Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 776310 times)

Aberlaine · « **Reply #2120 on:** August 11, 2011, 04:53:10 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

Just finished listening to Roses. I loved it and got engrossed in it. When it ended I felt like I had lost a good friend. I've started Sarah's Key and will be reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. And I've just ordered Dancing at the Rascal Fair from Bookins. I should have it by the time the discussion begins.

maryz · « **Reply #2121 on:** August 11, 2011, 04:58:04 PM »

Aberlaine, the discussion on Dancing at the Rascal Fair started on 1 August. Come join us.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2122 on:** August 11, 2011, 07:20:38 PM »

I met Rae in Williamsport in October 2001 at the SeniorNet Bash there. Sat next to her at the banquet. Really liked her a lot. Talented lady, and an extremely nice one.

Steph · « **Reply #2123 on:** August 12, 2011, 06:26:27 AM »

I am getting a kick out or Roses.. The old fashioned saga, that is foreshadowing... drawing out the characters.. Neat.

Judy Laird · « **Reply #2124 on:** August 13, 2011, 12:28:11 PM »

Steph I read Roses some time ago and loved it.

Steph · « **Reply #2125 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:41:04 AM »

Since Roses is my bed book, it goes slowly, but I really have problems with the heroine.. To be that pure bullheaded is quite an art.

salan · « **Reply #2126 on:** August 14, 2011, 07:11:48 AM »

That's true, Steph. However, I do know some people who are that way. I find myself getting impatient with them. They are truly their own "worst enemy".
Sally

Babi · « **Reply #2127 on:** August 14, 2011, 08:52:00 AM »

What's really sad is that such people generally take great pride in maintaining
that attitude, as though it were a virtue or sign of strength. Then they can't understand why they end up being avoided by everyone.

JimNT · « **Reply #2128 on:** August 14, 2011, 10:44:26 AM »

I'm reading a very special book that I must share with you all; Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. Shin is a well known author of several novels but this is her first to have been translated in English. The subject is emotional, as you might expect from the title, and it introduces many readers to an interesting culture. Keep a full box of tissue handy as it is sure to dredge up some some moving relationships. Don't miss it.

JoanK · « **Reply #2129 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:09:02 PM »

Have you always wondered why there's so much fuss about the ancient Greeks and Romans? Or have you read some of them but have no one to talk about it with? Come join us and vote on which of these old masterpieces YOU would like to read and discuss in October.

Look at the list and discussion here: http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2395.40

Vote here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRGVGSH

pedln · « **Reply #2130 on:** August 14, 2011, 07:41:20 PM »

Jim NT, I've heard and seen a lot about that book, -- Please Look After Mom -- but have not yet read it. The reviews have been good, and I'm very glad to get your recommendation.

Babi · « **Reply #2131 on:** August 15, 2011, 08:23:40 AM »

I noticed that book among the 'new' acquisitions at my library, JIM. I'll defiitely
have to take a look at it.

Steph · « **Reply #2132 on:** August 15, 2011, 10:23:55 AM »

I am currently reading an interesting books about Autism.. written by a sister and from her point of view.. I know.. what is the title and the answer is"' darned thing is downstairs.. try to remember to bring it up later.

JoanK · « **Reply #2133 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:24:13 PM »

There is also an autistic woman who writes books, but I can't remember her name.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2134 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:40:35 PM »

A very interesting memoir written by a woman who has autism is "Song of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism". I mentioned it a few yrs ago when i read it, but i probably mentioned it in non-fiction. She had a very hard young life, but her life was changed when she began to watch the interaction of the gorillas at the zoo, and by their keeper who noticed her being there every day. Her last name is Prince something, hyphenated. She is now a PhD in English. It is a wonderful story of how one person paying attention-the gorilla keeper- and being willing to help can change a person's life.

Jean

CallieOK · « **Reply #2135 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:56:21 PM »

"House Rules" by Jodi Piccolt is another novel about autism - told from the viewpoint of the autistic person. I thought it was very good.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2136 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:00:37 PM »

My daughter has just re-read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - another book written from the viewpoint of an autistic person, and very good.

