sohj (sp?) made me think of starting this thread here. I go to another site and on there I have given myself a 100 book challenge for the next year. I am up to #34. So I thought that maybe she and some other might like to join me in this challenge. What I do is list the book I have read, the # it is and a brief synopsis. There are other women on the site doing the same and is a great way to also find out about what other great books are out there. Also included on occassion are the parenting books that we have read.

Anyone interested?

I'm not sure I understand what you are proposing. Is there a list of 100 books and we pick the ones we want to read and review them or do we all just try to read books and add them to the list . . .

These days, :scratch with the baby and my job schedule, I think I could only get to 100 if I was allowed to include such riveting masterpieces like "Engineering Geology: Rock in Engineering Construction" or the classic (REALLY!!!!) Soil Mechanics in Practice by Terzaghi & Peck (The founders of modern soil mechanics!!!) :p

I second cathe's question.

:)

Dr Suess DOES NOT count! :D

I'm not sure I could get to 100. I think I have only got through about 8 books so far this year. But the idea of the brief synopis sounds wonderful as does the challenge! I am always seeking the next 'great' read.

Originally posted by kama'aina mama
Dr Suess DOES NOT count! :D

That's soooooooooooooo unfair! :angry

;)

First let me just say I am so happy that all of you are even interested. What we do on the other board is read any book that we want ( and sorry Dr. Suess does not count there or I would be past 100 by now :LOL ) We read the book, post the title and author and a brief synopsis and then what we thought of it and if we would recommened it to others.

I just gave 100 as a starting point, you can make a personal goal all your own, I just really wanted to challenge myself to read at least one book a week. Some weeks that happens some weeks it doesn't but I am not giving up. I figure once the weather warms up and I am at the park and lake more I will have more time. The list is great because I often see things on other ppls lists and go Hey I'd like to read that!!

So how does that sound? Did I explain it ok? The other board is very small so we each have our own 100 Book List thread but we could just have one here and just keep adding to it? Let me know what you think?

I'm in.

Let the reading begin!

Ja mama-- I reserve my books in advance (online) from the library and they put them on hold for me, I think for 7 days. I love it.

Me too, I'm game!

Me too!

OK, today I finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson after reading about it in another thread. It was fascinating, frightening and fun to read. I'd definitely recommend it as long as you don't believe the universe is less than 6,000 years old and that dinosaur fossils were put there by God to test our faith. In that case, you might find the book aggravating.

Count me in. I just finished While I Was Gone by Susan Miller. About a young woman who runs away from her life b/c she's unhappy with it. She moves in with a group of people, they all become friends, have a laid back lifestyle (never lock the doors, etc). Anyways, it's a mystery type book.

Also finished Wild Swans a true story of three generations of women in China. Wonderful, fascinating book. Very well written. It really helped me to understand more of China's history.

AmiBeth

AmiBeth--
I loved Wild Swans, it was absolutely fascinating. A friend of mine sent it to me while I was living in the Dominican Republic and I have sent it on to about 5 others while they were living abroad. That book has made it to the DR, Finland, China, Slovakia, Ecuador, and Ghana. I found it to be very interesting and helpful when I was in China for a month a few years ago.

mariposita~ I ended up reading it b/c the guy we bought our house from left all of his books behind. A friend of mine actually had to read it for one of her college casses. I even recommended it to the teacher of my Socio-Cultural Psychological Development class! (Say that three times fast! :LOL )

AmiBeth

The books I just finished in the last couple of weeks were:

"Reading Lolita in Tehran". This was the true story of a literature professor in Iran who was trying to teach western literature. First in the university and, after she was kicked out, in a private workshop for women. It was so interesting to learn a little about life in Iran and how they related to western classics. The book was divided into 4 sections: Lolita, Gatsby, Henry James, Austen. It was excellently written and I recommend it.

"Lolita" by Nabakov: so after reading the above book, I realized I had never actually read the book "Lolita" so I got it out. It was an amazing book. Very well written and not at all sensationalized like I'm sure a book on this subject would be written now. Lolita was not some innocent flower but still she was seduced and raped by a older man. It was written from the man's point of view which gave things an intriguing twist. My dh is reading it now and he very rarely reads fiction.

"Travels With Charley" by John Steinbeck: This was such a fun, easy book to read. It is a true account of Steinbecks 3 month travels around the US with his poodle Charley (In 1960). He makes really interesting observations and many are relavant as to what is happening in the US today. There are a lot of funny stories about things that happened to him. I really liked his writing style - it made me feel like he would be a really cool guy to hang out with.

ps - I loved Wild Swans too.
pps - I was going to make the same recommendation to jamama. Reserving books in advance is the ONLY way to go - Now I just have to pick them up at the desk.

I want to join in on the book fun! I just finished reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck . Great book. Although the story is somewhat about the author's life and people his grandparents knew, it is really about the intense relationship between brothers and between sons and fathers. I gained a new perspective on my two ds while reading this book and of course it was as wonderfully written as most Steinbeck is.

I am reading Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) written by Al Franken. I think it'll be a quick read, but I am really enjoying the humor of it.

And now I really want to read Wild Swans. Sounds really interesting.

Thanks for the idea, soccermom, although I don't know if I can get to 100 (I have only read one book so far this year) but I think I will set my goal a little lower and still join in on the fun.

Very cool!!! This just made my day! I am in the middle of two books right now and will post ASAP! Thanks for the wonderful new ideas!

I'm in! I don't know if I'd get to 100, but I might (I've never counted!). I read all the time, but of course 'all the time' means after dd has gone to bed or is napping. And that's when I don't feel obligated to do housework or other tasks...sigh.

I'm in the middle of a very loooong book right now (This Much I know Is True by Wally Lamb)...it's very good, and I'll submit a synopsis when I finish.

I loved Wild Swans too!

I read a ton of junk. I have probably already read over 30 books this year - a nice mix of romances, mysteries and sci-fi with a sprinkling of gardening and other non-fiction books. I am currently reading Salt: A World History - very cool.

Sounds like I have to look into Wild Swan. :p

I"ve heard that Salt book is good...

I just finished Breeder - a collective of stories by the mama's at HipMama. It was really good, and lots of short reads. It was interesting to hear the stories of hippy drop out 19 year old mamas and how much they love their babies. Even though I feel "open minded", I know I am probably not as much as I could be... their stories were a good lesson.

p

I LOVED Breeder I got copies for quite a few of my friends and they love it too.


I just finished rereading Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and am now onto Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.

Cool idea!

I have a friend who actually keeps a binder and makes an entry every time she finishes a book. She's a little OCD, though!!!

I just finished a great book called Funny In Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. She was born in Iran and came to America at age seven. It is a memoir, but it is mostly lighthearted and quite funny, especially the stuff she writes about her parents.

I also read a book called The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty, which is a coming-of-age story told in the fist person by the daughter of a young, unmarried mother. It was really wonderful.

I just finished 'Far Afield', by Susuanna Kaysen.

It's about a grad student (anthropology) who goes to the Faroe Islands to do some fieldwork. Life on the Island is backwards compared to Boston and there are some interesting culutural observations.

I finished it cuz I wanted to know what happened, but it wasn't a must read.

An Embarrassment of Mangos, a book about a Tonronto couple that rents out their home and sails to the carribean for 2 years. Great story especially because they both were doing it for the first time.

I'm currently reading Julian by Gore Vidal, tells the story of the Roman Emperor Julian who tried to bring back Roman Paganism.

do cookbooks count ? :p

If cookbooks count, I'm well past 100 already. ;)

I would like to join in this. I usually read a couple of books (or more) per week. But, I'm mostly joining this to hear the recommendations. Lately, I've been in a rut when it comes to picking books for myself (except cookbooks) and I like hearing what others have enjoyed or found thought-provoking so I can read it, too.

I have been thinking of reading Lolita since that Book Quiz.

:hippie

maybe we should start a seperate thread for cookbooks :D

Ack! Do you guys realize what this thread is doing to my book list??? Every time I check it, I add a few more books...it's already 2 pages long (that is, 2 pages of books that I want to read but haven't yet!)

No really, it's great :thumb, but does anyone else get overwhelmed at the sheer number of exciting books there are out there to read relative to the amount of time you actually have to read them???

Ummm...:rolleyes: ...I'm about to crown my reputation as a wet blanket....but I was thinking that as great as it is to get recommendations and all ... uh ... this seems a little acquisitive rather than inquisitive . A bit too much about reading lots and lots of books rather than delving in deep and getting a lot out of a book or several books you really enjoy and that strike a chord in you and your life.

So, I'm going to mention some books that I read for the first time long ago and now keep them in my bedroom bookshelf to be able to pick them up and open them at random and read bits again and again.

Ursula Le Guinn's The Compass Rose. A book of short stories. Mostly SF (Speculative Fiction). Not sure if it is still in print, but I sure hope so. One of the stories is about a time when marriage is illegal and a couple reunites after a "reeducation" of the man in prison.

Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. About the power of the state over one's mental state. And about PAYING ATTENTION. Being Here Now. How all our actions should be performed with attention and love and only by giving them full attention do they become "prayers". Well, maybe that is the wrong word. I meant prayer like the word "daven".

The Trickster of Liberty by Gerald Vizenor. Anishnaabe irony in a family story. He is, unfortunately, a professor at Berkeley, so I can't go to his lectures. ( http://people.mnhs.org/authors/biog_detail.cfm?PersonID=Vize363 ) I have wanted to meet him for years....but worry I might not like him as much as I like his books. (I worry about this with everyone whose works I admire...sometimes it is better to admire and keep a distance.)

Dorothy Sayers's Gaudy Night. A mystery, but mostly a study of human nature and, actually, the philosophical conflict that can exist between the "domestic goddess" and the woman with a profession/calling.

Personally, I'd be reading a lot of books, anyway. Unfortunately, I usually don't have anyone to discuss them with.

I'll add The Farmer and the Obstetrician by Michel Odent to this list as a book that just must be read, especially by mothers. I found it very well-written, though not as shocking as some may find it. (I guess MDC has kept me very informed these past couple of years...I don't freak easily :D) It's about industrialized farming and childbirth, the perils, and some ideas to rectify what we've harmed. Other things, too, but those are the things that stand out in my mind.

This is great... I am always looking for good books to read (though I have to admit that being on these boards has eaten up quite a bit of my reading time. ) Currently I'm reading:

Kids: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Raise Children, by Meredith Small This picks up where her book, Our Babies, Ourselves left off, which is a similar thread, but is about pregnancy and taking care of infants in various cultures. So fascinating and was just another reason why I decided to take care of my daughter the way I do.

Four Corners: One Woman's Solo Journey Into the heart of Papua New Guinea, Kira Salak This is an amazing story. It was given to me for Christmas, and at first I was like, oh great, another "lets conquer the bush" story by a middle class white explorer. But Kira's story is a bit more complicated than that, and i have to admire her sheer bravity and guts, having done some international travel myself. Plus, it is a great glimpse into a fascinating part of the world.

Keep 'em coming...
Oh, and I would love to hear about the books that have really struck a chord with people in the past too...

Newmainer, I'm going to the library right now to look for that new meredith Small book! I loved Our Babies, Ourselves.

I'm looking for Wild Swans, too.

Originally posted by Mere
Ack! Do you guys realize what this thread is doing to my book list??? Every time I check it, I add a few more books...it's already 2 pages long (that is, 2 pages of books that I want to read but haven't yet!)

No really, it's great :thumb, but does anyone else get overwhelmed at the sheer number of exciting books there are out there to read relative to the amount of time you actually have to read them???

:LOL Yes I get feeling that way too. I have an ongoing list on my computer of all the books that I want to read. It grows much faster then I can actually read.

I also keep an online list of the books I have read to look back on.

I too want to read Wild Swans!!!


This is one of my recent reads!
Motherhood and Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine
by Patricia Heaton

This comfortable recounting by the Emmy-winning Everybody Loves Raymond co-star sustains a nice mix of wisecracks and sincerity that's sure to appeal to viewers of the television show and underappreciated moms. In tidily constructed chapters, divided into sections representing the three cities she's lived in, Heaton recounts her happy childhood in Cleveland, her adventures in New York and her attempts to sustain an average life with four children and a husband in Los Angeles. Particularly authentic are her takes on motherhood: "[A]s much as we'd like to believe otherwise, we're all going to be forgotten somewhere down the line. We'll certainly be forgotten by the world, and eventually by our own families. I mean, who can name their great-great-great grandmother?" The occasional lists, such as her "I Confess Top 20" ("#12: I add MSG to everything"; "#16: I throw away my kids' art projects almost immediately"), are amusing. Heaton's discussion of more weighty subjects, such as religion she tells of her move from Roman Catholicism to tacitly more socially acceptable Presbyterianism is predictable. Heaton has penned a worthy book, and her playful and positive attitude shine through. Agent, Mort Janklow.


