Gardener's Group discussion
Overall Reading Goals&Book Chats
>
What Did You Just Finish, What Are You Reading Now & What Books Have You Brought Home Recently? (Spoilers Possible)
"Poisonwood" finally arrived from PaperBackSwap so I'm putting "Vanity" down for now as book club is coming up fast. So far "Poison" seems pretty good, don't know why I didn't like it the first time I tried it.
I'm almost done with "Poinsonwood" and will probably be giving it 4 stars. I'm laughing at myself for dreading this book because I started it once before and didn't like it, but that was quite a while ago and I was probably coming from a different place in my life as to what I was interested in reading. I've gone through many phases when I was attracted to different types of fiction.
Cheryl, I know what you mean! And I also find that sometimes I get a whole different message from a book rereading it at a different time in my life!
Miriam wrote: "Cheryl, I know what you mean! And I also find that sometimes I get a whole different message from a book rereading it at a different time in my life!"I agree!! Some stuff I read when I was much younger bores me to tears now. Just hope I don't eventually run out of new genres to try!!
Reading "Gone With the Wind". Read it in my 20s, but finding it enjoyable the 2nd time around.
Cheryl S. wrote: "Reading "Gone With the Wind". Read it in my 20s, but finding it enjoyable the 2nd time around."I reread it every decade or so.
I re Gone With The Wind last year, not sure I'll read it again or not. We'll see!I've had such a terrible time finding anything that holds my attention! So frustrating since I love to read! And what I am reading I'm not really enjoying.
Jo wrote: "I re Gone With The Wind last year, not sure I'll read it again or not. We'll see!I've had such a terrible time finding anything that holds my attention! So frustrating since I love to read! And ..."
What a bummer, Jo. I go through spells like that where is seems nothing is very good. Then suddenly I'll come upon a gem and I'm jazzed all over again.
Read a book entitled "Dead Connection" by Alafair Burke who is the daughter of one of my favorite authors, James Lee Burke. Although their writing styles are totally different the daughter's book was a page turner. I don't read a lot of detective fiction anymore but this one had me going from the first page.Now I'm reading "The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder" and finding it enjoyable so far.
Forgot to mention I checked out a book on GR entitled "The Greenhouse" written by a woman from Iceland which is now out in English translation. I read a few pages on Amazon and put it on my to-be-read list. It appears to be a family story with a gardening theme and thought it might be of interest to this group.
Just finished "Those Who Love" a biographical novel about John and Abigail Adams. Kind of refreshed my memory on some early American history and found it quite readable even though it was full of history.Now am reading "The Haj" by Leon Uris a favorite author of mine.
Cheryl S. wrote: "Just finished "Those Who Love" a biographical novel about John and Abigail Adams. Kind of refreshed my memory on some early American history and found it quite readable even though it was full of ..."I read that one a year or so ago. Pretty good history!
A friend I met for lunch today introduced me to a new author, Kristin Hannah, and gave me a couple of her books. I'm excited to check her out and see if I will also be a fan. One of the things I miss about working is a lot of the people in my department were readers and we traded books around all the time.
I haven't been bothering to enter all the books I have read lately, but I did just finish one worth a mention. Just finished The Cider House Rules and really enjoyed it. Excellent story, character development, and descriptions. Of course, there is a medical element, and a horticultural element that both just add to my enjoyment. And I agree with the basic tenant of Homer.
I'm putting "Cider House" on my reading list, thanks for the reminder. I'm reading "Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James. I'm a crossword puzzle fan and have seen references to Isabelle Archer many times over the years and figure I might be able to answer more questions about her if I actually read the book. So far it's a tad dry, but I think typical for the period and I'm not ready to give up on it yet.
I'm still in a reading rut! So Frustrating!
Petra X wrote: "The Portrait of a Lady is not my favourite book. Totally agree with you about dry."I'm still hanging in there, although it times it seems like pennance to read this type of book. There is a story in there somewhere, but you must get through a lot of drek to find it.
Jo wrote: "I'm still in a reading rut! So Frustrating!"Bummer! Have you read "The Help"? I'm not sure what you like but that's a recent fave of mine.
"Still Life" interesting mystery set in Quebec. The inspector is very brilliant and very gentle. Lots of French Canadian influence. Louise Penny is the author.
Finally finished "Portrait of a Lady". Reading it was like walking through a swamp filled with molasses.
Totally agree. I don't think James 'got' women at all and wrote a review to that effect.
Friend just brought me "Sarah's Key". So will start that. The movie has come out everywhere but near me.
Cheryl S. wrote: "Finally finished "Portrait of a Lady". Reading it was like walking through a swamp filled with molasses."What a brave soul to continue through it!
Miriam wrote: "What a brave soul to continue through it!"The film was worse!
Just finished Dear Girl: The Diaries and the Letters of Two Working Women and really enjoyed it! I did not think I would, since it is diary excerpts and letters, but the two women friends were very active in the early Woman's Rights movement, and very thoughtful in their comments.
Finish two quick reads--"On Mystic Lake" pure chick-lit given to me by a friend and "View of the Lake" which is a memoir written by a woman who with her hub left city life and moved to the Arrowhead Region of northern Minnesota and the north shore of Lake Superior. This one is for my memoir book club and I enjoyed it very much. Now I'm reading a mystery "Angel Tip" by Alifair Burke.
