I recently started Blind Speed by Josh Barkan as my bedside book. I'm not caring much for it yet, but hoping it will improve.
I am still reading The Innocent by Harlan Coben and still not caring much for it. Judging from this book (which is the only Coben I've ever read), I am really amazed that this man is so popular. This book stays in my "Virginia bag"--the duffle bag I take with me to Virginia on Fridays and back on Saturdays. Some weekends, I don't read while I'm up there, which is why this taking so long to finish (and because I don't think it's that good a book).
Posts: 7219 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
Has anyone read Three Cups of Tea? I have been checking it out each time I go to a bookstore but never bought. Last night I did purchase it, for my sister, for her birthday. I so wanted to take it out of the gift bag last night and read it. Any reviews out there? My hope is that she reads it then passes it on to me
Jill
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
I am reading an ARC from Harper Collins called Dream Lucky. It's about the late 1930s when Count Basie was trying to make his name. I'm enjoying it. (I have to write an opinion to appear on their website)
I'm listening to Winter's Child by Margaret Maron. I have never read or listened to one of her books before. I picked it solely on the fact that C. J. Critt is the narrator. I fell in love with her narration of the Stephanie Plum series. Evidently Maron's book is part of a series - not the beginning, close to recent. I am enjoying it. I think I found a new series to get involved with.
I tried listening to Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. It won awards last year. I gave up due to problems with my iPod - probably the operator. I have it on my computer, so I'll probably try again.
I'm reading the 3rd book of the "Jane Kelly" mystery series by Nancy Bush. It is called "Ultra Violet".
If you are a Janet Evanovich fan, you might like this series too. The books aren't quite as funny as the Stephanie Plum books, but they are are good, and have some humor.
So far there are only 3 "Candy Apple Red", "Electric Blue" and this one. They also seem to be getting better as the series progresses, so I think there's some good potential here.
Dawn
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire." anonymous
Posts: 4278 | Location: Indianapolis, IN | Registered: March 15, 2004
It sounds like a cute idea. Apparently, you can get public domain books e-mailed to you, in small installments, at no charge. (In addition to other books, for which there is a charge.)
I just heard about this yesterday, Sheltieguy. I was going to check it out today - if I had time.
I don't know if this is exactly the place but…
I found out late last night that I received an honorable mention in the Erma Bombeck writing contest. I have been entering this contest for at least six years. I am thrilled to have my name printed on the same page with Erma Bombeck's.
I'm reading In the Courts of the Crimson Kings by S.M. Stirling. Its an alternate-history book, very well done, set on Mars, with real, live Martians
I'm also reading a new one by Joanne Harris, finishing up The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte by Laura Joh Rowland, which actually has more of a flavor of Austen than Bronte, and rereading The Robots of Dawn by Asimov.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by SheriaVa: I've got two mysteries going now:
I just picked up a new to me author yesterday at the library Ken Braun. He is from Gallway, Ireland. It seems he has two series going. One that takes place in Gallway, and one in South London. I got the first book from the one in Gallway and a trilogy of the books set in London. I started that one last night. The writing style is very interesting and it is taking a bit to get used to it, but it seems as though it will be good.
Actually, I realized last night that his name is Ken Bruen.
Dawn
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tayhudson,
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire." anonymous
Posts: 4278 | Location: Indianapolis, IN | Registered: March 15, 2004
It sounds like a cute idea. Apparently, you can get public domain books e-mailed to you, in small installments, at no charge. (In addition to other books, for which there is a charge.)
Posts: 2309 | Location: A Blue State | Registered: May 02, 2004
Originally posted by Nbox: Next in line is a reread of The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Oh, I love that book. I don't know how many times I've read it, listened to it or seen it. Quite often someone will say to me, "I have a question…" At that point, I will jump in and say, "The answer is 42!" Most people don't understand, but if they do, we have an immediate comradeship.
Broken Prey: Sandford is like an old friend, as I have read most of his Prey series and I love his main character, Lucas Davenport, and the cast of supporting players who follow him from book to book. I'm about 80 pages from finishing this one and it has been pretty satisfying--neither the best nor the worst of the series.
The Innocent: I believe this is my first Coben. I've heard of him for a long time, and I've had this novel on my TBR pile for a long time. The story itself (about an everyday college kid who gets in trouble and how he tries to get his post-prison life back to some semblance of normalcy) is fine, but there are some things about Coben's writing that bug me a bit. I'm still early on in this book, though, so I'm going to try to stay open to wherever this story will take me.
Posts: 7219 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
I started to read Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero over the weekend and I'm enjoying it. Next in line is a reread of The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
What I'm really supposed to be reading is Contrastive Functional Analysis by Andrew Chesterman, but somehow I haven't been devoting a whole lot of time to that one lately...
****************** “The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.”
I'm reminded of the line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. (Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink).
I've been setting up and working at my library's book sale for the past five days (I came out of the library yesterday and discovered it's spring - the grass turned green while I was library-bound.)
