I read The Power of One about two years ago, after coming back from a month spent in Africa. I really enjoyed it, the story was always interesting, the characters were well drawn. It was sometimes bleak in content but written with such a sense of humour... It was one of those books that stick with you, memorable...and one that I have saved for a reread one day. There is a niggling tickle in my brain that makes me think the ending was a bit of a disappointment, but since I put in on the reread shelf, it obviously didn't ruin the book for me.

I read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolf, and I found it compelling, interesting, but ultimately it left a bad taste in my mouth. The fact is that I just didn't like the narrator/author (it is a memoir). But the memoir just seemed like a parade of not-very-nice-people who do bad things. I'm sorry Wolf's life was like that, but I wish I hadn't read it. You may like it, however. It is beautifully written and I believe it is considered to be a very fine work.

The Beans of Egypt, Maine was good......

The only one I have read (in fact the only one I have heard of is McCourt's 'Tis'.
It carries on from where Angela's Ashes finishes with him on the boat to New York in the late '40's.
Frieda, I think it depends if you are 'into' the humour/blarney of the Irish (and quite a bit of AA, funny though it was, was 'made up'). This book is less amusing and deals with McC's life in NYC in tough jobs until he studies to become a teacher. Could be viewed as an exercise in 'how to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.' His brother Malachy got into the act and wrote several book about his time in NYC with rather too much drinking and fighting, He has even written a history of Ireland, but as to its accuracy . . . I'm not sure. ;-)

I read part of Belinda, then got bored. It was one of Anne Rice's experiments with erotica. I did not finish it.

Rosefolly

I would agree with Vee's opinion of "Tis." "My Life as a Dog" made a terrific movie, in my view -- have not read the book.

I read Belinda probably 25 years ago and remember liking it, though I don't recall a great deal of the story. It's basically Rice's version of Lolita.

I haven't read any of the others.

I have read The Dollmaker, and is is a modern tragedy in the true meaning of the word. It's very good but not happy. It was a made-for-TV movie starring Jane Fonda in the early 80s, and they changed the ending from what I took away from the book.

Thank you all for weighing in! The list above is just a minor dent in my ridiculously long TBR list -- it runs into the hundreds of titles that I've been collecting for twenty years, probably longer. Those I mentioned I had marked as RP recommendations, possibly from posters who no longer visit us.

Vee, I don't mind the Irish "talking crack" (do they still say that now that most people's first thought of crack is usually associated with cocaine?), but I really wasn't all that entranced with Angela's Ashes. I'll probably skip 'Tis. By the way, how is 'Malachy' pronounced? I've been saying it the same as the Biblical prophet, Malachi, but I have no idea if that's right.

Sheri, I think you might have been the one who mentioned Belinda and its similarity to Lolita that made me put the book on my list. I was told by someone else that readers who don't particularly care for Anne Rice in her vampire mode might like her 'Anne Rampling' style better. When my DH was teaching at Tulane, we stayed in a house just down the street from Rice's house, and naturally being curious I stocked up on her most well-known books. I think I finished one of them.

I have to admit that the title My Life as a Dog is just about enough to put me off it forever, Mary. ;-)

I have one book to cull from my list: B*stard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. I read the summary and reviews at Amazon and now I can't imagine thinking I might want to read it: it sounds bloody awful! It has beaucoup 5-star ratings, though.

Frieda, I think that much of what is expected of the Irish, usually by Americans claiming descent from the Emerald Isle, is rather far from reality. I have never heard a real Irish person use the term craic meaning a good old gossip/chat . . . though they certainly will tell you an entertaining tale.
Malachy is usually pronounced Malakey with emphasis on the first part of the word.
Regarding way too many TBR books, rather than hundreds, I do have dozens, usually picked up very cheap at sales etc and I know I should get rid of most of them then, out-of-the blue I pick one up and it is an excellent read; so I just can't take the risk. ;-)

...just read a synopsis of the Carolina book...that has to be the ultimate dysfunctional family book...I feel ill.

Frieda, I was a huge fan of Anne Rice until her Vampire series spiraled out of control (IMO, anyway). Still, I will always have a soft spot for Interview with the Vampire, as well as the next couple of books in the series, as the whole vampire genre was hers alone and completely original at the time.

I liked her older books, Cry to Heaven, The Feast of All Saints and Belinda. All very different from the vampire books with stronger writing and editing.

Vee, thanks for the proper spelling of 'craic' (before I'd only heard it pronounced) and the pronunciation of 'Malachy'. I laughed through Brendan O'Carroll's The Mammy (retitled Agnes Browne with the film adaptation, starring Anjelica Huston but now changed back to the original, apparently). I haven't read the follow-ups, though (one is The Chisellers). I like Roddy Doyle in small doses, too. I think my favorite Irish writer/memoirist is Alice Taylor (To School through the Fields and The Village), because she doesn't try so much to be funny but is amusing nonetheless (sad and poignant, as well). Vee, you were the one who probably turned me on to Alice Taylor.

Sheri, my goodness, you are ADDING to my TBR list! I love it. Yes, it was Interview with the Vampire that I finished, and I liked it. But I couldn't get into the second one. I quite like some vampire stories, but lately there seems to be such a fad of them that I no longer want to keep up.

Vee or anyone, would you divulge some of the lingerers on your TBR lists/piles? You have given me some dandy, unusual (to me) ideas in the past. Of course I can't think of any examples right now because I don't have my list to jog my memory, but I am delighted with off-the-wall recommendations -- for some reason I find them more interesting than the latest thing in fiction (or nonfiction, for that matter). I have noticed over the years that you seem to have a particular interest in real people's lives or at least realistic fictional lives. Do I have the right impression?

