Originally posted by Sheltieguy: I just got the (short) modern classic "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
It's #2 on The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list, and is also on Time magazine's best one hundred list.
Just curious, have you never read this before - like in high school. Or are you reading everything on the Modern LIbrary's and Time's lists whether you've read them before or not.
I'm going through my books. Partially because I have more than I can possibly ever read (the number of books keeps getting increasing and I know that's not the case with my time on earth!). The library book sale is coming up, so I can donate to them. And, I hoping loosing stuff will help loose weight.
I came across a copy of The Great Gatsby and I can't decide whether I should keep it or not. It is one book I have read multiple times. I always enjoy it and glean a little more meaning and understanding.
I read Empire Falls on my cruise. LOVED it! Want to find a nice hard-cover copy for my bookshelves. I'm not usually one to read books over and over but can see where I might with that one.
Originally posted by SheriaVa: I finally finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Thought it would never end. I thought it was well written but nowhere NEAR as wonderful as had been inferred by people who said I HAD to read it next. I thought the last third to half felt interminable.
I am around a third through Water for Elephants, which I am enjoying very much. It's about the circus and the author is very good at making you "see" the circus through her words..
Sheri, I liked Memory Keeper's Daughter but it was not one I touted to others. Water for Elephants however, is one I do encourage people to read. Who knew a book about traveling with the circus could be so interesting.
I finally finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Thought it would never end. I thought it was well written but nowhere NEAR as wonderful as had been inferred by people who said I HAD to read it next. I thought the last third to half felt interminable.
I am around a third through Water for Elephants, which I am enjoying very much. It's about the circus and the author is very good at making you "see" the circus through her words.
I just re-started one of the newer in the Prey series by John Sandford--can't remember for sure but I think it might be Broken Prey.
Summer Se7en Challenge Goals: 1. Add back core & toning work + weight work 1X each per week to start. 2. Tackle the Sugar Monster--Have a sugar free mint after lunch and dinner, wait 20 minutes, and reassess the need for a sweet treat.
Posts: 7132 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
Started reading Reality Show by Howard Kurtz who is the media writer for The Washington Post. The book is about the evening news transition after Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings. I'm really enjoying it.
I've also started Mary McGreevy by Walter Keady. It's fiction about a nun who leaves her convent to run the family farm in 1950 Ireland after father dies.
I'm listening to Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington. It's explains political doublespeak through jokes. It's by the same guys who wrote Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar which explained philosophy through jokes.
I finished the modern classic A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. It's a dark satire set in British high society. I found it to be an easy, entertaining, read.
"Every smile-raising writer, from Dickens to Wodehouse, would envy Author Waugh many a scene, many a character in this book. Like other less scrupulous authors, Waugh uses some of his funniest incidents ... to point his pathos. A Handful of Dust is a cunningly contrived cinema of cold wit, tender humor, impersonal satire, shameless, but effective hokum. Only a rare reader will be able to sit it through unmoved either to a smile or a sigh. The total effect is sinister. Author Waugh must be credited with having written a novel truly representative of an age which is partly melodrama, partly farce." - Time magazine, 1934
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sheltieguy,
Posts: 2269 | Location: A Blue State | Registered: May 02, 2004
Just picked up the new Joanne Fluke book, Carrot Cake Murder...Started reading it last night..I always enjoy reading her books. I also can't wait to see what recipes she has include this time.
Heather Goodbye excuses!! Lets achieve those weight-loss goals!!
1. Exercise2-3 times a week
Posts: 870 | Location: Atlanta | Registered: April 13, 2004
Been reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for my book read which was on Tuesday evening. I wasn't even to page 100 by then. I'm having a bunch of trouble keeping my mind on my reading. I'll finish, probably with the snow that is falling now, in the next couple of days.
Have some really interesting things awaiting which I'm looking forward to getting started on. Probably doesn't help that I have to finish this one first.
I have Emma's War by Deborah Scroggins at work (true story about a British aid worker who married a Sudanese warlord) and Red Azalea by Anchee Min at home (a young woman's story growing up in Mao's China). Next up is an out-of-print called Army of Roses about female Palestinian suicide bombers. Hooray for light, fluffy reading!
Red Azalea, so far, is fascinating. Her matter-of-fact tone and presentation make her living conditions and life experiences even more shocking. It's a fairly quick read so far, too. There's a very poignant vignette about the author's first experience with a pet that I must have re-read five times in order to fully grasp every emotion and all the subtext contained her spare words.
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
Originally posted by SheriaVa: I am reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter here at home… I also started Water for Elephants while I was eating out or waiting for something as I had it in my car.
Sheri, I read both of those books and liked the first one and loved the second.
