Readers and Reading discussion

Please post your March reads here

JoAnn wrote: "Please post your March reads here"
My March reads:

Heart and Soul - Maeve Binchy
Family Tree - Barbara Delinsky (audio)
Five Skies - Ron Carlson
Night and Day - Robert Parker

Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

A Thousand Splendid Suns-Kaled Husseini
Never Tell A Lie-Hallie Ephron
The Middle Place-Kelly Corrigan
Mother Night-Kurt Vonnegut(for my book club)
The Lost: the Search For Six Of the Six Million-Daniel Mendelsohn
Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet-Jamie Ford

R. wrote: "Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

Never Tell A Lie-Hallie Ephron

How did you like this book? It sure kept my interest and was surprised that my husband wanted to read it. He liked it too.

R. wrote: "Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

How did you like Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? -- I have that one sitting here.

In March I read:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--Barbara Kingsolver
It started slow, but became quite interesting.

The Watchman--Robert Crais
The Joe Pike story; I love the Elvis Cole books.

Valeria's Last Stand--Marc Fitten (read for BookBrowse's First Impressions program)
A novel about an eccentric older woman who lives in a Hungarian village and develops a relationship with the potter. The villagers are not a likable lot, and for that reason I did not particularly enjoy the book, although it was easy to read and had some interesting characters.

Invisible Prey--John Sandford
Typical Lucas Davenport "Prey" thriller.

People of the Book--Geraldine Brooks
I liked this book very much. The author's style appeals to me (Year of Wonders was also a favorite), and the story of the Sarajevo Haggadah is fascinating.

Never Tell A Lie-Hallie Ephron

How did you like this book? It sure kept my interest and was surprised that my husband wanted t..."

JoAnn wrote: "R. wrote: "Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

I also read this book, on your recommendation, and was unable to put it down. I passed it on to a friend who now blames me for her having stayed up all night.

JoAnn wrote: "R. wrote: "Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

Never Tell A Lie-Hallie Ephron

How did you like this book? It sure kept my interest and was surprised that my husband wanted t..."

I liked it except I guessed the whole thing maybe 1.2 into it!! Even so it was suspensful at the end,I thought!

Nancy wrote: "R. wrote: "Mine for March: Boy,I was busier reading than I thought!

How did you like Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? -- I have that one sitting here."

This was a nice read. The writing was uncomplicated. From a historical point of view,I learned some things about this part of WW II that I was not aware of.

During March I read several books about collage that few people here would find interesting.

I listened to Body Double, by Tess Gerritsen - the first one by her I have read. As I perhaps mentioned before, this sort of mystery is beginning to lose its appeal for me.

I read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, by Mario Vargas Llosa for Constant Reader, another Goodreads group. It is set in Lima, a city from which we just returned on Sunday. I enjoyed it, but most of the other group didn't have much good to say about it.

I read Rules for Old Men Waiting, by Peter Pouncy, a novel that deals with the final months of a history professor's life, and is a story within a story. I liked this one too, and it was short!

Constant Princess - Phillipa Gregory. Interesting historical fiction about Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon. I learned quite a bit about her - that she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and that she was married briefly to Henry's older brother Arthur, who died a few months after the wedding. I enjoy reading historical fiction once in a while because I find I really lose myself in those distant times and places and sometimes I'd put this book down and look around me and halfway wonder what happened to my tapestries and ladies-in-waiting. When the story involved wars and battles, my interest flagged a little, but for the most part, this was a very good read. B+

Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. I might have enjoyed this book if I'd read it decades ago when I was in high school, but at my age, I didn't care at all for this story of teenage angst. The narrator of this first-person epistolary novel is a high school freshman boy who is very introspective and sensitive and who cries more than any 15-16 year old boy I've ever known......and I've known a few. I had to force myself to finish this one and I strongly disagree with anyone who compares it to "Catcher in the Rye." C-

Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry - Leanne Shapton. This is the story of a relationship told in the unique format of an auction catalogue disposing of the random possessions of Lenore and Harold. I expected the book to be all style and no substance, but there's a touching, heartfelt story behind all the photographs and captions. Not much text here, but the pictures are worth many words and you have to follow closely to understand what happened. They're supposed to make a movie of this book, starring Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman, and I just wonder how they'll change the title. A-

Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout. I got halfway through this book when it came out last year, didn't like it, and quit reading it, but when my book group chose it this year, I figured I'd try again.......and I still didn't like it very much. It's the story of a retired, small-town math teacher in Maine and it's told in the format of several different short stories, some where Olive is the main character, and some where she only passes through. There were things I liked here, and I have to admit that after my group discussed it, I liked it slightly better than I had before. Olive is revealed through her own actions and choices, and also through how she's observed by others, but my observation of her is that I didn't like her, or her book, all that much. B

