March Books

[AuntiePam]

About halfway through Game of Thrones -- there's so much I'd forgotten!

Also book-related, I got an invite to the Amazon Vine program -- free books and other stuff in exchange for reviews. Kinda cool, but I've noticed that Vine reviewers don't have much cred. I've seen lots of comments under Vine reviews, alleging that the review is positive only because the book was a freebie. (Vine reviewers are identified as such.)

They sent a list of 100+ items, and I had a hell of a time choosing two. Not because there were so many that sounded like good reads -- just the opposite. But I did find two, by authors I'm familiar with. We'll see how it goes.

Anyone else a Vine member? Experiences?

[Constance_Reader]

I joined the book club at our local library, and the book they were reading this month was "The Shack" by William P. Young. I tend to avoid explicitly Christian fiction because to my taste they spend too much time talking about God and not nearly enough time advancing the plot. I had never heard of the book before but apparently it's well-known among Christian groups. I could write a whole rant and may someday about how the author let the reader down and in what ways, but I'll spare you. If you haven't read it yet, don't bother - or at least don't worry about being in a hurry to read it.

Next month's selection - To Kill A Mockingbird - made me much happier.

In the meantime, I read the new Maeve Binchy novel (Minding Frankie), Keep The Change by Steve Dublanica (about tipping), and a couple of other books that I can't remember right now. I need to start keeping a list.

[jayjay]

Finished the Zinn. Currently reading what appears to be a college history text that someone left in the book exchange at work, about the English Reformation. A little dry, but kind of interesting.

[maplekiwi]

Originally Posted by maplekiwi

Madonna of the Almonds was terrible. I only got 3 chapters in - which is 2 chapters more than I would have done if there were any decent magazines at work!

I rushed into the library yesterday - I had 30 seconds & grabbed a large print book called The Missing Heiress Murders by John Glasby.

I didn't like this one either. Just very unoriginal.

Now I've got Lucia by Andrea di Robilant. The blurb reads like fiction, but I snagged it from the biography section of the library. If this is crap I'm going to go on a Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer binge. I've read Nat Geog & the listener & there are no other decent magazines in our lunchroom. & I work with so many smokers now that there is usually hardly anyone in the lunchroom to talk to.

[Jeff]

I've started reading John Scalzi's Old Man's War. I'm only about 50 pages in so far but I'm not impressed by the quality of the writing. The 75-year old main characters are all acting and talking like they're five decades younger. I picked it up looking for space opera, hopefully it doesn't turn into Heinlein-lite.