Just finished "Jack Kennedy Elusive Hero" by Chris Matthews. A lot of it was not new information, but it is well written and I found it compelling. As I was 18 years old when JFK was assassinated I remember those days all too well and it brought back a lot of the emotions from that time. It was like the end of a dream and then we plunged into the dark days of Viet Nam, race riots and so much hatred and misunderstanding. Not a great time in the history of this country.
Cheryl S. wrote: "Jo wrote: "I'm still in a reading rut! So Frustrating!"Bummer! Have you read "The Help"? I'm not sure what you like but that's a recent fave of mine."
Yes, I read it for the evening bookclub this April and lead the discussion, very good novel!
Just finished "Sarah Key". Heartbreaking subject of Jews being taken prisoners by the French in 1942. It is fiction based on fact. Well worth the read.
I have that sitting on my shelf! I wanted to see the movie, it played locally but the friend I was going to see it with had to go to LA as her stepfather passed away.
I just finished Perfume: The Story of a Murderer which was a well-written and original load of rubbish.
Petra X wrote: "I just finished Perfume: The Story of a Murderer which was a well-written and original load of rubbish."LOL
Now reading "The Time of Our Lives" by Tom Brokaw. Very interesting perspective on our world today and how we got here.
I'm reading Arguably: Essays It is so brilliant, I am rationing myself to two essays per week. I'm also reading the informative and opinionated Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Birth. And The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist which I've gone off since he refuses to condemn his great hero Konrad Lorenz's involvement in the Holocaust in any but mild language. (Lorenz provided Hitler with his scientific justification for trying to exterminate the Jews so that they wouldn't dilute the purity of the Aryan race).
Oh what a horrible book that must be. Konrad Lorenz must be a monster.
Konrad Lorenz was an absolute genius of an animal behaviourist and writer. I wouldn't want to slag off his books King Solomon's Ring and Here Am I--Where Are You?: The Behavior of the Greylag Goose . Frans de Wahl manages a whole chapter of saying for an evil person he wasn't so bad, not really, not considering.... and doesn't mention the victims of the Holocaust even once. So Wahl is a creep. I don't like reading books by creeps, I don't enjoy them even if I did before I realised he was a creep
Petra, there are certain people that it is hard to even run across their name without having thoughts about how evil they were in spite of "good" reputations. General George Patton is one that comes to mind- he was a terrible anti-semite. I am currently reading After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation and whenever I run across his name, I can't help myself from putting a big pencil X across it- my feelings are so strong! I tend to feel the urge to do that with the ones who most people don't recognize as creeps!
Petra X wrote: "I'm reading Arguably: Essays It is so brilliant, I am rationing myself to two essays per week. I'm also reading the informative and opinionated Jessica Mitford's [book:The American..."Boo on Lorenz.
Just finished "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down". Learned a lot I didn't know about the Hmong culture. It made me think of current day difficulties of our troops trying to work with the people of Afghanastan without first understanding their culture. The book made me squirm when reading about the arrogance of American doctors thinking they are always right and their way is best without trying to understand where a person of another culture is coming from.
I had that book for so long and dithered about reading it, now I want to, but its too late, I sold it!
Petra X wrote: "I had that book for so long and dithered about reading it, now I want to, but its too late, I sold it!"I found this copy in a used pile at my bookstore for $2. Lucky.
Just read The Honey Thief. It was very interesting. I was expecting a book about the woes of being a single mother, but it was much more involved than that. It is going on my shelf to stay. (The library had gotten a lot of donations from someone who had taken a bunch of "women's studies" at the university- that is why my expectation.)
Miriam wrote: "Just read The Honey Thief. It was very interesting. I was expecting a book about the woes of being a single mother, but it was much more involved than that. It is going on my shelf to..."Going to check it out.
Started "Unbroken" today for my regular book club. I've been looking forward to reading this one.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption was one of the best books I read this year, I hope you enjoy it as much as me Cheryl. Warning. The beginning is slow and seems irrelevant, goes on a bit, but it improves dramatically.
Petra X wrote: "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption was one of the best books I read this year, I hope you enjoy it as much as me Cheryl. Warning. The beginning i..."Actually I've kind of enjoyed the beginning, I'm about 100 pages in. I can't get over what a character Louie is. I'm glad he wasn't my child, I would have had gray hair by the time he was 3.
Cheryl, Have you read Final Harvest : An American Tragedy? It is about a ocuple of murders in SW Minnesota during the farm crisis in the 80s. I just finished it, and thought it did a pretty good job of describing the Iowa/ Minnesota area's culture and people.
Gardener's Group
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss (other topics)The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health (other topics)
White Beech: The Rainforest Years (other topics)
Orchids of Britain and Ireland (other topics)
A Garden with House Attached (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
D.E. Stevenson (other topics)Margaret George (other topics)
Bernd Heinrich (other topics)
Adriana Trigiani (other topics)
Konrad Lorenz (other topics)
More...
Then I re-read "The Great Gatsby", it had been a long time and I enjoyed it all over again.
Now I'm reading "Vanity Fair". I have to be in the right mind set to read stuff like this as it's slow moving, but seems worthwhile so far.
"Poisonwood Bible" is the selection for my regular book club for Oct. I tried to read it once a long time ago and didn't like it, so hope I can get into it this time.