101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion

Mike, I could not agree more. I think I understood about 10% of that book. If I did not have a GR group reading it with me, I am not sure I would have finished.

Alana, "Dorion Gray" had the advantage of good writing. "Forever Amber" is written like the average paperback, not awful, but no literary masterpiece. And, at least in Dorion Gray, there is a point when the immorality has to be reckoned. With Amber, it never happens; the more ruthless, the more her fortunes improve, the more her fortunes improve, the more ruthless she behaves.

I finished "The Spirit in the Church" by Karl Rahner.

Finished

eh, a little disappointed in the one, but happy to finally be finished with it. 2 stars.

Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Irene wrote: "Mike, I could not agree more. I think I understood about 10% of that book. If I did not have a GR group reading it with me, I am not sure I would have finished."

It's an amazing book with huge virtually unreadable sections.

Breakfast at Tiffany's will be like a exquisite dessert after Joyce's oatmeal.

Just finished Sons and Lovers. While I enjoyed the novel, I was little miffed that it was purported to be the restored version and not the original published text. However the book was a free Kindle download so I got my money's worth...

Meditations From A Movable Chair by Andre Dubus

This wonderfully thought-provoking collection of essays on faith and family and life lessons, on pain, love, loss, literature became true meditations for me. I would read until some thought or image demanded me to reflect. At times, I was handed a nugget so rich that it was a week or more before I could pick up the book again. At other times, I could not put it down, craving more time with this insightful and intelligent mind.

Finished

Loved this one! I would give it 4.5 stars overall.

Here's my review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Just finished the classically haunting novel "Dr. Zhivago".

Pride and Prejudice is done & crossed off the list. What an entertaining read which stands up well after 200+ years. Onto Breakfast at Tiffany's

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Once upon a time, there was an image obsessed, highly stressed, upwardly mobile, mother of three who was about to turn forty. One day, the fairy godmother of novels pushed her off her stationary bike so she hit her head hard enough to cause her to lose ten years of memory. When she woke, she was in her golden age of life, newly married, expecting her first child, dreaming of her ideal house, best friends with her sister. This special gift of her fairy godmother allowed Alice to see her current life through the dreams and values of her younger self and to take stock of her story before she got terribly lost on life’s journey. And, everyone lived happily ever after.

Although the premise of this novel was intriguing, its execution was far too predictable and paced extremely slowly. This is a sweet story, but because I do not find life to be particularly sweet, I found it unrealistic.

Two additional stories were woven into that of Alice. One is that of her older sister who is angry and depressed after 6 years of failed infertility treatments. The other is that of Alice’s surrogate grandmother who is shocked to find a new-comer to the retirement community flirting with her. Whereas Alice’s story is told in a straight forward third person style, the later two are told in epistolary form. The sister is writing semi-letter, semi-journal entries to her therapist which sound more like the verbal babbling of a snarky teen rather than the writing of a middle aged woman. The grandmother’s story is told through letters written to a long dead fiancé. Although background info about Alice and her family is revealed in these sections, I think the book would have been much better without them.

Finished 3 stars. Many, many layers to this book. Dense, deep writing. Almost a little too much thrown into one book. Father/Son relationships, a reclusive writer, and a funeral tie this one together.

Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

You all have listed some books I've never heard of, and I didn't think that was possible! Always adding more to the TBR...

Britany wrote: "Finished 3 stars. Many, many layers to this book. Dense, deep writing. Almost a little too much thrown into one book. "

Thanks for the review... I saw this book featured in a recent New Yorker and thought it would be interesting.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. The description did not interest me, but a GR group was reading it, so I joined in. Although the plot is innovative, it was not the story line that impressed me. It is the story of two young teenaged sisters surviving in Glasgow public housing after the death of their incredibly neglectful junkie parents. The non-judgmental and undemanding care from their elderly, lonely gay neighbor gives them a safe place in the midst of their chaotic and brutal lives.

