rainpebble's 11/11/11/ #2

SORRY FOLKS; WRONG HEADING FOR THIS THREAD.

I don't know how to change it. If any of you know how to change/correct it, could you please to let me know? thank you

I am beginning a new thread because I didn't set the first one up in a manner to list my books correctly.

The original thread is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105914

My reads of 2011:

JANUARY:

1. The Shutter of Snow by Emily Holmes Coleman
2. The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
3. Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf
4. Job: (of the Bible)
5. Devine Evil by Norah Roberts
6. The Journey Begins; Road to Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
7. John (of the Bible)
8. Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
9. Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman
10. James: (of the Bible)
11. Emma by Jane Austen
12. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

favorite: Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf

ORANGE JANUARY:

13. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
14. (have forgotten)
15. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
_____________________________________

FEBRUARY:
16. Daniel: (of the Bible)
17. Tinkers by Paul Harding
18. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
19. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
20. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
21. The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
22. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni

favorite: The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
_____________________________________

MARCH:
23. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
24. The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison
25. A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay
26. In the Still of the Night by Ann Rule
27. A Book of Secrets by Michael Holroyd
28. The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery by L.M. Montgomery
29. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali by D.T. Niane
30. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
31. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans (5 stars)

favorite:

APRIL:
32. Mothers & Daughters by Rae Meadows
33. Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
34. The Bass, The River and Sheila Mant by W.D. Wetherell (s/s)
35. The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich (s/s)
36. And the Soul Shall Dance by Wakako Yamauchi (s/s)
37. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downs
38. The Man in a Case by Wendy Wasserstein (s/s)
39. Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
40. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
41. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
42. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
43. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
44. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
45. The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe (s/s)
46. The Man Who was Almost a Man by Richard Wright (s/s)
47. Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin (s/s) (5*)
48. Cathedral by Raymond Carver (s/s) (4 1/2 *)
49. Solstice by Joyce Carol Oates

favorite: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
______________________________________________

MAY:
50. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
51. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (currently reading)
52. Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
53. Ezekiel: (of the Bible)
54. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
55. Still Waters by Jennifer Lauck
56. Master Harold and the boys by Athol Fugard
57. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
58. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

favorite: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

JUNE:
59. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen
60. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
61. Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meddrum (for R/L B/C)
62. Roman Fever and Other Stories by Edith Wharton
63. Beowulf by Anonymous (currently reading)
64. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees (currently reading)

favorites (a tie): Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meddrum and Roman Fever and Other Stories by Edith Wharton

JULY:
65. Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans (just needed a little fluff after these fairly intense Orange listed novels) (3 stars)

77. Acts (of the Bible)
78. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares (R/L B/C) (3 stars)

Orange July :-)

66. (1) Great House by Nicole Krauss (5 stars+)
67. (2) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (4 stars)
68. (3) Annabel by Kathleen Winter (4 stars)
69. (4) The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini
(4 stars)
70. (5) The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey (4 stars)
71. (6) Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
(3 1/2 stars)
72. (7) A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
(5 stars +)
73. (8) One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden (5 stars)
74. (9) The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE by Samantha Hunt (4 1/2 stars)
75. (10) The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (5 stars +)
76. (11) The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
(4 1/2 stars)

(#77 & #78 are not Orange reads and so are listed up above)

78. (12) The Seas by Samantha Hunt (4 1/2 stars)
80. (13) The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
(3 stars)
81. (14) Gilgamesh by Joan London (4 1/2 stars)
82. (15.) Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden (5 stars)

favorite: A Spell of Winter (5 stars +)
_______________________________________________

AUGUST:

84. Psalms (of the Bible)

Darryl's 'An Orange a Month Challenge:
91. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (5+ stars)

All Virago/All August :-)

83. (1) Where the Apple Ripens by Jessie Kesson
(2*)
85. (2) The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
(4*)
86. (3) Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth
Taylor (5*+)
87. (4) The Lying Days by Nadine Gordimer
(4 1/2 *)
88. (5) This Real Night by Rebecca West (4*)
89. (6) Red Dust: A Novel by Gillian Slovo (3 1/2*)
90. (7) A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
(4*)
92. (8) For One Sweet Grape by Kate O'Brien
(4 1/2*)
93. (9)84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5*)
94. (10) Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (4*)
95. (11) The White Bird Passes by Jessie Kesson
(3 1/2*)

#84 & #91 are not Virago books and so are listed up
above

favorite Virago of the month: Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (5+ stars) & 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5 stars)

favorite of the month: The Help by Kathryn Stockett (5+ stars)
_______________________________________________

SEPTEMBER:

Darryl's 'an Orange a Month' Challenge read:
96. The Long Song by Andrea Levy (3 stars)

97. Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall by Michael Baker (4 stars)
98. While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky
(2 1/2 stars)
99. The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain (3 1/2 stars)
100. Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari by Christopher Ondaatje (2 1/2 stars)
101. Beloved by Toni Morrison (4 1/2 stars)
102. Princess Ka'iulani: Hope of a Nation, Heart of a People by Sharon Linn'ea
103. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (3 *)
104. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
(2 *)
----------------------------------------------------------------
FOR BANNED BOOKS WEEK:
105. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
(4 1/2 stars)
106. The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien (4 stars)
107. The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien (4 stars)
108. Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien
(4 stars)
109. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (5 stars)

favorite books of the month:
All Quiet on the Western Front & Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall

OCTOBER:

110. to feed Darryl's 'An Orange a Month' Challenge:
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
(3 1/2 stars)

111. 90 minutes in Heaven by Don Piper (2 stars)
112. Hadley by Gioia Diliberto (3 1/2 stars)
113. Chocolat by Joanne Harris (2 1/2 stars)
114. A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay (4 stars)
115. The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold by Adrian Havill (2 stars)
116. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
(4 stars) Orange
117. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
(4 1/2 stars) VMC
118. Hunt the Slipper by Violet Trefusis (3 stars) VMC
119. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (4 stars)

favorites: The Age of Innocence, Five Quarters of the Orange, Hadley, When I Lived in Modern Times
_______________________________________________

NOVEMBER:

100 Hour ReadaThing hosted by skittles:
_______________________________________________

120. A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
(3 1/2 stars)
121. The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry
(5 stars)
122. I Will Fight No More Forever by Merrill D Beal
(5 stars)
123. Arabian Nights: The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night by Sir Richard Burton (currently reading with other book breaks) ((4 stars)
124. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (4 stars)
125. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (5 stars)
126. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fanny Flagg (5 stars)
_______________________________________________

to feed Darryl's 'An Orange a Month' Challenge:
127. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
(4 stars)

128. Winterwood by Dorothy Eden (4 stars)
129. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (5 stars)
130. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (3 stars)
131. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
(4 1/2 stars)
132. Joan Makes History by Kate Grenville
(3 1/2 stars)
133. Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
(4 1/2 stars)
134. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay for R/L B/C (5 stars)

favorites: I Will Fight No More Forever, Five Quarters of the Orange, The Dovekeepers, Pride and Prejudice, Sarah's Key, A Secret Kept,
_______________________________________________

DECEMBER:

To feed Darryl's An Orange a Month Challenge:
135. Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels; winner of the Orange Prize; 1997 (4 1/2 stars)

136. The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
(2 stars)
137. An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
(4 stars)
138. Ten Days of Christmas by G.B. Stern (4 stars)
(my first G.B. Stern)
139. Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton
140. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen .... setting it aside as I have been battling with boredom & this book for at least 2 months; quite enough for now)
141. The Violets of March by Sarah Jio (3 1/2 stars)

You are so organized! Your new thread looks good. I am still reading Outlander. I am only about 2/3 of the way through. Hope you are having a great week.
--BJ

Hey, Belva! Maybe I can keep up with you here :)

Unfortunately, there's no way to change the topic title once it's created. But I'll make sure this thread is included in the wiki links so people can find you.

What I've seen others do is to start a new thread with a disclaimer at the top of the old one directing readers to the new one. However, you have done so much work on creating this one you may want to just live with it. I certainly have no problem with it. Cheers!

I have been reading a lot of shorts for my General Lit class and some nice little 'fluff' pieces that are just cozy, comfy, relaxing pieces by Sarah Addison Allen. I have enjoyed all three that I have read. I am finding that most of my reading in now for school.
Last night I began The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and I can already tell that this one is going to be a 'trip'. But I am ready for the ride after the bits of 'fluff'.
I hope everyone is reading something good.
hugs,
belva

Hi, Belva!
I am mostly reading for Lent (which is almost over) and continuing with Proust. I am glad that you are enjoying your class.
--BJ

Nice to see you Belva- Miss seeing you around! Hugs!

I, just moments ago, finished reading One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downs and loved every single page of it.
"He felt awfully happy, driving home in the peace of the splendid evening. He had turned off the Bridbury road at the Crossroads, and now the land on either side of the low hedges resumed it's quiet lyric meter."
"On an evening like this, all the great truths which had ever been stated about an English summer day seemed to come so freshly into the mind."
Lovely, just lovely. It has been quite a little while, what with everything going on in R/L, that I have read a book in so few hours. This one is such a delight.

I'm a happy camper, albeit a sleepy one, to see you here and posting. I don't care what you call your thread; just come back!

Belva is back! Yeah!!!!

Lizzie and Linda; Good Morning to you both and thank you for stopping by. Love the gif Linda. thanx!
I know.....I am a very lax LTer these days. But that doesn't mean that I don't think of my friends here and wonder what is going on with them and what they are reading. I am off on the farm you know. And not even there so much any more. Just very busy with R/L and now that I am back in school I am finding that it is fun but furiously busy and a bit frustrating as my 45 years away have stripped me of my study skills. But I am loving being back in a learning environment, albeit with 17 to 26 year olds. It is very challenging.
Thanx again you two for popping over.
hugs,
belva

I just this morning finished another that I couldn't put down, but this one was a mental and emotional roller-coaster. Does Joyce Carol Oates ever write anything that is not fascinating? This one grabbed my gut from a short way in and had it the whole time. I couldn't read the last bit fast enough.......not because I wanted to the book to end; Oh no!... but because I had to see what was going to happen next. This title is simply Solstice.
What a master of the written word Oates is. She sucks us in and holds us until the very end and sometimes our mouths and eyes are wide open and I am sure we look like fish absorbing her words. This one definitely didn't turn out as I expected. I give it an absolute high 5!

have begun Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and am enjoying it greatly thus far. My first Diaz and he writes really differently, at least in this book. I like it a lot.
We are still having snow here; what's up with that? Weather like when I was a kid. Strange, but rather nice to have four seasons again. I hope it doesn't rain all of spring.
We jerked up the last bit of carpeting in the house last week and laid laminate flooring down and then put together our new Tempur-Pedic bed. For the first time in my life I have a headboard & footboard. I am liking it a lot. Both of us are sleeping so much better and I enjoy it so much that if I don't have to get up early, I just lie abed and revel in it. Strange for me as I am one who, upon waking, is up and at it. Not work, but coffee and FaceBook. LoL!~!

