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#101
20th September 2019, 06:56 PM
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I read You Might Want to Talk to Someone recently: a book about a psychologist's reaction to her practice; kind her emotional growth along with a few of her patients. It's funny and pointed and sad and thought provoking. Cannot remember the author's name at present, but it was on the NYT's best seller list recently. Also finishing up the series by Virginia Ironsides: diaries kept by a 60+ year old woman. They're fun but not exactly serious fiction. |
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#102
20th September 2019, 07:04 PM
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My kids all loved the Ramona books. Also try the related series, Henry Huggins. Ellen Tibbits is also wonderful. Henry, Ellen, and Beezus (as you know, Ramona's older sister) are great characters for school age kids. Ramona is awesome. |
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#103
21st September 2019, 06:05 AM
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Riggs, consider joining the Mary Stewart group and doing a rebuttal! we just started Thornyhold, FYI. and, I don't recall how many didn't like it but it may not have been many. that was months ago, after all.
 any love for Beverly Cleary's teenage books? I think my favorite is The Luckiest Girl where an Oregon girl travels to exotic California and learns about life.  one of them, Jean and Johnny, makes me so embarrassed for the character (Jean) I can barely stand it. Cleary is a genius, IMO. now I feel all nostalgic for a sweet, innocent time that is long gone! |
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#104
21st September 2019, 06:43 AM
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She's my hero! I've read all her books. I recommend the two memoirs.
There's a raffer who's related to her. I think it's the guy with the Marty Feldman avatar. |
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#105
21st September 2019, 08:36 PM
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Just finished The Warehouse by Rob Hart. I've enjoyed some of his books and then been frustrated by others. This one was both enjoyable and frustrating.
In this breakout attempt he imagines: What if Walmart merged with Amazon, and maybe Google, controlled the media, the raw materials, the means of production, and the means of delivery, and ran its business via work-life "cities" where workers lived, worked, got paid with scrip, essentially owing their soul to the company store, and this was pretty much the only game in town when it came to employment? The frustration was two-part. The book is constructed via the viewpoints of three characters: The man behind Cloud, who is dying of pancreatic cancer; Paxton, whose startup business Cloud killed, who's now hoping for any kind of employment he can get; and Zinnia, who we quickly learn is an industrial spy. The founder is a bore, Paxton is a whiner, and the scenes where Paxton and Zinnia take part in a mass job interview, and then in a mass orientation, are almost as excruciating as actual mass job interviews and orientations. Which is a good thing? But hard to read. Then, after a bit of first-half intrigue, we get a quick view of just how boring these jobs are, i.e., lists of which items Zinnia picked, as a picker, and Paxton's boredom as he strolls around, being Security. Really, it's only a couple of pages. Then things get intriguing again. It's hard to say it's not well written when it's written so that it feels so real it's actually boring, but I think a better writer could have spun this out more consistently. End of frustration part one. Frustration part two had to do with what I considered some really big plot holes, which could have been explained but weren't, and disappointment at the ending. But Hart nailed it as a breakout book because Ron Howard has optioned it for a movie Best review from Goodreads is not a review but a question. Quote:
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#106
22nd September 2019, 05:38 AM
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that Amazon employee's "question" is way ironic and more than a little bit.  and also  and yet I want to buy rain pants and there is a good chance I will buy them on amazon. 
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#107
22nd September 2019, 11:41 PM
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I will warn you - the last thing I bought was a $5 pretty orange viola mute and I got a CELLO mute instead! Can you even imagine???
Frenz, I need help. You know how you love some writer so you read everything by them and then you've read everything by them? I don't know if I am boring myself or have just read everything by my favorite, near-favorite, and friend-of-a-near-favorite authors, but I've hit a dry patch! I tried some new authors to no avail. I like books with a plot that includes books, handcrafts, or animals in a secondary way - like the Needlecraft mysteries with Betsy Devonshire or the Alex Delaware series. Also prized are primary character(s) with a quick wit or unusual point of view, a nice denouement, and good use of language. Favorite genres are mystery, epistolary novels, and humor. Humor is a broad area, from Barry to Barchester Towers. Icks are cuteness, irrelevant sex scenes, romance that takes center stage, references to cruelty to animals, sad stories, too many useless pointless unnecessary adjectives and adverbs, life lessons, and unresolved plotlines. Yes, it is asking a lot of you. Are you up to the task? You are! Yes you are yes you are! Last edited by stormie; 23rd September 2019 at 12:07 AM. |
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#108
23rd September 2019, 05:10 AM
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Have you read Debbie Macomber? She's the first author that springs to mind for gentle books that involve needlecraft. Jan Karon's Mitford books are also charming. Both might be too cute or too romancey, but there's no cruelty or sadness.
