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[Manybooks]

I just got back last night and for the six weeks of vacation, I really did not get much time to read, busy with organising, sightseeing and teaching, sigh. But I did get a whole bunch of interesting books, so I will start to figure out what to read and to add books to my GR shelves (might take a while though, very jet-lagged and it's stinking hot here).

Sorry about not posting more often, but my computer conked out and using hotel computers etc. was often not even possible.

[Chrissie]

Gundula, I hope you had a wonderful time. Nice to have you back though!

[[deleted user]]

Welcome back, Gundula! I hope you had a great time. We head home tomorrow. The highlight of our trip was meeting Chrissie and Oscar. :D

[Lisa]

Hi, Gundula. So nice to see you back. It sounded like an amazing trip.

[Lisa]

Jeannette, and Chrissie, I'm so glad you got to meet and spend some time together.

[Chrissie]

Lisa, we had tons of fun. I hope Jeanette has told you about Oscar. He loved having visitors, not just the boring P and I! He loved going to restaurants..... that is about the best thing about this country. Dogs are often welcome in restaurants.

[Lisa]

Chrissie, I've heard that's true in France too, at least in Paris's outdoor cafés. That's wonderful, Chrissie. I'm really happy that Oscar had a good visit too. And happy for your and Jeannette, especially you since you're so distant in proximity to so many of us.

[Chrissie]

Yes, it often works in France and Germany too, even inside.Oriental restaurants are less obliging.

[Lisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Yes, it often works in France and Germany too, even inside.Oriental restaurants are less obliging."

Most restaurants here with outdoor seating areas allow dogs on leash, but indoors only service dogs are allowed.

[Chrissie]

Lisa, that is how it is in Sweden too. Outside only - for dogs. And they better behave!

[Manybooks]

Chrissie wrote: "Lisa, that is how it is in Sweden too. Outside only - for dogs. And they better behave!"

On our vacation, I noticed that in the United Kingdom, dogs are often much better behaved than they are in North America (better trained). Not so much in Italy, sigh (my boyfriend is very afraid of dogs and the last few days in Italy were a real chore for him with uncontrolled dogs, often not leashed, barking and running after him).

[Chrissie]

Gundula, the reason why many dogs are well behaved is that IF you are allowed to take them places, then as the owner also wants to have an enjoyable time, they have to train their dogs. Who likes sitting at a table with a wild dog disrupting everything?!

European countries vary - in Spain dogs run around wild. You do have to be careful. That sounds terrible what you experienced in Italy.

Glad you are home again, Gundula. I didn't realize you were to be gone so long. Nice - 6 weeks! What'cha been reading? You should check out Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall. I am listening to it now, and it is GOOD! Regeneration too.

[Lianne]

I am still currently reading The Kalevala but I've also been slowly reading Gaston Leroux's The Phantom Of The Opera (which is pretty exciting atm)

[Chrissie]

Lianne, I have the Phantom but have yet to read it. I hope it is good. It is so terrible when you have bought a book and then run across unfavorable reviews! Pls do tell me what you really think.

[Lisa]

Gundula, That's terrible your boyfriend had to be so scared. I LOVE dogs but I've been scared by a few here or there. I'm thinking I might have been frightened under those conditions, if the dogs didn't seem friendly; if they were just rambunctious I guess I'd have been fine, but in general I'm not scared of dogs.

[Manybooks]

Lisa wrote: "Gundula, That's terrible your boyfriend had to be so scared. I LOVE dogs but I've been scared by a few here or there. I'm thinking I might have been frightened under those conditions, if the dogs d..."

He just does not like them and many people seem to think that it is acceptable for dogs to approach strangers and are offended when or if someone does not like their dogs or dogs in general.

[Jennifer]

Finished the three I was still reading at last update: The Poet , One Shot and 11/22/63 . AlsoThe Concrete Blonde and Definitely, Maybe .

Re The Poet -- I liked it, but I like Bosch better. Bosch is deeper and richer. Probably a product of this book being relatively early in Connelly's career. Really liked The Concrete Blonde, particularly the interplay between Bosch and Edgar.

Re One Shot -- this one was a nice break from the other string of Lee Childs which were all towns-in-trouble variations. This one is the first Lee Child I ever read but it was so long ago I had no memory of it-- and it had an interesting premise with an interesting tie to Reacher's past.

Definitely, Maybe -- fluff, not up to the quality of the rest of the series. Stick to long form, Heather!

11/22/63 -- Wow. Interesting that throughout the book the assumption is the world is a better place if JFK survives, and that goes virtually unquestioned until it proves not to be the case. Says a lot about the mythos that has grown up around JFK in our society. We lived in Dallas then -- I was born a few months after the assassination -- and I of course heard the "where were you" stories from my family. My dad, a lifelong republican, once said that although he didn't agree with JFK's politics, it was impossible not to like him. I can see that (and I'm a democrat so I don't have the conflict). I lived in Dallas until I was five or six, and even though I left there at such a young age, I remember the place as having a deep pall of nastiness and negativity like King describes in his afterword. I remember nice people, and the feeling they were trapped in a nasty place.

