Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
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What are U reading these days? (PART EIGHT (2012) (ONGOING THREAD for 2012)
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Werner
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Aug 24, 2012 06:31PM
Glad you're liking Feckless, Joy! (I never could depend on my memory. I was already absent-minded in my 20s. :-) )
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Werner wrote: "Glad you're liking Feckless, Joy! (I never could depend on my memory. I was already absent-minded in my 20s. :-) )"From my quote collection:
"Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it."
-Georges Duhamel, The Heart's Domain
Nina wrote: "Have any of you read, "The Paris Wife?" It is fiction but reads like non-fiction."I read "The Paris Wife" and liked it a lot. Interesting characters and description of Paris culture at that time.
Carol wrote: "I read "The Paris Wife" and liked it a lot. Interesting characters and description of Paris culture at that time."Sounds good. Sooner or later I intend to read The Paris Wife. Thanks, Carol.
Almost finished with Alan Arkin's The Clearing. It's OK but I wouldn't recommend it. I'm hoping to start an old Dean Koontz scifi novel, The Haunted Earth tonight or tomorrow.
I just began listening to the audio version of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.Also, I just finished listening to the audio version of Dean and Me: by Jerry Lewis. I loved Dean Martin and this book reminded me of why I was so fond of him.
Jim wrote: "I've just started Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life. It's OK, so far."Sounds like a book that even I might enjoy, especially because I'm so curious about the world of horses which I know very little about.
Jackie wrote: "Almost finished with Alan Arkin's The Clearing. It's OK but I wouldn't recommend it. I'm hoping to start an old Dean Koontz scifi novel, The Haunted Earth tonight or tomorrow."
The name, Alan Arkin, sounded familiar so I looked him up at Wiki. Then I remembered who he was. Duh! LOL His autobiography might be interesting:
An Improvised Life by Alan Arkin. Unfortunately, our library system doesn't have an audio-version of the book. So I'm outa luck. :)
Joy H. wrote: "I just began listening to the audio version of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.Also, I just finished listening to the audio version of Dean and Me:..."
Hi Joy,
I've started reading Quiet---let me know what you think. So far it's interesting, but I have to read other things in between sittings!
Carol wrote: "I've started reading Quiet---let me know what you think. So far it's interesting, but I have to read other things in between sittings! "Carol, I typed my reply and then got the following message: "There was a problem saving your comment." Grrr. :-(
So I'll be back later to try again.
Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted, but I've been lurking quite a bit. I found myself so busy and caught up with life that I hardly read at all from late last year until May of this year. Life is still crazy busy, but now that my eight year old is on swim team, I have time 4-5 nights a week to read while we're at practice. :) I'm currently working on Fall of Giants, The Secret Speech, and a first-reads book, Song Yet Sung.My major dilemma is trying to figure out if I should read the third Game of Thrones book next, finish A Suitable Boy, or allow myself to stick with the Ken Follett theme and read his new book (Winter of the World) when it comes out this month... Decisions, decisions!
Hi Jenni - Nice to see you back here. I understand your "dilemma". We have so many choices that it becomes a problem. There's always the feeling that we should be reading another book. I've had The Uncommon Reader, half-read, on my end table for weeks but can't get to it because I'm still trying to finish The Furies. I also have a couple of short-story collections waiting to be picked up again. Yes, I understand your dilemma. :)
Carol wrote: "I've started reading Quiet---let me know what you think. So far it's interesting, but I have to read other things in between sittings! "Hi Carol - I'm back again with my comments about Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. So far I haven't gotten past the first audio disk. So I shouldn't make any judgments yet. However, I haven't come across any ideas that I wasn't familiar with already. It seems to be a lot of common sense about introverts and extroverts. I'm finding it very dry so far.
Hi Jenni!I may make your choice harder when I tell you that the 3rd A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Storm of Swords, is the best in the entire series (so far). It's a very long book and worth every second spent on it. If you're planning on watching the TV series then reading it beforehand is a must.
