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Last Edited on: 11/1/14 12:02 AM ET - Total times edited: 47 |
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Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I am a little past half way and still have not gotten to the part the movie was based on. Finally finished this weekend. Very good book but man it's long. Last Edited on: 10/13/14 5:02 AM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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Currently Reading: Somerset - Leila Meacham
Finished: Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Matthew Dicks - 4.00 Stars Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan - 3.00 Stars Tatiana & Alexander - Paullina Simons - 4.5 Stars (Excellent) Mary Coin - Marisa Silver - 3.5 Stars Last Edited on: 10/21/14 10:49 AM ET - Total times edited: 3 |
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Finished: Cat in a Diamond Dazzle by Carole Nelson Douglas --- The Midnight Louie series, Temple Barr is solving a murder while hunting for a shoe that's hidden somewhere in Las Vegas and if she finds it, she will win a pair in her size. A lot of time spent on a romance writer's convention [where the murder[s] took place]. Because of that, the story seemed to bog down at times. The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille --- Took about a third of the way into this story for me to really get interested. A lot of the first part is background about the people and history of The Gold Coast, an area on Long Island Sound known for it's wealth [which I wasn't aware of]. DeMille's characters are not very likable with the exception of John Sutter, the main protagonist who's a Wall Street lawyer handling taxes, family matters, etc. and not criminal cases. He becomes involved with the reputed Mafia don Frank Bellarosa who moves into the estate next door to his on The Gold Coast. John's whole way of life begins to change after this meeting, much to his dismay. Surprise ending, I didn't see this coming. Far Harbor by JoAnn Ross --- After her divorce, Savannah Townsend returns home to Far Harbor, Washington to try to get on with her life. She decides to buy the abandoned lighthouse and turn it into a B&B. Along the way family issues come up and she finds herself involved in not only the restoration of the lighthouse, but also making a new life for herself. Fun read. Currently reading: The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern Up Next: Reap the Wind by Iris Johansen
Books read in 2014: Jan. - 8, Feb. - 7, Mar. - 7, April - 4, May - 9, June - 11, July - 9, Aug. - 11, Sept. - 7
Last Edited on: 10/27/14 8:31 PM ET - Total times edited: 6 |
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Bouncing Back by Joan Rivers - Mostly a self-help book with a lot of her humor thrown in. Somewhat of a memoir, she tells the story of how she got over her husband's suicide and other life disasters in sections throughout. It's not heavy and funny enough that you don't notice the self help so much. The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma Of Steig Larsson by compilation - Mostly a collection of articles by many different people with a bit of a bio. It has some interesting information but is overall boring as hell. It was quite a slog and I ended up skipping a lot of the more off-subject articles. Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason - audio - Tense and kind of slow and uneventful, it was also compelling. It wasn't boring even though the only action was piecing a story together by talking to various people. It's a connecting story about the detective's brother who was lost in a storm as a child and a woman who disappeared many years ago, also attributed to the same storm. But is that really what happened to her? More Fool Me by Stephen Fry - audio - Third volume of his memoirs. I love everything about him but there was a big section where he read from a diary he kept during his cocaine years that I could strangle him over. In writing it would have been fine, lots of abbreviations just like anyone else would do to speed up a diary entry, but he read them as he wrote them making it sound terribly naff and hipster. He has definitely left room for a fourth book, this one doesn't really say that much. It gives a summary of the first two books for those who haven't read them and then gives a rough outline of his working life up until the end of the coke years. The concrete info is a bit thin, compared to how he usually writed. Maybe he doesn't remember it that well. Goodreads link, it's not in the PBS system. 