Vintage Tales discussion

I am only a few chapters in but am enjoying it so far. I really liked The Scarlet Letter.

Rosemarie wrote: "I am only a few chapters in but am enjoying it so far. I really liked The Scarlet Letter."

That one got five stars from me, Rosemarie!

Last night, I started on the e-book version of the novel The Sisterhood of the Rubber Ducky by Greg Wagner, who's a Goodreads friend and also in another of my Goodreads groups. He offered it to group members as a free review copy; I don't usually read book previews, but in this case I was intrigued enough to do so, and when I'd finished with that, I took him up on his offer.

Because the book I just started reading today is unpublished so far, I can't link to it in the Goodreads database (and won't be able to rate or review it, at least not right away. My friend Andrew Seddon has given me the opportunity to beta read Farhope, a prequel to his excellent science fiction novel Wreaths of Empire, which got five stars from me when it was published in 2015.

I am reading Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, the sequel to Eight Cousins.

This month, my Supernatural Fiction Readers group is doing a common read of Ray Bradbury's 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, so I'm taking part in that. Goodreads treats this book as #2 of the "Green Town series," but there is actually no Green Town series, in the true sense of a series. Bradbury set several books and stories in his fictional town of Green Town, Illinois (patterned after his hometown of Waukegan, north of Chicago), but they aren't otherwise related, and don't fit into any sort of chronological progression.

While on a road trip this past weekend, Barb and I embarked on a new "car book:" Miranda Warning by Heather Day Gilbert, the first book in her A Murder in the Mountains series, set in contemporary West Virginia (the author's native state) and featuring amateur sleuth Tess Spencer. (Heather is a Goodreads friend, but the book isn't a review copy; I purchased it for Barb this year as a Mother's Day gift.) Having finished, earlier this year, with reading one great mystery series together (Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron books), we're hoping this will fill the gap. :-)

My Goodreads friend Andrew M. Seddon is a distinguished writer of ghost stories that stand very much in the classic tradition. He's collected 11 of these in Tales from the Brackenwood Ghost Club, newly published by Far Wanderings, and kindly gave me a copy. Although I've beta read them in their original form (and he graciously mentioned me in the acknowledgments), and contributed an endorsement for the back cover, I'm now reading the book to savor them as a whole in their final form.

I'm currently reading The Sign of Four - my first Sherlock Holmes. I'm reading it as part of a readalong/knitalong. Also reading The Gift of Giving (favourite stories) by Joan Aitkin. Just finished Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough and Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones. All worth a read.

I am reading Ben Hur by Lew Wallace and A Lost Lady by Willa Cather.

I read Our Hearts were Young and Gay a few years ago and thought it was a lot of fun.

Rosemarie, I just started Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ this morning myself. It's a common read this month in another group. I'm excited about it, since it's a 19th-century classic that I've missed reading up to now, and that's been on my to-read shelf forever, and since I'm a long-time historical fiction fan (but so far, have never read much historical fiction set in Biblical times, with the exception of The Robe and The Silver Chalice).

Ben Hur has short chapters, which I like because I am reading more than one book at a time. They make for a little break between other books.
I read both the books you mentioned in high school, so I really should read them again. I have a copy of Quo Vadis, which also takes place in that time, still waiting to be read for the first time.

Quo Vadis is on my to-read shelf too, Rosemarie! I'll get around to it one of these days... or years.... "So many books, so little time!"

My thoughts exactly, Werner.

Goodreads author Justin W. M. Roberts, whose debut novel is the recently-published action-adventure thriller The Policewoman, is a fellow member of another of my Goodreads groups. He offered me a free review copy earlier this year; I've been anxious to get started on it, and was finally able to do so today. Obviously, I'm not far into it yet; but I'm liking it so far!

Since I knew Barb and I would soon be needing to start a new "car book," I've been giving some thought to what to pick for the next one; and having advance rumors from the North Pole about what Barb will get for Christmas, I wanted a short read that we could be finished with and ready for a new book around that time. Knowing her fondness for Christmas-themed movies, I figured that taste would manifest itself where books are concerned, too; so I decided to try a novella I read last December, Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past, by one of my favorite writers, Sharyn McCrumb. I don't think the Ballad series as a whole would be up Barb's alley, but I believe she'll like this one; and we started on it earlier today.

Another group I belong to, the Reading for Pleasure group, does group-wide common reads (which I've never taken part in so far) all through the year; but they also always have several mini-reads going on, for whoever wants to take part. (They call these "buddy reads," though I usually think of those as two-person reads outside of a group context.) Anyway, a seasonal one going on this month is of Henry Van Dyke's 1895 classic The Story of the Other Wise Man, and I'm taking part in this, though starting late. (Since it's short, Barb and I are reading it together as our latest "car book.")

