Comfort Reads discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
General
>
What are you reading right now? (SEE NEW THREAD)
message 5351:
by
Anne
(new)
Jan 04, 2012 06:17AM
I have the book and don't fancy it at the moment. Am struggling with concentration and want a very light read. Thanks any way.
reply
|
flag
Anne wrote: "I've just finished 'One Day' and have so many to-read and books on my kindle - I just don't know where to start. Any suggestions?"I went through my kindle and checked "today's prices" and made a list highest price first on my reading list.
Maude wrote: "Kathy, That was Maudie, with an "i", who is expecting a grandbaby. Congratulations, Maudie!"Oops, my bad. Make that "Congratulations, Maudie!"
Kathy wrote: "Maude and Chrissie, great news about the grandbabies! I just love being a grandmother, too!"Yeah! But it is MAUDIE and me. And you and I am sure many others.
I started reading The Fairy-Tale Detectives for a group read in the Children's Literature group. I was looking forward to reading this book, and I am enjoying it to an extent, but it is definitely not spectacular, and the writing style is a bit distracting. Not sure wether I will continue with the rest of the series (besides the writing style, I also do not really like all of the changes to some of my favourite fairy tale characters, except the Big Bad Wolf, and I think the setting of the story would have worked better in Germany or Great Britain than in New York State).
i just started
wow. this is really hard to read. this poor little girl... :( i dont even know what to say
Chrissie wrote: "My son and daughter in law are expecting another baby. In July. :0)"Squeeeeee! Congratulations! How exciting!
Krista of the Many Sparkles and and Shimmies wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "My son and daughter in law are expecting another baby. In July. :0)"Squeeeeee! Congratulations! How exciting!"
Yeah, I am very happy about this.
Loved The Night Circus still working on The Book Thief and not to be doing any "Night" themes but going to be reading The Night Strangers next.
I am eager to start Chronicle in Stone: A Novel. I have read The Three-Arched Bridgeby this author and liked it, although I did not find it as good as The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. The two books are both about a bridge and about life that circles around it. This book I will be trying now concerns WW2 in Albania through a child's eye. I believe the writing will be excellent. Although it is historical fiction there are also biographical elements. I just completed Cathedral of the Sea, which I am very glad I read. Here follows my GR review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
CeeAnne wrote: "I just finished The World We Found
and LOVED it!"Have you also read The Space Between Us? How do the two compare? I am wondering which is better, since I have read neither!
I received a copy of 'The World We Found' a week or so ago and it is next up when I clear my nightstand, so I was very interested in your reaction to the book, CeeAnne.Although I've seen glowing reviews for 'The Space Between Us', I haven't read it either. Thrity Umrigar is a new author for me and I am looking forward to "meeting" her in print!
Maudie wrote: "I received a copy of 'The World We Found' a week or so ago and it is next up when I clear my nightstand, so I was very interested in your reaction to the book, CeeAnne.Although I've seen glowing ..."
I have to choose which to pick first! However before I read either of these I am dying to read The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Lost Loves, and Forgotten Histories, another book set in India!
The Space Between Us is still my favorite.....actually in my top favorites of all time. However, The World We Found and The Weight of Heaven are both excellent in my opinion. If you have the choice, The Space Between Us is a must.
That sounds so interesting, Chrissie! The first book I read that was set in India was Louis Bromfield's 'The Rains Came' and I was enchanted with the story. One afternoon I was reading on a front porch swing when a late summer storm blew up. The rain poured down, a monsoon was soaking India in my story and I thought, "How apt!" I read there in the rain until it was too dark to see the words.
Too, I remember loving the M. M. Kaye books, but it has been many years since I read both the Bromfield and the Kaye novels!
Maudie, The Rains Came is on my India list waiting to be read too....... That is cool how it rained when you were reading it. I can really understand how the stmosphere was just perfect! CeeAnne, thank you for helping me decided which of Thrity Umrigar's books I should choose first.
I was originally considering A Fine Balance, but that is supposedly so darn depressing. I don't need that!
A Fine Balance is such a good book, but it is definitely a kick in the heart.
I'm making my way through The Count of Monte Cristo and am really enjoying it. Tomorrow I start The Code of the Woosters for a group read.
I'm reading some really light stuff these days because of other distractions. I finished Nevada Barr's Liberty Falling and wasn't thrilled. I have enjoyed others in the series a lot more. And now I've started some a teen, paranormal by Kelley Armstrong called The Gathering.
Oh, and I'm happy to hear the new Thrity Umrigar book is excellent! I'm definitely going to read it too. I agree with CeeAnne about The Space Between Us being amazing.
CeeAnne wrote: "A Fine Balance is such a good book, but it is definitely a kick in the heart."I think I will skip A Fine Balance.....
Lee wrote: "I'm reading some really light stuff these days because of other distractions. I finished Nevada Barr's Liberty Falling and wasn't thrilled. I have enjoyed others in th..."Lee, That was one of my bottom 3 in the series. Most of the rest are better.
Oh, that's good to know. I was disappointed and found myself skimming frequently. I'll give the next one a shot.
Chrissie wrote: "CeeAnne wrote: "A Fine Balance is such a good book, but it is definitely a kick in the heart."