I liked it, it was a bit disjointed but not a bad read. Very funny in some spots, but I wonder if she is going to piss off some of her costars. Also I liked her much more before I read this book, while I thought some of it was funny I didn't care for how she talked about her kids at times
:(

Does anyone read Young Adult Fiction? I have started to read more and more of it. It is well written, informative sometimes and usually for me a quick read. When I only have time for a short book I dig in to a YA work. Just curious if anyone would be interested in that sort of thing as well!

Oh yes, I love Young Adult Fiction and Children's Fiction. I include Garth Nix, Jane Yolen and Eoin Colfer amongst my faves.

My dh just picked up a pile of the Lemony Snicket Unfortunate Events books for me. They are fun quick reads.

I really wanted to read those Unfortunate Events books, but the grammar and punctuation are so awful, I had to put the one I was reading down.

As far as young adult literature I recently read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and the sequel The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. They were very good; I especially liked the first one. Not "deep", but entertaining. :)

AmiBeth

Originally posted by CaliMommie
As far as young adult literature I recently read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and the sequel The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. They were very good; I especially liked the first one. Not "deep", but entertaining. :)

AmiBeth

I recently read those myself. I LOVED them.

I also read a series by English author Jaqueline Wilson and they were quick fun reads. I love anything set in England.


I also want to read those Lemony Snicket Unfortunate Events books, again on my list!

Also the Dear America books are quick and informative. I have learned/relearned things about history that I had forgotten!

I want to join! I'm reading Eggshell Days right now and will post a synopsis later. Also, I put a hold on Wild Swans and I'm waiting for An Embarrassment of Mangoes as well.

.

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???:thumb

***Forgot to read that the girl that has the HB, is mentioned as reading about the Continuum concept

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.

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!!! :clap

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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

I did read Barrell Fever also. I'm going to request the other ones you mentioned to Megan. I do all my requesting from home. It's great!

OFF TOPIC:

Originally posted by sohj
Soil Mechanics in Practice by Terzaghi & Peck (The founders of modern soil mechanics!!!) :p

HA! I know this--I used to work at the Am. Society of Civil Engineers--actually had to try to write exciting jacket copy for these things! :eek

I miss my engineers! :)

Just finished Eggshell Days. It was a fun read. I had a little trouble getting into it at first but once I got to know the characters I really started to like it. It was cool to hear "Rescue Remedy" mentioned in a book.:)

:wave I can't believe I just found this thread!

I love to read, although I don't have much time to read grown-up books anymore:LOL .

There are so many books on here that sound so good, now I will have to them and read.

And BTW, Indigo73 I love Nora Roberts, and Debbie Macomber, and many other trashy novels. At a local good will, you can buy Harlequin romances for 10 cents. Sometimes it is good to relaxe and read brain-less trash

Looking forward to some good discussions!

I spent the past three weeks reading all five Harry Potter books.

I have all the Harry Potter books but am waiting until my boys are old enough to read them with me, I might start the first one with my oldest this summer, I think he is ready.

I heard they are wonderful!

I just finished Eggshell Days too, and enjoyed it. I liked that Maya appreciated her "I am me" moments. And am now, nearly laughing out loud while I read My Life on a Plate.

Thanks for the suggestions ladies...........

And, I read, finally, all the Harry Potter books last summer and am anxiously waiting to share them with my boys too.

Just finished this book and I LOVED it. I cried at several points in the book, but then again I am pmsing :LOL Very good read of fluff in England. I am almost halfway to my goal of 100 books, this is #40 for me.

Bookends by Jane Green

Bookends, Jane Green's third comic novel of contemporary love and lust, proves beyond a doubt that when it comes to light reading, plot is everything. Bookends makes a great case study because it has little going for it besides plot. Dialogue? Stilted. Characters? Clichéd. Writing style? Sloppy. And yet the book is well-nigh impossible to put down. A few friends meet at university: Simon, the chirpy gay character; Portia, the glamour girl; Josh, the adorable, unpretentious catch; and Cath, the overweight, insecure narrator. Portia strays from their crowd, but the other three remain friends into their 30s. Now successful Londoners, each faces a personal crisis: singleton Cath leaves a secure job to start a bookstore; Simon looks for love; Josh's marriage goes through growing pains. And then Portia, as intimidating and elegant as ever, wanders back into their lives--with surprising results. Green is a past master of the ugly-duckling-turned-swan story. Cath's transformation--neatly echoed by the changes in the lives of her friends--is completely addictive. Plot does indeed rule

That book sounds really famililiar - at least all the names of the characters do. I think I read it but I can't quite remember.

I just fininshed "Falling Leaves: The true story of an unwanted chinese daughter." It was an autobiography of a chinese woman with a truly disfunctional family. It gave lots of history as well as an interesting story. It was interesting to hear about some of the same events from Wild Swans from a different perspective. She also used a lot of chinese idioms which I found interesting.

NEat, I will add that one to read after I finish Wild Swans, which btw is taking me forever!:LOL It's good but long!

I just read "Catch me if you can." It was a cool book about this con artist posed as an airline pilot, doctor, lawyer to swindle banks, ect. of money. He got caught occasionally (some interesting and horrible prison stories). Great, fast, fun read.

I also read "Running With Scissors." It was an incredible story of a boy who gets raised by his mother's wacko pshyciatrist a really bizarre, but well written book. It wouldn't exactly call if funny like most of the reviews I read did, but it was definitely diferent.

Ok well I totally failed in my attempt to read Wild Swans :crying It is a really great book but with dh away these past weeks, I have been so braindead that I just could not get through it. Too much technical stuff and dates and things. I may try to pick it up again ( it was a library book) in a week or two. I am almost done with another book called Look For a Letter Tomorrow about a college girl from 1900-1904 and it is really interesting, will post more when done. I am just too sad about the Wild Swans:(

Soccermom - don't feel bad about Wild Swans - although the story was amazing, the book was not very well written and it was pretty hard to get through - definitely a book requiring a lot of concentration which is hard when you have children.

Can't wait to hear about the other book - it sounds like something I would like.

I just finished "Massachuetts California Timbuktu". It was one of the best books I have every read. It was an absotely heartbreaking story of two young girls being dragged from place to place by their disfunctional mother. The older daughter basically takes care of the younger sister and the mother and tries to keep everything together. The writing is excellent and draws you totally into the story. So many times I just wanted to shake that mother and make her appreciate her wonderful daughters and what she had. I also appreciated the realisitc ending. Anyway - I'd say if could only read one book this year - read this book.

Did someone mention Dorothy Sayers?:p Her The Nine Tailors is one book I could not put down!

Arduinna, how's the Gore Vidal book going? I read Burr by him and I liked it a lot and wouldn't mind reading more historical fiction by Gore Vidal.

I just finished A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Fluff, but well-written fluff. It follows a girl, Jane (she's 14 in the first segment) through adventures in her love life.

I also recently finished So I Am Glad by A. L. Kennedy. This book is not for everybody--there's a description of killing and eating a dog--but I thought it was good and intelligently written. It's about a dysfunctional woman--she has some serious issues, particularly with sex. She shares a house in Glasgow with a random assortment of people. One housemate goes off and arranges for a friend, Martin, to take his room while he's gone. But Martin never appears, and instead a mysterious man takes up residence in the empty room and he turns out to be--get this--Cyrano de Bergerac, who died and somehow "fell" into this house in 1990's Glasgow. It's original, if nothing else.

As far as non-fiction is concerned, I've recently finished Dumbing Down our Kids by Charles Sykes. An excellent, excellent critique of public schools in the US.

A friend just lent me Where Is The Mango Princess? by Cathy Crimmins. It is a true account of her husband's TBI (traumatic brain injury). He was in a speedboat accident and the book deals with the recovery process. It's not the easiest thing to read - the idea of this happening to my husband, whose name is the same as the man in the book, is frightening as hell. But so far (haven't finished it yet), the book is great, even though it makes you want to wear a helmet just walking down the street.

Hi everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying their books.

So, I read "The Center of Everything", as recommended upthread. I really enjoyed it, although I would have liked reading more about the other characters, ie. her mother, her best friend. I wanted to know more about what made them tick. It actually reminded me of "California, Massachusetts, Timbuktu", which I loved. What do you think, Cathe? I second reading that.

I tried reading "Urban Tribes". It's a nonfictional piece about those in their 20-30's who haven't married and how they find their "family" in their friends and social circles. It was okay, but not interesting enough to make into a book. More like a magazine article, which is what it started out to be. I wouldn't recommend it, but it had cool moments. (the author goes to Burning Man, lives in San Francisco, etc.)

I'm reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon now. Very good. It's the story of an autistic teenage boy who's trying to track down the killer of a neighbor's dog. It's interesting. The protagonist is brilliant with numbers and logical questions but is incapable of feeling emotions. Give it a try. It's an easy read, from the point of view of the boy.

I got "Eggshell Days" and am going to start it next. BTW, I loved "Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing". Anyone know if Melissa Banks has anything else out? I liked "Catch me if you Can" too. The author must be one of the most clever people out there. Incredible!! Pretty funny too.

Okay, catch up with yall later. Happy reading!

Megan

I have finished The Good Life - what a neat book and what a neat couple. I added that book to my to buy list - I know I need to read it again. Not to mention refer back to it for all sorts of things. I loved their approach to health.

I also just finished a neat little book called If You Like My Apples by Clue Tyler Dennis & Luke Miller. It's only about 100 pages and a nice introduction to biodynamic gardening. Very very basic.

I am now onto Never Kiss a Goat on the Lips: The Adventures of a Suburban Homesteader by Vic S. Sussman.

I won't mention all the fluff I have head in between. Probably 6-8 romance, mystery and sci-fi novels and a couple that worked under all 3 genres. :LOL

I am so glad my library got better about interlibrary loans.

I'm a collection development librarian at a large university. While the pay isn't great, it does have it's perks. :D One of my subjects is geography, which is sufficiently broad that I can legitimately order a lot of interesting books, and I can get first dibs on them!

I must confess though, that for pleasure I mostly read junk. I have to read for about half an hour every night, or I don't sleep. I like mysteries the best.

Has anyone read 'the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series by Alexander Smith McCall YES! I just finished the Kalahari Typing School for Men. Loved it!

I read everything about China I can get my hands on, as I have two Chinese daughters and I team teach a course in modern China. I recently read "The private life of Chairman Mao : the memoirs of Mao's personal physician", by Zhisui Li, who was Mao's personal physician. Fascinating read, although Dr. Li didn't provide any documentation. But from the way he lived, especially during the Cultural Revolution, that's entirely understandable.

Indigo73 - I tried searching for the Good Life on Amazon but there are so many books by that name. Can you tell me the author.

THe goat kissing one sounds great but it's not available in my library system. Is it worth buying??

I just read a really great book! Could not put it down!


Look For a Letter Tomorrow

A College Girls Life 100 Years Ago
1900-1904 Helen Gertrude Fox
Her Letters Home to Her Family
Edited by her daughter Margaret Carmichael Emerson

This was an awesome book. It tells the true story, through letters of a girl form Milton Mills, NH ( about 30 minutes from me) and her 4 years at Wellesley College. It is amazing the way things have changed. I was also amazed by some of the things that stayed the same at that university. For anyone who has seen Mona Lisa Smile, this is a great book, as alot of the custom seen in the movie are seen in the book some 50 plus years before hand. I really liked this book. I liked it so much that I plan to go to the museum in NH where the real letters are stored and also try and learn more about this womans life. A wonderful non-fiction historical novel!


I could not find it on amazon, but I went to the website of the publisher,which is out of NH and alot of libraries will order something if you request it! Here is the URL for it, go down the page

http://www.worldpath.net/~ghb/

I am starting Middlesex....... so far so good I will keep you all informed.

The Good Life is by Helen Hearing.

Never Kiss a Goat on the Lips is about 20 years old (and not reprinted) so it may be tough to find. I have just starting it, I will let you know what I think.

Thanks Indigo73 - I'll look it up. I found the goat one on amazon and saw it was written in the 80's. I was wondering if the info is still relevant. I'll be interested to hear how you like it.

angstmommy - I loved Middlesex. After I read that, I got his previous book "The Virgin Suicides that was great too."

I really liked the Virgin Suicides too! Did you see the movie version? How was it? It is on my list of things to rent!

I didn't even know there was a movie - I'll have to put it on my list too. I also want to see Catch Me If You Can now that I read the book.

I'm currently reading Civil Wars the battle for gay marriage by David Moates. Very interesting book that tells the story of how same sex unions because legal in the state of Vermont.

Also has some background into the gay rights movement of the 70's.

I haven't read The Virgin Suicides but I thought the movie was incredible.

I just finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahari. I had read her first book Interpreter of Maladies when it was recommended on another thread. That first book was incredible so I requested this one as well. This was not quite as good - the plot was somewhat lacking but her writing is so wonderful and the chacters so real that the book is still a pleasure to read.

It was about an couple who move from India to the US and have a child and the story of his growing up. You learn a lot about Indian culture and tradition which I loved and about what it's like to grow up torn between two cultures.

