Topic: Book Review Corner

[duh]

I went by the library today and they had some more books for sale.  I picked up one by Clive Cussler that I haven't read yet and one one english gardens and one about treating different illnesses. 

And I picked up powers that be to reread by Anne MacCaffrey just incase the anne perry doesn't last through the holidays. 

I love books.

[bestofour]

for my group I'm reading People of the Book, or should say I have it to start.

duh, you are a varied selection of topics to say the least.

[duh]

lol yes I guess I am.  I'm libel to read just about anything or at least try to.  Some I haven't been able to get through.  That includes most of the classics. 

I've finished Powers that Be by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Half Moon Street by Anne Perry.  I just knew I would finished them on a sunday when the library is closed but that's ok cause I have my own mini library to browse through.  Good thing to because I've been getting spoiled with all of these books to read.

I think I'll start "A Southern Garden" by Elizabeth Lawrence next it's non-fiction but is written specifically with out area in mind and I'm looking forward to seeing what she says.  Although some of it will have to be modified to deal with global warming.  I say that sitting here in the high 60 degree temperatures that have decended during the Christmas Season.

[bestofour]

I like to read too duh.  My favorite stuff is non fiction but I read whatever my book club decides.  Sometimes I can't finish a book.  I don't like romance books or silly books.  One lady in our group is big time into the silly stuff.  I just don't see the purpose in it but she doesn't like non fiction like I do.  Guess that's what makes the world go round.

[duh]

Well we all have to have our weak spots I guess.  I certainly do.

I can't get into tolkien, dune, most 50's fantasy, westerns, philosophy, religion, and history.

But I enjoy reference works, science fiction, suspense, detective novels, craft books, some of the more modern fantasy, and stuff like that.

I'm not sure what silly books are.  I'm assuming you don't mean joke books, so I'm going to say that I probably haven't run into any.

So what exactly do they do at a book club?  I've always wondered.

I've done romance until they come out of my ears lol.  There are times when I'm still in the mood for a good one.  But for the most part I've done so many of them that they are really boring other than the few that are on my favorites list.  Elizabeth Lowell is one of those.

[bestofour]

Our book club decides on what book we will read the next month then we meet to discuss it.  It sounds crazy when I write it but until you participate you don't get the full picture.  Everyone has a different take on each book and it makes me think.  We read Oral History once and I could barely get through it - hated it - until we had our discussion.  I began to wonder if I had read the wrong book because I just did not grasp what others had.  Sometime I may re-read it from a different point of view.

As far as silly books I mean ones like Skipping Christmas, a story about a couple who decided not to spend money on Christmas but to take a vacation instead.  Maybe silly is the wrong word but all their friends got mad at them for not decorating.  I just couldn't imagine people actually getting mad for someone not decorating.  Suppose I should have said very light book content instead of silly.

I don't like science fiction a lot but have read some by Dean Koontz (for the club) that I enjoyed.  I do enjoy history, have you read God's and Generals? (semi history) and Diaries of the Westward Woman was great.  I read it twice.  It's diaries found that women moving west wrote.  Out of curiosity, what is it about religious books you don't enjoy?  Are you talking about commentaries or religious fiction.  I don't read the latter either.

I enjoy Agatha Christie.

If you lived closer we'd start our own club.  I like learning new things.

[duh]

I've definitely avoided silly books.  Dean Koontz and science fiction in the same sentence - that isn't a connection I've ever made. 

Diaries of the Westward Woman sounds like a good one.  I may have to see if that one is in our library  system.  I've also read a biography of Elenor of Aquitain, Sarah Bernhardt, and a noble woman during the second world war.  I guess in a way they are historical but that's about as close to historical I get unless you want to go all the way back to ancient times.  Then I consider it archaeology.

About religous books, have you ever heard the phrase, "...of such spiritual worth that they are of no earthly use."  That's what usually stops me cold.  St. Thomas, St. Fancis of Assis, books on Buddism, comparative religions, and the rest just seem to be written in such a way that I don't get much out of them.  Not that I don't try from time to time. 

My friend read that series of books about the apocolyps.  She raved about them.  I didn't even get through one.  I was bored out of my mind.  He just went over the same material over and over and over.  That kind of slow movement in a book is guarenteed to keep me from reading an author. 

I like agatha chrisie too. 

I'm not sure I could do a book club.  Most of the books on the best seller list are books that I wouldn't touch.  I've tried a couple of them and didn't get past the first 30 pages.  I think my tastes are to strange to really fit in. 

But I'd be happy to share any books that I read with you. 

