Susan: I read (what I think are) the first two of Lamb's books but did not read that one.

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.

I'm currently reading two:

Running Dark, by Jamie Freveletti (spelling?). It is a suspenseful story about a company that bails other companies out in intensely dangerous situations, one of which is a cruise ship being fired upon by Somali pirates. It started with a bang but now it isn't quite as exciting...too early to tell on this one.

You Lost Me There, by Rosecranz Baldwin, is the story of a driven Alzheimer's researcher whose wife dies in an accident and, through some notes of hers that he finds, he realizes that not only was she not very happy in their marriage but she had a substantially different take on a number of events that happened in their lives together. As someone who studies the brain for a living, he finds it shocking that his and his wife's account of these events could be so different. A little too early to tell, but I think this is going to be a recommended read.

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
I am reading Lamb-The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It is very funny. Being raised a Christian and having gone to Sunday School and reading/studying the Bible at first I was like-wow, I should not be reading this.

I read Lamb several years ago and had the same reaction, because I have the same kind of background as you...but I also loved it and I believe I gave a similar recommendation as you did, saying that you recommend it but with caution for those who may be offended.

I started reading "Hour" last night. I'm liking the story line, but the narrator is such a jerk I don't think I'm going to like how he responds to what's coming. He is a teacher and his wife, the school nurse, at Columbine High School. Because his aunt had a stroke, he is not there on THAT day in 1999, but his wife is. Haven't gotten to that part yet.

Since I last reported, I have read Wolf Hall which got very confusing, but was still interesting. It is mostly about Thomas Cromwell and his dealings with Henry VIII concerning the having the king's marriage to Catherine Aragon annulled so he could marry Anne Bolyn. There were too many Thomases, including Cromwell, Anne's father, the Archbishop of Canterbury, More, and at least 3 more.

I've read four books of poetry, three for Ohio Poet of the year. The fourth book I paid for ($17) and I want my money back.

I read The Magicians. The Magicians started out very similar to Harry Potter but went someplace completely different.

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

I'm presently reading The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It documents the economic meltdown through the machinations of AIG, Bear Stearns and other Wall Street entities betting that the housing market was going to fail (and other "bets"). Lewis tells the story so that it could be understood by people like me whose eyes glaze over when you mention "finance."

I've listened to The Passage, Nature Girl, #10 of A Series of Unfortunate Events and now, Patricia Cornwell's Cause of Death.

I am reading Lamb-The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It is very funny. Being raised a Christian and having gone to Sunday School and reading/studying the Bible at first I was like-wow, I should not be reading this. But as I'm reading I'm finding that as funny as the book is, it really touches on some serious issues (like teenager's finding themselves, only this teenager happens to be the Messiah) and is also filled with many Biblical references. If you can take it for what it is-a humorous fictional novel, I would definitely recommend it.

I recently read the whole True Blood series at the rate of a book a day. I enjoyed most of them, but towards the end I probably overdosed and ended up thinking it was just too much. For some reason I enjoy the TV series more.

Right now I've had enough brain candy to last me a while, and have no idea what I want to read next. Maybe something for my classes.

Has anyone read "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb? I have a stack of stuff purchased at used book sales over the last several months and I'm trying to decide which one to go to next. I liked Lamb's other books, but the subject matter in this one could be really heart-wrenching.

Madame Bovary was good, but not my favorite. I found Tess to be one of the most depressing books I have ever read. Have some kleenex and some anti-depressants handy and maybe a few slap-stick comedies to watch on t.v. afterward. On the plus side it is well written. Good luck.

I am reading Madam Bovary. My dd has to read it and Tess of the D'uabervilles (sp?) for school in the fall so in order to keep her motivated we are each reading one of the books and then switching. We are having a reading contest-not that i want her to read so fast she doesn't remember it but we do have a date to be finished by and then we switch. I am enjoying Madam Bovary, I did not think I would. It is much shorter than Tess so I will probably finish quicker. I am not looking forward to reading Tess.

I'm reading Amy Hempel's collected short stories. Some of them are excellent and most of them are good, but her style of writing is such that I can't read very many stories in one sitting.

I just started a book called Tomorrow River. I think the author is Kagen? Something like that. It is a novel about two little twin girls who go on a search for their missing mama. Pretty good so far.