I just read this cool book that I got at a library book sale called "Juno and Juliet". They are twins starting college in Ireland and it is from Juliet's point of view. She is such a cool character and the book is really funny and a little sad. I really enjoyed it.

Thought I would let ya'll know that I surpassed 100 this past week.

I was on vacation and read 12 books (I average 2 or 3 a week.) I read Middlesex, 2 books each by Laurie R. King & Jasper Fforde, The Memiors of a Geisha, Slightly Scandalous by Mary Balogh, Pride and prescience by Carrie Bebris and re-read 4 books by Nora Roberts.

I just requested a bunch of books on simplicity and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency from my library (still waiting for some books on organic gardening). I suspect I am starting a mystery and historical romance jag. It's nice when they over lap.

I read Girl with the Pearl Earring and really enjoyed the story. then I got her latest book . . . something about a unicorn but could not get into it at all. I found a cool cookbook called "The Book Lover's Cookbook". It has recipes based on books with excerpts from the books they were inspired by. Really fun and some good recipes.

I will have to see if I can find The Book Lover's Cookbook, I have something similar called A Literary Feast: Recipes and Writings by American Women Authors from History. My husband thought it was an interesting mix of my 2 passions - reading and cooking. He was right.

Aimee that is awesome.

I just finished a REALLY great book My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I could not put it down and I cried several times during. I would highly recommened it. It is a book about family and what lengths parents will go to to save their sick children. Very moving

Just read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, really great, going to get the sequel tomorrow. Here is a synopsis:

"Somewhere," muses Noah Calhoun, while sitting on his porch in the moonight, "there were people making love." Anyway, head elsewhere for Great Literature, but if you're in the market to get your heartstrings plucked, look no further. The Notebook, a Southern-fried story of love-lost-and-found-again, revolves around a single time-honored romantic dilemma: will beautiful Allison Nelson stay with Mr. Respectability (to whom she happens to be engaged), or will she hook up with Noah, the romantic rascal she left so many years ago? We're not telling, but you have two guesses and the first one doesn't count. Decades later, after Allison develops Alzheimer's, her beau uses "the notebook" to read her the story of the great love she's plumb forgot. The Notebook--film rights already sold, thank you very much--is a little glazed doughnut of a book: sticky- sweet, satisfying, not much nourishment. But who cares? Take an extra vitamin and indulge

I just finished "In the Cut" by Susanna Moore. This was an awesome book - really well written about a school teacher who gets involved with a detective investigating a murder that happened nearby. It's rather erotic and the end is disturbing both of which I don't normally like but it comes across very well in this book.

cathe did you know that book was also made into a movie starring Meg Ryan? I always am curious to see the movie after I read the book

No I didn't - did you see the movie - is it any good?

Just read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, really great, going to get the sequel tomorrow. Here is a synopsis:

"Somewhere," muses Noah Calhoun, while sitting on his porch in the moonight, "there were people making love." Anyway, head elsewhere for Great Literature, but if you're in the market to get your heartstrings plucked, look no further. The Notebook, a Southern-fried story of love-lost-and-found-again, revolves around a single time-honored romantic dilemma: will beautiful Allison Nelson stay with Mr. Respectability (to whom she happens to be engaged), or will she hook up with Noah, the romantic rascal she left so many years ago? We're not telling, but you have two guesses and the first one doesn't count. Decades later, after Allison develops Alzheimer's, her beau uses "the notebook" to read her the story of the great love she's plumb forgot. The Notebook--film rights already sold, thank you very much--is a little glazed doughnut of a book: sticky- sweet, satisfying, not much nourishment. But who cares? Take an extra vitamin and indulge

I just saw the preview for the movie of this last night! (Read the book a couple of years ago and it was great!) The movie looks like it'll be a good one too. :)

I haven't been to this thread in a while; I'm glad its still alive.

I wanted to put a plug in for The Mother Dance, by Harriet Lerman (or Lerner? not sure, don't have it in front of me. She's written the The Dance of Anger, also The Dance of Intimacy).

I picked up this book right after my dd was born and was craving for anything I could relate to. I literally cried laughing so hard in the aisle of the bookstore. She is *so* funny and off the cuff. The book is mostly about how motherhood affects and changes us personally, as well as our marriages and friendships. Its great. She isn't necessarily AP- I didnt' get that sense; but how you raise your kids isn't the focus of the book so it doesn't matter. Anyway, great, great read.

I need to check ouit some of these fiction books mentioned.. I can be so anti-fiction sometimes...

Newmainer - that book sounds great. I'm going to go request it from the library. I hope they have it.

Newmainer that does sound like a great book, I have just added it to my must read list.

Cathe, no I have not seen the movie but I usually love anything Meg is in, I am also hot sure if it is out yet?

Ok I just looked and it is on DVD now

I just finished "Cherry" by Mary (?) Karr, and Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, both of which I think were recommended somewhere in this thread. I loved them both! Thank you to whoever suggested them. I am anxious to read "The Liars Club" now, which came before "Cherry", a pre-quel to me. I found myself re-reading sentences and pages cuz what the authors said was either amazing and/or just awesome writing. Again, thanks.

AND, I am on # 29 right now and am amazed and awed that someone amongst us has read 100+. Wow! :thumb :bow

Just read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

It was a great read and I am hoping she does a sequel

In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their Georgia peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. These consoling fantasies are her heart's answer to the family story that as a child, in unclear circumstances, Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother. Although the plot threads are too neatly trimmed, The Secret Life of Bees is a carefully crafted novel with an inspired depiction of character. The legend of the Black Madonna and the brave, kind, peculiar women who perpetuate Lily's story dominate the second half of the book, placing Kidd's debut novel squarely in the honored tradition of the Southern Gothic

Alkenny I meant to ask, who is supposed to be in the movie? The reason I read it now is because I like to read the book before I see the movie. Thanks for any info

I have been lurking on this thread and finally made it to the library!

Gracelin O'malley (Ann Moore) was mentioned and WOW! So good! I LOVED it.

I picked up one I haven't seen mentioned, The Birth of Venus by Sarah Durant. The review on the front about sums it up:

"Simply amazing. So brilliantly written...almost intolerably exciting at times, and at others, equally poignant."

I appreciate all the suggestions! I will be back! LOL

G

Just read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

It was a great read and I am hoping she does a sequel

:nod I just finished this, too. It was a beautiful story. The way Kidd develops the bonds between the characters was remarkable and you get such a wonderful sense of Lily's growing process.

I did feel a little cheated in the way she disposed of Lily's relationship with her father, but I'm not sure how it could have been done differently that would have made me feel better about it. :scratch

Oooo, I know I'm way late to be joining...but I love to read.

Right now I'm reading The Gypsy Man, I'll let you know how it is when I'm done.

I am so glad that more ppl are coming to this thread and that we have such a great list of books going. I know it is not your typical book club sort of chat but I love that I am getting such great ideas for books! Thanks ladies!

BTW that last book is my #48 book!!! I am almost halfway to my goal of 100!!!

I love this thread because of all the recommendations. I read so much that i have trouble finding enough good books to read. I like getting a little synopsis so I have an idea if I will like the book or not.

I have just finished "The Art of Mending" by Elizabeth Berg. I didn't like it as well as her other books - seemed to be lacking something. It was the story of 3 siblings and one of them has always been moody and difficult. As an adult, this child makes accusations against her mother that the other siblings find hard to beleive. I liked the premise and the writing was good but it was just too sketchy.

I just finished The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
I liked it so much that I could not put it down last night!

Sparks's 1996 debut novel, The Notebook, was a fast and easy read that sold millions upon millions of copies. Other bestselling love stories followed (Message in a Bottle; A Walk to Remember; The Guardian), but Sparks's fans have from the very beginning eagerly anticipated a sequel to the romantic tale of Allie and Noah Calhoun. The wait is now over. Attorney Wilson Lewis has been married to Noah and Allie's daughter, Jane, for 30 years. Wilson and Jane have raised three children and lived a satisfying and prosperous life in the bucolic town of New Bern, N.C. After forgetting his anniversary, Wilson realizes that the passion and romance have gone out of his marriage and fears his wife no longer loves him. Being a methodical man, he decides to embark on a yearlong program to renew his romantic ties to his wife, seeking out the advice of Noah, who now spends his days in a retirement home feeding a swan he is sure is the reincarnation of his beloved Allie. In the midst of Wilson's machinations, his daughter Anna announces she is getting married. The upcoming wedding provides Wilson with the opportunity to bring his elaborate plan to fruition. Sparks tells his sweet story competently, without sinking too deeply into the mire of sentiment; a gasp-inducing twist comes at the very end. Satisfied female readers will close the covers with a sigh and a wish that a little of the earnest, too-good-to-be-true Wilson might rub off on their own bedmates

I just read "The Russian Debante Handbook". It was not a quick read but very entertaining - written in a similar style to Nabakov. It was the story of a russian born man in a dead end job who moves to Prava to work for mafia type people and works out this pyramid scheme.

This thread is awesome. I just came over to this forum because I was hoping to find book recommendations. I have a new baby and he hates the car and cries, so I am trapped in the house until he settles in more and can handle car trips. In the meantime, I'm stressed because I have 2 other toddlers and a 9 year old, so I was looking for something to cheer myself up with, and books have always done that for me. When my toddlers are napping and I'm nursing the baby (which is most of the day), I want to crack open a good book. I just went to my local library's website and put some books on hold for dh to pick up for me tommorrow. There are so many great suggestions, I ended up putting far too many on hold and had to stop reading this thread until I get through the ones I already have on hold. So thanks for all the great recommendations! :D

Great thread. Just finished A Fine Balance, by Rowhinton Mistry. It's about four people from different castes living in India during a period of political upheaval. They end up living together, learning to appreciate each other, etc. The book's very moving, very sad, but a great story rich in detail about life in India. Also read Life of Pi (can't remember the author's name), about a boy's tragic experience surviving a shipwreck. His family ran a zoo, so there's a lot of interesting stuff on that topic. Again, a good read. One of my favorite books of late was The Time Traveler's Wife. SUCH a good story. The main character is a time traveler -not by choice, but by genetic fluke- and meets his partner when she's a young girl. It's a love story. :love

I have The Time Traveler's Wife from the library, I wasn't able to get into it. I think I will try again in a couple days. I really liked The Jane Eyre Affair and Jasper's other books.

I just read The Mitford Snowmen by Jan Karon, super super short but sweet. And I am SO counting it towards my 100! :LOL

Ok reviving the dead thread! :LOL I need some recommendations! I just read #51 WHoo Hoo!!!

#51
The Gift by Danielle Steel

On a June day, a young woman in a summer dress steps off a Chicago-bound bus into a small midwestern town. She doesn't intend to stay. She is just passing through. Yet her stopping here has a reason and it is part of a story that you will never forget.

The time is the 1950s, when life was simpler, people still believed in dreams, and family was, very nearly, everything. The place is a small midwestern town with a high school and a downtown, a skating pond and a movie house. And on a tree-lined street in the heartland of America, an extraordinary set of events begins to unfold. And gradually what seems serendipitous is tinged with purpose. A happy home is shattered by a child's senseless death. A loving marriage starts to unravel. And a stranger arrives--a young woman who will
touch many lives before she moves on. She and a young man will meet and fall in love. Their love, so innocent and full of hope, helps to restore a family's dreams. And all of their lives will be changed forever by the precious gift she leaves them.

The Gift, Danielle Steel's thirty-third best-selling work, is a magical story told with stunning simplicity and power. It reveals a relationship so moving it will take your breath away. And it tells a haunting and beautiful truth about the unpredictability--and the wonder--of life.


I liked this book and it was short enough that I could breeze through it in two days, and that is with tons of interruptions!

Alkenny I meant to ask, who is supposed to be in the movie? The reason I read it now is because I like to read the book before I see the movie. Thanks for any info

Had to scroll back to see what you were talking about (The Notebook, right?)*LOL*
I know the one kid from Murder by Numbers is in it....here's a link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332280/

I love this thread because of all the recommendations. I read so much that i have trouble finding enough good books to read. I like getting a little synopsis so I have an idea if I will like the book or not.

I have just finished "The Art of Mending" by Elizabeth Berg. I didn't like it as well as her other books - seemed to be lacking something. It was the story of 3 siblings and one of them has always been moody and difficult. As an adult, this child makes accusations against her mother that the other siblings find hard to beleive. I liked the premise and the writing was good but it was just too sketchy.

Couldn't agree more!

I'm reading The Privilege of Youth by Dave Pelzer right now.

I don't really keep track of how many books I read but it's a fair number. :D To answer the question posted on page 2, I believe, I do read YA fiction and quite a bit. I just finished my Master of Library and Information Science last month (and saw at least one other librarian on this post, yippee!) and am looking for a position as a school library teacher for the fall. I'd really like to work in a middle school/junior high so keeping up on YA is obviously a priority for me.

