What I read in July 2010

[Liz]

Grapes of Wrath is a book i want to re-read. Thanks for reminding me. There is so much story! You can't possibly take it all in just by reading it once.

[Mike]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Have you read Cathedral by Nelson DeMille?"

Nope, never even heard of the author. But that's definitely my next read after two short book read-alongs I've committed to in another group. That's starting at the end of the month. 

It looks like exactly the kind of book I was looking to read, thank you JoAnn/QuAppelle. 

[NK15]

I really enjoy Nelson DeMille, but haven't read Cathedral. Is it a newer book JoAnn?

kate

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

kate/Edukate12 wrote: "I really enjoy Nelson DeMille, but haven't read Cathedral. Is it a newer book JoAnn?

kate"

no, it is a really old book of DeMille's. I like his older books better.

[Marialyce]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "kate/Edukate12 wrote: "I really enjoy Nelson DeMille, but haven't read Cathedral. Is it a newer book JoAnn?

kate"

no, it is a really old book of DeMille's. I like his older books better."

I loved his The Gold Coast.

[Justeenetta]

went to the cybermobile today, they had for me finally patti smith's just kids about her time with robert maplethorp, cumpulsive reading.

[madrano]

Marialyce wrote: "Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "I thought I was the only person on the face of the earth that didn't like The Time Traveler's Wife!"

See you are never alone, Nancy. My daughters disliked it too! So, that makes six of us> :) ..."

Add me as a 7th. It rather creeped me out that the traveler had the opportunity to pretty much "train" the girl to grow into the sort of wife he'd want.

deb

[madrano]

Justeenetta wrote: "oh, yeah, I've written poetry from time to time not much any longer, I was married to a poet for some time, but my art is painting.
let me knoe if you read those other 2. how I became one of the ..."

I will let you know when/if i find it. Thanks again.

deb

[madrano]

Justeenetta wrote: "I re-read the wayward bus years ago. PS as an infant I pissed on steinbeck & his new wife's white rug. end of friendship."

Good story! I enjoyed every Steinbeck book i've read but haven't read East of Eden. His short stories have entertained me as well. Great author.

deborah

[Marialyce]

madrano wrote: "Marialyce wrote: "Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "I thought I was the only person on the face of the earth that didn't like The Time Traveler's Wife!"

See you are never alone, Nancy. My daughters dislike..."

I didn't like her other book either. Her Fearful Symmetry, Deb. Perhaps she is an author, I just don't get! :(

[NK15]

Her Fearful Symmetry

I didn't like this one at all, but loved Time Traveler's Wife.

Kate

[Sherry (sethurner)]

A first for me - I didn't finish a thing, though I started several. I must be really distracted in summer.

[Marialyce]

kate/Edukate12 wrote: "Her Fearful Symmetry

I didn't like this one at all, but loved Time Traveler's Wife.

Kate"

I didn't care for either one. Her Fearful Symmetry was disturbing on so many levels for sure.

[Carolyn (in SC) C234D]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Mike wrote: "This here reminds me that I've always wanted to find a novel(s) with the IRA at the center of the plot. Have to do some google(ing) about that. Or if anyone is aware of any like that, ..."

I believe CATHEDRAL was the first of DeMille's books that I have read, quite a few years ago. Have since enjoyed many. He's a good storyteller.

[madrano]

Marialyce wrote: "I didn't like her other book either. Her Fearful Symmetry, Deb. Perhaps she is an author, I just don't get! :(


I really like the title, though. LOL!


deborah

[Marialyce]

Definitely the best part!!! :)

[Sarah]

My favorite was Born to Run--check it out--gives you the urge to run!

[madrano]

Sarah, i really learned much from The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann, which i read earlier this year. I wasn't a fan of spreading the material over the century but overall i felt the author presented good material.

Thanks for sharing your titles.

deborah

[Marialyce]

madrano wrote: "Sarah, i really learned much from The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann, which i read earlier this year. I wasn't a fan of spre..."

I read it too and found it interesting. (a bit frightening too!)

[Alias Reader]

Sarah wrote: ."My favorite was Born to Run--check it out--gives you the urge to run!

----------------
Born to Run has been on my TBR list. I doubt I will run, but I like books that inspire me to dream.

[Emily]

It's been an unusally slow month.
Generation Kill
This book follows a battlion of recon marines during the first forty days of the Iraq invasion.
I decided to read this after i watched the HBO series of the same name. The first time i've ever read anything like it, a real eye opener into a very real world of violence and death. Excellent read.

Misery
Second time around, reading this one. It was actually the first Stephen King book i ever read, and i'm glad it was.


