What book are you reading?

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by netwit

I've been accidentally reading books that turned out to be YA. The last one was the first book of a series called Soulbound. I'm definitely not interested enough to read further but it might interest some people who are interested in a light fantasy.

Then my SIL called sobbing over a book called The Bridge Ladies, a memoir which she wants me to read. She has cancer and I think she is now into reading memoirs. I avoid memoirs. So I thought Dawn could read it, give me the low-down and then I would pretend to have read it. https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Ladies.../dp/B013PK6W1W

The Bridge Ladies is fabulous - but honestly, if you're not a bridge player you might not get a lot of what the book is about as the author tries to learn her mother's game of bridge. If you play bridge, what she says is TRUE! The joke in the forward, "how many Jewish grandmothers does it take to change a lightbulb" alone is worth the price of the book. ;D

[DawnMTL]

I don't usually trust people with two first names (not true -- I totally made that up) but I'm going to start Setting Free the Kites by Alex George soon(er or later). I read the first few pages already and I found the writing to be delicious.

[greatblueheron]

Kathryn of Aragon
by Alison Weir
Historical novel

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by DawnMTL

I don't usually trust people with two first names (not true -- I totally made that up) but I'm going to start Setting Free the Kites by Alex George soon(er or later). I read the first few pages already and I found the writing to be delicious.

No. No, no, no. Despite what I said -- and despite the fabulous reviews -- the writing is ridiculously simplistic and the story lines are silly. I'd say it's YA, but even that might be pushing it.

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by southwest88

No country for old men / Cormac McCarthy, 1933-, c 2003, Alfred Knopf.

Subjects
Drug traffic -- Fiction.
Treasure troves -- Fiction.
Sheriffs -- Fiction.
Texas -- Fiction.

Summary
Llewelyn Moss is hunting antelope near the Texas/Mexico border when he stumbles upon several dead men, a big stash of heroin, and more than two million dollars in cash. He takes off with the money--and the hunter becomes the hunted. A drug cartel hires a former Special Forces agent to track down the loot, and a ruthless killer joins the chase as well. Also looking for Moss is the aging Sheriff Bell, a World War II veteran who may be Moss' only hope for survival.

Length - 309 pages ;

I picked this up & reread it, after an author referred to it & its depiction of world-weary characters & behavior. The author was right. The basis for the movie & there's also a Book on Tape of it. Excellent writing.

Not my genre but I really liked this book - never saw the movie.

[Mikala43]

Just returned audio book Don't Know Much About History, I found it too dry for my tastes, but I am enjoying Packing for Mars.

Just borrowed War of the Roses by Alison Weir and Straight Up and Dirty, a memoir on dating or being single, should be a good guilty pleasure. Also Miss Bangkok - Memoirs of a Thai Prostitute.

I already have a bunch of stuff on my Kindle, but I am stocked up if power goes out.

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by DawnMTL

No. No, no, no. Despite what I said -- and despite the fabulous reviews -- the writing is ridiculously simplistic and the story lines are silly. I'd say it's YA, but even that might be pushing it.

Interesting update, Dawn. That happens so often to me - I read the first couple pages and I'm ENTHRALLED, and then after a few chapters, not so much.

I wonder if this title "Setting Free the Kites" is somehow a riff on John Irving's "Setting Free the Bears".

Anyway, thanks.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

The Bridge Ladies is fabulous - but honestly, if you're not a bridge player you might not get a lot of what the book is about as the author tries to learn her mother's game of bridge. If you play bridge, what she says is TRUE! The joke in the forward, "how many Jewish grandmothers does it take to change a lightbulb" alone is worth the price of the book. ;D

I know nothing about bridge, but I know a good Jewish joke when I hear one. "Never mind, I'll just sit here in the dark."

My favorite is: You know how a waiter will go to a table and ask "is everything okay?" At a table of Jewish women, he asks "is anything okay?"

Nobody yell at me, please. I'm Jewish. (I think that Clara might be too. If she is, she's laughing hysterically now.) And the waiter joke is, sadly, closer to truth than a joke.

Originally Posted by ClaraC

Interesting update, Dawn. That happens so often to me - I read the first couple pages and I'm ENTHRALLED, and then after a few chapters, not so much.

I wonder if this title "Setting Free the Kites" is somehow a riff on John Irving's "Setting Free the Bears".

Anyway, thanks.

This happens to me often as well. In fact, I don't finish (barely start, actually) more books than I do finish. I'm a very picky reader. It doesn't have to be fine literature but I know what I like and I won't waste time on dreck. I don't always need a great story, but I absolutely always need a great writer.

I just read a few pages of Conscience by Alice Mattison. This one might work for me. One can hope, anyway.

[miguel's mom]

I finished Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs yesterday. What a sick sick disgusting book! The only thing that kept me going was the very fluid writing style. But boy how can anybody live like that or even raise children like that? I'm thoroughly shocked and appalled.

I do need something soothing for my mind right now. Next on: Little House on the Prairie and afterwards A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russel

[Deelighted]

Finished Haydon's Rhapsody novel and enjoyed it enough that I'm reading the second in the series, Prophecy.