I finished Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols, the third one in his series about gardening at his home Merry Hall. I also read his biography, Beverley Nichols a Life by Bryan Connon. I found myself getting bored by the end and skimming so I could put the darn book down. I also finished Making it Up by Penelope Lively. It's the first book of hers that I've read. I found it intertaining enough that I picked up another of hers to listen to on audiobook. It's in my car so I can't check the title, but I think it's Cleopatra's Sister.

Just finished (sadly) the wonderful "Small Island" by Andea Levy. Wow. What a good book - certainly the best book I have read this year by far. Thanks to all for recommending it. I feel sorry for whatever book I choose next because it will not fare well in comparison....

Veer, thanks for the tip about "Gone with the Windsors". I got a library copy and enjoyed it so much that I am reading it again! (+++SPOILERS+++) I liked the way in which the author didn't give Maybell 20/20 hindsight but let her think as she would have at that time and get things wrong! I got a bit confused myself about who "Came" was until I realised she meant "Attended" at her parties!
You were asking Astrokath and Larry about Australia as a Republic. I live in Western Australia and we are a conservative lot, no talk of it here that I have heard but if the Eastern States vote for it we shall have to have a Republic as we don't have the numbers to oppose. I suppose we could always secede, it has been mooted before!
It probably won't make much difference anyway as we hardly ever see the Queen and would probably only see a President when there is an election coming up or cutting a ribbon if there is something to be opened!!

>Just finished (sadly) the wonderful "Small Island" by Andea Levy

Lemon, check out the excellent discussion thread, and add your own thoughts.

Why oh why did Line of Beauty beat out Cloud Atlas for the NBA? Having read the latter, I thought I'd pick up the former and see what the difference was. There's no comparison. Any ideas?

Annpan, as you say Gone with the W's' is worth a second read because it is so easy to miss references, names of guests etc the first time round. I noticed that in almost every chapter there is a small rather 'clever' comment (and some probably so clever I missed them) where Maybelle unwittingly shows her lack of awareness of the 1930's Social Minefield. When holidaying with the PoW and Mrs S she says something like "We are off to visit the Dardanelles tomorrow, so many new people to meet all the time." And when she first goes up to Scotland for the shooting season and writes in her diary that the men will be shooting a small bird called a grise . . .she has heard the way grouse is pronouned when speaking with a 'stiff upper lip'!

cindy surely there is no comparison between 'Cloud Atlas' and 'Line of Beauty' because they are so totally different, their only similarites being that they are written in English. I am no slave to fashionable prize-winning literature but I would suggest that LofB was very heavily influenced by the Pink Vote.

I think I'm the last person in the world to read The Good Earth but better late than never. I'm only halfway through but it's so engaging and written with a clear hand.

*spoiler alert*

When Buck describes the famines I tend to put more on my dinner plate.

The Good Earth was a favorite of mine in HS - I mustve read it a hundred times. It wasn't till I read it in college that I learned more about the historical background (foreign involvement in the 1800s, Boxer Rebellion in the early 1900s), and things made even more sense. Since then I've always been interested in Chinese culture and history.

Have to laugh about a spoiler alert - I wonder if there is a time limit to those? :)

What was funny was how much I liked the main character - till again I read it in college and realized what a jerk he really was....I cried when he made his wife give back those two pearls...

>Pink Vote

I take it you don't mean women....Funny, Anne Proulx wrote a very bitter rant about why Crash won the Oscars and Brokeback Mountain - she blamed the anti- pink vote. On both counts I think its probably simplistic (plus her rant was so over the top sour grapes that it really shouldn't be taken seriously). But I do agree with you that the two books have nothing in common aside from the language they were written in. Just a shame that Cloud Atlas wasn't seen as the better of the two.

To all my fellow mystery lovers, I wish to issue to you a public service warning: Never, never, never read Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman. The beginning is good, but then the female protagonist starts making decisions and doing things that make no sense whatever. And the ending! Oh my God, the ending! (IÂll try to warn you without posting spoilers.) The dénouement makes no sense, leaving holes in the explanation as to what happened, and some questions are just not answered at all. Not only that, the feelings and motivations of the protagonist which remain fairly steady throughout the book are just thrown out. Truly the most awful mystery book IÂve read in a long while. How this got published in the first place IÂll never know. I feel totally ripped off.

Thank you for your time.

LOL-Dorieann! Thanks for the alert!
I have never heard of that particular author, so will make a note of the name.
As a mystery fan I am always looking for new-but good-mystery writers.

I am currently reading The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais.