Oh Jackie, that is totally what I wanted to hear! I really want to read it before the next season starts, so that means I have to read it before March. I'm leaving for a conference this coming weekend, so I'll be looking to start a new ebook anyway. I think that it'll have to be Storm of Swords... thanks!
Jenni, you will be pleased you chose it. Every fan agrees, it's the best. Here's a group dedicated to the series, if you're interested, we'd love to have you: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...
Just finished watching the mini-series, "Lark Rise to Candleford," and thought it excellent. Good acting and so I recommend it on Netflix. English period with subtitles.
Nina wrote: "Just finished watching the mini-series, "Lark Rise to Candleford," and thought it excellent. Good acting and so I recommend it on Netflix. English period with subtitles."Nina, I've added disc one to my Netflix queue. Thanks. I'll give it a try (when I get to it). :)
I am trying a new--new for me, that is, Sf author called Robert J. Sawyer. I just started Starplex; so far it is pretty good.
That one sounds good Mary JL.I'm currently reading the first of book of The Castings Trilogy, Blood Ties. It's a continuing story and I have all three books.
It's starting out very well, I like it.
Earlier this week, I started on the Robert E. Howard bio by Mark Finn that I mentioned earlier. I'm finding it really well-written and meaty; it fascinated me from the start. (Of course, I'm a Howard fan; but Finn's writing skills have a lot to do with my reaction.)
Werner: Another good biography that you may like is Edgar Rice Burroughs : Master of Adventure by Richard A. Lupoff. I found it really absorbing as I am a ERB fan.
Thanks, Mary JL! I'll keep that one in mind. (I'm a Burroughs fan as well.)
Just had the book, "The City of Light," recommended to me. It is an historical novel about the city of Buffalo when it first gets electricity. I thought you might be interested, Joy if you haven't already read it. Also, I just finished reading the first two chapters of the book, "The Shoemaker's Wife," and it sounds like one I'd like to read.
Thank you, MaryJL, Jackie, and Werner, for posting. I'm a bit behind these days.
Nina wrote: "Just had the book, "The City of Light," recommended to me. It is an historical novel about the city of Buffalo when it first gets electricity. I thought you might be interested, Joy if you haven't Joy if you haven't already read it. Also, I just finished reading the first two chapters of the book, "The Shoemaker's Wife," and it sounds like one I'd like to read."Nina, I will look into those two books and perhaps put them on my keep-in-mind shelf.
1. City of Light by Lauren Belfer
2. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
I just finished Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life. Most of it was pretty good, but he lied at least once & ticked me off, so he only got 2 stars. My review is here:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Jim wrote: "I just finished Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life. Most of it was pretty good, but he lied at least once & ticked me off, so he only got 2 stars. My review is here:http://www.goodreads.c..."
Thanks, Jim. Have you ever done any fox chasing? I always feel sorry for the fox. :)
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "Just finished watching the mini-series, "Lark Rise to Candleford," and thought it excellent. Good acting and so I recommend it on Netflix. English period with subtitles."Nina, I've ..."Exception to the rule: The book was not nearly as good as the mini-series.
Joy, my family & I have been fox chasing quite a bit. Generally, if the fox doesn't want to play, it goes to ground & that's the end of the chase. The areas are limited & a pack of hounds can't sneak up on a fox very easily. They're noisy & big, so they can't fit into a fox den, either. In the old days in England, they used to carry Fox Terriers on their saddles to go into the dens, but no US hunt that I'm aware of has & certainly haven't for decades. I've seen a fox run out the woods, hop back & forth through an overgrown fence & then sit on the top of a hill to watch the hounds. They looked like a cartoon pack as they bunched & fought to get through the fence over & over. When they were about halfway through, the fox trotted off & by the time the pack got up there & back on his trail, he was long gone & they lost him.