In the past couple weeks I read one of this year's Alex Award winners from the Young Adult Library Services Association. (I've got a few other winners sitting around home but haven't started them yet.) Peresopolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel about a girl who lived through the Islamic Revolution in Iran and how it affected her spirituality, her education, her family, and her world-view.

If you like YA Sisterhood of the ...Pants and Second Summer, try Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by Megam McCafferty. :twothumbs

Little Children by Tom Perrotta was good. He also wrote Election-which was a movie with Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Little Children is about families in the suburbs--the cliques, the parks, the day-to-day. A stay-at-home dad makes waves. Interesting details and spawned lots of fun daydreams, for me. :mischief :blush

The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper was also a really good read. The guy (Joe) writes a prize-winning book about his hometown, where he wasn't BMOC. And never goes back, until his father falls ill. Big city success, goes back hole, blissfully unaware of how the town feels about him. Very poignant and very funny, and very sad. Cool replay of the 80's, for those among us who were teens ourselves then. Musical references, movies, fashions. Really enjoyed this one. Recommend it A LOT at work.

SoccerMom--I can recommend some good romances that are IMHO better than Danielle Steel... :tiptoe

Alkenny - which did you agree with the comments on the thread or the comments on The Art of Mending?

Here are the last few books I read:

The Monk Downstairs- Although it got great reviews on Amazon and the book store clerk recommended it, I was disappointed. It was a light romance about a ex-monk who rents a basement apartment from a single mom and about how they eventually get involved - unfortunately, I never really liked or cared about any of the characters so it didn't really do much for me.

Housekeeping - A beautifully written book about 2 girls with a very unstable life. Their mother kills herself and then the live with their grandmother who dies, then two aunts who can't handle kids, and then eventually their mother's sister who is also emotionally unstable. Sound good? I thought so, but again I did not feel any emotional involvement with any of the characters so I didn't really care what happened to them.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - I LOVED THIS BOOK! It is a young adult book but really well written. It starts with a really fun concept of a pair of jeans found at a thrift shop that magically looks wonderful on four girls of different body shapes and sizes. The girls are separating for the first time that summer and the pants travel from girl to girl and we get to hear their stories. The girls deal with some real issues like a divorced dad getting remarried, a girl falling for an older guy and getting in over her head, etc. I am saving this book for when my daughters get older. I guess there is a sequel out too which I want to read.

Now I am reading "The Jane Austen Book Club" - I'm about 2/3's throught it and it is EXCELLENT also. It's about 5 women and 1 man who have a book club to read Jane Austen books. There personal life and history is woven in between meetings of the club. Every story is really interesting is done in such a great way to let you know why the characters are the way they are.

Alkenny - which did you agree with the comments on the thread or the comments on The Art of Mending?

Both! ;)

I usually like Elizabeth Berg, but I thought this one went on and on with no conclusion if that makes any sense. She told her sister and brother what happened, they didn't believe her, then nothing with the mother. KWIM?

I totally agree.

Alkenny thanks for the link. I just saw the commercial and the lead girl is the one from the Mean Girls movie, which is a complete 180 in charater, which should be good.

librarymom, thanks so much for those recommendations! I LOVED the Traveling Pants books too. I also have read almost all but one of the Gossip Girl series, I know don't even say it :bag: And I would love romance recommendations although I will always have a soft spot for DS! :LOL


cathe you have to read the sequel to the Traveling pants one it is really good too. I am interested in the Housekeeping book and the JAne Austen one you just told about! They sound great!!!

Look out summer it is a reading bonanza!!!! :jammin

Just finished reading this at 1:30 this morning, I HAD to know the ending! :LOL

Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green

Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself–as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails–no small feat.

With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.

I really liked Bookends, will have to track Jemima J down.

Sorta OT, my dh and I are "decluttering" and one way I am helping was by cutting my paperback collection in half. I am ashamed or proud to say I now have over $250 credit at the local paperback trader. 8 big boxes of books left the house and that was just 50%. And doesn't include the box my mom borrowed to start her retirement. But no more stacks on the floor, the ones that stayed are all on a shelf with a bit of room to grow.

WOW aimee!!! I am going to try and do that as well. I have so many unread books that once this lot from the library is read I plan to read the ones I bought and then donate them to our local library. I may also sell some on amazon to make some $$

Wanted to add that I really liked Bookends, more so then Jemima J, I also liked Babyville alot too. I did skip some parts in Jemima J because they were boring, like talk to how LA and London look. But it was a good read!

What a great thread!!!!! I want to join!

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. It was a wonderful read. (It was synopsized - is that a word? - above). I have been thinking about it all day, and I even want to go back and reread parts of it.

Before that I read Morality for Beautiful Girls (from the #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series). I really like the series - a light easy read but with some meat on it - makes me think.

I was very excited to get the book "Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination" by Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones Diary) but I got about 2/3 thru it and just couldn't read it anymore. I did not like it at all - seemed really stupid to me.

Then I read "I Sailed with Magellan" by Stuart Dybek. This was not one of those books that you can't put down - not was it a fast and easy read. It was a beautifully written book of short stories about life in Chicago - mostly centered on one family. I particularly liked the coming of age type stories about the Perry and his brother and his friends. There was also a wonderful story about Perry's grandmother where you really felt like you are right there with her. The author has a wonderful way of describing characters so you feel like you know them.

I read Room to Grow by Tracey Gold. This was the story of her battle with anorexia written by her. Not much there - tells how she got into acting and about her career. Mildly interesting.

Anyway, I am reading My Sister's Keeper now for the MDC discussion group. Now this is a book you don't want to put down!

Cool thread! I was very excited to find it, as I've been on a reading binge, my first since dd was born!

~Monkey Hunting by Cristina Garcia~
A great story about a Chinese immigrant to Cuba in the mid-19th century, and his descendants.

~My Invented Country by Isabel Allende~
A fabulous memoir about her life and Chile. Now I want to read Paula.

~The Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club by Laurie Notatro~
Cute stories, but I think I'm too old and busy to appreciate them right now.

~The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon~
Great book

Now I am reading Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. I'm enjoying it so far.

cathe- Danticat is one of my favorite authors, and so is Jamaica Kincaid. Have you read Danticat's first 2 books: Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak! They are wonderful. I haven't read Dew Breaker yet, but it's on my list.

Thanks for the ideas, mamas!


:D

I loved - Breath, Eyes, Memory. Read it ages and ages ago. Hmm may be time to read again and see what else my library has for her.

I did read Krik Krak but don't think I read the other. I'll have to check it out.

I can't wait to get to the library!!!! I just sat down and made a long list of the ones I want to read.

I too like YA fiction. The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis are a couple of my favourites. Oh, and anything by Sarah Ellis or Kit Pearson or Katherine Paterson.

I just finished Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. It's shockingly riveting! I seriously couldn't put it down.

I finished My Sister's Keeper. It was one of the best books I have ever read. It was a story of a girl who was specifically created (thru invetro process) to be a donor for her sister with leukemia. She spends her whole life donating one thing after another but when her parents tell her she has to donate a kidney, she hires a lawyer to fight them. This is such an incredibily heartbreaking story from every side.

I know cathe I really liked that book but boy oh boy did I cry!!!

I just finished reading The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (sp?)

I was :bawl for the last 2 or 3 chapters. It's one of those books that I can't stop thinking about!

I just finished a pretty cool book called "The Perfect Play". It was about a girl looking for her father who left his family to become a professional gambler - as she looks into the gambling world to find him, she becomes drawn into the game. IT was well-written with the modern, quirky kind of english humor. It wasn't one that will stay with you like My Sister's Keeper and The Dogs of Babel but it was a fun, interesting read.

I just finished a really great, dark book. I could not put it down, very very interesting

The Hiding Place: A Novel
by Trezza Azzopardi

Frank McCourt and Mary Karr may have written definitive accounts of grim childhoods, but British first novelist Azzopardi can stand on her own as a writer of remarkable sensibility and literary prowess. A seedy dockside community in 1960s Wales is the apt setting for this memoir-like narrative. Physical and emotional abuse haunts every detail in Azzopardi's account of a poor Maltese immigrant family's misery. Dolores, the youngest of the six Gauci daughters, narrates the story of her father Frankie's arrival in Tiger Bay, Wales, his marriage to young waitress Mary Jessop, the birth of their children and the family's eventual disintegration as a result of Frankie's gambling and jealousy. In Part One, Dolores's five-year-old narration is emotionless as she relates the awful events that shape their lives. Hers is the perfect voice to unearth the family's confusing and shady secrets; because the child doesn't quite understand the emotional impact of situations, she questions and observes with detachment. On the day Dolores is born, Frankie gambles away their house and caf . When she is just a month old, Dolores loses her left hand in a fire. Frankie's jealousy and gambling debts lead him to sell one of his daughters, Marina, to gangster Joe Medora, the man he believes is her father. Azzopardi chills the blood with gruesome details as Frankie skins Dolores's pet rabbit for older sister Celesta's wedding dinner. Eventually, Frankie abandons the family to join Medora, and Mary, losing her grip on reality, also loses the remaining children to public care. Dolores's stoic perspective continues into adulthood, as, in Part Two, the sisters return to Tiger Bay for Mary's funeral. Although the narrative line can confuse as the story shifts from present to past, readers will be riveted by this brilliant psychological prose poem of a family united only in helplessness and despair, in a poverty-stricken corner of the world rarely evoked in fiction.

I just finished a really great, dark book. I could not put it down, very very interesting

The Hiding Place: A Novel
by Trezza Azzopardi


I read it! I read it! It was an awesome book! :)

I'm reading "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio" by Terry Ryan. It's the story about the author's mother, and I've read it before but am reading it again since they just started filming the movie (Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern are in it).

Defiance is a one of my neighboring towns, so it's pretty interesting to me. :)

Sounds great! I will have to add that to my list!

Just finished book #57 today!!! :clap: It was a nice fun summer read, and it was set in England which I love love love!

Spin Cycle
by SUE MARGOLIS

Her husband left her for another man.
Her boyfriend may be cheating.
Her mother’s got a secret.
Is everyone having great sex but Rachel?

Lately, stand-up comic Rachel Katz’s life has begun to resemble a not-so-funny comedy routine — the kind where nobody laughs and everybody inches toward the door.

It began when her husband cheated ... with another man. Now she’s raising a ten-year-old son who’s fixated on Barbra Streisand and wondering if her dentist boyfriend — who won’t stop flossing long enough to make love to her — is having an affair.

Enter Matt Clapton, a wickedly sexy washing machine repairman who likes Rachel’s jokes and makes her feel like a woman for the first time in ages — maybe in her entire life.

With her mother busy planning a wedding Rachel isn’t sure she wants, her son dead set on inviting Barbra to the reception, and the groom-to-be in South Africa, working on someone else’s oral hygiene, the question is: What’s she going to do about it? Especially when fame and fortune beckon in a comedy contest that could put her on the map ... and change her life forever.

Spin Cycle tells a wickedly funny, shamelessly erotic story of lovers and liars, exes and children, parents and other strangers. This hip and hilarious new novel by the acclaimed author of Neurotica introduces a heroine who never loses her sense of humor and who discovers, somewhere between the rinse and spin cycles, that love — and laughter — can truly conquer all.

Oh sounds good. I was on a hardcore SciFi kick and I think I overloaded my brain - looking for this type of fun light reading, thanks for the recommendation. My dh made me stop counting books it was too depressing for him - probablly at 150 or so at this point. No TV and little internet access at home. LOL. But I have a jump start on my winter holiday gifts - lots of crocheting.

Glad to help. I am up to #58 now and trying to keep track for a year! My dh doesn't read much either but he loves that I don't watch TV

I just finished reading Paula by Isabel Allende.

It's a letter that Allende wrote to her dying 28 year old daughter, so it recounts Paula's illness (porphyria) and Allende's life. It was great, very sad. I can't seem to read any happy books. :shrug Ah, well...

I am now up to book 60 in my quest to read 100 by the end of the year! :clap YAY ME!!!

This was a good book, I didn't love the ending but it was a good read. I am going to check out some of her other books now
Sometimes I Dream in Italian
by Rita Ciresi

Angel Lupo grew up in a traditional Italian home — an exclusive club where Mama’s word was everything ... and where nice girls saved themselves for marriage. All Angel wanted was to be movie-star blond, change her name, and get as much attention as her prettier older sister Lina.

Now Angel is nearing thirty, penning Catholic greeting cards for a living, and still jealous of her sister, who has a house in the suburbs, two kids, and a husband who loves her. So Angel does the next best thing: She answers a personal ad.

Dirk Diederhoff is blond, teaches at Vassar, and is definitely not Italian. Nor is he the thrill-a-minute lover and soul mate Angel prays for. But as Lina, recklessly embarked on an affair of her own, would tell her: There are no perfect tens out there — only men who want you to talk to them in Italian during sex.

