Goodreads Ireland discussion

^^What Seraphina said!^^

I have but it's been a few years. I could do a goodreads search.

If it's been a while then that's OK, Jamielynn. I'll chew the ear off of a clerk and get their recommendation. I will be mentioning you when I discuss it in the group.

I think it's this one...geez my memory! I think Genius was in the title. I hope...sorry..


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

That looks quite good, Jamielynn. I'll try to lay my hands on that. I see the biographer has also written one about Bram Stoker. I might have to get that too.

I think that's it. If so it's good. I think I am 51 going on 90. LOL Genius rings a bell. Sad so sad.

I went through and author biography state. Du Maurie, Tolstoy, Capote and a few others. Complicated characters with interesting lives.

It has nothing to do with age and more to do with distraction. Today I called Tony, my local shopkeeper, by his brother's name, Franky. A few minutes later I called my local barber, Johnny, Tony. :/

I've too much stuff on my mind, and I bet you do too.

Declan wrote: "It has nothing to do with age and more to do with distraction. Today I called Tony, my local shopkeeper, by his brother's name, Franky. A few minutes later I called my local barber, Johnny, Tony. :..."

I guess that's true. I've done it all my life!

JM Barrie and Lewis Carrol are 2 others. If you read the biogs you will never see Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland the same. I'd like to read Peter Pan because the original is nothing like the Peter Pan we grew up to know and love. I would give a warning about those 2 people because you could be very disillusioned.

Fascinating book...then I will let the next subject open



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

I love autobiographies. Those sound fascinating. Most of the older children's tales are based on very dark characters. Makes you wonder what the authors are like

You will find out about Barrie if you read that book Seraphina. Lewis Carrol will surprise you too. Yup dark. Daphne Du Maurier is interesting as well, possible incest there.

Wow they all sound like very strange characters. I always wonder how people who write very dark tales write them so well!

I'd never heard of that side of Barrie, and it fairly recently that Johnny Depp portrayed him and nothing like that seems to have been mentioned.

I do remember the discovery.of Carroll's photography collection. That was quite chilling.

Jamielynn wrote: "Declan wrote: "It has nothing to do with age and more to do with distraction. Today I called Tony, my local shopkeeper, by his brother's name, Franky. A few minutes later I called my local barber, ..."

Did you readAlice I Have Been? It's not a bio but historical fiction about Lewis Carroll.What a creep . I should read a bio on him it would be interesting to see how close they are to each other

That book you linked reminded me of something and it took me a while to figure it out, Colleen. Ian Holm played Lewis Carroll in a movie called Dreamchild in the 80s. It took me a few minutes to track down the name.

He does seem to be a major creep, to say the least.

Declan wrote: "That book you linked reminded me of something and it took me a while to figure it out, Colleen. Ian Holm played Lewis Carroll in a movie called Dreamchild in the 80s. It took me a few minutes to tr..."


He was. I have my theories about why the books were even written but they are still delightful stories for children if they don't know anything but the stories. No one will tell babies about him though! I should hope!

Declan wrote: "I'd never heard of that side of Barrie, and it fairly recently that Johnny Depp portrayed him and nothing like that seems to have been mentioned.

I do remember the discovery.of Carroll's photograp..."


The Depp version is a lot of fiction.

Colleen wrote: "Jamielynn wrote: "Declan wrote: "It has nothing to do with age and more to do with distraction. Today I called Tony, my local shopkeeper, by his brother's name, Franky. A few minutes later I called..."

Colleen I will try to find which book I read. It was about 3 yrs ago. If I find it I'll post it. He wanted to marry Alice when she was a child. ick

I think this is it. It's the one at my local library so I'm 99% sure.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Declan wrote: "That book you linked reminded me of something and it took me a while to figure it out, Colleen. Ian Holm played Lewis Carroll in a movie called Dreamchild in the 80s. It took me a few minutes to tr..."
I'll have to look into that movie. Thanks!