Don't know what thread to put this on, but will post it here: today, I was walking in my charming neighborhood of downtown Charleston, SC and encountered a small glassed-in box in a yard. The sign said "Free public library. Feel free to take or book or leave one, or both." Inside were several books of both fiction and non-fiction. Now I know where to go with my unread, undesired books....

I have not read Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children, but I believe it is a well-known book. I think it is about a dysfunctional family, so it may not be too cheerful.

Frieda, I'll get back to you here with some TBR recommendations (although, of course I have yet to read them) but we will be 'having the decorators in' from tomorrow so this room has to be cleared of everything by then. It is euphemistically known as the drawing room, which makes it sound very grand, but, apart from the kitchen, is the main area with any warmth in it. So it contains the TV, the computer, too much furniture, built-in overflowing book cases, two fireplaces . . .. one imposing and Victorian but not used as it would eat a ton of coal a day. The other hideous '60's, small and mean that percolates some odd wisps of heat by bedtime. Oh! Also an aging carpet worn thin near the TV (youngest son with very poor sight used to sit within 6 inches of the screen and gradually pulled tufts out of it . . .the carpet not the TV . . . which will have to go.
All this is a long-winded way of saying I might not have access to the computer for a while!
I do remember enjoying a book you recommended when I first 'arrived' here. Period Piece by Gwen Raverat the granddaughter of Charles Darwin and well-known wood engraver/illustrator . . .these are the things I enjoy. The social history of places/things and what makes people tick. As you know I have little time for so-called modern fiction. Easily read and soon forgotten.

Woodnymph, we have one of those tiny glass-box libraries in our neighborhood and I smile every time I see it. It's such a wonderful idea, and even on such a small scale it works. I've left a few books there, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Take a Book, Leave a Book

The mini-libraries are a nifty idea, some are delightfully quaint and imaginative. I'm glad that some poor, forlorn books have a chance of getting a good home. Gee, I sound like books are sentient. Well, I like to think they are!

Vee, whenever you get the chance; I'm in no hurry. I fully understand the disruptions of decorators. I've mentioned that I lease my house for two-, four-, or six-months, fully furnished (but not with my best stuff). Every time I come home, I have to call in cleaners and decorators. It's not that my tenants are pigs (most aren't, anyway), but the normal wear-and-tear of living in a place can create quite a mess. It's amazing what people do to couches, for example, and I fully expect to replace rugs after every tenancy. I learned the hard way that leaving hardwood floors exposed is just asking for trouble. It's better just to cover them with cheap room-size rugs that can be tossed.

I've probably described my library several times, a purpose-built room (actually an enclosed atrium with clerestory windows), with bookshelves along three walls and several lower, free-standing bookcases that serve as room dividers. I leave most of the shelves stocked with books that I don't mind losing, in case tenants would like to carry some off with them. The empty places on the shelves have artfully placed gewgaws (when I'm home there are no empty places, because books fill 'em all). The fourth wall of the room is glass windows and doors leading onto the lanai. It's a beautiful room, I think, but I was told by a tenant that as beautiful as it is, it was quite useless for her family! Another tenant left behind some very strange hooks that had been bolted through the upright boards of the shelving unit on one wall. I puzzled over them and had them removed and had the holes they left filled in. My DH figured out what they were used for: hanging a big screen television. The thing covered at least eight shelves of books. These are the same tenants who I suspect never opened a book, but they evidently liked a couple of the gewgaws enough to lift them.

Vee, I still love Period Piece. One of the most amusing parts to me was the description of the Darwins not caring about music (several were apparently tone deaf) and they didn't know what to make of their cousin (I think he was) Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Timallan, I was intrigued with The Man Who Loved Children because Christina Stead was Australian, or an English migrant to Australia, yet she chose to write about an American family. That was back in the 1930s, and the book was rejected by several publishers and then when it was finally published (in 1940?), it was pretty much panned by critics and readers alike. Yet some time in the late 1960s or early '70s, The Man Who Loved Children was rediscovered and hailed as a 'masterpiece'. Well maybe it is, but I've never known anyone who remembers reading it, except for whoever recommended it here at RP. It's...

I also liked Anne Rice's books Interview with the Vampire, Cry to Heaven, and The Feast of All Saints. I have not liked anything else she wrote and have stopped trying. However I would recommend these three very much. The second two novels are historical novels, not vampire stories. The first is based on the castrati in 18th century Italy, and the second is based on the Free People of Color in pre-Civil War New Orleans. Like the vampires of her more famous books, they are about people whose lives are very much outside of normal society.

Rosefolly

Sheri, thanks for posting the photo. The little library looks exactly like the one in my neighborhood. I think it's such a terrific idea.

I saw the same little library in a village on the BC coast. You just know you would like the people in who live in the house...I think the same when I see people who have hummingbird feeders around their house too.
Frieda, I remember when you were building that. Did you post a picture, or perhaps I just have this picture in my head of what it looks like. I know some of you have built some amazing shelves or libraries. Some pictures would be nice..hint hint.

I like Harriet Doerr's writing and loved Stones for Ibarra. She writes about Mexico. Her first novel was published when she was 74, by the way!

I've read This Boy's Life too but can't remember it well at all, except that I have a feeling I agreed with siobhan_1's assessment of it.

Friedag, what a sensible landlady you are! As someone who has rented, I am amazed that people expect to find their homes to be in a pristine state when vacated even when they were not to start with!
I think that I was always careful and even improved places. We redecorated a room once as the wallpaper was peeling off! I believe that anything done to a rental place should be done at once and with permission or it doesn't seem worthwhile later in the tenancy.
Your place sounds wonderful and I should love to stay if I could travel again.
Going back to the list, I haven't read any of these books but Bryce Courtenay is very popular in Australia and my daughter reads his books, if that is any help!