Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 776266 times)

pedln · « **Reply #2840 on:** February 18, 2012, 01:29:49 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

Steph, even in large metropolitan cities you hear renters described as something shoddy. Which provoked a friend to say, "Well, we rent, and we're nice."

In my small city of approx 35,000 someone told me that you're considered a newcomer until no one remembers when you first came to town. I've been here 30+ years, and while their number is decreasing, there are still some who were here before me. What really amazes me is I"m still learning about family connections. I've played bridge with two women for years,(at different times) and just recently learned they were sisters.

Ursamajor, my family did the reverse of the south. My mother and her siblings grew up in small towns in Wisconsin, and they all married spouses from Wisconsin or Minnesota. Except for one brother, career army officer, who married a widow with one child from New Orleans. She didn't stand a chance with the four sisters. (And I never minded drying dishes for large family gatherings because I'd get to hear all the gossip about Aunt N.) Maybe she shouldn't have talked about Huey Long so much.

Steph · « **Reply #2841 on:** February 19, 2012, 06:20:12 AM »

My high school graduation class.. hmm, half of them married either the other half or the older and younger brothers and sisters of the class. Going to a class reunion is weird.. They are mostly interrelated. One of the local families had three sons.. One was in our class and the other two were one older and one younger. They all married classmates of mine. Whew..

MaryPage · « **Reply #2842 on:** February 24, 2012, 01:42:18 PM »

These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach is a book you might want to read prior to the British movie opening here on May 4th. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and a bunch of beyond wonderful performers in a romantic comedy for us Seniors!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2105615/Best-Exotic-Marigold-Hotel-review-Dame-Judi-Dench-magisterial-best.html#ixzz1nKBmp5U2

Steph · « **Reply #2843 on:** February 25, 2012, 06:33:50 AM »

Wrote down the author. Never heard of her, but a book about seniors is always fun.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2844 on:** February 25, 2012, 09:32:59 AM »

http://www.deborahmoggach.com/news.htm

Steph · « **Reply #2845 on:** February 27, 2012, 06:00:20 AM »

No luck thus far on the author.. I found some old stuff on my swap club, but nothing of interest.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2846 on:** February 29, 2012, 12:27:34 PM »

For those of you who liked The Help you may find this column interesting.

My History Newsletter had a column that reminds us of a previous film about maids in the 60s South, The Long Walk Home w/ Whoopie Goldberg and Sissy Specek. The column gives an interesting contrast between the two films. I don't think either film was supposed to be a docuumentary of the period, but Long Walk did provide more factual information about the period. Long Walk is no longer available for sale, but netflix or your library may have a copy.

http://hnn.us/articles/will-helps-oscar-revive-interest-long-walk-home%20

Steph · « **Reply #2847 on:** March 01, 2012, 06:07:35 AM »

Iwill look on Netflix.. I did not like The Help. Found it misleading. At least the book was..Did not go to the movie.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2848 on:** March 01, 2012, 08:37:22 PM »

Couldn't find "Long walk home" at any of our libraries. Will ask and see if they can borrow it from one not in the System.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2849 on:** March 02, 2012, 03:47:51 AM »

Our library doesn't have it either

Steph · « **Reply #2850 on:** March 02, 2012, 06:04:44 AM »

Reading a somewhat scattered but fun book that says it is nonfiction, but I dont believe it.. Mennonite in a little black dress.. Different sort of mennonite for sure.

Babi · « **Reply #2851 on:** March 02, 2012, 09:03:23 AM »

Finished "Sisterhood of Dune" a couple of days ago. Obviously the authors intend to continue
this series; it left everything in a sort of 'to be continued' state. I did enjoy it, tho', and will be
watching for the appearance of the follow-up.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2852 on:** March 02, 2012, 03:26:32 PM »

I read "Mennonite in A little black Dress." Liked it. I thought I found it in the Fiction part of the Library.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2853 on:** March 02, 2012, 10:00:08 PM »

I'm having an interesting reading experience. I mentioned earlier that i was reading Sunne in Splendour, which was billed as about Richard III, but the first half of the book was about his older brother Edward III. Edward married a "commoner" w/out the advice and consent of his handlers. The author, Penman, wrote a story that said the bride and her family, the Rivers, previously loyal to the Lancasters, Edward is a Yorkist, were sneaky, manipulative in a dirty, sneaky, nasty way.