The Believers - Zoe Heller. As opposed to Olive Kitteridge, I didn't like many of the characters here, but I loved this book! The dysfunctional Litvinoff family struggles when radical lawyer father Joel suffers a stroke and goes into a coma. His wife Audrey - who I wanted to slap more than any other fictional character I can remember - makes life a misery for her two grown daughters and her adopted son, and pretty much everyone she comes in contact with. But there is wonderful character development here as Audrey, Rosa, Karla and Lenny struggle and grow and try to learn what they really do believe. The storytelling is fast paced and well plotted and even the secondary characters are interesting. This one will surely be one of my best books of this year. A

OK, this site might work, I've been scribbiling down names of books and isn't what it's all about? I'm reading the Little Giant of Aberdeen County and with 30 or so pages left, hate to see it end.
Sue

These are my March books. If they look familiar it may be because i posted them as "deborah" on the Book Nook Board. I hope this isn't confusing.

A ROOM OF HER OWN: Women's Personal Spaces by Chris Casson Madden. This was a mediocre book about special parts of their homes which some women consider "mine." One thing i noted was that each of the women were either in the arts or in the business of arts. Does this mean teachers or cabinet secretaries don't have these spaces or that Madden was lazy in her research? Regardless, i wasn't impressed by what i saw, only by the interesting places the women chose.

RULES FOR OLD MEN WAITING by Peter Pouncey. I read this with the BNC group. Generally speaking, it didn't call to me, but i still like the title. For me it seemed more about combating depression. Otoh, it had me questioning some of the people he mentioned & whether they were real or not. This may be one of those books i grow fond of later.

TEAM OF RIVALS by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I've never read a biography of Lincoln in my adulthood, so the material was fresh for me. I appreciated that Goodwin basically saw this as a biography of other cabinet members as well. I liked the book & would read another book by her...but not any time soon, as it was mighty long.

THE SHADOW CATCHER by Marianne Wiggins. There are two parts to this novel, one about photographer Edward Curtis & his wife Clara; the other about an author who wrote a book about them. Wiggins uses her own name but has doctored up the story, if i understand her closing notes correctly. I read the book to learn more about Curtis & that material was limited. However, i really liked the parts about the author Wiggins & her insights into travel in the US and such.

NOT EXACTLY A SPOILER BUT NOT EXACTLY NOT ONE, EITHER:

I hope i'm not out of line asking this question in this thread but here goes. The novel holds too many coincidences for my pleasure, however i'm wondering if this is a particular genre & i'm just unaware of it? Is this magic realism? It certainly didn't end up all lovliness but just right, imo. I wouldn't call Dickens's work, crammed with remarkable coincidences, magic realism but i was reminded of his work when the character Wiggins found one thing after another leader her back to Curtis. Can anyone here help me out with this?


deborah

Connie

I loved "Perks of Being a Wallflower" but I read it as a much younger person...like 8 years ago! LOL I think I was just in the mood, if you know what I mean. I then passed it on to my son, my daughter, my husband, my sister, and two nephews. Then I bought myself a new copy. I did not compare it to anything else as I thought it was so unique. Maybe not so much now, though.

"Olive" ..... what can I say? I liked this curmudgeonly lady and by the end of the book came to realize that I was going to miss her. I liked the way she was revealed in small doses, the good and the bad intermingled.

It is good to see the March reads. I especially appreciate the ones that give summary reviews.

My March reads were:
Woodsmall, Cindy—When the Soul Mends—Sisters of the Quilt, Book Three. Finished 3/2/09. Fiction; rating 10. Although Hannah finds satisfaction in her life as a nurse and as surrogate mother for Martin’s niece and nephew while engaged to Martin, she and Martin realize that she isn’t happy. She returns to Paul. Although corny in the happily ever after fairy tale version of life, it was an enjoyable and satisfying read.
Binchy, Maeve—Heart and Soul. Finished 3/13/09. Fiction; rating 6. The book revolves around the workers, friends, and family of a new heart clinic in Dublin.

My March listens were:
Bryson, Bill—Shakespeare—The World as Stage. Read by author. Finished 3/9/09. Non-fiction; audio; rating 6. Much information about the life and times of Shakespeare indicating that there were many gaps in knowledge, but refuted claims that someone other than Shakespeare wrote the plays.
Shaffer, Mary Ann and Barrows, Annie—The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Read by Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, John Lee, and Juliet Mills. Finished 3/25/09. Fiction; audio; rating 10. In 1946, London writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a native of Guernsey (British island formerly occupied by the Nazis) who had found her name in a second hand book by Charles Lamb and wants to find more books by the author. Following much correspondence in which she learns about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (a group made up as an alibi after “members” were stopped by the Nazis after returning home late after eating a pig which had been kept illegally from the Nazis), Juliet travels to Guernsey where she meets the people and later decides to settle there.

