Short & Sweet Treats discussion

@Julia, I would love to hear what you think if the two you are reading. They are both books I own but haven't started yet.

Patchett owns a small bookstore in town where I live. Great store with a lot of awesome author events always going on. It's called Parnassus Books.
http://www.parnassusbooks.net

Jessica wrote: "@Julia, I would love to hear what you think if the two you are reading. They are both books I own but haven't started yet.

Patchett owns a small bookstore in town where I live. Great store with a..."

How great that you're in the town with Patchett's bookstore! Thanks for the link--I'm leading a library book discussion on State of Wonder in September, and I'll certainly share that site with them :-)

I'll post my reviews when I'm finished with the two--right now I'm nearly finished with the Patchett book, which is a bit (understatement) far-fetched in terms of the science but has some fascinating descriptions.

I've read The Round House by Erdrich, and understand that it's a sequel to The Plague of Doves, so I'm looking forward to finding the roots of the story. She and Joy Harjo are my favorite Native American writers.

I've been excited to learn that Erdrich has won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize’s distinguished achievement award: http://www.news1130.com/2014/08/17/lo... The article says:

"Erdrich said peace depends on clean water and clean energy for everyone. 'By allowing fossil fuel corporations to control earth’s climate and toxify pure water, we are visiting wars of scarcity upon our children, our generations,' she said in the statement. 'Indigenous people are in the front lines because our lands are remote, vulnerable, and often energy rich.'

Erdrich, who will receive the award Nov. 9 in Dayton, told the AP through email that she is honored to receive a prize that celebrates authors who write forcefully about the effects of violence. 'The prize sends a strong political signal, more crucial than ever at this historical moment when we are seeing, day by day, the horrific violence children suffer in war,' she wrote.

Previous winners include Studs Terkel, Elie Wiesel and Wendell Berry.

Greg wrote: "I enjoyed them Julia & Jen, all good books! :) I knew I'd like most of them, but I've very pleasantly surprised by Pale Fire, so clever and funny!

I finished A Room of One's Own..."</i>

Greg,
As I just finished [book:The Red Queen, excellent book by the way, I'll start The Penelopiad this evening.

Great Jen! I'll start The Penelopiad shortly :)

Sounds good! I'm glad you posted the message, I was going to read Positron, Episodes 1 - 3 instead of The Penelopiad!

@Julia, I used to love Joy Harjo! I remember going to poetry readings back when I lived in Tuscon, and I saw another native American poet Linda Hogan once; I think I saw Harjo once too. I read several of their books. I even bought a CD of Joy Harjo's band (experimental spoken word stuff), but to be honest I prefer the books without the peculiar instrumentation.

I also find McCall Smith very light and entertaining! I've read several by him myself, mostly from the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

The series is delightful Jaime Lynn! I've read an embarrassing number of them. Probably best to read them in order, but my favorite so far is Morality for Beautiful Girls.

I just got through reading Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars which is a collection of most of Ray Bradbury's essays.

Over and over again, he mentions and dwells on an experience he had writing the screenplay adaptation of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. He talks about it for decades, so it obviously had a huge impact on him. But I don't really recall any "Moby Dickish" stories other than "Leviathan 99". "The Foghorn" would be a candidate, but that's actually the story that landed him the screenplay job.

But, I've never actually read Moby Dick, so perhaps I just didn't recognize it when I saw it. Can any of you other Bradbury fans recall seeing any Melvillish moments in Bradbury's work? I'm kind of curious now.

Reading two books at the moment: Outlander and The Hundred-Foot Journey.

Here's my review of The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm trucking through Tigana at the moment. Aaannd it's just not living up to my expectations. The writing, unlikable characters, and extremely predictable plot are sucking the life out of my book adventure.

I am over halfway through the book and just don't want to give up at this point. I just need to see it through.

I can't wait to start The Book Thief with Jessica! I've heard great things about this book. :)

I've always enjoyed the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes, so I decided to give a try to her Emma Graham series, and I'm really enjoying Hotel Paradise right now.

The series consists of Hotel Paradise / Cold Flat Junction / Belle Ruin, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with her 12 year old protagonist :-)

I just finished "Wonder" recently. it was so good. such a quick read. I adored ghe characters. It got me out of my reading slump!

Been away from here a little while. Here's what I've been up to ...

