ABC Book Journal Week 2

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
ABC Book Journal Week 2
12
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 8:20am

Are you still keeping track of which books you are reading? How many have finished last weeks read and have started at least one other book? I have been averaging a book a week now that I have other things(work, home, daughter, theatre, dance) to fill some of that free time I used to have.

So what's everyone reading this week and how was last week's read?


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-03-2005
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 8:47am

I just finished Middlesex last night - he is alot wordier than it first seemed, so it took me longer than planned to get through it. It was really good though. The ending wasn't what I expected and makes you smile :) I think I will start on Virgin Suicides tonight. Its by the same author and I'm looking forward to it. Heres a description:

From Publishers Weekly
Eugenides's tantalizing, macabre first novel begins with a suicide, the first of the five bizarre deaths of the teenage daughters in the Lisbon family; the rest of the work, set in the author's native Michigan in the early 1970s, is a backward-looking quest as the male narrator and his nosy, horny pals describe how they strove to understand the odd clan of this first chapter, which appeared in the Paris Review , where it won the 1991 Aga Khan Prize for fiction. The sensationalism of the subject matter (based loosely on a factual account) may be off-putting to some readers, but Eugenides's voice is so fresh and compelling, his powers of observation so startling and acute, that most will be mesmerized. The title derives from a song by the fictional rock band Cruel Crux, a favorite of the Lisbon daughter Lux--who, unlike her sisters Therese, Mary, Bonnie and Cecilia, is anything but a virgin by the tale's end. Her mother forces Lux to burn the album along with others she considers dangerously provocative. Mr. Lisbon, a mild-mannered high school math teacher, is driven to resign by parents who believe his control of their children may be as deficient as his control of his own brood. Eugenides risks sounding sophomoric in his attempt to convey the immaturity of high-school boys; while initially somewhat discomfiting, the narrator's voice (representing the collective memories of the group) acquires the ring of authenticity. The author is equally convincing when he describes the older locals' reactions to the suicide attempts. Under the narrator's goofy, posturing banter are some hard truths: mortality is a fact of life; teenage girls are more attracted to brawn than to brains (contrary to the testimony of the narrator's male relatives). This is an auspicious debut from an imaginative and talented writer. Literary Guild selection.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com




Image hosted by Photobucket.com

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2005
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 9:45am
I finished my other reads both were very good.I have just started The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 1:31pm
I have been progressing very slowly in my reading. I'm still working on Empire Falls. It was hard to get into but now I'm half way thru it and enjoying it.

Photobucket


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2001
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 2:39pm

I finished "A Time to Run" a novel by Barbara Boxer (one of our Senators from CA)& Mary Rose Hayes. It was pretty good, for that kind of thing. I'm currently working on "S is for Shadows" by Sue Grafton. For some reason I've been finding it slow going, but I was really stressed & tired this weekend, so it may not be the book's fault.

Liz

Liz

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2005
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 4:51pm

Finished last week's read: David Weber's AT ALL COSTS (the new Honor Harrington. As always, a superb read by Weber in the military sci fi category), Barb and JC Hendee's TRAITOR TO THE BLOOD (a horror selection. Mean elves, bloodthirsty vamps, and a hero and heroine with troubled and less-than-stellar pasts. Third in their Noble Dead series.), Sherrilyn Kenyon's UNLEASH THE NIGHT (One of her series of "Dark-Hunter" novels. Interesting were-animal premise, but ended up being more a romance than anything else. My advice: if you wanna read it, don't buy it; it's not worth a buy, get it from the library.)

