Author Topic: The Library (Read 2083100 times)

Steph · « **Reply #40 on:** October 19, 2009, 07:47:02 AM »

The Library

Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out.
Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not).

Let the book talk begin here!

Everyone is welcome!

Suggestion Box for Future Discussions

Florida finally decided to cool down.. So I am enjoying unseasonable cool this morning. Since it is due to go back up by the end of the week, I am trying to enjoy this while I can.
BookMarks came this weekend.. This is generally the issue that lets me pick what sort of books, I am looking for for Christmas..

ALF43 · « **Reply #41 on:** October 19, 2009, 08:27:30 AM »

Cool down?

?

Steph- it's 43 up here in Ocala. That is not a cool down. To me, that is a frigid DROP!

I head out for NY State on WEd. so I guess this reminds me of how "chilly" I might be. I dug out the sweats this morning.

Gumtree · « **Reply #42 on:** October 19, 2009, 11:40:20 AM »

Pedln: I feel exactly the same about A Fine Balance It was a long read and I'm really not sure it was worth the effort. Maybe the 'fine balance' between the good and the bad was a trifle too fine for me. There is almost nothing about it that I remember that gives me any feeling of pleasure or even satisfaction at having ploughed through to the end.

I saw The Shipping News and read the book - It's a strong story, Judi Dench's acting is naturally a stand out- Enjoyable and has things to say but not one that I'll go back to time and again.

salan · « **Reply #43 on:** October 19, 2009, 12:38:42 PM »

Pedln and Gumtree: I read A Fine Balance and while it was a really good thought-provoking book, it was too depressing and haunted me afterwards. I have reached a stage in my life that I do not want to read terribly sad and depressing books. That's one reason I quit reading books that Oprah recommends--most of them are dark and depressing.

Sally

mrssherlock · « **Reply #44 on:** October 19, 2009, 12:53:15 PM »

Sally: I'm with you about sad and depressing books. At this stage of my life I feel as if I have little under my control. The headlines are grim and on a downwared slope. I'm on a fixed income and lucky to have it but it doesn't go as far as it did 5 years ago when I retired. So give me a book where there the outcome is not more of the same or worse. Doesn't have to be Pollyannaish, but something that leaves me with a feeling that my time was well spent.

Babi · « **Reply #45 on:** October 20, 2009, 07:57:57 AM »

Me, too. At our time of life, I guess we have seen enough sadness and heard enough bad news. As Jackie says, Pollyanna is too much, but I do prefer to
see the good guys win a round and 'meet ' characters whose company I enjoy.

Steph · « **Reply #46 on:** October 20, 2009, 08:28:36 AM »

Ah, Alf, everyone knows that the freeze line is south of Ocala.. Actually it was cold here, but much warmer this morning and (sigh) back to the upper 80's by Friday.. I got out my sweats and loved it. Every year that I grow older, the intense heat gets me more and more.
Hmm, I dont mind grim as a change occasionally, but prefer things that are fun or interesting. I love some of the dark mysteries.

ginny · « **Reply #47 on:** October 20, 2009, 06:51:43 PM »

What do you all think about Wal Mart online's new challenge to the huge retailers of books? 10 is it bestsellers for November less than 10 bucks, some of them like the new Kingsolver are 8.98 and is it true there's no shipping charge? Apparently Amazon immediately lowered their prices to match on these books or so it's said, wow.

Wow.

Steph · « **Reply #48 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:41:27 AM »

Yeah, but it is hard covers and not all books.. I love paperbacks and dont read that many best sellers.

Babi · « **Reply #49 on:** October 21, 2009, 10:12:13 AM »

That would make a nifty source of Christmas gifts. if one could
be sure the recipient would like the book...and hadn't already read it. Chancy.
Sort of like buying shoes that you haven't tried on; definitely a risk.

serenesheila · « **Reply #50 on:** October 21, 2009, 10:22:37 AM »

I am writing to recind my reccomendation of "The Harding Affair". In the early chapters I found it quite good. Now, however, I am finding it too much about the woman he had a lengthy affair with. It is also about the family of his lover.