"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens is topping the charts. It had mystery and animals. I thought it was okay. |
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#109
23rd September 2019, 05:40 AM
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Stormie, my suggestion is to join Goodreads and look for other people who love the authors you love. then see what else they love and what groups they are in.
in fact, browse groups there are so many. then just check out authors you find and try out whatever sounds good. there are many, many, many so thank goodness!  this is how I found Angela Thirkell and D.E. Stevenson, two authors that may not be for you but it would work the same way for whatever rings your bell. finding a new to you prolific author is like money in the bank! 
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#110
23rd September 2019, 05:30 PM
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Er, yes, I have read Macomber and Thirkell and I'm on Goodreads. Thirkell is lovely, I stopped with the Macomber because the romance got too much, and 'okay'? I give you the look Warren gives me when I offer a treat that fails to meet standards.
I'm giving Karon a go and yes, why can't my favorite series authors write new, interesting but not uncharacteristic stuff as fast as I can read? |
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#111
24th September 2019, 05:15 AM
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"er, yes" because it was too obvious?
 I tried Macomber and disliked her. are you in any groups on goodreads? I recently joined one for children's books but I can't keep up with it. the Georgette Heyer is my favorite, easy. I just finished Mary Stewart's Thornyhold and did not like it nearly as well as the rest of the group but I might change my mind on a re-read. but for now,
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#112
24th September 2019, 07:26 AM
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#113
24th September 2019, 07:45 AM
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I got a kick out of this review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek:
"I gave it three stars because it IS fine writing, but so harsh and liberally basted with suffering, I could hardly bear it. Growing up in a small Appalachian town, as a child, I paid a 25 cent bus fare to get to the town library from the age of 12 on. and still never heard of the first mobile librarians in Kentucky! I have however heard of the "blue people" but did not realize they were shunned to such an extent. My experience was that Melungeons were not ostracized nearly so badly. Both groups have married out of their group so often, neither group exists anymore. I read it to the end, but found it very painful to do so. There was such an enormous amount of human suffering tempered by too little relief. I actually wanted to stomp Preacher Frazier long before Junia did. Ditto the two harpies who ran the library post, and "Pa" kept on his yammering about Cussy's future even after having badly botched it one time and nearly causing her death. I liked the mule a lot though." The novel is about the WPA's traveling libraries. |
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#114
24th September 2019, 01:07 PM
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err, yes because I have read a lot and . . . it sounds silly but often I can't go in an independent bookstore and find anything I haven't read that I want to read. It's embarrassing to ask for suggestions and then say 'read it, done it' . . . sorry
 You know, I do like young adult books. Way to lighten up the details. I read Carl Hiaasen YA books and liked them a lot; Squirm and Skink - No Surrender, which I didn't realize he considered YA! For the past some years I've found his books formulaic, and these books are different. Another example: I find some of Neil Gaiman's books too scary, but love his children's book Fortunatly the Milk. I'll look into the YA section more! Last edited by stormie; 24th September 2019 at 01:13 PM. |
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#115
24th September 2019, 02:47 PM
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I am totally about YA and even children's books! the only downside is you need more of them since they are such a fast read.
have you read Gary Paulsen? love, love, love Winterdance but his YA books are good, too. |
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#116
29th September 2019, 11:50 AM
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Bad Girl by Vina Delmar, 1928. Title is salacious but what we get is the first year of a marriage between two insecure people. It has the best description I've ever read of labor and delivery. Wiki says the novel caused a stir, probably for mention of abortion.
I'm halfway through the book and two sheets of paper drop in my lap. Someone in the 1930's wrote down what appears to be want ads. Perfect penmanship, Palmer method, I think it's called. Pencil, unlined paper. The list is numbered, in Roman numerals. It's a mystery why someone would write down all these ads. I could understand if they were all Help Wanted, or Apt. for Rent, but they're a mixture of services, loans, used cars (a 1933 Chevrolet Spt. Cpe. for $335). I think they're from New York, because the "We buy gold" ad references a "Lic. N.Y. 12-113". I might Google some of the addresses, see what comes up. All the phone numbers are four digits, with no prefix. Any idea why someone would write down a bunch of unrelated ads? And why, after almost 90 years, the sheets are still in the book? The two pages that held the sheets are browned, where the paper was pressed. I refuse to believe that I'm the only one who's opened this book since the 1930's. |
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#117
29th September 2019, 12:12 PM
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I'm about halfway through The Secret Life of Bees and it may not be the best choice for someone having depression.
 well written and I'm all caught up in the story but GEEZ it's sad so far.