September Reads:
The Carrier of Ladders by W.S. Merwin (poetry, re-read)
Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (poetry, re-read)
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (fiction)
Animal Farm by George Orwell (fiction, re-read)

October Reads:
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin (fairy tale)
My Alexandria by Mark Doty (poetry)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (fiction)
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (fiction)

November Reads so far:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (fiction, re-read)

Currently Reading:
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (fiction, re-read)

Hi Greg! I'm glad to have you back and I hope all is well!

Everything is good Laura. I was just busy but mostly in a good way!

Great to "see" you here again, Greg--what a reading list! The Goldfinch took me three weeks all by itself, what with looking up all the art references :-)

Yes Julia, The Goldfinch was a very long book! It was so beautifully written though, and parts were extraordinarily moving. What Theo went through as a child and adolescent broke my heart! Tartt is a talented writer for sure, but it will be a little while before I read another 800 page book! All of the references to visual arts (and in fact the references to other books) were also fascinating as you say!

Greg wrote: "Yes Julia, The Goldfinch was a very long book! It was so beautifully written though, and parts were extraordinarily moving. What Theo went through as a child and adolescent broke my..."

I agree, Greg--so glad I read the Tartt book. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... That quotation from p. 771 is worth the whole book to me:

p. 771:
"Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time....For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time--so has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next."

I just finished The Book Thief. What an amazing story. That will stick with me for the rest of my life. Loved it!

I will be finishing up At the Mountains of Madness later today. I am having a really hard time deciding what to read next, though. hmmmm.

I am readingMisery by Stephen King. For those who have seen the movie, I promise you, the book is more gruesome.

Finished reading Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene and The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch.

The Greene one was entertaining and well worth reading - a satire of Cold War antics in Cuba. I quite liked it (4 stars).

The other one was just ok (just a typical thriller). I read it because it was set in 1600s Germany, and that intrigued me. The setting was a little disappointing though - the book didn't really have a 1600s feel for me.

Now I'm in the middle of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (for the group read) as well as Horns by Joe Hill. Some Goodreads friends had recommended Horns and peaked my interest, but to be honest, half the reason I picked it up was the haunting horned Radcliffe picture on the cover that caught my eye. So far, it's actually quite well written and has an original feel that I like, but I'm a little worried it might be too cynical for me. We'll see.

Carla wrote: "I just read The Hunger Games, and now beginning The Tale of Atlantis. I've heard only good things about the tale of atlantis, so moved it up from my TBR list."

Looks interesting. Let us know how you like it, Carla!

I am slowly making progress in The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing. Nothing to do with the book, as the first 31 pages I read were wonderfully written, but I keep getting sidetracked with other things and other books I am reading. It probably will end up being a January book read at this point, lol! :)

Lisa wrote: "I am slowly making progress in The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing. Nothing to do with the book, as the first 31 pages I read were wonderfully written, but I keep getting sidetracked..."

I have done that with books before. Tigana was the most recent. I started it back in October and still haven't finished it. My problem is I didn't really care for the book/writing though.

I am almost done with Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. I am loving this book. Watching Strayed's growth and strength (mentally and physically and emotionally) grown while on her trek is truly inspiring. It is so blunt and honest...Like a brutal and gritty kind of honesty that leaves one wanting to conquer something.
When I finish I will be reading The Last Unicorn picked by a TBR partner in another group. And I will be listening to the first Mistborn: The Final Empire for a buddy read.

I am switching between two books currently. I have been reading the harry potter books by J K Rowling. I am currently on The Prisoner Of Azkaban but have stopped to read another book which I won in a giveaway on here. The book is called Ridley Road by Jo Bloom and the official release date is December 31 2015. It has been boring in to me, longing to be read from the corner of the room since it came in to my possession. I was hooked from the first page.

Jessica wrote: "I just finished The Book Thief. What an amazing story. That will stick with me for the rest of my life. Loved it!

I will be finishing up At the Mountains of Madness later..."

If you have not already watched it, the movie version of The Book Thief was quite well done. The casting of the characters was spot-on (in my opinion though).

I've read quite a bit in the past few weeks - here goes my catch-up post:

First, I finished Horns by Joe Hill which I was quite conflicted about. Very well crafted but definitely not a book for everyone. It ended up 4 stars. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

After that I read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald, an interesting short story which I've already commented on enough in the group read threads.

Then, The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, which was entertaining but not up to the level of his best plays (such as Tartuffe)

Then, A Brave and Startling Truth, a satisfying poem by Maya Angelou that was originally delivered on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UN.

Then, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a buddy read with my nephew. For me not quite as good as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but surprisingly entertaining regardless.