Pat

Have just started Frank McCourt's Teacher Man and although he has used up most of his funniest material in his previous books I am enjoying this. Obviously teenagers are much the same world-wide!
Alos have On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks on the go. Why do all his female characters have to jump into an unlikely sexual situation within the first couple of chapters? We have a young nicely brought up young lady noticing 'our hero' doing some sketching and before you can say HB pencil she is out of her kit 'modelling' for him.

Pat, or anyone, what do you make of the Rebels of Ireland please?

Vee-I know you are not that fond (!) of Rutherfurd's books. I never did finish The Princes of Ireland, so will want to do that before reading The Rebels.

I admit I never did really understand the "Irish" situation growing up, or even pay that much attention to it.
I have read Trinity by Leon Uris-twice and Angela's Ashes for better understanding-however although I haven't been to Northern Ireland, I have been to Ireland and was so impressed with the countryside and the people and their hospitality-despite all those sheep everywhere you looked LOL!

To get back to the question-when I read Rebels-I will let you know what I think of it!

Pat

Vee, I'd be interested in your opinion of Faulks' "On Green Dolphin Street" when you finish it, because I liked his "Charlotte Gray" so very much.

I finished "Max Tivoli" and am halfway through Anne Edwards' "Wallis: the Novel". It's a well researched, fictionalized account of Wallis Warfield Simpson from childhood up through her romance with the Prince of Wales. The part of the story where she goes to China in the 1920's and gets caught up in the war situation there is particularly well done. I like the way the author delves into the psychological components of Wallis' early family life to attempt to show motivation for some of her actions later on. The "Belle of Baltimore" came from a quite fascinating family, full of secrets and surprises. I had, of course, already read "The Woman He Loved", whose author's name escapes me now.

Cindy wrote:

Why oh why did Line of Beauty beat out Cloud Atlas for the NBA? Having read the latter, I thought I'd pick up the former and see what the difference was. There's no comparison. Any ideas?

No idea at all. Cloud Atlas is streets ahead IMHO. Line of Beauty was awful.

Jane
UK

Pat, Jesse Kellerman is the son of Faye and Jonathan K. I quit reading Jonathan a long time ago because he is too graphic for me. I do like Faye's Peter and Rina Decker series, but they can get pretty violent, too.

James Lee Burke's daughter Alafair has started a series, too. I ordered the first two through a book club but decided I didn't want any more enough to pay for them. I'll pick them up at the library if I see them.

Just finished "Specimen Days" by Michael Cunningham of "Hours" fame. A similar formula without the surprise and not nearly as good, but interesting to read and not a waste of time. He shows some admirable creativity in the futuristic segment. Reminded me a bit of Cloud Atlas too. For fun, "Shutter Island" by Dennis Lehane. He is usually so good and I was initally disappointed because it seemed so predictable. Well, it wasn't, or maybe I am especially dim.A great airplane read. Cindy--how did you like "Plot Against America" I have gone back and forth about liking or disliking and after several months, its not more clear. I will certainly remember it a long time. My jewish friends just nod knowingly about it which makes me sad.

isa, I have never liked Roth. Another online group I'm in was reading America for a discussion so I started it, and just couldn't do it. There is something about his writing that is like nails on the chalk board to me.

Specimen Days disappointed me as well. No where near as well done as Hours. I suspect tho I would have liked it if I hadn't had such high expectations.

>Cloud Atlas is streets ahead IMHO. Line of Beauty was awful.

I so agree. But then I've met folk who couldn't get into CA and loved Beauty, so go figure.

Just finished (thank goodness I thought it would never end) The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates-to line up with Dorieann's public service announcement-
DO NOT read this book. Unless you enjoy no plot, repulsive language, loathesone characters, revolting behavior and a stupid, yet completely predictable ending.
Now back to our show. After TTG, I needed soothing reading-so I picked up a Beverely Nichols that I had requested from the library at someone's recommendation-unfortunately, Merry Hall isn't in the lib's collection, so I borrowed Laughter on the Stairs and it is just the thing.
I have also devoured two cozy mysteries by Marian Babson-murders and gore galore, but oh so fun!

After finishing my second Stephen White book (better than the first) and eagerly starting on the third in the series, I'm ready to put Stephen White in the same category as Michael Connelly. The real test will be whether I can read the entire series from beginning to end without taking breaks for other books.

I'm reading "Salaryman's Wife" (Sujata Massey, Children of Violence Series). I'm enoying it, set in Japan.