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#118
30th September 2019, 07:20 AM
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Why yes, yes I have read a good book recently!
My favorite brother in law recently had his first novel published! here it is
It's the story of a young black man born in time for Viet Nam, and how he escapes the "hood" of DC, and ends up living his dream. As I told him, I'm a tough critic, and to me, he wrote believable characters, and a story that moves clearly from point to point. It was a quick read (for me, but I read fast). |
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#119
1st October 2019, 01:53 PM
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I'm almost finished with The Last Hours, historical fiction by Minette Walters, better known for her crime/mystery fiction. Black Plague, 1248, England, the lady of the manor closes the gates in order to protect her people. It's kinda light. The Lady is a Mary Sue and the serf who rises above his station is a Gary Stu, but it's written well enough to keep me going. However, it's the first in a trilogy, second published but not the third. An Amazon reviewer says the second is mostly filler, so I'll be waiting for the third before going any further. Hell, the main reason I'll finish is because of the Lady's teenage daughter, a nasty little bitch whom I hope to see drowned in the midden. Is there a word for a perfect villain, like Mary Sue only evil? Because she's it. |
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#120
2nd October 2019, 05:40 PM
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I am persnickety about my reading choices, too. I don't have any suggestions tonight, but I'm also on Good Reads. |
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#121
2nd October 2019, 07:06 PM
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I don't think I would have kept on reading but it was for a book club, and actual in person 3D one! so I really had to finish. currently reading The Nonesuch and Cheaper by the Dozen for goodreads groups. Quote:
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#122
18th October 2019, 06:21 PM
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I just finished Music in the Hills and I love D.E. Stevenson more than ever. I know I tried to read her novels as a much younger woman and just didn't appreciate them the way I do now.
Can't wait to read the sequel, Shoulder the Sky.
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#124
9th November 2019, 09:04 PM
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I just finished The Kiterunner and it was brutal. lordy, I can't always be reading these grown up books!
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#125
9th November 2019, 09:59 PM
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Both of those last two books sound no.
I have had some good luck! Found two series that I heartily recommend: One is a short series, which I hope will have a long life, beginning with "Girl Waits with Gun", by Amy Stewart, and the other is pretty strange Johannes Cabal series by JL Howard. |
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#126
10th November 2019, 06:06 AM
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they both look good, Stormie, thanks.
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#127
10th November 2019, 03:28 PM
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#128
10th November 2019, 05:40 PM
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If anyone wants to know what I've been reading lately, my reviews are on Cannonball Read along with many many others by other reviewers (I'm sistercoyote there, too). And, if you buy using their link, the money raised goes to
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#129
14th November 2019, 01:10 PM
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Goll durn it! I read "Don't Point That Thing as Me"; loved the writing and the main character, anything else would be a spoiler. Turns out it was popular and the author wrote a sequel which had to undo half the plot of Book 1 in order to work, and was only half as good. It's like if Voldemort was killed in the Sorcerer's stone. That don't make no sense!
It's a whole series. Had I started in Chapter 2 of Book 2, which assumes a series rather than a final ending, it may have been fine. |
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#130
18th November 2019, 05:36 PM
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I just finished and enjoyed Mary Stewart's novella The Wind off the Small Isles.
@eleanorigby it's a buddy read in the Mary Stewart group and if you are interested in reading it (very fast read) I have links to a pdf copy that is totally readable. (I mean, it's a magazine so there are old time-y ads but you can easily ignore them). if you are interested I will send them to you. Next up is Mrs. Tim Christie. |
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#132
19th November 2019, 05:11 AM
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it's about a young woman who works for a writer and they travel to the Canary Islands where the next book will be set and there she goes skin diving.... |
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#133
19th November 2019, 01:16 PM
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ooooh, I like books with book-based plots.