Werner, I love this book. I was fortunate enough to find a vintage copy at a used book sale and consider it one of my treasures.

Thanks for that feedback, Rosemarie! (We got our copy from the BC library.) So far, we're not very far into it; I expect to read quite a bit more today.

I've started on the next book up in my current queue of review copies, What Darkness Remains, a collection of tales of the macabre, uncanny and supernatural by my friend Andrew M. Seddon. This may not seem like the most season-friendly reading; but actually, I understand that in England, it's quite traditional to read or tell ghost stories (which some of these are) around the Christmas season. :-)

It's unusual for me to start on two different books in one day. That happened yesterday, though! :-)

Barb and I read the third book of Susan Page Davis' Ladies Shooting Club trilogy, The Blacksmith's Bravery, together out of order last year, because I believed the first two books were out of print and unobtainable. Subsequently, though, I discovered that, while they ARE out of print, there are dealers who still have copies and can be contacted through Amazon. So I gave Barb the first book, The Sheriff's Surrender, for Christmas, and we've started it as our next "car book." (As she said, "It'll be like visiting old friends!")

As I work through the review copies in my current queue, the one presently up is the opener for a projected series about a 21-year-old female target-shooting champion who becomes a rookie sheriff's deputy, Ro's Handle (published by World Castle Publishing, which also publishes my novel, though that's just a coincidence!) by Goodreads author Dave Lager, who's a member of another of my Goodreads groups. It's particularly interesting to me, because it's set in the part of Iowa where I grew up.

Kilmeney of the orchards by Lucy M

Here's the link to the Goodreads description of the book Apoorva mentioned: Kilmeny of the Orchard. First published in 1910, it's a classic from the same author who wrote Anne of Green Gables.

Kilmeny of the Orchard is my favourite book by LMM. I remember reading it in elementary school and now have a copy of my own.
I have started reading Doctor Zhivago and know it will take a while, so I reading it slowly interspersed with other books.

Yes I loved it too . Just finished the book :) I like all Lucy's books . They take you to another world filled with hopes. 😄

Finally, I've reached the last paper book in my current queue of review copies, which I've just started on this morning. It's a nonfiction title, Who's Got Dibs on Your Kids? by Betty Pfeiffer, whom I "met" electronically in another of my Goodreads groups.

I've gotten around at last, starting this weekend, to reading the stand-alone action thriller (yes, at the age of 65, I'm finally starting to use that term in something besides a derogatory sense! :-) ) South by my Goodreads friend Lance Charnes, which has sat around in one of my mountainous TBR piles for far too long. (It's a book I purchased, not a review copy.) Both the novels by this author that I previously read earned five stars from me, so I've really been looking forward to this one and have high expectations for it!

Sounds great :) I have taken up short stories by Lucy m and also simultaneously reading the story girl 😄

I am just a wee bit older than you, Werner, I have discovered that certain horror type fiction is not too bad, as long as it of the classic variety. I have discovered the stories of Algernon Blackwood, thanks to goodreads.
I just finished Jane of Lantern Hill for the second time and loved it even more than the first time around. It is my first 5 star book of 2018.
I enjoy thrillers at times, but only if the writing is enjoyable. Enjoy your book, Werner.

My favourite story in The Story Girl involves cucumbers. It is really funny.

I don't think I have got to that part yet 😄

Here are the links to the Goodreads descriptions for Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill and The Story Girl, if anyone's interested in following those up. We have The Story Girl at the Bluefield College library.

Rosemary, I've always been a fan of supernatural fiction (I prefer that term rather than "horror," though the latter term is what the book trade usually uses), but like you, the kind I like is the more restrained classic variety, not the grisly-gory splatterpunk stuff. (I'm in the Classic Horror Lovers group here on Goodreads, so that would tell you something about my tastes!) Blackwood is actually a writer whose work I haven't read much of, but I liked "The Willows" and "The Valley of the Beasts."

I've always enjoyed both the fiction of action adventure and mysteries, some of which can involve suspense (though, like you, I insist that the writing be enjoyable and the storytelling done well). But for a long time, I've just had a disdain for the "thriller" term itself, as smacking of advertising hype. (And then too, a lot of copywriter-described "thrillers" epically fail to genuinely thrill!) But as I get older, I've learned to lighten up, and sit a bit more easily with the terminology. :-)

I have to remember that term-supernatural fiction-because that describes accurately the books I enjoy reading.

