Fall into November, what are you reading?

5 years ago

It’s been a long time since I started one of these threads.

I picked up The Left-Handed Booksellers of London a week or so ago and put it down after a few pages until I was in the right frame of mind to read it. I picked it up earlier this evening with the intent of just reading a couple of chapters and a few hours later, I‘m done.

It was decent; I can see why so many people have recommended it. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat a number of times, but that’s not surprising since it doesn’t take much to do that!

Featured Answer

Carolyn Newlen

5 years ago

I guess I'm just lucky, then. Right now, with pretty constant staying home alone, I can't imagine what people do without books they enjoy. The younger generation kept after me to get rid of my old desktop PC and get a laptop, so I finally did a little over a year ago. When the libraries closed in March, I began to download e-books and have read one a day or so ever since. As I'm sure you all know, mysteries are my favorite, and I comfort myself by remembering reading long ago that people who like mysteries are fair minded and like justice. (I don't like horror.)

At any rate, books serve to engross me to the point that when I look up and see my cozy den and the patio and back yard outside the sliding glass doors opposite my reading club chair with ottoman, I'm sometimes a little surprised to find myself still at home. Someone comes to cut my grass, and someone comes occasionally to clean my house, and I'm a little embarrassed to say I'm pretty well satisfied. I admit to having gained a few pounds.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (75)

vee_new
5 years ago
I've just had a wading through a molasses-moment while reading Coming Home by Fern Britton and too late remembered why I so rarely read 'romances'. Apparently this is part of a series set in an unbelievably beautiful Cornish seaside village and concerns a very bad 17 year old daughter who abandons her two toddlers to find their no-good father. Fast forward to grown up children living an 'arty' life and meeting this neglectful mother. Every chapter is full of hugging, kissing, patting, crying helped on by vast quantities of booze and many packets of aspirin to deal with the hangovers.

I felt like shouting at them all "Pull yourselves together and show some stoic fortitude. Shoulders back, stiffen the upper-lips."