Looking for Alaska
A wonderful book of first love and last words. "I go to seek a great perhaps" wise words.

[Alias Reader]

Emily wrote: "
Misery
Second time around, reading this one. It was actually the first Stephen King book i ever read, and i'm glad it was. .."
------------------

The movie was good, too. I usually don't care for the movies made from books I've read, but this one was well done. And I've always loved James Caan. ;)

[Emily]

Alias Reader wrote: "Emily wrote: "
Misery
Second time around, reading this one. It was actually the first Stephen King book i ever read, and i'm glad it was. .."
------------------

The movie was good, too. I usually..."

I have it but i've never seen it, there have been too many books made into terrible films that i'm always cautious now!

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

Here are some of the books I most enjoyed in July. I had a good reading month.

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb A modern gothic ghost story and a fun read.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom Life on an American plantation for the black slaves and a white indentured servant. The book is touching and engrossing, and its strengths outweigh its occasional shortcomings.

The Cutting EdgebyDarcia HelleThis is a fun, light mystery, despite some gruesome parts, starring a hair stylist who fantasizes about killing her clients. Then a serial killer enters the picture.

The Black Nile: One Man's Amazing Journey Through Peace and War on the World's Longest River by Dan Morrison. This one has received some negative reviews but I loved it.

Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza A saga of a black family starting shortly after the emancipation and stretching for seven generations. Lyrical and touching.

Some of the others I read are:
The Profiler by Pat Brown
The Serpent and the Stag by Julie Ann Maahs and
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

There are reviews, both mine and others, for all these books. Happy reading, everyone!

[Alias Reader]

Thanks for sharing, Susan. It looks like you had a good reading month.

[madrano]

Susan wrote: "Here are some of the books I most enjoyed in July. I had a good reading month.

The Black Nile: One Man's Amazing Journey Through Peace and War on the World's Longest River by Dan Morrison. This one has received some negative reviews but I loved it. ..."

This one sounds good, i'll have to add it to my TBR list. Thank you. It looks like a good month for you.

deborah

[Justeenetta]

I'm reading no deadly drug, a true crime by dohn d mc donald of travis mc gee fame, about a 1962 ? crime I hadn't known about, a double murder by an idiot, first he killed an lover's husband, then ditched her & killed his wife so he could marry another woman.

[Alias Reader]

Here is the link for the book, Justeenetta is reading.

No Deadly Drug~ John D. MacDonald

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

Deborah, you might not like The Black Nile: One Man's Amazing Journey Through Peace and War on the World's Longest River because it received some 2-star ratings. Perhaps those readers had different expectations than I did. I just enjoy reading books like this one, enjoy looking at a world through someone else's eyes, and this book just really worked for me. If you do read it, I'll be interested in what you think about it.

I did have a good reading month -- a few books that weren't great, but some really interesting ones as well.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

Justeenetta wrote: "I'm reading no deadly drug, a true crime by dohn d mc donald of travis mc gee fame, about a 1962 ? crime I hadn't known about, a double murder by an idiot, first he killed an lover's husband, then ..."

I loved those Travis McGee books way back when....must have been when I had little ones

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I loved those Travis McGee books way back when....must have been when I had little ones"

I loved them too. Was sad when I'd read them all and there were no more new ones.

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Mike wrote: "This here reminds me that I've always wanted to find a novel(s) with the IRA at the center of the plot. Have to do some google(ing) about that. Or if anyone is aware of any like that, ..."

Cathedral sounds good so I'll have to add that one to my TBR. I really enjoy some of Nelson DeMille's work and some of it is just not to my taste.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

Susan wrote: "Cathedral sounds good so I'll have to add that one to my TBR. I really enjoy some of Nelson DeMille's work and some of it is just not to my taste.
..."

I feel the same way about him, Susan.

[madrano]

Susan wrote: "Deborah, you might not like The Black Nile: One Man's Amazing Journey Through Peace and War on the World's Longest River because it received some 2-star ratings. Perhaps those reade..."

Thanks for the notation, Susan. This is the sort of book i like. It gives me a fuller sense of some stories we barely know about here, even though filtered through the writer's eyes. Better than mine from here. ;-)


deb

[Meredith]

madrano wrote: "Justeenetta wrote: "I re-read the wayward bus years ago. PS as an infant I pissed on steinbeck & his new wife's white rug. end of friendship."

Good story! I enjoyed every Steinbeck book i've r..."

Deborah,

You must read East of Eden. It is one of my all time favorite books. I have enjoyed all the /steinbeck novels and short stori remember with grees I have read through the years but rembmber with great pleasure East of Eden.