1q84 by Haruki Murakami - The story was excellent but man the droning on and repetition. It should have been about 1/3 as long as it was(924 pages). What's funny is one of the characters is a writer and he notes how the guy rewrites a text removing all the unnecessary lines and words, tightening up the story so there is no excess. If only he took that advice. One thing he does a lot is repeat lines, like one character will say to another "you must close the door" and the other character repeats back "I must close the door". He does that a lot. Way too much filler. The Last Bassalope by Berke Breathed - Not his best story but better than most kid's tales. Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst - #6 in a series and I think it would have been better if I had read the other ones. It seems our MC has an ongoing medical problem that almost gets everyone killed and is written off by the author as stress. I'm not buying that, kind of discredited the story. The ending was a little disappointing and they never explained one of the major mystery points, it is shown to tie in with the crime but they never show how. Weird. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I wasn't crazy about the ending but I thought it was a good book. Kept my interest, it was original, and it paints a very desirable fantasy world. I didn't know it was supposed to be a YA book when I read it, it didn't talk down or simplify. I wish there were a sequel. What I'd Say To The Martians by Jack Handey - Jack Handey of SNL, this is a book of short stories and a few Deep Thoughts and a couple sketches from SNL. Pretty funny but a lot of it was rehashed, stuff from the show. He does write out the script for Happy Fun Ball so there's that. Let The Right One In by John Lindqvist - A vampire tale but a little different than the usual. It's more about the people around the little vampire than the actual vampire. It's a very different sort of book. If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell - audio - Memoir of sorts but it is almost strictly about his work. Detailed descriptions of how his movies were made, down to how they got financing. Great book if you are into filmmaking. Diary Of A Mad Diva by Joan Rivers - audio - Written shortly before she died, it was kind of sad how fine she sounded and a long way from death. Lots of insults, very funny. Not so much a memoir as a loose collection of stories and comedy bits. It was quite enjoyable. My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall - audio - I really liked this one. Lots of info and anecdotes and lots of celebrities, since she came from a show biz family. She's had a wild life and doesn't hold anything back. Behind The Curtain by Dave Berg - About Jay Leno's Tonight Show. It is terribly written with a bunch of petty, unfounded knocks against David Letterman. Quite a few of the things I know for a fact aren't true just from watching his show. The whole book is "OMG Jay is soooo great!!!!" and "Boo Letterman, you are selfish and petty and hate people". It was ridiculous really. If it weren't so short I would have pitched it. There are a few good celebrity anecdotes but way too much about boring non-entities like politicians and news casters. Terrible bok. Last Edited on: 10/27/14 10:55 PM ET - Total times edited: 14 |
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2.The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner 3. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimmage by Haruki Murakami |
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Currently Reading: Listening To: Last Edited on: 10/2/14 9:56 AM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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reading The Ninth Wife and continuing the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King, The Moor. This weekend I am going to start The Passage. I found a copy in LP and swapped the reg print copy here that I had bought. |
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Finished
Currently Reading
Listening to
Last Edited on: 10/31/14 11:43 AM ET - Total times edited: 9 |
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Reading: Odd Thomas, The Skies of Pern, Gone Girl, By Heresies Distressed, Dhampir, The Drawing of the Three, The Wiseman's Fear Finished: Pawn of Prophecy, Midnight Alley, Frostbite, Feast of Foods, The Drawing of the Three, Ghost Town, Name of the Wind. Kicked to the curb: The Dark Mirror (hopelessly damaged), Bitten (got to last cassette and it bunched up like an accordion). Judye / maysied **Book time lost this month due to making up a classical music library on my new MP3.
Last Edited on: 10/31/14 1:40 PM ET - Total times edited: 6 |
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Finished Both good books.