As an antidote I'm now on to The American Lover by Rose Tremain. A collection of diverse short stories. Each one just the right length.
Related Discussions
Falling into November - current reads
Q
Comments (150)
Ok, I got through half of Pillars and am tossing it in the trade pile. I am now wondering if I actually read this book, coz I don't remember it being this bad. (WARNING WILL ROBINSON....SPOILERS ABOUND!) This book badly needs an editor, one who will keep his descriptions of every minutea (sp) of daily life to a minimum, one who would stop his constant reminders that so and so is sooooo horribly ugly, that this woman has unruly red hair (which in that day and age wouldn't be the case, it would be hidden), that her big dark eyes opened wide, it might have been readable. Said editor could also have told him to make the building of the cathedrals reflect the grandeur of these buildings, rather than a blow by blow description of every little thing (it read like a how to manual). Basically, his research was showing, something that is not good in historical fiction. The story of Tom itself was really well done, and if he just stuck with that, and his cathedral it could have been a shorter, tighter, more interesting book. But aside from Tom, every other character was cardboard. Each person was either good or bad. There was little complexity to them, little growth. But two things that really did it to me: the anachronisms, and gratuitious sex and violence Every other page had an example of either something out of place in the time period (the uncovered hair was the most glaring) or 20th century speech coming out of 12th century characters. AS to the gratuitious sex and violence - it was so unnecessary. Yes, it was a violent time. But why was it necessary to graphically detail every single murder in bloody detail? There were several descriptions of rape here that could have come off a police blotter, it was so detailed. This last was really creepy - the really bad bad character was a horribly self centered noble's son who thought it great fun to cause misery and death. He has fantasies about this young noble girl that were so over the top that I had to wonder if these were of the character, or of the author. When he finally does rape her, brutally and repeatedly, the author spares no details. And this happens several times throughout the book. Again, it makes me wonder about the author, more than gives me the sense that this young man is evil incarnate. The political angle between various chuch members and various nobles were interesting, but again each incident was black or white - he did not show the complexity that I am sure was involved in each situation. Ok, thats enough. If you want to know more about 12th century England, start with the Caedfael series. Then move on to Sharon Kay Penman, start with There Be Dragons, and continue on until When Christ and his Saints Slept, an incredibly well told tale about Englands first devastating civil war. And no, I won't be reading the sequel. I do need to read something tho that will get the bad taste of this book out of my head. Mary Modern has been recommended several...
...See More
Shorter days, longer evenings...what are you reading in NOVEMBER?
Q
Comments (70)
Notes on "The Go-Between" by L. P. Hartley (1953). "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Well written, this novel focuses on the memory of an elderly man who is reflecting on the summer of his twelfth year which he spent at the home of a wealthy family of one of his school friends. (Another bildungsroman, it seems.) It's contrasted strongly with his own home life (which is poorer) and Leo, the protagonist, is acutely aware of the "right" things to do and say. It's also a balance between the social codes of his boarding school (which he and his friend attend) and what is appropriate for this summer visit. It's a rather fraught novel, I think, which has the overall impression of impending doom. (This is clearly mentioned on the back blurb though, so not giving the game away.) Hartley has done an excellent job of seeing through the eyes of a twelve year old at the beginning of the twentieth century in England. His recollections of how he viewed the world were spot on (to me), and his lush descriptions of endless summer days during school holidays is perfectly accurate: lengthy days, lassitude, and not much to do except mess around. Perhaps I had an odd childhood in the 1970's, but this was very close to how I remember my childhood growing up (although it might be burnished with the glow of memory.) These endless days of summer are also a great conduit for illustrating the impending doom (uncertain though that may be). The increasing temperatures (checked daily by the protagonist on the outbuilding's thermometer) links with the perceived increasing pressure of whatever news is to come, and thunderstorms hang in the air like heavy clouds. It's really well done. Leo is very interested in things of an astral nature: the signs of the Zodiac, his nickname of Mercury (the messenger in Roman mythology who wore winged sandals) and he half-believes that he has the power to control external forces such as the weather and sometimes other people's behavior and choices through magical curses (or spells, but mostly curses). The title comes mostly from the fact that Leo is tasked with taking messages between the young lady of the house and a local farmer, a totally unsuitable match that can only be conducted in secret. At first, Leo feels privileged to have been asked, but as the summer progresses and things get more complicated, it becomes a burden and a political minefield. The reader also learns the event that caused all the upheaval and led to a troubled adult life for Leo, but I shall say nothing here. (Don't want to give the story away. Suffice to say, it's good.) The Go-Between could also be interpreted to mean Leo's having to move between social classes, uncertain of how he should behave with whom (not only with him having to adapt to the higher social class, but also having to balance his friendship with the local farmer, a working class guy. And class was everything at this time.) ...