I just have to say it.

WOW!~!~!~!~!

I just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and though I had to work a bit to stay in the first part of the book..........by the end, I was rendered nearly speechless. I found the swearing in the first part a little disconcerting but getting beyond............I didn't even notice it. This book doesn't end up anything like it begins and it is a powerhouse. I, not knowing much of Santo Domingo's history, was very thankful for all of the footnotes and will be looking for a book or two on the apparently horrendous history of that country. Diaz's characters are very easy to get into and I am sure they will be rattling around my brain for a time. I give this one 4 1/2 stars.

Hi Belva

Your most recent read sounds fascinating. I've had this book on the TBR pile for awhile.

#19: Glad to see you liked that one. I did not care for it myself.

Sorry about that Stasia. It is very different.
And it was fascinating Linda.
___________________________________

I am reading a most interesting book entitled The Hours by Michael Cunningham. It isn't a Virago but it should be. He has taken Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and blended it with the story of Virginia as she is beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa; the main character from said book, and Laura, a Los Angeles housewife who is beginning to feel the constraints of home and family. It is a fascinating take on M.D. Have any of you read it? It has been around for a while as the copyright year is 1998. Anyway I am really enjoying it. The perfect read after oral surgery this morning.

I have heard good things about The Hours. Hopefully I will get to it one of these days.

Sorry to hear about the oral surgery. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Wishing you a speedy recovery! The Hours is on my tbr.

Have recovered nicely from that nasty old surgery. And have been reading some good stuff.

--BJ; I hope you enjoy The Hours as much as I did. I really liked it.

Then I was on to Jennifer Lauck whom I found through the E/R program right here on L.T., Anita Shreve, and some Kristin Hannah. Her Winter Garden is certainly a change from some of her other works. Trying to get back into Austen's P. and P. again now.

Just put down Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. A quite worthy Pulitzer Prize winner. There were a couple of slow parts for me, but I really liked this fairly different book. I like the characters and loved the way the heritage played into almost all aspects of the storyline. Very good book.
Now, since I can't seem to get back into Pride and Prejudice, I am going to begin Beowulf when I go to bed in just a few.
hugs all,
belva

Belva- Its nice to see you! You are missed. Hope you are recovering, at a rapid pace. I also loved Middlesex. It's a great book.

How did I miss that you were around some in May? I'm sorry! I'm glad though, to read that you are still reading and liking it, and that school has gone well and ditto the "nasty old surgery." I don't think I knew about that.
(All is well here in N.C. except that it's TOO HOT already. We did luck into an inch of rain last night, and that was a blessed relief.) (I enjoyed Middlesex too, but that's the only one of your recent crop that I've read.) Take care of yourself, dear Belva.

Hi, Belva! Thinking of you and hoping all is well. God bless.

I hope you enjoy Beowulf, Belva. I really enjoyed my read of it.

Currently I am still reading Beowulf, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees and Acts from the King James Bible.
I am starting to get excited for Orange July and am beginning to get my ducks in a row for that. Have decided to attempt to read the/or part of the following:
The Tiger's Wife,
The Memory of Love,
Great House,
Annabel, (should be good following Middlesex)
Room, ???
Grace Williams says it Loud,
The Lacuna,
Black Water Rising,
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, and
The Boy Next Door.

Hi, Belva! I have been wanting to read Beowulf myself. My next Bible study is going to be on Acts, too! I don't start on that until the Fall. Take care.

Wonderful --B.J.
Will have to look you up for a chat when I am on my own computer and have the time. Right now I am horning in on someone else's time on a computer at the library.
big hug,
belva

I absolutely loved Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum. It is the story of a family of 6. Ma, Pa, and 4 girls, all named Mary something and who go by their middle names except for Amaryllis who is the baby and goes by Yllis. The father is a bit jealous of the mother and thinks/knows that Yllis is not his birth child and in talking to their priest about this, decides to take his family from America to West Africa where all manner of things happen to them. The story is told beautifully. Each chapter is told by a different character in the book. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I hated to see it end excepting for the fact that I am eager to begin my books for Orange July. I gave this one 4 1/2 stars. It won't be leaving my library.........I can tell you that.
hugs,
belva

Hi Belva

So sorry that you had to have surgery. I hope all is well.

Hi Linda;
All is well here on the homefront. Have healed nicely and am back to day-caring my youngest grand for the summer and back in school for Summer Quarter. Hope things are well with you and yours.
Have begun my Orange July reading. Marvelous choices of books to read.
Thanks for popping by.
hugs,
belva

Having just finished Great House by Nicole Krauss, I just have to say: WOW!~!
What a wonderful book with a totally unexpected ending. I really loved this book. Accidentally the second book I have read this week in which each portion/chapter is told through the eyes of a different character. I wish I had purchased this one instead of checking it out at the library. I know one day I will want to read it again.

I think I will begin Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna tonight when I go to bed. I have heard nothing but praise for it and I think it is the only actual Orange Prize winner that I have chosen for Orange July.

Whew................eighty some pages into The Lacuna and I am finding that thus far I am just not liking it so very much. I dislike all of the characters except for the boy and the cook. I have heard that it starts slow so I will pick it up again when I head for bed tonight. I have way too much homework to read anything else today.
Have a good day all & happy reading,

Hey, Belva! I'm envious that you've already started your Orange. I'm trying to plod through some other stuff first, and then I may just stick my hand in the pile and surprise myself!
Don't give up on The Lacuna!!! I didn't dislike the beginning as much as a lot of folks have, but I promise that the rest is well worth keeping on with!
Glad you're feeling well - you will have to to keep up with a grand!

Thank you for stopping by LizzieD. I hung in there and before page 100, I was in love with this book. It reads like nonfiction to me and makes me yearn to run to the library and get books on Trotsky and restudy Frida. I am finding it really fascinating, though I hated to see "the man" die. I was so saddened by that part of the book because I really loved his character. I will most likely finish it tonight or tomorrow if I don't have too much schoolwork.
Hope you are doing well. Have missed you.
hugs,
belva

Belva- It's great to see you back! You were missed. Thanks for dropping by my Thread, you turned a good day into a better one. Hugs!

Loved your review of Amaryllis in Blueberry and added that one to my wishlist. Good luck with all that homework.

Hey there Mark. Thank you for the kind thoughts and words. I have missed you too. I hope you are reading some good stuff.
hugs,
belva

Hello --BJ; Nice to "see" you and thank you for popping by. I hope you enjoy Amaryllis in Blueberry even just half as much as I did. I know that it is a small unknown book but I am pretty sure it will make my top ten for the year.
big, warm hug,
belva

I finished The Boy Next Door just moments ago and am yet a bit awe-struck. I liked and enjoyed parts of the book but I appreciated the entire book. For the most part it is a rather harrowing story of a family during the eighties through the late nineties in Rodesia/Zimbabwe. I recommend it to some of you but not all. It is not an easy book to read but once into it, the story moves along very fast and I found myself unable to put it down except when I had to, as when we had family and friends here today for a BBQ. Even then, I came in for a couple of hours to read. It kept me awake last night...... not just to read. It literally kept my mind whirling and unable to rest. I cannot imagine living through anything even similar to this.
It is a novel so it is fiction, of course. But we know that things of this nature literally happened there and are yet happening. My heart goes out to the people of Africa so often and I ache for them. This is Irene Sabatini's debut novel and while it wasn't perfect, it was an unstoppable read. I predict Sabatini to be a literary force to be reckoned with one day.

I finished The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey last night and began a bit of fluff in Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans.

Here are my thoughts and comments on The White Woman on the Green Bicycle:

I was ready for a 'knock your sox off' book when I began The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. I didn't find it to be so. The story takes place in the racially political years of Trinidad and is about a couple who move there from England "for three years" in a job related transfer for the husband. He falls in love with Trinidad, she....not so much.
The story is plotted out in three sections. The first section; the early days .... their move and the wife slowly realizing that chances are pretty good their three years is going to turn into more. She becomes very disillusioned with their lives, the island and her husband. But she has their children and a busy life so she accepts the situation.
The second section; the ending days .... their children are grown and the couple are now in their seventies and still in Trinidad. The wife has become complacent and yet angry at the same time with her husband. She knows they will never leave Trinidad and will die there. The end of this section is the end of the story but not the book.
The third section; the middle years is the real meat of the story and comes at the back of the book. So much happens in this part of the story. The political unrest becomes an unbearable violence toward the whites and Trinidad is now a very dangerous place to be living. The couple both have secrets from one another. He is unfaithful with many women though he adores his wife and she has a secret correspondence (which she never mails off to him) with the Prime Minister or whatever they call the leader of the country. When the husband finds this, he feels even more betrayed than she does when she realizes that he is sleeping with other women.
For me the best part of the story was the interactions of the characters with their servants and the one servant's family. I cared more about them than I did the main characters.
I would not say that this was not a good book, but I think it could have been so much better. All of the concepts are there, the characters are there....they just needed to be drawn out more clearly and be more who they were. Like I said the strong characters were the servants. I won't read this one again and I am very surprised that it got as far as it did on the Orange list.

My first disappointment with an ORANGE. ;-)

I have had to change my assessment of this book as I can't get it off my mind some 22 days later. I think that I WILL read it again one day and I have upgraded my rating yo 4 stars.

I just finished Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans and I cannot for the life of me figure out who the older woman is that Alan Christoffersen meets in the hotel lobby at the book's end.
This was just an okay read for me. I didn't find it nearly as captivating as the first in the series, The Walk.

After the above book, I read Black Water Rising by Attica Locke, which I greatly enjoyed. It was rather a relaxing murder mystery which I gave 3 1/2 stars. It was good but I don't know if I would consider it Long/Short listed for the Orange Prize good. But I did enjoy it a great deal and the best part was no tension in me as I read it.
_______________________________________________

I just finished A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore and how easily I see that this book had to win the Orange Prize. What a wonderfully drawn story.
A Spell of Winter is an exquisite story of an illicit relationship between siblings. The thought may make one go "ewww", but this book is written so tastefully and beautifully that I do not think I can recommend it highly enough. It is quite possibly going to be my # 1 read of the year. 5 stars +

It looks like you enjoyed Black Water Rising slightly more than I did, Belva. I only gave it 3 stars. I could not figure out why it was up for so many awards personally.