Jamielynn wrote: "Colleen wrote: "Jamielynn wrote: "Declan wrote: "It has nothing to do with age and more to do with distraction. Today I called Tony, my local shopkeeper, by his brother's name, Franky. A few minute..."

I'll have to see if my library has it .Thanks!

You're welcome, Colleen.

Has anyone read a good biography of Mandela that they could recommend?

On a more trivial note: I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new e-reader/tablet. According to the tracking info it "Out for Delivery to Customer" at 8:09 am. It is supposed to arrive no later than 8 pm, hopefully it will be sooner.

In the meantime I will go read my dead tree copy of The Troubles. I hope to get through the first part, "A Man of Quality" today.

Sara wrote: "Has anyone read a good biography of Mandela that they could recommend?

On a more trivial note: I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new e-reader/tablet. According to the tracking info it "Out ..."

His autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela is the best, in my opinion.

Sara - when I went into Politics and Prose yesterday around noon, it looked like all the Mandela books were gone. Somehow an additional copy of a beautifully illustrated Mandela for kids showed up and I grabbed it. I realized later it was the perfect Christmas gift for my South African friend at work who actually teaches classes on reading. I also picked up a nicely illustrated copy of The Christmas Carol, again in the kids' section.
I am curious how big is your new e-reader . Though I love the tiny size of my Kobo, I read a page in about 10 seconds because they are so small and due to the text size I am using.I suppose I should play around. I really wish I had a back lit one.

I got this one (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-...).

My main frustration with the Kobo people was they wouldn't let me buy it! My father spent most of Cyber Monday on their website attempting to get the Kobo Arc as an early Christmas present for me. They had first said they had a deal online that started Friday and also allowed you to get the deal in store. Well when my father went to P&P they knew nothing about the in store deal. Then when we went to the Kobo website on Monday, they keep declining perfectly valid credit cards and timing out. They also had horrendous customer service when we called and emailed.

I did some more research and it turns out that with the Barnes and Noble tablet, I can have a Kobo app and still buy e- books with some of the credit going to P&P. Their customer service was also splendid when I went out to Rockville and talked to them Tuesday night.

The Nook HD got here last night around 10 pm, and I'm really enjoying it so far. The display is really nice. My main worry is with a device that does other things besides e-books, I'll be distracted from reading. The battery life is also not as good as on the dedicated devices.

I'm heading out to the sale later today. I have gifts to pick up for both my parents and a book for one to two out of of five of my cousins. For my cousin, Adrian, I'm looking for a fun book that has something to do with civil engineering. He just finished his first semester of college at the University of Michigan studying civil engineering.

I also plan to get the other two books in the Troubles trilogy for my self, and will also undoubtedly pick up a few other things...probably out of the science fiction section. My friend Anton (who works there) encouraged me to come "clean out" his section.

Sara wrote: "I got this one (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-...).

My main frustration with the Kobo people was they wouldn't let me buy it! My father spent most of Cyber Monday o..."

That's unfortunate with the Kobo. I don't know why P&P couldn't go to the same website you did to see what was being advertised. I had the same thing happen today at the hardware store with a Christmas tree stand. It was $10 cheaper online and I could even pick it up at my hardware store. So they believed me and gave it to me $10 cheaper. Again that Kobo deal was a lot more $$$. I saw the same ads and was tempted.
My mini iPad does lots of other things and the power seems to run out fast. Though I find it convenient to have all my ebooks on it. Space/memory is also an issue with a multi-use device.

Other Goodreads Ireland members may wonder why the two of us make a special trip to our bookstore for a mere 20% off. For one thing, the selection of books in this store is amazing and there is nothing to compare to actual being able to handle books. Their children's section is amazing and run by the former owner of a defunct (driven out of business by escalating rents) children's bookstore in the neighborhood. Yesterday noon there were several grandparents and great aunts/uncles types shopping for children's books. The staff is very knowledgeable and spends a lot of time with people looking for the right book(s) for children. The buzz in the store during a sale spurs you on to buy more, and you never know what you will find.
I bought 2 books and a CD for myself (Nick Lowe Christmas something), 5 other books as gifts including
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities for my son:
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Gu...