Just finished "Grand Ambition" (Lisa Michaels), a true story about newlyweds in the 1920's who lose their lives rafting the Colorado. It was ok but I understand "Sunk without a Sound" is a more accurate report of their fatal excursion.

Also just finished "Girls" by Frederick Busch, a story of a man struggling with his marriage after the death of a child. Didn't care for it.

Cindydavid4: Regarding your comment about having a time limit on Spoiler Alerts.
When the Pride and Prejudice TV series was on the last episode, the UK's top TV guide put a picture of Elizabeth and Darcy's wedding on the front cover. All H-ll broke loose with people protesting that the ending, which they did not know, had been spoiled for them!
I suppose that I should have put a Spoiler Alert up front for this. I think that our Posters would have read the book by now but you never know!

LOL! Oh my, well....I guess I'll need to keep quiet then about Kane's sled...

As usual after I finish a wonderful book, any book I pick up will be a dud. But this one might work - yesterday a friend of mine put Beekeeper's Apprentice in my hands. I'm not a big fan of Holmes type mysteries (I'm more of a psychological suspense kinda girl - see Stephen McGrath and Barbara Vine) but I have heard of the premise and thought it could be fun. So far so good.

I finished The Confessions of Max Tivoli last night. This book is up for discussion here in April, and I am so glad I read it. I have just finished an unhappy romance, and this book was just the thing. Misery loves company! Seriously, I enjoyed the book tremendously and can't wait to discuss and hear everyone else's opinions. It is not very long and reads quickly, so give it a look if you haven't already.

I picked up Birds Without Wings and am intrigued by it even though I am only a few pages in - another recommendation from RP that I would not have attempted or even found on my own.

Alas, next week it is back to the textbooks -

I'm in the middle of Birds Without Wings, too - at the part that describes Gallipoli. I'll add my comments to the BWW thread when I'm done. After the intensity of this, I'll probably be ready to read one the fantasies that is in my TBR pile. I have promised myself not to buy anymore books until I whittle down this pile.

I reread Cane River by Lalita Tademy for one of my bookclubs. Although interesting, it isn't a compelling read.

Bellwether by Connie Willis was a hilarious book about a sociologist(and book lover) who studies fads. The author pokes fun at trends in every aspect of our lives, business management,food, and child rearing among them.

I also read Black Teeth & Other North End Souvenirs by Ryszard Dubanski, a memoir written by the son of Polish immigrants to Winnipeg.

I read Dirt Music by Tim Winton for my library book club - I know at least one of our members loved it - I'm looking forward to hearing what the others thought of it. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I took as my airplane book Forever by Pete Hamill, and after reaching Atlanta, stayed up late to finish it. I enjoyed this fictionalized history of New York very much.

Now I'm reading Elizabeth and Her German Garden. I'm definitely going to finish it before the flight home, and will be dependent on the airport bookstores to furnish me with reading material for the trip back to California.

Paula

Rose, I live all of Von Arnim's books - be sure to check out her others as well.

I gave up on Beekeepers Apprentice - just got bored with it. Read The Talented Mr Ripley (I've seen the movie a few times, and finally got a hold of the book) - its good, tho it probably would have been better if I didn't know the spoilers! I have a few more of Highsmiths books, think those might be good reads for summer break

Just started The Sea by John Banville for a discussion group.

I have just finished Music and Silence by Rose Tremain, which is an historical novel about the life of King Christian IV of Denmark. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but on finishing I have a strange feeling of discontent that I can't really explain.

Kath, I finished Music and Silence a couple of years ago, and at the time found it one of the best books I had ever read; and I am a really picky novel-reader.
I found it slow, but not heavy, going and remember being worried that it would have some terribly gloomy Nordic Dark-Night-of- the-Soul ending, but No! all was well.
Mary, I think this is very much the sort of book you would enjoy.

Having finished "Max Tivoli" I'm now engrossed in "Will in the World, How Shakespeare became Shakespeare" by S. Greenblatt. The author attempts to piece together all the "facts" re the actual bard and to separate truth from myth. There are a lot of quotes from W.S.'s plays and sonnets to prove his case. Greenblatt is a Harvard professor and I must say his scholarship seems meticulous. He has an impressive op. cit. Quite fascinating to me are the details of W.S. parentage and the bloody religious wars being played out in England, with Protestant vs. Catholic, at this crucial time. For those with a deep interest in Shakespeare, I recommend it....I wish I had been reading this when we had our Shakespeare thread going here at RP. I might then have had something intelligent to say....

Vee, I've often tried to find works by Rose Tremain without success. I will attempt this again.