[madrano]

Meredith wrote: "You must read East of Eden. It is one of my all time favorite books..."

It's odd that i haven't yet. Several years ago i bought a hardback copy, knowing my eyes couldn't manage paperback print but still, never even started it. Thanks for the encouragement.


deborah

[Bobbie]

East of Eden is also one of my all time favorite books. Read it when it first came out. When they said they were making a movie of it I was really scared as it is a tremendously long book. However -- I believe it is also a great movie -- and one of my all time favorite movies as far as that goes. The movie is really only one section of the book. And that was a good choice because if they had tried to do more it would have been awful.

Hope you read and enjoy it.

Barbara in Buffalo

[Marialyce]

madrano wrote: "Meredith wrote: "You must read East of Eden. It is one of my all time favorite books..."

It's odd that i haven't yet. Several years ago i bought a hardback copy, knowing my eyes couldn't manage pa..."

Deborah,
I would love to have a buddy read with that book. Are you at all interested?
Marialyce
PS I have had it on my shelf for years too!

[madrano]

Marialyce wrote: "Deborah,
I would love to have a buddy read with that book. Are you at all interested?
Marialyce
PS I have had it on my shelf for years too! ..."

How long can you wait, Marialyce? I ask because right now i have two books i'm committed to read with others elsewhere. But buddy reading is the only way i'm positive i'll read it. Would next week be too soon, too late?

deborah

[Marialyce]

madrano wrote: "Marialyce wrote: "Deborah,
I would love to have a buddy read with that book. Are you at all interested?
Marialyce
PS I have had it on my shelf for years too! ..."

How long can you wait, Marialyce?..."

Oh no, Deborah, not at all. There is no rush. I am right now doing a group read of The Moonstone. I can be ready at anytime to go with it. Just let me know. I am just finishing Blindness on a buddy read. I am looking forward to it. I will be out for one week in Sept but then will be back so if you want to start the end of September that would be fine too! I am easy and retired.:)

[madrano]

Marialyce, how late into Sept. are we talking? I ask because we are going to Spain October 15 & will be gone 5 weeks. I think the 20th or 25th of Sept. would work, though. Let me know.

I hope you are enjoying The Moonstone. I really liked it when i read it, almost 10 years ago. It was a group read for a classics group & we had some fun discussions about the way the idea of police and detectives developed. Enjoy!

deb

[Alias Reader]

East of Eden~ John Steinbeck

>madrano wrote: "Marialyce, how late into Sept. are we talking? I ask because we are going to Spain October 15 & will be gone 5 weeks. I think the 20th or 25th of Sept. would work, though. Let me know.
."
--------------

If that works, just remind me and I'll set up a thread for you.

[madrano]

Will do, Alias.

[Marialyce]

Alias Reader wrote: "East of Eden~ John Steinbeck

>madrano wrote: "Marialyce, how late into Sept. are we talking? I ask because we are going to Spain October 15 & ..."

The 25th of September is just great! Wow! Five weeks in Spain sound utterly wonderful to me!
Marialyce

[madrano]

The 25th it is, then! I'll post this on the Buddy thread, too, in case others want to join us.

deborah

P.S. I was a bit confusing there. Three weeks are in Spain, followed by a 13 day transatlantic cruise. Lucky duck, eh?

[Ji Mei]

I read too much in July, but I know I read around 2 books or more!

[Bobbie]

Yes deborah -- you are definitely a lucky duck.

Barbara

[Rhoney]

Ji Mei wrote: "I read too much in July, but I know I read around 2 books or more!"
Subject: Re: New discussions from Readers and Reading

I am currently reading Home and Langley because I am very soon seeing the person who lent this to me about 9 months ago and I would be guilty not reading it. It is an ok read. Very different. Almost no dialog. Before that I read Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner and Look Again by Lisa Scottline. Both books are what I call summer reads.

[Marialyce]

madrano wrote: "The 25th it is, then! I'll post this on the Buddy thread, too, in case others want to join us.

deborah

P.S. I was a bit confusing there. Three weeks are in Spain, followed by a 13 day transatlant..."

I would say!
Hope it will be super special! (but then again how couldn't it be?)

[madrano]

Rhoney wrote: "I am currently reading Home and Langley because I am very soon seeing the person who lent this to me about 9 months ago and I would be guilty not reading it..."

Rhoney, is this a book you hoped to read anyway or are you reading solely because your friend lent it to you? I'm torn about books lent because someone else liked it &/or thought of me as they read it. Sometimes the latter makes me wonder if they really know me at all. ;-)

deborah