Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 742001 times)

pedln · « **Reply #5600 on:** September 11, 2014, 10:32:10 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

Barb. Wave is on my TBR list. Along those same lines, a film that you might like -- The Impossible -- based on a real life situation, tracks a family's experiences during the tsunami. With Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.

Steph · « **Reply #5601 on:** September 12, 2014, 08:46:11 AM »

Letting go is hard. It takes so many many forms.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5602 on:** September 12, 2014, 12:09:31 PM »

I agree. Grief is so huge and overwhelming. It is itself like a tsunami in the way it floods our senses and submerges our compasses.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5603 on:** September 12, 2014, 12:31:32 PM »

This is one of my recent reads. Excellent!

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"The Girl You Left Behind" - Jojo Moyes

From the New York Times -bestselling author of Me Before You , a spellbinding love story of two women separated by a century but united in their determination to fight for what they love most Jojo Moyes's bestseller, Me Before You , catapulted her to wide critical acclaim and has struck a chord with readers everywhere. "Hopelessly and hopefully romantic" ( Chicago Tribune ), Moyes returns with another irresistible heartbreaker that asks, "Whatever happened to the girl you left behind?" France, 1916: Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard's portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer's dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything-her family, her reputation, and her life-to see her husband again. Almost a century later, Sophie's portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting's true worth, and a battle begins for who its legitimate owner is-putting Liv's belief in what is right to the ultimate test. Like Sarah Blake's The Postmistress and Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key , The Girl You Left Behind is a breathtaking story of love, loss, and sacrifice told with Moyes's signature ability to capture our hearts with every turn of the page. .

Steph · « **Reply #5604 on:** September 13, 2014, 11:44:11 AM »

I Honestly think I read her first book.. Must check and see.

pedln · « **Reply #5605 on:** September 13, 2014, 02:31:27 PM »

Tomereader, If it's like The Postmistress and Sarah's Key I definitely want to read it. It sounds like a winner. I'd not heard of Moyes before and know nothing about her other works.

I'm currently absorbed in Kate Morton's The House at Riverton, and am grateful to whoever recommened it here. My library has a "mystery" sticker on it, and it is a mystery, as we learn in the very beginning that something happened at Riverton. The house is the main character and we only learn about what happened through the flashbacks told by 98 year-old Grace Reeves, who was once "in service" there, but who apparently went on to more prominent endeavors. Morton, a young Australian writer has other works, but I"m not familiar with any of them.

salan · « **Reply #5606 on:** September 14, 2014, 04:33:00 AM »

pedlin, I may have recommended The house at Riverton. I like Kate Morton and have also read The Secret Garden, and The Forgotten by her.
Sally

MaryPage · « **Reply #5607 on:** September 14, 2014, 08:50:21 AM »

I have read all but one of Kate Morton's books, and that last one is waiting on my bookshelves for me to get to. I like her. She is not a raving favorite of mine, but it is always a pleasant read. A good read.

Steph · « **Reply #5608 on:** September 14, 2014, 09:02:57 AM »

I found a Finch book that I had not read and am deep into mysteries of the small town and his being selected to open his side of parliament with a speech.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5609 on:** September 15, 2014, 04:05:28 PM »

Oh yes, I liked that one. I like them ALL. Such pleasant hours I have spent with him, and I think it was you, certainly it was someone in Mysteries, who put me on to him just in the last year or so.

Steph · « **Reply #5610 on:** September 16, 2014, 08:01:45 AM »

I know I recommended him here. I just love the series and marvel the author is young, highly educated and yet the stories have such charm.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5611 on:** September 16, 2014, 10:48:06 AM »

Puts a little ray of sunshine in the gloom one feels about the state of humankind on this planet, does it not?

