Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 741370 times)

FlaJean · « **Reply #5960 on:** November 18, 2015, 01:04:36 PM »

This is the place to talk about the works of fiction you are reading, whether they are new or old, and share your own opinions and reviews with interested readers.

Every week the new bestseller lists come out brimming with enticing looking books and rave reviews. How to choose?

Discussion Leader: Judy Laird

I loved the ending. There is so much bad news all around I like to end a book feeling good about life.

Steph · « **Reply #5961 on:** November 19, 2015, 08:13:07 AM »

Had my f2f book club yesterday and promised to read the Paris Architect and report back on whether we might like it as a book club book.. Any opinions..

Judy Laird · « **Reply #5962 on:** November 24, 2015, 06:05:57 PM »

My heart goes out to Norms family he will be missed

Steph · « **Reply #5963 on:** November 25, 2015, 08:34:41 AM »

Judy,, what Norm.. The one from Cheers??

Frybabe · « **Reply #5964 on:** November 25, 2015, 09:23:03 AM »

Judy, thanks for the heads up. I'll mosey over to Senior and Friends to add my condolences.

FlaJean · « **Reply #5965 on:** November 25, 2015, 11:30:06 AM »

Steph, Norm Tock from Seniors and Friends died unexpectantly. He was on SeniorNet for many years. His sister Mary Ann Tock (age 91 years) posted in Seniors and Friends. She is a frequent poster in several of the forums where I occasionally post. Norm had a forum called Norm's Bait and Tackle Shop in S&F.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5966 on:** November 25, 2015, 01:52:48 PM »

Sorta remember but I have not been a regular on Senior and Friends for a couple of years now - Was Norm from Canada or the US? With age we bring about our own change - and it gets more difficult to fill in the empty spot.

Need to get this show on the road around here today - put off just as long as I could - wishing y'all a...

Judy Laird · « **Reply #5967 on:** November 25, 2015, 06:00:46 PM »

Norm has 2 home one in Michigan and 1 in florida. Norm I were in the very first of senior net along womth ginny
and pat. Trip NY in 1998 but I don't think he went on that one. I wonder how many are left from original bunch...
he and papa John had a every day posting going on and it was funny

Steph · « **Reply #5968 on:** November 29, 2015, 11:22:28 AM »

I was pretty early, but dont remember him at all.

marjifay · « **Reply #5969 on:** December 06, 2015, 10:18:40 AM »

The Paris Architect sounds good to me, Steph. I put it on my TBR list.

But I doubt many here would want to read it for a book discussion. Those here seem to like rather bland books IMO.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #5970 on:** December 07, 2015, 08:42:51 AM »

I put it on my Kindle, since that seemed to be the least expensive way to go. It is rare for me to join the book discussions, generally not the type of book, I am interested in..

Frybabe · « **Reply #5971 on:** December 09, 2015, 08:37:11 AM »

I came home from the library with The Coffee Trader by David Liss, but haven't started it yet. It is an historical novel set in 1659 Amsterdam.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5972 on:** December 09, 2015, 09:19:19 AM »

You'll like it - he is not a great writer but he tells a good story - my two favorites are The Whiskey Rebels and his very early A Conspiracy of Paper

Frybabe · « **Reply #5973 on:** December 09, 2015, 01:32:36 PM »

Should I be reading these in order Barb? I took a look at the Wikipedia blurbs and the characters seem to be the same. A Conspiracy of Paper is his first novel, followed by The Coffee Trader. My library system seems to have most if not all his books. I just happened to see this one as I was shelving books on Friday.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5974 on:** December 09, 2015, 01:40:31 PM »

They pretty much stand alone - any personality quirk is explained in each novel - I do think that the A Spectacle of Corruption is the only one that would best be read after A Conspiracy of Paper - similar time and issues, where as the Coffee Traders if I remember correctly takes place in the Netherlands.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5975 on:** December 09, 2015, 01:53:52 PM »

Yes, I've just been checking Wikipedia again. Did you read the third of the trilogy, The Devil's Company?

Amazing! He just came out with a junior level Science Fiction book. Looks interesting too. Whisky Rebels is going on my library wish list along with the trilogy books.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5976 on:** December 09, 2015, 02:05:17 PM »

Did not yet read The Devil's Company - met him a few years ago at the Texas Book Festival held here on the capitol grounds - he lives in San Antonio - young dad - reddish hair - few knew who he was so his line for an autograph was not very long - I had read a couple of his books so I wanted to meet him - not a Booker winning writer but I like his plots and subjects - the kind of history never included in a history book.

