Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 775158 times)

MaryPage · « **Reply #5280 on:** January 29, 2014, 12:04:36 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 never made it to Japan, although both my mother and my father did, separately. But my great granddaughter Bella, age 11, landed at Yokohoma yesterday via her SEMESTER AT SEA program sponsored by the University of Virginia. I am having a ball following her very excited blogs.

Steph · « **Reply #5281 on:** January 30, 2014, 08:44:27 AM »

I can imagine. We never got to Japan. MDH was a bonsai freak. Raised them for years..We went to many shows, but never the huge ones in Tokyo..

MaryPage · « **Reply #5282 on:** January 30, 2014, 09:12:46 AM »

Oh, oh, oh, I love bonzai, too! Adore it. Only tried it once, though, and was a miserable failure at that.
Did you ever see the collection at the National Botanical Gardens in D.C.?
Sigh! Heaven!

MaryPage · « **Reply #5283 on:** January 30, 2014, 02:24:53 PM »

I should have said the National Arboretum. Good Grief; I should know better, as I have been there many times!

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/collections/bonsai.html

maryz · « **Reply #5284 on:** January 30, 2014, 03:36:35 PM »

They have a good bonsai collection at Longwood Gardens, PA, too.

ginny · « **Reply #5285 on:** January 30, 2014, 05:28:29 PM »

Isn't Longwood fabulous? I haven't been in years. That sound and light show in the summer is out of this world.

maryz · « **Reply #5286 on:** January 30, 2014, 07:01:57 PM »

Longwood is fabulous - I've only been there maybe 3 times, and that was many years ago, but it is a wonderful place.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5287 on:** January 31, 2014, 08:22:36 AM »

My sister and I went this summer. Lots of changes since I was there years and years ago. The DuPont house is now partially open to the public. They are recreating the Meadow Garden behind the house; it will reopen this Summer. I was wowed by the Green Wall which is the corridor with the bathrooms. Each bathroom is seperate, not one or two large multi-stall rooms. http://longwoodgardens.org/gardens/green-wall The indoor Children's Garden is a fantasyland of plants, sculptures and passageways; the photos here do not do it justice. The Cascade Garden is also super.
http://longwoodgardens.org/gardens

Steph · « **Reply #5288 on:** January 31, 2014, 08:36:07 AM »

California has wonderful bonsai collections. We went to several glorious shows there. Plus Huntington( hopefully that is correct) has a huge garden and library .. Loved that place. and a lovely hotel with a glorious restaurant, just wish I could be sure that I am using the right name.

JoanK · « **Reply #5289 on:** January 31, 2014, 04:29:03 PM »

Huntington gardens? I've been there several times. They have beautiful Japanese gardens, rock gardens, and bonzai. And a restaurant where they serve tea (English, not Japanese).

My favorite (so far -- I haven't explored all their gardens) is the Shakespeare garden. Only plants that are mentioned in Shakespeare. It has quite a different feel from a modern garden. The plants are smaller and less showy -- you have to focus down to concentrate on small beauty.

Steph · « **Reply #5290 on:** February 01, 2014, 01:25:27 PM »

They also have a glorious archive in the library for anyone interestedin the gold rush and early California.

ursamajor · « **Reply #5291 on:** February 02, 2014, 03:59:40 PM »

My son invited me and my husband to visit Longwood gardens with him and his wife two years ago. It was a wonderful experience. Neither I nor husband walk very well and we were able to rent electric carts to use in the grounds. This enabled us to see much more of the gardens than if we had had to walk. When we went into the buildings we left the carts at the door; we had keys to make them run. The gardens were beautiful and we enjoyed the greenhouse and other buildings. In one there was a grand piano fitted with a player device that caused it to play classical music continuously. That was a nice touch.

Steph · « **Reply #5292 on:** February 03, 2014, 09:04:08 AM »

The Gardens are glorious and it is hard to believe it was once a private estate. The DuPonts really knew how to live in the old days.

maryz · « **Reply #5293 on:** February 03, 2014, 10:22:48 AM »

Money helps!

(Also, duPont continues to put food on our table!).