Finally, I read The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. This book was exceptional (5 stars). Hopefully I'll write a review, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Right at this moment, I'm reading two books and loving both: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Atonement by Ian McEwan. I sense some more 5 star ratings in my near future. :)

Neil Gaiman's & Terry Pratchett's Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, and L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth, and I need to pick up the next volume of Saga, Volume 2.


♥,
Cat at Galaxy Press

currently reading The Hobbit :) and I noticed that J. R. R. Tolkien's writing style is somewhat like C. S. Lewis'.

Jem wrote: "currently reading The Hobbit :) and I noticed that J. R. R. Tolkien's writing style is somewhat like C. S. Lewis'."

Actually, that's a good point. I never compared the two before.


♥,
Cat at Galaxy Press

Thank you Cat! :) whenever I read I always give extra attention to the writing style of the author.

I'm starting The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas. I have my sticky notes and notebook ready, since I'm pretty sure this will ask the same attentive reading that was needed for The Goldfinch!

Mitchell's goodreads interview is very interesting: https://www.goodreads.com/interviews/...

I'm reading David Mitchell's Bone Clocks and really enjoying it.

Finished The Graveyard Book (4.25 stars).

Now reading The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen and The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.

I finished The Snow Queen yesterday on audible. Fun story!

Listening to Mistborn: The Last Empire and reading Hiroshima. I'm glad it worked out to be reading something in fantasy in conjunction with Hiroshima because it's a rough one...worth it but wow!

I finished The Snow Queen yesterday on audible. Fun story!

Listening to Mistborn: The Last Empire and reading Hiroshima. I'm glad it worked out to be reading something in fantasy in conjunction with Hiroshima because it's a rough one...worth it but wow!

Do you mean Hiroshima by John Hersey Jessica? Very powerful but also hard to take, so moving.

Yes. I'm almost halfway and I agree it is powerful. If this book had a voice, it would yell and be heard around the world forever. I am
Not sure how to say I am liking it. Because it's not enjoyable...it's painful to read. Saying I like it leaves me feeling guilty too. It's something everyone should read though.

I agree Jessica - I felt similarly when I read it.

I just finished A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld, a powerful graphic novel that interweaves the true stories of 7 separate people who survived Hurricane Katrina, beginning before the storm and continuing through the aftermath. I highly recommend it!

My review (4 stars): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Good review, Greg--thanks for posting about this. I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that this August will mark 10 years since Katrina--perception of time really does speed up as I get older.

Katrina does seem like a short time ago!

Greg - regarding the convention center, I talked to a guy who lived through it... He said that it was MUCH, MUCH worse inside than it was portrayed on TV at the time - though he didn't want to discuss it in detail and I didn't want to pry. But he refuses to go back at all - not even to visit his son.

We have a lot of native Louisianans in town. We're the closest big city and a lot of people evacuated here. Between the two hurricanes we had around a quarter million refugees at one point. A little over 100,000 stayed.

Yes Melanti and Julia, it doesn't feel like 10 years for me either. It must've been quite an experience with the refugees.

I had an opportunity to talk to some people who lived through Katrina as well, though they hadn't been at the convention center. I went back to the area with a group working on repairing a house and getting a day care center back in shape to open. We went about a year after the storm hit. Still, areas of New Orleans and Mississippi looked like a disaster. I'll never forget some of the stories I heard.

In particular, after working on the day care center, the director took us on a van ride through the area with a survivor, an elderly woman. We picked her up from her FEMA trailer, and we drove around. Such an amazingly strong woman! It was an absolute gift to meet her. I'll never forget her. And the stories she told us turned my blood to ice. I'd had no idea how bad it really was. I knew it was bad, but at least in certain areas it was much worse than I'd thought, as you say much, much worse.

Anyway, as a graphic novel, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge can't go into as many stories or as much detail as a traditional novel. Its space for words is limited. But what it manages to get across in that limited space is harrowing.

you do such wonderful things for humanity, Greg. We need more people like you in this world!

Thanks so much Laura! :D

But to be truthful, most of the time I'm fairly lazy. You're only hearing about the good things! :) Since I don't have kids, I have some extra time once in a while to do a thing or two.

Raising kids is loads more work, and there's no days off from that when you feel like you need a break!

I'm reading Walk Two Moons with my son. It's his assigned reading for English class. But I like reading with him so that we can discuss this story and I can help as he works through the various assignments.

I am currently reading Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey :)

I am nearly 70% finished reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed and am having mixed feelings about it. Perhaps the author/main character comes across in a more likable manner within the movie version starring Reese Witherspoon.