Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

Will do. I'll send him the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(He and I sit across from one another in our recliners, with our laptops handy.) What a life! :)

Having wound up, in the latter part of the year, with several free review books to read, I'm gradually working through the queue. The one I've just started this morning is Living in the Spirit: Paul's Timeless Message to Christians, by my Goodreads friend Ron Andrea. It's a simply written, short exposition of the Apostle Paul's message in the Epistle to the Romans.

Werner, here is a book in a similar genre which I've saved for many years and will show my new grandchild on Christmas:

The First Christmas (Leap frog lift-a-flap) Board book – 1996

http://www.amazon.com/first-Christmas...

The First Christmas

PS-It's a small book. Dimensions: 3.8 x 3.6 x 0.7 inches (i.e., less than 4 inches square)

Thanks for the links, Joy. Ron's book is actually aimed at grown-up readers; but I'm sure this board book will be something your new grandchild will enjoy! I forget --is the little one a boy or a girl?

Werner. She's a little girl and she seems to have a delightful disposition. She'll be a year old next February and is almost walking.

That's great, Joy! Enjoy your time with her --they grow up fast.

I found Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World by Mark Frauenfelder in my library's audio book selection. I thought it would be interesting & it sure was. It was great to see what he discovered by trying to learn some DIY. It's more than just being handy, it's an entirely new way of looking at the world. I gave the book 4 stars in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim, your review makes some interesting points. I'm tempted to look at that book!

This week Golden Globes nominees were announced. "Unbroken" was ignored.
http://www.goldenglobes.com/2015_72nd...
"The 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards" will be on TV live on Sunday, January 11, 2015.

Jim wrote: "Show Eddie my review, please. I'd be interested in what he thinks."

Ed read your review of Cruises with Kathleen. He noted that it was more about the author than about the book. I have no problem with that.

It was more about the author. In this case, there's not much to say about the book because it is what it says it is. The author is what makes it &, if a person likes his practical style, they'll probably like his other books. If Eddie likes westerns or spy-thrillers, he'll probably like any of Hamilton's fiction books.

I'll keep Donald Hamilton in mind for Eddie. Thanks. Here's his page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
It says: "He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993)" ... "The Matt Helm series, published by Gold Medal Books, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books, ending in 1993 with The Damagers, was more substantial."

PS-Unfortunately, I can't find any books by Donald Hamilton in our library catalog.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised. Donald Hamilton is, in my opinion, one of the most unappreciated authors. His westerns are great, much like Elmore Leonard's, better than Louis L'Amour, IMO. The Big Country was based on one of his short stories & he did others every bit as good, but they're close to impossible to find even though many were in the Saturday Evening Post & other big magazines.

I think I have everything he wrote, but I paid $15 or $20 for one old paperback on its last read earlier this year. I've also scoured the Internet & downloaded scanned articles & stories. Some apparently weren't legal as they've since disappeared. (I HATE publishers that keep me from reading hard-to or impossible to find works due to draconian copyright laws.)

His action, spy thrillers were excellent & weren't limited to Matt Helm, although most were very similar. He got a lot of bad press from the stupid Matt Helm movies that Dean Martin starred in, though. The producers decided they couldn't match the James Bond movies, so they tried to make them into comedies. Didn't work.

I'll happily update his author profile here in another year or two. In the late 90's or early 00's, Hamilton wrote the final, 28th Matt Helm novel, but no one wanted to publish it since it had been so long since his last one. The first book in the series hadn't been republished in decades, either. Then he died. A couple of years ago his son found a publisher to reprint them. They're doing so now & are somewhere in the teens. In 2016 or early 2017, they're supposed to finally print the last one. I'm really looking forward to it even though the last couple of books weren't as good as his early ones.

It's a shame that Donald Hamilton isn't appreciated enough. At least he's appreciated by some readers, like you, Jim.

Having read four of Hamilton's spy thrillers and rated none of them with any less than three stars (two of them earned four from me), I officially count myself as a fan. (I've never read any of his Westerns, but I'd like to; I have his Texas Fever on my BookMooch wishlist.) Here are the links to my reviews, Joy, if you or Ed are interested:
Death of a Citizen, www.goodreads.com/review/show/87476145
Murderers' Row, www.goodreads.com/review/show/87476198
The Shadowers, www.goodreads.com/review/show/87476258
The Steel Mirror, www.goodreads.com/review/show/87476392

Death of a Citizen is the first Matt Helm novel, as you noted above, and the next two titles listed are part of the same series. (Within this trio, I read them in chronological order, but there are a lot of unlisted intervening series installments that I missed!) The Steel Mirror is a stand-alone with a different protagonist, but in the same general mold. Since you're a James Bond fan, you might like these (but Helm is no Bond clone!).

Confession: I sent half my Christmas cards by email and guess I can plead guilty and use my age as an excuse. It was a spur of the moment decision when I viewed a scene that seemed perfect for the season and now my other snail cards are completed and mailed. Whee! But, my house is decorated in the traditional style with a creche made by my husband over fifty years ago. So, I am still an old fashioned gal at heart. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all of you.

Merry Christmas to you too, Nina!

Werner, thanks for the links to your reviews. I'll check them out.

Nina, times have changed and there's nothing wrong with changing along with them as long as no harm is done. I guess we're all a little bit old-fashioned and a little bit "modern" too.

Merry Christmas to all!