Steph · « **Reply #5294 on:** February 04, 2014, 08:58:52 AM »

Growing up in the state, the DuPonts really dragged Delaware kicking and screaming into current life. They bribed the highway by paying for half of all the country roads, so that the back roads got paved early. Had glorious estates that they tend to leave to the state one way or another. Several of them are profession horse breeders and they have improved the Welsh pony beyond belief. All in all a nice family who worked hard. Don't know about the current day other than I knew one male who was my age, who was a bum.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5295 on:** February 21, 2014, 07:54:48 PM »

Can I get some input here on a couple of books/authors? Our f2f book group seems to be having a hard time coming up with selections that "all" the members want to read. Right now, we are all worn out by dysfunctional families/dystopian tales. Not looking for cozies or romance, but good novels with good writing.
Has anyone read "The Burgess Boys" by Elizabeth Strout? "House on Tradd Street" by Karen White? "The Shoemaker's Wife, Adriana Trigiani and also her "Big Stone Gap"? All responses will be appreciated.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5296 on:** February 22, 2014, 03:43:40 AM »

Just released as a movie that I am not sure I want to see that may change my image of the characters but a good read with good writing is Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

Another riveting book is Wave - not The Wave - but Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala. Vacationing with her husband, her two sons and her parents in Yala, Sri Lanka, the day was just beginning when she and a friend noticed that something strange was happening in the ocean. Within a matter of minutes, the sea had wiped out life as she had known it.

Steph · « **Reply #5297 on:** February 22, 2014, 09:07:35 AM »

Trigiani is a good solid southern writer. She has characters that are interesting and real.. I think the book club if it is mostly women would love it. In the end the stories are love stories, but not the stupid kind. We just finished Defending Jacob in my f2f book club. Our discussion was wild. We had a grandmother whose grandson was convicted of 2nd degree murder and will spend many years in prison. Another grandmother who would have done what the mother did in the end and a lot of heat about Andy.. the father. All in all a really good discussion.

ursamajor · « **Reply #5298 on:** February 22, 2014, 11:39:30 AM »

I was interested to hear about your discussion of defending Jacob. My book club has it on the list for this year. Will be interesting.

JeanneP · « **Reply #5299 on:** February 22, 2014, 01:40:58 PM »

Now was "Wave" the one that showed on TV or Maybe I got a DVD of "The Wave". was really good whichever one it was.

Steph · « **Reply #5300 on:** February 23, 2014, 10:02:44 AM »

Ihave only been a f2f book club person for the past several months. Defending Jacob was a really good discussion.but several of the others were not at all.. Next month is Alice Monroe , the last book of short stories. I am not a short story fan, but will dutifully try to read them.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5301 on:** February 24, 2014, 03:24:42 PM »

Can I get some input here on a couple of books/authors? Our f2f book group seems to be having a hard time coming up with selections that "all" the members want to read. Right now, we are all worn out by dysfunctional families/dystopian tales. Not looking for cozies or romance, but good novels with good writing. *STILL TRYING TO GET RECOMMENDATIONS, SO REPOSTING THIS WITH ADDENDUM.
Has anyone read "The Burgess Boys" by Elizabeth Strout? "House on Tradd Street" by Karen White? "The Shoemaker's Wife, Adriana Trigiani and also her "Big Stone Gap"? All responses will be appreciated.
Trying to get recommendations for my f2f book group. It can't be too current or the library won't have enough copies available; no romances.
Good, well-written novel without family dysfunction or dystopian plots; not "fantasy". No vampires, werewolves, zombies. Really limiting myself, aren't I? Sorry 'bout that. Suggest several if you will, and I will let you know if we've read them, or if I'm gonna pass on the suggestions.
Thanks.

Steph · « **Reply #5302 on:** February 25, 2014, 09:07:04 AM »

Possibly pick a genre or idea and tell all the members to bring the book that they think represents this to a meeting.. I think I would love that.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5303 on:** February 25, 2014, 11:09:23 AM »

Great idea, Steph, and would you believe, we did that at the end of the year! Everyone enjoyed, and each of us got an idea of something to read that might not have been in our personal bailiwick! That's actually an idea that all book groups should consider once in awhile.

Steph · « **Reply #5304 on:** February 26, 2014, 08:46:41 AM »

I am hoping to convince my f2f bookclub to try this next year..

