September Book Thread

[KristiB]

I'm in the middle of Free Food For Millionaires by Min Jin Lee.

It got a rave review on NPR and I'm trying to figure out why.

It's ok not great. It focuses the children of Korean immigrants, and old ways vs new ways blah blah blah. I feel the theme has been done so many times before with about every other culture.

The main character isn't very sympathetic to me. She's a petulant brat. The book also has a "soap" quality to it with everyone zoomin' everybody else.

I'll finish it only because I'm 440 pages into it and am curious about one of the subplots :D

[armel]

The book also has a "soap" quality to it with everyone zoomin' everybody else.

Ok, so I am apparently not up on the lingo. zoomin'?

[kcmo727]

I just finished a short story collection by Jennifer Weiner, called The Guy Not Taken, which was decent. Some stories were enjoyable, others were dull. I also checked out Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. She wrote Prep, which is one of my favorite books. This was book was her follow up but I found it unreadable.

Not sure which book will be next for me. I have been meaning to read The Kite Runner before the movie comes out, so maybe that one. I would also like to re-read Atonement before that movie comes out. I liked it the first time around.

[Denise]

I just finished Stealing Buddha's Dinner a memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen. She is a Vietnamese refugee who came to America as a very little girl with her father and sister. It was a fascinating take on the immigrant experience, she never felt Vietnamese or American and was actually raised mostly by her Mexican American stepmother. She tells the story of her childhood wrapped around her memories of food, American, Vietnamese, and Mexican. I felt like I had made a new friend by the time I finished reading.

[KristiB]

Ok, so I am apparently not up on the lingo. zoomin'?

Sleeping with. :)

[SueK]

Right now I'm reading Nefertiti. Here's a description off of Amazon:

This fictionalized life of the notorious queen is told from the point of view of her younger sister, Mutnodjmet. In 1351 B.C., Prince Amunhotep secretly kills his older brother and becomes next in line to Egypt's throne: he's 17, and the 15-year-old Nefertiti soon becomes his chief wife. He already has a wife, but Kiya's blood is not as royal, nor is she as bewitching as Nefertiti. As Mutnodjmet, two years younger than her sister, looks on (and falls in love), Amunhotep and the equally ambitious Nefertiti worship a different main god, displace the priests who control Egypt's wealth and begin building a city that boasts the royal likenesses chiseled in stone. Things get tense when Kiya has sons and the popular Nefertiti has only daughters, and they come to a boil when the army is used to build temples to the pharaoh and his queen instead of protecting Egypt's borders.

That makes it sound kind of dry, but it's been a great read so far. I'm almost done with it and am racing through it.

After I finish this one, I have about 7 on reserve at the library, so hopefully one of them will be ready for me soon. I go nuts when I don't have a book to read! :)

[KristiB]

OK I picked up Free Food for Millionaires again and decided not to finish it.

So now it's on to The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty by Julia Flynne Siler

It got good reviews so I hope it doesn't suck.

Amazon description:

Set in California’s lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corp.’s twenty-first-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, award-winning journalist Julia Flynn brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama.

The blood feuds are as spectacular as the business triumphs. Cesare’s sons, Robert and Peter, literally came to blows in the 1960s during a dispute touched off by the purchase of a mink coat, resulting in Robert’s exile from the family—and his subsequent founding of a winery that would set off a revolution in American winemaking. Robert’s sons, Michael and Timothy, as passionate in their own ways as their visionary father, waged battle with each other for control of the company before Michael’s expansive ambitions ultimately led to a board coup and the sale of the business to an international conglomerate.

A meticulously reported narrative based on thousands of hours of interviews, The House of Mondavi is bound to become a classic.

[LakeMartinGal]

I've just finished The Thrall's Tale, by Judith Lindeburgh for book club. It was my selection, based on the blurb, but it was difficult to read -- think Shakespearean-type language. Once you got the hang of it, the story was enthralling (no pun intended) because it was based on Norse mythology. It's the story of a slave (thrall) in Iceland/Greenland, and her difficult life at the time when Christianity was coming to them. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, by far, but not the worst, either.

[SDMomChef]

I just started reading Summer People by Brian Groh. I picked it up on a whim from Target. Here is a description from Barnes & Noble:

A tremendously appealing and mordantly funny novel about friendship, compassion, and social privilege, Summer People tells the story of Nathan Empson, a young college dropout and aspiring graphic novelist who has just accepted the most unusual job of his life.

In exchange for serving as a summer "caretaker" for Ellen Broderick, the eccentric matriarch of Brightonfield Cove, Maine, Nathan will earn a generous salary and gain access to one of the last bastions of old New England wealth—an exclusive coastal community the likes of which he has never known.

