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  • bedo
    bedo Member Posts: 1,866
    edited December 2013

    OK, I got  the Swan Thieves and Love in the Time of Cholera.  They are both Big Books! It got dark in this part of Alaska today at 4:30pm, so I will settle in and read.  After I shower the hiking dirt off!

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited December 2013

    We have a cruise booked to southeast Alaska the first week of September. I'll be bringing my Kindle along instead of hauling a pile of books. Perhaps I'll be so dazzled by scenery, I won't read a thing.

    I went to the main San Antonio Library downtown - always such a treat. Got Ian McEwan's latest, Sweet Tooth. I'm only 5 pages into it but love his writing style. I count his Atonement as one of my favorite books but didn't care much for his next two. I think this one will be good. I'll let you know. Then I went downstairs to the basement store, The Book Cellar, and found another copy of The Shadow of the Wind for $1 that I can use to lend out. It's my favorite Carlos Ruiz Zafon book and I love lending it out to people. Everyone loves that magical book!

    The Swan Thieves was much loved by my book club. Same for most of us with Love in the Time of Cholera. The movie is nothing like the book. The characters are much more "love them/hate them" in the book. It's not an easy read but most of us liked it. Two members were so upset by how bad one character is, it nearly ruined the book for them. The rest of us had to remind them, "It's fiction!"

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited December 2013

    Cholera didn't do it for me.....

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  • WaveWhisperer
    WaveWhisperer Member Posts: 898
    edited December 2013

    Highly recommend " Life after Life" by Kate Atkinson. Regarded as one of top books of 2013. Finished it and may read it again.

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  • bedo
    bedo Member Posts: 1,866
    edited December 2013

    Is that the one about the senior community?

    Seems I read the wrong Life after Life last time, but it was good

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited December 2013

    Any book you want to read again has got to be a winner!


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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited December 2013

    I rarely see movies but went to see Judi Dench in Philomena simply because I think she's great.  It was really good & thought provoking.  Now I will track down the book.

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  • WaveWhisperer
    WaveWhisperer Member Posts: 898
    edited December 2013

    Bedo, this one if about a woman who dies many times, then relives her life with different choices or destinies. Like a series of "do overs."  Imagine how your life might be if different outcomes had occurred along the way...There are historical surprises, like her meeting Hitler and Eva Braun.

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  • fgm
    fgm Member Posts: 831
    edited December 2013

    Just finished The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and loved it. I loved her descriptions of Alaska and her character development.  It was recommended by readers on this site so thank you!!!!

    I also finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.  I didn't care for it.  It reminded me of The Glass Castle but nowhere as well written or interesting.  It was #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list but I don't know why. I must be too old for it. Anybody else read it?

    Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited December 2013

    Now I've put Philomena on my movie list. Thanks! I'm so thankful I found all of you. Makes me feel like my old self.

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited December 2013

    Philomena  has gone on my list too. Happy New Year Everyone, and Happy Reading!

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited January 2014

    image

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  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 7,496
    edited January 2014

    Happy New Year!!!  

    Just finished reading The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013,  Ends with an essay by Kevin Dutton on The Wisdom of Psychopaths based on his book with the same title.  Was one of my favorite books of 2013.  Kept referring to it. Fascinating!   

    Finished Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reap. Tough book to read...though her writing is exceptional and provocative, it leaves one with a heavy heart. 

    If I had to pick a favorite that I read last year it would have to be The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat.  Anyone more surprised than me that I chose a novel?  It's a fabulous book by a new author and I just couldn't believe that it was written by a man. I wondered as I turned each page how a man could bring such voices to all the female characters. How could a man possibly know so much about women friendships?  Made me stop and think about a handful of my own friendships that are entering 4 decades...

    Hitler's Philosophers was also great.... Made me aware that there is no end to that wretched time period.  We are still bearing the ethical quandaries that were begun during his power. There needs to be an intellectual awaking to what was lost in academics during that time and how today it continues to affect the ivory towers. 

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited January 2014

    I gave up on Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth after only 27 pages. The reviews said it was a great story of the Cold War era but I was bored because the story went nowhere. I usually give a book 100 pages before I throw in the towel, but since the breast cancer diagnosis, I've changed. Life is too short to waste time on a book that I know I don't like...as long as I give it 25 pages.

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  • Elizabeth1889
    Elizabeth1889 Member Posts: 1,036
    edited January 2014

    I just finished reading The Impossible Lives of Greta Welles by Andrew Sean Greer. It was a fun, time-travel novel.

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  • badger
    badger Member Posts: 34,614
    edited January 2014

    I'm just back from vacation so read a lot on the plane.  Finished Asimov's Foundation on the rec of my DH but didn't really care for it, although I generally like sci fi.  He's got the rest of the series but I'm not interested.

    Picked up Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander at the airport bookstore in FL and had it read by ATL.  It's the story of a neurosurgeon's near-death experience and journey into the afterlife & back.  Fascinating, anyone else read it?