From the library today, and due January 30th:
Two Philippa Gregory efforts: THE WISE WOMAN and A RESPECTABLE TRADE. (THE LITTLE HOUSE is on hold at the library and isn't available yet.) I'll probably read these first. They sound interesting. THE WISE WOMAN's blurb says "Set in Henry VIII's England, it is a haunting story of power and loss, love and betrayal...of one woman's struggle to survive in a man's world, and of the dark, thrilling forces of magic that beckon her." A RESPECTABLE TRADE's blurb says "Powerful, haunting, intensely disturbing, this is a novel of desire and shame-of individuals, a society, and a whole continent devastated by greed." (This one is set in Bristol, England, in 1787, so during their Industrial Revolution it sounds like.)
Also HOUSE OF MANY GODS by Kiana Davenport ("The indelible portrait of a Native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands, progressing from the 1960's to the turbulent present."), PLAGUE MAKER by Tim Downs ("Counterterrorist agent and 80 year old man must work together to prevent a modern-day Black Death of global proportions."), FOOTPRINTS ON THE HORIZON by Stephanie Grace Whitson (romance set in WW II.), RITE OF CONQUEST and KING'S BLOOD (two Judith Tarr historical fiction efforts set in William The Conqueror's England), AVALON by Anya Seton (a romance set in Viking-invaded England), PN Elrod's latest Vampire Files effort SONG IN THE DARK, and LE Modessit Jr's latest Recluce novel ORDERMASTER.

Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 01-11-2006 - 2:08pm

Hi Drei ~


Barb and JC Hendee's TRAITOR TO THE BLOOD (a horror selection. Mean elves, bloodthirsty vamps, and a hero and heroine with troubled and less-than-stellar pasts. Third in their Noble Dead series.), Sherrilyn Kenyon's UNLEASH THE NIGHT (One of her series of "Dark-Hunter" novels. Interesting were-animal premise, but ended up being more a romance than anything else. My advice: if you wanna read it, don't buy it;


Thanks for the tip on the Noble Dead series.

Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 01-11-2006 - 2:19pm

Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy, edited by Dana Stabenow is a very enjoyable collection of short stories.


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2005
Wed, 01-11-2006 - 9:47pm

I THINK Kenyon is a paranormal romance writer, at least that's what I'd classify her as. The SF/Fantasy newsletter Hailing Frequencies from Waldenbooks was pushing Unleash The Night for January, and the plot sounded kinda like Horror or at least Dark/Occult Fantasy. But the book itself read more like a romance: "girl meets boy (or vice versa); girl and boy work to overcome their respectively troubled pasts (or other issues that stand in the way of them hooking up); girl and boy live happily ever after." Also there was an appendix of sorts in the back of the book, explaining various terms from this and other books in the series, as well as how all the various characters were related to/involved with each other, and the other titles and descriptions of those plots sounded similarly romance-y as well. Not that I don't like romance-y type books, I do (Georgette Heyer, Diana Gabaldon, Sara Donati, Clare D'Arcy, Kay Hooper, et al), but this book just didn't ring my bells. The main premise seemed to be that when girl (or guy) finds her (or his) mate "destined to be theirs by Fate for all eternity", that all previous trauma, trials, and tribulations will magically seem to melt away as if by magic. Which seems sort of simplistic if you ask me.

This is the first book I've read by her. Possibly the others are better, but as I said, if I read any more of her stuff, it'll be because I've gotten it from the library; I was sorta disappointed that I actually bought it, since I don't really want to keep it and having it take up shelf space that could be used by another book, LOl.

If this is something you might be interested in reading, do you want me to mail it to you?
If so, let me know, and I'll email you at the addy in your profile with my email address so you can let me know where to send it!

Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 1:48pm

Just finished Sarah-Kate Lynch's By Bread Alone.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2001
Sun, 01-15-2006 - 2:28am

I enjoyed "By Bread Alone" also, but not as much as "Blessed are the Cheesemakers" = I loved that one. After finally finishing "S is for Silence", I finally got around to "The Prizewinner of Defiance, OH" - a non-fiction book about a woman who, in the 50's & 60's, helped support her family of 10 children by entering contests - mostly jingle writing ones. It was very good. They've made a movie of it starring Julianne Moore, but I haven't seen it. I think it's out on video in Mar. so I may try to see it then. I'd definitely recommend the book.

Liz

Liz

Pages