Inadvertently I am now doing back-to-back WWII reads. I am currently reading The Brigade by Howard Blum which I think will wind up being my favorite read of 2009 and I am listening to Skeletons at the Feast.

Shirley (was Sagillie5)

I'm still reading Team of Rivals and enjoying it. So I only completed 2 books this month.


Engine 2 diet- Rip Esselstyn.
Rip's dad is a famous heart dr. The diet Rip follows is a Vegan diet. He is also a firefighter and tri-athlete. It's a quick easy read.
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The Know it All - A.J. Jacobs
I loved this book. Jacobs is the editor at Esquire magazine. He decides he will read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Many parts are lol funny. I would recommend that you not try to read it straight through but maybe a chapter a day. If you are a trivia buff this is a must read.

I am re-posting Part 1 of Schmerguls's March list

by Schmerguls 7 hours, 59 min ago
Lifetime Number - Title - Author - Date Finished - Comment

4543 The Fate of Their Country Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War, by Michael F. Holt (read 2 Mar 2009) This is a little 2004 book by Michael Holt, whose magisterial book, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War, I read 7 Aug 2006, This book considers the Missouri Compromise, the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. He says politicians were more concerned with gaining political advantage than with the fate of their country. He recommends two books as superb on these events: The Impending Crisis 1848-1861, by David M. Potter Completed by Don E. Fehrenbacher (read 15 May 1976) (Book of the Year) (Pulitzer History prize in 1977) and The Road to Disunion Volume I Secessionists at Bay 1776-1854, by William W. Freehling (read 26 Apr 2003) and as you see I have read both. So since this book is only 159 pages I am not sure I learned more from it than I already knew. Slavery extension was fiercely resisted in the North and the South believed it had to have the right to have slavery extended, else slavery itself was threatened. One wonders how long slavery would have existed if there had been no Civil War. Probably, despite its horrors, the Civil War was the best way to end slavery, given the South's attitude.

4544 From Colony to Superpower U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776, by George C. Herring (read 10 Mar 2009) This is a great book. It is a volume in the series The Oxford History of the United States, in which series I have read four other volumes: What Hath God Wrought The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, by Daniel Walker Howe (read 27 May 2008) (Pulitzer History prize for 2008); Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James M. McPherson (read 28 May 1990) (Pulitzer History prize [co-winner:] in 1989); Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, by David M. Kennedy (read 17 Jan 2000) (Pulitzer History prize in 2000); and Grand Expectations: The United States 1945-1974, by James T. Patterson (read 26 Apr 1997)`(Bancroft prize in 1997). There are two other volumes I have not read--yet. This book in 20 chapters covers foreign affairs of the U.S. in a great, thorough way. I found the book unfailingly good reading, though it is long: 964 pages of text. and a biographical essay of 30 pages. I usually agreed with the author's judgments, especially on George W. Bush's time. The highlight of the book is of course reading of those glorious years 1988 to 1991, when the Cold War ended. This is a really excellent account of the foreign affairs of the U.S. through history--much one knows but it is great to have it all set out in chronological order.

4545 Winnie-the-Pooh The Color Edition,by A. A. Milne (read 11 Mar 2009) When in 1998 a Modern Library panel picked the 100 best novels in English of the 20th century, a Radcliffe College group came up with its 100 best, and no. 22 on that list was this book. So I read it, reducing to 13 the books on that list I have not read. I remember reading some Winnie the Pooh story to my kids--it was the one in this book called "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place." I should have read the whole book to them. The stories made me smile at times, but I'd have appreciated them more 70 years ago. (The book came out in 1926.)

4546 Samuel Freeman Miller, by Charles Noble Gregory, A.M. LL.D. (read 11 Mar 2009) This is a 1907 book I borrowed from the library, and I enjoyed it, though I was apparently the first person to read this copy in full, since there were many uncut pages. I read it even though I read on Sep 2, 1980, Mr. Justice Miller and the Supreme Court 1862-1890, by Charles Fairman , which is actually a better book on the Supreme Court Justice appointed by Lincoln in 1862. Miller was a doctor in Kentucky for some years, then became a lawyer and moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where he practiced till he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He was a rather rude judge, and not courteous to lawyers.

