We went to B&N to get the new Katie MacAlister book but it wasn't on display anywhere in the store. Most of the workers there know us and when dd went to customer service to ask about "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" the guy said, "Oh. So you're one of those are you?"

I just finished the modern classic "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller; a strangely wonderful book with lots of good satire.

From a 1961 New York Times review:

"Wildly original, brilliantly comic, brutally gruesome, it is a dazzling performance..."

"Catch-22" is realistic in it's powerful accounts of [WWII] boming missions... But most of Mr. Heller's story rises above mear realism and soars into the stratosphere of satire, grotesque exaggeration, fantasy, and sheer lunacy."

Just finished "The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by Annette Blair.(snif, snif )

From the back of the book:
"Long ago, Rory MacKenzie's Scottish ancestor lost the bewitching woman he loved and regretted it forever. Before he died, he sent her his greatest work of art, a beautifully carved unicorn, as a token of his eternal devotion. Now, Rory is determined to reclaim the unicorn and restore his clan to glory.

Like all the women in her family, Victoria Cartwright has inherited the key to the mysterious wardrobe in the family attic. Legend says that only the girl who possesses the magic of her ancestor can reveal the treasure within. But Vickie refused to believe she is any sort of enchantress.

When Vickie unexpectedly opens the wardrobe, the unicorn makes her dreams come true--until the handsome Rory shows up with his own plans for the unicorn, and for Vickie..."

It was a really good book. Set in Salem, Mass. of course .

Has anyone read The Fig Eater- Jody Shields?

I am thinking of reading it for a library book discussion near the end of the month.

I e-mailed my name to my local ibrary over the weekend for Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. The reply I got today was "your name has been added to the list of names."

What does that say about her writing that two months prior to publication I'm not #1. I'm not even that far behind on Mary Higgins Clark's book that is published tomorrow.

Linda

I just put a reserve copy of Janet Evanovich next book "Lean Mean Thirteen" (Stephanie Plum Series) on hold at the library. The release date is June 19th!!

Heather

D,

Thanks for the gush! I do know what you mean about writing being art. Hopefully, I present some of that - if not in my lighter pieces, at least in some of the more serious ones.

I have expressed to dh, who is not as literal as I, but in exchange is artistic, that words are my paints - in fact I wrote a poem about that to try to explain to him about that.

I'll move "Horses" closer to the top of my must-read list.

Linda

Linda, All the Pretty Horses is an AMAZING book. It was the first piece of literature I read (in a "Texas Authors" class in college) that made me realize writing could be ART, if that makes sense. Even if you don't read the rest of the trilogy, All the Pretty Horses is worth the read for anyone who *enjoys* reading. There are a few Spanish paragraphs (as in...3 or 4?), but 1) you don't lose by not knowing Spanish, 2) his Spanish is even more lyrical than his English, so if you DO know Spanish, it's...well, it brought me to tears.

I'm always hesitant to bring that book up because I realize that to non-readers, I sound like I'm off my rocker when I gush and admit to crying and reading some passages over and over and over...it's just...bleh. Words fail me. The man has such a control over language.

Thanks, D.

I know I've had All the Pretty Horses on my want to read list for awhile and that several authors I like have stated McCarthy is one of their favorites.

I'm glad to know this is a stand alone since I'm anal about reading things in the "proper" order.

Linda

All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain are the (incredibly beautifully written) "Border Trilogy."

No Country for Old Men is an amazing read as well. I just love this guy's writing.

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:

quote:

Originally posted by D in St Pete:
Sheri (and others who might be interested in reading it), Oprah picked "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy for her next Book Club selection.

I've *never* seen the man in any media before, except comments that come through his agent, so even though I don't normally watch Oprah, I'm SO looking forward to watching the episode where she talks to him.

COOOOOOOOLLLLL!!!! I was so mad to get home last night and have no tape of yesterday's show (I guess my electricity must have blipped or the cable did)...I knew her next Book Club announcement was coming up but didn't know when.

That book definitely deserves more people to read it...but I think there will probably be a lot of people out there (I'm talking about those folks who don't usually read, but will read what Oprah tells them to read) who will wonder why she picked something so dark.

There are parts of the book that are really hard to take...and sometimes it still haunts me to think about certain scenes...but I'm really glad I read it. It was like a piece of art.

Sheri,

Isn't this the end of a triumvirate of books that starts with All the Pretty Horses?

Linda

quote:

Originally posted by D in St Pete:
Sheri (and others who might be interested in reading it), Oprah picked "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy for her next Book Club selection.

I've *never* seen the man in any media before, except comments that come through his agent, so even though I don't normally watch Oprah, I'm SO looking forward to watching the episode where she talks to him.

COOOOOOOOLLLLL!!!! I was so mad to get home last night and have no tape of yesterday's show (I guess my electricity must have blipped or the cable did)...I knew her next Book Club announcement was coming up but didn't know when.

