lemon - "The Diving Bell ..." is up for four academy awards. I put in a link if you want to see the trailer.

I haven't seen the movie or read the book, but I've heard good things about the movie.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Diving Bell movie

Continuing on my francophile jag, I just re-visited Rumer Godden's "The Greengage Summer." This is one of my all-time favorites that I have to re-read every few years. It's a coming of age novel set in the part of France near the Marne River and Soissons. Five English children are left to cope on their own when their mother becomes ill. The author depicts their discoveries and adventures, even to the point of tangling with a thief. Godden details the cultural clashes between the English and the French.It is superb narrative, and I just have learned it is mostly autobiographical. For fans of R. Godden, I recommend it highly.

I'm working so hard in the garden these days that I'm just too tired for challenging new reading in the evenings. Does this mean I watch television instead? No, of course not. It means I am re-reading old favorites. Right now I'm visiting Damar. It's a lovely place to visit, but I'd rather have my orchard or my rose garden to live in.

BTW, I loved All the Pretty Horses myself, but I don't think I'll read the rest of the Border Trilogy. I was so shaken up by The Road that I don't think I'll ever be able to read any more Cormac McCarthy. It's been several months now since I finished it, and I'm no longer constantly haunted, but I do still have to push thoughts of that book out of my mind from time to time. I've never been so disturbed by a book.

Rosefolly

I have a question. Don't we usually have a new thread like this for each month? This time we moved right from January into February in the same thread. So I was just curious.

I'm close to finishing Eat, Pray, Love, and I seem to have developed a love/hate relationship with it. Some parts really annoy me, and yet other parts I find somewhat thought provoking. I like reading about the spiritual aspects more than the food or romance parts. I'm curious to see what my book club thinks.

Sarah, I started this thread because we had hit the 150 post limit rather early in January. If someone wants to start a new one now, I have no problem with that.

I'll be curious too. I think if she had stuck with the spiritual aspects, and shed her obnoxious self centered attitude, it would have been a much better book.

I have succumbed to the crud that most of the teachers and kiddos have at school-well, when you substitute for sick teachers, sitting at their desk, using their pens, being coughed and sneezed on by their students...these things happen. My plans for the day involve curling up under down with tea (the heater is also rattling and gasping and I am watching it with a jaundiced and fearful eye), napping and rereading an old favorite-the letters of Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis. DH and I have delayed Valentine's Day dinner reservations tonight so I have to have a quick recovery!

Sarah and Cindy-the author of Eat, Love, Pray was the speaker at our annual Junior League Author's Luncheon. We did sell so many tickets that we had to move it to a bigger room in the hotel, and we even had people coming without tickets the day of the luncheon asking just to hear her speak. Very successful from a fundraising standpoint.
I, unfortunately, couldn't go...but the report from the rest of my book club was that she was a bit...wifty? Hair in two pigtails, very casually dressed (that did not go over well with some of the VERY well-dressed matrons in attendance), wandered a bit in her speech and she did seem disconnected from her audience. I hated the book, but that is a genre I usually do avoid like mildew.

CeCe -- It's pretty amazing how this woman/book has garnered so much attention. Oprah helped, of course.

BTW - I love the word "wifty." I'd never seen or heard it before. I had to look it up. That description fits her perfectly.

Cindy - I'll let you know what my book clubbers have to say about this book.

Uh oh--I have to report for jury duty on Tuesday and the library is closed tomorrow for President's Day. Guess I'll be stuck reading Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo; I started it and am not terribly interested but it's all I have. Have any of you read it?

I am almost done with the juvenile sci-fi series about Tripods, by John Christopher, which I read at the behest of my fifth-grader. I seem to be having trouble getting into anything lately; I'm in a reading slump. Foolishly, I picked up a horrid non-fiction book ostensibly about "groupies," thinking it would be sort of a peek into life on the road with rock stars. (I did just read Patti Boyd's book about George Harrison and Eric Clapton--be still my teen-age heart!) The groupie book was gross, sad and repugnant and largely unread by me; what could those poor women be thinking?

Cece, I think you live in the same general area I do; hope you didn't pick up the interminable creeping crud that's going around and seems to last forever.

yup-same crud. me and book and my laptop went to bed early tonight.
Has anyone read The Emperor's Children? It is our next bookclub book-it is not calling my name.

Have been reading through this thread - lots of wonderful books! Have my pen and tablet at hand to write down titles and authors.

kren -I have read Master and Commander books via audio books. Got completely hooked on the series - passed the books onto my son, who is also now addicted.

martin - have you finished Breakfast at Tiffany's yet?