I enjoyed Dunmore's books The Siege and The Betrayal, but I am not so sure about trying A Spell of Winter.

Stasia, the "ewww" is not the main story line if that helps you any.
big hug,

This evening I read another 5 star Orange listed book, One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden. This one is about a family with 3 daughters growing up in Northern Ireland in the time of "the Troubles". The story is told in a manner that bounces from character to character, year to year, memory to memory. It is a wonderful story. The girls are so close and close to their parents as well. They remain so to and through their adult years. I learned more about the horrors of "the Troubles" than I would have liked to. I would have liked this book to have been a simple sweeping tale of this extended Irish family, as aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmothers are brought in as well. But it would not then have been the story that it is.

Next up: The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE by Samantha Hunt

Wow! You are just plowing through the Orange books, Belva. Kudos to you!

Belva- Nice to see you posting & reading! Yah! I'm not familiar with most of these titles, although I did love Dumore's The Seige and hope to get to The Betrayal later this year.

Hey there Stasia and Mark; thanx for popping over. I am loving my Orange reads this year. Just the luck of the draw, I suppose. But I have chosen some "can't put 'em down" books.
Mark, I've not read The Seige nor The Betrayal. I hope to get to them in the off Orange and Virago season.
hugs to you both,
belva

I am still reading The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE, am about 2/3 through it and while it did take me a bit to get into it, I am quite enjoying it.
Interestingly, yesterday while sitting & waiting for the hubby to get in to his eye Dr., I was reading and just for the heck of it........I turned and asked him if he had ever heard of Tesla. He proceeded to supply me with said gentleman's first name and an entire history of the man, where he was from & how and why he came here, what he invented, how he did not patten most/all (?) of his inventions, that he just wanted to better mankind's lot, about how another inventor named Marconi had taken credit for a great many of Tesla's inventions, about Tesla and Thomas A. Edison's limited relationship........... and so on. He was still sharing with me when they called him in a good twenty minutes later.
On the way home I asked him how he knew so much about Tesla. (I didn't even know he was a real person; I mean I am reading a novel) His answer: "I watch the Discovery and History channels." My man, the quietly well articulated & salt-of-the-earth man that I love and have been with since the hippie days of 1972 (we celebrated our 37th yesterday) surprised me once again.
So when I went to bed last night and picked up my book to continue reading, it was with a whole new & fresh attitude. This caused me to enjoy this Orange listed read even more than I was before.
'Ain't life grand?'
belva

Love the story, Belva!

@ Stasia: ;-)
About time for another 2:00 A.M. wireless visit but it may have to wait until next week. My beloved has been running my legs off since last Friday. Today is our first day at home and my 3 acre azz has been dragging all day. So I am thinking next week. It will be good to catch up with you & yours. Been missing you.
hugs,
belva

Goodness, this one just kept getting better and better and rolling faster and faster. The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE must have been a strong contender for the Orange Prize. I hated for this one to end. I really liked all of the characters a lot. I found the book fascinating and I continually wanted to know more and more about everything in the story.
The 'beer poem' in the book was actually written by the author, Samantha Hunt's father. Interesting, eh? I thought so.
The story is about Nikola Tesla, an inventor of many things, a great humanitarian, a wonderfully spirited man and a man who really lived. In the story a young maid (Louisa) in the New York hotel where Mr. Tesla, a recluse living out his final years, becomes acquainted him and befriends him, whether he wishes it or not.
She lives with her father (Walter) having lost her mother at the time of her birth. Her father is a night watchman at one of the city libraries. Everyone in the story seems to be rather reclusive. The maid and her father are best friends and very close. Her father has one other friend (Azor) who is also an inventor.
The story wanders back and forth from days past to days present and I enjoyed the way it was told. In this way we get to meet and know the wonderful woman (Freddie) who was Louisa's mother. We are also introduced to Thomas A. Edison but his role is fairly brief. We also get to know a couple who befriend Mr. Tesla and who remain friends with him until the very end.
I liked this book so much more than I expected to from the rather slow beginning. It has so much in it; the scientific data and talk, of which I understood so little, romance, family, mystery ........ just a lot going on in this one. I wish I hadn't felt the need to read it so quickly because I wasn't ready for the ending when it arrived. I did think that it tied up a few things too nicely at the end. By nicely here I mean conveniently. But a very good read, very good. 4 1/2 stars

Now on to my next Orange listed book: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna. I hope it is wonderful also.

#56: I am at work right now so it would not be a good time for me either :)

#57: I have seen nothing but good comments about The Memory of Love, Belva. I hope you enjoy it!

Belva- You might want to try Thunderstruck too! This one deals with Marconi and of course Tesla, is mentioned quite a bit too! It's a good book.

A first visit to your 75 thread too, today! I had not heard of The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE or of Tesla at all - sounds interesting and different - and I love the story about your husband's detailed knowledge of Tesla (a reminder to some of us that books aren't the ONLY way of learning about stuff!).

Stasia; I absolute loved The Memory of Love on so many levels. It is a spectacular read.

Mark; I will have to see if my library has Thunderstruck for perhaps in the late fall or winter. It would be a good follow up to The Invention of EVERYTHING ELSE. thanx for the rec ole buddy, ole pal.

genny; I know........he stunned and quite impressed me as he thinks he is 'reading' if he reads a hot rod or motorcycle magazine. LOL!~! (he does impress me quite often though)

Last night I completed The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna, an absolutely outstanding book about the days following the Sierra Leone civil war. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
What a beautiful book about a horrendous subject or rather subjects. So many really good story lines in The Memory of Love and all of them proved out to be very telling.
There are so many lovely reviews on this book that I am not even going to attempt to review the book but I did love it. I cared about all of the characters, I laughed, I cried, I mourned, so many emotions are drawn out of the reader with this book.

A couple of quotes:

re: the study of PTSD on patients and civilians; "You call a disorder, my friend. We call it life."

"So now his turn has arrived and he has never felt more conflicted. For here in this building where he barely has a moment to himself, he has never been so sure of who he is. He can walk he corridors, courtyards and wards blindfolded. Out on the streets he is recognised by his patients and he in turn recognises them. The change had occurred outside of his awareness. In this place of terrifying dreams and long nights, he knows who he is."

"Sometimes I think that this country is like a garden. Only it is a garden where somebody has pulled out all the flowers and trees and the birds and insects have all left, everything of beauty. Instead the weeds and poisonous plants have taken over"

The Memory of Love

I too, wonder why it did not win the Orange Prize. This is a spectacular read! I read a library copy but must buy my own. 5 stars + Now on to my next Orange listed book: Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I feel as if I am in for a rare treat as this is my first Waters.
belva

Yes, I really must get to The Memory of Love soon!

Yes you must, Stasia. There's a good girl. ♥♥♥

Well, I really have to get to it soon as I am borrowing a copy from Peggy. I am sure she is going to want it back some time or other :)

Ya think???????????? Chances are. I really hope you like it.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters: I hardly know where to start. This one took me in gently, grabbed me and held me throughout. Strangely enough, the character I cared the least about was Caroline. I simply was unable to read her and get into her. I cared about all of the other characters, even the minor ones. Thus, the 4 1/2 stars. Otherwise I would have easily rated this one a 5 star read.
And 'the little stranger', indeed, turned out to be what/whom I thought it to be. It made sense, it fit perfectly........but I didn't like it. Not that I didn't like it in the read. I think it had to be that way.
The story is one of a doctor who comes to the village and in his work, he falls for the sister of one of his patients. Eventually they plan to marry but things occur and continue to occur that keep putting the wedding at bay. The house of his patient is one of the old 'great houses' and I think the good doctor falls in love with the house as well even though it is in ill repair. Things fall through in the end, literally..............and we are rather back where we began but with our head still in the story.
The entire book is rather a head-game with the characters and with the reader. I liked it a great deal and would have loved it if the character, Caroline, had been more believable to me. Still and all it was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.
Now on to my next Orange listed read: The Road Home by Rose Tremain. I think that this one actually won the Orange Prize. I am looking forward to the read. I hear Tremain is awesome and this is my first of hers although I own three. (this one is a library copy)

#67: You thought more highly of The Little Stranger than I did. I never could figure out how it managed to be nominated for awards. Oh well. To each his own :)

Yup Stasia; different strokes for different folks and thank goodness. Otherwise all of the books I wanted at the library or bookshop would be gone all the time.
Happy Sunday dear friend.

The title: My Name is Memory
The author: Ann Brashares
The time period: all over the place from 541 A.D. to 2009
The place: again, all over the place but it seemed to center mainly in Africa and the U.S.
The characters: Daniel, Lucy/Sophia/Lucy/Constance/Lucy,......
The story:
Daniel, our protagonist, has a gift. A gift for life and remembrances of previous lives. Many souls come back but very few have a memory of their past lives and loves. Daniel remembers and Daniel remembers Sophia, his one and only love. The story weaves through Daniel's many lives as he searches for and sometimes finds her. But it never works out. There is always a hindrance of one sort or another.
This book worked for me. I enjoyed the way it was written, I liked the characters very much except for the one I hated and he was born to be hated several lives over. I enjoy time travel books and had anticipated that this was to be one but it wasn't. Daniel didn't travel back and forth through time. He was born, lived and died only to be born again in another time and place. The book does, however, go from current back to another life and returns to current time and time again.
Daniel overdosed on heroin in one life only to be born (& abandoned) in the next life by a heroin addicted mother. I loved his constant searching of Sophia/Lucy. The name he knew her by when he first fell in love with her was Sophia but her name in today's world was Lucy.
It is a very simple little love story that spans time and lifetimes. It is enjoyable, a fast read, a good book to take on holiday. There is no real depth here but I did enjoy the book. Not all books have to be intense or have a lot of depth to be enjoyed. This little story works. (3 stars)

Have set aside The Road Home once again. It just isn't suiting my mood at the time. I have turned to The Seas by Samantha Hunt; much more to my liking right now and was long listed for the Orange Prize this year.

Well, Belva, I loved The Seas but I LOVE and ADORE The Road Home! I hope that you get back to it in a better time and are converted. (If by some tragic accident you don't love it, don't give up on Tremain. Nothing she writes is the least bit like anything else that she writes except that everything she writes is wonderful to me. So far.)

Thank you for the encouragement on The Road Home Peggy. I know at some point in time I will read it and most likely love it.