Roshanarose recommended Gregory's "Red Queen". I looked for it at the library and saw that it was a few generations later - and i will read it - but i saw " The White Queen" also and saw that it a similar story to "Sunne" written from the perspective of Edward's Queen and her family. Yes, she is manipulative, but Gregory portrays her as being totally loyal to Edward and she is building her family and their marriages and wealth-gathering as a protective wall for Edward, knowing he will be challenged by the revenge seeking cousin who felt betrayed by Edward's secret marriage instead of marrying the French princess the cousin had arranged for
Edward.

I loved both books, but now am seriously wondering which of these fictional accounts is closer to fact!?!

Steph · « **Reply #2854 on:** March 03, 2012, 06:02:27 AM »

Ah History.. writen by the winners, not the losers, so it is hard to tell what is or is not true.. I always like Edward, but not his wives family..

Babi · « **Reply #2855 on:** March 03, 2012, 09:03:23 AM »

I remember reading a book about that marriage ages ago; I believe it was the Gregory
book. I came away with a good opinion of Edward's 'common' wife, but I can conceive
that Ms. Gregory may have 'prettied up' the truth for her more romantic version. It
would be nice if her version was the true one.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2856 on:** March 03, 2012, 03:10:08 PM »

When the Tudors came into power via killing Richard at Bosworth, they took over the propaganda machinery, as well. From Shakespeare to Vergil the written word was from the word of mouth horror stories told of the York faction.

We know now, forinstance, that Richard III was NOT a hunchback!

All we have to do is listen ever so briefly to the terrible lies our very own politicians tell on one another today, or, as is more the case, their enthusiasts tell regarding their opponents, to see clearly how much more easily an illiterate public was beguiled back in a day of no quick communication other than word of mouth.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2857 on:** March 03, 2012, 03:19:32 PM »

Back in 1971, I visited, was it the Tate Gallery?, in London and spent a good bit of time contemplating the portraits of Henry VII and Richard III.

My gut reaction was that I would have trusted Richard, but not Henry. Try this yourself!

And yes, I will be the first to admit this is not a valid test. Yet it is the only one I have.

Please note I am speaking of Richard the Third of England, House of York, and Henry the Seventh of England (Wales), House of Lancaster. Henry killed Richard and created Tudor by marrying Richard's niece. By force.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2858 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:58:24 PM »

MaryPage - If there was a Tudor propaganda machine, maybe what we know of Henry VIII is just the best side of him. Makes me shudder to think of it.

Babi - The White Queen imho is in no shape or form as good as the Red Queen. I think Gregory skilfully depicts the two women according to the basics she had gleaned about them. Woodville is not particularly likeable, but neither is Beaufort. I enjoyed the way Gregory wrote about the politics of the time of the Red Queen. I learned a lot from that book. I do have the whole set of Cassell's "History of England" so may find something a bit closer to the truth in there. There are ten volumes.

I read a lot of Ancient History and have been chasing up Megalexander. The descriptions and reports of his greatness, his nature and his looksvary considerably. But they all say he had two different coloured eyes and was only 5'3" tall. There is more but it is not for this board.

Steph · « **Reply #2859 on:** March 04, 2012, 06:18:44 AM »

Just think of the horrible things that are being said by the different politicians now when they are just running for the chance to run for President. Think of people like Rush Limbaugh..and his horrible mouth.. History is tricky at best.. My favorite portrait at the Tate...Henry VIII.. Oh wow.. Now there was a presence..

marjifay · « **Reply #2860 on:** March 04, 2012, 07:19:18 AM »

I heard that Rush Limbaugh had finally apologized to the girl he slandered so awfully. Probably not because he regretted his remarks, but because people were boycotting the vendors on his TV and radio programs and he feared for his bloated pocketbook.

I just got a wonderful book from the library on the history of British kings, with lots of illustrations: THE OXFORD ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY by John Cannon (700+ pages). I'm going to buy it as a great reference book.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #2861 on:** March 04, 2012, 07:25:18 AM »

I'm reading a very good book by Jack London, THE VALLEY OF THE MOON, and loving it.
I believe it's sort of semi-autobiographical about a young couple who meet and decide to leave the city for the country. I'd not heard of this book until I recently visited Jack London's lovely estate in northern California, now a state park. Sad that he died so young.