@S. I saw that in town today. My mother reads a lot of biographies and I think she'd like that.

@Sarah and Barbara. That's the very reason I always go to bookshops. They're just lovely places to be and it's always nice to speak to staff who know what they're talking about.

I bought:

A gift for my mother that I can't talk about because she follows me on Goodreads
Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offermanfor my Dad (if anyone watches Parks and Recreation, Nick Offerman plays Ron Swanson).
A book about skyscrapers for the civil engineering college student cousin
The Siege of Krishnapur
by J.G. Farell...sadly they didn't have the third volume in the trilogy
and
Among Others by Jo Walton which is my January fantasy book club selection. Also, I read and really liked her young adult alternative history trilogy which starts with Farthing. I would recommend it!

I forget to get a couple other things I've had my eye on. I also managed to go to a friend's campaign kickoff event and help my father buy a Christmas tree...and do laundry. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit less eventful with more time for actual reading.

Barbara / Sara-you both have had very profitable days book shopping over the last few days! P&P sounds like an amazing store-you're very lucky to have it in your locality!

The illustrated Christmas Carol sounds great, Barbara-I enjoyed the audiobook once again last week! Sara-I got my copy of Siege through the post there, but The Singapore Grip is still to arrive. The new Kobo sounds like a good job, but I'm still very much a 'dead tree' man (I loved that expression btw!).

I'm going to get stuck back into Troubles this morning after a few very busy days, and am loving my reread, via audiobook, of Ten Thousand Saints! :)

I wish the weather today wasn't so ominous. Reading your list Sara, I'm tempted to make another trip over to P and P. I am surprised they had at least one of the O'Farrell books considering they were published years back.

@Sara. Sounds like you had an awesome/productive day.

I've never seen Parks and recreation but Roy Swanson is an internet meme favourite. I think it's a show I might enjoy.

And be sure to share what you mother's gift is once she's opened it.

@Allan. I didn't get Troubles finished BY the weekend as I promised myself, but it will be finished tonight. It was an excellent selection.

@Barbara They had 2/3 (they also had the Troubles). I think I've seen the third volume there before. Reading The Troubles, I'm getting the impression that it's considered a staple of Irish literature. P&P also tends to carry things that have won literary awards like The Booker. You couldn't pay me to leave the house today. I even begged off of church due to getting almost no sleep last night. My plan for today is to curl up in my flannel fleece Baltimore Ravens pants, read, decorate the tree, and watch the game.

@Declan It's one of my favorite half an hour comedies on t.v...probably tied for that with the Big Bang theory. I tend to get involved in a lot of civic activism type stuff and there was a scene in the first episode where Leslie is trying to conduct a public forum. It was so spot on to my experience that I was hooked.

@Sara. I'll keep an eye our for that on TV. If it doesn't show up soon I might buy the box set or download.

Sara - I also stayed in all day Sunday:) Didn't get all the decorating done though...

Barbara wrote: "Sara - I also stayed in all day Sunday:) Didn't get all the decorating done though..."

I take it from a different thread that you also missed the Irish literature group tonight. I was looking forward to it, but figured that between not having read the book (due to my foul up with Kennys) and having a couple other options for things to do, that there wasn't much point.

If I recall from your Kenny's issue, Sara, wasn't the Irish Lit group reading The Spinning Heart this month? Seeing as both yourself and Barbara missed it, that'll maybe encourage a member to nominate the book for upcoming group reads, either monthly or quarterly, particularly as it gets a US release in January. It's a book that is well worth reading!

