Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 741996 times)

pedln · « **Reply #5720 on:** February 03, 2015, 01:07:12 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

Harper Lee's Second Novel

Frybabe · « **Reply #5721 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:53:03 PM »

MaryPage · « **Reply #5722 on:** February 03, 2015, 07:59:35 PM »

OH! OH! OH!

I am just So excited!

www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/03/harper-lee-new-novel-to-kill-a-mockingbird

Jean, I think it was Peter O'Toole who played Henry. And it was a love match, as she had to divorce the King of France to marry him!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5723 on:** February 03, 2015, 11:56:43 PM »

Yes! Peter O'Toole. Yes, she did divorce Louis to marry Henry, but Henry was the king, and sexually "it's good to be the king", to quote Mel Brooks.

Plus he was always most interested in extending his empire and used everybody, including all his children, in order to do that. Both of those things put much stress and distance between them, to the point where he had her imprisoned for at least twenty years.

They are one of the most fascinating couples in history.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #5724 on:** February 04, 2015, 08:48:28 AM »

Eleanor is one of my personal royal favorites and her once loving and then unfaithful husband. Yes, I too think of her with Lion in Winter in my mind.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5725 on:** February 04, 2015, 09:08:36 AM »

Mine, too, Steph! I fell madly in love with her long, long before Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. It was when I was introduced to her in reading the first of Thomas Costain's 4-volume history of the Plantagenets in the early nineteen fifties. Since then, I have bought anything that included her or was specifically about her. Somewhere on my history bookshelves is one great book that was JUST about her, unless I have already passed it on to Paige, which I don't think I have.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5726 on:** February 04, 2015, 01:01:45 PM »

Allison Weir wrote a non-fiction of Eleanor, also, in 1999. It was very good. The fiction, Captive Queen is more recent, in 2010.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #5727 on:** February 05, 2015, 07:55:40 AM »

1999,,hmm, I think there was an earlier biography of her..I remember reading one many many years ago. She was a bright woman and Henry was not overfond of intelligence in any one except him.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5728 on:** February 06, 2015, 09:17:35 PM »

There is another biography titled Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings. That was the first one i read and got interested in her. Give me a minute and i'll tell you the author and date.

Amy Kelly is the author, published 1950

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #5729 on:** February 07, 2015, 03:38:05 PM »

Yes., that is the one. I loved it.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5730 on:** February 14, 2015, 12:41:46 AM »

I tried to read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves this week, but it is a DNF for me. I know it was on seceral 2013/14 lsts of books to read, but i struggled with the first 100 pages and didn't like any of the characters, and when the "sister" Fern turned out to be a chimp i gave up. I have liked some others of Karen Fowler, but this one was not for me.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #5731 on:** February 14, 2015, 08:57:44 AM »

A chimp?? Whew.. Must look that one up.

marjifay · « **Reply #5732 on:** February 15, 2015, 03:51:43 PM »

I don't know why anyone would be surprised to find out in the book WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES that the "sister" Fern was a chimp. When I read the Amazon review that said " Fowler’s breathtakingly droll 22-year-old narrator, felt that she and Fern were not only sisters but also twins." I decided this book, "supposedly "droll" was not for me. Thankfully, I didn't have to waste time reading 100 pages to find that out

Marj

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5733 on:** February 15, 2015, 06:46:47 PM »

what fun to read here how we all make decisions about what to read and if reading, what to put aside - it makes me smile - we are like little kids with just enough money to buy one piece of candy and as we look at the case full we talk to our friend about the worth of each piece before we buy - remember? - I do because stopping at the ice cream store that also sold candy was a must before the Saturday afternoon matinée at our local movie theater. A book, like the candy we wanted it to taste good and last the longest - Have any of you read anything recently that did read 'good' and lasted the longest

but still, I am serious - what have you read that was worth the time and stayed with you?

salan · « **Reply #5734 on:** February 16, 2015, 04:20:20 AM »

I've read 2 books by Sarah Jio, Morning Glory and The Violets of March, that held my interests and made me want to read more by this author. Has anyone here read Jio? I also read Orphan Train by Christina Kline for my ftf book club. I enjoyed this book.
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #5735 on:** February 16, 2015, 08:42:19 AM »

Hmm, read things I liked, but something that stays with me. That requires some thought.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5736 on:** February 17, 2015, 11:32:09 AM »

I am just now reading the latest Margaret Maron, Designated Daughters, which I received as a Christmas gift. (It was on my Wish list; my myriad kinfolk wouldn't have a clue what to buy me without the benefit of that list!)