I just finished The Seas by Samantha Hunt. It is an enchanting little tale about a young girl who thinks that she & her father before her are mermaid/merman. The story is one of isolation both by the physicality of it and also of self isolation. The girl keeps to herself and spends a great deal of time at the beach hoping to one day see her father return to she and her mother. One day while there she sees a young man coming out of the ocean and he is beautiful. She immediately falls in love with him though she is at the tender age of twelve and he is much older. The story moves on from there and is mainly about their relationship.
It is a fast paced fantasy that even an old lady can love. I loved this little book. It wasn't perfect (by 1/2 * for me) but then what fantasy is?
Next Orange listed book for me is: The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey.

Hi there Belva. How very nice to see posts from you. Hugs!

Big hugs back at you Linda. I hope you are well, happy and getting some good reads in. I think of you often. Need to get over to your thread. Thank you for popping over.

I need to get to The Seas soon. My local library even has a copy of it!

It is a quirky little book Stasia and I am sure not everyone's cup of tea so check it over before you check it out. It may not be one you will enjoy. But I sure did.
big hug & praying for wet & cooler weather for you dear friend.

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
My thoughts and comments:
This book was a very difficult read for me what with my father-in-law and his father both succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease or dying of complications of the disease. It brought back a great many difficult memories and as my beloved father-in-law just passed a year and a half ago some of those are still very raw.
This is the 2nd or 3rd Orange book of the month that I have read that has been written in a past tense and present tense back & forth manner. I do like this style of writing and I will say that this book was well written. However, I found it difficult to engage with any of the characters other than perhaps the protagonist's mother and her gentleman friend, whose parts were rather small.
So I liked the style of the book but I can't say that I liked the book because of the personal issues that I had to deal with while reading it. Someone who has not had to live with this disease would, I am sure, have a whole different take on the book.
I gave it 3 stars.

On to my 14th Orange Prize listed book of the month: Gilgamesh by Joan London.

#79: I will probably give The Wilderness a try at some point. I am lucky in that I have not had any family members with Alzheimer's.

I read Where the Apple Ripens by Jessie Kesson this afternoon and while I liked this little book of short stories I disliked the writing style enough that it totally disturbed my affection for the stories. I know that Kesson is one of Scotland's most beloved of writers and so I will not give up on her but will simply read more of her in the attempt to make my brain accommodate her method of writing.
I am not going to attempt to review the book as I believe that Elaine has done a fine job of that and because of the above.

Just waving "hi" as I get caught up on threads, Belva.
Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Belva, you are another reading machine. I always enjoy what you have to say!

Thank you for popping by bell7 & LizzieD. I like it.
And thank you for your kind words.
hugs,
belva

Gilgamesh by Joan London; my thoughts and comments:
I loved this book. I came to care about all of the characters and I couldn't wait to see what was coming up around the corner with Edith and her son's travels and travails looking for 'the papa'. The writing is beautifully done and this reader did not want this one to end.
I am not going to review the book as Soupdragon has done it so beautifully on the book page. But I too, found it to be everything I desire in a read. So well done and the characters were so interesting. Loved the part with the handicapped singer. Just so colorful. A wonderful book. I gave it 4 1/2 stars. Read it.

#85: I would read it if I could, but my local library does not have it yet!

But soon, Stasia....soon. ;-) I think you will like it.

Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden:

Again, lindsacl has written such a succinct review on the book page that I won't bother, but will just slip in a few thoughts and comments.
I didn't realize how much I loved this little book nor how well written and important it was until I finished it and sat there without a word to say. Because what does one say when they have read perfection? And it is not the story although it is a good story. It is not the characters although I related to the them all from the beginning. It was simply the writing. This author writes exquisitely and with such subtlety that one is not even aware of it until it is done. At least this reader was not. Deirdre Madden ............. an author of contemporary literature to be reckoned with. (5 stars)

#88: My local library does not have that one yet either. It has been in the BlackHole for a while now too.

Sorry to hear that Stasia. It is such a nice read. You will catch it one day.

I'm vastly excited that you were so impressed, Belva, because this is one that I already have!!!

Peggy, it is just a wonderful little book! You must read it. It could be (but isn't) a Virago. I think you will love it. Deirdre Madden is my 'author find' this year. Have loved both of hers that I have read.

Where the Apple Ripens by Jessie Kesson
My thoughts and comments:
While I liked this little book of short stories I disliked the writing style enough that it totally disturbed my affection for the stories. I know that Kesson is one of Scotland's most beloved of writers (and I do so love most things Scottish) so I shall not give up on her but will simply read more of her in the attempt to make my brain accommodate her method of writing.
I am not going to attempt to review the book as I believe that Elaine has done a fine job of that and because of the above. (2 stars)
~belva

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
My thoughts and comments:
This is a wonderful story. I loved it and I know I will read it many times over. (4 stars)

"Rebecca West's novel touches the very essence of life ..... Reviewing Rebecca West is like trying to review Michaelangelo. Perhaps we have become afraid of acknowledging contemporary greatness."
--Sybille Bedford

~belva

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Just a comment:
I loved Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont but my poor old heart was broken at the end. I didn't want it to end like that but it certainly was in keeping with the beautiful story.
Mrs Palfrey's daughter, Elizabeth; what a bloody cold hearted bitch!~!
Elizabeth Taylor writes like an absolute angel. This was my first one of hers. It will not be my last. This is just a really lovely little story. (5 stars +)

About half finished with Nadine Gordimer's The Lying Days. It is most excellent & is about South Africa circa 1950s in the mining area. Loving it. She writes exquisitely and this Nobel Laureate wrote her first book at the tender age of 15 years. Interesting? I thought so.
~belva

Belva, dear, read A View of the Harbour, my absolute favorite Taylor! Do it now!!!

Hi Belva- Wow, you are cranking out the books! Good for you! Sending you a big hug and wishing you a nice weekend.

#94/95: Both of those are already in the BlackHole. Luckily, the local library has the Rebecca West book. Unfortunately, it does not carry the Elizabeth Taylor book. I have only read one of hers, In a Summer Season, and I liked it.

I loved Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. It was made into a fairly decent movie a few years back.

@ Peggy; I will put A View of the Harbor on the burner for September. I don't think I will get to it this month but perhaps. I am such a 'list' person that I hate to deviate away from my plan though I do it a lot so we shall see. Taylor writes so beautifully that I cannot imagine that I have put her off for so long.

@ Mark; hey there ole buddy, ole pal....thanx for popping by. I keep meaning to get over to your thread and keep 'not making it'. Sorry. I will make an effort this week as no kids and the town celebration (which both my husband and I help with & it takes months of prep) is over as of yesterday so should be able. I am really curious as to what you are reading these days. I am going to bet mysteries..............

@ Stasia; hey girlfriend, perhaps an intra-library loan would garner you the Elizabeth Taylor when you get ready for it. I have been hitting yours on Sundays & doing a bit of lurking. In Mark's words: "You are cranking out the books!~!" Keep your powder dry girl!~!

@ arubabw; Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, is simply put, a lovely little (but huge in it's simplicity) story. I am glad that I chose it for my first Taylor. I found it to be one of those stories that is so simple that you don't expect to be 'WOW'd by it but when you finish you are left holding the book open in your lap with your mouth open as well and your brain is still in the story. Hard to begin another book right after reading something so beautifully written.

Thank you all for popping by.
hugs all round,
~belva

I completed The Lying Days in bed last night. What a wonderful book with great writing, a great story-line.....I loved it. But then with the rex I had, I knew I would and it is about South Africa and I am crazy for books on Africa. I liked the way Gordimer wove her characters with light & dark colors as they should be and I liked the way that she rushed no part of the story, not even the ending. All in all, a 4 1/2 star read for me.

Now I am moving on to the second in a three book series by Rebecca West, another new Virago author for me and I love her as well. Continuing from The Fountain Overflows, I am reading her This Real Night and finding it very good so far.

Nearly finished with This Real Night by Rebecca West, a very good follow up book to The Fountain Overflows. After this one, I am moving on to Red Dust by Gillian Slovo.

"In a small dusty South African town three people returning after many years away are about to meet their pasts. From New York comes top lawyer Sarah; from jail, and in chains, comes ex-deputy policeman Dirk Hendricks; from the new government, about to face his former torturer, comes Alex Mpondo M.P. And in the town two old men wait -- one for news of his son's murderer and one for his darling girl's return. Crackling with tinderbox energy, the scene is set . . . " (from the back of the book)

"A beautifully written novel with the pace and twists of a thriller and the atmosphere, scents and space of Africa. Slovo has drawn a cast so vivid that these torturers, heroes and victims will live in your mind long after the book is closed." (from The Guardian)

looks interesting to me and a break-away from what I have been reading and yet a Virago.

I need to get my hands on a copy of The Fountain Overflows because I own This Real Night and want to have all 3 books in the trilogy.

I have certainly been enjoying them Stasia.
Am proud of your Beth. Good on her.

Just finished Red Dust by Gillian Slovo; a page turner for me.

The Place: a village in South Africa
The Time: post Apartheid; during the Amnesty hearings
The People: Lawyers and Police Officers mainly
The Story-line: Sarah, an attorney born and raised in the village but moved to New York, is called back by her mentor to help with an Amnesty hearing. A young man was killed by a police officer during questioning/torturing and the officer is now wanting to tell all in am Amnesty hearing in order to be freed from prison.
Some court room drama and people drama in this one. No blood and guts but a nice tight dramatic piece of historical fiction based on real events. (non specific to the story) (3 1/2 stars)

Next up: A View of the Harbor by Elizabeth Taylor

I finished A View of the Harbour last evening and loved it. I am finding Elizabeth Taylor to be one of the best Virago writers in that she writes in an such an understated manner, is very subtle, and grows her characters very quietly. Love her writing. I loved the way this one ended and must say that while I should have been prepared for it, I was not.

Am off task now with my RL/BC and Orange read: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and just 60 pages in, I am loving it as well. I have been so fortunate in my reads this year. Almost all of them have been wonderful. It is so nice when the duds don't come in runs.
I am hoping that I will have time for one or two more Virago reads in August after finishing The Help.

#107: I hope you try In a Summer Season soon. I liked it a lot.