Sorry to hear that, Linda, but not surprised. That series, as much as I love it, has been going downhill for some time. I think I'm only on 13 because I don't run out and buy them when they're first published in hardback anymore.

I just finished Janet Evanovich's latest, Sizzling Sixteen. I struggled through. It was tedious. I think Evanovich is spewing them out too quickly without regards to quality. I couldn't decide at first if I would give it one star or two stars then I noticed it had taken me more than a week to finish this paltry publication. The book didn't grab me from the start - the information on the front fly was bullet points rather than paragraphs, the first page was visibly meager with margins that seemed larger than the text, which was at least a 14 font. The story plodded, Ranger and Morelli were relegated to cameo appearances, little Grandma, next to know Mr. and Mrs. Plum. Sizzling Sixteen sputters.

I think Ms. Evanovich needs to pay more attention to quality than quantity. Rarely have I felt sorry I spent the time on a book. This one definitely falls under that category.

I read a little book called "Good Dog. Stay." by Anna Quindlen from start to finish at the beach yesterday morning (it's only 82 pages). It is a memoir of her black Lab, Beau.

It is a SUPER quick read because it has a picture of a dog (all breeds) on every page. It looked to me more like a short story that was plumped up to sell as a book because the author is Anna Quindlen and also because the dog memoir is really big money these days (Marley & Me, etc.).

This one, in its basic framework, is similar to Marley & Me, with many fewer hijinx. Beau had his moments of getting in trouble, for sure, but nothing on the scale of Marley. One of my least favorite things about Marley & Me was that the author's ego came through so strongly that it nearly ruined the book for me...I didn't feel that at all in Quindlen's story.

So I would say that I recommend it, but get it at the library or borrow it from a friend (like I did) rather than paying a big book price for what is basically a short story.

quote:

Originally posted by Sheri in Reho:

quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:
My light read suggestion (and I've read ALL the Evanovch - good & bad) would be Carl HIaasen. I have called him the male Janet Evanovich except that I feel that he is more consistent.

AH! I forgot about Hiassen! My hands-down favorite Hiassen was Sick Puppy and my second favorite was Stormy Weather...some of the others I did not find as enjoyable, but both of those have a particular character in them that I find hilarious and strange (or is that strangely hilarious? Hmm).

I love Hiaassen too.
Dawn

quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:
My light read suggestion (and I've read ALL the Evanovch - good & bad) would be Carl HIaasen. I have called him the male Janet Evanovich except that I feel that he is more consistent.

AH! I forgot about Hiassen! My hands-down favorite Hiassen was Sick Puppy and my second favorite was Stormy Weather...some of the others I did not find as enjoyable, but both of those have a particular character in them that I find hilarious and strange (or is that strangely hilarious? Hmm).

quote:

There's a new Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse book out "Dead in the Family" if you haven't read it yet.

Dawn

I'm a total SVM crazy fan (and True Blood too) so that one was read the day it was released : )

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
My last two books were Three Cups of Tea which I loved and One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (the Sex and the City author) which was just so-so.

I'm looking now for a light hearted fun read for my b-day trip next month.

I really liked "Tea" too.

My light read suggestion (and I've read ALL the Evanovch - good & bad) would be Carl HIaasen. I have called him the male Janet Evanovich except that I feel that he is more consistent. Hiaasen's books don't have to be read in order. All the books take place in Florida and have an environmental issue as the basis. The first he wrote solo is called "Tourist Season" which is not what you think. I laughed when I heard the title because I had read enough to understand what Hiaasen meant.

Sheltie,

I've heard of the violence and rudeness, etc. Since I was in the office my entire time, I only had to experience that from fellow workers rather than the public!

Linda

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
My last two books were Three Cups of Tea which I loved and One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (the Sex and the City author) which was just so-so.

I'm looking now for a light hearted fun read for my b-day trip next month.

There's a new Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse book out "Dead in the Family" if you haven't read it yet.

Dawn

quote:

Originally posted by johnbol:
The lay-off was from the Census job which caused me so much stress...

BTW, there was an article in the Washington Post today:

"Incidents of hostility, violence against census workers on the rise"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...96.html?hpid=topnews