...See More
November: what are you reading?
Q
Comments (65)
PAM, when I was at Palmyra in 2012, I didn't notice any of the boats (4 already there) moored in the west lagoon until we were nearly through the channel, the only ingress, parallel to Sand Island. I don't remember whether that was because I was too nervous watching for the reef or they weren't visible. It was probably the former because I do recall that from where we moored just off the west end of Cooper Island, boats were clearly visible outside the reef, looking southwest toward the channel. Nowadays, although there are no permanent occupants on Palmyra Atoll, there are temporary residents, employees of the Nature Conservancy and other U.S. government staff, year round. Any boats making a call at Palmyra have to seek permission to visit, and what with radios and other electronics, the staff at the station have to be contacted so they expect any boat's arrival. I don't know what the protocol is for refusing moorage to unauthorized visitors. From what I understand, in 1974 when the Sea Wind and the Iola were there, the atoll, although it was technically private property and permission was supposed to have been sought from the owners in Honolulu, in reality it was hard to keep tabs on what boats came and went. There were no permanent residents since the U.S. military abandoned it after WWII, but Palmyra was a crossroads of sorts for sailing from Hawai'i down to Pago Pago and other South Sea islands and back. Many boats probably stopped over for a few days just out of curiosity and to take a break. Some stayed for a few days and sometimes a few weeks. Apparently it wasn't unusual for several boats to congregate in the west lagoon for short periods, although there were spells when it was completely deserted. What both couples -- Mac and Muff Graham, Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns - didn't realize was that Palmyra was frequented fairly often, though intermittently. They had expected it to be deserted except for each of the couples alone. Evidently, this caused resentment for those who wanted solitude and complete run of the place themselves. I don't think it would be particularly unusual these days to call in at any island or atoll of any size to find one or two boats already there or, if it was deserted, to be joined by other boats after a day or maybe just a few hours. Of course there's no way of knowing whether the occupants of those boats are good sorts or bad, but from my experience (limited to only half a dozen runs south of the equator) and the experiences of my DH and sons, the sailors seem to be mostly good, friendly sorts. The Grahams had the misfortune to meet up with Buck Walker, though. When you have finished the book, PAM, I would like to know what you think of Stephanie Stearns (Jennifer Jenkins in the book).
...See More
November is here: What are you reading this month?
Q
Comments (100)
Woodnymph, although I realize what Mangan was trying to do with her psychological thriller, Tangerine, I feel she was only partially successful. Like you, I enjoyed the setting and descriptions of Tangier especially. The part in Bennington, Vermont was not as interesting to me, but I suppose it was necessary to set up the dynamics of the relationship between Alice and Lucy and to a lesser extent the relationships of the women with John, Alice's husband. However, I think the characterizations were not well defined beyond Alice is weak and Lucy is bad; John seems barely drawn, in my opinion. That's the reason it is hard for readers (I'm one) to distinguish the women characters in the every-other chapter narration, which btw has become trite (it appears so often in today's novels that I'm tempted to impose a self-ban of reading any story told in that style). I've noticed in the past five years -- maybe as much as a decade -- crops of newer writers are trying to resurrect some of the older genres. Nothing wrong with that, because many of the old stories are fascinatingly atmospheric. Unfortunately, many of these writers don't have the skill to recapture the old style -- or even update it well. One example -- and Mangan is guilty, I think: Writers use opacity as a substitute for subtlety because they simply haven't worked out how to be subtle. Mangan's pastiche of Highsmith (I definitely see this influence) and maybe Tartt bear comparison. I don't know Gillian Flynn for anything but her Gone Girl which I didn't like, so I can't say about Flynn's and Mangan's styles being similar. As for a reviewer saying Mangan is a "literary descendant of Daphne du Maurier" - Ha! I've heard and read that as a lure for hopeful readers for going on sixty years now, and my mother says that particular come-on has been used since the 1930s. Hype is lazy, sometimes, and Mangan's Tangerine is as overhyped as any new thriller is nowadays.
...See More
roxanna7
5 years ago
I am very fortunate to have a personal library of thousands of books -- I just counted one ceiling-height bookcase = roughly 560 books, and that is only one bookcase. I have them in every room of this house (except the powder room), double-shelved, and in many genres -- fiction, classics, architecture, fantasy, scientific, children's, British, gardening, and who knows what else, collected and enjoyed over the past 70 years.

