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1tjsjohanna
Looks like I'm first to post!
I've been trying to make a dent on my books to review. Here are some that I got around to this month:
When the King Comes Home an enjoyable fantasy that is close enough to reality to almost not be fantasy. set in Renaissance Europe.
Why the Sky is Blue
A Window to the World
The Remedy for Regret - each of these novels, by author Susan Meissner, deals with some impossible situation (kidnapping, rape, death in childbirth) from a faithful Christian point of view. While it is easy to recite platitudes, the author does a good job of suggesting how faith might enable one to face the most difficult of situations.
A Grave Talent
To Play the Fool
With Child
Night Work
The Art of Detection - Laurie King's "Kate Martinelli" series is about a police detective in San Fransisco who is also a lesbian. What I like about Ms. King's mysteries is that they are all so different. She doesn't write formulaic novels, so each story feels fresh.
I'm still working on Patrick O'Brian's series. This month I read:
H.M.S. Surprise
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune of War - somehow these books just suck you in!
This month's book club read: Innocent Traitor. I don't typically read historical fiction but that's what book clubs are for, right? getting you to read stuff you normally wouldn't. Lady Jane Grey is an interesting historical character and there are parts of this novel that I quite liked, but overall it felt a little flat.
Early Reviewers read: An Amish Christmas. Short and sweet, but also a little flat.
Youth fiction:
The Black Pearl - a classic
The Night Tourist - picked up on a whim and quite enjoyed
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - reading aloud to my kids. I'm always surprised by how much I like it (even though I know I like it) every time I re-read.
What to pick for my "Book of the Month"? Since most of my reading was part of series, I'd have to say my favorite reads were Patrick O'Brian's books.
Can't wait to see what you all have been reading this month!
I've been trying to make a dent on my books to review. Here are some that I got around to this month:
When the King Comes Home an enjoyable fantasy that is close enough to reality to almost not be fantasy. set in Renaissance Europe.
Why the Sky is Blue
A Window to the World
The Remedy for Regret - each of these novels, by author Susan Meissner, deals with some impossible situation (kidnapping, rape, death in childbirth) from a faithful Christian point of view. While it is easy to recite platitudes, the author does a good job of suggesting how faith might enable one to face the most difficult of situations.
A Grave Talent
To Play the Fool
With Child
Night Work
The Art of Detection - Laurie King's "Kate Martinelli" series is about a police detective in San Fransisco who is also a lesbian. What I like about Ms. King's mysteries is that they are all so different. She doesn't write formulaic novels, so each story feels fresh.
I'm still working on Patrick O'Brian's series. This month I read:
H.M.S. Surprise
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune of War - somehow these books just suck you in!
This month's book club read: Innocent Traitor. I don't typically read historical fiction but that's what book clubs are for, right? getting you to read stuff you normally wouldn't. Lady Jane Grey is an interesting historical character and there are parts of this novel that I quite liked, but overall it felt a little flat.
Early Reviewers read: An Amish Christmas. Short and sweet, but also a little flat.
Youth fiction:
The Black Pearl - a classic
The Night Tourist - picked up on a whim and quite enjoyed
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - reading aloud to my kids. I'm always surprised by how much I like it (even though I know I like it) every time I re-read.
What to pick for my "Book of the Month"? Since most of my reading was part of series, I'd have to say my favorite reads were Patrick O'Brian's books.
Can't wait to see what you all have been reading this month!
2karenmarie
Hi tjsjohanna! An amazing number of books. Good for you. I love Narnia, although I've only read 5 of the 7 books. I started in college, then just couldn't bear to finish the series and so never have. I restarted it about 4 years ago, yet here I am, still with two to go. Ah, well, one of these days!
Believe it or not, I only read one book through this month - The Stand by Stephen King. I read the 1,153 page complete and uncut edition. I was very busy with Band Boosters, husband, daughter, and life in general, so feel good at having gotten that one read. I did abandon The Elegance of the Hedgehog because I sooooo didn't care for the characters or the book's style, which alternated chapters between a young girl and an elderly woman. Too many books, too little time, so bye-bye Hedgehog.