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I'm currently reading You Only Die Twice by Edna Buchanan
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"U" is for Undertow by Sue Grafton --finished, very good. Now reading: "V" is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton. - just started- so far so good. Last Edited on: 10/8/14 9:28 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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Scrambled Eggs at Midnight: A he said she said, alternate chapter young (maybe) lovers, I won't know for a few more chapter. Clever plot devise: a view from both sides of a developing young relationship. As the principals return to their respective corners after each, progressively more passionate meeting, the reader gets a looking into the thoughts of the combatants - nice foreshadowing. The best laid plans of... well you know ... especially considering the awkwardness of youth. Well laid backdrop, too - girls lives in a tent and assists her mom, a 60's throwback, as well as a wench (it says so on her w-2), at a Renaissance Faire. Once every few chapters the boys odds fantasies or the girl dodgey lifestyle, take center stage, a nice sidebar to a great read. |
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I'm thinking of starting Dr Zhivago but I am not sure. The names in Russian novels are hard for me to deal with. I have a hard time keeping the characters straight. Just started browsing in a book of essays by George Orwell. |
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I was looking for a good End-of-the world read, and this series was recommended. I wouldn't have gotten involved had I known this was a Christian series. But, hey, even an atheist needs to peak over the fence once in a while. On the other side is a world painted by Norman Rockwell, written by Rush Limbaugh and acted by the cast of Leave it to Beaver & The Partridge Family. The dad is vintage Ward Cleaver on a cross, while three steps behind mom makes due with the situation at hand, in the wings all the little Partridge confront their many trials with the help of their tough but fair parents and, of course God. God has seen fit to send a plague in the form of an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) -- which cripples the devises we so cherish in the modern world. No phone, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury. Someone must be saved in each book. Book One focuses on Deni, headstrong future high-earner or maybe beaten-down political wife, her mood changes quicker than a traffic light. Deni wants out of her parents nowhere town and old-fashioned ideas, and attempts to flee Pleasantville for DC, where her job and future husband await. But wait, God has a plan for her and it ain't fun. Suffice to say that all the evil that transpires are merely tests of faith and all good is by the grace of God. I would have preferred that s(he) just called the whole thing even, and stop using us mere mortals for entertainment. Stripped of all piousness the books are terrific reads, well paced and plotted with enough tension to keep the pages turning well into the night. I whipped through parts one and two, and have three on the way. Yeah, this is what I do with my evening, may God have mercy. BTW - don't look for meetings of the LGBTQ Nation, they don't live here. |
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Well it is the 16th and I haven't finished a single book yet. I have been reading “The Mountain between Us" by Charles Martin, and I was listening to “Necessary Lies” by Diane Chamberlain but it expired before I was done. Since I live in NC this is interested but not riveting. I am listening now to “My Reading Life” by Pat Conroy, which is interesting in small doses. “Cold Sassy Tree” is available on audio so I may start that. I am kind of bouncing around this month……. |
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Since I live in NC Have you read anything by Clyde Edgerton. Raney is pretty good and I liked Walking Across Egypt. |
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I'm in the middle of Dear Irene, by Jan Burke, which is an "Irene Kelly Mystery", a series I'd never heard of. Irene is a newspaper reporter who turns sleuth when the mysteries find her. So far, I am finding the writing very amateurish. Written in the first person (which I normally like) she just slogs though each scene without frills or much of anything else, just lots of dialogue. And then, and then....and then, like that. But the developing mystery is keeping my interest. A serial killer is taunting her via cryptic letters referencing Greek mythology. Not sure I'll read another in this series; it's just too soon to tell. ETA: I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would at the start. I flopped on the couch intending to read myself "into a nap"--and the nap never came, I just kept turning the pages! So, the mystery had me hooked. A recommended mystery.
Last Edited on: 10/30/14 8:43 AM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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Charles, I have read several of Edgerton's books. Some I liked better than others. Walking Across Egypt was my favorite so far. I didn't really like Where Trouble Sleeps and Killer Diller was a little bit silly I thought. I have Raney, In Memory of Junior and The Floatplane Notebooks to read. What did you think of them, if you've read any of them that is? |
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The Floatplane Notebooks seemed to me to be a departure from the usual Edgerton. It seemed like more of a serious novel. I enjoyed Raney. I had a copy of Junior at one time but it didn't look too good to me for some reason and I got rid of it. I think of Edgerton as a North Carolina writer. He seems sort of connected to that state in some way. You can find Edgerton on youtube speaking at some different functions. |
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I'll have to check him out on youtube. Funny how I can really like one book by an author and the rest of his work doesn't do anything for me. |
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reading now The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. nonfiction. I forgot the author's first name. Last name is Hornfischer. Tin can is a sort of slang term for a destroyer. They get that name because they are relatively small ships and they bounce around a lot in the ocean. especially in rough weather. The story is of a battle between a small group of American ships and a much bigger group of Japanese ships. |
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