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Book Challenge - Page 3

post #41 of 324
3/9/04 at 3:25am
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post #42 of 324
3/13/04 at 6:57pm
Finished reading Eggshell Days by Rebecca Gregson a couple of days ago. I really enoyed this book, especially since the characters in the book seem like people I might meet on MDC!


The book is about four friends(one couple, one ex-couple) and their children, plus one yucky new girlfriend, who avoid a train accident by minutes after a wedding. They all decide to move to an old Cornwall mansion that one of the friends has inherited from her gay uncle and simplify their lives! Of course upon moving, they start to analyze their relationships...


In the book there is a homebirth along with bfing, slinging, communal living...you get the picture.


I want to move into that house... anyone else care to join us???

***Forgot to read that the girl that has the HB, is mentioned as reading about the Continuum concept
post #43 of 324
3/13/04 at 8:40pm
I just finished Farming of the Bones (recommended above) and it was really good - I never knew about the Hatians coming of to the Dominican Republic to cut sugar cane and about he prejudice there. Very moving book.

I am now half way through The Autobiography of My Mother (also recommended above) and it is beautifully written and also a very moving, sad story.

I recommend them both.

That Eggshell book sounds good - I'm going to go to the library website and put in a request.
post #44 of 324
3/15/04 at 5:53pm
Thread Starter 
I just finished reading Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch

It was a story about a family that comes over from Ireland and what happens to the two oldest daughters. It also went into the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Once I read that the oldest got a job there I KNEW it was not going to end well, but it ended ok. It was a young adult book but very well written and very informative. I really liked it.

I pick up my copy of Wild Swans tomorrow!!!
post #45 of 324
3/15/04 at 6:55pm
What an exciting thread! It will be hard to keep track of our number on here but reading all the descriptions is great.

Recently I've been reading lots of science fiction:
The Return of Santiago by Mike Resnick - a ragtag band of criminals try to bring back the legend of a master outlaw and rebel.

The Quantum Rose and Moonfall by Catherine Asaro - romantic science fiction novels set in her Skolian universe.

East of Eden - described above. A good novel for parents because the way the characters are parented has a huge impact. Talks a lot about how we can choose our own path regardless of our family.

Also political stuff: Dude, Where's My Country - Michael Moore's take on the Iraq situation. Excellent book. I have a major crush on Michael Moore. Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them - not as laugh out loud funny as you would expect (?) but very readable and informative.

The Quilter's Apprentice - Jennifer Chiaverini - about a woman learning to quilt from an older woman. Blech. Not my thing. Like reading a Lifetime movie or something.

You and Your Only Child - very nice book about raising an only child

I feel like there were others but now I can't remember - I definitely need to start keeping a list!
post #46 of 324
3/15/04 at 7:16pm
Just finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed it. About a sweet sounding wmd.


I am onto.....

How to Change Your Entire Life By Doing Absolutely Nothing: 10 Do-Nothing Relaxation Exercises to Calm You Down Quickly So You Can Speed Forward Faster by Karen Salmansohn

and

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
post #47 of 324
3/17/04 at 12:06am
I read "The Five People You'll Meet in Heaven" last night. It was a short, easy read but it didn't really have much too it. It was about a man who dies and meets five peole who are supposed to give him all the answers. It wasn't very deep or meaningful - just a so-so book.
post #48 of 324
3/18/04 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
I just read Over the River by Sharelle Byars Moranville and it was excellent! I didn't love the ending thought it could have been tied up better but I guess this leaves it open for a sequel.

