quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:
I liked Wicked even better the second time I read it. His Son of a Witch is good, too.

I can imagine WANTING to read it a second time, but can't imagine that I actually ever will. I liked it a lot but I am not generally a fan of the fantasy genre and I found the book a little too long and sloggy for my tastes. That said, it is wonderfully written and I had such fun delving into the backstory of Elphaba & Glinda after having seen the stage version last year.

I just finished reading "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver. Definitely not my favorite of hers (takes WAAAY too long to get interesting) but I like the way it ended.

Over the weekend, I started "The Unbearable Lightness of Scones" by Alexander McCall Smith. British humor of a delightful sort!

Oh, and Sheri,

I liked Wicked even better the second time I read it. His Son of a Witch is good, too.

(I couldn't use edit button either.)

(hmmm, I can't get the 'Reply" button to work. Used the "quick reply".)

I sheepishly admit that I'm back reading The Frontiersmen which is over 500 pages and written by a man who used to live in Bellefontaine, Ohio (a 20 minute drive). It is about Simon Kenton, Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, George Rogers Clark who helped explore this area and befriended the native Americans despite what the British and others.

If I still live in northwest Ohio, I'm not sure I would appreciate this book as much, but I now live in the areas being discussed.

I did slip in Why We Hate the Oil Companies by a former president of Shell Oil. He does not exonerate the oil companies but explains that the problems are much more complex than most of us realize - for instance there isn't just one government agency that oversees the industry - often with opposing rules.

I'm starting a new job tomorrow (making reservations at the Red Roof Inn call center). I will be allowed to read in between phone calls. I couldn't believe it after my time with the census last year where I was supposed to sit and twiddle my thumbs.

I have quite a few goodies in my TBR pile, thanks to the library. Hopefully I'll be back on track with reading and posting and the real purpose of this board.

I finished Wicked just after the first of the year. Loved it but MAN did it go on (over 500 pages in paperback).

Since then, I have started and finished Alice Hoffman's new book, The Red Garden. It publishes this week...highly recommended if you like her writing and don't mind a more magical/fairy tale approach to storytelling.

I'm still reading Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver, which I also mentioned in my last post. I keep it in the car for when I eat out or have to wait in a doctor's office.

I've recently started:

Bringing Progress to Paradise by Jeff Rasley: Nonfiction - about building schools and bringing Western culture to the Nepalese people and the dangers of "ruining" their culture.

The Long Road Home by Mary Alice Monroe: Novel - about a wealthy woman who loses everything but the farm she and her husband used as a getaway and how she reinvents herself. I got tricked by this...thinking it was NEW Monroe...it's acutally newly published OLD Monroe, from early in her career. And pretty obvious too now that I've started it...but we'll see.

The "wow" book that I read earlier this year was Await your Reply by Dan Chaon.

I did like Spin and Greg Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea. I haven't not read his subsequent book about continuing to build schools.

I'm really enjoying The Frontiersmen by Alan Eckert. It is about Simon Kenton, George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone and the discovery of this part of Ohio and Kentucky. Really, really interesting.

I am currently reading Wicked (the book that the wildly-successful Broadway play was based on) and quite enjoying it. I saw Wicked on stage in SF in June when I was out visiting Denise and then became an absolutely addicted to the soundtrack CD from the Broadway cast.

I'm also reading Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver, about a serial killer/rapist/thief who very craftily blames his crimes on others.

Next on tap are:

Alice Hoffman's newest, The Red Garden.
Mary Alice Monroe's newest published (but written many years ago), The Long Road Home.
A nonfiction book written by that guy who discovered the poverty of a small village in Nepal while hiking and has now devoted himself to building schools and such there.

quote:

Originally posted by susanrows:
I've been reading Let the Great World Spin. Heard good things about it, but it's a little depressing so far and not really grabbing me. Has anyone else read it?

I probably heard more raves about that book than about most books in the past 5 years, so I went into it with high expectations--that's usually not a good idea. I read it earlier this year and was expecting to be WOW'd based on what I'd heard. I ended up enjoying it and it even made my 10 best of the year list I think, but I did not LOVE it the way I expected.

susan, i am reading it also. it is odd. there are parts where it grabs my attention strongly, and then later, the book loses me. i hung in there and i am at a part where I am interested again.

Thanks, Linda. I will stick with it, because I like the writing style, and I'm becoming more curious about how all the various story lines will tie together. It may have a been a native New Yorker friend who recommended it.

Yes, Susan, I read Let the Great World Spin. I enjoyed it. Yes, it was sad at times.

Linda

I've been reading Let the Great World Spin. Heard good things about it, but it's a little depressing so far and not really grabbing me. Has anyone else read it?

I got The Autobiography of Mark Twain for my birthday. I am so thrilled!

I've been reading The Frontiersmen by Alan Eckert which tells of Simon Kenton, George Rogers Clark, Tecumseh, Blue Jacket and others and the discovery of this part of our country (from Pittsburg down the Ohio River). Really interesting.

December 6, 2010
Winfrey Picks 2 Dickens Novels for Book Club
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:10 a.m. EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Better set some time aside for Oprah Winfrey's latest book club pick.

The talk show host has selected a pair of Dickens classics, "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations." The two novels are being issued in a single bound Penguin paperback edition, around 800 pages, with a list price of $20. The electronic version, also from Penguin, sells for $7.99.

Because the copyright has long expired on the 19th-century novels, they are available through a variety of publishers and even directly from retailers. "Great Expectations" can be downloaded for free on Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle reader. "A Tale of Two Cities" costs 99 cents on Barnes & Noble Inc.'s e-book device, the Nook.

Winfrey is to announce her selection Monday, when her long-awaited reconciliation with Jonathan Franzen will air.

Winfrey picked Franzen's "Freedom" nine years after his ambivalence over her selection of his novel "The Corrections" led her to withdraw his invitation to appear on her show. Franzen has written enviously of Dickens' time, when a new literary release "was anticipated with the kind of fever that a late-December film release inspires today."

On Sunday, The Associated Press purchased a copy of the new Dickens volume, which has the book club logo on the cover.

Messages left for Winfrey's Harpo Productions in Chicago weren't immediately returned.

Winfrey has chosen older works before, including Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" and John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." Her website recommends Dickens' "David Copperfield," noting it was a favorite of Tolstoy's.
___

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report from Chicago.

******

I forget the year, but Oprah also selected three Faulkner books in the past.

quote:

Originally posted by Nbox:
I read Carlos Ruiz Safón's The Angel's Game while nursing a cold. I liked it although it wasn't the kind of stuff I usually read.

I think I want to read this. I read The Shadow of the Wind years ago, same author. I actually was flying somewhere that day and stopped at a Wal-Mart on my way to the airport and picked it up. I didn't expect too much from it but thought it sounded interesting. I was pleasantly surprised-it turned out to be a great book.

I read Carlos Ruiz Safón's The Angel's Game while nursing a cold. I liked it although it wasn't the kind of stuff I usually read.

quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sheri in Reho:
Have you read Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon? I really got into that one.

No, I haven't...I'll look it up on Amazon. Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Sheri in Reho:

I recently finished Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann. He takes a real event--a tightrope walker who walked between the World Trade Towers in 1974--and then spins his fictional tale from there, telling the stories of people who were in NY that day. Exquisitely written and recommended.

That was one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year, Sheri.

Have you read Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon? I really got into that one.

quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:


Atticus, Scout and Boo is a compilation of reflections about To Kill a Mockingbird and what it means to the person writing the essays.

To Kill a Mockingbird is my all time favorite book. I cannot tell you how many times I have read it. Did you enjoy reading these?