I just finished listening to Flush a YA book by Carl Hiaasen. That was the first one of his that left me wanting something. Felt part of the problem was the narrator. I think his name was Michael Wright. Sometimes I could not hear what he was saying because he said it in such a low tone and in a low register besides.
I did start Hiaasen's Sick Puppy. It is not a Recorded Book, so it has a different narrator. This has been difficult with the two YAs and this one. I like the narrator that does them for Recorded Books.
I'm almost done reading The Secret of Lost Things by Sheriden Hay. Most of the book takes place in a Strands-like bookstore and involves an intrigue about a Herman Melville manuscript. The author took a long time to get to the intrigue. I'm reserving judgement until the end however…
I'm also still reading On Bear Mountain by Deborah Smith and just before supper read a line about Moby Dick in that book. doo do doo do doo do doo do!
I am reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter here at home and my book for reading when I stay overnight in Virginia is The Fattening of America. I also started Water for Elephants while I was eating out or waiting for something as I had it in my car.
Summer Se7en Challenge Goals: 1. Add back core & toning work + weight work 1X each per week to start. 2. Tackle the Sugar Monster--Have a sugar free mint after lunch and dinner, wait 20 minutes, and reassess the need for a sweet treat.
Posts: 7132 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
Finished reading "Confessions of a Carb Queen" by Susan Blech. Very inspiring book for me. I could relate to parts of the story. http://www.susanblech.com/ True story does have some fowl language and sexual references. It doesn't bother me. But I thought, I would mention it, just in case you are easily offended.
Heather Goodbye excuses!! Lets achieve those weight-loss goals!!
1. Exercise2-3 times a week
Posts: 870 | Location: Atlanta | Registered: April 13, 2004
Originally posted by Tayhudson: In the past week I have read: "Plum Lovin'" and
I'm curious what your thoughts are on this one. I tend to avoid any non-numbered books by Evanovich like the plague, since the one I read was more like a romance novel and I don't like romance novels.
It wasn't as good as the numbered books, but it was ok. It has Diesel in it, and it looks like the next "between the numbers" book has him in it too. It was enjoyable enough, but not the best Evanovich. It is also really short, so it isn't like it is a huge waste of time.
Maybe save this one for when your sick or tired and don't want to have to think much.
Dawn
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire." anonymous
Posts: 4205 | Location: Indianapolis, IN | Registered: March 15, 2004
I'm reading a report from the Library of Congress online at work about female suicide bombers. While fascinating and interesting, it's very technical, and I'm glad I have resources at work to look up all the different groups and their beliefs. (There seems to be a lack of subject matter experts on female extremists...so I see an opportunity.) And my boss got me "Women and International Human Rights Law: Introduction to Human Rights Issues" for Christmas...a little light reading.
And..."Starship Troopers" was recommended to me via my work blog (as were several other not-fun-sounding political books). Has anyone who is not immersed in politics read it?
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
Originally posted by Tayhudson: In the past week I have read: "Plum Lovin'" and
I'm curious what your thoughts are on this one. I tend to avoid any non-numbered books by Evanovich like the plague, since the one I read was more like a romance novel and I don't like romance novels.
quote:
"Deja Dead" by Katherine Reichs.
This is the only Reichs I've read and I did not care for it. I do like Cornwell, though; well, older Cornwell. The newer stuff hasn't been very good.
Summer Se7en Challenge Goals: 1. Add back core & toning work + weight work 1X each per week to start. 2. Tackle the Sugar Monster--Have a sugar free mint after lunch and dinner, wait 20 minutes, and reassess the need for a sweet treat.
Posts: 7132 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
I'm listening to a book from 1958 that I was unaware of until I needed a short book to listen to until I received the next Carl Hiaasen volume. It's called Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It is the story of a Nigerian tribesman who despises his father and does not want to be identified with that, but clings to his tribal roots despite the progression of many in the tribe to Christianity. Lyrical. Tragic. Human.
Linda
I loved that book. I had to read it for a college English class.
Finally finished the very interesting, but not a quick read for me The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. It is about the last eleven Supreme Court justices and their personalities and how it affects the court. It took me a month to read because I've been so busy.
I just started One Red Paperclip by Kyle MacDonald. It is the author's memoir of trading on Craigslist starting with one red paperclip and ending with a house. I'm only up to a beer sign and keg (about the 4th trade) but it is interesting quirky book.
I'm listening to a book from 1958 that I was unaware of until I needed a short book to listen to until I received the next Carl Hiaasen volume. It's called Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It is the story of a Nigerian tribesman who despises his father and does not want to be identified with that, but clings to his tribal roots despite the progression of many in the tribe to Christianity. Lyrical. Tragic. Human.