Steph · « **Reply #5612 on:** September 17, 2014, 08:44:08 AM »

Ijust found out that he has written at least one book that is not part of the series. Must look for it.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5613 on:** October 01, 2014, 07:24:53 AM »

I guess no one is reading? Well, I am reading IN THE WOODS by Tana French this week. Have finally picked it up, after having it around for a while. She is very good.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5614 on:** October 01, 2014, 08:25:25 AM »

I've just started an old book, The Eyes of the World, written by Harold Bell Wright, and I have his first novel, The Printer of Udell's, in my TBR. He was a popular writer in his day. The Shepherd of the Hills was made into four movies, including a John Wayne. Branson, MO also claims a piece of him through this book. http://www.bransonshows.com/activity/HaroldBellWrightMuseum.cfm Those living in Tuscon, AZ, which he called home from 1913 to 1933, may be familiar with his name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbdCWfsPrFM

Steph · « **Reply #5615 on:** October 01, 2014, 08:34:52 AM »

I just started something that I think will be fun.. The Man Who ate Everything.. non fiction by Jeffrey Steingarten.. was the food critic for Vogue.. Finished off The Kitchen House last night.. A bit more gruesome than I like, but a good book overall

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #5616 on:** October 01, 2014, 10:08:50 AM »

I, for one, am reading - - probably too much. Right now in the middle of "The Painted Veil" - Somerset Maugham. It is for my f2f book group. The movie was absolutely beauiful, and the casting of Edward Norton as Walter was perfect (IMO). Seems like they truly stayed "loyal to the page" in going from book to film. Of course, I am still reading "the Girls of Atomic City" and enjoying that too. I had no idea that Oak Ridge was an entire "city". Has anyone been watching the TV Series "Manhattan" on WGNA? (Not the new series on regular TV Manhattan Love Stories or something like that). Anyway,Manhattan is the Alamagordo, NM part of the story where they actually work on building "The Gadget". Also into a couple of Civil War novels, but kind of shuffling those off to the side while I read "The Girls" and "Painted Veil".

Steph · « **Reply #5617 on:** October 02, 2014, 08:36:09 AM »

I do want to read the Girls, but am waiting until I return home. it is much easier to get newer books there. and my post office person is a little erratic to put it mildly. Most magazine arrive very well read by someone or another and at least a week late.. Never did get my bookmarks.. So hate to order books.

maryz · « **Reply #5618 on:** October 02, 2014, 05:23:08 PM »

When are you heading to FL, Steph?

Steph · « **Reply #5619 on:** October 03, 2014, 08:29:42 AM »

sunday... I need to get away from where Duncan died. I find his death so hard.. He was young and funny and so loving to the world. I should have been able to save him.

marjifay · « **Reply #5620 on:** October 03, 2014, 10:45:36 AM »

I'm reading a very interesting novel, DAY OF ATONEMENT, by one of my favorite authors, David Liss, who writes good historical fiction.

Per book description, "Sebastião Raposa is only thirteen when his parents are unjustly imprisoned, never to be seen again, and he is forced to flee Portugal lest he too fall victim to the Inquisition. But ten years in exile only serve to whet his appetite for vengeance. Returning at last to Lisbon, in the guise of English businessman Sebastian Foxx, he is no longer a frightened boy but a dangerous man tormented by violent impulses. Haunted by the specter of all he has lost, Foxx is determined to right old wrongs by punishing an unforgivable enemy with unrelenting fury. Compelled to play a game of deception and greed, Sebastian Foxx will find himself befriended, betrayed, tempted by desire, and tormented by personal turmoil. And when a twist of fate turns his carefully laid plans to chaos, he will be forced to choose between surrendering to bloodlust or serving the cause of mercy."

Marj

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5621 on:** October 03, 2014, 01:37:05 PM »

Steph - remember the good times and don't even consider that you might have saved him, that was probably highly impossible. I'm sure you did all that you could.

Has anybody read A God in the Ruins by Leon Uris? (I can't believe it's been more then 50 yrs since i read Exodus) The premise of the story, two very different men, with very different backgrounds, running for president, sounds very interesting. But in the first 60 pgs, it has been a very confusing read. Uris starts with the end of WWII, but jumps back and forth from there to 2008, and doesn't always connect the reader with the next paragraph. I've thought a half dozen times already "I don't know what he's saying." As he begins to bring the backstory closer to the present, i keep hoping it will live up to its potential.

Why do i know the name David Liss? I looked through a list of his books, but i haven't read any of them, although some look interesting. This is going to drive me nuts til i figure it out. Maybe i saw him on booktv. Thanks a lot Marjifay.