And your question made me stop and think about books which have haunted me down through the years. Gone To Earth, by Mary Webb; especially the "Telling The Bees" part and the ending. I read that back in the forties! China Court by Rumor Godden, and all the Graces. Caravans, by James Michener, and the sadness of the lost civilizations. A sense of a place that is not a place, but where people pass through. I read that for the first time more than half a century ago, and it is the same now. The place, Afghanistan, I mean.

Well, I will probably remember Designated Daughters, just as Margaret Maron's books about pottery making in North Carolina, furniture making in North Carolina, fishing and oystering in North Carolina, and so forth and so on have stuck with me. Designated Daughters, it turns out withOUT giving the plot away, is a support group and includes both sexes and all ages: grandparents, spouses, children, every relationship. It is all about CAREGIVERS. And you know, by golly, we do not spend many years, in a normal family, NOT being caregivers. I started along about age ten, and was fully into it by age fifteen. We care for our old, then our children, then our old again, only this time our parents generation, and then our spouses, and then our children take care of US! Fascinating stuff. And I like Maron, too, because she slips in glaring examples of folks we would take for way over the top should we encounter them, but the reasons for their fashion behavior or whatever would sober us up REAL fast if we but knew of them! Hold your tongue! That woman wearing a purple wig today and a red one tomorrow may be going through chemotherapy and have no hair of her own and be in need of the outlandishness to cover her despair! S'truth!

Steph · « **Reply #5737 on:** February 19, 2015, 08:01:34 AM »

MaryPage, you brought up an old memory.. Either Jan or Rumor Godden wrote a book about a cloistered num, joining the convent at an advanced age. Had been married and had a child who died tragically. The woman who caused the death accidently joined the convent some years later. and Oh how I wish I could remember the title.. I do remember how much this made me look at the theory of forgiveness and how you can or cannot manage it, so there is an example of a book that made me look hard at how I viewed life.l

MaryPage · « **Reply #5738 on:** February 19, 2015, 09:46:22 AM »

Was that Rumer's IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE? And didn't they do a movie of it?

Maybe it was BLACK NARCISSUS, which was also a film, starring, I think, Deborah Kerr. I think more likely it was Brede.

My faint impression, after all these many years, is that I felt a bit put off by Black Narcissus, and adored In This House of Brede. Do you realize that Godden is one writer whose books are still published after all this time? Sort of wondering this morning why, on the one hand, that is so and yet, on the other, we do not hear anything about her or her books.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5739 on:** February 19, 2015, 12:52:14 PM »

I'll have to look into her books - forgiveness is s tough one - I still feel like I am living my life skating on ice that I never know out of the blue if I will be skating over a thin patch and fall through.

I think the fear of figuratively falling through the thin ice and feeling as I did is equal to any forgiveness I have developed - I just cannot handle being in that state again - cannot wrap my head around the behavior and so so so very tired of trying therefore, my answer was to leave it and let God figure it out because I cannot -

I am not going to take up that struggle again - and to blanket forgive feels too much like accept and so probably the cause of my concern that I may skate unknowingly over some thin ice - ah so but I gave years and years and years dwelling on and trying to either understand or to forgive without understanding so that I finally just rolled it all up like a sewing project that I could not make work and stuck it in a sack - problem I still feel I am 'supposed' to do a better job of forgiveness so the sack still sits in the bottom of the pile for Goodwill.

Reading how others handle their pain is something that I may find helpful and this author sounds like a book I ought to consider.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5740 on:** February 19, 2015, 01:59:11 PM »

Barbara, if you have never read any of Rumer Godden's books, please know that she was a woman well ahead of her time, and she wrote like a beautiful dream. My all time favorite is CHINA COURT. Now, that sounds like it would be set in China, does it not? Well, NOT! China Court is the name of an English estate. I will say no more, but Barbara, I think you would love that book as I have done.

Godden wrote many, many books; and quite a few were made into films. She wrote a lot of really great children's books, as well and all.

She died in 1998.

http://www.rumergodden.com/index.php

Frybabe · « **Reply #5741 on:** February 19, 2015, 02:22:36 PM »

The only Godden I have read is Two Under the Indian Sun, written jointly by Jan and Rumer. It was an account of their childhood in India. In their forward, they refer to it as an "evocation of a time that is gone" rather than an autobiography. Worth reading.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #5742 on:** February 19, 2015, 02:25:23 PM »

Just got this from the Guardian - Kazuo Ishiguro’s turn to fantasy
Dragons, ogres, pixies? It’s not what is expected of Kazuo Ishiguro, but they feature in The Buried Giant, his first novel for 10 years. Behind the turn to fantasy, however, lies his familar fascination with the past and individual moral choices. He talks to Alex Clark about film, memory – and his taste for tea and cake

Looking forward to this new book of his that is supposed to come out mid-March. He is the one who wrote Remains of the Day.