The award-winning author of Pink Slip gets the rituals and rhythms of domestic life just right in Sometimes I Dream in Italian, a bittersweet comedy about sisters, lovers, and a family that doesn’t quite translate.
In her novels Pink Slip and Blue Italian, Cirisi established herself as a resonant voice chronicling the lives of Italian-Americans. In this wry, charming second story collection, the recurrent character is Angelina Lupo, a daughter of Italian-American immigrant parents, who grows up in '60s and '70s New Haven, Conn. For Angel, life is rife with contradictions: strong family ties also means having her hands bound behind her back, as her overbearing mother attempts to keep her two daughters obedient and tractable. In "Big Heart" and "La Stella D'Oro," a prepubescent Angel learns the price some people pay for challenging tradition. "Babbo," Angel's father, is a hardworking soda-pop deliveryman who is too tired to pay much attention to Angel or her beautiful older sister, Lina, who is not afraid to rebel. Angel's admiration for and loyalty to her sister puts the younger girl in a bind during adolescence, when she becomes a kind of mediator in the conflicted family, afraid to hurt or anger her parents, but eager for Lina's approval. Each of these 12 linked stories offers new insight into Angel's difficult reckoning with her mixed feelings and her colorful family and heritage. Narratives told from the perspective of an adult Angel show her with Lina waxing nostalgic about their childhood while reluctantly taking on the roles of caretakers to their aging and ailing parent , and coming to terms with their own ambitions after the older generation dies. Angel is an immensely likable character whose self-deprecating and humorous reflections on family, men and careers is paired with imagery that deftly evokes all five senses. One doesn't have to be Italian to relate to Angel; she represents any contemporary woman poised between the values of her parents' generation and her own burgeoning sense of self.

I just finished this great book in one day! I could not put it down and am off to the library tomorrow to try and get the next 3 books in the series! With all the talk about the new show Amish and the City this is a better alternative! :LOL

The Covenant (Abram's Daughters)
by Beverly Lewis

Inspirational novelist Lewis begins Abram's Daughters, a Lancaster County series about four Amish sisters, in the tradition of her previous novels. It should please her fans, while not offering much in the way of fresh material. It's 1946 in Gobbler's Knob, Pa., and Sadie Ebersol and her sister, Leah, are exploring the joys of "rumschpringe" the period of relaxed rules and running around that Amish teens enjoy prior to their baptism into the church. Tomboy Leah's first love is Jonas Mast, but her father Abram has determined she'll marry Gideon Peachey, whose father's farm adjoins the Ebersols'. Her beautiful sister Sadie's defiance crosses the boundaries when she becomes involved with Englischer Derek Schwartz. Heartache is inevitable. The dialect (perty, redd, Dat, ach, wonderful-gut, jah) is as dense as sugar cream pie, as are the italicized terms. There are further challenges for the reader: multiple points of view and cumbersome Amish definitions make the novel a bumpy read for the uninitiated. The characters are flat and unchanging, and the plot functions mostly as a setup for the series. There are factual errors, as when Ebersol's home garden produce stand features early spring vegetables in the month of August. Several events, including a hidden pregnancy that remains unobserved by the family until almost the eighth month, require enormous suspension of disbelief, and readers will see the key plot developments coming from the earliest pages. However, none of these troubles may deter Lewis's enthusiastic audience

Soccer mom, are you *trying* to make me sick with jealousy?

Dang, I wish I would have started with this group early! Okay, if my math is correct, I am required to read about 8 books a month. Can are start now? I will never catch up with you, soccer mom, but just you wait until next year! You've given me alot of good reading ideas, though.

This will be a challenge, as I am taking physics and statistics this semester; but I spend waaaaaay too much time on the computer, to it will be good to have another focus.

I just finished Life of Pi. I'm not sure I liked it or not. The last few chapters threw me for a loop, and I liked it alot better after the entire story was thrown into doubt as to what really happened, and what occured in the protagonist's mind. This is a story of a 16 year old who is stranded in a lifeboat for 7 months with a Bengal tiger. Deep in symbolism...sometimes a little too deep for my feeble, mommy brain. But it was good food for thought!

Right before that I read (still in the month of August) "An Italien Education" by Timothy Parks. It's a somewhat autobiographical story. Tim Parks is an Englishman who has married an Italian woman, and they live in Italy. They have a family, and it is simply about family life in Italy. He is a funny guy, uses the English language well, and his story is easy to read. This was actually a re-read; does that count?

Sooo, two down, six to go? Urgh. That's a tall order. I'll try, though.

Thanks for starting this, Soccer mom. I'm going to skim through the posts (haven't done that yet) to get some more good ideas for future reading.

Lori

Lori don't sweat it. I just wanted to challenge myself because I felt I was watching way too much tv. You can start your year now. I also have weeks where I don't read anything but a few magazine articles. This month I am blazing away, I don't post all the books I read here as I think some of them noone would be interested in :LOL Just set a goal for yourself and do the best you can. I also tend to choose small books so that I can get through them quickly.

Glad I could give you some good ideas, alot of the other posters have had some great ideas that I have also read. I keep a list on my computer of all the books I want to read and every once in a while I go and check off those that I have read. I also keep a list on the computer and my own website of all the books I have read so that I can keep track, ( for myself only) of what number I am up to. Glad to have you aboard!!

Ok I read another and I really liked it. I guess it is a series but you can read this book without having read any of the others. I do plan to get some others though as I liked it alot. I also am fascinated by quilting and really want to learn and this is giving me even more motivation!

The Master Quilter : An Elm Creek Quilts Novel (ELM Creek Quilts)
by Jennifer Chiaverini

Even a newcomer to the popular Elm Creek Quilts series will quickly get caught up in the lives of the ladies who stitch. Sylvia Compson, the doyenne of the quilters who teach their art at the Elm Creek Quilt Camp, has married Andrew Cooper-an occasion of joy, with one hitch. The surprise Christmas Eve wedding meant Sylvia's friends didn't have time to craft the requisite bridal quilt. Will 140 six-inch blocks arrive by April 1? Sarah McClure is betting they will, but her husband, Matt, bets two weeks of breakfast in bed that Sarah can't keep a secret for three months. Not all the tension in the book is quite so mellow, though. Summer Sullivan has to decide how to define being her own woman. Does it mean staying in Waterford with the quilters or following her love, Jeremy, when he finishes graduate school? And Bonnie Markham has big woes: her fabric shop, Grandma's Attic, is running in the red, and her husband, Craig, has been conniving with evil realtor Greg Krolich to push her over the edge. This is the modern world, with cell phones and cybersex, but Chiaverini's quilting women are also a world apart. They feel one another's joys and griefs acutely; their lives are stitched together. The author's style is clean, and almost YA simple, and her dialogue is uninspired. Yet she intensifies the story's texture by retelling key scenes from multiple points of view, and along the way she enriches the reader's awareness of quilting's importance as a female art form and a source of deep common bonds.

The Master Quilter opens with the sound of wedding bells ringing in the ears of the Elm Creek Quilters. The close-knit group can hardly believe that their own Sylvia Compson planned her holiday wedding to sweetheart Andrew in complete secrecy, without the help of even one of her friends. Eager to honor the newlyweds, the Elm Creek Quilters hasten to stitch a bridal quilt for their favorite Master Quilter. Until the time comes to unveil the surprise gift, they reason, Sylvia will be the one in the dark.

Such little white lies seem harmless enough, especially in the service of future happiness. Yet Elm Creek Manor, and the quilting retreat established there by the Elm Creek Quilters, thrives on the strength of women sharing their creativity, their challenges, and their dreams. Somehow, in the race to commemorate in Sylvia's bridal quilt all that they hold dear about her wisdom, skill, and devotion, they forget to give honesty its pride of place.

As the quilt blocks accumulate, the Elm Creek Quilters celebrate the joy of new beginnings and the ongoing success of their business -- until forces conspire to threaten their happiness and prosperity. Two among them falter in their personal relationships, yet they are too proud to share their pain. The financial problems of another leave the quilt project vulnerable to a malicious act that may prevent its completion. And as two others weigh the comfort of the present against dreams of a future far from Elm Creek Manor, closely guarded secrets strain the bonds of friendship with those who may be left behind.

I have the whole series. Even if you aren't into quilting definitely worth the read.

That is awesome. What is the first book called? I plan to try and get them on my next trip to the library in 2 weeks. Right now I am reading the next two books in the Beverly Lewis series, Abrahms Daughters.

The first one is The Quilter's Apprentice.

Thanks!

Ok I am starting to feel like I am the only one left posting here but that is ok! I have been a house of fire reading this week. I read two more books by Beverly Lewis and am halfway through another. These were great books, both the second in a series.

The Betrayal (Abram's Daughters)
by Beverly Lewis

Book 2 of Abram’s Daughters. Spanning three generations, the Abram’s Daughters series paints a powerful family portrait of four Amish sisters growing up in Gobbler’s Knob, Lancaster County. In Book One, The Covenant, when oldest sister Sadie is beguiled by a handsome, dark-haired "Englischer," it is younger sister Leah who suffers from her sister’s shameful behavior. In Book Two, The Betrayal, Leah and her beloved Jonas are separated for half the year when he accepts a long-desired carpenter’s apprenticeship in Ohio. They are confident that by letter and heart-felt promises, their love is strong enough to survive the temporary separation. But never could they have foreseen the bitter test facing them and their families… This astonishing story of the strength of family, the miracle of forgiveness, and the power of hope has all the emotion, character intimacy, and true-to-life drama, as well as the message of truth that fiction readers have come to expect from a Beverly Lewis novel


The Confession (The Heritage of Lancaster County , No 2)
by Beverly Lewis


Katie Lapp has known no other world than that of the Amish who raised her. Since her refusal to accept their ways fully has resulted in her being shunned (see The Shunning, Bethany, 1997), Katie takes refuge with a Mennonite family and tracks down her biological mother. However, Katie soon realizes that Laura Mayfield-Bennett is not only mortally ill but also married to a man more concerned with her money than with her. This undemanding book gives a good portrait of an Amish girl facing the outside world for the first time but is too dependent on coincidence to be fully believable. Still, a pleasant enough story that will be welcome in larger collections
The Dramatic Sequel to the Bestseller The Shunning! Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman who questioned the strictrules of her upbringing and even her own identity, has been shunned from her Amish community. Katie now known as Katherine Mayfield sets out to find her birth mother and a life she has never known. Her birth mother is seriously ill and Katie must struggle to find her and prove her own identity before it's too late. But in the world of electric lights, telephones, and "fancy" things, Katie stumbles into a web of greed and betrayal where the garb of the Amish is misused to disguise an evil conspiracy. Meanwhile, unknown to Katherine, her long-lost love, Daniel, has returned to the Amish community to find her. Can they ever be together again?

Sorry Soccer Mom - didn't mean to drop out on you - just haven't read anything worth mentioning in weeks - I really, really need a GOOD Book. I've been reading a lot of cookbooks lately - I discovered this author Susan Branch - actually I was assigned to do a story on her as her new book is coming out and she is doing a book signing nearby. Her books are so GREAT! Every one is handwritten and illustrated. They are cookbooks but also have entertaining tips, decorating ideads, homemade gift suggestions plus they have stories and pictures from her childhood. They have totally inspired me to fix up my house and throw dinner parties!

Her first book was "Heart of the Home" and she has about 14 out now. I have read the "Heart of the Home", "Christmas from the Heart of the Home", Summer from the Heart of the Home" and her new one "Autumn from the Heart of the Home".

cathe I LOVE LOVE LOVE Susan Branch and have several of her home books. Her illustrations are so wonderful! I will have to look for her new book! Didn't think you deserted me! I too don't post some books that I read as I didn't think they would appeal to some and I didn't love them so I totally understand!

I am up to
#66
The Reckoning (Heritage of Lancaster County Series No. 3)
by Beverly Lewis

The powerful conclusion to The Shunning and The Confession

Katherine Mayfield, the new Mistress of Mayfield Manor, always dreamed of a fancy "English" life. But as the seasons pass, she finds herself grieving the loss of her Amish family and dearest friend, Mary Stolzfus. Shunned from the Plain life she once knew, Katherine finds solace in volunteer work with hospice patients a labor of love she hopes will bring honor to the memory of her birth mother.

Unknown to Katherine, her long-lost love, Daniel Fisher, is desperate to locate his "Sweetheart girl," only to be frustrated at nearly every turn. Meanwhile, she delights in the modern world once forbidden cherishing the attention of Justin Wirth, her handsome suitor.

Her childhood entwined with Daniel's, yet her present life far removed from Lancaster County, Katherine longs for the peace that reigned in her mother's heart. And once again, she is compelled to face the heritage of her past.

I just finished Life of Pi. I LOVED it! I think I am going to have to go read it again. I am confused...

I am making a new list of must-reads!

Thanks!

G

Soccermom - I got to interview Susan for the story and she is SO nice. I spent 2 hours talking to her. I stopped by her house again yesterday to return the review copy of her new book and it was her husbands birthday and they were getting ready for his party. They were both in the kitchen together making figs stuffed with goat cheese.

That's interesting what you wrote about the book the Covenant. I bought it at a library sale a while back and keep trying to start it but couldn't get into it. Based on your review - I guess I won't bother again.