In her debut novel, Moranville adroitly parallels the changes occurring in post-WWII rural America with more personal disruptions affecting Willa Mae, the narrator who turns 12 during the course of the book. The first scene, set in a cemetery, introduces three compelling mysteries: the cause of death of Willa Mae's mother and infant son (whom Willa Mae can't recall ever being born) and uncertainty about why Willa Mae's guardian grandparents hold such a grudge against her long-absent father. Although the narrative occasionally moves awkwardly from one dramatic turn of events to another (e.g., Willa Mae's father suddenly returns from the navy and whisks his daughter off to Oklahoma), the author creates a palpable sense of place. Readers enter the rhythms of life on Willa Mae's grandparents' farm and can nearly smell a pie baking in the oven or hear Grandpa milking the cows. Willa Mae describes crossing the Mississippi River in a way that youngsters can experience her thrill. At last, truths about the past come to light, unfortunately leading to a rather contrived resolution. Implications behind her mother's second pregnancy and sudden death may sail over the heads of middle-grade readers. Still, Willa Mae's loyalty and affection for her grandparents and teenage Aunt Rose communicate her sense of homesickness while she is on the road with her father, and her feelings for her father remain credibly ambiguous during and after her trip West. The narrator's strong, appealing voice and detailed setting mark this author as one to watch
post #49 of 324
3/18/04 at 6:58pm
I just finished reading a book called Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter. It was a good book, very well-written, but very sad and at times quite disturbing. Also a strangely inspiring. I found it hard to put down.

AmiBeth

ETA: I think the author is Adeline Yen Mah.
post #50 of 324
3/18/04 at 7:08pm
That book sounds good Calimama, I'm going to request it from the library.

I just finished an excellent book - one of the best books I have read in a while called The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty. It a coming of age story about a teenage girl and her single mother. The daughter is self-consious about her looks and embarassed by her mother and basically just trying to make it through her teenage years and the different things she goes through on the way. It was very well written and I could so relate to what she was going through.

Edited to add: That book was previously recommended above - Thanks Lunamom - it was a great book.
post #51 of 324
3/20/04 at 7:52pm
I just finished "The Dew Breakers" (by the author of Farming of the Bones. Like her other book, it is about Haitian people. This one centers on a Haitian ex-prison guard (a dew breaker) and the lives he affected both in Haiti and in America. I loved the beginning of the book. I was drawn right in my the great storytelling and unusual story but I got a little frustrated as the book began to skip around giving short vignettes of other characters - but not quite anough of any one. The end was again moving and compelling. I would recommend it but I liked her other book a bit more.
post #52 of 324
3/20/04 at 8:04pm
Thread Starter 
Wow cathe you are sure on a roll!!

I am just starting Wild Swans! It is really good, long and it took me a little to get into it but it is really good!
post #53 of 324
3/21/04 at 4:10am

ok, i'll bite...

I'm reading them anyways, i'm mostly here to get ideas (psss, arduinna, please start that cookbook thread or i will!)

i'm almost done with 'simon the coldheart', by georgette heyer. once you get into the 13th (14th? it's late) century dialogue, it's a fascinating fictional glimpse into the british past, when king hal had recently overthrown richard bolingbroke and hotspur is defeated in battle. chivalry is alive, and the lead character is an enigmatic fellow who is cold but fair, loves no woman but is kind to children, and rises from being the bastard son of a noble to becoming a baron himself through valour and courage. (i think we may get to the part where he falls in love with the hellcat margaret of belramy after capturing her castle )

i just finished 'everything but the burden', anthologized by greg tate (recommended by chaka on another thread.) at first it was hard to get into (the first essay had all the readability of a cornel west spew, pretty obtuse), but i'm glad it picked up, the quality of later essays was excellent. surprisingly, i think i learned the most from an essay on sports, esp george foreman. i have not given athletes the credit they deserve, mostly because it was something i couldn't do and so sneeringly disparaged what they accomplish. i feel i've gained some insights, hope to be a better person with less ignorance of the culture, and would recommend this book.

cookbooks! i want it! who'll join me! (arduinna, i've got to go to bed, so you can start it since it was your idea- i had hoped to sneak them in here, but you definately have the better plan- but i'm gonna start one soon if you don't! i need ideas! send me names of obscure cookbooks, please! and have i got a diss on one i've got right now, they tell you to use bisquick for injera!!! 'cause you won't like it with teff, you know. bisquick!!!)

suse
post #54 of 324
3/21/04 at 4:21am
Oh, this is really cool. I'll have to go back and read all the posts tomorrow.