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #5305 on:** February 28, 2014, 01:40:08 PM »

That is a great suggestion Steph, I would also like to do that. I tried to suggest something similar for the new book group that I set up with the librarian in my old library - but she wasn't having any and insisted that 'changes' (as she saw them) had to be 'made slowly'.

I have given up on f2f book groups, I just don't think they and I are compatible

ursamajor · « **Reply #5306 on:** February 28, 2014, 05:02:47 PM »

What's f2f?

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #5307 on:** February 28, 2014, 05:22:16 PM »

Face to face, as opposed to on-line (like this one.)

Steph · « **Reply #5308 on:** March 01, 2014, 09:49:52 AM »

I like my new f2f book club. Last month was Defending Jacob and we had a really great discussion.. I was amazed at the number of women who fiercely defended Andy, the father, when I was appalled with him.Sigh.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5309 on:** March 01, 2014, 02:33:37 PM »

I'm listening to the audiobook of The Goldfinch. I was able to get it on my ipad because of the library's set-up for online borrowing. It's a very interesting story, but very slow going. The author gives so many details as the protagonist remembers a traumatic event and its aftermath. I'm not quite halfway through it. I only have it for a week, i probably won't get it finished. I read a review by a reader who said the first 250 pages were very good, but then it went downhill. I'm not sure what that meant. Have any of you read it? I won't say any more so as not to be a spoiler.

Jean

ursamajor · « **Reply #5310 on:** March 01, 2014, 02:45:55 PM »

Steph, I was appalled also. Because of sympathy for one person, he destroyed the lives of three others.

JeanneP · « **Reply #5311 on:** March 01, 2014, 03:55:57 PM »

My last face to face club was at the library year ago. I left it. Was 15 min. Talking books and 45 chit chat. On what to read in coming months and what they had been doing all week.

CallieOK · « **Reply #5312 on:** March 01, 2014, 04:03:09 PM »

I've just finished "Devil Amongst The Lawyers", a novel by Sharyn McCrumb. It's based on a true story of a young woman in rural southwestern Virginia hill who was tried in 1935 for murdering her father - not long after the Lindbergh kidnapping trial.
The national media picked up the story and city newspapers sent reporters to cover the trial. The story follows three of them who have preconceived notions of the "back in the sticks" location/lifestyle and have already decided how they will write/photograph their articles - plus one reporter from a smaller newspaper who sees things differently.
The author does a good job of illustrating how media can influence opinions by slanting language/descriptions and pictures. The "back stories" of the four reporters and the accused are woven throughout.

Although I read small segments during the week, I read until 2:00 a.m. last night because I couldn't stop until I saw how it ended.

For those who are going to take part in the discussion of "Blue Highways", this might be a good companion read.

maryz · « **Reply #5313 on:** March 01, 2014, 04:42:35 PM »

Shame on you, Callie! I love Sharyn McCrumb - and just had to get that one for my iPad.

CallieOK · « **Reply #5314 on:** March 01, 2014, 05:14:21 PM »

Sorry 'bout that, Maryz.

This is the first one of hers that I've read. I will read more.

maryz · « **Reply #5315 on:** March 01, 2014, 06:34:10 PM »

I've heard McCrumb speak, too. She's a nice lady.

Steph · « **Reply #5316 on:** March 02, 2014, 10:08:00 AM »

Hmm, will look for it. I am a big McCrumb fan..

ursamajor · « **Reply #5317 on:** March 02, 2014, 10:23:42 AM »

I truly love Sharyn McCrumb's books also. My favorite is The Rosewood Casket.

marjifay · « **Reply #5318 on:** March 02, 2014, 11:19:41 AM »

I've never read any of Sharyn McCrumb's books. But you people have convinced me to try one. Think I'll start with She Walks These Hills.

Marj

CallieOK · « **Reply #5319 on:** March 02, 2014, 01:13:13 PM »

Edit of my previous comments on "Devil Amongst The Lawyers": The reporters in McCrumb's books are fictionalized. The names of the lawyers were changed but their part in the trial and the name of the defendant was not. Neither were the location and events surrounding the trial.

Yesterday, I figured out how to "borrow" a book from the Metro Library System on my Christmas present Tablet. I put "Lilly and Dash" on as an experiment and am enjoying it, but will be looking for familiar authors as I get more proficient with the process.

News:

Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 775158 times)