Steph · « **Reply #5743 on:** February 20, 2015, 09:42:26 AM »

In This House of Brede was the title and to this day, I remember the struggle and the pain.. It taught me when my time of struggle and pain came, that you can work through it, but it is so very very hard. Rumer Godden never wrote a bad book as far I can remember. I loved them all.

marjifay · « **Reply #5744 on:** March 03, 2015, 11:51:29 AM »

I'm reading THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins. The first several chapters had me confused, but after them I can't put this book down. The NY Times review says "“The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl. . . . [It] is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership.”
So..... sounds as if those who hated Gone Girl will not like this, but I think it's great.
Of course, I liked Gone Girl and want to see the movie.
Marj

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5745 on:** March 03, 2015, 02:50:13 PM »

Ala Women's History month.......who is your favorite historical woman character in a novel? Or characters?

i'm sure we all have more then one.

I'll start with an Irving Stone novel, Immortal Wife, about Jessie Fremont, the wife of John C. Fremont. There's a wonderful section talking about her traveling to Calif via the isthmus of Panama, but, of course, long before the canal was built. Of course, it wasn't a "wonderful" trip. I am constantly amazed at the amount of travel people did before there were highways and planes.

She was the daughter of widowed, important, Missouri Senator - whose name will come to me - and was a companion and administrative assistant to him and his work on important issues, pre-Civil War.

There is also interesting history of the development of the state of Calif. Fremont was the first governor. Stone, of course, romanticizes his stories somewhat, but there's a lot of good history also.

Stone also has good stories of Andrew and Rachel Jackson - The President's Lady, Those who Love - John and Abigail Adams, Love is Eternal - Mary and Abe Lincoln, and others, not all presidential couples.

Jean

marjifay · « **Reply #5746 on:** March 03, 2015, 06:31:06 PM »

Books that were worth my time and have stayed with me:

WE DIE ALONE; A WW2 EPIC OF ESCAPE AND ENDURANCE by David Howarth --it's a riveting true story I'll never forget. How some brave Norwegians, at their own peril during the Nazi occupation of Norway, helped a man escape from pursuing Nazis through freezing arctic weather to neutral Sweden.

FROM THE LAND OF GREEN GHOSTS; A BURMESE ODYSSEY by Pascal Khoo Thwe I loved this autobiography of a remarkable young man who lived in the mountains of Burma among the Padaung people (their women, called "giraffe women" had necks elongated by rings), his wonderful childhood, later a jungle fighter under the regime of the dictator, General U Ne Win, and his accidental meeting with a Cambridge don who enabled him to attend Cambridge University.

THE BOOKSELLER OF KABUL by Asne Seierstad was one of my favorite reads of 2005. From my notes: "Written as a novel, but
seemed like non-fiction. Author lived with the bookseller's family for three months, at her suggestion and his invitation, so she could write a book about the family. (She is being sued by the bookseller for what she wrote about him) This is an excellent book, but so sad for women living there. Women have their own underground poetry, and one women wrote she prayed she would be reincarnated in the next life as a stone instead of a woman."

THE BITTER ROAD TO FREEDOM; THE HUMAN COST OF ALLIED VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II by William I. Hitchcock. It tells of the D-Day invasion of Europe, but mostly it is about the aftermath and what happened to the civilians in that path of destruction. Everything I'd previously read about the invasion had been the heroism of the allied soldiers. But this book gives you a very sobering and often surprising look at what happened to the civilians. How whole towns were wiped out. The focus was on military objectives with the military having little regard for the people and their towns. Sad reality of war.

CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN by Kate Horsley (historical fiction) (191 pp , 2002) A moving and subtle tale, set in Ireland in 500 C.E. Gwynneve, who comes to live as a nun in a monastery of Saint Brigit, was raised in a pagan Druid village of fishermen and pigkeepers at the height of Ireland's transition from Paganism to Christianity. All around her the new doctrines of Saint Patrick and the "tonsured men" are inexorably driving out the old Druid ways." I loved the nun's intriguing and intelligent questions about the "new" religion, for which she apologizes for her "ignorance."(a but of sarcasm here) This book really takes you back to Ireland when the Druids lived there. Fascinating.
CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN by Kate Horsley (historical fiction) (191 pp , 2002) A moving and subtle tale, set in Ireland in 500 C.E. Gwynneve, who comes to live as a nun in a monastery of Saint Brigit, was raised in a pagan Druid village of fishermen and pigkeepers at the height of Ireland's transition from Paganism to Christianity. All around her the new doctrines of Saint Patrick and the "tonsured men" are inexorably driving out the old Druid ways." I loved the nun's intriguing and intelligent questions about the "new" religion, for which she apologizes for her "ignorance."(a but of sarcasm here) This book really takes you back to Ireland when the Druids lived there. Fascinating.

DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis. Great book. About an
English student in the year 2050 who is sent back in time to the Middle
Ages. By accident she is sent to the year of the Black Death. Realistic
and moving, it brings the Midieval characters very much to life. The
Midieval section alternates with the characters back at the university who
sent the student back in time and who are worried about her. The part at
the university has very good subtle humor which offsets the horror and
sadness of the Middle Ages section. A very good read.

Marj

Marj

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5747 on:** March 03, 2015, 11:17:34 PM »

Marg - do you have a favorite woman character?

Jessie Fremont's father was Thomas Hart Benton.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #5748 on:** March 04, 2015, 08:40:15 AM »

Jessie Benton Fremont was quite a woman back when they were mostly wives.. I have read areal biography, but did love the irving Stone version.

marjifay · « **Reply #5749 on:** March 04, 2015, 09:03:33 AM »

No, Jean, I'm afraid I don't have a favorite woman character. I don't read many books about women. I would like to read more about Abigale Adams, though.

I do have a favorite in Elizabeth George's mystery series: sgt. Barbara Havers, a feisty, somewhat pudgy and a bit homely young woman who sometimes gets in trouble because of her mouth. She was demoted from sergeant to constable beccause of it. I like her love for the little Pakistani girl who lives with her father next door to Havers. In the latest mystery, the father's wife has disappeared and taken the little girl with her. The father is devastated, and Havers is determined to find them. Havers is a great detective.

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #5750 on:** March 04, 2015, 09:49:20 AM »

Some notable woman characters: Thursday Next, Kylara Vatta (Vatta's War series), Ofelia Falfurrias (Remnant Population), Elizabeth Bennet.

Although Jane Austen isn't my favorite author, Elizabeth Bennet remains my favorite Austen character.

Favorite women authors include Elizabeth Moon and Ursula Le Guin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Geraldine Brooks.

salan · « **Reply #5751 on:** March 04, 2015, 06:02:00 PM »

I just checked out The Rosie Effect. I loved Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project & so far I am really enjoying this one, also.
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #5752 on:** March 05, 2015, 08:58:01 AM »

I find that I read an enormous amount of female authors.. Hmm, unconscious prejudice?? don't honestly know. I did and do love several sci fi female authors. Marion Zimmer Bradley( dead and being trashed by her daughter, boo) Anne McCaffrey, Ursula LeGuin, Patricia Briggs, Cassandra Clare, J.K. Rowling ( Harry only).

salan · « **Reply #5753 on:** March 05, 2015, 07:15:55 PM »

I was checking my reading log of the last 3 years and discovered that probably 85 per cent of my authors are female authors. I'm not much for sci-fi, but I loved Anne McCaffrey's Dragon rider series, and I also liked Ursula LeGuin. I like Mary Alice Monroe, Sarah Addison Allen, most of Sandra Dallas, Anne Carrol George, just to name a few.
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #5754 on:** March 06, 2015, 07:58:57 AM »

Anne George was wonderful and died way too early. Her sisters were so very funny.

pedln · « **Reply #5755 on:** March 06, 2015, 12:39:40 PM »

And some others bare watching, perhaps writing for our daughters. A couple that I have liked, haven't read that many of them are --

Aussie writer Lianne Moriarty -- The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies

Adriana Trigiani -- The Shoemaker's Wife

Trying to think of male writers who write books that women like -- Camron Wright, THe Rent Collector, and Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding. I don't know if they've written others or not.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5756 on:** March 07, 2015, 12:41:33 PM »

How about R.F. Delderfield and his A Horseman Riding By and God Is An Englishman? I adored those. And John Galsworthy's wonderful Forsyte Saga? Heaven!

All of Thomas Costain's books.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5757 on:** March 07, 2015, 12:54:57 PM »

I am really enjoying The Shopkeeper's Wife, just in the first 100 pages.

Jean

pedln · « **Reply #5758 on:** March 07, 2015, 02:33:23 PM »

Yes, MaryPage. Delerfield. I really liked his To Serve Them All My Days, both book and TV miniseries.

Another contemporary woman that we don't hear so much about is Joann Harris -- Chocolat, Gentlemen and Players, Five Quarters of the Orange. Is she stil writing?

Steph · « **Reply #5759 on:** March 07, 2015, 02:53:07 PM »

The male authors are all older ones.. That tells me something,, but I do like many male mystery writers, John Sandford,Michael Connelly, Daniel Silva, etc.

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 741996 times)