Almost all of those lovely books will be read again during this time of COVID, as our library is closed, and I do not like using electronic books at all. Right now I am re-reading Terry Pratchett, whom I adore, and have on hand Dean Koontz' Elsewhere to look forward to after that. Then, for something completely different, I may revisit Gene Stratton-Porter. Or Louisa May Alcott (I grew up in the town she lived in, so she seemed to be a neighbor, lol). Or whatever strikes my mood of the day... Happy times!!
annpanagain
5 years ago
Roxanna, you have such a big collection! Sadly I have moved too often and have shed loved books in the process. As I am in a small place now, there is only room for two bookcases, both overcrowded! Thankfully, the public libraries are open again after a short lockdown period a while ago.

Our State became a fortress for over seven months and we are only now opening the borders in a very controlled way.

I have just finished Ann Cleeves "The Moth Catcher" and have a DVD of "Nicholas Nickleby" waiting to be collected from the local library. I hope to get it this afternoon but the weather has been terrible with unseasonable storms and its not a good time to leave the house!
kathy_t
5 years ago
Roxanna - Your house full (houseful?) of books sounds like a good setting for a novel!
msmeow
5 years ago
Camino Winds - dull, dull, dull.
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
Donna, so...you're saying it didn't blow you away ?
msmeow
5 years ago
:) That’s right! Even a barrier island taking a direct hit from a cat 4 hurricane was dull.
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
I am reading Metropolis by Phillip Kerr. It is No. 14 in his Bernie Gunther series but the last book he wrote. I found a site that gave me the Gunther books in order of Bernie's age rather than the order in which they were written. I find it odd that he wrote a series out of sequence. This one is the second of the sequence.
Rosefolly z5
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I had read Walter Tevis's novel The Queen's Gambit back in the early 1980's then it first came out and loved it then. Somehow no one else ever seemed to have heard of it. The story is based on a fictional first woman to become a chess grandmaster. Now I do not play chess at all, but even so I found the novel compelling. When I heard there was to be a film presentation I was more than a little leery. I've had beloved books ruined by bad film adaptations before, and I didn't want this one ruined for me. Fortunately I need not have been concerned. The film (told in seven one hour episodes) is a glorious thing to watch. The acting, the writing, the visual effects, even the silences are dead perfect. And no, you don't actually need to understand chess to have the games be absolutely gripping.

This was the best thing I've seen in a very long time, and absolutely the best thing I've seen on a screen this year.

I'm thinking of taking it off the shelf and reading it again now that Tom and I are done watching.
vee_new
5 years ago
Quite by chance I have been reading books by people who have moved to rural France and another was recommended Notes from the Cévennes by Adam Thorpe.

Thorpe was born and grew up in Paris so he has the advantage over the foolish incomers lured by the idea of a bucolic retreat in an area where property is dirt cheap and the sun always shines. He is also a poet/writer and manages to drop many literary references/quotes into his prose. His description of his adopted village high above the ancient city of Nîmes and the old stone house he buys left me rather confused as there are no drawings, plans or even photos of the area he describes. So discussing ancient walls that have fallen in, flooding rivers, dusty treasures dug up in cellars or vegetable plots rather float about in the text. He does describe the terrible time the locals had at the hands of the SS during WWII,

Unfortunately the last part of the book goes into rant mode while talking about the Green movement. He is all for it. Also Brexit which he was against despite his French passport . . . unwillingly granted to him via the city mayor . . . I often wonder how the real locals feel about these wealthy incomers and if they take them with the Gallic insouciance they deserve.
Kath
5 years ago
Rose, I also read The Queen's Gambit in the 80s and have just finished watching the show. I agree with you about the quality of the acting and the entire production. I went to my library to find the book, and sadly, it seems I gave it away at some time when I had to thin out my books to make more room.
annpanagain
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I found a Lawrence Sanders "The Fourth Deadly Sin" in a charity shop. I started reading him when my DH brought home a brand new Archie McNally he rescued from a skip bin. The radio station where he worked got copies of many new books and just threw them out!

Sadly the virus has hit again in the next State. We carefully opened the border on Friday night and now have to partially close it again. Some returning and visiting travellers were in mid-flight and are having to go into quarantine or go straight back. I hope this won't end in another State lockdown. We were doing so well...
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
Annapanagain........what is a " skip bin " ? I assume it is trash but why that term.
vee_new
5 years ago
yoyo, over here we refer to a 'skip' as one of those large metal containers used to dump large amounts of waste/trash. A 'bin' is what you call a trash-can . . . we used to call them dustbins, which I think goes back to the day when any waste/detritus was known as 'dust'. So I presume a 'skip bin' in Australia is taking both words to mean the larger container.

These days UK household waste goes into a 'wheelie bin'.
annpanagain
5 years ago
A skip bin is a large container for all kinds of waste. When full, it is loaded onto a special truck for the contents to be disposed of correctly. They can be hired for a one-off job or there can be a regular service where the bin gets replaced. I don't know why it is called that.

BTW, I am plain Ann. My parents joked that they were too poor to buy an added 'e' in the local newspaper's Birth Notice!