I think I will skip A Fine Balance....."
Yeah, I read it years ago and I still feel sad thinking about it. But it is a wonderful book for those who want to read it.
I think I will skip A Fine Balance....."
Yeah, I read it years ago and I still feel sad thinking about it. But it is a wonderful book for those who want to read it.
CeeAnne wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "CeeAnne wrote: "A Fine Balance is such a good book, but it is definitely a kick in the heart."I think I will skip A Fine Balance....."
Yeah, I read it years ago and ..."
I will keep that in mind.
I finished Chronicle in Stone: A Novel. I absolutely enjoyed every minute reading it. I could not put this book down. Here follosw my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... It is worth every one of its five stars. If you choose to read something by this Nobel prize-winning author, do yourself a favor, read this! It is a child's eye view of war in the Albanian city Gjirokastër. After WW2, Envor Hoxha took power. His brutal long-lived Stalinist regime fell only in August 1991. Both the author and Hoxha have this city as their home! BTW you do NOT need to be interested in history to enjoy this bookNow I will go to Croatia and read The Tiger's Wife? I have heard such good things about this book, and I enjoyed the Kindle sample. I realize now that what is most important to me, more than plot, is an author's writing style.
Every now and then I pick up several books at once and find in some way they intersect. At the moment I'm reading Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words and by Those Who Knew Him Best
and
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier where the connection between the two is obvious. I find I'm also drawn to start Fellow Travelers
which if I recall what I read about it correctly is also about the 1950s. Hoping to make some headway into that tonight so we'll see.
"...I realize now that what is most important to me, more than plot, is an author's writing style..." Chrissie I couldn't agree with you more, Chrissie, about a writer's style of writing...it probably wouldn't stop me if I had a burning desire to read a particular book...but, I have set aside many books because I could struggle no longer with the author's verbiage.
One book that I struggled through was Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea'...I loved the ideal and the premise of the story, but the author's use of adverb, verb and noun almost defeated me.
Maudie, I wish you and some others would read Chronicle in Stone: A Novel! Fabulous writing. I am thinking about my current reaction to The Tiger's Wife. Everybody says that the very beginning chapters have great writing! What is it that we all are liking? I love the colors that she throws into the descriptions. I love that mixture of horror and cozy safeness that contrast with each other. Think if we would figure out what it is that appeals to so many of us. BUT then people's views diverge, and the tone of writing is NOT the same any more.
And I do not understand why we are not given imaginary places rather than real places in the Balkans! Is this going to be clarified by the end of the novel? I also have problems with the "deathless man" story...... It was too long and too much fantastical for me.
Maybe the whole book will make sense to me as I continue. I certainly hope so.
Anybody that has read this, please help me out with an understanding of why real places are avoided! Is it the author's statement that what was happening in the war happened everywhere? That is my only guess!
I just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
, which was so good. I am not sure how to follow it.
, which was so good. I am not sure how to follow it.
CeeAnne wrote: "I just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
, which was so good. I am not sure how to follow it."See I didn't like this book, but I want to see if the movie explains anything I can't in the book.
I can't imagine how they can pack it all into one movie. I am curious why you didn't like it. Do you have a review I can read?
I don't remember if I wrote a review on the book or not, I just know I found the plot really boring. I basically forced myself to finish it. I didn't like the books his wife (Nicole Krausse) wrote either. Their words just didn't grasp me as some others have.
Okay, I really liked The History of Love too so maybe it is just different tastes. So do you think you will see the movie? I can't decide if I want to or not.
In addition to The Count buddy read, I'm reading The Mill on the Floss and I've just started My Cousin Rachel.
I still don't know how so many of you can read multiple books in parallel. I'm just incapable of it! :)
Jeannette wrote: "I still don't know how so many of you can read multiple books in parallel. I'm just incapable of it! :)"I can read only one novel at a time, but I can simultaneously read a novel and a non-fiction book, and definitely picture books and cookbooks.
Lisa wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "I still don't know how so many of you can read multiple books in parallel. I'm just incapable of it! :)"I can read only one novel at a time, but I can simultaneously read a nov..."
Me too, but that does not stop me from trying to read multiple novels at a time, I'm a sucker for punishment :-)
I can slip in a manga or picture book, too, but not two or more novels. I like to devote all my time and brain cells to a single story.
Jeannette wrote: "I still don't know how so many of you can read multiple books in parallel. I'm just incapable of it! :)"I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm just crazy.
At the moment I have one paperback I've been looking forward to; one on my Kindle (a LibraryThing Member Giveaway); one on my computer at work I've been sneaking in a page at a time in slow moments (shhh); The Count on my iPod, and also on my iPod another book for another group's monthly read.
They just sort of seem to stack up. I've been averaging 4-6 at a time for a while now ... I need a clone. Or four.
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Books mentioned in this topic
Forever (other topics)The Big Sky (other topics)
Anil's Ghost (other topics)
Burial Rites (other topics)
Goodbye Sarajevo: A True Story of Courage, Love and Survival (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Ondaatje (other topics)Wendell Berry (other topics)
Robert K. Massie (other topics)
Edmund Morris (other topics)
Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (other topics)
More...