I've known other fox to break out of a cover, lead the hunt around an area a couple of times & then go back into their den right where the chase started. Not just once, but every week or two for years. Some days she didn't want to play, so she just didn't come out. That particular vixen lived just a few hundred yards from the kennel & raised quite a few litters.
No, the only people who feel sorry for the fox are those who aren't familiar with it. You should see if there is one in your area that you can watch. Hilltopping is a lot of fun. I remember one woman who hilltopped from her pony up into her 90's. She rode sidesaddle, too.
Nina wrote: "... "Lark Rise to Candleford,"... "Exception to the rule: The book was not nearly as good as the mini-series. "Yes, that IS an exception to the rule, Nina! :)
Jim wrote: "Joy, my family & I have been fox chasing quite a bit. Generally, if the fox doesn't want to play, it goes to ground & that's the end of the chase. The areas are limited & a pack of hounds can't s..."Jim, exactly what does "go to ground" mean? Examples?
Also, how can one watch a fox hunt if it goes through the woods, etc.?
I've never heard of fox hunts in this area.
PS-Also, exactly what is hilltopping?
Joy, I explained most of this in my review, but here it is in more detail:Go to ground = fox goes into its den
Hilltopping = watching the hunt from afar, generally from hill tops.
Generally hunting is done in the fall & winter so there aren't any leaves on the trees, but you can't see them too far in the woods, only when they burst out into the fields.
Depending on the day & the hunt, there's a pack of a dozen couple (24, but they're counted in couples for some reason) hounds or so. Usually they're separated by gender, so there's a dog pack & a bitch pack which are hunted on different days.
The staff consists of the huntsman, who is in control of the pack with a couple or more whips (whippers-in) to help him/her control them. The master(s) are in charge of the field.
There can be one to three fields, I'm most familiar with 2 plus stragglers & hilltoppers. The last two don't really count. The first field is the fast one & is led by the master. They'll stay as close to the pack as they can & ride wildly over jumps & through the woods to keep close.
The second field is made up of riders that aren't as good or want to go slower because they're on green (untrained or semi-trained) horses. This field will also have a master, if one is available. If not, one of the senior, experienced members of the hunt that knows the land will lead.
A hunt is like a big party in a lot of ways. The Thanksgiving Day Children's hunt was always a favorite of ours. Here's a picture of all of us out at one about 15 years ago.
Mom is on the left in the Pink coat. She was a whip back then. Working right is Marg riding Blue, Brandon on Sorroya, me on Briar Rose, & James is on Patches at the far right. Erin is up front on Spice, her pony who wasn't a lot bigger than the fox hounds.
New York is a big state, so I'm not sure what hunt would be closest to you. You can check on
http://www.mfha.org/about.html
under their member hunts. All recognized hunt clubs have to follow their guidelines. The only one in NY that I've hunted with is the Smithtown Hunt out on Long Island.
Jim wrote: "Joy, I explained most of this in my review, but here it is in more detail:Go to ground = fox goes into its den
Hilltopping = watching the hunt from afar, generally from hill tops. Generally hun..."
Thanks, Jim! That photo is great! I love the outfits. I can see that your family was really into the sport! It IS called a sport, isn't it?
Via your link, I found the following page:
http://www.mfha.org/docs/huntsbystate...
I see there's an event in Old Chatham, NY, near Albany.
http://www.theoldchathamhuntclub.com/
I didn't realize we had fox hunting in NY.
PS-There's also fox hunting downstate in Westchester, near where I used to live and work, Goldens Bridge:http://www.goldensbridgehounds.org/UC/
"Sunday, November 11th – GBH Fall Hunter Pace - A Spectacular Fall Pace in North Salem’s Hunt Country - Ride & Enjoy Gorgeous Seasonal Colors"
I never realized this type of thing was going on near me. I used to drive by Goldens Bridge on I-684, driving to work.