Thanx for the rec Stasia. I shall attempt to get to In a Summer Season in September.
(((♥♥)))

I've just concluded The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I absolutely loved it. I know there is a lot of controversy regarding the accuracy of the black/white characters and relationships in this book. But I didn't go into it as a bio or as a bit of history. I went into it as it was written, I believe, and that is as a piece of fiction and I really enjoyed it. I laughed, I cried, but mainly laughed at some of the conversations. I really liked how Stockett grew her characters and how I was slowly drawn to like/dislike a particular character. People in real life often waffle on decisions and are wimpy as were a few in the book. Then there are those who take an immediate stand and stick with it no matter what as did some in the book.
It is difficult for me to realize that this is a debut novel. It was that wonderful. It just may be my best of the year. I highly recommend it and give it 5+ stars.

I am now moving on to 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. Back on the Virago wagon.

I am a huge fan of 84, Charing Cross Road, so I hope you enjoy it, Belva.

Stasia, I absolutely loved it. I am glad that you did too.
_______________________________________________

I just finished the loveliest little book of letters by Helene Hanff entitled 84, Charing Cross Road. I was quite taken with it and so sad at the end that Helene was never able to make the journey 'across the pond' to meet and visit her dear friends from the bookshop. A very charming book and I highly recommend it. (5 stars)

My next Virago is another new author to me. Although I have all of her books this will be the first of hers I have read. It is Barbara Pym's Exellent Women. I hope that I enjoy it half as much as I did 84, Charing Cross Road.
~belva

If you have not seen it already, you might check out the film version of 84, Charing Cross Road starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. It is pretty good.

Ditto what Stasia said...

Just stopping by for a quick Hello and a Hug....you're such a cool lady!

The White Bird Passes by Jessie Kesson
While I liked this little story a great deal, I have difficulty with the fact that Jessie Kesson does not grow her characters. They are simply there and the story goes.
The book is about a little girl, Janie, who lives in a very poor section of town with her mother. There are very few men and most of the women are prostitutes and the children pretty much raise themselves. There are State Dept persons who go around to check on the living conditions, the health conditions, etc., of the residents of the area and if the children are not being cared for as the politicos think agreeable they are removed from the home/hovel and taken to an orphanage, which is what happens to our Janie.
Janie is a very interesting and well rounded character whereas I found most of the characters to be flat. (For me, this is a Kesson hitch.) Janie is very resilient and thinks quick on her feet. But the story ends when she is released from the orphanage. I would have loved to found out what future escapades awaited our main character and it may be that there is a sequel to The White Bird Passes. I hope so.
I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 5 and guardedly recommend it.

Now I am on to some non-fiction with: Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall by Michael Baker. Only forty eight pages in and finding it fascinating already!
~belva

Oh, previous to The White Bird Passes, I read my first Barbara Pym in Excellent Women. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars but I love her writing style. So she got a 4 star rec. I highly recommend this one.

And to Stasia and Judith;
I saw that movie eons ago and loved it. Thought it wonderful. I wanted to be her! lol!~!

(((♥))) to both of you lovely ladies.

((Hugs)) right back at you, Belva!

Thanx Stasia. Can't wait for my next trip to Texas so I can see you again. But Robbi (my daughter) must come home first as the rest of the family misses her so much too and when I go, she only gets to see me. The past two years she has had to use her vacation time for Dr. apts and sick leave and so has been unable to come home. She has C-dif (sp) and has an awful time with it.
I think we will try to get her to come for a long weekend and this one would have been perfect for it. Perhaps over Thanksgiving if she doesn't have to work the Friday.
later babe,

I am looking forward to your next trip down here too, Belva :)

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky
My thoughts and comments:
While I enjoyed this story, I could not help but compare it to my life with my younger sister and her very similar death at the age of forty seven years. As one of the other reviewers noted, there are discrepancies between the story and what actually occurs in the true situation. It does not seem to have been well researched.
I spent 3 days and nights loving my sister on her way out of this world. I sang to her, I rubbed lotion on her, I talked to her...........I loved her.
In this story, Robin, the sister who is a runner, goes down with a freak heart attack at the age of thirty something. Her mother, father, brother, sister Molly, and friends must deal with all of the things that must be dealt with while mourning the fact that it is only the machines keeping their loved one alive.
I have read much better by Barbara Delinsky and this one too, could have been much better. It is rather a 'pat' story for the subject matter that it covers and while a quick and easy ready it did not feel real to this reader. I have come to expect more from a Delinsky novel. 2 1/2 stars

Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall by Michael Baker.
My thoughts and comments:
When I began this book I knew absolutely nothing about Radclyffe Hall. This biography is about her private and public life. It goes into depth regarding the writing of her short stories, poetry and her novels as well; even so far as telling the stories. This was a woman who fought for everything she ever gained in her life. The book goes into her many travels to different countries and her political and religious life. By the time I had finished reading this book, I felt as if I knew the real Hall.
She was a fascinating woman who led a fascinating life, albeit sometimes an unhappy & miserable life. One of the biggest battles in her life was her fight to get The Well of Loneliness published both in England and in America. Some of the biggest names in writing at the time stood forth for Radclyffe, or John as she liked to be called, during the court battles over the publication of this book. In 1928 the British courts banned the book as 'obscene' and ordered all copies destroyed.
Parts of the biography do deal with her lesbianism and how the world around her dealt with it as well as sharing the stories of her great loves and what they brought to and took from her life.
The author, Michael Baker, has done a wonderful job on this bio. It was interesting and generally to the point. It doesn't paint Hall as a perfect person but just gives us her life. I enjoyed this read tremendously, recommend it highly to those who are interested in the writing of this particular era and rated it 4 stars.

My next read is my answer to Darryl's 'an Orange a Month' Challenge and I have chosen The Long Song by Andrea Levy. It was long listed in 2010 and looks promising.
~belva

My September Orange was The Long Song by Andrea Levy. I had such high hope for this one and those hopes entertained me about 4/5 through the book. Then things went rather off-kilter for me.
Here's hoping my October Orange is a little sweeter.
My review is here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/8964519
~belva

Interesting review, Belva. I was one of the few people who didn't love Small Island and will definitely be giving this one a miss.

Reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain about the 1st wife of Papa (Hemingway) told in the 1st person by the wife. I am quite enjoying thus far.

Just so's you all know; there is going to be a ReadaThing hosted by skittles in early November and I believe it is to be a 72 hour week-ender. Yea!~! Another good inducement to line up some good-reads for some good long reading time. I definitely plan to be there.

here's the link for those of you who are interested:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/123292

hugs all round,
~belva

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

My thoughts and comments:
I really enjoyed this book. It is the story of Ernest Hemingway's marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson. I quite liked the character of Hadley. She had a lot of integrity, staying power and she adored Papa as he did her, but he just was unable to love one woman. That was his (and her) problem. It is a nice little story, a quick read and one that made me really hungry to run to the library and check out 3 bios on Hemingway. I was unable to find one on Hadley.
I gave this one 3 1/2 stars.

I am now reading Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari by Christopher Ondaatje and am enjoying it so far and am also reading Beloved for a group read over on the 11/11/11 Challenge group. I must say that the book so far (about 90 pages in) is not nearly as good as the movie was and that is something we can rarely say. I hope it improves......or perhaps it is just not to my taste. We shall see.

Beloved by Toni Morrison
My thoughts & comments:

1st read: This story creeped me out but I loved it and found it fascinating at the same time. I will read it again.

2nd read: The first half of the story I found very difficult to get into. I liked all of the characters and I love how it is written but I just could not concentrate and follow the story well at all. Just before I got into the second half of the book, I found myself suddenly enmeshed within the story-line. I think the book brilliantly written and a very thoughtful story of the subject matter.
It is difficult to discuss this story or to know what to say about it. I can picture all of this actually happening in the time and place of the story. I will leave it to those much better versed than myself to actually review it. I gave it 4 1/2 stars and like before, I will read it again.

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

My thoughts & comments: As it has already been reviewed several times you all know the story line.

I found the lead character to be an interesting girl who endured much change throughout the book. I loved her sidekick, the little Chinese man. I enjoyed all of the eccentric, colorful characters they ran into in San Francisco and on the trail. I could have done without the whole storyline of the 'boyfriend'.
For me this was rather a meh read. Good enough to finish but not good enough to write home about. I gave the book an optimistic 3 stars thinking there is something I perhaps missed and I may or may not go on to read Portrait in Sepia and The House of Spirits. I have them on hold at the library but am debating.
Debating no longer. I was just over reading the reviews on those two and I think I will take a pass. Ho Hum.

I read The House of Spirits years ago and it didn't really work for me. I thought I was missing something as everyone seemed to love her at the time!

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
My thoughts and comments:

Her poorest outing to date. Very predictable which made it rather boring. I only finished it because I bought & paid full price for the damned thing and I wanted to see how the 2 girl friends worked things out. Again, very predictably. A big disappointment because I have loved others of hers. A 2 star read for me and is going on PBS sooner rather than later.

My first book for Banned Book Week 2011 is All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. And just from the entro-page, I am wondering if I will be comparing it to Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman as I read it. Am hoping not. I would like to judge it on it's own merits.

For Banned Books Week:

I read half of All Quiet on the Western Front which is an amazing book but needed to get away for a bit and so went on to:

The Country Girls Trilogy, (the omnibus including The Country Girls, The Lonely Girl entitled also Girl with Green Eyes, Girls in Their Married Bliss and the Epilogue by Edna O'Brien; which was banned in Ireland.

My thoughts & comments:

Two girls, Caithleen & Baba are childhood friends in Ireland. This is a coming of age story that goes through the early and mid years of their lives. They attend public school and then of course the Catholic School run by the nuns, getting into all manner of trouble. Finally they are turned out of the Catholic School. Baba's family has money and there is no drunkenness nor violence at home. Caithleen family, or Kate's as she comes to be called, is poor and full of both.
The girls end up going to Dublin where Baba attends school and Kate finds work. Baba is much the leader and Kate the follower. Baba loves to party and flirt with all men while Kate is more inclined to sit back and observe. Baba is also very worldly while Kate is pretty naive and an innocent. But when she falls for a man this part of her life becomes her all and she pours everything she has into the relationship, be it right or wrong. The men she falls for seem to all be married as well.
Kate's love life and marriage do not work out well at all. One thinks that it is going to work out after all that Kate goes through to get there but she just doesn't seem to have it in her to do and say what is best for herself.
In the meantime Baba is having fun and when she marries it is not for love but for money and security. She continues to have her fun on the side.
The story is told in the first person narrative of Kate for the first two parts and the third part along with the epilogue is told in the first person narrative of Baba. I didn't understand why the switch until the end and then it made sense.
I had mixed emotions about this book until I was about a fourth of the way into it and it hit me how brilliantly the story was being told. Everything in this book is told so simply and as I read I realized: I know someone like that or: I have done/said that.
I think this book is much better than it is touted to be and I gave it 4 stars.
~belva

Now back to All Quiet on the Western Front or to pick up The Well of Loneliness.

Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari by Christopher Ondaatje:

My thoughts and comments:

I found this bio to be quite interesting. The more I read of Hemingway, (though I quite like his works), the more I realize just what an ass he really was and that the size of his ego was HUGE! Probably the most tender thing he is quoted as saying is regarding his first wife Hadley, at the end of his memoir he says: “I wished I had died before I loved anyone but her.”
The man, while an ass, is a fascinating man. This particular biography follows Hemingway's second and last African Safari route by the author. It was interesting and I do want to read more of the man and more of his works, specifically "A Movable Feast". I gave this read 2 1/2 stars and I truly enjoyed Ondaatje's writing skills.

90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

My thoughts and comments:

An okay story poorly told, I thought. I would like to believe all that he spoke of in the book; that there is a heaven after life etc., and I think that I do, but this story could have been told so much better. Just a meh read for me but I am glad that I read it. I gave this book 2 stars.

Princess Ka'iulani: Hope of a Nation, Heart of a People by Sharon Linnea:

My thoughts and comments:

This bio on the lovely Princess Ka'iulani of Hawaii is a very interesting look at the 'take-over' of Hawaii's royalty and the way it all went about to make Hawaii a province of the U.S. Rather like we took over America from the Indians but without the violence which was a constant threat. The princess was a smart, brilliant and very lovely girl who lived in exile in Europe for 8 years while the fate of her country was being decided. A lovely but sad bio. I am very glad I read it. Now I wish to read more on the history of Hawaii. This was a 3 star read for me.

Hadley by Gioia Diliberto
My thoughts & comments:

I found this book to be very interesting and learned a lot about Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, through the reading of it. I understand why his quotes: "I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her." and "I only loved one woman and then lost her." and where they came from.
Hadley was a very unhappy girl who grew up in a home (house) dominated by her mother who appeared to me to be jealous of Hadley, who hated men, thought sex was a destroyer of women and conjured her other daughter to join her in organizing groups to 'save' women from men. However she, Hadley, did live with her mother, taking care of house and her mother when she became ill and remaining with her through her death. Only then did she embark on a life of her own.
Hadley Richardson was a fascinating woman on her own, aside from Hemingway. And from the accounts in this book, other that her years growing up and to 28 when her mother passed, and the years immediately after her breakup with Hemingway, she led a happy and fulfilling life.
I disagree with the one other reviewer on this book that it is more about Hemingway than Hadley and I would have liked to have known her. I would love to have someone like her in my life.
I recommend this book to any bio lover whether they cared for the work of Ernest Hemingway or not and I rated it 3 1/2 stars.

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
My thoughts and comments"

Amongst so many negative reviews, I will stand and say that I loved this book. The lesbianism in it is not written overtly enough so as to be offensive. I found it to be very sensitively written and a very thoughtful read.
I cared about the characters that I should have and despised those that were to there to be despised. I am very taken with Hall's writing and looking forward to reading more of her work. I am very glad that I read Radclyffe Hall's bio before reading this book. I think it brought me more in tune with her writing.
There is some happiness in the story and a great deal of sadness as well. I am certain that I will be reading this one again. I gave it 4 1/2 stars.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

My thoughts and comments:

(SPOILER)

"He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front.
He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come."
_______________________________________________

The "beauty" of a war story is an intriguing thought, but I can think of no other word with which to describe this book than beautiful. Remarque has written a book of the horrors of WWI told through the eyes of an innocent young German soldier and he has written it with such a simplicity that it is overpowering in the beauty of the language.
We owe the translator a huge debt as well, for the translation can make or break a book and this is a wonderful book, deserving of all the accolades it has received.
It is the story of several young men from the same village who enter the service and the war at the same time. It tells of the horrors of the smallest nature as well as the hugely horrifying events of this war. It also tells of the remarkable little things that put smiles on the faces of these young men and gave them hope for another day.
There are many books written about The Big War but I can only think of one after reading All Quiet on the Western Front. If you have not read this book, please do so. You will be giving yourself a wonderful gift. I highly recommend it and gave it 5 stars

#139 - Great review! I read this in high school. Perhaps I should read it again (that was a long time ago.)

thank you

When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant

My thoughts and comments:

I won't attempt a review on this book as there are already several quite good ones on the book page. I will say that I really liked the book. Read it in one sitting. I loved the story; thought the writing could have been a bit better. Some of the characters I quite liked; others I wondered why they were even there. I really liked the main character and could understand, at times, her wishi-washiness. I did not, however, understand why she allowed that couple to basically abduct her and remove her from Tel Aviv and take her back to England or wherever. I liked the description of her marriage and think a lot of marriages are actually like that. I also loved that she returned to Tel Aviv when she was able to upon the death of her husband. I will most likely read it again because I loved the story-line so much. And I definitely am going to creep into clueless's library and see what books they followed this one up with. I recommend When I Lived in Modern Times to those who are truly interested in the cause of Israel becoming a nation in it's own right and I gave it 3 1/2 stars.

Chocolat by Joanne Harris (2 1/2 stars)

my thoughts and comments:

I found Chocolat to be a short light read that shows face to face meetings of a diversity of persons and dealing with them. There is also the magical quality to the story which I saw as the main theme. I could have liked this book a lot more than I did but for ...... hmmm, what? I really don't know. I loved the character of the old lady and that of the gypsy man. I was fascinated with the character of the priest and his fight within himself. I still think the book could have been much better and I was a bit disappointed in it.

I hope the next one up by her, Five Quarters of the Orange is much better.

Five Quarters of the Orange is so much better than Joanne Harris's Chocolat. The story and characters are much more engaging. I am quite enjoying it.
With Chocolat I found "The Book or the Movie?" rule to be quite broken. The movie was so very much better than the book and I have found that to be such a rarity.

Belva, I'm just catching up with you after "losing" you in the thread change. So many fine books and reviews! I have you starred now.

Thank you Terri. It is good to 'see' you. I hope you and yours are doing well. What 'book challenge' are you doing this year if at all? I didn't do one last year and really missed it.
Thank you for popping over.
~belva

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway

I quite enjoyed this slim volume of short stories by Hemingway. His words have a way of engaging the reader with the time, place and space of the story. So far I have loved everything I have read by him.
The first short: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which he titled this book after, is about a man & wife on safari in Africa under the Mountain of Kilimanjaro. He has a serious leg injury that has gone gangrene. She is attempting to keep him amused whilst they await the plane to take him to hospital. While they wait they talk and he drinks. He is not so frightened now that the pain is gone.
The second: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, is about 2 waiters in a sidewalk cafe and an aged man who comes in every evening and sits quietly drinking until 3:00 A.M. by which time he is drunk and goes home. He attempted suicide 'last' week and his niece who cares for him saved his life. The one waiter is a bit surly and wants the old man to leave so he can close up the joint. The 2nd waiter is much more laid back and sees no harm in letting the gentleman drink for that last hour.
The third story: A Day's Wait, is about a little boy who becomes ill and must remain in bed for a day or two. His father reads to him and sits by his bed and talks with him. The boy does not want to sleep even though he is sleepy. He thinks that he is dying.
The fourth: The Gambler, The Nun, and the Radio, is about a 2 men hospitalized with gunshot wounds. One was shot twice in the abdomen and the other one in the leg. When the police come in to question them, the men insist that it was just an accident, although they were shot by an angry card player. It was an accident because the man had shot 8 times and only hit them three but was only attempting to hit the one. Good story.
The fifth: Fathers and Sons, is about a father and his son out hunting and then about the son & friends out shooting. The son, Nick, always thought of his father in the fall during hunting season.
The sixth: In Another Country, is about two men, again in hospital in Milan, Italy with war wounds. They are on machines said to help with their therapy. It is rather a character study as are the others as well.
There are four more, each as good as the last. Some of these are just a very few pages, but what pages. After a couple of them I had to just sit and ponder the meaning that Hemingway was possibly attempting to get to us. Also several of these are 'Nick Adams stories', which are always exceptionally good.
I highly recommend this book and I gave it 4 stars.

The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold by Adrian Havill

This is quite a fascinating study of the man who fooled the FBI for sixteen years. He worked for the FBI and sold (for a pittance) top secret information to the Soviets throughout that time.
The story of how & why he did this is interesting but the book is, in my opinion, not very well written. He was a good Catholic and family man with six children. He used most of the money he gained from his espionage to provide his children with a high quality education.
According to the book, Robert Hanssen was to receive a sentence of life without parole. I would only recommend this book to those very interested in this specific subject matter and I gave the book 2 stars.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

I was absolutely fascinated by this book. Strange, as I did not care for her book Chocolat very much at all. I did, however, love the movie Chocolat But THIS book has almost all of the elements that I look for in a 'but perfect' read. A little dark, a little light; some drama, some playfulness; strong characters, weaker characters who can be manipulated, a heart break, a love story; I think you get my drift.
This story takes place in war time France and brings to a village a woman, who spent half of her childhood here under a different name. There are mysteries and reasons as to why she does not wish the villagers to remember her or her family from her early years here. The story goes back and forth to her youth with her mother and 2 siblings and then to the current day. It is told in the first person of the woman and then of the young girl of her childhood.
It is a great story and is well written. I am sure that I will read it again one day. I recommend this one way over Chocolat and gave it 4 stars.

146 Belva, in addition to the 75 Challenge, I'm doing the "11 in 11 category challenge" and the "books-off-the-shelf" challenge. It's been a good reading year!

Terri, I am so glad you are having a good reading year. Mine is going well too. But you are doing 3 challenges? Wow! I am only doing 2; the 75 book gig and the 11/11/11 challenge. I don't think I have even heard of the "books-off-the-shelf" challenge. If it is anything like it sounds and is a challenge to read books off your home shelves, then I need to be doing that one. I need to get a bunch of these read and listed on PBS.
Thanks for popping by. I will have to head over to your thread on the 75 gig. Take care.
hugs,
belva

I finished The Age of Innocence a couple of hours ago and am really sorry that it took me so long to read this book. It is really a wonderful book. Wharton really knows her way around words. I saw that billiejean was taking part in a group read of it and thought I would join them.
I have now begun Hunt the Slipper but am not even far enough into it to know what it is about yet. I hope it is close to as good as 'Innocence' was.