Jean

maryz · « **Reply #5622 on:** October 03, 2014, 05:23:28 PM »

Jean's right, Steph, "should've" never helps. It is SO tough, though. Hugs.

marjifay · « **Reply #5623 on:** October 03, 2014, 06:14:43 PM »

Leon Uris is another author I like, having read and liked EXODUS, THE HAJ, AND THE TRINITY. Haven't read A God in Ruins, but it gets poor reviews at Amazon, unlike most of his other books.

Don't know where you heard of David Liss, Jean. The last book I read by him was really good, WHISKEY REBELS. The next one of his on my list is THE DEVIL'S COMPANY, about the British East India Company.

Marj

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5624 on:** October 03, 2014, 09:06:13 PM »

I keep bumping into David Liss, literally - he seems to every year show up at the Texas Book Festival held at the Capitol and on the Capitol grounds here in Austin every October. He lives in San Antonio - I've read his books and he always bring in an obscure bit of history that explains so much - The Whiskey Rebels was a good one wasn't it Marj to learn more about our Federal Banking.

Did not know he had out this new book - need to look into it - I bet it will be for sale at the Book Festival and he may be one of the many speakers - I need to find the schedule.

finished The Visitor by Maeve Brennan - more of a novella - I read on the strength of the ballyho about the author who is touted as Ireland's best current author. It was well written and the story reminds me some of The Yellow Room but not restricted to one room or a house - A young twenty year old girl comes home after her father's death in France where she had accompanied him after her mother's death. She essentially turning on a neighbor as well as she was being put out of the house by her grandmother who had issues with the father. All very tangled and reads like a hand coming off the pages gripping your heart and throat.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5625 on:** October 04, 2014, 08:17:07 AM »

Oh, my! Oh, my! Time does fly! If it has been 50 years since Exodus; oh, my! Seems like YESterday!

Steph, it is part of our makeup to feel guilty when someone dies. Something left over from our very primitive beginnings: the guilt of survivorship. The terrible conviction we could somehow or other have done SOMEthing to cause them to live, to be okay. Been there; done that. Now I know it to be a natural part of the grieving process, which is made up also of "No, it can't possibly be so!" and a sense of loneliness, of having been abandoned. I feel for you, and I know that you know you are doing the right thing in getting out of Dodge and resorting the hours of your days and the shape of your expectations going forward. Hugs, cookies & tea and girltalk.

Steph · « **Reply #5626 on:** October 04, 2014, 09:11:42 AM »

I have read most of Leon Uris, although I was startled to discover he had a new book. I honestly thought he had died. Exodus was a wonderful book as well as a great movie. I read others of his, but that one was outstanding.
I am having problems getting into a book, so picked up Lone Wolf by Jody Picoult yesterday, I can see what is coming, but right now I am appalled at the man who would abandon wife, children and just go and be stupid in the woods.. Sigh..

MaryPage · « **Reply #5627 on:** October 04, 2014, 09:51:48 AM »

That was my thought precisely upon hearing of the new book: "I thought he was dead!"

Steph · « **Reply #5628 on:** October 07, 2014, 08:44:57 AM »

Picoult heavily weighs her books.. I finished it, but the man ruined others lives in utter selfishness and was at least half mad with the decision to act exactly like a wolf.. Boo.. I get so annoyed with most of her books, wont buy them, but pick them up for nothing at the library book sales.
we can take so many free books for each day we work. Am home in Florida.. Hot.. oh well. still good to be home.

maryz · « **Reply #5629 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:10:36 PM »

I'm glad you had a safe trip. I know it was a tough summer for you.

Steph · « **Reply #5630 on:** October 08, 2014, 09:24:29 AM »

Glad to be home. heat and all. My allergies are calming down nicely. I can even breathe mostly.. I have put everything doggie away, so I cannot see it, but I do keep looking around for my small gentle lady to be trailing me and my big boy to come tearing up with his ball.. Sigh.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5631 on:** October 09, 2014, 02:16:27 PM »

I am so sorry you are having to go through all of this sadness, Steph. And I find it very interesting about your allergies. One of my sons, one of my sons in law, and myself had the worst August/September allergy period EVER. And so it is that I am curious, North Carolina not being all that far from here, what it was you were allergic to there that is not present in Florida. Do you have a clue?