Rosemary

CallieOK · « **Reply #2137 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:55:46 PM »

I remember that one. Didn't care much for it - but don't remember why.

marcie · « **Reply #2138 on:** August 15, 2011, 10:19:27 PM »

Temple Grandin, who is autistic, has also written several books (nonfiction). I very much enjoyed her "Thinking in Pictures," which was also the basis for an excellent HBO film about her. See http://www.templegrandin.com/templegrandinbooks.html

Steph · « **Reply #2139 on:** August 16, 2011, 06:14:41 AM »

The book is " How to Be a Sister" by Eileen Garvin. She is a member of a family of five. Her three year older sister is a severe Austistic. It is well done. Gives a nice clear picture of the joys and sorrows of being in a large family with one special child. She loves and dreads being with her sister. However her parents had enough money to buy and equip a group home where they live on the west coast, so her adult sister has full time care givers and three roommates in the home..
I had read the Jody Picoult and as always with her, she twists the ending to something ugly.. Her book endings always drive me nuts.. This male with Aspergers ( I know , spelled probably wrong) is never going to grow up and his brother is really truly neglected.. Sad and hopefully not the way life is.
I am interested in Temple Grandin..She has a milder form of autism.. The numbers as they rediagnose are getting higher and higher and the DNA results for families is scary.

Babi · « **Reply #2140 on:** August 16, 2011, 09:11:06 AM »

See how useful these book discussions are? Thanks to a number of warnings
about Jodi Picoult, I happily have avoided reading anything of hers. Think of all
the time and annoyance it has saved me.

CallieOK · « **Reply #2141 on:** August 16, 2011, 10:14:28 AM »

My goodness - I feel as if I should do penance for saying I liked a Jodi Piccoult book - even if I did err in saying Autism instead of Aspergers.
I shall go on my knees and humbly confess I have never read another book by her that I did like.

Mea Culpa.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2142 on:** August 16, 2011, 10:52:15 AM »

Aspergers is in the Autism spectrum, Callie; so you did not say wrong.

As for the book House Rules, everyone in my family has read it and appreciated how well it portrays a teen age boy with Asperger's. I have 2 great grandsons, brothers they are, with Autism; each slightly different from the other. They are 5 and 7 years old. Their grandmother, my daughter, has a stepsister who has a 19 year old with Aspergers. I can remember well the very day and the very hour when his despairing mother read a magazine article that described her 4-year old perfectly, and she was SO relieved. She pushed and pushed for testing, and finally got it with that diagnosis. The county insisted upon a second opinion, requiring a second set of testing. The diagnosis was firm and the boy had special schooling, at great expense, until last year when he entered a main stream state college, a year later than his age group, and did great scholastically and had only one meltdown that put him temporarily in a lockup until the college sent counselor and medical staff to rescue him.

I never heard of or knew anything of any type of autism until I was in my sixties! Either the afflicted were very well hidden all of those years, or they did not exist! So I ask, WHAT is happening to these descendants of ours? To our species?

pedln · « **Reply #2143 on:** August 16, 2011, 11:30:14 AM »

Below is a link to the home page of an autistic young man from my community. Although he lived (part-time) in my neighborhood, I did not know him well, and have not seen him in several years The discussion here prompted me to google him and this is the first I have seen his website. His accomplishments, including a degree from the California Inst. of the Arts, are amazing, but as he tells, it was not always that way.

Taylor Crowe

jeriron · « **Reply #2144 on:** August 16, 2011, 12:14:45 PM »

I like Jodi Picoult's books. I believe there is a lot of research involved in most of them. I do agree also that I am never really happy with her ending. Lots of people are not happy unless a book has a happy ending That really isn't why I don't always like the endings,it's not so much a "happy"ending but sometimes it's a strange ending and I end up going back and rereading the last chapter or two to make sure I read it right.

ursamajor · « **Reply #2145 on:** August 16, 2011, 12:59:46 PM »

I find it necessary to defend Jodi Picoult's books. I have read all of them I could find and find them quite thought provoking. I would rather read a book that does not manufacture a happy ending when the circumstances don't wrrant it. Picoult deliberately chooses very difficult life situations to write about but her characters seem human and respond like real people. When it comes to books where the writer manipulates a good outcome that doesn't make sense I think of the quote from Oscar Levant: "I can't watch the Dinah Shore show; I'm a diabetic."