Reading The Fifth Witness and about to start The Eleventh Man and Four of a Kind: A Novel .

[Sylvia]

Jennifer wrote: "Finished the three I was still reading at last update: The Poet , One Shot and 11/22/63 ..."

I like your comment on 11/22/63. I'm reading it now (50% finished) and sofar I like the story, but I wonder if the past can be changed at all. I don't think so.
I was a teenager when Kennedy died in Dallas, my mother was quite upset by the assassination. In the Netherlands Kennedy was liked by a lot of people, and we all thought it was a shame that a good man had been killed.

[Covingtoncat73]

Sylvia wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Finished the three I was still reading at last update: The Poet , One Shot and 11/22/63 [bookcover:11 22 63]..."

I like your comment on 1..."

I read 11/22/63 some months back and loved it. I'm a sucker for time travel and few writers keep the pages turning like King. I wasn't born until 10 yrs after but my family is (mostly) Irish-American Democrats so I heard the idea that things would have been better.

I just read King's short story about a trans-dimensional Kindle, Ur and am almost done with The Forever War.

[Lianne]

Chrissie wrote: "Lianne, I have the Phantom but have yet to read it. I hope it is good. It is so terrible when you have bought a book and then run across unfavorable reviews! Pls do tell me what you really think."

I know what you mean, that's happened to me a few times in the past x( I just finished reading the novel and I enjoyed it; the Gothic elements of the story made it even more interesting. Hope you enjoy it when you get around to reading it! =D

[Chrissie]

Gundula wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Gundula, That's terrible your boyfriend had to be so scared. I LOVE dogs but I've been scared by a few here or there. I'm thinking I might have been frightened under those conditions, ..."

Dog owners must respect and understand the feelings of those people who are frightened by dogs and those who just plain dislike dogs! That is terrible, Gundula!

[Chrissie]

Lianne wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lianne, I have the Phantom but have yet to read it. I hope it is good. It is so terrible when you have bought a book and then run across unfavorable reviews! Pls do tell me what yo..."

Oh, that is nice to hear. I will pick it up sooner rather than later. Thank you.

[Manybooks]

Chrissie wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Gundula, That's terrible your boyfriend had to be so scared. I LOVE dogs but I've been scared by a few here or there. I'm thinking I might have been frightened under th..."

And it certainly won't make my bf like dogs, just be more frightened of them and more against them. I'm still unpacking and still getting up way too early, sigh.

[Chrissie]

Gundula, it certainly is hard to change time zones! I hope you get back into the correct zone soon.

[Manybooks]

Chrissie wrote: "Gundula, it certainly is hard to change time zones! I hope you get back into the correct zone soon."

Me too, and I have to teach tomorrow, sigh. I hope the weather gets a bit colder soon, but at least it's not as bad as the US (yet), but it's supposed to be a hot week again ...

[Chrissie]

Simran, when I get to Maya Angelou,I will tell you. I do not plan on reading her soon. Too many other books seem better.

We had nice warm weather for 1 week and three days, starting the day before Jeanette came. Now it is raining and cold again. Why can't there be some balance? I would gladly take a bit of your warmth, even if it is muggy too.

[[deleted user]]

Chrissie wrote: "Lianne, I have the Phantom but have yet to read it. I hope it is good. It is so terrible when you have bought a book and then run across unfavorable reviews! Pls do tell me what you really think."

Phantom is one of my favorite books. I re-read it on a regular basis.

[[deleted user]]

Sorry about the rain, Chrissie, but I certainly was happy that we had such lovely weather for our visit.

Oscar is a great dog. He's a big dog, too, and still young, so my husband got him all wound up a few times. Unfortunately, we were in Chrissie's apartment at the time! LOL

[Chrissie]

Jeanette, that is good to hear, about the Phantom! Heavens, I don't even remember when yo got Oscar excited in the house.... Where was I? Upstairs? So where is that photo of Oscar and us?

[Lisa]

Gundula, Chrissie, everybody is right. My dog loved everybody but I made sure people wanted to be loved before she was allowed to approach. And in the other direction, people should always ask dogs' people if it's okay to pet them. If dog's are not on perfect voice control, they should always be leashed when out of doors.

Ha! Re Oscar and your husband, Jeannette. Cute!

[[deleted user]]

Chrissie wrote: "Jeanette, that is good to hear, about the Phantom! Heavens, I don't even remember when yo got Oscar excited in the house.... Where was I? Upstairs? So where is that photo of Oscar and us?"

I have to either post the photo on my profile, and then post it onto Daily Chat, or create a photo album online, and then post it. I'm going to work on it later today. I know that Joy and Sylvia are interested in some of the sights we saw.