I was looking for history around the time of the first WW. Not details about someone's affair. My mistake. The title should have alerted me. However, when I saw the interview with the author, it sounded to me as though it was primarily about Warren Harding. Perhaps, it will get to more about him, and his life, later in the book.

Sheila

marcie · « **Reply #51 on:** October 21, 2009, 11:01:39 PM »

Some of us who have been watching the Inspector Lewis series (inspired by the Inspector Morse books/series) are going to watch the upcoming Masterpiece Contemporary series on PBS. It starts this Sunday.

For more information see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/contemporary/index.html

If we get enough interest, we can open a discussion to talk about the programs in the Contemporary series.

I checked my local PBS schedule and ENDGAME, the first program in the Masterpiece Contemporary series, will be broadcast this Sunday for two hours starting at 10pm. That's too late for me so I'll likely "watch" it on my computer since it will be available online.

Steph · « **Reply #52 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:38:40 AM »

Babi.. what a nice idea. I didnt think of Christmas and I always buy books for holidays.. Now,, to see how deep the prices are cut. I think one of my dil's likes some of the best sellers.

marcie · « **Reply #53 on:** October 22, 2009, 12:03:37 PM »

That is a great idea for holiday gifts!

I see that a new four-part series "Lost in Austen" will be broadcast on PBS in my area starting this Sunday. The screenplay was written by Guy Andrews who wrote the screenplay for "Expiation," which was part of the Inspector Lewis I series (evolved from Inspector Morse).

It looks like "Lost in Austen" is a fantasy about a modern day Austen fan in England who time-travels to meet Jane Austen and the characters at the start of the events in "Pride and Prejudice." She affects the plot and all of the characters go in different directions from the original plot. It's gotten favorable reviews as a wild and somewhat frivolous departure from Jane Austen that is still respectful of her work. I'm probably wedded to the characters and relationships in "Pride and Prejudice." I think I'll watch it to see if I will enjoy this rendering of the story.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #54 on:** October 22, 2009, 12:16:09 PM »

I hope this is not another example of the Brits putting a more contemporary lspin at a well-loved classic so it will appeal to younger audiences.

Gumtree · « **Reply #55 on:** October 22, 2009, 12:19:01 PM »

Yes Marcie Lost in Austen screened here some months back. It's a bit of a hoot. There's no way you will be converted from the real Jane Austen and P&P but it was lots of fun to watch.

Gumtree · « **Reply #56 on:** October 22, 2009, 12:24:32 PM »

Mrs Sherlock - we were posting almost together... I think younger audiences would have to know Austen and P&P to really get the points and the fun out of Lost in Austen - otherwise it would just be another time travelling romance like Leopold and Kate?? (Hugh Jackman and Meg Ryan I think...).

mrssherlock · « **Reply #57 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:19:30 PM »

Gum: how reassuring. The feeling that the times have passed me by sometimes makes me wonder if I am paranoid.

winsummm · « **Reply #58 on:** October 22, 2009, 02:28:33 PM »

lost in austen with meg ryan? I'll watch anything she does. that face is something else

marcie · « **Reply #59 on:** October 22, 2009, 05:09:50 PM »

"Lost in Austen" has a British cast, winsummm.

Gumtree was saying that the movie, "Kate and Leopold" was a similar "time travel" romance. It's that movie that stars Meg Ryan. I came across it one day on a movie channel and enjoyed it.

Gumtree · « **Reply #60 on:** October 23, 2009, 01:23:59 AM »

Winsumm: Sorry I wasn't clear. I love Meg Ryan too and guess I've seen most of her films - more than once.
I don't think I knew any of the actors in 'Lost in Austen' and certainly can't think of their names now.

Mrs Sherlock: Paranoid you are NOT. I go bananas over what they sometimes do to the great classics to make them 'more accessible' to the younger generation when the fact is that they are classics simply because in their unadulterated form they speak to all across the generations and indeed different cultures. Leave them alone, I say!

I love to see the young people on trains sometimes wearing their spiky hair, facial piercings etc but with their heads buried in paperback copies of the great novelists, poets and philosophers. Somehow a percentage of every generation from all walks of life will find its way into the literature - with or without the watered down or 'more accessible' interpretations on the big screen.