I loved Diary of a Bookseller which is essentially a plot-free diary . . . of a book seller. Topics that can be slung into almost any book that cause my ears to prick up: books, animals, knitting, embroidery, needlepoint, kick-ass women, kickass female aliens. Often these are like handsome men; head turning but not worth the time. Last edited by stormie; 19th November 2019 at 01:22 PM. |
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#135
19th November 2019, 02:32 PM
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#136
20th November 2019, 05:58 PM
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Stormie: I'd love to read that novella! Should I PM you my email addy or what? |
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#137
20th November 2019, 06:56 PM
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if you mean the Mary Stewart novella, that was me - yes, PM me your email.
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#138
21st November 2019, 04:56 AM
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I've recently finished:
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (Young girl moves to rural Alaska with her Vietnam veteran father and free spirit mother) Watching You by Lisa Jewell (Various people in a neighbourhood are keeping tabs on each other, conclusions are drawn, occasional flashes forward to a mysterious police report) In The Woods by Tana French (Irish police procedural, lead detective has a past that becomes relevant) The public library website has a "most checked out in the last 3 months" list, I've found a lot of really great books that way. |
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#139
1st December 2019, 06:06 PM
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I am re-reading the Dortmunder series in order and recently finished #6 Good Behavior and #7 Drowned Hopes.
They are both excellent with Good Behavior having some suspense and lots of silly and Drowned Hopes having some darker aspects but also funny parts and they both had suspense, as far as I'm concerned. Westlake has really hit his stride at this point in the series and all the regular characters are solid with lots of newbies thrown in. if you like your capers comic, don't miss them.
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#140
1st December 2019, 06:19 PM
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Tonight I started the fifth and final volume of The Light Bringer series by Brent Weeks. They're very good. It's a fantasy series with a different take on magic. Complex characters. Lots of intrigue. And fairly fast paced for five volumes of around six hundred pages each.
I've read his first trilogy Night Angel before and it was equally well done. |
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#142
6th December 2019, 07:57 PM
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I just finished The Help for the second time (it's for my book group on Sunday)
I'm up to Don't Ask in the Dortmunder series. why don't we use the Longneck Public Library forum instead of this thread? in fact, why don't we use this thread more? ?? |
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#143
21st December 2019, 12:18 PM
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This morning I finished How Far to Bethlehem? a novel about the birth of Jesus.
I enjoyed it so much I am already looking forward to re-reading it next December. I almost passed on this book, I think because I am not a Christian and that made me think it wouldn't be good. Could not have been more wrong: I was moved to tears several times. the Three Wise Men in particular were so richly drawn and fun to watch interact. Nora Lofts really knows how to show you are character.
Last edited by JackieLikesVariety; 21st December 2019 at 05:29 PM. |
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#144
21st December 2019, 05:17 PM
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I read a lot of mysteries, and the occasional thriller. I saw In Cold Blood a long time ago and really liked it. So I ran across an audiobook of In Cold Blood. Usually, I listen to a book paying 1/2 to 3/4 attention. Just the first few lines of this and BOY HOWDY that's good writing. I had forgotten how good an author he Capote was. He just puts together those beautiful sentences and eases you into his setting until are totally convinced and don't even realize it. Had to stop listening until I could give it a good 100%.
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#145
1st January 2020, 05:52 AM
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is it worth starting a new thread for 2020? I dunno.
I finally got the e-book What Color is Your Parachute 2020 and have started it. Have to do a self-inventory but can't ramp up much enthusiasm so far. the author says it's a ton of work but we should be motivated by imagining finding a job we actually like. that's not easy to do. |
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#147
1st January 2020, 11:30 AM
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@HKA feel free to start one, I would but I am posting from my phone
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#148
22nd January 2020, 08:02 PM
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I've recently been reading a series of books by Robert Dugoni. Two series, actually, and he's quite prolific. If anybody enjoys police procedurals, courtroom drama and that sort of thing, this is pretty good stuff. He's started a new series that goes more into the cloak, dagger and spooks realm.k All of his books are set in Washington State, mostly in Seattle and environs, but some in the outstate areas. He's mentioned a few places we visited when we lived in Kennewick back in the early 70s -- Yakima, Centralia, Pacific Beach, Walla Walla.
Last edited by Anacanapuna; 22nd January 2020 at 08:22 PM. |
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#149
22nd January 2020, 08:05 PM
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oooooh
I'm listening to the second in a dog-centric mystery series. The story is moderately stupid but there are two search dogs critical to the plot. As far as I'm concerned, the narrator could say 'blah blah blah' during all the parts that didn't involve the doggos. |
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#150
23rd January 2020, 05:46 AM
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Linear Mode