Is fox chasing a sport? Folks say so. It's fun, but everyone seems to have different goals & they can vary by the minute.
Joy H. wrote: "Hi Carol - I'm back again with my comments about _Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking_. So far I haven't gotten past the first audio disk. So I shouldn't make any judgments yet. However, I haven't come across any ideas that I wasn't familiar with already. It seems to be a lot of common sense about introverts and extroverts. I'm finding it very dry so far."I'm back with more comments about: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. As I said, I'm in the midst of listening to the audio-book. So far the author is giving some interesting details and facts which, to me, can me summed up as: "Nice guys finish last".
This fact can be very disturbing because some very good ideas are sometimes discounted while some very rotten ideas are accepted, due to the fact that the extroverts drown out the introverts. It's upsetting to think about because I've observed this all my life and it seems there's not much that can be done about it.
I hope that the CD will offer solutions as I listen further.
Being between common reads in some of my other groups at the moment, I started reading Best Ghost Stories of J. S. Le Fanu today. To my surprise, I hadn't remembered to put that one on my to-read shelf, but I've had my eye on it for a couple of years, ever since I selected this copy for the BC library. I'm a great fan of traditional ghost stories, and as M. R. James said, Le Fanu is "The Master" of the genre. :-)
I'm reading a free book of short horror stories by a new author, 24:01 One Minute After by Eric Diehl. It's one of the reasons I love my ereader. It's very good, too.
Thanks for the links, Werner and Jim. Sometimes I enjoy ghost stories, but not horror stories. :)I finally finished listening to the audio-book of The Paris Wife which is a fictionalized biography of Earnest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley. I especially enjoyed the latter part of the book which touches your heart-strings as it describes the break-up of their marriage.
Ghost stories may or may not fit into the horrific mold, depending on whether or not the ghost(s) are malevolent. Le Fanu's ghosts generally are; but in Victorian fashion, he achieves his horrific effects more by psychological suggestion than by blood and gore, and he tends to build them gradually.
Werner wrote: "Ghost stories may or may not fit into the horrific mold, depending on whether or not the ghost(s) are malevolent. Le Fanu's ghosts generally are; but in Victorian fashion, he achieves his horrific effects more by psychological suggestion than by blood and gore..."Thanks, Werner. I prefer the psychological approach, not only in ghost stories, but also in other genres. What goes on in the minds of people is what is most interesting to me.
PS-I like your term, "psychological approach". It's a good way to put it. You always express yourself so well! I find reading your posts to be very satisfying.
PPS-I just realized that you used the term "psychological suggestion", not, "psychological approach". I'm amazed at myself for using the term on my own. LOL
Actually, these stories aren't really horror, they're all over the place. Some definitely have a nasty twist to them. Lots of different settings, so it's interesting.The description says, An anthology of horror, science fiction and fantasy short stories, some dark and some light but all challenging the bounds of your imagination. It's right on.
Jim, I like having having the "bounds of my imagination" challenged. That's a good way to put it. :)
Werner wrote: "Thanks for your kind words, Joy!"Werner, you deserve them.
Joy, you're one of the sweetest ladies I know. (Virtual hug!)
Werner wrote: "Joy, you're one of the sweetest ladies I know. (Virtual hug!)"Bless your heart, Werner. You say the nicest things! Thank you.
I am now reading, "In the Garden of Beasts," by Erik Larson. It is non-fiction about the starting power of Hitler prior to WWII; around 1933 from viewpoint of our Ambassador to Berlin. So far, so good.I grew up during WWII and had never heard of the Holocaust or the Internment of the Japanese. At that time I was too young to have a boy friend in service and my father was too old to be drafted and I had no brothers so I wasn't as affected as I might have been Also, growing up in the middle of the country was vastly different than being on either coast. Still, I knew we were at war. Strangely, it never occured to me that we'd lose. I am presently writing my memoirs and I am just now at this part of my history. nina
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