Marj

Babi · « **Reply #2862 on:** March 04, 2012, 09:14:19 AM »

5'3" then was much 'taller' than it is today, ROSE. It seems each generation gets
a bit taller. I don't recall reading 'The Red Queen' at all. I've heard the name
Beaufort, of course, but don't really remember anything about it.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2863 on:** March 04, 2012, 12:34:02 PM »

One of the very best sets of histories about Britain that I have ever read, indeed, my very favorite set, is the 4 book set titled THE LAST PLANTAGENETS by Thomas B. Costain.

The Plantagenets series (also known as The Pageant of England)
The Conquering Family (1949)
The Magnificent Century (1951)
The Three Edwards (1958)
The Last Plantagenets (1962)

Costain remains one of my all time favorite writers; I suspect his style fits my brain wiring, I don't know. Roshanarose, I know you would love him; you probably already do. He was a Canadian and wrote a lot of other books, as well. Every single one of them was good and a number of movies were made from them.

You all probably saw The Black Rose and The Silver Chalice, even if you did not read the best seller books. Two of my favorites were The Tontine and Below The Salt. I can thank my dear old standby, The Book Of The Month Club for getting me started on Costain. I wish everyone wrote as well as he.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2864 on:** March 04, 2012, 06:01:00 PM »

Rose.
Megalexander. Could be a past relative of my mothers. She had different coloured eyes. One Blue and one Brown..

JoanK · « **Reply #2865 on:** March 04, 2012, 07:51:10 PM »

"5'3" then was much 'taller' than it is today, ROSE."

I started to take a college course on English history once. All the professor wanted to talk about was historical research he had done to determine the hight of each English king. I dropped the course.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2866 on:** March 04, 2012, 09:10:29 PM »

Bravo Joan!

I'llcheck out those books, MarYPage, you and i seem to have kindred minds. I read Below the Salt sometime ago, don't remember the details.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #2867 on:** March 05, 2012, 06:19:26 AM »

I loved Costain and read every single one of the books.. He had such a gift for making you fell in the middle of things. The Tontine was amazing..
Finished Mennonite in a little Black Dress.. Boring in the end.. I thought it was fiction, but the name of the author and the name in the book were the same, so I assume it was a memoir.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2868 on:** March 05, 2012, 06:39:52 AM »

About the Rush Limbaugh thing, I only mention it here because it has already been brought up, the thing I find myself sighing over is the huge cultural divide in this country today, with me apparently in the minority. I am not speaking politics here. This has not an iota to do with politics. It has to do with politeness and courtesy as I was raised to observe them.

I find myself unable to watch the vast majority of television "shows" and series today because their idea of humor is to be as loud, insulting and crude as possible to the people around them, be they family, friends or fellow workers.

Rush L. says he apologizes to anyone who did not understand his humor.

Humor?

I was raised to believe such talk to be rude, crude and unrefined and to absolutely hate it. And to scorn the person who was unbelievably behaving in such a manner!

So when did the ugly-talking faction become acceptable? When did the bully become the hero?

Frybabe · « **Reply #2869 on:** March 05, 2012, 08:42:12 AM »

You are not alone MaryPage. George and I avoid most comedies, many talk shows, etc. because we don't find them funny, or anything but obnoxious and insulting.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2870 on:** March 05, 2012, 08:57:04 AM »

MaryPage, I agree entirely. The very worst are those awful talk shows that appear on daytime TV - the only time I see them is when I am trapped in the dentist's waiting room. They seem to want us to think that to abuse your family and friends in the coarsest, most unpleasant terms is 'normal', and that those of us who think otherwise are just old-fashioned, 'uptight', etc. I really hate the way a large part of society seems to be going today.

It doesn't matter whether that awful Limbaugh man meant it or not - and I bet he did. Do people think that if they qualify what they say by adding "joke!" that it becomes acceptable?

Oh I could go on, but I'd better not

Frybabe - that is partly why I like things like The Vicar of Dibley. People are polite.

Rosemary

MaryPage · « **Reply #2871 on:** March 05, 2012, 10:54:45 AM »

I like polite. I rreally, really like polite.

Thank you for your support. I fear we are greatly in the minority.

CallieOK · « **Reply #2872 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:11:44 AM »

Here's one more who's with you re: politeness and the lack thereof!