Just finished reading The Preservationist, and really got a kick out of it! Our book club is reading it for discussion this month.

I have just finished and thoroughly enjoyed The Importance of Being Kennedy by Laurie Graham.
The story is told by the Irish girl who arrives in Boston and becomes nursemaid to the growing brood of little K's from early days in the nursery, through school, their time living in London and WWII up until the death of 'Kick' Kennedy.
Graham (you may have read her Gone With the Windsors) has a wonderful 'ear' for accents and you can hear it in the voices of the largely Irish staff employed by the K's.

As someone who grew up in the UK I well-remember the hoo-ha around the election of JFK. Locked in our RC school the nuns had a huge TV set wheeled in to watch the various speeches and election results and Rev Mother told us we must pray that the right candidate won "And we all know who God will choose, don't we gels?"

It will be out mid-March in the US and I would be interested in US views on the accuracy of the 'sentiments' of the book and if Jo and Rose K were merely ambitious for their children or hard-as-nails in their race to be Top Family.

Vee, I enjoyed Laurie Graham's The Future Homemakers of America but couldn't get into Gone With the Windsors, I guess because I find David and Wallis a couple of dimwits and not particularly interesting except tangentially. I was never taken with the Kennedys either, but from what I've read about Papa Joe, he (and Rose, too, I suppose) were certainly grooming at least one of their children (it was Joe Jr. originally) and probably as many as possible to be politically influential. Is that what you mean about 'sentiments'? I may have to read Graham's book just to see, because the attitudes and opinions about the Kennedys in my part of the world at the time were not especially admiring. Ha! Actually that's an understatement. People were extremely leery of JFK and clan, and it wasn't because they were Catholic and Irish.

veer, I'll have to keep my eyes out for that book. My dad always talked about JFK (and I think the assassination of RFK broke him from caring about politics), but I never knew much about the family itself. Sounds interesting

I just finished Lamb, and no I have no idea why we are reading it for our Sci Fi Fan group, but I am glad that I got the chance to do so. Its not for anyone who takes the bible literally, but if you want an interesting take on the story, and don't mind having Jesus portrayed as a gasp human being with a sense of humor, I'd recommend it. Even me, a non believing Jew, was moved at the end.

My mother (a super intelligent woman and pretty politically savvy) loved the Kennedys and was quite disappointed when the junk started coming out about JFK. She mourned, "I just liked them so much because they were so smart." Ah, the days before media expose`s were the norm.

yes-the media's "public right to know the truth" vs my "stop shattering my illusions...I liked them!"

Finished Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt - it slowed down in the middle, mildly picked up to the end. Interesting women.

IÂve been enjoying some long, leisurely reads of some good stories.

Recently finished Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart OÂNan. Not a book that will be to everyoneÂs taste, this chronicled (in minute detail) the last day of a Red Lobster restaurant from the perspective of Manny, the manager. I thought it was an ultra-realistic depiction of the workings of an American chain-food restaurant and the personalities of its employees. I closed the book feeling that I could possibly bump into one of this crew the next day. If anyone has read any other novels by this author, IÂd love a recommendation for what to try next.

And IÂm currently right smack in the middle of By George by Wesley Stace, which IÂm enjoying tremendously. Synopsis: "It tells the story of two boys called George Fisher, one of whom is not a boy but a ventriloquistÂs dummy, which is the gift of Echo Endor, 30Âs ventriloquism's brightest star, to her son Joe. Years later in the 1970s, JoeÂs 11-year-old grandson George Fisher is packed off to a chilly boarding school with the ironical name of Upside. Brought up in a theatrical family, educated and indulged by his actress mother, a pair of aunts and his grandmother Evie (once known as Echo Endor), George gets a book on voice-throwing and a set of diaries bequeathed by his grandfather Joe, and soon finds the antiquated rigours of school life paling in comparison with the secrets lurking in his family's past." Not a lot of press was given to this book but IÂm glad it caught my eye.

>By George by Wesley Stace

I've heard of the book, and him. Stace used to go by John Wesley Harding, a bluegrass/country singer. He wrote Misfortune a few years back which was popular in the other forum Im in. This one looks intriguing

The only O'Nan book I've read was Prayer for the Dying - a somber book about a town where all of the people are dying. But despite its subject, I couldn't put it down. I've been wanting to read Lobster. He has several others on his website you might be interesting in looking at..

Here is a link that might be useful: Stewart O'Nan website

My book club met to discuss Eat, Pray, Love last night, and overall it was a disappointing discussion. Only three of us had bothered to read the book, and the woman who hosted the evening, who is supposed to lead the discussion, was one of them. Needless to say, we didn't get much "discussing" done. We socialized for about an hour and a half, until I finally asked if we were going to discuss the book. Then we made rather half-hearted attempts at a discussion. I find it hard to keep on track when half the group hasn't even read the doggone book!

