Readers and Reading discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Monthly "READS"
>
April Reads
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
Part 1
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.
Mod
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..
.
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.)
My April reads were:Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Richiesheff wrote:heart and soul was great I just picked this up from the library today...large print, 670some pages! I'm glad it's good, but I have to finish a current read first.
My April reads:
Handle With Care, Jodie Picoult 4/5
Show Me the Way, Henri Nouwen 4/5[image error] Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, don't remember the two authors names 3/5
Life Expectancy, Dean Koontz 5/5Show Me the Way was a Lenten daily devotional book and I enjoyed it very much. Made me think about the season.
Life Expectancy was one of those unplanned reads. I found it on someone's bookshelf on paperbackswap and the synopsis sounded good. And it was. Fast-moving, thrilling and lots of dry humor in it.
linreadsalot wrote: "My April reads were:Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber
"
How was this? I saw it for a quarter at a rummage sale today and almost picked it up, but didn't because I have SO many books already to be read.
April Reads -Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong - good little mystery with lots of info about modern day China 4/5
Under My Skin by Doris Lessing - An autobiography by a difficult woman and her early life in Southern Rhodesia with all of it's British Empire prejudices in place. 4/5
Old Filth by Jane Gardan (sp?) - Good but not wonderful. I disliked the structure so much that I quit reading just before the end. Writing was good. I'll try another by this author.
And a couple of mysteries that I don't remember right now.
Mod
In April I read:A Thousand Splendid Suns, by K. Hosseini--At least as good as The Kite Runner.
A Noble Radiance, by Donna Leon--I enjoy this series about Venetian police commissario Guido Brunetti.
About Alice, by Calvin Trillin--a lovely book about his beautiful wife who died too young.
Weekend in Paris, by Robyn Sisman--a frothy, unrealistic story about a naive English girl (just needed something light and quick).
Gone, by Jonathan Kellerman--An Alex Delaware murder mystery, not light.
Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber This is the 1st series that I read by Debbie Maccomber and is what got me hooked on her books. I loved these books. Right now my 2 favorite authors for chick lit is Sherryl Woods and Robyn Carr. They both write fun, clean romance books.
Deb in ATL
I was disappointed in this novel about London life for one woman who was getting a bit ho-hum. Frankly, i wanted more about a real 50's book Elegance from which the main character was getting ideas for improvement. 
Interesting life, pathetically written. Her brother Alan's stories were more interesting but still the book was more for historians, imo, who want to know what ranching in a desert is like. 
This is by Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Booth Blair. We watched UK politics for much of his first years as PM, so wanted to see her take on those times. It was the second book by a lawyer (barrister, whatever) in a row i read that ended up disappointing me. Maybe these people shouldn't write autobiographies! ANYway, she used it as an opportunity to set her side of the record straight, plug her charities & share a tad of dirt, enough to be quoted in newspapers, no doubt. It's another one i'm sure will be of use to historians.A rereading of
I liked this book & the stories shared about the Revolution. Sad that the sole book i really liked this month is a rereading.
Interesting novel about a man who loved light (natural, man made, whatever) and the woman he married who seemed to like numbers more. The story followed their lives in Tennessee from WWI to the 50s. 
I'm really going to sound like a grouch because this was yet another book which let me down. Boo, Deb! This one was really more a rehash of history during Washington's administration with lots of supposition thrown in the mix. I'm not in favor of quotation marks around author-created supposed thoughts of historical characters. (Not sure i phrased that right, but i think the drift is there.) That's my April. Hmmm. Not much to commend itself, i must say.
deborah
Mod
Deborah, I am impressed that you did not give up on any of those unsatisfactory books!
There was just enough to keep me there,hoping for more. I also thought the conclusions would justify some of the problems i had. Big payoffs. Not so. And the one i'd be most tempted to quit was Lazy B, which i was reading with Alias. However, it was probably also the easiest.deborah
Mod
April Reads - Two books set in Africa and two books dealing with famous American tragedies, made for very interesting reading last month.Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. Although I had resolved not to read any books longer than 500 pages this year, I'm glad I broke that resolution and picked up a copy of "Cutting for Stone" - I loved this book! The main characters are twin sons, born of an illicit relationship between a nun and a surgeon working at at Ethiopian hospital in the 1950s. But like with most good books, there's a page-turning story, interesting secondary characters, twists and turns, moral dilemmas, heartbreak and redemption. Can't recommend it highly enough and I can't wait until it comes out in paperback next year so my book group can read it too. A
November 22, 1963 - Adam Braver. They say you're not an official Baby Boomer unless you can say where you were on the day Kennedy was assassinated, and although I can and I am, this book just didn't resonate with me the way I hoped it would. It's part fact and part fiction and relates, mostly in brief passages, the experiences of those who were there, both the primary and peripheral characters. The reviews on this one were amazing, so I was hoping to be dazzled. I wasn't. B-
Columbine - Dave Cullen. Whose great idea was it for me to read about the Kennedy assassination and Columbine in two successive books? This book was hard to read at times, but even harder not to read. Cullen was a reporter in Denver back in 1999, and he stayed with the story for the next 10 years. The details of the tragedy are all here, although thankfully there are no photos. But the most interesting parts of the book were his revelations about how so many of the "facts" we think we know about what happened that day, aren't facts at all. No bullying, no Trench Coat Mafia, no "girl who said yes" but those rumors, once started, took on lives of their own. There's much more here than just the retelling of a school shooting. A
Little Bee - Chris Cleave. An ill-fated meeting between a British couple and two young African girls at a Nigerian beach resort is the basis of this novel. I loved Cleave's earlier book, "Incendiary" and expected to love this one, but I didn't. I didn't care for the characters who I felt like talked too much, and I especially disliked the obnoxious four-year old son of the British couple. The story was interesting and full of surprises, but for the most part, I wouldn't suggest anybody rush out and read it. B
No bullying, no Trench Coat Mafia, no "girl who said yes" but those rumors, once started, took on lives of their own.,Really? I didn't know that! Looks like a book I'm going to have to read.
JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Whenever I am tempted to quit, I do so. Rarely - if ever - have I found that plugging on was worth my valuable time. Emphasis on "valuable" LOL"LOL! I've been rewarded often enough that i'll generally stick with a book if it's been recommended by someone whose taste i usually find akin to mine. This happened with Atonement and even the book i listed, Evidence of Things Unseen. The reward in the latter novel was a string of references to Steinbeck. I was tickled. And the book wasn't bad, i want to make clear. In fact, because i was interrupted for days twice during the reading may have been as much a culprit.
deborah
Top April Reads:THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY by Tiffany Baker
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson
FAULT LINE by Barry Eisler
THE RISK OF DARKNESS by Susan Hill
Audio books, just OK
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD by Preston and Child (fun but not outstanding)
THE TURNAROUND by George Pelacanos (beautifully written but plodding)
CRY NO MORE by Linda Howard (awkwardly written but story line ok)
wow, I don't know why it all turned out BOLD! Yikesahooty.
Connie wrote: "April Reads - Two books set in Africa and two books dealing with famous American tragedies, made for very interesting reading last month.Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. Although I had res..."
Connie -- I love reading your list because I usually find something there I'm dying to read. In this case, it's Cutting for Stone and, if I hadn't just started The Boleyn Inheritance today, I probably would have picked up CFS.
This month, I only read three books but I enjoyed all three....
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly -- This one was the next in a series featuring defense attorney Mickey Haller, who also was the main character in The Lincoln Lawyer. It was just as good, if not better, especially since Connelly teams up Haller with fan favorite homicide detective Harry Bosch. "10"
Leaving The World by Douglas Kennedy -- I've been a fan of Kennedy's since reading The Big Picture many years ago. He's strayed away from his usual roller coaster ride kind of books and has focused on books dealing mainly with women or couples in crisis. I don't think there's ever been a Kennedy book I didn't love and I'll just add this one to the list. "8.5"
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak -- When I first started this book, my initial feeling was that I wasn't going to be able to finish it because it started off so poorly IMO. After 30 pages or so, I was hooked and ended up loving it. It's not so much about a "thief" as it is about a girl obsessed with books and "words". At a time when Hitler was destroying people with his words, young Liesel was stealing the words back in her own way. "9"
If you want to read any of my full reviews on these books, I have them posed here.
I hope May is as successful for me as April was.
wow, I don't know why it all turned out BOLD! Yikesahooty. -----------------
The backward slash goes before the B.
Next to the POST button is the word Preview. You can check how your post will look before posting it.
The Preview word is in light gray and not so easy to see.
Also at the top of the post box are the words: some html is ok. If you click on that it will show you the HTML for bold, italics, underline etc.
It would be so much more user friendly if GR had buttons to click as most web sites do, instead of having to type out HTML.
Thanks Alias. I thought I had only put the bold HTML indicators before and after (with back slash) those words I wanted in bold. Oh well, I'll try again here. Let's see if this works.Sally
Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "linreadsalot wrote: "My April reads were:Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber
"
How was this? I saw it for a quarter at a rummage sale today and almost picked it up, but didn't because I ha..."
I enjoyed it a lot! It's the first of a series. It's about a small struggling farm town community in North Dakota. It was a nice place to go visit for awhile.
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Readers and Reading
Books mentioned in this topic
Handle with Care (other topics)Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings (other topics)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (other topics)
Life Expectancy (other topics)
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (other topics)
More...
Paradise Valley Robyn Carr
While My Sister Sleeps Barbara Delinsky
About That Man Sherryl Woods
Last Dance at Jitterbug Lounge Pamela Morsi
Prayers For Sale Sandra Dallas
Nutcase Charlotte Hughes
The Inn at Eagle Point Sherryl Woods
These are the books I finshed this month. A great month for me. heart and Soul was great, Prayers for sale was not good at all. Nutcase was a great humerous mystery.