Due to the sad demise of elephants, and whether you are an animal lover or not, Lawrence Anthony's "The Elephant Whisperer" should be on your must read list. This true story is so beautiful, passionate, frightening, filled with love and an enlightening learning experience - don't miss it.

I had a hold on Finders Keepers by Stephen King and it finally became available on Saturday, so I'm just getting started on it. It's the second book in a trilogy; the first was Mr. Mercedes.

Donna

I am reading Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel about a flu pandemic hits as a celebrated actor dies during King Lear. Dystopian, a la The Road (not not as "raw"). Reading it for book club, on page 30 so not much of an opinion. I can say that I do not avoid the book, but neither do I eagerly look forward to picking it up, either. Maybe by page 100 I will be more or less on one side of that fence.

PAM

PAM, please let us know what you think of it when you're done. Station 11 has been in my TBR pile for a while now, and I'm hesitant to read it if it's anything like The Road (just skimming that in a bookstore left me with a few horrifying images in my head and a strong determination to never read it). I can deal with dystopian fiction, I just need some hope at the end and nothing too horrifying in the middle ;)

I am not a fan of dystopian or science fiction novels but I read Station 11 for a book challenge where I needed to read something from one of these genres. A friend recommended Station 11. I have to say, I did enjoy it. It may have taken me a little while to get into it, but by the time I finished it, I was glad I went outside my comfort zone and read it.

Edited to add, Sheri, I read it almost two years ago and can't remember if there was anything "too horrifying" in the middle. Sorry!

I'm in the middle of Old Bones by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I love her books, no matter the genre and only wish I "got" all the puns she puts in the Bill Slider ones.

Just finished Old Bones. For once, I saw the end coming from them middle of the book.

Sheri,

As I am further into the book, it is still much less "raw" than The Road. The Road still horrifies me and I wish I could un-read it. But so far, Station 11 is interesting, thought-provoking and not too far over the edge. It is NOT cozy, but it is readable.

I also just started Doris Lessing's Golden Notebook. No opinions, thoughts, or comments yet... other than that I wish I had the time to write in ONE notebook on a regular basis... nevermind FOUR.

PAM

Pam, re: The Road, I avoid Cormac McCarthy books like the plague because I find them so bleak, and they stick with you like gum on the bottom of your shoe. He's a great writer, I just don't want to read what he writes.

Also, I have The Golden Notebook on top of my TBR pile, so I'm interested to hear your review.

I'm just starting The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar by Martin Windrow. I seem to have an "eccentric British man with unusual pet" theme going.

I am reading Blue Madonna by James R. Benn, the latest Billy Boyle book. Billy is a Boston Irish cop and a relative of General Eisenhower who joined the Army before he got drafted because his mother thought he would get a nice office job in Washington. Now he is a problem solver in the European war theater.but still a brash, slick, Irish Catholic kid. I have really enjoyed the series.

Just finished Agnes Grey by the youngest Bronte sister Anne.

Not surprisingly it's the story of a young woman, who, through respectable poverty, becomes a governess. Her first family have two obnoxious spoiled children, who she cannot control and is sacked. The second, two older 'young ladies', one with eyes for gentlemen (or anything in trousers) the other a tomboy.

Agnes' down-trodden and put upon days are made bearable by the serious, plain but good-hearted curate.

Rather too much discussion about the worthy poor, the finer points of Sunday's sermon, the lack of moral backbone in society, and the virtues of owning few clothes.

A change to read a book containing so little mention of physical attraction and all its permutations. The closest AB comes to it is when she mentions the curate patting Agnes' hand and using her Christian name.

Easy to see why big sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre did so much better.

Vee, wow, pretty hot stuff, that!

I have just finished reading "Heirs and Assigns" by Marjorie Eccles. I liked it better than the previous "A Dangerous Deceit" as the ending wasn't so abrupt.

I shall need to read it again to find the clues I missed among the red herrings!

After a long dry spell of only re-reads, I've finished 8 new books in the last 3 weeks! This week was Hugo-oriented: I read the 2016 Hugo winner, The Fifth Season, and Axis, the sequel to an earlier Hugo winner, Spin. The Fifth Season is labeled fantasy, but no Dark Lords or elves here: in a tectonically-active world, people have evolved with sensory organs that make them aware of tectonic movement; with this awareness, some have the ability to use the energy of the latent heat around them to affect the tectonic events - start/stop/redirect earthquakes, volcanoes,etc. That's the basic premise but the story is about the social constructs resulting from periodic civilization-destroying events, and told very imaginatively in flashbacks and by 3 POV characters. Well worth the time. Axis is a good follow-on to Spin: again taking a neat concept and exploring the impact on humanity through individual characters, making it very personal.

And in between those 2, I raced through the latest Maisie Dobbs. A very satisfying week in reading!

Whether your are Irish or not, don't miss Patrick Taylor's books. "An Irish Country Doctor" is a delightfull read with humor strewn throughout. Enjoy.

I have just noted that the front cover of a book set in 1928 describes it as a historical mystery. I was born nine years later. What does that make me feel like?