I read at least one novel/week.
Currently, I'm reading my book club book "Bee Season" by Myla Goldberg. Very interesting. Sad look at relationships in a normal dysfunctional family. The daughter wins her school spelling bee and all of a sudden, out of the ordinary things begin happening.

yawn

Rereading the Tolkien series next.
post #55 of 324
3/27/04 at 4:16pm
I read about half of the book Three Junes - it's three related novellas. The first one was great (about a widower travling through Greece on a tour) but the second really dragged so when I got a bunch of books in from the library I picked one up and it was soooo good I kept reading it. I don't think I'll go back to Three Junes - unless someone can tell me it gets better. I just don't have time to waste on so-so books.

So, the book that I did like was book was Funny in Farsi! This is the funniest book I've read since the book "Naked". It's about an Iranian family that moves to America written from the point of view of the daughter. I laughed outloud through most of the book. It's also a very quick easy read and easy to read in small chunks of time.
post #56 of 324
3/27/04 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
cathe I just took The Three Junes out of the library, should I not even bother, or can I read the first story independent of the other two? I hate to waste time on bad books also, thanks for you thoughts!
post #57 of 324
3/27/04 at 4:59pm
YES I do feel the first part is worth reading but don't let me comments keep you from continuing - maybe you will like the rest too - and if you do infact finish the book maybe you will encourage me to plow through the slow part in the middle.
post #58 of 324
3/28/04 at 2:12am
Thread Starter 
Ok I will probably start it this week, I will let you know. I am also still reading Wild Swans, very good book but alot of dates and details so it is slow going, insteresting but slow for me right now
post #59 of 324
3/28/04 at 6:29pm
I have read a ton of fluff from Nora Roberts (4 books). And on my wholesome kick - Frugal Gardener, Never Kiss a Goat on the Lips by Vic S. Sussman & The Good Life by Nearing. Gotta mix things up.

Just picked up Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde.

I am trying to find Wild Swan - the library sent me a 80's romance by the same name. Ooops.

I want to read Funny in Farsi too.
post #60 of 324
3/28/04 at 8:58pm
Hi, I'm so excited about this thread, may I join? I love to read, usually these days I go straight to the new fiction or new memoirs section. I've gotten the funniest books from memoirs.

I loved 'Funny in Farsi'. My favorites lately have been 'Massachusetts, California, Timbuktu' by Stephanie Rosenfeld. I loved this. It's the story of two sisters, raised by their single mom who is mentally unstable. She treks them across the country, following her own crazy ideas of how they can live. Funny but sad too. It's her first novel, and really well written.

Has anyone read 'the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series by Alexander Smith McCall? I've read the first two and have requested the latest. They're wonderful. Light reading and the main character is great! Smart, resourceful, a wise lady!!

Right now I'm reading James McBride's 'Miracle at St. Anna' about four black soldiers in Italy during WWII. It's okay. His first piece of fiction. I highly recommend his memoir ' The Color of Water' about growing up in his racially mixed family.

Cathe, you mentioned 'Naked' by David Sedaris. I love him. He is so funny!! I would recommend 'Barrel Fever' also. Similar to him is 'Running with Scissors' by Augustus something. Wickedly funny and twisted. The tales of a boy growing up with his highly dysfunctional mother who moves them into her psychiatrist's crazy house and home. Oh my goodness, it's just nutty. Can you tell I like stories about dysfunctional families???

I've requested some of the other books mentioned. Can't wait to pick them up from the library!! Can you guys log onto your library's website from home? I love that. I can renew books, request them, etc. all from home!!

Megan