Steph · « **Reply #5977 on:** December 10, 2015, 08:35:44 AM »

Since my earliest paternal ancestors are all from the Netherlands, I loved several of his books. I also loved the netherlands when we did a river cruise. Beautiful and cozy all at once

Frybabe · « **Reply #5978 on:** December 10, 2015, 02:09:57 PM »

Speaking of ancestors Steph, are you familiar with the George School in Newtown, PA? It appears John M. George, for whom the school was named, is an ancestor of mine. http://www.georgeschool.org/person/john-m-george/

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5979 on:** December 10, 2015, 02:12:47 PM »

Just reread Invention of Wings for our church book discussion. What a wonderful book.

Jean

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5980 on:** December 10, 2015, 02:29:16 PM »

Jean, I found a beautiful poem this morning. I think it was a side-bar on "Goodreads", but it is by Alarie Tennille, titled "The Quilters of Gee's Bend". I copied it to an email, and maybe with any luck I can find it and post it here. It follows along with the ideas of "Invention of Wings" fabulously.

The Quilters of Gee's Bend

by Alarie Tennille
Seems like that old river tied
itself in a knot just to keep
black folks there at Gee's
Bend while time and fortune
swept on by.

And Master Pettway gave
those folks his name, but stripped
everything else he could. Left
just scraps, but they were used to that.

So those hands that hardly
needed something else to do
unraveled their worn-out
world. Pieced together
remnants of Africa
and raggedy dreams
to make something new.

Let dress tails dance
with britches—heat from
the cotton fields pressed
deep in their seams.
So tired of plowed furrows,
they let their stitches bend
now and then just like
that river. Nothing perfect,
yet God was in the details.
And the quilters called that
making do and visiting
and keeping warm and pulling
up memories each night,
till one day they were told—
we call that art.

(hey I did it!)

Steph · « **Reply #5981 on:** December 11, 2015, 08:08:18 AM »

not sure about it now, but The George school was a wonderful school in the 50's and 60's.. I would have loved to go, but my parents did not want me to go to a boarding school.. My Dad was somewhat suspicious of them. How nice to be related.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5982 on:** December 11, 2015, 09:50:37 AM »

Steph, we must be related through an uncle of John George because, as I understand it, he had no children. We also have a relation who owned property that was donated to the City of Philadelphia and is now part of Fairmount Park. No children to inherit there either. I get the distinct impression that our family (or that branch) was rather wealthy back in the 1800's.

Steph · « **Reply #5983 on:** December 12, 2015, 08:47:52 AM »

I am a quaker, but no relation to the George family.. My family was from upstate NY on my fathers side and arrived here almost entirely in the early 1600's.. Dutch and German.. hard headed traders for the most part.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5984 on:** December 12, 2015, 01:24:42 PM »

Tomereader - thanks for the poem. I have a quilt my mother made from "scrapes". She was a sewer, made many of my clothes as a child and this quilt has pieces of leftover material. I can pick out a shirt, a housecoat, a pair of shorts etc. So the poem rings so true of the women using whatever scrapes they can put together, wasting nothing.

Jean

CallieOK · « **Reply #5985 on:** December 12, 2015, 03:05:23 PM »

I have a quilt made from scraps of dresses I wore as a child.

My dil has made quilts for her three children using tee shirts from their various activities. She appliqued the front of each shirt onto a quilt square.

Steph, I have Quaker ancestors and found a lot of genealogical information in The U.S., Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol I–VI, 1607–1943. One line traces back to the Coffins on Nantucket.
It was a big thrill to stand on the original section of the Quaker Meeting House in Martinsville, Indiana to which my great great grandparents belonged in the 1820's. I have a picture of that gg grandmother in her Quaker bonnet.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5986 on:** December 13, 2015, 06:17:49 AM »

Sorry I was ambiguous, Steph. I meant my family, not you.

My family had a lot of Unitarian ministers in the family way back. JG was convinced to donate to establishing the school named after him shortly before his death. I don't know if he was Quaker himself.

On another branch of our family, the last person (actually one of two, as I recall) burned at the stake in England was Edward Wightman. Some of the Wightman branch migrated out to Michigan. We had some Fitzwilliams in the family round about the time of Bonny Prince Charlie's fight to become King of Scotland. There was a General Fitzwilliams opposing him for the English. I have not yet established whether or not the General himself was a distant relative or not.