For some reason my family nicknames were either "Annpan" or "PanPan"! Possibly because I kept piping up during conversations?
annpanagain
5 years ago
Vee, we also have wheelie bins for general household use. During our Australian lockdown there was a time when people dressed up to put them out for collection. Something to lift the spirits and lots of examples are shown on the net. I think the idea became world wide with some very creative outfits!
sheri_z6
5 years ago
I'm still binge-reading Deanna Raybourne's Lady Julia Grey mysteries. I've finished Silent on the Moor and Dark Road to Darjeeling and have just started The Dark Enquiry. After this I believe there are four novellas to finish the series, which become available as a boxed set on Kindle in December. After all that, I'll have to wait for the newest Veronica Speedwell book by the same author, due in March. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these, and I'll be looking for her stand-alone books after this.
Kath
5 years ago
I think the Aussie skip is best translated as dumpster.
msmeow
5 years ago
I finished Camino Winds (John Grisham) and it was dull and predictable to the end. Sorry, Mr. G.
iamkathy
5 years ago
Just finished The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman a few days ago. I liked it and found it interesting to compare our current pandemic to the cholera pandemic discussed in the book. I believe there was an article about this book in Reader's Paradise quite a few years back but did not save it (I wish I had). A few days back I picked up Supercapitalism by Robert Reich to get some history into why we are in the state we are in today. My husband has been asking me to read this ever since he finished it a few years back. Seemed like the right time to finally pick it up.
msmeow
5 years ago
If It Bleeds by Stephen King. Enjoying it very much.
donnamira
5 years ago
I finished the Maria Dahvana Headley version of Beowulf, and while I have mixed feelings about it, I understand the enthusiastic reviews. I don't like some of her choices ('daddy' instead of 'father,' 'lemme' instead of 'let me,' and most annoying of all: 'hashtag: blessed' to describe Hrothgar's queen), but she tells with story with energy and drive, using the structures, rhythms and alliteration of the original, and she's especially good with the kennings.

I have about 20 books waiting on Mt TBR, so why do I keep getting books from the library? Sigh. I read an article in the Washington Post about classic historical fiction which mentioned Mary Renault's The King Must Die, which I read at least 40 years ago. I barely remember it, other than being surprised at how much I liked it, so the library copy is now sitting on top of the Mount, and I expect that is what I'll be reading next.
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
I'm reading Murder by Suspicion by Veronica Heley, another Ellie Quicke book. They are light and "quicke." She has a terrible, bossy, whiny, entitled daughter that needs a spanking! And someone always gets killed, and the policeman who inevitably comes doesn't like her.
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
Now I am reading The Wrong Side of Goodbye, the next Harry Bosch book on my list by Michael Connelly. This one is extra good. Harry is now retired and working without pay because he loves it so a couple of days a week in a smaller unit in the San Fernando Valley, CA, as well as his private detective business. He is having hard trouble (little niece's phrase) in both areas.
annpanagain
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I have just finished "Telling Tales" by Ann Cleeves, another in her Vera series.

They aren't detective books in that you get clues to the murderer, Vera doesn't always let her team know what is going on. let alone the reader! However, I am enjoying them in spite of references to Vera's book persona, being fat, ugly and a heavy drinker! I am mentally substituting the TV actress's milder version as I read.

I had stopped reading and collecting the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich after Hardcore 24 but I picked up Twisted 26 for 50c in the Seniorcentre book sale and am amused again. It probably doesn't hurt to have a break in a long series. I will try Look Alive 25 at a future time.

My D has our full collection to 24 and we have decided that she should donate them and the Sue Grafton Alphabet series to make room in her overflowing bookcases.
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
This would make a great bookmark !
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
Yes!
annpanagain
5 years ago
Please don't!

I had a new telephone system installed and the bookshelf which I had made to conceal the phone and power points had to be moved away from the wall. The technician hasn't been able to put it back properly as it is crowded and heavy.

I shall have to empty it of not only books but the clutter of oddments in front of them and a collection of candles in holders on the top. I quail at the task as I should use the opportunity to cull while I am doing this. As I have a stiff right shoulder which needs medical treatment, I have every excuse to put it off and live with this slightly angled piece of furniture!
vee_new
5 years ago
If I were to be judged by my bookshelves I would score very low points. We had shelves built either side of an early Victorian fire place. There are nine shelves each about a foot high almost up to ceiling height and recently in the spirit of decluttering I made a start on one side of the lower shelves.