Ancient, that's what!!

Younger than I, that's what, Ann. I was born eight years later and have turned in to a great-grandmother and most recently a great-great-aunt. It's surprising I can still totter around.

Carolyn, I am pleased when I mention having to buy a gift for a Great-grandchild (I have six at present, five girls and the eldest is a boy of nine) and get an incredulous "Did you say Great-grandchild" from the shop assistant.

Makes my day...

Good going Ladies! I just have one granddaughter and don't think anymore are likely to come my way. DD and her husband are not interested in parenthood preferring to spend time 'travelling' and visiting friends . . . it seems to be something of a trend among 30 somethings over here, rather like the 'students' of my generation. ;-(

donnamira: Thanks for the review of The Fifth Season. I've have that one on my "looks interesting" list since Christmas when I was shopping for books for my Godson.

Vee, a couple of my grandchildren waited until they were around thirty and settled before they started families. Travelling when young and then working hard to put good deposits on homes.

Buying a house is now almost unaffordable for the other two but they decided to start their families anyway. We do have the lotteries and raffles with homes as prizes so that is a slim hope there!

I was trying to track down the first Herbert Reardon mystery "Broken Music" set just after WW1 to buy a copy and find to my surprise that Amazon lists the third one "Heirs and Assigns" set in 1928 as Number One in the series.

What is going on?

I have started Hell's Corner, the last Camel Club book by Baldacci. The first couple were more fun; the hero is beginning to age out but still smarter than the average bear.

Just finished I'll Never Be French by Marc Greenfield. Very entertaining writing.

I really enjoyed it. It is all about life in Brittany, a place which I have stayed.

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier then

Nevada by Zane Grey (just finished)

Currently reading World Enough and Time by Robert Penn Warren.

An enjoyable read has been The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen.

A town girl who got 'into' farming after reading the James Herriot books. She has since married a Dales sheep farmer, lives in a remote corner of N Yorkshire/Cumberland/County Durham and besides dawn to dusk farm work, providing 'cream teas' to hikers she has had, so far, nine children (only seven when she wrote in 2014) . . . this, to me, was the most interesting part of her story!

Apparently she never experiences labour pains just feels rather restless, usually the baby arrives early, then often before the ambulance arrives (or IN the ambulance) out the baby pops often in a matter of 5 minutes. One group of picnickers were surprised to watch such a road-side birth as they ate their sandwiches. After a quick checkup in hospital she is back home and at work by the next day with the baby strapped to her front (older ones will be on her back)

One baby was born at home and so as not to disturb her sleeping husband she went down stairs, had the baby then carried it up to show him . . . and he didn't grunt, turn over and go back to sleep but got out of bed and phoned the medics . . .

The kids seem very happy and well-balanced, the older ones spending hours getting to and from school . . .this is not a family of 'alternative' folk, nor straw-sucking hillbilly types. Certainly not the life for the faint hearted but a book worth reading.

Yorkshire Shepherdess

Sounds interesting, Vee. Another for my TBR list.

ci-lantra, I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about World Enough and Time. He is a Kentucky author, and that is a book I gave up on after maybe 100 pages.

Oh dear, I am afraid I may sound like a wet dishcloth now...

Station 11 update: really interesting at first, now just tedious. I am 3/4 of the way through the book and find it predictable and stale. Almost like she ran out of fresh ideas but still needed to fill up blank sheets of paper. Or... she is trying so hard to make me sympathize with some of the characters that I really don't like any of them. I may find that I am in for a surprise ending, but at this pace, I may just yawn my way to the finish line. The Road... it is not. I offered to share it with my 15 year old, and was told the book was considered "lame" by high school standards.

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Perhaps in a different era this book would have been riveting, rebel, feminist. Now it just seems dated and old. Not classic, worn out. I hate it. The main characters are obsessed with communism and I have had about as much as I can take. I read fiction to ESCAPE stuff like politics. PIty because I was really looking forward to it.

So, sorry to be such a depressing post. If you are reading either of these, I certainly hope you have a better experience!

PAM

Pam, perhaps it is a sign of my old age but I don't wait to limp to finish lines these days! I just read the last chapter of a boring book and even Google to find Part Two of a split TV program to find out what happened.

Most of the TV programs I watch have been shown in the UK or US some time earlier so the truth is out there!

PAM, my daughter was given a copy of The Golden Notebook by a b/f while at University. He was an angry politically minded student (aren't they all) and told her it was essential reading. I have often wondered if I should make the effort to have a go at it. You have convinced me it is not worth the effort.

Just 'looked up' the aforementioned b/f and although I knew he was living in a garret and thinking deep thoughts I see he has had a book published and had his hair cut . . . the Guardian seems to have enjoyed it. ;-(

Angry ex student writes book

Back in the early days of the Feminist movement in the US, "The Golden Notebook" was considered to be essential reading for women. It just one of many such tomes that came out touting similar themes. I seem to recall that I found it dull. I may never have ever even finished it. But then, Lessing is not my favorite author, anyhow.