Anyway, those who read it felt much as I did: the author was completely and totally self-absorbed, the subject matter varied from interesting to annoying to downright boring. Most of them liked her writing style. I thought she overwrote at times. If we hadn't been reading it for book group, we probably wouldn't have made it out of Italy.

Elizabeth Gilbert is going to be at UCLA in March. Normally, I wouldn't even consider going, since her book doesn't sound that interesting to me. However, she's appearing with Anne Lamott whom I LOVE! So, I guess I should read Eat, Pray, Love so that I will get something out of her half of the show.

I am so excited to hear Anne Lamott in person. I've read most all of her books. I read Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year while I was pregnant and have made time to re-read it (something I never do). Her description of her father as he suffered from a brain tumor closely paralleled my grandfather's descent into Alzheimer's. She really nails that feeling of being torn between the enchantment of a new baby and the heartbreak of losing a loved one. For now, it is enough to see my grandpa and daughter interact with each other. It's so amazing how you don't need language to communicate with a baby and so Papa and Jane have a very special relationship.

But anyways. . .Anne Lamott next month. . .YAY!

Cindy, thanks for the O'Nan recommendation. I wanted to try more of his writing, and Prayer for the Dying sounds intriguing, so I'll definitely check it out. I did hear about Stace's previous book Misfortune, and have added it on my TBR list as well.

We're having an ice storm here tonight where I am, so I'm heading to bed and burrowing beneath my down comforter with my book. I hope the rest of you are managing to stay warm wherever you are.

Finished Skeleton Dance and Old Bones by Aaron Elkins. These mysteries focus on the forensic anthropologist, Gideon Oliver, who studies bones to learn more about the mystery in question. Both mysteries were enjoyable, though I do believe I enjoyed Old Bones the best of the two. I find the descriptions of the bones and the conclusions to be entertaining reading.

Now onto something of a slightly different fare: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry. I've not gotten far, but it interesting already. I was interested in learning more about the Flu of 1918....as anything science-related is interesting to me, and we lost family members to this flu, as did most other people. This book looks to be an interesting study of how medical science changed in the U.S. and then met the pandemic head on.

I'm finishing up my 3rd re-reading of Rumer Godden's augobiography: "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep." I just adore the descriptions of how she had to live in India, when she ran out of money, was supporting 2 young children, and her husband abandoned her to their fate. She moved out of the city, into the country and lived on a houseboat. Then, she moved far up North into Kashmir, renting a primitive rustic abandoned house. She was living on a shoestring, growing her own garden, dealing with an exquisite landscape, which included Alpine flowers and snow leopards. All this time, she continued to write, churning out novel after novel. An amazing woman! (And I've left out her adventures with her own ballet school in India and life during WW II).

Rumer Godden, IMHO, shares one wonderful characteristic with another favorite of mine: Isak Dinesen. They both write in exquisite detail of adopted foreign landscapes and share a love and respect for the native peoples they found in these exotic locales. Those who liked "Out of Africa" and "Shadows on the Grass", would thus enjoy Rumer Godden's books about life in India.

Mary or anyone, have you ever had the chance to watch Jean Renoir's film The River based on Rumer Godden's work. Set in rural India and made in 1950, it is, of course, quite dated but paints an interesting picture of the life of a colonial family set against the unchanging slow pace of agricultural toil.
Godden's nephew played the part of the young son.

btw I don't think RG felt India was her 'adopted' country, she really thought of it as her homeland and like so many of her fellow 'Raj' compatriots (from Kipling onwards) felt out of her depth and unhappy when sent back to a cold and grey England.

Here is a link that might be useful: The River

Phaedosia, I envy you, getting to hear Anne Lamott speak. Traveling Mercies is one of my favorite books.

Vee, thanks for posting that re R. Godden. I've just now begun reading "The River" for the first time. I'd love to find the film. I was so disappointed to find our local public library has so very few of Godden's novels. (Often, when older books fall apart from usage, the librarians decide not to replace them!) ;-(

I have just been recovering from flu which I thought would be the perfect occasion to read my little heart out but which, instead, was spent hibernating under the covers too exhausted to do anything else. All that prime reading time - just gone!

Did manage to finish "The $64 Tomato" by William Alexander, a reccie from someone here (sorry can't remember who) but found it to be funny and inspirational. Sort of like a Bill Bryson for the gardening world. Can't believe he took all that project on and worked a full-time job. Crazy man.