Steph · « **Reply #5632 on:** October 10, 2014, 09:58:20 AM »

no clue. I do know that when I went higher in North Carolina, the allergy got worse. Whole meadows were in bloom, so pinpointing which weed it was is impossible, but I feel so much better now. I truly could not breathe and was trying to sleep propped up with pillows, which is not fun.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5633 on:** October 26, 2014, 12:15:09 PM »

Has anybody read "Plainsong" by Kent Haruf? I've just read it for a book group. At the beginning i thought "oh, this is like A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley." That changed as i continued to look for a story. I finally thought "this is a rural 'Seinfield' without the humor."

I looked for some reviews and some people gave it five stars, others gave it one or two. He gives good descriptions of the environments, of light and weather and smells, but nothing about what the character is thinking or feeling about what is happening to the character. There are scenes that i had no idea what they doing to further the story. I can't really describe the story except to say it's set in rural Colorado and talks about a half dozen characters who take life as it comes and then moves on, but it didn't take me anywhere. It was very day-to-day nothingness like Seinfield, only boring.

The time sequence is jarring, skipping back and forth and it took me until about the middle of the book to figure out what the actual timeframe was. (Maybe i was overloaded by stories that hop back and forth tine wise, 3 or 4 books or tv shows i've read/watched lately are written that way, not my favorite genre) Finally, one of the characters mentioned Nancy Reagan, so i got that it was the 80s. There were at least two very descriptive scenes about animals that i never figured out what the reasoning was for including them.

Here's the Amazon page with description and reviews...........

http://www.amazon.com/Plainsong-1-Kent-Haruf-ebook/dp/B000FC1JY4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414340225&sr=1-1&keywords=plainsong+kent+haruf

yes, the pregnant teenage girl is placed with the two elderly farmer brothers, but we are not told why the teacher thinks that's a good idea, that's one example. Yes, the writing is simple and plain, like the geography, but it could use some additional info, in my opinion. The funny thing is that i have more often said about books i've read lately that they needed a good editor........be careful what you wish for.

I hope someone has read it and you will give me your perspective.

Jean

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5634 on:** October 26, 2014, 12:38:27 PM »

sounds like Plainsong is about more than the plains...but rather it is about the plain

Steph · « **Reply #5635 on:** October 27, 2014, 08:23:38 AM »

I loved it. I have read everything by him.. I love the ebb and flow of life. I grew up in a teeny town in Delaware and it so reminded me of when I was young. Life seemed to have that sort of pattern. So I am on the other side. It is a favorite of mine. I think he has written three books all about that area.

salan · « **Reply #5636 on:** October 27, 2014, 07:10:22 PM »

Steph, I also like Kent Haruf. I think I've read all of his. Some were better than others, but all were worth reading (imo).
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #5637 on:** October 28, 2014, 08:35:12 AM »

Going through my TBR file...and up popped "The last gift of time" by Carolyn G. Heilbrun.. Read it all at once, it is not that long.Some of it quite remarkable.. some not so. Her life was consumed with Columbia and the academic world, so even in retirement, she seems to cling to ideas that don't appeal to me, and I am not particularly a May Sarton fan.. But still took away a lot of interesting ideas of her retirement years.

Judy Laird · « **Reply #5638 on:** October 29, 2014, 03:30:55 PM »

I am the biggest May Sarton fan in the world I have all her books that I could find. In my minds eye I can see the big old house on a hill above the water in maine the picture never goes out of my mind and the crocrus and daffodils.
Loved Carolyn Hilbert too. I have all her books. I led a discussion boy what difference in peoples thinking. I thought she planned things out and did what she wanted but that was a heated discussion. My last I might add.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5639 on:** October 29, 2014, 11:14:13 PM »

O.k., so i got lost in Plainsong's scarce, plain narrative and needed more. Steph, i also grew up in a small, rural town and did identify with that part of the book, but i wanted to know WHY the teacher placed the pregnant teenager with the two elderly farmers, WHAT did the graphic description of the birth of the calf and the death of the horse have to do with furthering the story? Maybe i missed some symbolism.

Now i have read two fiction books that i liked........Sarah Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon. There's a bit of science fiction which i generally don't like, but was rather charming. I've also just read Joan Wolfe's No Dark Place, a medieval story that was not great writing, but entertaining.

Jean

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 742001 times)