The Age of Innocence is a book about living your life in respect to appearances. And in 'old' New York it was 'all' about appearances. There is a sameness within all marriages, a sameness between the ladies as well as the gentlemen, a sameness in what time the lights go on in the evenings and the time the curtains are pulled.
This could have been a very boring book but it was not at all. In point of fact, I found it to be fascinating. The main character is in love with the young lady that he eventually proposes to, but comes to realize that with her, their marriage will have that boring sameness to it of all the others, that she will be just like all of the other wives which will make him just like all of the other husbands. He meets another young lady who rather than being brought up in old New York was brought up in Europe and finds that she is quite different. She is married to a man whom she has left in Europe due to the very unhappy circumstances in the way he treated her. He becomes fascinated with this woman and even his fiancee tells him that if he should want something different, that she would not want to stand in his way. But...............times being as they were, there are certain standards to be met no matter the happiness or sadness involved.
I enjoyed this Wharton tremendously and have found her to be a wonderful author. I highly recommend the book and have given it 4 1/2 stars.

151 Belva, the Books-off-the-Shelf challenge is exactly what you guessed -- a commitment to read volumes you already own. If you're interested, here's the group page: http://www.librarything.com/groups/booksofftheshelfchal

My three challenges are not so hard, Belva. I basically am doing the same books for the 75 and the 11/11/11. I stay with the 75 for its outstanding social aspect, but need the 11/11/11 for the, shall we say, organizational aspect? And every month I'm committed to pulling at least two of the books (usually more) for those challenges off of my own shelves (or floor, boxes, nightstand, etc.). This has helped me get to some of my own neglected books!

152,153 I've never read any Wharton, Belva, except for a book of her ghost stories that was on Mac's Halloween list last year -- probably not a fitting introduction to her work, though they were unique and quite good. I should try one of her novels.

The Legacy by Katherine Webb

My thoughts & comments:

The time: 1902
The place: New York
Caroline is young and in love. Her guardian aunt is stiflingly negative regarding nearly everything about Caroline and definitely about her upcoming nuptials which she refuses to have any part of. The groom is from out West where the buffalo roam & where he has a cattle ranch.

The time: current day
The place: England
Erica and sister Beth have come from London to spend the holidays in the ancestral home. The home that their grandmother has willed to them upon her death if they both live in the home. Erica wants to but Beth is terrified to live in the house. Too many secrets must be kept.

The story goes back and forth between Caroline's (Erica & Beth's great grandmother) story and that of Erica and Beth. Beth suffers from horrible depression and anxiety. Erica tries to watch after her older sister but is also very curious about Caroline's history and things left in the house from that era. As she searches through her great grandmother's belongings she finds letters written by and to Caroline. She learns that she lived in New York and out on the western plains. She thinks there was a child as she finds a photo of Caroline with a baby. Yet she knows that Caroline married a Lord and that this could not have happened had she had children.
As the story weaves it's way forward and backward it was quite easy to become engaged with the young American Caroline but not the older European Caroline. It was also easy to become engaged with Erica and Beth, along with Beth's son and the gypsy type family and friends who, at times, lived on the English estate.
Erica knows that the mystery of her great grandmother involves these people who were a part of she and Beth's childhood at the time that their cousin, Henry, disappeared.
I read this for my R/L B/C and have to say that it was one of about 3 that we have read this year that was not a yawn. I enjoyed it but not enough to read again. I gave it 3 stars.

The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison

my thoughts & comments:

This book, while good, did not meet my expectations but I am a romantic at heart and the story was thwarted at every love line in the book. Perhaps that is as the author meant it; that nothing is forever and that while we have it we should appreciate it even if it is the hope of love.
The story begins as the children of London are being evacuated to the countrysides about London prior to and during the blitz. Our main character Anna, is one of these children and is removed to an estate called Ashton Park, a lovely estate with ponds, wooded areas and lots of greens for the children to run and play. The estate is owned by Thomas (whose legs are paralyzed from contracting polio) and Elizabeth Ashton. It is turned into a school with dormitories for the children. Once over their homesickness, the children come to love Ashton Park. The owners, teachers and staff are all very nice and accommodating.
As the story moves on our Anna becomes privy to some of the secrets of the house. One being the true relationship of the owners. This follows Anna throughout her life, affecting her own marriage and life. This is the part of the book that did not ring true for me.
Although we all pine for what may have been, usually we get on with our lives. Anna seems to have gone through some of the motions but forever lived with that emptiness.
Like I said, I did enjoy the book. I would not have ended it as Ms. Allison did and I am very surprised that this book was short listed for the Orange Prize in 2010. I gave it 3 stars.

Belva- the Age of Innocence was my first book by Wharton and I loved it. I'm probably due a re-read, at some point. The film version is excellent too!

Mark;
thanx for popping over. That is just a wonderful book and well worth a re-read someday. I haven't seen the film but I seem to remember them making it. Are Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pheiffer and Glenn Close in that production?

I have found a new (to me) author to love. Her name is Tatiana De Rosnay and today I read her A Secret Kept. I didn't get a thing done but read that book; a wonderful book about a broken extended family.
I read it because our R/L B/C has chosen another book of hers: Sarah's Key to read for our November book and I just wanted to familiarize myself with the author, never having heard of her.
The story begins when Antoine, probably early 40s and just coming off a divorce involving 3 children, invites his sister Melanie, on a trip for her birthday. She has no family of her own. He wants to take her back to where they used to vacation when they were children before their mother passed away.
On the return home, with his sister driving, she turns to him and says that she has remembered something 'huge' from their childhood and wants to tell him and that it is very upsetting. Upset and not paying attention to the road, she drives off the road and while Antoine is not injured, Melanie is terribly injured and is in hospital for an extended amount of time and has a very long home recovery period. She remembers nothing of their conversation.
Antoine begins a journey to find out what occurred so many years ago in his family that changed their whole lives.
This book is written very well and there are little unexpected twists and turns throughout it with many characters woven in and out of the story. I loved it and gave it 4 stars.

In the Still of the Night by Ann Rule
My thoughts and comments:

Not a review but an update for anyone interested in this case. The most recent inquest has ruled that this was a homicide, not a suicide and that the most probable suspects are the husband and one of the sons. Arrest warrants are pending at this time. 10/21/2011

__________________________________________________​
My thoughts and comments on this book.

I guess that there is a reason that I do not read true crime books.
But I wanted to read this one as it occurred in our locale. I was quite disappointed in the book all around. I was disappointed in the writing, in the time-line...........I just didn't think that it was well done at all. To give Rule credit, she does do her homework and you can tell that she does her research.
At any rate, I didn't like it and gave it 1 1/2 stars just on the research alone.

Belva- Yes, that's the correct cast and directed by the great Martin Scorcese too!

I am reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and while enjoying it, I am not liking it nearly as much as I did her The Little Stranger. I am about half way through the book so am thinking that this is probably where my mind-set will stay.

159 Belva, a good friend of mine, a retired librarian, recently read Sarah's Key and was very, very moved by the story. I must get to that one! I look forward to your comments, and whatever you may share from your book group.

Thank you Terri for letting me know that your friend was moved by Sarah's Key. I am looking forward to it and hope that it brings out a lively discussion within the group.

The skittles sponsored '100 Hour ReadaThing' going on this weekend is really racking up the books. I had planned to read The Arabian Nights: The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night by Sir Richard Burton as it is such a chunkster and I needed a little spurring on to tackle it. But I have found that this book is better read in bits and so I am reading other books as well. I signed up for 2 three hour slots per day plus the no time limit slot as well.
So I am well into The Arabian Nights and have also read:
A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen
The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry,
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian,
I will Fight No More Forever by Merrill B Beal,
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, &
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (am still reading this one).
Not a dud in the bunch thus far. I am really enjoying the ReadaThing. It is so nice to have a long one as something always comes along to muck up the plans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Belva!! I almost missed it here!!! Hope it was lovely and booky!

Oops, was it your birthday, Belva? Hope it was a happy one!

Thank you Miss Peggy. It was lovely and very booky
indeed!

And thanks to you as well Miss Terri. I appreciate. I was a happy day.

hugs to you both,
~belva

Am reading my 'Author of the Month' selection and not enjoying it at all thus far. I am only 20 pages in so will give it the 50 of the 'Pearl Rule' and if things are not improved it is 'hasta la bye bye baby."
November's author is Kate Grenville and I am reading Lilian's Story. Arghhhhhhhhhhh!~!

Gave up on the Grenvillefor the moment and picked up The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Something totally different than that which I normally read. I am really enjoying it and the characters thus far.

Winterwood by Dorothy Eden;
My review:

The night was dark and the wind rustled through the branches of the trees and pressed them against the old house at Winterwood. The house itself creaked and moaned protesting the winds blowing though the loose window casings. Lavinia was alone in the dark and each time she attempted to light her candle, the moving air would blow it out. Her nerves were shattered and she began to feel that there was movement in the old house. ******* not really, I just thought I would throw that in ******** hee hee

Winterwood is a throwback to the old Gothic Romances and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lavinia is a young lady who has had the good life and through unkind circumstances, is now one who must make her own way in the world. She becomes a guardian/governess to a young girl in a wheelchair who has two brothers. One of them is away at school and the younger one spends his time being petted by his mother, when not having one of her migraines, and the rest of the time up to no good. The father is an estate owner, (Winterwood), and is kept busy with the property.
There is an old aunt who is dying and plans to leave her inheritance to charities. The wife and a 'friend' of hers plot to get this inheritance. And in thus the story lies.
It's an old story and things turn our perfect for everyone. But coming back to this type of story is so relaxing and makes one wonder why we think we must have all of the fast talk and action and goings on that are in the more contemporary works. I will be reading more of this type of novel. They are perfect for fall, winter and a wet spring. I gave Winterwood by Dorothy Eden 4 stars.

Am love, love, loving James Ellroy's The
Black Dahlia. This isn't even 'my type of book' but I had heard so much about the L.A. Quartet and thought I would try book 1. About 5 pages into it, I ordered the other 3. Wow! Does it roll along. I am liking the storyline and the characters as well. But I feel like I should be reading Mansfield Park, so a little guilty pleasure thing going on here, but I am definitely loving it. Sad that I am nearly through it.

Hi, Belva! Glad you've had some good books to enjoy lately.

Winterwood is available at the county library, so I've added it to the appropriate list. Sounds enjoyable. The Black Dahlia is already on the list to get at county library, or I'd add that too.

Oh dear, I missed your birthday! I hope it was a happy one, Belva!

I loved both The Little Stranger and The Night Watch. Have you read Fingersmith? It's also excellent!