I am going to do pots myself.

I'm half way through Haven Kimmel's new book, The Used World and I like it a lot. She's a sharp writer, and her sense of detail and ability to describe our perceptions of what should be, what was, what we want to be, and what actually is are thought-provoking and a delight to read.

Sheri -- I have just ordered "The used World" from the library. I had heard it was part of a loose trilogy. Doo you find that to be true?

I couldn't get into The Egyptologist just yet. So I'm reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man. Next up for book club is Suite Francaise, about which I've heard many good things here.

I am reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, and have decided I would like to see the miniseries.

Also reading The Thirteenth Tale.

Lemonhead, it's supposed to go along with The Solace of Leaving Early and Something Rising, Light and Quick, neither of which I've read. You can definitely read The Used World as a stand-alone. I do know that one of the two main characters from TSOLE is a minor character (with a lot to say) in The Used World, I don't know what the connection is with SR,L&Q other than they all take place in Indiana.

I finished The Used World yesterday and was left with a lot to think about. I'd be interested to hear what you think of it when you're done.

I'm now happily scurrying through Laurie Graham's Future Housewives of America. I loved her Gone With the Windsors, and am enjoying this one, too.

Just finished a fascinating book - Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. It's a book which traces the fossil connections between people and earlier creatures, and the DNA connections between people and more primitive creatures - fish being one of the major ones that are discussed.

It's quite fascinating to see what a mess evolution has made of our bodies, and how wonderfully, despite all that, it keeps working. Nerves and blood-vessels take the most ridiculously inefficient paths in our bodies; parts of us just work badly (every time you cough and choke on a bit of food, blame the fact that the original pattern was evolved to work well for four-legged creatures with their heads pointing down - and now we're up on our hind legs, and it doesn't work very well any more). Basically, if we were designed, whoever did it made a god-awful job of it...but everything fits when you follow the evolutionary paths.

It's also the first book I've read which has made the essential difference between the Theory of Evolution and the so called Intelligent (HA!) Design model. You can make predictions using evolution, and then test those predictions. And over and over again, predictions have been made as to where a particular fossil might be found - say, an interim animal somewhere between a finned fish and a legged amphibian - and over and over again, people have gone and searched and found the fossil they are looking for.

It's a wonderful book. It doesn't preach like Dawkins - it just lays out the beauty and wonder of the way we have evolved from earliest time. And throughout the book, the author's love of his subject comes glowing through.

Strongly recommended.

Martin, thanks for that review, that book has been on my "to buy" list since I first read about it in Discovery magazine. I will definitely pick it up now.

I'm about half way through Keeping the House by Ellen Baker. It's her first book, set in small town Minnesota (I think) in 1950, and deals with a new bride who falls in love with an old house. The story goes back and forth between her and the original owners.

The chapters begin with quotes from 1950 issues of Good Housekeeping and The Ladies' Home Journal, giving advice on homemaking and pleasing one's hard working husband; e.g., "The bride who wants to do her full job will plan from the start to create the kind of home her husband wants, and to do it with no more assistance than he willingly offers."

I was first married in 1953 and used to enjoy reading those magazines, poor little misguided thing that I was, but I am enjoying the book. The bride cooks supper wearing her girdle, and I most certainly never did that!

Martin, I remember hearing about DNA connections ages ago and wanted to know more. Thanks, I need to find that

In one of those 'nothing on my shelves looks good' moods so I am back to reading more from the Twain Bible. Just finished the Adam and Eve Diaries. We read these in HS, and remember some of my speech club friends using parts of it for their oral interpretation competitions. I'd forgotten how really lovely, and funny, they are.

Ok, so I realize that haven't posed since about the summer time, but my first year of teaching has kept me incredibly busy. I missed reading the posts here.

I recently finished Breakfast of Champions. I like Vonnegut's humour in this book. After finishing it, I picked up Foucault's Pendulum. I was avoiding it so that I could finish report cards and survive the ministry inspection at school, but I finally caved, started it, and I'm hooked. It seemed really dense at the very beginning, but it eased up quickly.

Rambo - I'm in my 2nd year of teaching....I didn't get to read much last year, either, but this year has been much better - even with giving several of my units minor or major makeovers. I've enjoyed the increased time for reading.

Still reading The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History by John Barry. I'm about halfway through and it's absolutely fascinating....the first section focused on how medical science changed at the end of the 1800's, and now I'm reading about the first waves of the epidemic, just about to turn deadly. An excellent book, so far. Those of you who enjoy reading history or science might want to check this book out.