I'm reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and it's absolutely charming. I think Netla had mentioned him at some point, and I'm very happy I finally picked this up. It tells the story of his boyhood in Corfu, where he was basically allowed to run wild and investigate the natural world around him while his eccentric family provided a very funny backdrop for his adventures. I've also requested his bio from the library.

I have finished The Girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks and am reading Murder in the Marais by Cara Black, with her Murder in the Bastille in the TBR stack. Guess where we are going to celebrate our anniversary--not that I'm planning to kill him; I just like mysteries.

Carolyn, I'd be interested in your opinion of Faulks' "Girl at the Lion d'Or," as I really liked his "Charlotte Gray" a lot.

Carolyn, like Mary I'm interested in your reaction to The Girl at the Lion d'Or. I found the romantic situation oddly uninvolving and have wondered whether I'm the only one; but I finished it because it was so short. I liked Charlotte Gray much better, Mary, and Birdsong, too.

I just finished Charlotte Gray over the weekend. So far, it is the only book I've read by this author. It was excellent. I'm a little embarrassed to say I saw the movie first. The book was definitely better, although I enjoyed the movie too. I am rereading The Lady and the Unicorn and am enjoying it even more the second time around. It makes me feel like I'm right there in the fifteenth century. The details about how the tapestries were made is fascinating.

After the disaster with Sunstroke, I didn't feel up to attempting Picoult's Vanishing Acts. I just can't stand to read two (potentially) bad books in a row -- I think possibly the world would end. So I've set it aside to attempt next month.

Instead I read Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. It's the story of a family of two older brothers and two young sisters who must deal with the sudden death of their parents and the ensuing struggle to keep their family together. Pretty good really, but I would have preferred more than the ending offered.

Right now I'm in the middle of Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job, and enjoying the heck out of it. It's about Charlie, whose wife dies right after giving birth to their baby daughter. (Okay, so it starts off sad, but it's really a hilarious book.) Charlie sees a tall, thin black man in the room right before his wife dies. In the weeks after, Charlie starts to see certain objects glowing red, and people start dropping dead around him. Really funny, in the style of Douglas Adams.

Next I have a classic in paperback - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Well, been reading "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson. Very gentle meditative book. It's good although very outside my normal choices. Enjoying it for the most part though.

Also been reading "No Plot? No Problem" about National Novel Writing Month (held each November) where people sign up to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Crazy, but rather persuasive.

>Really funny, in the style of Douglas Adams

I've tried Christopher Moore a few times, didn't care for him. But comparing his style to Adams in this book does it for me - definitely on my to be read list

I gave up on The Sea. I love beautiful language - if it drives the story and characters forward. Gilead certainly does that, tho it is indeed a meditative book. This one is just details upon details upon more tangents that I just needed to read something normal. So I go to my TBR shelf and notice Hummingbird's Daughter, which I recently bought when it came out in paper back. Friends raved about this book last year. So....a good book to close out the month, perhaps

Cindy, check out the link below for an example of the humor in this particular book. I mentioned Adams not only because of the particular brand of humor, but also the main character Charlie reminds me of Arthur in the HitchhikerÂs series. They share the same hapless, befuddled air of someone whose world has been turned inside out.

This is only my second of MooreÂs books, the first being Lamb. I enjoyed the humor and his writing style, but not that particular storyline. So I wanted to give another of his books a try.

Here is a link that might be useful: Excerpt

So I finally decided to read Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island. Both books were just as lively and exciting as Anne of Green Gables. I decided to stop there in the series because I've only heard mixed reviews of the rest of the books and I liked how the 3rd one ended.

I just bought a copy of Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, but before I get to that I think I'm going to read Maragaret Atwood's The Blind Assasin.

Mary The Girl at the Lion d'Ore, which must have come out nearly 20 years ago, I found to be rather a strange read. The 'story', such as it was didn't grab me at all and very little happened, but as you are keen on things French you may find the details of small-town living in the '30's interesting.
Has anyone from the US who was around in the early '60's read On Green Dolphin Street? The story concerns an English diplomat based in Washington during the runup to the Kennedy election. I wonder how accurate Faulks is in his dealings with all things 'American'. He goes into great detail about day-to-day things/places/speech patterns and has obviously done lots of homework, but it is difficult for me, reading from this side of the Pond, to say how convincing he is.
It is cerainly better than his latest Human Traces which doesn't seem to have come out in the US. I found it an over-long unreadable bummer.
SF, is primarily a journalist and I feel he never quite gets into his 'characters' . . .especially the females who are rather leaden.

doriann, ok you sold me. Oh my. Humor, and then a kick in the heart. I read Lamb, really didn't care for it (which is funny because I love books like that - Jim Crace's Quarrantine and Saramago's Gospel are excellent examples). But this one looks like I might like to read, thanks.