Who knew how many books can be accommodated within that space . . . and I have only started on the bottom shelf. The paperbacks, stored two deep and going yellow and frayed have been thrown out for the trash/binmen and the hardbacks are now piled on the floor making the room look twice as untidy as it did before.

Pre Covid I could have dropped many of them off at charity shops or even tried to persuade the library to take the 'quality' hardbacks, but now everywhere is shut.

And how many non-book items lurk on the shelves . . . CD's, pens, pencils, bookmarks, lengths of cable for various long-gone appliances (I blame DH for these) If only I could be like those folk who keep their books colour-coded or lined up by height! I suppose the place would look tidy but it wouldn't be mine/me.
annpanagain
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Vee, good to know I am not the only person who uses their bookshelves for things other than books!

At present, I have several almost empty toiletry tubes that I mean to finish, a collection of small stuffed animals and magazines that would outrival a doctor's reception room for age! DVDs I shall probably never watch but once thought I might are piled on top of the shorter books.

Do you wonder why I don't want to go there?

I once started to put the books in alpha order and stopped at "B". As my old Librarian used to say about culling "When I pull them out I start to read them again"!
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
LOL.....I took the image to mean that you will be judged by your choice of books which you keep .

Your responses reminded me of the time I challenged a group of friends to list all the items that were in their purse. Then I compiled one e-mail showing what each woman reported and shared the results with everyone. It was a fun assignment and an eye-opener !.
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
Vee, your only solution is to put everything back and forget about it, while mourning the loss of the paperbacks you threw out.

My books are in alphabetical order, but I dislike the ones that are by color or height. How would you ever find anything? And that's not to mention the pictures I see in decorating magazines that have all the spines to the back. What's up with that?
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Spines to the back, how ugly.

It's very Alice In Wonderland-ish. A library full of backward books. You are assigned an aisle and shelf and told to take the tenth book from the right and READ it !!
kathy_t
5 years ago
Annpan - You've got me laughing about you stopping at B when you started to alphabetize your books!
msmeow
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Is the spine to the back thing supposed to look more uniform? Because paper isn’t all the same color or texture. Decorators must use the technique in houses where no one reads.

I finished If It Bleeds by Stephen King and enjoyed it very much! It was three short stories and the title story, which to me was long enough to count as a novel. The stories were kind of paranormal creepy stuff, not horror.

Donna
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
msmeow, a friend and I used to go to a local annual designer show house. Inevitably, there would be some old literate-looking books around, and my friend would stick her nose in the air and mutter "designer books." I think of her with a smile when I see strange book arrangements.

I have begun The Haunted Season by G. M. Malliet. It is another Max Tudor book. Max is a former MI-5 agent turned local vicar. He is very handsome and sighed over by all the females of his village. Now happily married and with a baby son, they are still sighing and gossiping in the best village fashion. Someone always gets murdered, and I think I already know who it will be in this case.

I had to stop reading and go make my cranberry salad to take to my daughter's tomorrow. I will make a pie in the morning, and that's my Thanksgiving duties done. Aging out isn't all bad.
Kath
5 years ago
I am rather fussy about my bookshelves. The books are alphabetical by author and chronological within author. I do keep hardcovers separate, but there aren't a lot of them. For non-fiction, I sort them by subject matter, and often in height thereafter.

I have finished reading White Fragility by Robin diAngelo, which was a very interesting read.

I realised that Robert Galbraith has a new one out, and I hadn't read the previous one, so I have just started Lethal White.

