royal Air Force (RAF) veteran of the Second World War. (I especially like reading memoirs from people who lived through that historical period.)
Mod
so happy you liked "Mistress of the Revolution" KOMET- Catherine is a James Mason member!
KOMET, do you happen to have the link to your review?
I am intentionally reading books by Goodreads authors, as a means of offering my support. Now reading Nell Grey's "My Imaginary Life" (thoroughly enjoyed her novel, "Solitary Pleasures"
"Surviving Beauty" David Rory O'Neill motivated me to read his novel, "The Prairie Companions" before returning to complete his Cork Trilogy.
Paul Kestell's Wood Point is excellent, so now I am reading his novel,
I'm reading Leavin' Trunk Blues: A Nick Travers Mysteryby Ace Atkins. I don't know why I didn't get to this before. I really loved Crossroad Blues: A Nick Travers Mystery, the first book in this series.
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THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB
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