4547 A Book of Chores As Remembered by a Former Kid, by Bob Arley (read 12 Mar 2009) This was published in 1986 by Iowa State University Press and tells of farm chores as remembered by the author , who grew up in the Hampton, Iowa, area. Many of the things he tells about are familiar, though I think a little before my time. For instance, he remembers the time before electricity, which I do not at least in the house. But much else was familiar and fun to read about.

4548 Origins of the Fifth Amendment The Right Against Self-Incrimination, by Leonard W. Levy (read 16 Mar 2009) (Pulitzer History prize in 1969) I have wanted to read this since it won the prize in 1969. It is the 47th winner of the Pulitzer History prize I have read, but there are about 49 such winners I have not read. The book was a disappointment, and I found it often boring. In fact about the only chapters I enjoyed were the one telling of John Lilburne--the chief Leveller in Oliver Cromwell's time--and his tremendous defense of himself when being persecuted by Cromwell and his buddies, and the chapter on how the Fifth Amendment principle came to be accepted in the American colonies. Much of the account of the time before the 17rh century was dry and uninteresting to me.

See next post for rest of books read in March 2009

re-posting part 2 of Schmerguls's March list

by Schmerguls 7 hours, 55 min ago
Lifetime Number - Title - Author - Date Finished - Comment

4549 The Years of Extermination Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, by Saul Friedlander (read 23 Mar 2009) (Pulitzer Nonfiction prize in 2008) If this book had not won the Pulitzer prize for nonfiction last year I probably would not have read it. It is the 26th winner of the Pulitzer Nonfiction prize I've read. It is a stunningly disturbing book, and though I've read a lot on the Holocaust I have not previously read such a comprehensive history as this is. I do not deny it is not enjoyable reading--one is appalled anew how so many people could have done such sheerly evil things. I know the power to enforce the evil existed, and the relentless propaganda conditioned some of the perpetrators that doing such evil to Jews was less terrible than if it was done to others, but that such conscience-less people existed in such many numbers is sheerly appalling. The Nazis were in frenzy to kill as many Jews as possible and if they had won they would have sought to kill every Jew in the world. This book has 663 pages of text, 128 pages of notes, a 53-page bibliography. It is a stupendous book, though not especially elegantly written nor superbly organized--but a powerful overwhelming book.

4550 Kon-Tiki Across the Pacific by Raft, by Thor Heyerdahl translated by F. H. Lyon (read 26 Mar 2009) This is a famous book and was a best seller in 1950 and 1951. It tells of a 101-day tip from Peru to French Polynesia made in 1947 by six Norwegian men on a raft using balsa logs. It is a very interesting story, and one stands in amazement at the daring of these men, making such a fearful journey, with no support, though they did have radio equipment on board. I found the account totally interest-holding. The author was convinced that people from South America in about 500 A.D. settled in Polynesia. His trip at least proved that the trip was possible. I think the book ranks with other great adventure books I have read, such as Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson (read 9 Sep 2003) and Alone, by Richard E. Byrd (read 10 Apr 1979) and We Die Alone, by David Howarth (read 26 Aug 1999).

4551 Rendezvous With Destiny, by Eric F. Goldman (read 29 Mar 2009) This was the .0co-winner of the Bancroft prize for 1953. It traces the history of liberalism from Grant's time up to 1952. Some of it is pretty dry stuff. but he discussion of the time since the 1920's till 1952 was good and attention-holding. There is a good account of Truman's glorious victory in 1948, which enables the book to end on an upbeat note.

4552 The Appeal, by John Grisham (read 31 Mar 2009) This is Grisham's book of 2008 and is the 19th book of his I have read. It has the usual Grisham overkill in describing the lawyers for civil defendants and their evil clients. It starts with the return of a big verdict against a polluting chemical company and then tells how the company seeks to avoid paying the judgment--with a campaign to defeat a Mississippi Supreme Court justice who is figured to be against evil polluting defendants. It shows the evil of electing judges rather than having a system such as we have in Iowa, where judges are selected on merit. And also shows the viciousness of a campaign against a judge based on irrelevant issues. As usual with Grisham books the story catches one up, and one is eager to see how it comes out. But it is not great writing.

Happy April Fools Day.

On the AOL boards this morning i posted something about KON-TIKI. Imagine my surprise when i picked up the January '90 issue of "National Geographic" & learned that the raft is on display on the Bygdoy Peninsula in Norway! Apparently the Norwegians have built a sort of crypt for its most beloved boats, enshrining them for natives & tourists. Who knew? Makes me want to visit it!

deb

Schmerguls >>The author was convinced that people from South America in about 500 A.D. settled in Polynesia<<

Even though subsequent DNA evidence has disproved his theory, I stand behind him in showing that early people did a lot more boat travel (and longer travel) than we've given them credit for.