    In ATL I picked up Michael Connelly's The Fifth Witness, one of the books in his Lincoln Lawyer series.  (The protagonist likes to do business from his car.)  Had it half read in the plane and finished it off yesterday.  Good book!  Now on the library reserve list for the new one, The Gods of Guilt.

    Happy New Year everyone and happy reading!  ♥

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  • moni731
    moni731 Member Posts: 293
    edited January 2014

    Hello all. I haven't read anything worth recommending until now. Bought it off Amazon's daily deals and couldn't put it down! Titled: A  Death on the Wolf by GM Fraizer. It's an easy read, but interesting. 

    Wishing everyone a healthy new calendar year!

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  • PeggySull
    PeggySull Member Posts: 686
    edited January 2014

    I am reading "When Nietsche (sp?) wept" by Irving Yalom.  Am enjoying it immensely.  Who would have thought the weaving of the history of psychoanalysis (and some of Europe during early WWIi combined with a love obsession and a despairing philosopher could be a pageturner?

    Peggy

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  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 7,496
    edited January 2014

    Peggy...Nietzsche's philosophy and place in history along with his piece of work sister plays a big role in Hitler's Philosophers.  As you are probably aware, Hitler thought of himself as a philosopher and attempted to understand the great philosophers.  Having purged the great contemporary philosophers from Germany and most of Europe, he and his second rate philosophers twisted the modern "great" thinking.

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  • NorthwindsGS
    NorthwindsGS Member Posts: 128
    edited January 2014

    Hello Ladies!

    Can I join the book club thread?

    I love all kinds of books and authors.  Read everything from Stephen King, Dean Koonz, John Grisham, John Steinbeck,  Harper Lee,  Khaled Hosseine, Justin Cronin, Wally Lamb, Jodi Picolut, Laurel Hamilton, and many more.  About the only type of book I don't care for are the romance novels.

    Just finished Stephen Kings "Doctor Sleep".  Looking for a new one to keep me entertained while I am couch bound........

    pamela

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  • wenweb
    wenweb Member Posts: 1,107
    edited January 2014

    Welcome Northwinds!!  Have you read Wally Lamb's newest book "We are Water"??

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  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 7,496
    edited January 2014

    Welcome North!!!

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  • badger
    badger Member Posts: 34,614
    edited January 2014

    hi all and welcome Pamela.  How did you like Doctor Sleep?

    Picked up three books at the library: Preston & Child's new one White Fire (excellent so far), Dan Brown's Inferno, and a promising-looking debut by a new author, Gavin Extence, called The Universe Versus Alex Woods.

    DH just finished The Hunger Games and wants to read Catching Fire.  Hmmm... a theme emerges: "HEAT"!!

    Supposed to be minus 50 wind chills around here by Sunday.  Good weekend to stay in and read!  Nerdy

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited January 2014

    Welcome Northwinds.  Does the GS mean girl scout?

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited January 2014

    Hi Northwinds!

    I just read Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Fiction. It explores family relationships, especially sister/sister and mother/daughter relationships. I am more of a non-fiction gal, but liked it, because along with the modern theme, it also explores life in WWII Russia before and during the Siege of Stalingrad.

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited January 2014

    Welcome Pamela,

    I'm new here too but was so excited to find this thread and be able to concentrate on something besides breast cancer for awhile. I'm like you...I read absolutely everything. Sometimes I'm in the mood for real literature, other times I want something light. Don't think I could deal with a "bodice ripper" but many, many other women love them. I don't judge. To each his own. Just READ!

    For non-fiction I like Doris Kearns Goodwin and just got The Bully Pulpit. My husband grabbed it first so I'll have to wait a little while for a review. In the meantime I'll start her Team of Rivals which my husband has been reading and loves. I usually have several books by my reading chair in various stages of completion and a Kindle I take with me to the doctor. For a fun escapist read, I love any of the J.D. Robb ...in Death series.

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited January 2014

    Loved Team of Rivals, The Bully Pulpit sits on my bedside stand as I type!

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  • Moonflwr912
    Moonflwr912 Member Posts: 6,856
    edited January 2014

    Hi Northwinds!

    Sandra her new novel will be out in February! I can't wait. I have them all those in hardback that started that way and the first couple of paperbacks. 

    And I am a fan of the bodice rippers. I like historical fiction. Red Adams Lady by Grace Ingrahm.  has been out of print for 20 years. It is the first one I ever read. But is a good quick intelligent read. Even the paperbacks are going to be 20 bucks or so because they never reprinted it. 

    Ruth I loved some other books by Kristin Hannah. Some of her earliest are interesting. Much love to all. 

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited January 2014

    Can you remember the titles of the ones you liked the best?

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  • fgm
    fgm Member Posts: 831
    edited January 2014

    I started Lady Almina and The Real Downton Abbey....interesting. I can't wait for the show to start tomorrow!!!

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