I absolutely adored this book by Stephen King. The more of him I read and listen to, the more I like his style, attention to detail, and ability to create believable, interesting characters.
The Stand tells the story of the decimation of the population of the United States (and by extension the world) because of one man, who escaped a lockdown situation after a virus escaped a lab. He spread it to his family, to the men at the gas station where he crashed his car, to the ambulance drivers, nurses, etc. as the waves rippled in the pond. Eventually there are two groups - one evil, and one good - and then the inevitable clash. King weaves in shared dreams, prophecies, altruistic behaviors, and pure luck to carry the story forward. I just love how many people he brings to life, and the way he uses dogs.
I had just finished listening to Under the Dome, also by King, another apocalyptic novel, although the people in that book are limited to one small town and a few people outside the dome, but the themes are the same. The situations start off as one little blip yet grow and grow to become all encompassing. Things just Can't Get Any Worse Yet They Do. King's ability to get out of the corners he's painted himself into is stunning.
This is definitely one of the better books I've read this year.
Believe it or not, I only read one book through this month - The Stand by Stephen King. I read the 1,153 page complete and uncut edition. I was very busy with Band Boosters, husband, daughter, and life in general, so feel good at having gotten that one read. I did abandon The Elegance of the Hedgehog because I sooooo didn't care for the characters or the book's style, which alternated chapters between a young girl and an elderly woman. Too many books, too little time, so bye-bye Hedgehog.
I absolutely adored this book by Stephen King. The more of him I read and listen to, the more I like his style, attention to detail, and ability to create believable, interesting characters.
The Stand tells the story of the decimation of the population of the United States (and by extension the world) because of one man, who escaped a lockdown situation after a virus escaped a lab. He spread it to his family, to the men at the gas station where he crashed his car, to the ambulance drivers, nurses, etc. as the waves rippled in the pond. Eventually there are two groups - one evil, and one good - and then the inevitable clash. King weaves in shared dreams, prophecies, altruistic behaviors, and pure luck to carry the story forward. I just love how many people he brings to life, and the way he uses dogs.
I had just finished listening to Under the Dome, also by King, another apocalyptic novel, although the people in that book are limited to one small town and a few people outside the dome, but the themes are the same. The situations start off as one little blip yet grow and grow to become all encompassing. Things just Can't Get Any Worse Yet They Do. King's ability to get out of the corners he's painted himself into is stunning.
This is definitely one of the better books I've read this year.
3tjsjohanna
karenmarie,
I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, but I remember really liking The Stand. Huge book! I like those apocalyptic novels - I always wonder what would really happen if some major disaster hit (although we have more localized disasters all the time). I've looked at The Elegance of the Hedgehog but never quite worked up the enthusiasm. Now, I probably won't! And I know what you mean about not wanting to finish up a series - although The Last Battle is such a good book - someday you are going to have to make yourself read it!
I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, but I remember really liking The Stand. Huge book! I like those apocalyptic novels - I always wonder what would really happen if some major disaster hit (although we have more localized disasters all the time). I've looked at The Elegance of the Hedgehog but never quite worked up the enthusiasm. Now, I probably won't! And I know what you mean about not wanting to finish up a series - although The Last Battle is such a good book - someday you are going to have to make yourself read it!
4Booksloth
So ashamed I haven't posted my list yet - deep in study. I had to drop by to ackowledge the greatness of The Stand - I can't think of a single other writer who is so adept as King at handling a massive cast of characters. No matter how many characters there are in his books I never lose track of a single one. Though I do feel his earlier work was his best and I've been disappointed in more recent works, I still feel there is a lot that many a 'greater' writer could learn from him.
5karenmarie
Hey Booksloth - good to hear from you!
I just gave an extra copy of The Stand to a friend of my daughter's - not the uncut version, but the original. He's in 11th grade (and his mother gave me her permission).
What would be a good King to read next? You can check my library to see what books I have by King and which are marked tbr.
I just gave an extra copy of The Stand to a friend of my daughter's - not the uncut version, but the original. He's in 11th grade (and his mother gave me her permission).
What would be a good King to read next? You can check my library to see what books I have by King and which are marked tbr.