I am almost finished my second reading of "People of the Book." My first reading was so choppy, it didn't do it justice. The historical aspects are fascinating and I am enjoying this much more than the novel about the plague village whose title I can't remember right now.

grelobe-
"I also just finished Umberto Eco's Baudolino..."

I liked all his other works but with Baudolino I just couldn't get involved so I didn't finish it.

sheriz6-
"Have you read Shadow of the Wind"

I really liked Shadow of the Wind, our book club read it and loved it.

netla-

"Also reading The Thirteenth Tale."

Did you like it? I did and so did my daughter- we usually don't have similar taste in books.

debora, I think you mistakes my statement with that of Siggy, days ago. I wrote: I truly enjoyed The Name of the
Rose, I was fascinated by FoucaltÂs Pendulum, I ploughed through The island of the Day Before, but I
gave up Baudolino, so we're even

grelobe

Deborah, I liked The Thirteenth Tale. It's a good piece of storytelling. I hear they're making a movie - should be interesting to see how it turns out.

Now reading He Loves Lucy by Susan Donovan and getting ready to start reading The Two Towers by Tolkien. I have been reading the LOTR trilogy every few years for the last 20 years or so. I have the unabridged audio book and love to listen to it, but I also like reading it for myself.

I finished Laurie Graham's Future Housewives of America and really enjoyed it (despite her 1950's era characters going to "the mall" - where did that anachronisms thread go?). I'm already onto another by her, The Great Husband Hunt which is quite promising so far. I really like her sense of humor and her characters are wonderful.

In between, I read a short non-fiction book that I found not only interesting but really inspiring, Rafe Esquith's Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire. I stumbled on this book in the library and the title caught my eye. He's a veteran teacher in a Los Angeles public elementary school and his classes are made up of kids who speak English as a second language and who come from low-income, struggling families. These kids succeed on so many levels, it's amazing. I was completely blown away by his energy, his commitment to his students, and his take on public education today. I'm not a teacher, but as a parent, the whole book just made such good sense, and clarified a few things that had been bugging me about my own school system. I bought a copy for my sister who teaches 2nd grade and I'll be very interested to see what she thinks of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rafe Esquith & The Hobart Shakespeareans

rambo and becca, hope its a good busy! I remember my first few years - I think I practically lived at the school (this was in my carefree single days tho). Its a stressful time but fun too. I remember realizing that I had chosen the hardest profession at the same time that I realized I had no desire to do anything else.

Sheri I have heard of the Esquith book before. We really need more teachers like him. That commitment and energy, that passion, are traits that make a great teacher. Add patience, determination and subject knowledge and well there isn't anything those kids can't do. I wish our colleges helped develop teachers like this, but alack and alas.... (for another thread)

I will be reading Life of Pi this weekend for a reading group. Hope its as good as people say it is, and not as bad as I've read it is....

I really liked Life of Pi. It's one of the most unique books I've ever read ... and there's so much to think about. Let us know what you think. We had a good thread here a couple of years ago about the book.

I am reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the new book club I joined in January and enjoying it.
I really did not care for the first two books they had chosen and couldn't even finish Love in the Time of Cholera-hated it and the characters - so I am hoping they will be making better choices in future months....realizing of course that it is hard to please all the members every month.

Pat

Cindy, Life of Pi is a wonderful book. As Sarah said, it will leave you with a great deal to think about. I loved it.

sherwood, that book was a favorite of mine as a child. I've never reread it as an adult, I'm afraid the magic of it will be lost. So it will be interesting to hear how a bunch of adults thought of it! Report back, please

sarah and sheri, thanks for your encouragement!

Cindy, it's a good busy for me - but teaching is my 2nd career. I am a former patent examiner, but after leaving that profession and flitting with the idea of a PhD in biochemistry, I realized that my true passion lie elsewhere. During my undergrad days, I'd often helped many of my peers in our more difficult of classes - tutoring up to 10-12 at a time! Most other chemical engineers would never consider this.

to books - my reading time has been a bit limited as of the past few days with the end of the six weeks near. I am still, however, moving on through the book on the 1918 influenza. What a fascinating disease - influenza, itself. I had no idea of the insidious nature of influenza as compared to many other viruses.

Lemonhead...."Did manage to finish "The $64 Tomato" by William Alexander, a reccie from someone here (sorry can't remember who) but found it to be funny and inspirational. Sort of like a Bill Bryson for the gardening world. Can't believe he took all that project on and worked a full-time job. Crazy man......I am going to do pots myself."
......I don't know if you meant to be funny when you wrote that but I read it two hours ago and I'm still chuckling!

Kara - I was just being honest, but sometimes my honesty causes people to laugh. Glad I could make you chuckle. :-)