Neat about the boat display, Deb!

Only two for me this month...

Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein...forgot where I got the recommendation for this mystery writer, but I got 3 of her books on paperbackswap.com. This one was about a sex crimes investigator, Alexandra Cooper and her movie starlet friend who is murdered while staying at Alex's home on Martha's Vineyard. 3/5

The best read so far this year was Here, There and Everywhere (My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles) by Geoff Emerick. While much of the technical stuff went way over my head, the author gave insight into what the Beatles recording sessions were like. Lots of things I've never read in other accounts. Extremely intersting. 5/5

Three books for me in March:

The Vision of Emma Blau by Ursula Hegi
High Five by Janet Evanovich
Miss Julia Hits The Road by Ann B. Ross

My Feb/March highlights:

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, as recommended on this board. Enjoyed but didn't love. I think it goes back to my dislike of short stories, which this kind of was.

American Wife. The fictionalized story of George W. and Laura. I liked--I think it helped me understand what they see in each other. And fictionalized Barbara Bush? Spot on.

My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates. Another thinkly disguised fiction, this time of Jon Bennet Ramsey. I am thankful that Mrs. Ramsey was gone by the time this came out, particularly since the "case" against the parents has since been pretty much shown to be false.

Made in the USA by Billie Letts. Called for suspension of disbelief, but I actually came to care about this sister and brother team who end up in the circus.

Legal Limit. Surprisingly good tale of a county prosecutor who covered up a murder by his brother 20 years ago. Of course, it has come back to bite him.

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. Probably not by next week, thank goodness.

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. Dumb book about lifelong friendship between ambitious reporter and her more plodding friend. Wish I hadn't actually paid for this book.

Olive Kitteridge. Again, short stories but with Olive tying it all together. I liked, didn't love. I liked Olive but the final story gave me pause. Maybe I don't like her anymore.

Karla

I can't remember most of my reads for March as they were so bad., i.e., Twilight, a book I found so adolescent I was surprised adults I know read it. I did quite like Henning Mankell's Kennedy's Brain, although I was frustrated by it, as he didn't answer any of the questions the book raised, like - who murdered her son? What did Kennedy's Brain have to do with anything? Why did the boy have a flat in Barcelona? These were the central questions of the mystery and none of them were answered.

I'm currently reading Doris Lessing's autobiography, Under My Skin. I find her a bit of a whiner, but the African upbringing is so fascinating I can overlook that. I'm amazed at the lives people have led, so foreign to my own.

Bunny wrote:Twilight, a book I found so adolescent I was surprised adults I know read it.."

Same way I felt about it! I read it last summer while on vacation because my 17 year old daughter read it and loved it. It definitely was written for teens, all the way down to the simple sentences and lack of description. My daughter has read the series twice...think she's on her third time. I won't read any more!

I'm with you on "Twilight" -- I couldn't get all the way through the first one -- I kept hoping that someone would smack every one of them. Such drippy characters and terrible, terrible writing. Blech.
Right now, I'm 50 pages from the end of "Sing Them Home" by Stephanie Kallos, which is wonderful. It's about the impact of the loss of their parents on three siblings. I'm going to miss 'em when I get to the last page.
I also read Kristin Chenoweth's new autobiography, "A Little Bit Wicked," which was charming -- it was like having coffee with a friend who always has great stories.

I hope that you like "Sing Them Home", I did not. I just finished "Angels Of Destruction" by Keith Donohue and you can see my review under my books. I loved this book. Took it back to the library and ordered his first book "The Stolen Child". I am currently reading "The Sealed Letter" by Emma Donoghue who also wrote "Slammerkin".
As I finish my books, I am going to write my review on my book list rather than cluttering up the comments.

I just finished Sing Them Home and I did enjoy it. I got involved with each of characters and was sorry to let them go at the end.

I read and LOVED the novel "Still Alice" - what a marvel of research and writing, despite the disturbing topic of early-onset Alzheimer's. The book is written in Alice's voice and the reader experiences what she is going through and feeling at the gut level.

The author, Lisa Genova, self-published this book with encouragement from the Alzheimer's Foundation (I think that is what it is called),. Then Simon and Schuster picked it up but asked her to change the ending. She did, but to be honest, I could not see that it made a lot of difference (she shared the original ending with one of my GoodReads friends).

Genova is working on a new novel, "Left Neglected", "the story of a woman whose car accident results in a brain injury that creates a known condition called "Left Side Neglect." In that condition, the brain doesn't see or process anything on a person's left side". She talks about it in the back of "Still Alice" (which I have already loaned out). She is a neuroscientist and really knows her stuff.