>Chuck Palahniuk

His books have been recommended to me for a while, and I've tried, I really have, but cannot get into him. Is there a good starting place among his work?

Cindy, I've only read one of Chuch Palahniuk's books so far, Invisible Monsters. I found his style to be unlike any other book I've read and took me a long period of reflection to decide that I really did like it, though, I can understand why people may not like it.

I Picked up Lullaby because the story idea really grabbed my interest, so I'm hoping I'll really like it. If I do then I'll try out his others, but I've put off reading other books of his because I can't imagine that the combination of the stories with his writing style will appeal to me.

rambo-I love all 8 in the Anne series-the last ones deal with her children and go right up through WW I-I like the last few better now than I did as a girl-maybe because I can now identify with Anne as a wife and parent!
I could cheerfully take an axe to the computer of whoever mutilated the stories for the second round of television-the first PBS production was fairly well-done-the second bears no relationship to the books at all.

Mary, I didn't like The Girl at the Lion d'Or at all. I found it wooden and depressing. I haven't read many French novels. On the whole, I find I don't much like them--guess that's why I haven't read many. I didn't like Zola's Germinal, either. Guess I'm hopeless.

Should I pursue Faulks' other books?

Carolyn, thanks for the warning about Girl at Lion d'Or. I've just checked it out but if I don't like it, won't waste my time.

I would recommend Faulks' "Charlotte Gray." From it I really thought I got the feel of the shortages and suffering in WW II in France. It was an almost viseral novel, to me, by the time I finished it. It did take a while to get into the story, but once I was immersed, I never wanted it to end. I liked the bitter-sweet finale, thought it was realistic.

If you rent films, you many want to rent the movie of it first, then decide whether you think it's your cup of tea.

I was in the mood for something different, so I picked up Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy. I'm about 2/3 into the first book. It was a little slow developing at first, but now it's moving along much faster. For those who have read it, do the next books start having more and more momentum? That is my hope anyway.

I just finished the Farseer series a couple of days ago. I didn't find that it dragged anywhere, but there are places where the action slows down some thoughout the books. The story of FitzChivalry Farseer continues in the Tawny Man trilogy. The Mad Ship trilogy takes place in the same world but is only slightly related to the Farseer story.

IÂve just finished to read The prince of Tides, which I read more or less twenty years ago for the first
time. Of course I remebred very well what the book was about, but rerading it I was able to get back a
lot of details that I had lost. In particular I remebered the strongest passages of WingoÂs family, and I
had lost the "poetic" pages. An other thing, IÂm now able to compared the book and the film,
because I saw it many times lately, in order to improve my listening-skills. In my opinion the book and
the film are complementary to each other , the book tells Tom Wingo memories for 80% of the story and 20% is
about Tom in New York, the movie is just the other way around.
I think Barbra Streisand did a great job, and always in my humble opinion, she has improved a few
naiveties of the author of the book, Pat Conroy. For instance doctor Lowenstein is far much
believeble as psychiatrist, in the film than in the book.

now I cut and past a little of the plot , for whom havenÂt read the book nor seen the film

Things come to a head when Tom learns that his beautiful and talented twin, Savannah, has tried to
commit suicide again. As she lays comatose in a New York City mental hospital, Savannah's
psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, urges Tom to travel to New York. Doctor Lowenstein realizes that
the only thing that can help save Savannah is to unlock the secrets of her terrible childhood
(something that all the Wingo children have long suppressed and refuse to talk about). Tom flies to
New York reluctantly, and at first, presents Dr. Lowenstein with a façade made up of humor, sarcasm
and even rudeness. But Dr. Lowenstein eventually is able to break down Tom's protective shell to
discover the horrors that took place during the Wingo's childhood. She also realizes that in trying to
save Savannah, that this might also be Tom's last chance to save himself. But it turns out that
Lowenstein has erected her own protective mask to hide her own unhappiness. With a remote
husband and a spoiled son, Tom is able to turn the tables and help the good doctor in promoting a
little self-healing as well.

Now IÂm nearly through with "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and IÂve got conflicting feelings
about it. I hope , with the beginning of the discussion I will be able to clear up my mind

grelobe

I've just finished 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', a children's book by John Boyne. What a wonderful, wonderful book. I can't give any details without giving the story away, so suffice to say, I'd encourage anyone to read it (and being a child's book it is a very quick read).

Jane
UK