I'm still on the wait list for David Sedaris's new book - sure wish it would come . . .

I haven't posted much cuz I am currently making my way through huge box of older harlequin and silhouette novels from the early eighties. It's been fun brainless reading but nothing to write home about. I just got Little Children and Spin Cycle from the library on Friday. Both of those books have been mentioned here. I have a couple of others too, if they pan out I wll share about them.

So are we posting books that we've read? I think the last time I posted, I was reading Prodigal Summer. I read The Poisonwood Bible and I actually really enjoyed it. I want some more like that. I just finished a book called Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. It's a science fiction thing where certain technology just stops working and people have to band together and adapt to survive. I finally read The Continuum Concept too.

Amy I bought the Poisonwood Bible at a library sale and it is def on my list.

Cathe which review do you mean? The one that I post below the book title is from Amazon. I did like the Covenant, but then again I have liked every Beverly Lewis book I have read. If you like her books or those kinds of books it is worth the read.

I would LOVE to be a guest at a Susan Branch party! How does her house look? Super cute I bet!

Hello all - I've just read the past 9 pages and have been taking notes!

I go on reading binges! I was in school for so long, and only read textbooks. Now that school has started for dd(11) I took ds(3) to the library for storytime and got a few books for myself as well. I had requested some holds earlier this summer but I guess I had an old address! Oh well, I'll make some new requests now that is all changed!


Reading Now: The Mother Trip - by Ariel Gore, the Hip Mama. I hadn't read any of the previous ones and wonder if I start with her first, but I am enjoying it. I will definately get Breeder next!

Read this summer: Sushi for Beginners - light, romance -Bridget Jones Diary type. Single women in the magazine buisness in Dublin Ireland. I really liked it!

I usually read Jonathan Kellerman and just started reading his wife - Faye Kellerman. I like them both. Faye has an Orthodox Jewish Family and it's interesting to learn about the culture. Jonathan Kellerman is a psychologist who consults on murder cases with his best friend, a gay detective in LA.

Talking about old books that we have enjoyed: My favorites (at least as a late teenager, maybe if I read them over I'd think different!)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - read this 3 times between ages 16-21. I love it!
Go Ask Alice - must have read 3-5 times in my life! Diary of a girl in the 60's who gets into drugs etc.
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb I really could relate to the character at the point of my life that I read it!

Well - I'm not as big of a reader as some of you, but I do enjoy it while I'm on a "binge" ;) I read alot online and magazines -I just like to intake information! I have been wanting to cut my TV watching down - but DH and I have some shows that we record on Ulitimate TV (like Tivo) and at least we watch then in 45 minutes instead of an hour - fast forward through commercials! My goal now that the school year has started is to limit TV and Internet time!

Glad to be here - thanks for the recommendations

just putting my name in so i can be updated, and when i finfish a book i am so in this thread. just what i've been looking for.

Cathe which review do you mean? The one that I post below the book title is from Amazon. I did like the Covenant, but then again I have liked every Beverly Lewis book I have read. If you like her books or those kinds of books it is worth the read.

I would LOVE to be a guest at a Susan Branch party! How does her house look? Super cute I bet!

I did mean the review from posted - didn't know it was from amazon. Well - maybe I'll give the book one more try.

I would love to be a guest at Susan's party too. I'm looking forward to her talk and slide show next month.

As for my recent reading - just read "The Well Trained Mind". We are starting to homeschool this year and I think this book will be very helpful. It outlines basic subjects that should be covered for each age as well as listing helpful materials. It gives some good ideas for organization and scheduling too.

I don't know how many books I've read this year, but I manage around a book every 5 days or so. Just finished The Heart is a Loneley Hunter and am reading Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts right now (so far, really good!)

Sorry about that Cathe I should have been more clear. For me I never take a reviewers thoughts too much to heart as everyone enjoys different things, kwim? Usually for me if a reviewer hates a chick flick I love it! :LOL

Lish I am so jealous that you can read that many books, I just never seem to get enough time for it. Although these past few weeks the boys have been doing more reading and craft projects themselves so it also frees me up to read. I have been trying to read every spare second that I get. I just went to the library today and got out 10 more books. I am almost done with the book Blue Italian and will post probably tomorrow about that. I love this thread but it makes my books to read list that much longer! :LOL But keep them coming ladies!

Lish I am so jealous that you can read that many books

But aren't you on close to 60 books this year? You've read about double what I have, you just don't realize it. :LOL

Dear Fellow Readers,

This is a great idea! I just finished reading "Bones of the Master" by George Crane (see Amazon Link below). It is the story of a Chinese Buddhist monk who returns to China with his poet/friend (the author) from exile to find bury the bones of his master--thus the title. It is a compelling, mythical plot about a hero's journey, hard core Buddhism, faith, magic, compassion, suffering, and joy. This is one of the best nonfiction books I've read in the past 5 years.

Jen

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553379089/002-6174381-4079201?v=glance

I just finished Blue Italian and it was a very sad and dreary book. It was a good read but it was sad

#68
Blue Italian
by Rita Ciresi

When Rosa Salvatore, a Roman Catholic Italian, and Gary Fisher, the only child of prosperous Jewish parents in Long Island, decide to marry, it isn't just their vastly different family backgrounds that lead to their demise. Gary, at age 31, is dying of prostate cancer. Rosa, to put it mildly, has a chip on her shoulder--something she inherited from her mother, who, for Gary, is worse than the stereotypical mother-in-law. As Gary's condition worsens, Rosa's bitterness and shrewishness increases, despite her love for him. And though she seeks professional help, her inability to face the truth about herself ultimately destroys both her marriage and herself.

Smooth prose, a snappy pace and clever, if nasty, repartee give a veneer of fun to Ciresi's bittersweet debut novel (after the Flannery O'Connor Award-winning short-story collection Mother Rocket). But under the shiny surface of this funny, earthy work there's a tremendous amount of pain as, after three years of marriage, Rosa Salvatore and her 31-year-old husband, Gary Fisher, face the fact of his terminal cancer. Bookended by Gary's diagnosis and his rapid decline, the narrative traces their courtship and marriage. Insecure, self-deprecating Rosa, from a working-class, Italian Catholic New Haven neighborhood known as Pizza Beach, is determined to earn a college degree and escape her past. As a hospital social worker, she meets Gary, a wealthy Jewish law student at Yale, when they work together on the case of a black client named Ivory White. Both Rosa and Gary had terrible childhoods, thanks to outrageously neurotic parents. Rosa's are lower-class loudmouths; Gary's mother is a snooker champion who constantly bickers with his father. Both sets of parents are glad to see their children marry, however, and all grieve after Rosa has a miscarriage. Gary's death brings none of the survivors closer, with Rosa suffering many regrets. Ciresi's depiction of New Haven's blue-collar ethnic neighborhoods is complete with local color. Her facile comic energy makes for entertaining reading, though constant wisecracking robs the characterization of some depth. Yet there is real substance in this tragicomic story of two people with smart mouths and starved hearts groping their way towards a love they don't get much chance to enjoy.

Oh m'gosh, has my library reserve list just quadrupled or what?!?!

Just finished Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children by Dorie McCullough Lawson. From the dustjacket: "Posterity is a fascinating glimpse into the thoughts, wisdom, and family lives of those whose public accomplishments have touched us all. Here are renowned Americans in their own words and in their own times, seen as they were seen by their children. Here are our great Americans as mothers and fathers." A great, great read. It led me to a biography of N.C. Wyeth which I'll dive into next (I'm ashamed of what an art dork I am).

Recently finished Mexifornia by Victor Davis Hanson. A provocative look at illegal immigration from Mexico into California. Hanson's perspective is twofold: 1) he's a classics professor at Cal State Fresno and, 2) he also farms in California's Central Valley. VERY worthwhile read.

Has anyone read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey? It's so intense I can only read a bit of it every few days. I had 2 nights of nightmares after reading about his 2 root canals sans anesthesia. Yikes! But you gotta love a protagonist whose self-talk consists of ""I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal."

--Trish

I also read "Running With Scissors." It was an incredible story of a boy who gets raised by his mother's wacko pshyciatrist a really bizarre, but well written book. It wouldn't exactly call if funny like most of the reviews I read did, but it was definitely diferent.


I'm late joining the discussion, but I've been following your lists and scribbling madly in my bookjournal. :p

Running With Scissors was profoundly disturbing for me. Because of the affection I now feel for the author (I kept turning the book to its back so I could see his grown-up face, reminding myself that he'd LIVED THROUGH IT ALL), I must read his follow-up, "Dry."

RWS was at times funny, but for myself, it was generally very upsetting, abusive, sad, and depressing. I wanted to sweep the 11-yo protaganist OUT of the book, and bring him here where he could grow up happy and loved and appreciated (and knowing how to do long division). I'm stunned by the whole book, as a mother. It is so sad. His mother truly was in need of help, and I am so angry about the ending. (No spoilers, I won't give it away).

It was a fantastically eye-opening book to read, for me. But also very, very hard to read at the same time.

love, p

hey, i have a quick sec to dive back in this thread. just finished the new sedaris, lol funny (of course.)

about to start the new j kellerman, 'therapy', 'the princes of ireland' (ed. rutherford, try 'london' if you haven't, it's v good), right now am doing 'hollywood interrupted' (dee-lish.)

just finished some interesting tess gerritson medical thrillers & 'with charity towards none', more brutally funny snarkiness from flo. king.

love getting ideas here. cathe, re: bev. lewis- there may be some validity to some of the reviewer's points, but the series picks up and i have gotten very attached to the characters. it's well worth your time.

suse

you guys are amazing and incredible readers!!!! I'll join ya though I'm not sure what my goal will be.....but just today a friend and I were talking about starting a book club as a means of getting our brains out of hock. so nice to find this thread tonight.

I'll jump in too. Just finished Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, and found I have discovered a new author I like quite a lot, so I got two more of her books out of the library. Liked Breathing Lessons a lot for its compelling examination of a married life and the joys and feelings of failure that come from parenting.

I am going to get RWS the next trip to the library. I just finsihed another very short very sad book. I cried reading this one, thankfully it was a super short read, I think I read it in like an hour or two. I didn't post the review as I don't want to give away the ending but I did post the link to amazon so you can read it if you want.

Christmas, Present
by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Review of Christmas Present (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060565578/qid=1093096126/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-4219048-1372738)

Read "The Mother Trip" - and it was pretty good. Mostly essays, and her personal experiences. I really liked two things out of it:

1) A section on losing your dreams - literally. Sleep deprived women during early childhood tend to not go into the sleep cycle fully and don't complete their dreams. There was a quote from a woman that described what I had recently been going through precisely! It was about feeling your dream world interrupted and it melds with your waking world making you feel disoriented. It sounds really weird, but when I read it I couldn't believe someone else had this! I would love a book devoted more to this subject - any suggestions?

2) Page 94 has a list of questions to ask ourselves. I'm going to copy them down and use them as journaling launch points. I will keep the questions in a Word file, and then answers in a seperate file so that I can go back and answer them again at a different part of my life without seeing previous answers.


I'm going to read HOLES next! Been meaning too -and haven't seen the movie yet. DD just finished it for her 3rd time so I'm going to steal it next.


Hey - any thoughts on a children's book thread? I just pick up random books at the library - sometimes actually LOOK for a Suess, Carle or the "miss spider" books - but I usually just grab!

Have a great reading weekend.

have lurked here for awhile, need to go back and review what has been written...but I love reading, read about a book a week and look forward to seeing what everyone has/is reading and share what I am/have read...reading keeps our minds alive and well!

Off topic!

Sunmoonstars that happens to me too--the thing with the dreams and getting disoriented! Maybe we should start a different thread about weird dream experiences!

wow, just went back and read what everyone has written/been reading!! some great suggestions...in the middle of two books, will post when I am done...

I'll jump in too. Just finished Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, and found I have discovered a new author I like quite a lot, so I got two more of her books out of the library. Liked Breathing Lessons a lot for its compelling examination of a married life and the joys and feelings of failure that come from parenting.


I love Anne Tyler's work! I haven't read Breathing Lessons yet, though.

so here is what I have read in the past two months;

• Pledged by Alexandra Robbins, her view of sorority life, which is interesting since she has never pledged a sorority. Seems a bit sensational, to sell more books I imagine.
• Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts, about the womyn who influenced the Founding Fathers of this country. This book was interesting because you got to see how much influence they had and for historical value - getting to see what life was life back then for womyn and life in general. I learned some concrete American history (I like history a lot) that I didn’t know before.
• 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a South American writer. I have mixed reviews of this one – well written, on the side of magical and fantastical imagery, but not really my style. So, a good book but could have skipped it without feeling a loss.
• The Other Man by Michael Bergin, yes, the Calvin Klein underwear model and actor from Baywatch. He was “the other man” in Carolyn Bessetet Kennedy’s life, so this is just a continuation of my Kennedy obsession – a waste of time for you all, even a bit so for me, even with the obsession.
• Little Children by Tom Perrotta, also the author of Election. About a “the ‘burbs” and the inhabitants of them…easy read, not the best I’ve ever read and not the worst
• A Tale of Two Valleys by Alan Deutschman, a book about the wine country in California, Napa and Sonoma Counties. I would love to visit Sonoma again, I spent a lot of time there while I was growing up, have many fond memories and this book created this “ideal small town with culture” image in my mind.
• Ancestors of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley, by Diane L. Paxton…the pre-pre-equal to Mists of Avalon (one of my all time favorite books, which I want to re-read, and I NEVER read a book twice). It was OK, fantasy, not much linking it to Mists, a love story mixed in with threads of destiny and duty – do they overshadow personal desire?