Rosemarie, you might be interested in checking out the Supernatural Fiction Readers group (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ). That is, if you don't already sometimes feel, like I do at times, that you're just about "grouped to death" as it is --I notice that you already belong to even more groups than I do! :-)

When I took advantage of a Goodreads credit, earmarked for e-books, last year to download The Hitwoman and the Family Jewels, the fourth installment of J. B. Lynn's Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series, I'd planned to read the first two novels before that one. (I've already read the third installment, which is a short e-story.) But my Internet connection temporarily went down at lunchtime today; and having gotten into the habit of eating in front of the computer, I resorted to bringing up my Kindle app, and starting this book. I'm actually familiar enough with the main character and the premise of the series that reading it out of order shouldn't be a prohibitive problem; and I expect it to be a pretty quick read.

Tomorrow, in paper format, my Goodreads friend Urs and I plan to start a two-person buddy read of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, which I expect to be an even quicker read. An "Around the World in Books" challenge in another group prompted me to add this to my to-read shelf in the first place (I wanted a book set in Denmark --forgetting, at the time, that I've already read Hamlet!), but my interest in it had been piqued for a long time before that.

How do you guys read so many books so soon ?🙈

Werner, I know what you mean by being over-grouped, but I am only really active in 3 or 4 of those groups. Five of the groups were started by a goodreads friend and are very low-key. I may just check out that group, Werner.

As to the question of how I read so many books--I don't watch TV and take a book with me if I know I am going to have to wait anywhere.

Rosemarie wrote: "Werner, I know what you mean by being over-grouped, but I am only really active in 3 or 4 of those groups."

That's about the way it is with me too, Rosemarie; I belong to some groups where I'm not very active, or where the group itself isn't very active. (Of course, in my case, I have moderator responsibilities in several groups, which keeps me more active.)

Apoorva wrote: "How do you guys read so many books so soon ?🙈"

Actually, I don't usually feel that I read many books, and certainly not as many as I'd like! :-) But I'm able to read as many as I do because I read in different settings, and can multitask: I always have a paper book I read to myself when I'm exercising on the stationary bike, but there's always another one that I'm reading aloud to my wife when we're in the car together. And sometimes I also have a book I'm reading in electronic format. (Unlike Rosemarie, I do watch some TV; but I don't watch nearly as much of it as most people do, and I don't get involved in video gaming.)

Werner, I read Number the Stars SO MANY TIMES! You'll love it.

I've just started The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

And yes, to read a lot of books, you should probably always carry a paperback in your coat pocket.

Number the Stars is a great book!

Jazzy and Rosemarie, I started it this morning, and I'm already hooked!

Rose Marie is the name of one of my guitars :)

Cool!

😄

Other than the third volume of Louis L'Amour's collected Western stories (which I've already been reading in intermittently since last year), for various reasons, since finishing my most recent paper-format book, I've been slow to permanently start on another one. That's been partly due to the fact that I've been pretty sick with (I think) the flu since Tuesday, and I'm not well yet. Often, I haven't felt like reading, and my ability to focus mentally on any prose that's very demanding has been limited. (That's why I started one book and then put it aside for a later time.)

However, since so far today I've been free of fever (crosses fingers and knocks on wood!), I've now started on a nonfiction read about paranormal phenomena, Shane Leslie's Ghost Book. My copy is actually of the 2017 reprint edition, but it's not a review copy. Instead, it was a thoughtful gift from my friend and fellow writer of supernatural fiction (though he writes better, and more prolifically, than I do!), Andrew Seddon, who knows we share an interest in the real-life investigation of the supernatural.

Started listening to Murder on the Orient Express today.

Katy wrote: "Started listening to Murder on the Orient Express today."

That is a fun classic mystery. Enjoy!

I started At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror by H.P. Lovecraft. They are suitably creepy and strangely addictive.

Both Agatha Christie and H. P. Lovecraft are among my favorite writers (though I haven't read the particular collection of Lovecraft stories you mentioned, Rosemarie --there are lots of them out there, with various overlaps of content). Murder on the Orient Express got five stars from me, and At the Mountains of Madness would have, if I'd rated it as a free-standing read. (I read it as part of the collection The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness.) Hope both of you ladies really enjoy these works!

I'm enjoying Murder on the Orient Express so far. It is only my second Agatha Christie. I'll have to try H. P. Lovecraft next.

And, Rosemarie, you have one of my favorite names. It was my mother's and is just so classically beautiful.

Thank you. I was named after my godmother, but she goes by Rosa.