It will be a long time before I stop thinking about Alice and her struggles.
================================

I also read Stuart O'Nan's "Songs for the Missing" I really do not know why I finished this book. If I had to guess, I would say that it is because I got halfway through before it became mind-numbingly TEDIOUS.

This novel is an endless (and I do mean endless) diary of endurance as parents search for their missing 18-year-old daughter who has disappeared from the face of the earth. The days become a dreary recounting of details, of normal lives destroyed forever by an irreparable loss. The novel recounts the desperation of this search, and of duties and lives that must be gotten through at the same time. Kim's family was as victimized as she apparently was and their lives are reduced to almost nothing resembling normality as the months go by.

This is not a suspenseful thriller or procedural crime novel in the "traditional" sense. Dennis Lehane said on the back cover "The novel leaps in the air in the first chapter, and then hangs there, coming down like a helium balloon." The book goes on and on and on......long after it runs out of air. To me, it came down like a lead balloon.

I decided after the disappointing "Last Night at the Lobster" to give O'Nan another try. This was his second (and last) chanc.

======================================

Two non-fiction last month: "The Forever War" by Dexter Filkins which was marvelous, and "Seven Days in the Art World" which was also very good.

I have misplaced my book journal so this list is not very accurate.

RNOCEAN wrote: "I hope that you like "Sing Them Home", I did not. I just finished "Angels Of Destruction" by Keith Donohue and you can see my review under my books. I loved this book. Took it back to the librar..."

AHHH! I heard an interview months and months and months ago on NPR about "The Stolen Child," figured I would remember the title and, of course, promptly forgot it & pretty much everything about it except the changeling thing. Every time I go to a book store, I browse around, figuring it'll jump out at me, but, of course, it never has. Thanks so much for giving me the title AND the author!

What I Read in April 30 Years Ago (1979)

1509 Robert Kennedy and His Times Volume II, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (read 2 Apr 1979) (National Book Award biography prize for 1979) The biography is written very approvingly, and with an insider's knowledge of the last campaign. I feel good that it was a campaign where I was on the right side, even though fortuitously . I remember just before I agreed to be 6th District chairman for Bobby Kennedy I was still objecting to him because he was such a dove. I was pretty much an Administration supporter on Vietnam until I became for Bobby. This volume is more interesting than Volume I since Volume I had less momentous things to discuss at times. The biography is not the definitive work, its organization is not the chronological one I like, and much of it is well-known, but still it was really good to read.The laconic sentence on page 955 (the book ends on page 956) clutched me: "Then Kennedy left the room for a press conference, taking a short cut through the kitchen." Schlesinger then shifts to how he heard, and spends less than two pages on the funeral and burial
.
1510 Strictly Speaking: Will America Be the Death of English? by Edwin Newman (read 7 Apr 1979) This is a very uneven book, some of it so funny, and other seemingly thrown together to make it book length. My favorite from it: "Or this, from a UPI story about motherly weather in Utah: 'After stuffing the apparel in the Cessna 210's window to keep out the blistering winds, a snowstorm completely covered the craft.'" But there seemed to be a lot of filler in the book, and it is not organized at all: it just jumps from one thing to another with no discernible system.

1511 Alone, by Richard E. Byrd (read 10 Apr 1979) This is a really excellent book. I was moved to read it by two things: it is on Dick Dabney's list of 100 best books, and it was read by Bobby Kennedy and praised. It is a fantastically exciting book: it tells of Adm. Byrd's stay, alone, in an advance base at Latitude 80' 08'5, Longitude 163' 57" West, from Mar 23, 1934, to Aug 11, 1934. It is really unbelievable that a person could survive what he went through. From May 31 on he was sick--and yet he lived, and people at Little
America, some 60 miles away, never knew it. One cannot help but admire the man tremendously. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

1512 Berky, by Margaret Nelson (Mrs. Raymond S.) (read 11 Apr 1979) This is a little paper-covered book about Dr. Charles Berkstresser, whom I knew well. He was born 21 Nov 1891, at Mendota, Ill., and died 11 July 1971. He was on the Insanity Commission for fifty years, and I served with him from 1960 to 1969. He was a character, and this was a nice little book.

1513 Acceptance and Unveiling of the Statue of Wade Hampton (read 14 Apr 1979) This sets out the speeches made when Wade Hampton's statue was placed by South Carolina in Statuary Hall. Only 56 pages.