I only gave 3 stars to The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card, but it was a close call for 4 stars. If the male characters had been as good as the females or the story had been a bit leaner, I certainly would have. One of the best magical-mythical systems I've ever read. It explains all our myths & religions in a really cool way. Huge worlds, so this is the first of a series, but ended well & logically. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Good to know, Jim. I have it on my To Buy list.

Jim wrote: "I only gave 3 stars to The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card, but it was a close call for 4 stars. If the male characters had been as good as the females or the story had b..."

Jim, I enjoyed Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game as an audiobook. I'll keep The Lost Gate in mind.

I recently read Speaker for the Dead https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7..., the next in the Ender's Game series. It was so different than EG and so much better. You might want to give it a try, Joy, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.

Thanks, Jackie, I'll keep that book in mind. I see that they offer an audio preview at the book's page: Speaker for the Dead

I haven't had much luck lately with books that make me want to read them. I'm going for a YA book now, they're usually fun if nothing else. Magyk. I have the first 3 in the series.

Lots of comments about the book, "Unbroken." It's on my Kindle but haven't read it yet. Seems there was a strong connection between the protagonist and Billy Graham.

Nina, I haven't gotten very far into Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption yet. I'm reading it online in an Amazon Cloud.

Jackie, I wouldn't say that Any Human Heart is "fun" but somehow the movie adaptation has got me hooked. I just finished streaming the first 3 episodes via Amazon Prime on my TV. I'll be viewing the 4th and last episode in a little while. Very unusual movie.

For "fun", I'm reading Backstage at the Tonight Show: From Johnny Carson to Jay Leno which I borrowed from the local library.

I saw Any Human Heart when it aired. I don't remember much about it now.

Magyk is fun, like Harry Potter type fun.

Jackie, the film based on the book, Any Human Heart, is actually a sad story, but it still held my attention because of the unusual way the movie was presented and the unusual way the story was told by the author.

According to Wiki, the book begins with a quotation from Henry James:

"Never say you know the last word about any human heart." ―Henry James
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Huma...

PS-I'm going to take a look at Magyk. I could use a little fun. :)

If you aren't tired of WWII movies I saw an interesting one last night/good acting/"36 hours."

Nina, here's the IMDb link for "36 Hours":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057809/?...

You might want to get it on Netflix.

I no longer get Netflix, Nina.

PS-I am borrowing from our local library.

An odd read for me, Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson is about a week long camp for cripples set in 1970 & told from the point of view of a teenage girl with CP. I gave it 5 stars, highly recommend it, & reviewed it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim, thanks for the interesting review of Accidents of Nature, which raises our awareness of this issue. The Goodreads page says that the book is: "An unforgettable coming-of-age novel about what it's like to live with a physical disability."

Reminds me of the books and work by Temple Grandin about her autism. Below is a link to some of her work listed in my books:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

PS - It also reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
The story is written from the perspective of a 15 year old British boy who has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

In these types of books we get new perspectives and, hopefully, new understandings.

Earlier today, I started reading Ring of Time, a collection of stories about a time-traveling 27th-century historian, using newly developed technology to visit and study the ancient Roman Empire. The author, Andrew Seddon (who gave me my copy), is a longtime Internet friend of mine, both on Goodreads and off. I've beta read most of the stories; but it's been awhile since then, and a couple of them I haven't, so I'm reading the whole thing cover to cover.

I am not receiving these messages unless I go to "unread." I have reported to Goodreads but received no answer.

Nina, if it's any encouragement, Goodreads typically doesn't reply to individual reports (or at least not very quickly), but they are pretty good about trying to address the problem --especially if it's reported by numbers of people. In this case, it probably is, since problems with the notifications usually affect a lot of Goodreads users at once (although I haven't had any problems with mine this time). So they'll probably have your notifications restored fairly soon!

Werner wrote: "Earlier today, I started reading Ring of Time, a collection of stories about a time-traveling 27th-century historian, using newly developed technology to visit and study the ancient..."

Werner, I see that one of the GR reviewers said: "Professor Cragg [a character in the book] has the ability to go back to any time and place he sees fit in Seddon's engaging novel, Ring of Time. Obviously a person who has a passion for history, he makes the past come alive with characters we truly care about, even though their fates have been known for over 2,000 years."

Sounds interesting, Werner!

Werner, thanks for answering Nina's post. It was a good answer. Hope her problem will be solved soon.

Joy wrote: "Sounds interesting, Werner!" Joy, based on the beta reading I've already done, it definitely is! I think this may prove to be Andrew's masterpiece.

I've been in Nina's situation before with Goodreads notifications, so sort of know what to expect. I'm also hoping they'll get things straightened up quickly!

Werner wrote: "Joy, based on the beta reading I've already done, it definitely is! I think this may prove to be Andrew's masterpiece...."

Congrats to Andrew Seddon! Here's his page.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Thanks for the link, Joy!

I did get an answer saying they would be in touch. Strange that I keep getting messages that my email needs to be verified and I have verified it about six times. Also, I get the update notices; just not the daily messages. Oh well, cold and weary from shopping in crowds today but home safe and warm.

Stay warm and rest, Nina!

Still not receiving daily goodread messages. Something is blocking them. I get the updates with my email address so this doesn't make any sense. Just sent a message to Juno so see if they are causing the problem so we'll see. In the meantime admist crowds all day and glad to be back warm and safe. Take Care during this season nina

Sorry you are having a problem with the notices, Nina.