6Booksloth
Oooh, that's quite a tough one because all fans seem to have their favourites. Personally, I prefer his older stuff and The Dead Zone is a particular favourite of mine, as are Firestarter and Salem's Lot. It was also a great read though I was a bit let down by the ending, and Bag of Bones was nicely creepy and with a major shock that I really wasn't expecting. I'm not so keen on the more recent ones like Under the Dome, Cell, Lisey's Story (which, to my shame, I couldn't even finish) but I don't think you need worry too much - even his bad books are better than a lot of people's good ones and if you could get through Gerald's Game (as I see you have - and which I consider to be one of his worst) then you can probably get through anything! I do envy you reading them for the first time and I hope they give you as much pleasure as they have given me over many, many years.
7karenmarie
Thanks, Booksloth! I'll pull Dead Zone out next, I think.
I really liked Gerald's Game simply because it put one person in an intolerable situation where everything became significant. Time was collapsed into hours and days.
I really liked Gerald's Game simply because it put one person in an intolerable situation where everything became significant. Time was collapsed into hours and days.
8Booksloth
I do agree with you about the situation in Gerald's Game - I just couldn't stand reading about her 'solution'. I always thought I had a pretty strong stomach but that one really had me beat! (And the older I get, the less strong my stomach becomes - don't think I could read it at all now.)
9karenmarie
I feel that I've become the exact opposite, Booksloth! The older I get, the stronger my stomach becomes. I blame my husband :) - I've watched more violent movies and TV series since I married him almost 20 years ago.
That, in turn, has allowed me to read more and more violent books, and I've become desensitized.
That, in turn, has allowed me to read more and more violent books, and I've become desensitized.
10Booksloth
Just for a second I took that to mean that being married to your husband for 20 years has made your stomach stronger but I know you didn't mean that and I'm sure he's delightful!
I also forgot to add that I really love King when he drops the supernatural. IMO some of his very best books are the novellas like Shawshank Redemption, The Body (filmed as Stand By me and both from Different Seasons, The Long Walk (from The Bachman Books etc. I often wish he would try his hand at writing a full-length (King-length!) novel without a single spook in sight - but then who else would ever write such great 'horror'?
And I've now missed this month completely. As I've mentioned, too much of the time has been taken up with studying but here's a very short list of the reading for pleasure I've managed to fit in too -
Nightingale Wood
The Weight of Silence
Blue Diary
6627803::Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
Hangover Square
Six Suspects
The Cry of the Sloth (well, it had to come eventually)
Tickling the English
A Plague on Both Your Houses
The Fry Chronicles
The Painted Darkness
The Ghost Writer
And, very briefly, those that stood out were Nightingale Wood, Blue Diary, Six Suspects, The Fry Chronicles, The Painted Darkness (and I still owe a review of that one) and The Ghost Writer with this month's laurels going to Blue Diary.
ETA - I did add touchstones - honest!
ETA (Again) and now they've appeared! Just trying to make me look stupid, no doubt.
I also forgot to add that I really love King when he drops the supernatural. IMO some of his very best books are the novellas like Shawshank Redemption, The Body (filmed as Stand By me and both from Different Seasons, The Long Walk (from The Bachman Books etc. I often wish he would try his hand at writing a full-length (King-length!) novel without a single spook in sight - but then who else would ever write such great 'horror'?
And I've now missed this month completely. As I've mentioned, too much of the time has been taken up with studying but here's a very short list of the reading for pleasure I've managed to fit in too -
Nightingale Wood
The Weight of Silence
Blue Diary
6627803::Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
Hangover Square
Six Suspects
The Cry of the Sloth (well, it had to come eventually)
Tickling the English
A Plague on Both Your Houses
The Fry Chronicles
The Painted Darkness
The Ghost Writer
And, very briefly, those that stood out were Nightingale Wood, Blue Diary, Six Suspects, The Fry Chronicles, The Painted Darkness (and I still owe a review of that one) and The Ghost Writer with this month's laurels going to Blue Diary.
ETA - I did add touchstones - honest!
ETA (Again) and now they've appeared! Just trying to make me look stupid, no doubt.