1514 The Spear of Destiny: The Occult Power Behind the Spear Which Pierced the Side of Christ, by Trevor Ravenscroft (read 15 Apr 1979) I was reading a book on the Crusades and read how the finding of the spear which allegedly pierced the side of Christ invigorated the Crusaders at Antioch. This made me think of a book I bought some years ago but never read. I found it and read it. It is an awful book: just a mish-mash. If anything in it made any sense, and if it were seriously documented, it'd be fascinating. But it has so much gibberish in it I wonder why I read it. Its thesis is that Hitler was possessed, and greatly influenced by the Sword of Longinus which pierced the side of Jesus. It would be a good book if it was not so obviously thrown together by a nut.

1515 The Crusades, by Zoe Oldenburg translated from the French by Anne Carter (read 25 Apr 1979) This covers the period from 1096 to roughly 1192, and hence covers only the first three Crusades. It actually spends little time on the Second Crusade (1147) but covers the First and Third quite thoroughly, and devotes much time to the Frankish kingdom established in Palestine. It is really a fascinating story, and sad. This book is not well organized like Runciman's three volumes. (which I read in November and December of 1974) but it was a good refresher of a fantastic era. I wonder what my ancestors did about the Crusades. How I would love to be able to trace myself back that far.






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I like the Byrd one and am going to check to see if it's still in print. DH & I both have a strange interest in stories of people freezing, suffering, starving and exploring the poles :)

Lifetime Number - Title - Author - Date Finished - Comment

4553 Chronicle of the Popes The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present, by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart (read 1 Apr 2009) This is a 1997 book which I noticed at the Library. It gives many Popes only a sentence or two, and what with the great number of books I've read on papal history, it is hard to say that I learned a lot. There are many illustrations, and some of the book was of interest. Since the book is so short, some of the darker pages of papal history are also mercifully short. In general the author's viewpoint is not objectionable--in fact he views some of the Popes more favorably than I have.

4554 Faith and Treason The Story of the Gunpowder Plot, by Antonia Fraser (read 5 Apr 2009) This is a 1996 book and is the seventh book by the author I've read. It is a good book and tells well the doleful story of the fervent but misguided men who plotted to blow up King James I and Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605. Though tragic for the people involved and for the Catholics of England, one cannot but agree with the Protestant historian S. P. Gardiner: "atrocious as the whole undertaking was, great as must have been the moral obliquity of their minds, there was at least nothing mean or selfish about them. They had boldly risked their lives for what they honestly believed to be the cause of God and their country."

4555 Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank (read 6 Apr 2009) This 1958 novel is an account of time after Soviet Russia and the U.S. have a nuclear war. It is intensely exciting as the war looms and the characters go through the dread days before the devastation begins. Afterwards the story is confined to characters--Randy Bragg, his sister-in-law and her two kids, and other folk in the central Florida community as they seek to survive. Months go by with little contact with the outside world and the characters try to get enough to eat and battle evildoers. This part did not seem too realistic--that there should be so little contact with the outside world for months. This is one of three famed books dealing with a post-nuclear war time: On the Beach, by Nevil Shute (read 17 May 1998) and A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., (read 19 Nov 2008) are the other two. I read Warday on 7 Jan 1985, which is also a book on the time after a nuclear war--and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, read 13 May 2007, ditto. There are others I have not read. True, the Cold War is over--but nukes still exist, so one can still be aghast at what might happen.

4556 The Shipwreck of a Nation Germany: An Inside View, by H. Peter Nennhaus (read 8 Apr 2009) This is a book published by a "vanity press," the author being a retired surgeon living "outside Chicago." He was born in northeastern Germany in February 1929 and grew up in Berlin. He describes his growing up well, and explains well the way things looked to him as a child--he never before Hitler's death became disenchanted by Hitler--even though his parents did. He presents things so that one can understand why he as a youth believed in Hitler--much as he, now, condemns the evil Hitler did in the last years of his reign, which the author claims he and most Germans did not know of. What sticks in his craw, even now, is that Stalin killed millions long before Hitler got into gear with his killing, and yet people hated Germany more than they hated Stalin. The author writes much about the evil Russians did in Germany in 1945. The most interesting part of the book is his telling of him and his family, especially in 1945, and of his older brother, Friedrich, who did not get out of Russia till 1953. It is a great human story and very good reading when he tells about his personal odyssey and that of his parents and siblings. I am really glad I got to read this book--which the author sent me so I'd review it on Amazon [I did:].

4557 Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat The Dire Warning, by John Lukacs (read 8 Apr 2009) This is a little 147-page book published last year and is a great book, telling of Churchill's speeches in 1940. It is a good antidote to the book I read right before it, since Lukacs says it was far better that Stalin had half of Europe than that Hitler have it all. One is thrilled anew reading of those so memorable speeches by Churchill in 1940--how fortunate he was at hand on May 10, 1940--else who knows what would have happened. This is a great book and great to read.