I also listen to a lot of audio books and have finished three of Elizabeth Chadwick's historical fiction books, while DH and I have listening to The Hope by Herman Wouk, and its followup, The Glory.
annpanagain
5 years ago
I have just finished McCall Smith's "How to Raise an Elephant" which isn't really a mystery, rather a gentle story with more about the Detective Agency personnel than much else! It is like dropping in on old friends.
vee_new
5 years ago
Annpan, I'm also reading one of Alexander McColl Smith's 'Scotland Street' series The Peppermint Tea Chronicles. I think I have mostly listened to these via the BBC and can clearly hear the voice of poor little Bertie Pollock and his dreadful overbearing mother (temporarily sent to Aberdeen to study something very high-brow) plus the many other characters from this refined Edinburgh neighbourhood

How does A MCC S manage to turn out SO many books? I counted six new titles that are out in print this year alone.
vee_new
5 years ago
Another 'listen' via the BBC has been Colson Whitehead's "Nickle Boys" . An unrelenting grim tale of life from the '50's/60's of a black boy sent to Reform School. I never understand why the BBC chooses as it's 'Book at Bedtime' slot deep and heavy books so unconducive for a good nights sleep.
annpanagain
5 years ago
Vee, I have just requested that Peppermint Tea book. I think he writes for a newspaper and churns out episodes quickly.

I was surprised how many authors manage to write hundreds of books. Barbara Cartland wrote over 700 and had a couple on the go at the same time by dictating to two secretaries!
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
I'm reading Young Clementina by D.E.Stevenson. I really enjoy her books.
kathy_t
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I finished reading Fredrik Backman's Anxious People this morning. It's a keeper. It was very, very funny in a complicated-plot and unexpected-character-connections sort of way. As I was nearing the end, I started thinking that 300-plus pages of that type of humor wears you down a bit and loses some of its effectiveness, but by the time I read the final page, I had changed my mind. It's a delightful book.

I'd like to share one of my favorite quotations from the book - one that is not in any way a spoiler:

Do you know what the worst thing about being a parent is? That you're always judged by your worst moments. You can do a million things right, but if you do one single thing wrong you're forever that parent who was checking his phone in the park when your child was hit in the head by a swing. We don't take our eyes off them for days at a time, but then you read just one text message and it's as if all your best moments never happened. No one goes to see a psychologist to talk about all the times they weren't hit in the head by a swing as a child. Parent are defined by their mistakes.
yoyobon_gw
5 years ago
Isn't that the sad truth though. Perhaps it's because traumatic moments leave a stronger memory than the zillions of happy ones.
vee_new
5 years ago
Carolyn, your suggestion above that I should put all the books back on the shelves is probably the most practical, although the problem will have to be solved another day. Among the many books found was a 1936 Tide Tables from the San Francisco Port Pilot's Authority and an invitation from the Australian Imperial Forces to a dance held in Sept 1940 at the gymnasium in Bulford (part of the British Army barracks on Salisbury Plain) My Mother obviously enjoyed tripping the light fantastic to judge from the quick steps, fox trots, Paul Jones etc listed on the card plus the many signatures of the soldiers she spent the evening with. I believe all these men then went out to the Far East where most of them lost their lives. The Aussies were always considered 'good fun' and loved to cock a snook at authority.

Within the dance programme is a yellow card from the 'Imperial Japanese Army' sent in July 1944 from Philippine Military Prison Camp No 1, by my Mother's brother. It is typed, although he has managed a shaky signature saying in 50 words or less that his health is 'excellent' and will his parents save all the back copies of 'Life' magazine. They received the card in January 1945.

These things I will keep although I doubt they will be of much interest to future generations.
kathy_t
5 years ago
Vee - Those mementos are fascinating.
Carolyn Newlen
5 years ago
Oh, Vee, surely there is family who would treasure those wartime mementoes. They are priceless. My paternal aunts loved to dance, and one of them had a photo of her and one of her brothers in his 1942 Army uniform at a USO dance.
annpanagain
5 years ago
Vee, I was amused at your reference to Aussie soldiers in WW2 as I have heard many tales here. One was of a very senior British officer who stuck his head above a parapet while on a front-line inspection. An Aussie private shouted at him, using the General's nickname and adding a warning to "Pull your F***ing head down!" He was asked what he did about the impertinence "Well, I pulled my F***ing head down, of course."
salonva
5 years ago
Vee, your post was so amazing to me that I read it to my daughter today and later to my husband. Truly priceless.

Fall into November, what are you reading?

Comments (75)

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US