The story is told in the voices of these 3 characters in short chapters that give the feel of people interrupting one another to unfold their account of things. And, it is these voices and the complicated characters that they portray that made this such a terrific novel. Each voice is unique with its own cadence and idiosyncrasies. Each character is consistent, processing their anger, fears, sorrow and dreams in their own special way. This book is raw and harsh, yet tender in ways that never veer into sentimentality. It allowed us to glimpse the dignity and potentiality that lay beneath the protective shells that people fashion for safety.

Mike wrote: "Thanks for the review... I saw this book featured in a recent New Yorker and thought it would be interesting.

Anytime :)

Irene wrote: "The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. The description did not interest me, but a GR group was reading it, so I joined in. Although the plot is innovative,..."

I just checked that one out from the library today, Irene. I can't tell if it looks intriguing or depressing, so I'm curious to compare with your thoughts when I'm done.

Alana, It is very dark.

Finished 3 stars.

Non-Fiction, Chicago's greatest fair, with a serial killer mixed in...

Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I read Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence for my local book group this week. It is incredible!

I am reading Rebecca and I'm really enjoying it. I've checked back to when you all read it, but I don't want to spoil it for myself! Tried to get Breakfast at Tiffany's from the library but it was already checked out.

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

This is an engaging, easy to understand look at the concrete circumstances of women living in Islamic countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Brooks takes the time to live with and listen to individual women from Eritrean soldiers to sequestered Saudi wives, from Queen Noor of Jordan to American wives of Iranian men living under strict Iranian laws, from Egyptian professionals to Palestinian peasants, from Iranian athletes to Pakistani politicians, from women who passionately defend their cultural norms to those who work to reform social restrictions on women. She weaves together individual stories into social statistics and legal codes, shows various sides of religious debates. Brooks shows great respect for the religion of Islam while clearly criticizing its articulation in fundamentalist cultures. My only regret is that I did not read this book much sooner. The research in these pages is now nearly two decades old. I would love to see Brooks revisit these women, these cities and homes to learn of the impact brought about in these past 20 years, after the US military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, the uprising in Tunisia and Egypt, the regime changes in Iran and Pakistan and so much more.

Finished

3 stars! Interesting concept, quick read, deep subject matter.

Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

woohoo! The Pillars of the Earth is finished. A pretty good book. I am going to go to And Then There Were None next to catch up another past read.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting Along in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

I was disappointed. I wanted to love this book, but the book did not meet my expectations. Ehrenreich, a union organizer and sociologist, decided to investigate the feasibility of making a living as an unskilled, entry-level worker. For a month, she worked as a waitress for a discount family restaurant in Fl., as a house cleaner for a maid service in ME., and finally, as a Wal-Mart employee in MN. Neither the outlines of the project nor the recounting of the experience had the objectivity I expect from investigative reporting. Refusing to begin any adventure with sufficient funds for a down payment on an apartment, she was forced into tiny temporary housing that lacked lease and deposit. These also lacked adequate kitchen facilities forcing her to purchase convenience foods. The higher costs of her temporary housing and prepared foods put her financially behind before her first pay check. She refused job offers because she would not or could not pass the drug urine test. She rejected offers of support that are essential to the mutual survival of all people, especially those in the lower income bracket. She did not investigate food pantries or other charitable services until her final days of her last attempt. In short, she set herself up for failure.

But, the unnecessarily strict limitations to which she confined herself did not bother me as much as the tone of her account. The tone was deliberately snarky. She mocked the obesity of Wal-Mart shoppers, the abundant pubic hair in the bathrooms of the rich and insinuated that the only reason for the cleaning service to advertise hand scrubbed floors was to emphasize the class difference between maid and home owner. This largely physical, repetitive, non-cerebral labor was unfamiliar to Ehrenreich. Her body hurt, her mind rebelled, her spirit chaffed at the strict policies articulated by management. And, it is this frustration that fills the pages. She seems determined to see all management as sinister and all unskilled workers as victims.