I am now reading The Time Traveler's Wife, which I am enjoying so far! After this I will read The Jane Austen Book Club for the 9/1/04 discussion in the MDC Book Club. Don't think I'll hit 100 this year, babe is only 16 months, maybe 50 and this thread has offered me a bunch of new books for my reading list that I am excited about!!

I'm joining!!! A little late in the year, but I love to read and need to be motivated out of the fluff department. I have read most of the posts and taken notes. I can't wait to get started on this list!!!!

I am so glad that you all are joining us! I too feel that reading keeps my mind alive!!

konamama I LOVED Mists of Avalon. I had to read it in a womens study class in college as a make up assignment and then write a paper. Got an A+ thank you very much! :LOL I too want to read it again but it is so long that I never get it out, or I forget it's on my list and take out 20 others. The only other book that I have read more then once, and I have read it at least 20 times is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It is my favorite book of all time, I usually give it as a gift to every girl that I know, thankfully they have different versions for different reading levels. One year I gave it to my three nieces and told them there would be a quiz the next time I saw them :LOL Also wanted to say that I too have a fascination with the Kennedys and want to read that book.

I have the Jane Austen Book Club on hold, didn't know about the book club, will have to check that out! Thanks!


Right now I am reading a book of essays by Marion Keyes will be back later in the week to give my thoughts!

Soccermom...loved Little Womyn, read it in 8th or 9th grade! also, if you are interested in the Kennedys the two other books I read about them recently were The Kennedy Men and also The Kennedy Womyn, both by the same author...very interesting on many levels and also historically significant.

here is what the MDC Book Club is reading, started with discussion on book 1 on July 1st, a book a month:
• My Sisters Keeper 7/1
• 100 Years of Solitude 8/1, etc...
• The Jane Austen Book Club
• Midwives Tale
• Rule of Four
• 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time
• The Da Vinci Code ( I have already read this, liked it a lot)
• Life of Pi
• Secret Life of Bees (read this also, pretty good)
• Skinny Legs and All
• Middlemarch
• Persuassion
• The Nature of Water and Air
• Midwives (also read this, liked it as well)
• Angry Housewives Eat Bon Bons

read on my sisters...

Thanks Kona I am off to the library today!

Finished Time Traveler's Wife, which I enjoyed! The concepts of time, fate, free will and the layers of these concepts are all very interesting...but at the heart of this book is a beautiful love story! Worth reading I think, if this style of book is your style.

On to The Jane Austen Book Club for the 9/1/04 discussion in the MDC Book Club.

Not sure what I will read next...have shelves full and a nice new list from this thread...so plenty to pick from...I am feeling like some parenting books might be in order, and then the 10/1 MDC book club selection, A Midwives Tale. I LOVE READING!!

My library doesn't have ALOT of books on the bookclub list! :crying

I did pick up Slave today, and so far it's GREAT. A must read (true story about a girl kidnapped and sold into slavery...NOWADAYS...yes, it still happens!)

I LOVED "Time Traveler's Wife" - I wish I could find a book that good again. Everything I've been reading lately has been mediocre. Here's my two latest:

"Saving Grace" - just a so so book - kind of corny about four college friends and what happens in their lives and then they reunite.

"Empress Orchid" - Interesting story about a wife of a Manch Emperor, unfortunately not that well written but I liked finding out about a lot of the customs, etc.

just finished "The Jane Austen Book Club" for the MDC Book Club...it was OK - nothing great but an easy, fast read. wonder if I would have liked it better if I remembered the Austen books better from reading them in HS - that is simply too long ago...what to read next :-)??!

Along those lines kona I just took out Mr Darcy Takes a Wife, Pride and Prejudice Continued. Going to start that this week.

I am STILL nursing Slave...taking me forever, but it's been hectic around here lately. It is REALLY great though. Highly recommended.

I just finished "The God of Small Things". It was the story of non-identical twins in India and how the death of their visiting English cousin changes their lives. It was very beautifully and imaginatively written though not exactly a page turner. Interesting to find out a bit more of Indian Culture in the 60's.

Going to the library today - hopefully some of my requests are in. I really want to read a very GOOD book.

has anyone read "The Sparrow"? I forget who wrote it and there is a 2nd book that goes with it but I remeber it as being VERY GOOD...a fantasy book but looks at class issues, society norms, love, free will etc. Jesuit priests are "sent" to this planet where the society is VERY class oriented and humans are a "find"...goes from there. I remeber liking it a lot - you might like that Cathe.

Thanks for the recommendation Konamama- I just requested it from the library. I'll let you know how I like it.

Meanwhile - I just picked up 5 books from the library today - there must be a winner in that bunch (I hope).

oh, is there an mdc book club? i read jane austen bc a bit ago- i liked it ok. (i like jane better, tho', lol, i'm rereading 's & s' right now.)

suse

oh, is there an mdc book club? i read jane austen bc a bit ago- i liked it ok. (i like jane better, tho', lol, i'm rereading 's & s' right now.)

suse

At the top of the books forum is a sticky of what books we are reading each month. Then we start a separate thread each month for the book.

Would anyone here like my copy of "Running With Scissors." I thought maybe I'd send it to an MDC mama because I'm not going to read it again. I reviewed it (well, ok, sort of) earlier in this thread, and so did a few other Mamas.

I'd be happy to ship it for you, and if I get more than one name/address, I can send the list of others to the first Mama on the list and they can round-robin it? :D

Love, penelope

I just started "The Mistress of Spices" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It sounds wonderful and so far is a very good read.

love, p

I just read The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters It was okay - she writes in letter format (all the letters she writes to people in business and personal life) and in the beginning the letters are odd -because they aren't realistic. They are trying to tell the back story, so they are just not free-flowing. Through the middle the letters are easier to read because you now know what is going on. I didn't feel any resolution from the book. Throughout it you can see the flaws of the character - and see that she just doesn't get it. There is a sense of closure to it, but.... not the greatest book. It's emotional, and interesting - but via the format it was written in the characters don't get fully developed and you feel as if you are missing parts of the story.

Whew - my first review ;) I'm not that good at this kind of stuff! I just picked up The Center of Everything and I'm going to take it on my trip. I can't find my notebook with all the books I was writing down! It also has some other important stuff in it.... so I'm going frantic!

Happy reading all :)




EDIT: I was just adding this book to my "list" in my book journal. As I was typing, I came to realize something about this book. It ended they way the author wanted it to, and it fit the ideals she was exhibiting throughout the book. I came to some conclusion that life doesn't end neatly at chapters with all loose ends tied up..... if anything that is what I gained from this book! And it gave me lots of interesting material to ponder on in my journal. Anyone else keep book journals? I use them as launching points for a discussion. I just compared the two books I have read lately - this one and HOLES (the kid's book) and noted that they have two styles. One where everything works out in the end, the other doesn't.... it make me think. Anyway..... Just thought I would add this!!!

mamap that sounds like a good idea! I would be interested for sure. I think it's a neat idea too to recycle them by sending them on.

Right now I'm reading several books at once. The Pact; Hello, Darkness; and a book by Dean Koontz (I can't remember the title). The Koontz book is awesome! It has kept me riveted. When I'm done I'll post more about it.

I need to organize or keep a notebook with all these book titles in it. I have read a lot of GREAT books from the suggestions here. My poor library! They can hardly keep up with my request list.

How do you stay organized and keep the books you want to read in order? I will write the title down and then forget where I wrote them. :)

MamaP count me in as well for the round robin, I did just take that book out of the library but also took out like 15 others! Maybe when someone is done, they PM the next on the list to see if they have read it?

MrsMissy I keep a word file on my computer with all the books that I want to read, every few weeks I go and look through to cross things off and get more ideas!

SoccerMom - if you send me your addy, when I'm done I will send it on to you....Then you just go forward :D

Just finished "Midwive's Tale" - liked it well enough, a fast read, not really about only being a midwife - more about just good old life.
what next?

Whew - my first review ;) I'm not that good at this kind of stuff! I just picked up The Center of Everything and I'm going to take it on my trip. I can't find my notebook with all the books I was writing down! It also has some other important stuff in it.... so I'm going frantic! !!!


You did wonderfully, sunmoonstars! I loved that review! :D Thanks for taking the time to post it (the book is in my book journal now, with your review, verbatim). ;)

love, p

Thanks babybug I just PMd you!

kona I picked that book up for $1 at the library sale and still have not read it. I take so many books from the library that I totally neglect the ones I have in my house.

This has not been a good reading week for me. I am reading 3 books but have not really had time since it's the first full week of school for my son, taking soccer and PTO things, its just been nuts! I am hoping to finish the 3 over the weekend! Thankfully dh is going to let me stay in bed and read all weekend! :love

Stay in bed and read all weekend! Wouldn't that be heaven.

I just finished "Why I'm Like This" by Cynthia Kaplan. It was supposed to be the female counterpart to David Sedaris's Naked but it didn't measure up for me. It was a book of true stories from the author's life and though she is a good writer, I just did not find the stories really all that interesting. A couple were pretty good but all in all, just a so-so book.

Well dh has two weekends in a row that he will be gone for the military so he is giving me my most favorite things this weekend. We are going to dinner and to see a performance of Beauty and the Beast tomorrow night ( we saw the same show on our 1st anniversary in NYC and he may be in Iraq for our 10th this year so this is the next best thing) and then I get to do nothing all weekend but eat, sleep read and watch videos!!! YAY Sorry totally OT!!!

I have so many good books now that I just wish I could speed read! :LOL

Sounds like you totally deserve your weekend Soccermom - enjoy. I have a little treat this weekend too - going to see Susan Branch who will give a slide show and talk along with yummy desserts at the famous Madonna Inn. I am going with two friends and we all got our husbands to come home early so we can go to dinner first. Should be a fun night out.

Also for good news - I'm finally reading a good book. It's called "Dry." It's the sequel to Running With Scissors. I'll post a review when I'm done.

Cathe, I posted earlier that, even though RWS was so...emotionally disturbing to read, I *have* to read "Dry." His writing is gripping and incredible...I just can't ever think of that book without crying. I wanted so badly to take the author (at 11yo, not at 35~) home with me and nurture him and help him grow up gay, proud, protected, loved, and with some frickin' boundaries. :p

love, p

I finished "Dry." It was definitely not as horrifying as "Running With Scissors." As an adult, Augusten is struggling with alcholism as well as some emotional problems. Like his first, the book is well-written and keeps you turning pages to find out what will happen.

wondering if anyone has read "Ahab's Wife" and what they thought? is it worth a read?
AND, the Anne Rice series starting with "interview with a Vampire" - good?

cathe that sounds awesome! Hope you had fun!

I have not read those books kona sorry! Vampires freak me out! :LOL

The Susan Branch thing was great. I couldn't beleive how crowded it was - about 300 women and since there was so many who couldn't get tickets, they had to have another book signing the next day. Actually, I didn't even get to get my books signed because the lines were crazy. She did stop by to thank me for the article I wrote though and said I can come by her house in January when she gets back from her book tour.

About the Vampire Chronicles - I was really into Anne Rice before I had kids. I love her early stuff Interview with a Vampire through the Body Thief. My all time favorite was Lestat. I don't really care for her more recent stuff - the witch series and now she combined the witch and vampire stuff - I don't know if I have changed or she has . . .

Yeah, I read Rice waaaaaaay back when. Now...ewwww. Lots and lots of good history and place-time info, but danged if the sex and overdone violence and sheer...grossness isn't too much for me. I wouldn't read them now.

Same w Stephen King. Used to LOVE his books. "It" and "The Stand" were among my all-time favorites (esp "The Stand"). But now...I can't read anything he writes. WAy too much near-pornographic filler and gross psychological mind games and it's just not ... smart anymore. YK? Maybe it's me, maybe it's King, but I certainly don't buy his books now. (Not since I started "Gerald's Game" and almost puked at the beginning, never did finish it).

love, p

I like Anne Rice, she is okay. DH is a big fan. We both LOVE Vampire fiction. I prefer Laurell K Hamilton though.

Finally read the Davinci Code the day before yesterday. Can see why it causing a stir. Must be radical to mainstream thought. Well written, but little of the Grail stuff was new to me. I spent a phase in college really digging into Arthurian Myth and learned a lot about the "forgotten" Mary Magdalen gospels and that the Holy Grail could be referring to her. The book makes me want to dust off some Da Vinci bios I have read and dig into him some more. Leonardo has always fascinated me.