Steph · « **Reply #61 on:** October 23, 2009, 07:52:29 AM »

I have pretty much given up our local Shakespeare festival because they insist on giving them all what they refer to as a contemporary slant.. What is boils down to , changing it for no reason. using the darndest settings and all in all, something I would prefer not to watch.

Babi · « **Reply #62 on:** October 23, 2009, 08:09:10 AM »

I know that the language of Shakespeare's time is hard to understand.
Nevertheless, I found that when the lines are delivered by good actors, the meaning becomes clear. Of course, some references using obsolete words get lost, esp. in puns. But on the whole, I also prefer my classics without adulteration.

Frybabe · « **Reply #63 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:07:51 PM »

Most of the time I think that the period costume and settings help to understand Shakespeare's plays. However, I did see once, A Comedy of Errors without any such accouterments. Diana Rigg (remember her?) played the lead female. It was a riot; I laughed most of the way through it.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #64 on:** October 23, 2009, 01:39:49 PM »

A follow-up report on my three quirky books. Finished Big Machine and Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie; struggling through Dream City. Pie stars an eleven yr-old self-taught chemistry wizard. She lives an active life in a household consisting of her philatelist father, ensconced in his study, teen-age sisters who are busy with their own lives. They live in a small English village in a manor house. When she finds a dead body in the cudcumber patch she embarks on an adventure that I won't describe; suffice it to say that this held my interest due to the personality of the heroine. Machine is a fantasy unlike any fantasy I've ever read. The entire cast of characters is black. A small time crook gets an invitation to travel to Vermont, not exactly a center of Black culture. He finds himself engaged a member of a community who engage in the scholarly pursuit of strange events recounted in newspapers from all the states which may be examples of "The Voice". Seems that an escaped slave had heard The Voice which lead him to a buried chest of Spanish Gold in California. He made his way from California to Vermont and set up a Library which is where our hero wound up a hundred years later. There is a threat to the Library's existence, thus the adventure the book unfolds. I would read books by these authors again. Dream has a very engaging beginning but I'm bogged down as the hero's adult life unfolds.

marcie · « **Reply #65 on:** October 23, 2009, 02:36:32 PM »

Your descriptions of those three books has piqued my interest, mrssherlock. I'll look for them in the future. Thanks for the information.

nlhome · « **Reply #66 on:** October 23, 2009, 09:22:27 PM »

Mrssherlock, I tried the book Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, but I couldn't finish it. Maybe it was just the timing. I'm not sure. But the main character's personality wasn't strong enough of an attraction.

winsummm · « **Reply #67 on:** October 24, 2009, 02:26:48 AM »

ms sherlok I just copied and pasted your entire post and will ask kindle for samples. this discussion is such a good place for reviews as well as suggestions. thanks much . . . claire

Steph · « **Reply #68 on:** October 24, 2009, 09:36:58 AM »

My husband just finished The Wheel of Darkness.. by Preston and Child. I have never gotten into their books, but mdh loves them. I think Ginny likes them as well.

ginny · « **Reply #69 on:** October 24, 2009, 10:03:32 AM »

Yes I love Preston and Child, their series particularly about Agent Pendergast, except the last one, Cemetery Dance, which I was so shocked about, has he read Cemetery Dance, Stephanie? I'm about to revisit it but it sure was a shock.

I don't think that gives anything away since the shock is right there on the first page or so.

I'm reading You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again, and I love it. I don't know why. They've been replaying that Nanny Diaries on TV with little Grayer and a super cast, just super, and it reminded me that I liked that book very much and had not yet read You'll Never Nanny....(which is by a different author and which is also non fiction), so I started it and I really like it. Really enjoying it.

We're in the Ovitz household, such a lifestyle, I guess it's voyeurism, but it's fascinating, hard to put down actually. I had heard vaguely of Michael Ovitz somehow in connection with Michael Eisner, in the Eisner book but was vague on the details, apparently he's a super agent, and all that entails.