4558 The Visible Hand The Managerial Revolution in American Business, by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. (read 13 Apr 2009) (Pulitzer History prize for 1978) (Bancroft Prize for 1977) This was read because it won the prizes indicated--it is the 48th Pulitzer History prize-winner I've read, and the 34th Bancroft winner I've read. It was not an easy read, but was not as tough as I expected. It is basically a study of management in business in the U.S. from 1840 to 1917, with some attention to the time after 1917 up to the time it was published in 1977. I just am not that interested in such abstruse (for me) history. The 'visible hand' is in contrast to the market forces, which are the 'invisible hand' and which predominated in determining business direction before 1840. There is some discussion of some businesses, including railroads and DuPont, which was of some interest, but I cannot say I found the book absorbing.

4559 Keepers of the Keys A History of the Papacy, by Roger Collins (read 16 Apr 2009) This is 2009 book by a guy described as 'an honorary fellow' of Edinburgh University. It is a good even-handed book, though he is a little rough on the early Popes, since data on them is so sketchy sometimes. I think this is an unbiased book well worth reading even though it is a field where I have read much.

Lifetime Number - Title - Author - Date Finished - Comment


4560 Manhunt The Twelve-Day Hunt for Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson (read 18 Apr 2009) This is a 2006 book recommended to me by my brother John, and is indeed a winner. The author is a Washington lawyer who is connected with the Cato Institute. The book is a very well-written account of John Wilkes Booth's day when he killed Lincoln and of the time thereafter when he fled to Virginia where he was shot dead on Apr 26, 1865, in a tobacco barn. I thought that maybe since I read American Brutus, a biography of Booth, as recently as Dec 20, 2004, I might not have to read this but I found the whole book intriguing and riveting (does this show I don't remember what I read? I hope not.) This is an outstanding book, made more poignant for me in that when I was in law school I lived in an area near to the place where Lincoln was shot, at times eating in the restaurant right across from Ford's Theater..
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4561 The Confessions of Max Tivoli, by Andrew Sean Greer (read 19 Apr 2009) This is 2004 novel about a man who lives his life backwards: in other words he is an old man when he is born and gets younger as time goes on. It is quite well-done and rather poignant in its denouement. Max Tivoli lives in San Francisco, and goes through he 1906 earthquake and also World War II. I found it an interesting and memorable work--one of the rare fiction items I've read recently.

4562 They Went That-a-way. by Malcolm Forbes with Jeff Bloch (read 21 Apr 2009) This is 1989 book telling mainly of deaths of 150 people, mostly people who committed suicide, died in accidents, or were murdered or who in dying created great interest. I read it cover-to-cover. It has no footnotes or source notes, so one just has to rely on Forbes' word that what he says is more or less right. Each entry is less than two pages, and is written in Readers Digest-like prose, but I found every one of the sketches interesting. Most of the people I had heard of. One is annoyed how many abused alcohol or were drug addicts, and many were non-admirable.

4563 Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (read 23 Apr 2009) (Pulitzer Fiction prize for 2008) I have read, without exception, every Pulitzer prize winning work of fiction, so I had to read htis. This novel is made up of a series of sort of short stories, many about the eponymous character, an ex-school teacher in a Maine coastal town. She is a blunt person, in contrast to her pleasant husband. There are many 'touches' in the book which are attention generators, and in some ways it is a literate Peyton Place--incest, adultery, dope users, etc. I did appreciate Olive's feelings about George W. Bush, which mirror mine.

4564 Day, by A. L. Kennedy (read 27 Apr 2009) (Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book of the Year for 2008) I read this because it won the indicated award. I did not like the book at all. It is laid in World War II and tells of an RAF bomber crew, but telling of their experiences in the air is a small part of the book. Most of it tells of Alfred, who is a gunner on the crew and of his behavior. Kennedy is supposed to be a great modern novelist, but she utterly turned me off. There is so much annoying about the book--probably a thousand uses of the f-word grate. Out of five stars I give it a half-star, which is the least one can give.

4565 The Thurber Carnival, written and illustrated by James Thurber (read 29 Apr 2009) This is a 1945 book, made up of selections from prior books by Thurber. I often laughed, though there were also items which did not cause me to so much as smile. There are also cartoons, including one on page 340 captioned "Touche!":which can be seen here:
James Thurber : “Touché!” - Cartoonbank.com

(I tried to copy it, but it is copyrighted so I could not.)

LOL! I have enjoyed Thurber since i was in high school & my appreciation for him has grown as i've aged. Thanks for the comic link.

I've copied several titles from your list, Schmerguls. I'm particularly interested in the book about Booth on his historic day.

deborah