I deplore the idea that simply mouthing the words "I'm sorry" guarantees instant forgiveness without consequences or true repentance - even if the action/response are repeated over and over and...

maryz · « **Reply #2873 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:28:59 AM »

I'm with you, too, MaryPage.

jane · « **Reply #2874 on:** March 05, 2012, 12:37:46 PM »

I'm with you all. The TV people wonder why the ratings are down? Where is the humor? What I see if vulgar, obscene (by my standards, anyway), uncouth, and...well, just plain stupid.

I suspect "You don't understand my humor" is a cop-out/excuse/trying to justify a vulgar mouth and behavior. I'm not buying it, and I, too, don't watch or listen to it.

I have my ereader and my computer, and I prefer both of those to the "stuff" (junk) on TV these days.

jane

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2875 on:** March 05, 2012, 12:48:30 PM »

Much as i liked many of the issues it spoke tp, i think the nasty dialogue on tv, especially the sitcoms started with the Archie Bunker show All in the Family. I understand it was based on a British show, but i don't know if the name-calling and nastiness was in the original show.

As to Rush's words of "i used the wrong words", he didn't say that of course the young woman was not a slut or prostitute, only that he should have used some other word to say the same thing. Maybe Rush has got some comeuppance. At least four sponsonrs had pulled their ads.

Where are the "family values" conservatives???

Jean

nlhome · « **Reply #2876 on:** March 05, 2012, 12:55:34 PM »

I think there is a line - Archie Bunker was, in my world, pretty real for the time, and I recognized him in some of my relatives. I do not recognize Rush in anyone in my world. I agree, politeness, courtesy, firmness, thoughtful speech are what I appreciate. And above all, honesty.

CallieOK · « **Reply #2877 on:** March 05, 2012, 12:57:17 PM »

Unfortunately, I suspect "family values" has a new meaning these days - another thing to add to the "it ain't what it used to be" list.

Just read this in an e-mail Fwd:

"I was taught to respect older people but it's getting harder to find any."

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2878 on:** March 05, 2012, 01:20:13 PM »

Jean - it was based on the British programme "Till Death Do Us Part", which - for its time (1970s) - was considered so vulgar and appalling that I was banned from watching it by my mother. It was popular though - I think it was probably well acted - Warren Mitchell, who played the legendary Alf Garnett, is also a well respected stage actor, (and is in fact Jewish with very left-wing political views) and Dandy Nichols, who played his long-suffering wife, also appeared in many films - but we had never heard swearing or outright racism on TV before.

To be honest, it was an accurate reflection of the views of vast swathes of the working classes - I include my family in that. My parents were far too timid (think Alan Bennett's parents in Untold Stories) to voice any such opinions, but I have clear memories of some of my mother's friends' husbands swearing like troopers and having political views to the right of Attila the Hun. My parents certainly read The Daily Express (immensely right wing, racist, paper) and in those days did not approve of immigration (my mother has loosened up a bit since). Despite all of that, there was none of this almost institutionalised, knee-jerk swearing, abuse and lack of self-control.

One more thing I must say is that I do not want to blame 'the youth of today' for all of this - I always feel I have to jump in here - although no-one on this site has ever blamed it all on teenagers - in the UK at least there are far more foul-mouthed, disrespectful, impolite adults than there are young people.

Putting soap box away now - honest!

Rosemary

MaryPage · « **Reply #2879 on:** March 05, 2012, 02:43:24 PM »

I never heard a cross word uttered in my home. No one ever said an unkind word or raised their voice to another person. My father was very good at glaring at me with a look that could kill and asking me in ever so threatening a mild voice if I had done this or that or the other. I admit to being nearly, but not quite, terrified of him. But the most punishment I got was up to my room without my supper. Someone always snuck me something to eat, and I had plenty of books and toys. Not a great hardship, unless there was something for dinner I most particularly loved.

But anyone, from my great grandmother down to my younger uncles and such (one uncle being only 8 years older than myself) would be quick to pounce on me and correct me if I said something gossipy or unkind about anyone in town. Anyone at all. There was one particular little girl I was not allowed to visit when invited, and told I could not have her to my house; I was never told why, just expected to obey. Which I did. Looking back (she was a classmate of mine in grade school) I think that family probably was none too clean and suspected of having cooties or worse.

But oh yes, I do like polite.

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 776266 times)