My sister and I are mildly interested in the family history, but not to the point that we want to spend tons of time (and money) investigating. My uncle was the genealogy buff.

Steph · « **Reply #5987 on:** December 13, 2015, 09:06:25 AM »

I spent a lot of years on genealogy. Since the web has grown so much, it is not as much fun. The fun used to be in libraries and other depositories seeing the original documents and going to little town and looking for where the ancestor lived or the cemetary.. In person was wonderful.
My home meeting house is in Camden, Delaware, is very old, brick and so very peaceful. Just a small building, seating around the floor and an open area to get up and tell the world what and how you felt.. The calm in the building is remarkable. I think it is all those years of people sincerely searching themselves for the inner light.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5988 on:** December 13, 2015, 10:40:51 AM »

Sounds nice, Steph.

Steph · « **Reply #5989 on:** December 14, 2015, 08:37:28 AM »

It is and in this hectic world, I do miss it, but life is life and I live far far away.
This is the complicated week. Everyone is having a variety of luncheons, pot lucks, cookie exchanges, etc. Sigh..Also have a granddaughter arriving Tuesday afternoon for the evening and then going on on Wednesday.. But I will survive. I am determined to not let myself fall into the black pit of pity this year.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5990 on:** December 24, 2015, 07:02:15 AM »

Once again, looking for something else, I ran across this website of all things Dickens.
http://charlesdickenspage.com/index.html

Steph · « **Reply #5991 on:** December 27, 2015, 12:41:51 PM »

I did finish The Nightingale just before Christmas and loved it.. What a lovely novel. Anyone who has not read it, may enjoy France in the war.

marjifay · « **Reply #5992 on:** December 31, 2015, 09:01:31 AM »

i loved David Liss's Whisky Rebels. His The Coffee Traders was a DNF for me - just couldn't get interested in it. I put his The Devil's Company on my TBR list. Thanks to whoever recommended it.

Marj

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5993 on:** December 31, 2015, 12:15:29 PM »

A friend, of a friend has recommended the works of Susan Macneal, featuring Maggie Hope. I think these are mostly mysteries, i.e. "Mr. Churchill's Secretary". Has anyone read them, and would they be Book Club material?
Thanks! And HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

Steph · « **Reply #5994 on:** January 01, 2016, 08:56:56 AM »

I have several of the books featuring Maggie. Have not started any, but do have them. I got a David Liss, but i t was about an assassin and horrid.. so dnf... wanted a history, will try again.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5995 on:** January 05, 2016, 11:38:36 AM »

I am reading The Little Paris Bookshop. So far, I like it.

Steph · « **Reply #5996 on:** January 06, 2016, 08:54:49 AM »

Got Circling \The Sun for Christmas and am loving it, but then I am a Beryl Markham fan from way back. Will never forget the interview in her extreme old age and the lively woman.. Wow.. to be that way.

nlhome · « **Reply #5997 on:** January 06, 2016, 07:16:17 PM »

I had a free copy of Circling the Sun this summer, tried to read it but just couldn't get into it. I passed it on to a friend who absolutely loved it. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood?

Steph · « **Reply #5998 on:** January 07, 2016, 08:52:14 AM »

I have always been fascinated by Africa of that period.. Elsbeth Huxley,, Karen Blixson, Happy Valley in Kenya.. The brits ruled the world and really thought that Africa would stay forever theirs. Interesting period for me.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5999 on:** March 25, 2016, 04:55:41 PM »

I just finished Georgette Heyer's The Black Moth. It was her first published novel way back in 1921 (I think). The setting was around the mid-1700's. The descriptions of the powder wigs, the clothing (the men's clothing was more detailed for some reason), the constant gaming activities, and the spoiled aristocrats made for an fun read. The primary character is the exiled son of an Earl. He turned to being a highwayman. The reason for the exile? He was covering for his brother who cheated at cards, an offense that would have meant he would not have been able to marry the girl he loved had it been known. The girl had several brothers, one of which is quite arrogant and rather nasty. Eventually, the Earl dies leaving the exiled son the title, etc. So the highwayman Earl, still covering for his brother, falls for a girl who is lusted after by the dastardly brother of his SIL and refuses to expose his brother for a cheat and claim his title. Everything gets sorted in the end. What a fun read. It kind of reminds me of a Jane Austen novel.

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 741370 times)