Just before we sat down to lunch, Andreas started playing with Oscar, like he used to play with Buddy. But, Oscar is a lot bigger, and we feared for the food! Andreas had to behave himself to help Oscar calm down. lol You were in the kitchen at the time, so he got away with it! :D

[[deleted user]]

I've posted the photo on the Daily Chat thread. :)

[Chrissie]

OK

[Chrissie]

I finished Regeneration, the first of a trilogy about WW1. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I will now continue to read about WW1 with Three Day Road.

[Lauren]

I'm reading Between the Lines and Lucia, Lucia and Unbelievable

[Lisa]

Jeannette wrote: "I've posted the photo on the Daily Chat thread. :)"

Thanks, Jeannette. I just found it. Lovely setting too. Chrissie, Oscar is a lucky dog!

[Chrissie]

Lisa, he is lucky because Jeanette é Co. smothered him with hugs form you and others.

[Lisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lisa, he is lucky because Jeanette é Co. smothered him with hugs form you and others."

Hooray!!!

[[deleted user]]

Just started "16 Lighthouse Road" by Debbie Malcmber

[[deleted user]]

I'm starting Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Royko in Love: Mike's Letters to Carol

[Aoibhínn]

I've finished Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich and now I've started The Lost Daughter by Diane Chamberlain.

[Chrissie]

I think I will start The Flowers of War, having just finished Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Scarcely comforting reads, but this is what I am reading.

[Sylvia]

These last two days I'm reading two newly bought books, which have Egypt as their background. They are written in Dutch, and no translation in other languages is available, but I wanted some easy reads.

De verborgen tombe en Kunstroof in Egypte

Also the other books I'm currently reading are in Dutch.

22-11-1963 en Waarom de hel naar zwavel stinkt: mythologie en geologie van de onderwereld

[Lianne]

I am still reading The Kalevala but I'm also re-reading Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Angel's Game and sort of started Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot =)

[Kim]

I'm reading a Sherlock Holmes story too, The Valley of Fear. I'm also reading (and absolutely loving) A Place of Greater Safety and listening to The Amber Spyglass.

[Sylvia]

Kim wrote: "I'm reading a Sherlock Holmes story too, The Valley of Fear. I'm also reading (and absolutely loving) A Place of Greater Safety and listening to The Amber Spyglass."

I certainly have to download a couple of Sherlock Holmes stories. I love them. I've also found the original radio plays - somewhere 1936 - as MP3 files. They are copied from record and the quality is poor, but they are so nice to listen to.

[Tracey]

I've got a Holmes in the works too! Mine's not canon, though - it's the audiobook of Dust and Shadow, a pastiche that sets Holmes against Jack the Ripper, and it's much, much better than it sounds. (And even if the book wasn't as good as it is, the narrator is absolutely lovely - I'm Simon Vance's newest fangirl!)

I need to go read or listen to the original stories soon; the Holmes in this book is so much kinder and more personable than Benedict Cumberbatch's version that I want to refresh my memory of how Doyle actually wrote the man.

[Chrissie]

I finished The Flowers of War. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Good writing is important to me. Don't look for that in this book, but as a quick historical fiction read about the Nanjing Massacre maybe..... All depends upon your own interests. I feel that since you listen to every word in an audiobook presentation, the author's writing skills must be good. I did want to know what would happen in the end, so it was worth two stars for me. It is based on real events.

Now I have started A Farewell to Arms

[Chrissie]

I finished Three Day Road
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This was a difficult read for me. I have mixed feelings about it. It is historical fiction based loosely on the Native Canadian Frances Pegahmagabow's WW1 experiences. I am reading books about WW1. I have read Regeneration and am now listening to A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I like the simplicity of Hemingways's prose. Next will be Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War and A Long Long Way, unless I need a break.

[Tracey]

Let's see... Not counting the travel guide I still want to finish reading through, and the book I just abandoned, I'm in the middle of five books right now:

Grant by Mitchell Yockelson - a biography of US Grant from Booksneeze which is much more mediocre than I'd hoped;

One for Netgalley: The Master of Verona by David Blixt, which is just a Shakespeare/Dante-geeky blast; it's so much fun to just put yourself in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing, and just trust him for a great read. Blixt is one of my new favorite-est writers; he's been reminding me a lot of Guy Gavriel Kay in this one, and I don't say that lightly.

And to cover all of my review-obligation bases, one for LibraryThing: As You Like It: A Frankly Annotated First Folio Edition. Which is ... thorough. And, indeed, frank. X-rated Shakespeare - who knew?

Audio, on my iPod: Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye, which is Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper and huge fun.

And one which fits right in here as a comfort read:
Life Is a Gift by Carolyn Henderson
- which is a collection of essays from the wonderful, wonderful blog "Middle-aged Plague" - I've loved this lady's writing for a long time now and I'm all kinds of tickled that she's put together a compilation.

I'm determined to finish at least a couple of these over the weekend, because I was approved through Netgalley (persistence pays off!!) for Whispers Under Ground, Garment of Shadows, AND Casket of Souls, and I want to read them now.