I recently finished reading The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. Set in 1859, it is about an English nurse who'd been trained by Florence Nightingale. She was hired as one of two nurses (the other a nun) to keep watch on an eleven-year-old girl who had been fasting for four months in rural Ireland. Authorities in the area and the girl's family (all Catholic) were wondering if they had a miracle, and perhaps a future saint, on their hands. The nurses' jobs were to see if the girl was truly living without food. It's a highly dramatic and rather dreary novel, but very very interesting. Though the author is Catholic and the time period of the book is long ago, still I wondered if the book would be offensive to modern-day Catholics, as the Nightingale nurse takes a dim view of their practices.

Kathy, I heard this read on BBC's 'Book at Bedtime' As you say the whole setting seemed dreary but made bearable by the ending. From the many Irish Catholics I know, I think most of them have 'moved on' enormously in the last decade or so, especially since the Magdalene laundries revelations and the discovery of some 800 infant bodies in Tuam Co Galway.

Catherine Corless The Tuam Baby Graves

"The Light Between Oceans" is M.L. Stedman's first novel. Don't miss it.

I finished Finders Keepers by Stephen King on Friday and I was so engrossed that I downloaded the next book, End of Watch, and started it on Saturday. I can't wait to see how he wraps up the story lines.

Donna

Vee - Good Lord, what a horrible story. I had not heard of the Tuam baby graves. It's astonishing.

Kathy, the BBC had a 'talk' on Sunday by Catherine Corless, a quiet and thoughtful woman, who described how these 'Home' children went to her school in the '50's and how unthinkingly cruel the other kids were towards them because they were seen to be different.

One of my oldest friends, from Co Clare, told me of children from similar orphanages with whom she attended the village school, who were always treated as lesser-beings by the teachers and parents . . . and their classmates. No-one was interested in their welfare.

From the 1920's (after separation from GB) the RC church to all intents was the ruler of Eire/Ireland and exercised enormous power over the education and 'social services'. Below (scroll down) is a list of each death at Tuam in 35 years. It is thought the numbers would be similar in the many other homes until the 1960's/70's.

List of recorded deaths.

Oh dear - unimaginable.

Did any of you see the movie Philomena starring Judi Dench? It was my introduction to the Irish handling of unwed mothers.

I have just begun The Black Widow by Daniel Silva. I can hardly wait between his books.

Carolyn - The movie Philomena came to my mind also during this discussion.

Philomena

I had put this up in 2014 after seeing the film. I'd forgotten that the Tuam graves had already been found then, although the 'research' has only just been made public. At least the babies in Philomena's case seemed to have been interred in the grave yard of a church presumably with some sort of burial service.

It seems the 'PM' of Ireland, Enda Kenny, is trying to deal with these various abuses although I understand he was threatened with excommunication by his church.

The movie is well-worth watching; Judi Dench is very believable as Philomena.

I second the recommendation to see "Philomena." It is a powerful film, and so well acted by Dench.

Another thing that interested me very much in The Wonder by Emma Donoghue were the many comments about the apparently revolutionary training the narrator nurse received directly from Florence Nightengale while working under her leadership at the Scutari Hospital during the Crimean War. It makes me want to read about Florence Nightengale.

Just finished Janet Evanovich's "Curious Minds" ..... found it entertaining and different and amusing.

Kathy, some years ago I borrowed from the library Florence Nightingale by Mark Bostridge. An amazingly detailed, and somewhat daunting bio. In fact it had to go back before I had got half way through it . . . I didn't even reach the time when she went out to the Crimea.

An amazing woman who didn't believe in germs because she had never seen one. But through her belief in cleanliness and order greatly she improved the filthy Army hospitals and once home, and prone on her couch, used her considerable influence to start training for nurses. She lived to be a great age and there is still a recording of her from about 1900.

My daughter is a nurse and went by herself (lacking any interested companion) to see the Florence Nightingale Museum in London. She thoroughly enjoyed it.

Carolyn--I'm about 300 pages into World Enough And Time. It's been gathering dust on the bedside table and I'm making myself read 3-4 books that I already own before I allow myself to buy a new one!

Anyway, I discovered that I had started it and given up on it, like you. This time, I'm plodding through. Picked up around the 200 page mark but it's starting to bog down again. Doesn't help that I don't like any of the characters.

I very much liked RPW's All The King's Men. This one, not so much. I'll be happy to finish it and move on.

Thanks, ci_lantra. It was the same for me except that I didn't care enough to ever go back to WEAT, and it's unusual for me not to finish a book.

I finished and enjoyed Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham, the latest Tom Thorne book. The subject is honour killings in the UK. One thing that always hits me is that in the UK, people described as Asian are usually from the subcontinent, whereas here in Australia, Asian means Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and so on.

I love these little differences.

The Road To Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. Laugh out loud funny at times! It introduced me to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

My second favorite book by him, A Walk In The Woods is still #1.

I finished End of Watch by Stephen King last night. It was a great end to the trilogy, but pretty dark - a lot of people died.

Donna