I agree that our current minimum wage level is inadequate to sustain a family. Many industries and corporations employ unjust labor practices. At the same time, the unskilled labor force is not huddled together in roach motels, surviving on Doritos and cigarettes. I am in many conversations with those who believe that all low income people are lazy, moochers on “the system”. I wanted this to be a book that I could hand on to offer a different perspective on the plight of the working poor. Unfortunately, the tone of this book would not foster greater understanding or provide an open door to on-going conversation.

Finished

Just an ok read for me. I wanted so much more from this, and I think it fell a little short...

Some thoughts: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Finished

Plague, set in the 17th Century, small village, you would think this would be the ideal setting for a quick paced historical novel. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it.... Not necessarily a bad thing...

Thoughts: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Just finished the Chronicles of Narnia - all 7 of them. I never read these as a child and found that I liked them - they still drew me in - but I had to keep reminding myself that they were written in a different time. Otherwise the sometimes preachy tone, especially in the final volume, would have made me put them down quite early on. Still a good read, but I am glad I read them as an adult...

Starting and also reading

Julie, how exciting! Those are books I reread often, but I grew up on them, so there's a certain nostalgia to them, I suppose.

Irene, Nine Part of Desire looks so fascinating!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This classic novel, which brought its author literary fame and eventually a Nobel Prize in Literature, is often credited with launching the literary form of “magical realism”. The seven generations of the family at the heart of this book serve as a loose allegory of Columbia. The City of Mirrors founded by the family patriarch is also a city of mirages. Reality is a function of perception. The past haunts the present in a deterministic fashion. In the final lines we are told that the entire history of humanity begins with an old man tied to a tree and ends with a baby consumed by ants.

In all honesty, I have to confess that I do not understand “magical realism”. This book required more work than I was willing to give it and therefore, I was confused for most of its pages. I suspect that, if I were to give it a second read, I would gain much more from the experience. I also would benefit from a guide to help me orient in this alien landscape.

Reading A Fatal Likenessand The Paris Architect, enjoying both.

Finished

I really enjoyed this one, about two sisters who end up burying their parents in their backyard and try to survive without having the government come in and put them in other homes. Numerous tough subjects in this one. Not for the weak-hearted

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Evensong by Gail Godwin

This is a story of the power of unconditional caring to heal past wounds, of the value of second chances, and of the way faith is lived in the ordinary. Our narrator is a 33 year old liberal Episcopalian priest who is the rector of a historically significant, rather wealthy parish in the mountains of North Carolina. As both the wife and daughter of liberal Episcopalian priests, both considered older than average for their relationship to her, the context is set for faith-infused conversations. The story line takes place during the season of Advent, a liturgical time of anticipation, of watching for the in-breaking of God into our history, in 1999, the eve of a new millennium. It is clear that the reader can expect that this narrative will be about God being revealed in some subtle, ordinary way, such as a poor couple giving birth, huddled among farm animals, but as transformative with the power of love as the Mystery of the Incarnation.

The narrator’s internal and external dialogues provoke reflection on topics such as the experience of God, the meaning of faith and vocation, the nature of love, etc. And, that is exactly the primary problem with this book. Although there is something lovely about this book, it is incredible as a story. The story is being told 20 years after the event, but the dialogues are reproduced verbatim and at length. No one can recall 400 pages of thoughts and words two decades after the time. These dialogues sounded more like the theological musings heard in liberal seminary seminar rooms than in pastoral settings. This was particularly striking when adolescents were involved. None of the young teens in this book were remotely believable. For the past 18 years, I have worked as part of a full time member of a pastoral team at a Catholic parish and in pastoral settings around adolescents for more than 25 years. This account of events in a small Episcopalian parish had the flavor of someone’s fantasy of pastoral life, not the reality of it.

I just started The Cuckoo's Calling a few days ago, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed so far. I never would have guessed this is the same author as Harry Potter. The writing is so "adult" but it's very engaging and I'm curious to see how it's going to work out and where she goes with the series. Anyone else read it yet?

I am reading Four Novels of the 1960s: The Man in the High Castle/The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Ubik I've just read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and am now on The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldridge. I can't believe it's taken me this long to read something by Dick...

Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould - I have been meaning to read this for a while... It is time.

Finished (for some reason I thought it had won the poll for this month, but I was slightly off, lol)

It was fun to revisit this adventurous story with all of our favorite children, I just wished I enjoyed science fiction a little bit more... 3 stars

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished what a brilliant perspective to write from! I wonder where the author got this idea from... Enjoyed it, gritty, tough subjects to read through. My heart just breaks for all of those who have lived through something like this...

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves” by Kristina McMorris

Had I read this book at the age of 14, I would have loved it. This world in which all the adults are incapacitated mirrored what I longed for, a world free of adult criticisms, demands and limitations where I could prove my competence. I dreamed of falling in love and marrying young, these teen lovers and their elopement would have played into my fantasies. The backdrop of irrational prejudice would have fed my glowing sense of adolescent righteousness. But, I am nearly four times that age. These themes no longer reflect my aspirations or my vision of reality. The abundance of clichés further diminished any appreciation I could find in this book.



The Catholic Vision by Edward O’Connor

According to the author’s introduction to this volume, this text is promised to do for Catholic theology of this age what St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa did for the Middle Ages. Such a claim set an incredibly high standard for evaluation, one that this book did not remotely approach. Instead, this was a freshman introduction to Catholic apologetics, and not the best at that.

I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz which was pretty excellent, and followed that up with a bit of trash Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen. Gotta mix it up!

Sandra wrote: "I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz which was pretty excellent!" I love that book... Read it 35+ years ago as an high school English project. Still stays with me...

Sandra wrote: "I am reading Four Novels of the 1960s: The Man in the High Castle/The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Ubik I've just read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ..."

Isn't he fantastic? I didn't realize how many of my favorite movies were inspired by his stories. Such thoughtful writing!

Britany wrote: "Finished what a brilliant perspective to write from! I wonder where the author got this idea from... Enjoyed it, gritty, tough subjects to read through. My heart just break..."

I've had this on my shelf for awhile, but I think I keep getting it mixed up with another book that people keep saying they don't like. Roam, or something? I don't remember. But I'm glad you like it, you and I tend to have similar taste, so that will encourage me to read it :)

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

This is a brilliant and beautifully written book which is made up of interconnected sections, each told by a different character. The book opens with a life altering journey taken by a 10 year old boy who travels with his father and baby sister from their rural village to Kabul where his father is promised work as a construction worker. It ends sixty years later in the voice of that same boy’s daughter who is caring for him as dementia sets in. The intervening sections are told by voices more or less intimately connected with this man. Although each section could stand alone as a short story, they illuminate one another, each growing in depth of meaning because of the voices surrounding them. Each story haunts me; each character made me richer because of the tale they told. Characters were skillfully drawn and place was wonderfully evoked.

Finished

Really enjoyed this one. So far, I haven't found a Kate Morton book that I haven't loved!! Here is my 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just recently read The Goldfinch which is excellent...I love Donna Tarrt. Also just finished Of Mice and Men which was very good, a quick read. Am now reading Olive Kitteridge which is also very good. (lol, I read a lot!)

I read Midnight Herring by David Frew

This is an account of the role of Erie, PA in rum running on Lake Erie. The writing was mediocre. The research was basic. But the local history was fascinating for someone who has made Erie her adopted home.

I also finished The Word of God the Word of Peace by Patricia McCarthy

Finished

WWII, Japanses Internment, POWs, music, and love tie this novel together into a sweeping beautiful tale during a heartwrenching time in our nation's history.

4 stars.
Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished finally... took forever and I wouldn't recommend it :/

2 stars

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just re-read two short volumes:
“Mystery and Manners” by Flannery O’Connor. This collection of essays on the vocation of the fiction writer challenged me to be a better reader.

“Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck is a powerful, haunting story with brilliantly rendered characters. This is undoubtedly a masterpiece.

Beautiful sentence about Of Mice and Men Irene...