Has anyone read anything by Margaret Starbird or Michael Baigent? Thinking about seeing what new stuff has been written about the Holy Grail since I did my exploring in the early '90s.

Other books read this past week or so were: Broken Dishes - Earlene Fowler, Little Children - Tom Perrotta, Changing planes - Ursula Le Guin. I am currently reading Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation - Leora Tanenbaum and Eragon -
Christopher Paolini.

I checked out Good Grief today (someone on here recommended it for light reading) and ventured into the YA section and got a new Dear America and a couple of Emeril's cookbooks. ;)

I just finished "A Million Little Pieces" last night. It was ironic after reading "Dry" that this book was also about recovery from alchohol/drug addiction however this was much more graphic and intense. The whole (big/long) book took place in a detox center with a few flashbacks to incidents. It was well written but got kind of long toward the end (and maybe slightly sappy) - I would be interested in hearing what others thought of this book if any of you have read it.

still wondering if "Ahab's Wife" is worth the time...anyone?

FInished "The Center of Everything" - I liked it, but it wasn't earth shattering, life changing etc. It was still very good and I enjoyed the characters.

Picked up "Running with Scissors" at the library - so I'll know what you are all talking about! Also got "The covenant"

My daughter is reading "Eragon" she loves it! She didn't read any of the books I got for her since she got it herself at school. I need to read the last Harry Potter and her "Series of Unfortuante Events" books - I read Holes a few weeks back. I like reading YA books too.

Does anyone know if LIfe of Pi is good for an 11 year old? She has a high reading level, just not sure about content. It's on hold for me at the Library, and not sure I'll get to it before her.

DH just started DaVinci Code, I want to read it next! I'm seriously considering turning off our Satellite Dish - I'm loving reading more than in years! Thanks everyone!!!!

I tried reading "Eragon" but just couldn't get into it - I'm not too much for fantasy stuff anymore. I was very intrigued by the book though because I read an article about how it was written by a homeschooled teenager. He self-published it and then it became a big hit and got bought out by a publishing company.

I just got "Holes" from the library and a few other YA books. I read an intersting article in The Writer magazine this month about YA literature dealing with tough subjects and not talking down to teens. I have been kicking around this YA novel in my head for a couple of months and have been trying to read some of what's out there. Right now I'm reading "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes."

cathe I really liked the Traveling Pants books. I read alot of YA because the books are shorter but very well written. Good luck with the book. I have two childrens books in the works right now myself

I loved the TP's books too Soccermom. Didn't know you were a writer as well. I'd love to here more about your projects - come join us in the Writer Mamas Tribe in FYT if you want . . .

Thanks cathe for the PM very helpful!


I just read book #70 for me!!! WHoo Hoo I really liked it and am dying to read the 4th in this sequel! But it won't be out until Oct!! I think I am going to preorder and then donate it to the library!

#70

The Sacrifice
by Beverly Lewis

Abram’s Daughters book 3, the sequel to the bestselling The Betrayal. This powerful family saga features four Amish courting-age sisters growing up in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, beginning in the 1940s. Life in Gobbler’s Knob was all Leah Ebersol ever wanted until her older sister Sadie abandoned faith and family, leaving Leah no choice but to believe the worst, that Sadie—and her own beloved Jonas—had betrayed her. Now, two years later, Leah still misses both Sadie and Jonas keenly. Because of her sister’s shunning, she cannot contact either of them but hears through the grapevine that they are married. Loyal neighbor Gid is still biding his time, but on the verge of accepting his courting invitation, tragedy befalls the Ebersols and Leah must again choose between her own happiness and her family. Mary Ruth dreams of becoming a teacher, but it has gotten pushed to the back of her thinking when a nice young Amish boy comes courting. Twin Hannah yearns for her sister to attend baptismal classes with her, but Mary Ruth is not ready to take her final vows. How will this family in turmoil find peace?

I finished "Sickened" which is a memoir of a woman who was brought up with Munchausen by Proxy. It is quite a horrifying story of child abuse - the mother was definitely a sick woman who not only caused her child to be sick by starving and overworking her and only letting her eat sugary foods but she also took her child to the doctor and had her lie about symptoms. She also really screwed with her husbands mind causing him to beat up his kids. And it goes on and on. Very well written and moving story though I must admit I had to put it aside several times because some of the things were so awful.

That is the worst disease. Wow don't know if I could read that.

I am still reading, "The Mistress of Spice" and am savouring every syllable. It's one of my favorite books, EVER, at this point. The author is a poet, also, which I didnot know going into the book, but my gracious she has a way with words and emotion and depth. :D I ************ love******************this book.

finished "Rule of Four" - seemed like it was trying to be like "The Da Vinci Code" and wasn't as good...but a fast read all the same.

I just finished Tracy Chevalier's first novel, The Virgin Blue. It had a slightly different feel than her other novels, maybe because it included a modern character and storyline, along with the historical ones. I enjoyed it quite a bit, more than Falling Angels but not as much as The Lady and the Unicorn. Now off to read Girl With a Pearl Earring!

Bridgett

Just finished The Sunroom by Beverly Lewis. REally liked it eventhough it was at times sad

When I was twelve, I made a naïve, yet desperate pact with God to keep my ailing mother alive. It was the first time I'd ventured something so brazen—making a contract with the Almighty…

So begins the story of Becky Owens, a talented and passionate young pianist on the verge of adolescence when she learns the devastating news of her mother’s critical illness. As the daughter of a country preacher in Lancaster County, Becky knows well the significance of sacrifice, and in her bargain with God, she vows to exchange her most cherished possession for her mother’s life.

Hospital rules only add to Becky’s sorrow—twelve-year-olds aren’t allowed to visit, so Becky and her mother must share tearful smiles through Lancaster General’s sunroom window. But a realization of the power of music and a lesson in unconditional love compel Becky to rethink her "deal" with God, and the sunroom becomes a place where miracles happen…

Okay here's my first report:

One door away from heaven - Dean Koontz: I actually really liked it. It's about this little girl who is on the road with her mother and stepfather. She's disabled, her mother is strung out on drugs and her father is a mercy killer. She meets up with this woman on the road who believes her story...It involves extra-terrestrials, God, and lots of action. Really riveting!

I'm reading Harvesting the heart - Jodi Picoult right now. It's hard at times to read, at one point the story is about a woman dealing with PPD. But very very good. The flap reads:

Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who left when she was five. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother's absence, and shameful memories of her past, make her doubt both her maternal ability and sense of self-worth.

I just finished reading "the nanny diaries" I liked the book.

nanny gets a job as a nanny for a rich couple who continually cross the professional line, and basiclly treat her like a slave. Well they ignore their child as much as possible.

every once in awhile my jaw would drop at how anyone could treat their child like the parents treat their little one. Even though it is "not based on anyone", you know this stuff happens. You almost want to crawl in the book and adopt the little boy. The two girls who wrote it actually used to be Nannies.

I am about to start "OUR Lady of the forest" by David Guterson

I bought the Nanny Diaries at BJ's a long while ago. I really want to read it but keep taking too many books from the library. I think after this batch I may have to start reading the books I own so that I can pass them on.

Continuing on my YA reading . . . .

I took a class from the author John H. Ritter at the writers conference. I bought his book "Choosing Up Sides." Great book for the preteen age about a left handed boy in a very religious family. Father forbids him from using left hand and also forbids dancing, sports, etc. Boy discovers baseball and that he can throw. Team wants him to play so he is torn between his upbringing and his newfound passion. It was ironic because his religious family taught that the left hand was the devils hand but in baseball - left handed pitchers are revered.

I read another great preteen book: "Holes" A really cool concept about a boy sent to a dentention camp in the middle of nowhere where the kids have to dig holes all day. This was very well written and the author wove past and present to come to a great conclusion.

Just read

Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth
by Jenny McCarthy

I thought that some of it was funny but some of it bugged me. Cute short book but I would not give it out to any women I knew who were pg. Here is a brief description of the book

Brimming with the author's signature frankness and humor, a no-holds-barred account of what you can really expect when you're expecting.
Oh, the joys of pregnancy! There's the gasiness, constipation, queasiness, and exhaustion; the forgetfulness, crankiness, and the constant worry. Of course, no woman is spared these discomforts and humiliations, but most are too polite to complain or too embarrassed to talk about them. Not Jenny McCarthy!

In Belly Laughs, the actress and new mother reveals the naked truth about the tremendous mood swings, the excruciating pains, and the unseemly disfigurement that go along with pregnancy. Never shy, frequently crude, and always laugh-out-loud funny, McCarthy covers it all in the grittiest of girlfriend detail. With tips and hilarious musings on morning sickness and hormonal rage, hemorrhoids, pregnant sex, and the torture and sweet relief that is delivery, Belly Laughs is must-read comic relief for anyone who is pregnant, who has ever been pregnant, is trying to get pregnant or indeed, has ever been born

In the past couple of days I've read 2 books:

DaVinci Code: I don't get what the big deal was? Interesting about the Mary Magdalene and Holy Grail stuff, but the writing was predictable and boring.

The Rule of Four: *snore* *yawn* "Let's try to play off the DaVinci Code's success!" :eyesroll

I feel like I wasted three days of my life. Ah well, I wouldn't have known otherwise. ;)

I just found this thread & am an avid reader. I haven't been able to read as much since Hannah was born. I used to average about 3-4 books a week, now it's one if I'm lucky!

The last book I read was Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (I think that's his last name) & it was really eye opening. I wasn't too keen on eating at fast food restaurants but it also changed my thinking about eating at place's like Chili's, partly due to the practices of mass marketing & what it does to the agriculture and meat industries, but the owner's also a far right republican - is that really where I want my money to go. I would highly recommend this book, but not if you don't want to give up the chain restaurant habit.

The other book I'm reading write now is the Unschooler's Handbook. Hannah is only 2 but I want to know all the options about schooling or not before the time comes.

I also keep a little journal of all the books I read with my reaction to them & yes I have OCD tendencies ;) .

I also keep a little journal of all the books I read with my reaction to them & yes I have OCD tendencies ;) .

:thumb Welcome to the OCD club! :LOL

I hae heard about that book Fast Food Nation, it is on my VERY long list of things to read. Thansk for reminding me about it!

I read the book "Speak". Excellent YA novel about a girl who starts highschool and is suddenly without friends because she called the cops at a party during the summer. But she had a very good reason and not what her friends thought. It is written in the first person and she has really funny observations about HS - things I had forgotten.

So that's the last of my YA stash. Back to adult novels . . .

Just finished "12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time" - about a NYC family who travel for 3 months one summer to "see the World". it was different than I thought it would be, I imagined it would be almost a Family travel guide (traveling as a family is a romantic idea I have to enhance dd's education when she is older) but it was more a look at parenting, the world, our (americans) place in it, how his kids related to that, teenage years, etc. I enjoyed it...only 250pgs so easy to get through...on to the next adventure.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris...good light read.

(See that, Soccermom!?!? 3 books in less than a week! Woo-hoo! Thanks for the inspiration! :thumb )

I just graduated from college and my big gripe during school was that I didn't have time to read a novel. I have had all summer to get started but I have these fabulous magazines I have got caught up in. When I finish that months pile the next arrives.
I have had a book on my bed stand since June, The Devil in the White City... My Mom can't wait to share it with me, I can't seem to open it.
Next week I'll have a new born, we'll see.

I'll set my own goal, it should be fun just getting a new book list & some reading feed back from others.

Lish I am super jealous, this has been a bad reading week for me. I am in a foul mood in general and don't have my mind to read much, just snippets. You go girl!!!

Lish I am super jealous, this has been a bad reading week for me. I am in a foul mood in general and don't have my mind to read much, just snippets. You go girl!!!
3 books in less than a week, but then the last 3 days I've been stuck in the first few pages of the newest Bret Lott. :LOL

I finally made it through "The Little Friend" by Donna Tartt (maybe some of you have read her previous book "The Secret History") This almost 600 page book was very disappointing - there were several story lines - the main one being a 12 year old girl trying to solve the mystery of who killed her brother 11 years before - but they were all unresolved and the big question of who did it was never even answered. I felt totally cheated - especially when I think of all the books I could have read in the time it took me to muddle through this one.

I finished "Sickened" which is a memoir of a woman who was brought up with Munchausen by Proxy. It is quite a horrifying story of child abuse - the mother was definitely a sick woman who not only caused her child to be sick by starving and overworking her and only letting her eat sugary foods but she also took her child to the doctor and had her lie about symptoms. She also really screwed with her husbands mind causing him to beat up his kids. And it goes on and on. Very well written and moving story though I must admit I had to put it aside several times because some of the things were so awful.

I was going to pick that book up, but then I had a flashback to 'A Child Called It'. I cried like a baby through the entire book. Interestingly, I read in NY Times a few months back that Dave Pelzer pretty much lied about his entire childhood.