Yes Allan - we were reading The Spinning Heart. I did email out coordinator and he sent a nice reply. It was a small gathering and we have a new member who works at our indie bookstore and is a Dub. I kind of regret not going as my nemesis was absent and there were friendly souls there. But it is also a time of year when I am very busy with the end of the semester and the holidays, and Sara and my friend Maureen weren't going. Yes, we should read it here on GR - perhaps after it is released in the US which is sometime next spring.

Sara - you are right that it usually doesn't make sense to go when you haven't read the book. I don't mind if people haven't read or haven't finished the book, but I do object when they haven't finished and insist that we not discuss the end. Now, if someone says they haven't finished, I say I for one still intend to discuss the whole book - sorry.

It's kinda of short (160 pages) for the quarterly Irish read. Maybe we can nominate it in February as the monthly read.

Barbara, agreed completely! I will occasionally go to my scifi and fantasy book groups even if I haven't read the books, because I enjoy the company of that group immensely. I certainly don't expect them to refrain from "spoiling" the book in that case though.

Sara, I think a short quarterly Irish read might encourage a few more people to participate in it (there always seems to be more interest / nominations etc in the monthly read), but whatever way we do read it, if it wins a vote, it's a book well worth reading!

Barbara, it always entertains me that you have a nemesis! I checked the release date online there, and the book is available on 25th February in the US, so I'll be sure not to nominate it before then!

@Barbara. You have a nemesis in your book club!!?? I would love to see how that manifests itself in your discussions.

Now I'm finished reading Troubles, I'm unashamedly in full NYC reading mode (in what time I'll get over the next week anyway!).

I've lifted about 10 NYC themed books down from my shelves as possible rereads to bring with me to the Big Apple, but am going to start with one I've had on my shelves for a while unread-Between Two Rivers by Nicholas Rinaldi-simply because it was the book that Pete Hamill was reading when he was interviewed for a newspaper article that was included at the back of his Downtown: My Manhattan book that I enjoyed, on Cathleen's recommendation, last week!

Allan wrote: "Now I'm finished reading Troubles, I'm unashamedly in full NYC reading mode (in what time I'll get over the next week anyway!).

I've lifted about 10 NYC themed books down from my shelves as possi..."

I'm so glad you liked it, Allan. I haven't been able to read much of anything recently. It 's the end of the semester and I have piles of grading. I can't wait until it's all done and I can start my Christmas holidays--and read.

The end of term is fast approaching, Cathleen, so that TBR pile is getting ever closer on the horizon! You'll enjoy it all the more when you return to it!

Allan wrote: "Sara, I think a short quarterly Irish read might encourage a few more people to participate in it (there always seems to be more interest / nominations etc in the monthly read), but whatever way we..."

Allan - I learned at my Irish American mother's side to stand up to bullies. Sadly, 3 of my friends in the group no longer attend. For two, I know, that it was an effort to get there and they chose to stop coming. My friend Maureen and I have stubborn streaks; so for now, we continue. The difficulty with public groups is that they are open. There are always problems in such groups with individuals, often people who have social difficulties. Oh well. That's why my knitting group went private. We meet in one person's house.

Cathleen - my piles to grade keep growing. What makes it worse is that I have about 65 rubrics left to fill out and a spreadsheet to fill in with over 200 scores. The problem with rubrics is that many faculty don't use them correctly. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel...

Barbara wrote: "Allan wrote: "Sara, I think a short quarterly Irish read might encourage a few more people to participate in it (there always seems to be more interest / nominations etc in the monthly read), but w..."

These are the days I treat myself to the largest cup of coffee I can find and burrow in to work. Do you have to collect all of your dept grades, Barbara? Your list sounds daunting.

No I only have to worry about 3 classes. BUT we have to use rubrics for everything. I teach one undergrad class which requires 17 scores to be recorded and submitted for each student in addition to everything in the grade book. It's nuts! I am getting close to finishing though. I thought I'd be able to do a lot after my one hour meeting this morning but had a stream of people in and out that ate up over 3 hours. At 3:30 I shut my outer office door to prevent more interruptions. By 6:30 I was tuckered out.