That book definitely deserves more people to read it...but I think there will probably be a lot of people out there (I'm talking about those folks who don't usually read, but will read what Oprah tells them to read) who will wonder why she picked something so dark.

There are parts of the book that are really hard to take...and sometimes it still haunts me to think about certain scenes...but I'm really glad I read it. It was like a piece of art.

Sheri (and others who might be interested in reading it), Oprah picked "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy for her next Book Club selection.

I've *never* seen the man in any media before, except comments that come through his agent, so even though I don't normally watch Oprah, I'm SO looking forward to watching the episode where she talks to him.

quote:

Originally posted by cobismom:
I love the author Kris Radish....real women's stories about and for women. My latest book is Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral.
Annie brings together four of her best friends upon her death to give her a funeral. They have never met each other, but know Annie. ONe receives a box with Red snakers in it, filled with Annie's ashes, and the list of her four best friends. They are to meet and travel to the important places in her life, sprinkling part of her ashes in that place.

It's a trip that takes them from Sonoma to Manhattan..and places inbetween. They become wonderful friends and many secrets and miracles are shared. It's a great book, as are all of hers about women and friendship.

5 stars!!!!!!

I've seen that book and always thought i wanted to read it and now I really do. Thanks!!
Jill

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
Started Case Histories by Kate Atkinson today. It was Stephen King's favorite book of 2005...

Just wanted to give a little update: I read Chapters 2 and 3 today and they are continuing in a similar vein. I am quite impressed so far, though I can see this has the potential to be a rather dark "down" book...and I am starting to see why Stephen King liked it so much (because I think he has a very dark mind).

I can tell already that it is a book I probably wouldn't recommend to everyone. There are things in just the first 3 chapters that would be disturbing to some of you who are parents.

I love the author Kris Radish....real women's stories about and for women. My latest book is Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral.
Annie brings together four of her best friends upon her death to give her a funeral. They have never met each other, but know Annie. ONe receives a box with Red snakers in it, filled with Annie's ashes, and the list of her four best friends. They are to meet and travel to the important places in her life, sprinkling part of her ashes in that place.

It's a trip that takes them from Sonoma to Manhattan..and places inbetween. They become wonderful friends and many secrets and miracles are shared. It's a great book, as are all of hers about women and friendship.

5 stars!!!!!!

Started Case Histories by Kate Atkinson today. It was Stephen King's favorite book of 2005, which I discovered from the great "best of" lists he publishes in his monthly articles for Entertainment Weekly magazine. I have had it on my wish list since it was in hardback and finally bought it in paperback.

All I can say from the first chapter is that it (at least this chapter, or case history) is set in England (like the book I just finished) so I'm getting more Brit speak--also that it is a rather dour picture of family life. However, from my peek at the first page of chapter 2, it appears that every chapter is a different case history so we'll see what I get tomorrow.

Amazon.com has these little newsletters members can subscribe to that will alert you to the latest books in a given genre. This link was in my newsletter for literature and fiction today and it lists the 7 "must-read" books right now. I think the first one sounds very interesting.

Link to Amazon's 7 Best Picks

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
Started The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon today at lunch. Very interesting so far!

I have picked up and put down this book 100 times at the bookstore. I'm excited to hear your final review and maybe I will finally get it.

I finished the book last night, so here's my review (of sorts):

Things I liked:

1. A very fast read (I finished it in under a week and that is FAST for me because I only read in little spurts at lunch or bedtime).

2. Shows a "disability" from inside the mind of the affected person. Helps you understand how people with that condition think and why they may react in what seems to the rest of us an overdramatic way (I'm not specifying the condition because it's not specified in the book, though I think it's fairly obvious).

3. It is very funny in places without (in my opinion) "making fun" of people with the condition, though I would not characterize it as a funny story. There are sad parts and heavy themes though, for me, none were weepy.

4. Highlights the difference between how an adult reasons and how a child reasons and why the two don't always communicate easily.

What I was on the fence about:

1. The story takes place in England and there are a lot of Brit terms...some of which I was familiar with and some I wasn't. It wasn't terribly distracting, but just enough that it bugged me when I didn't know what a word meant.

2. The protagonist is a math wiz and, as a result, there is LOTS of math talk and LOTS of things seen from a mathmatical perspective and that really didn't add much to the party for me personally because I am not a math lover.

Things I didn't care for:

1. The ending--I found it profoundly disappointing.


All in all, I enjoyed it but I don't know that I found it as good as I had been expecting from all the buzz I have heard for so long. The fact that I found the ending such a huge disappointment really colored my thoughts in the end, because I had been enjoying the heck out of it all week.

It was like being on a new roller coaster for the first time...climbing that first big rise with great anticipation because you know there is going to be something fabulous just over the peak...and you get to the peak...and the coaster car derails or gets stuck. That's what the ending felt like to me.

"Revolutionary Road" is considered a master work of modern American literature, and was named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Time magazine.