>#173:
Good morning Terri. Thank you for stopping over. I hope you enjoy both Winterwood and The Black Dahlia. The former is an old fashioned gothic romance mystery and the latter is a an old fashioned gum-shoe noir mystery/crime who-done-it. I really like the both of them.
Is the turkey gobbling at your house yet? I think I can hear one off in the background somewhere around here.
I am happy to hear that you enjoyed The Little Stranger and The Night Watch as I did and I do have Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet, and Affinity waiting in the wings. Will probably read them or start on them after Orange January. I really am enamored by the writing of Sarah Waters.
I am going to check our libraries and see how many books we have in common Terri.
hugs,

>#174:
Dear coppers, how are you my dear? I think of you and the Coppers frequently but my time has been so fleeting this past couple of years.
I did indeed have a happy birthday Joanne. Hubby and I went to his cardiologist appointment (clean bill of health...loose 20 lbs), then to dinner at his favorite Teriyaki place as our birthdays are only 6 days apart and on to see the movie J. Edgar. I really enjoyed it even though I truly dislike Cappriano as an actor but forgot it was him in just moments. The hubby didn't care much for it but I am the history buff in the family and he could care less. The lighting was marvelous, the staging was impeccable, the props were so era appropriate right down to the draperies, as was the clothing. I thought it very good. So I did indeed have a wonderful birthday. Thank you.
I hope you & yours are well. ♥

hugs to you both,
~belva

Picked up Mansfield Park, put it down. Picked up Outwitting History, put it down. Picked up The Night Strangers, put it down. Picked up Joan Makes History, put it down. (I do not think I am going to be a Kate Grenville fan. Picked up The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman and AM READING IT! It's not that the others didn't seem good. In point of fact, Outwitting History seemed fascinating and the others seemed good but they just weren't feeding my 'now' needs.
The Dovekeepers is. It is another telling of Masada and as I am reading, I am there. Hoffman seems to have that about her, at least with me. I will get to the others when I finish this one as they are all library books. The Grenville is an Interlibrary loan book so it must be back quickly. I suppose I will read that one next.
Happy reading all,

Happy Thanksgiving Belva!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Tammy.

I had to put down Outwitting History for a bit as my R/L B/C meets tomorrow late afternoon and I need to read that chosen book: Sarah's Key. I am perhaps midway through the book and I am really, really liking it. It is so very intense though. It is about Paris, 1942 and the rounding up of Jews, especially it seems, children by the French police, taken to French camps and from there deported to Auschwitz.
The story is told by a young Jewish girl in one chapter, then a 40 something year old journalistic woman in the next and is written that way back and forth all thus far at any rate. Terribly sad, nauseatingly real to this reader, and also very informative as I had no idea that the French harmed their own during this era. I find that disgusting but real with the times. I will be searching out a non-fiction book on this subject: the Vel' d'Hiv' round up of July 1942 in Paris.

bump

180 bump???

179 Hi, Belva! A dear friend of mine was reading Sarah's Key when I visited her in New Jersey this past summer, and she was quite emotionally affected by it. Our library has it, and I really must get around to reading it.

Hi Belva,

I know exactly what you mean about books feeding (or not feeding) your book needs! It means that I can't plan my reading as far ahead as some others seem to be able to do because I really don't know what my "reading needs" are likely to be next Tuesday any more than I know what I'll fancy eating for dinner next Tuesday!

I really don't know what my "reading needs" are likely to be next Tuesday any more than I know what I'll fancy eating for dinner next Tuesday!

That's me exactly!

"So many lives! Being explorers or prisoners of the Crown, hairdressers or tree-choppers, washerwomen or judges, ladies of leisure or bareback riders, photographers or mothers or mayoresses.
I, Joan, have been all these things. I am known to my unimaginative friends simply as Joan, born when this century was new, and now a wife, a mother, and a grandmother: Joan who has cooked dinners, washed socks, and swept floors while history happened elsewhere. What my friends do not know is that I am also every woman who has ever drawn breath: there has been a Joan cooking, washing, and sweeping through every event of history, although she has not been mentioned in the books until now."

Joan Makes History is a book full of snippits of cross sections of life. Many, many different times, places & lifestyles are described wherein 'Joan' lives, works, loves, ........... making a difference or not. It is rather a confusing book at the beginning until you figure out just what is going on and then it becomes a living, breathing thing in your hands. The book is not wonderful but it is very good and I had to get into Kate Grenville's rhythm of writing as I do with so many Australian writers.
There were times in the stories where Joan wanted to simply cry out: 'You fools, do you not see I am Joan, making history?' She ends her book with this: 'Long after I am dirt, there will still be such people screeching, singing and sneezing away, and I will always be part of them. Stars blazed, protozoa coupled, apes levered themselves upright, generations of women and men lived and died, and like them all I, Joan, have made history.'
I gave this book 3 1/2 stars.

Anne Michaels first novel, Fugitive Pieces, is a wonderful piece of historical fiction involving WWII in the background, although the war did come through to me as a character in it's own right. This book has it all. Tension, suspense, drama, romance, giddy happiness, heartbreaking sadness all come through as the book carries you over several generations. The characters are all very intelligent people, most with university backgrounds in the literary world and the book is full of wonderful words put together in beautiful form.
The story gives you a great deal of background which one thinks is the story it has to tell until it moves to the next generation. Then one realizes that the first wonderfully drawn 3/4 of the book was laying the foundation for the successive generation's searches into the lives of those exposed/or not in the first part.
I don't recall ever reading a book written in this format and found myself thinking 'NO', when the later parts of the book came into play but soon was thinking that this was quite masterful.
I loved the book and can't recommend it highly enough. I couldn't put it down and gave it 4 1/2 stars.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is an on the edge of your seat page turner. Again we go back to WWII and the Holocaust. Seems most of my book choices end up there whether I want them to or not.
The story is about a young girl about 10 years of age and her family during the Paris Round up of Jews in the Vel' d'Hiv' of July 1942. Her father knows that the Jews are going to be taken but the Paris police have just been taking the men so every night he sleeps in the basement. This particular night the police come to take them all. The mother freezes up, the daughter hides her 4 year old brother in a false wall and locks him in thinking she will be back in a day or two and that he will be safe there. As they are being loaded into the truck, the father runs from his hiding place to be with his family and the daughter has a difficult time getting him to understand what she did with her brother. The police will not allow the father to go back to get the boy.
The girl escapes from the camp once they have separated the parents and children. She must get back to Paris and save her brother. This is the plot of the story and it is so interesting to find the people who are willing to help the girl and those who are not.
I found this to be a wonderful book and I love this new-to-me author. This is 2 of 3 books in translation of Tatiana de Rosnay that I have read. I wish they were all translated. If you read French, you have quite a few to choose from. Loved the book, loved the writing. I give the book the highest of recommendations and also gave it 4 1/2 stars.

Fugitive Pieces is one of the best books I have ever read...and that's saying a lot...It impressed me with it "quietness"......the fact that the story didn't have to "make a point" (although it did). Good review, Belva!

;-}

I found it so as well Judith. Thank you. This is one that will stay with me for a very long time. I am so thankful that I purchased the book rather than got it from the library as I know I will read it again.
♥

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman is a retelling of the Biblical story of Masada. The main characters are a few of the women who take care of the doves that King Harod left when Masada was emptied of people.
It is quite a wonderfully drawn story and when I read it, in my mind's eye, I was there. Hoffman has such a way of sucking you into her tales. I love that about her books. I always feel like I am a part of the story.
This particular story tells of how the people lived at Masada while they waited for the Roman legions to come for them, for they knew that they would and that it was only a matter of time. Masada held out longer than any other other Israeli fortress did against the legions and it took a great while and a great number of Romans to bring them down and in the end they didn't even get that satisfaction.
I highly recommend this book whether you are Christian or not and I gave it 4 1/2 stars.

I found The Night Strangers to be a terrible disappointment after reading Bohjalian's Midwives and The Double Bind. I begrudgingly gave it 2 stars and can't say as I recommend it though I highly recommend the author. Bit of a conundrum there.........

Merry Christmas Belva!! Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday!!

Merry Christmas, Belva!

Have a merry, merry Christmas, Belva!!!

Merry Christmas, Belva! Hope things are going well with you. :)

glitter-graphics.com

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas, Belva!

Happy Holiday, Belva! I hope you are enjoying every minute!

mistletoe smooches!

Merry Christmas, Belva!

;-}

Wishing you all the very best Belva!

Oh, how sweet of you all to pop over just to wish me a Merry Christmas. My wish for you all is that you had one as well and that 2012 brings many blessings to each and every one of you.
hugs all round,

This will probably be my last post of the year unless I post my thoughts on the two books I am finishing before 'ORANGE JANUARY' begins.
I have been attempting to find a proper home for myself and while I love all of the groups & everyone here, I am going to try the 100 book gig for 2012. I just am not chatty enough anymore for this group and I feel as if I am leaving people that I care about hanging. So I want to try a smaller group. I have loved being with you all and will pop in now and then to see how you are.
Will post the link to my thread when I get it set up.

We will miss you here, but best wishes to you in your new group, and for the new year, Belva!

Sad that you are leaving the 75 group but relieved you will still be around and I will be starring your 100 group thread. I'm not very chatty myself compared with a lot of 75ers and can understand your wanting to try a smaller group.

Edited to add: and of course I will be seeing you for Orange January!

Thank you tymfos and you too Soup. And yes, we will be joining up for the Orange challenges. Yea!~!

Ten Days of Christmas by G.B. Stern

I am not going to write a proper review as dear Ali and Fleur have done such a wonderful job with it but just share some comments.
I truly enjoyed this little book of children putting on a Nativity Christmas play at the church with the Vicar narrating. The book is full of family spats and an awfully lot of idle chatting and thinking going on throughout. But the book is charming and I will probably read it again next year over the holidays.
I too, was thrown back by the epilogue. Some happy events and one very, very sad event.
I gave it a rating of 4 stars because, though I quite liked this little charmer & my first G.B. Stern, it was quite slow going for me. But a very nice little read indeed.

I really had to whittle through my favorite reads of 2011 to get the list down to a reasonable number. I read some really good books this past year. So my favorites of 2011 are:

Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
A Secret Kept and Sarah's Key both by Tatiana de Rosnay
Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice both by Jane Austen
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall by Michael Baker
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky an amazing true story

The books that were losers for me in 2011 were much easier to list and they are:

After a 6th attempt, Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (was not able to finish it but WILL try it again this year.
It seems like there were a couple more but they are so totally non-memorable that I can't even list them. lol!~!

And that is the year of 2011 reading for belva.