I've been working on Tom Brokaw's Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today. I thought I would have it done by now, but I'm so tired. This really hits home with me since he skimmed through the early 60s and is presenting, in-depth, starting in 1968. This was my senior year in high school. My best friend at the time was a black gal (that was she was called then). I was afraid to face her on April 5. Bobby Kennedy died on the day I graduated.
In the car, I started listening to Tree of Smoke by Dennis Johnson. I know it won some awards last year. It takes place during the Vietnam War. (The tie-in to Brokaw's book is purely accidental). I was surprised that I was able to keep in tune with the narrator - I actually was listening. Unfortunately, this is what I'm using to learn how to use my Christmas present iPod and I lost my place. I'm not very far into it, but it seems that it will keep my interest.
I finished listening to Hellfire by Diana Gabaldon. It is a Lord John book and was only 2 CDs. I picked it up since it was short while I waited for the library to get me a copy of Sick Puppy without blemishes. I finished that one, too. Now, I'm done listening to Hiaasen until his new one comes out.
Originally posted by SheriaVa: It just occurred to me that I hadn't posted since I finished Water for Elephants.
Highly recommended to one and all.
Thanks for that review, Sheri. Water for Elephants is next on my list. I'm still trying to get through the last Harry Potter book. For whatever reason, it's just not grabbing me the way the others did. Maybe it's just too much information or too much to remember from the first six -- I don't know, but it's going slowly. I'll finish it because I want to know how the end comes about (I inadvertently read a spoiler so I know which one survives. )
I can't tell whether it's helping or not that I've been re-reading the earlier books with DS. We're up to The Goblet of Fire, and he's loving it. Doesn't care for the movies much, though -- the dementors in The Prisoner of Azkaban gave him nightmares.
Susan,
Maybe you don't want the Harry Potter series to end? Just a thought.
I read Water for Elephants not too long after it was published. Have touted it so much, my book discussion is going to read it within a few months.
Off to the library's book discussion on The Faith Club
Originally posted by SheriaVa: It just occurred to me that I hadn't posted since I finished Water for Elephants.
Highly recommended to one and all.
Thanks for that review, Sheri. Water for Elephants is next on my list. I'm still trying to get through the last Harry Potter book. For whatever reason, it's just not grabbing me the way the others did. Maybe it's just too much information or too much to remember from the first six -- I don't know, but it's going slowly. I'll finish it because I want to know how the end comes about (I inadvertently read a spoiler so I know which one survives. )
I can't tell whether it's helping or not that I've been re-reading the earlier books with DS. We're up to The Goblet of Fire, and he's loving it. Doesn't care for the movies much, though -- the dementors in The Prisoner of Azkaban gave him nightmares.
dovetailing on diana....someone had told me that John Adams walked up to 8 miles every day, and lived a very long life.
Goals: 1. Stop thinking like a chronic dieter and start living to inspire. 2. HALT (hungry, anxious, lonely, tired) I will stop and tune in with myself should I experience these things, and respond with something healthy. 3. One word 2008: courage 4. Eat slow and mindfully.
It just occurred to me that I hadn't posted since I finished Water for Elephants.
What a lovely book. Sweet and adventurous and touching all at the same time, in an old timey kind of way. And what GREAT characters. Loved Jacob, of course, but came to love Walter (Kinko), who was certainly not an easy character to love at first. Oh and of course Rosie, who totally charmed me and kept me laughing with her precocious antics--and nearly in tears from some of those hard-to-read passages where she encountered the crazy bastard (that's kind of how I think of him now--"the crazy bastard" instead of his character name).
Highly recommended to one and all.
Rest of Summer Goals: 1. Exercise-Cardio: Min. 2-3 walking or DVD cardio workouts per week. 2. Exercise-Weights/Toning: Min. 1 weight plus 1 toning workout per week. 3. Food: Get those veggie servings back up to where they were! 4. Behavior: Start reducing sweets now that the automatic after-meal response is better.
Posts: 7219 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
This kinda maybe oughta go in "What Are We Watching"...but....
If you read David McCullough's "John Adams," I hope you're watching the HBO miniseries. FEEEEnomenal.
And if you haven't read "John Adams," I highly recommend it. I think it was the first American Colonial history-era book I read that made me say, "Oh, wow. What an EXCITING time! What AMAZING things were happening!" And I thought, watching it, that it offers some real perspective on the new governments in Iraq & Afghanistan (and throughout the former Soviet bloc, too) and their growing pains. To see/read about how HARD it can be to create a country and a system of government was really enlightening.
"Grapes of Wrath" was hard to read as a high schooler, but I can appreciate it now. I agree with you on "Great Gatsby," Linda, every time I pick it up--because it is a quick read, if you have the time--I see something that I didn't pick up on the time before.
But I admit to "Madame Bovary" being my FAVORITE of all the classics.
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
)
Oh and of course Rosie, who totally charmed me and kept me laughing with her precocious antics--and nearly in tears from some of those hard-to-read passages where she encountered the crazy bastard (that's kind of how I think of him now--"the crazy bastard" instead of his character name).