Most of us are old enough to remember Dinah and Oscar.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2146 on:** August 16, 2011, 01:04:24 PM »

Thank you, Pedln. I have e-mailed that site to the mother of the lad with Aspergers and my granddaughter who has the 2 little autistic boys.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2147 on:** August 16, 2011, 02:52:19 PM »

I also like Jodi Picoult's books. Happy endings do not necessarily make an interesting, well-written novel. She does seem to do a lot of research, and her characters always seem realistic. I wouldn't "happily avoid reading her", Babi.

salan · « **Reply #2148 on:** August 16, 2011, 07:57:09 PM »

I have read several Jodi Picoult books. She is a good writer, but I finally gave up on her since her books always left me feeling depressed. I don't need my reading to do that to me!! I think people either love or books or steer clear of them.
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #2149 on:** August 17, 2011, 06:01:45 AM »

It s not the unhappy endings that bother me. It is the fact that the person who is vulnerable in a different way is always thrown under the car.. Autism takes many forms and for many years, only the non speakers and acting out type that got the attention. Now they are beginning to realize that there are many forms of autism.
My 9 year old grandson has finally been diagnosed with high performing Aspergers.. We are all relieved since it is our hope that now the school will understand the meltdowns and perhaps react somewhat differently.
I guess the House Rules bothered me since I grew up in a household with a brother eight years younger who was hit by a car and left crippled. All of my parents attention was always focused on him and I was left to survive any way I could. I know how hard this type of thing is on the siblings and Jody loves to destroy the other children to save the one she is writing about.

Babi · « **Reply #2150 on:** August 17, 2011, 08:55:51 AM »

URSA & TOME, you are quite right, of course. A happy ending is not what I expect
in all the books I read. What influenced my thinking were the comments that
all Picoult's books had 'horrible' endings, even those where it wasn't really
needful. I can't help but think that Ms. Picoult has a personal problem there,
if that's correct.
I have seen several films that included the subject of autism. And I read up
on ADD, which my grandson had had to deal with...successfully, I'm happy to say.

Steph · « **Reply #2151 on:** August 18, 2011, 06:21:58 AM »

Finished a one day fun book.. Last of the Honky Tonk Angels.. Marsha Moyer.. Fun, easy read that had some interesting lessons..

Babi · « **Reply #2152 on:** August 18, 2011, 08:31:59 AM »

Lessons in what, STEPH?

Steph · « **Reply #2153 on:** August 19, 2011, 06:16:02 AM »

The book is written in two voices. Both female. The younger is going to be 15 in a few months and the author really has a good touch with her voice.. All of the ups and downs of a young girl who has to learn to live with a father she never really knew and his girlfriend.. She learns of a grandmother, a small town, a first love and you get the inner emotions and the erratic behavior of a teen..

JimNT · « **Reply #2154 on:** August 19, 2011, 07:34:38 AM »

I just finished Please Look After Mom. Great book. This would be my choice of the book I'd leave my "forty something" sons but, of course, they'd never read it. There's a few aspects I don't fully understand but I think it stems from the cultural differnces and these aspects did not in any way dimish my understanding and appreciation of the theme. I'll probably read it again in a few months. My wife is thoroughly bored hearing about it but it's such a well presented and thought provoking subject. I'll be proud to have this one on my library shelves.

Babi · « **Reply #2155 on:** August 19, 2011, 08:42:27 AM »

I wonder if I'm too old for "Please Take Care of Mom". My own kids do a great
job of looking after me without offending my sense of independence. I'm wondering if they would think I was hinting at a lack on their part if I read that book? My Mother is long since deceased, and my stepmother, God bless her, is
healthier and far more active than I am.

JimNT · « **Reply #2156 on:** August 19, 2011, 10:44:27 AM »

Babi: Your comments are interesting and I appreciate your thoughts re Please Look After Mom, but I don't believe one should deprive oneself of an excellent book because of the title. As a husband of 75 with six years on my spouse, I obviously have a particular reason for wishing that my children read it but I initially chose to read it because of the rave reviews and the idea that it would be beneficial to relive my relationship with my own mother. I'm sure that many readers would just as soon not surface these emotions. The book reminds me of many things I should have said and done differently, but I'm comfortable with thinking about them.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2157 on:** August 19, 2011, 12:45:51 PM »

Steph - do you think the Honky Tonk Angels book would be good for my 13 year old to read? Sounds like her kind of thing.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2158 on:** August 20, 2011, 06:13:09 AM »

Rosemary,, a bit graphic for that age.. Actually I suspect most 15 year olds can handle it, but unless the 13 yo is quite grown about sex.. I would wait a bit.

Babi · « **Reply #2159 on:** August 20, 2011, 08:32:11 AM »

JIM, you are quite right, of course. I suspect my reluctance to pick up what I don't doubt is
an excellent book, may be due to the fact that I lost my mother at the age of 13. She was
only just beginning to emerge, for me, from the 'role' of mother into an individual whom I was just beginning to know as a separate person. I guess there are simply too many regrets there.

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 776310 times)