I'm currently reading all of the books written by Anne Perry.  I have the book, "The Twisted Root" if you would like to read that one.  Or I have, "The A.B.C. Murders" by Agatha Christie,  "The Murder at the Vicarage", "Dead Man's Folly", "Sad Cypress", "Towards Zero", "N or M?" or "13 clues for Miss Marple" all by Agatha Christie.  Or we could read something else as long as I can get it at the library.  I can't really afford to go out and buy books right now.  Let me know what you think.

[bestofour]

Would you say Dean Koontz is more of a suspense or thriller writer.  The one I read was about a boy who could walk between water drops and was possessed by some sort of spirit - can't remember the name.

I usually don't buy books either.  If I do I end up giving them away after I've read them.

I think you would fit in nicely in our group.  We have a woman from Peru, from Mexico City, from the north and from the south.  We don't do best sellers, usually, the group decides what we read.

Have you read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks?

[duh]

yes I would definitely say dean koontz is a thriller.  But I'm not sure how the publishers consider him. 

No I haven't read People of the Book.  Have you told me about that book before? 

At the library today I bought a book called "Strange Stories, Amazing Facts" written in 1978 by the readers digest.  The science is old but it's great reading.  I'm really enjoying it.  It's non-fiction as you might imagine and starts out with outerspace and works it's way through all the non-fiction subjects.  I'm enjoying it.

While I was at the library I checked out The Silent Cry by Anne Perry, Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey, Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters.  These should keep me going for a while. 

[bestofour]

I love going to the library and to Borders Books and just look.  It's a good atmosphere. 

[duh]

I checked at the library and there is a book club in the town closest to me.  They meet once a month at the museum.  I may check it out.  Thanks for mentioning it.

[bestofour]

we meet once a month too.  It give slow readers time to read the book.  I wish you could come to mine.  You have a lot to offer.

[duh]

That I'm not so sure of but I appreciate you saying that just the same.  I sat up reading Brightly Burning last night so I only have about 20 pages to finish it.  I love Mercedes Lackey.  She really pulls you in to her books.  When I was working I had to wait until the weekends to read her or Anne McCaffrey because I wouldn't put the books down until I was completely finished with them.  Can't do that at work lol.

[Triss]

Why couldn't we have a book club here.  So many of us like to read, we all like to talk, and we could compare notes on a book we all choose to read?

[landofoz]

I like the idea, Triss!  Then we could all meet in chat or just post what we thought of the book.

[bestofour]

I would like to be involved but can't do it until after Feburary.  I've got to take a certification test for my job that I probably should study for.

[duh]

Sounds good to me.  How do we select the books?

[Triss]

We could figure out who wants to be in and then each of us choose a month to choose a book.  I dunno I have never done this before.  I think it would be fun.

[duh]

I made a big score at the thrift store.  I got a set of gardening encylopedia with 17 volume.  As soon as I get them inside which will probably be tomorrow I'm going to be one happy camper. 

[duh]

I finished Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters.  It was slow going but the nice thing about it is no sex.  Some violence but not graphically so.  It's funny when I finish one of hers I want to read another but when I start one of hers it's like, "Why did i do this?"  She is a plodding writter and I really don't appreciate that at all but by the end i'm interested in the characters and want to know what they will do next.

[laura]

This is an old topic but I wanted to pull it up and say that I LOVE to read.  I read every single night before bed.  In fact if I didn't read before bed then I'd probably never get to sleep.  My books of choice are not what everyone would like.  My last few hundred books have been mostly Vampire related.  Laurell K Hamilton is one of my favorite authors.  I also equally enjoy time travel books.  My favorite time travel series is by Diana Gabaldon.  The Highlander series.  I can't praise them enough.  They are wonderful books.  To a lesser degree I do read some fluffy chic lit.  Like Bridget Jones Diary sort of books.  Light hearted and funny, it's nice to have a laugh once in a while.  Last night I finished a book called The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones.  It was a story of a young girl that can travel between the mortal world and the Faerie World. 

[duh]

Mercedes Lackey was the author that I loved when it came to fantasy.  She is just so great.  I haven't thought of those books in years.  Thank you for reminding me.

My latest read is the Feast of Souls by C. S. Freidman.  It is a fantasy type book in a middle earth type setting.  You know castles, kings and wizards.  But in a little different cast. 

The thing I didn't like about it was that it is told by a number of characters.  And that is never my favorite way to read a story.  But what I loved about the book was the way the characters really came to life.  It's a trilogy so I now have to go find the other two books.  Isn't that always the way?

[bestofour]

I'm going to read A Framework of Understanding Poverty as soon as I get the gumption to start it.

[bayou girl]

that's an interesting read barb.  what prompted that (as i go to find a synopsis so i can decide if i want to read it)

[bestofour]

As Travis Bickle (Robert Deniro) once said "Are you talking to me?"