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Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,018,915 times
Reputation: 28903
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O-KAY! I finally found a book that I'm going to stick with (she says with hopeful conviction, even though it's more than 500 pages and her track record at sticking to any book leaves much to be desired): The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob.
Interesting... I have something like 5 books in my to-read list with the word "sleep" in the title, yet my track record at sleep is almost as bad as my track record with reading books to the end.
I read two by Sara Alexi. The first is The Illegal Gardener. It is the first in a series of stories that take place in a small Greek village. A 48 year old British woman has moved to Greece and hires an illegal Pakistani man to help her with her garden and house which are both in bad shape. A nice friendship develops between the two. I then went on to read The Gypsy's Dream. It takes place in the same village and includes some of the characters first introduced in The Illegal Gardener. Not in the Oh, you gotta read this category but pleasant enough to enjoy on a rainy or snowy day.
Oh, I gotta read those! -- -- Dang it, Zugor! Look what you made me do!
It looks like she's got six in the Greek Village series, and other titles as well.
I finished listening to Chekhov's "Three Sisters" and decided it would've been better to either watch it or read it, but it was tough to follow as a recorded performance without the visual cues. I was hoping to find a performance of it on Netflix, but didn't.
I moved on to start "Church of the Dog" by Kaya McLaren, read by: Arthur Morey, Kimberly Farr, Kirsten Potter, and Kirby Heyborne. So far, I can keep the different voices separate because the characters are separated by chapters, and named at the start. I'm undecided as to how I am feeling about it.
Reading "Corduroy Mansions" and realized into it that I've read it before though don't have a clue where it's going so I am continuing. I think it doesn't count as re-reading if I don't remember anything about it other than as I am reading it.
Oh, I gotta read those! -- -- Dang it, Zugor! Look what you made me do!
Amazon says I can lend them to you for 14 days if you want! Send me a DM.
It looks like she's got six in the Greek Village series, and other titles as well.
I moved on to start "Church of the Dog" by Kaya McLaren, read by: Arthur Morey, Kimberly Farr, Kirsten Potter, and Kirby Heyborne. So far, I can keep the different voices separate because the characters are separated by chapters, and named at the start. I'm undecided as to how I am feeling about it.
Reading "Corduroy Mansions" and realized into it that I've read it before though don't have a clue where it's going so I am continuing. I think it doesn't count as re-reading if I don't remember anything about it other than as I am reading it.
I hope you like Church....I picked up a copy at the thrift store (put the word dog in the title and I'm game) but it didn't grab me and went in to the give away box.
I also started Corduroy.... but it was a library e-loan and I didn't keep with it in time and it disappeared but I did like what I'd read, just got distracted by other things I guess.
I can't believe how disappointing Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogyby Flora Thompson was! It isn't even a story! It's nothing but an anthology of English village life! I ended up skimming through the whole book.
Read Cascadia's Fault: The Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson. It was ok,but I thought Full-Rip 9.0: The Next Big Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest by Sandi Doughton was a far more engaging read and it's rated much higher,too.
Also read Antonio's Gun And Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration by Sam Quinones,and I liked it a lot. It was sad at times and uplifting at others,but always interesting.
Think I'm going to reread This Matter of Marriage by Debbie Macomber a nice light and sweet romance.
''Heap House''
Is a treasure of a trash tale by Edward Carey
It's an intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate book, unflinching in its depictions of casual cruelty and systematic exploitation.
Once I recovered, however, I resolved to read everything Carey's ever written, because Heap House is, its heart of trash notwithstanding, an absolute treasure…
Still reading The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon and liking it more and more. It's dystopian/science fiction which is not my usual cup of tea, but it's also a cautionary tale about the loss of language and human interaction caused by our use of electronic devices which is interesting and timely. The author has a lot to say about words and language and their role in history and culture. For all that, it still manages to be funny and also to read like a mystery/thriller.
Okay, don't read this, Mayberry. I just finished listening to one of the best "domestic fiction" titles ever. It's Family Album, by one of my favorite authors - Penelope Lively. A large English family with six kids and an au pair live in a sprawling old family house on the outskirts of London. The book starts out with the kids all grown but their stories are told in brilliant flashbacks from each well-drawn character's point of view.
There's no real plot, this is character-driven fiction, but there is an elephant in the room (or house) and it's a delightful journey to listen to. The pleasure of this novel is heightened by the narrator, Josephine Bailey. She's a master at the voices and intonations, and listening to the fluty tones (think Julia Child) of the mother as she cajoles and remonstrates her bookish, withdrawn husband and sometimes unruly children is marvelous! I could have eaten this book for dinner. Though only seven discs, it took me three renewals from the library since I only listen in the car but it could have gone on for seven more as far as I was concerned. Yes, I loved it.
This sounds like exactly what I would love. I actually just started Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively since so many people seemed to be very familiar with her work and fans of it.
I will definitely put family album on hold at the library.
I love this type of book - never knew how to categorize it.
(Hopefully it's as delightful to read as it must be great to listen to).
I am stating my goal to finish Moon Tiger, and then read Invention of Wings for a book club (and I hear that is wonderful but I need to actually read it) and THEN I will treat myself to Family Album.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,018,915 times
Reputation: 28903
A bunch of you have been reading Penelope Lively books and, because of the one that Marlow told me about, I thought that she (Penelope, not Marlow) was a mystery writer. But now Lost Roses and Mayvenne are screaming "DOMESTIC FICTION!" (Okay, you're not screaming it but I still love the category name that you've assigned to this type of book, Lost Roses.)
So I looked on Amazon (my pusher; my enabler) and I now have three Penelope Lively books on my "to read" list: Family Album, Moon Tiger, and How It All Began. Yes, the Lively books are all short but I still have no choice but to live until I'm 284 years old if I hope to finish all the books on my "to read" list.
Never Cry Wolf. By Farley Mowat.
The Hollow Hills by Mary Steward.
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-- Dang it, Zugor! Look what you made me do! 