One of my favorite places to go in NYC in the winter is the Wollman Rink in Central Park, especially in the fall when it first opens. You sit and watch them ice skating with a backdrop of those gorgeous fall trees (this is when it first opens) and the Plaza Hotel (or what was the Plaza Hotel, no telling what it is now) but one thing you do see is nannies. Nannies nannies nannies. It's definitely something that did not go out with Mary Poppins.

You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again is apparently (I'm just about 1/4 of the way thru the book) about Michael Ovitz and what it's like in the homes of the rich and famous (? ) in LA, from the POV of those who serve.

Fascinating, it really is. A beach book for fall. How the other half (is it still half?) lives.

Just finished an hilarious chapter on the piece of art delivered to the house, the Ovitzes being huge art collectors.

marjifay · « **Reply #70 on:** October 24, 2009, 11:17:58 AM »

The only Douglas Preston book I've read was BLASPHEMY, and it was really good. And hilarious. Thousands of right-wing Christian nuts try to stop a government particle accelerator project whose aim is to test theories of the creation of the universe. They think is is the Anticrist running the project. When they show up at the project with guns, baseball bats, kitchen knives to battle the government people, things really get hairy -- and funny. The pastor leading the group yells "Listen up, Christians. Kill the Antichrist!" and they're off -- wow are they off. Great story.

Marj

winsummm · « **Reply #71 on:** October 24, 2009, 12:25:32 PM »

is that lee childs?

mrssherlock · « **Reply #72 on:** October 24, 2009, 12:39:46 PM »

Sputnik was launched Oct 4 1957. My son was born Oct 3 1957. He has always felt that the space race was almost personal. He recently read a book that tells all the background from the Russian and the US sides. I've started it and it is hard to put down. Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age by Matthew Brzezimski, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Lawrence-t.html

marcie · « **Reply #73 on:** October 24, 2009, 12:46:55 PM »

Winsumm, the other half of Preston and Child is Lincoln Child. I've just finished their latest book, Cemetery Dance, Ginny, and you're right what happens is shocking.

I love Agent Aloysius Pendergast but I think they've taken a little bit of his "supersleuth Sherlock Holmes genius" away in their last two novels. They seem to have lost a little of his brainy edge (of course he's still a genius and can do almost anything).

ginny · « **Reply #74 on:** October 24, 2009, 01:12:59 PM »

Marcie, you read it, why did they do that? Without naming specifics, what do you think their reasoning was? I've half a mind to ask them, they're very responsive on their website. But somehow I need to read the book first, and that's the issue at the moment.

maryz · « **Reply #75 on:** October 24, 2009, 01:26:35 PM »

Jackie, our second daughter was born 7 October 1957 - so we were there, too.

I've just finished reading The Devil in the White City. It was a fascinating story about the Columbian Exposition. I wasn't all that excited about the "Devil" part of the story, though. IMHO, the author could've left that out and just written about the White City. I could've read it and skipped the murder parts and enjoyed the book just as much.

marcie · « **Reply #76 on:** October 24, 2009, 01:39:53 PM »

Ginny, they've done that with another character in a previous book too. It seems to be like a Hitchcock thing. If that happens in the first scene, where will it go from there!

CubFan · « **Reply #77 on:** October 24, 2009, 03:07:45 PM »

Maryz -

I too preferred the Columbia Exposition portion of the Devil & the White City. I found it interesting as I passed the book around to several friends to read that when they returned it most of them said that they read the "Devil" parts and skimmed the Exposition portions. He's a real smart author that can appeal to two different audiences.

Mary

maryz · « **Reply #78 on:** October 24, 2009, 04:26:03 PM »

Mary, I guess that's why there are so many different kinds of books (and ice cream, of course).

salan · « **Reply #79 on:** October 24, 2009, 04:26:25 PM »

I also read Devil in the White City. I do not normally read non-fiction, but this book really held my interest. In fact, my book club selected it on my recommendation. That was a couple of years ago and I remember thinking that the Devil part didn't really fit in with the rest of the book. It was almost as though the author came across this material when he was researching the book and thought it was so interesting that he had to include it. Maybe he should have saved that information for another book.
Sally

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2083100 times)