It seems at first like easy money: accompanying Ellen to the immaculate Alnombak Golf and Tennis Club, or joining her for an evening of cocktails and conversation at a neighbor's mansion overlooking the anchored yachts of Albans Bay. But not everyone in the community is welcoming—or even civil—to someone they regard as an interloper. So Nathan finds solace in the companionship of a philosophical, ex-punk Episcopalian pastor, and the alluring nanny of the pastor's children, a feisty, dark-eyed beauty named Leah.

Nathan invites Leah for walks and late-night picnics on the beach, yet as his relationship with her deepens, he finds it difficult to ignore his employer's unexpectedly unnerving behavior. With each escalating mishap, a new aspect of Ellen's colorful past comes to light, exposing the secret lives of her old friends, flames, and enemies, as well as the story behind a scandalous incident Nathan must prevent her from repeating—however inept his efforts may be.

In this big-hearted, immensely satisfying debut novel, Nathan must contend with competitors for Leah's affection and with an increasingsuspicion that Ellen needs more help than he can provide. But sounding the alarm over Ellen's condition would mean leaving her beachside home, his summer job, and the romance that may well change his life.

[EllenL]

SDMomChef, Summer People sounds good---think I'll read it soon.

KristiB---I've been looking forward forward to Free Food for Millionaires since I love Asian-American stuff, but this doesn't sound too promising if you didn't finish it! I think I'll still try it since I borrow books from the library rather than buying them, but I won't expect it to live up to its hype.

I just finished Black and White by Dani Shapiro. I liked it and found it fairly fast reading, even though it's well-written and considered a somewhat literary novel. It's about a 30 something woman who has been somewhat estranged from her mother but comes to be with her as she is dying. Reason for the estrangement: daughter feels used because mom was a famous photographer who took nude photos of the daughter (not pornographic---but the daughter resented being photographed in this way from toddlerhood to teenage years). The story revolves around how she comes to terms with her resentment and feeling exposed/used. Kind of interesting, even though I had read another novel with a similar plot (both of which are loosely placed on a photographer IRL, Sally Mann, who has been criticized for taking nude photos of her children).

Before that, I read The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. I usually love her stuff. This was okay, kind of slow going at first (500+ pages). It's about a few decades in the life of a woman whose parents came to the US from Germany during the thirties to escape Hitler (although in the US they would not admit to being Jewish). Father could only get work as a gravedigger, which led to an unsual lifestyle and some psychological ramifications. Abusive father led to abusive relationships with men. Probably wordier and longer than it needed to be, but still interesting.

[KristiB]

SDMomChef, Summer People sounds good---think I'll read it soon.

KristiB---I've been looking forward forward to Free Food for Millionaires since I love Asian-American stuff, but this doesn't sound too promising if you didn't finish it! I think I'll still try it since I borrow books from the library rather than buying them, but I won't expect it to live up to its hype.



I did pick it up last night and speed read to the end. :)

The first half of the book is good. The first chapter will totally suck you in and you'll wonder what the heck I was talking about.

But for me it lost steam about half way through.

I'd read another book by the author given this was her debut.

Let me know what you think?

[wwhirledpeas]

At the recommendation of this group I read The Girl With the Pearl Earrings. I am so glad I did. I was completely drawn in – enjoyed every minute. It was so refreshing to have read a story that was complete with the words “The End.”

Currently I am listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini while doing handwork. In retrospect, it might not have been a wise choice for listening, rather than reading. The unusual names allow for easy confusion. I have had to back up and re-listen to sections several times when I have been lost, which is harder to do than being able to skim back a few pages if I were visually reading. I don’t mind though for the story is beyond powerful – the characters and customs so interesting – the author’s words so poetic. Thank you all that have recommended this so highly over the past several months.

This week I was enticed away when Patti Boyd’s Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me was released. I have finished it already. I don’t know what I think yet – I am still mulling it over.

The greater part of her story is superficial in that a lot of the book was “we went here and had fun, then we went there and had fun.” Yoko was mentioned once in passing. Jane Asher was only mentioned as a companion of Paul. I was expecting a bit more inside details of the lives that I watched intensely as a preteen. The other mournful part – man… she ruined some of my favorite songs by telling me why they were written and who and what they were written about. It was also interesting in that I was not aware that her sisters were also involved with famous musicians and that lifestyle.

Maybe I am holding my opinion till Eric’s book comes out in October.

[LakeMartinGal]

Before that, I read The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. I usually love her stuff. Have you read The Falls by this author? I hadn't read any of her stuff for a while, and I forgot how 'dark' she is -- She is supposed to be one of the 'better' authors, meaning not mind-candy fluff, but I find her stuff way too depressing for me!:(

[EllenL]

Yes, Kay, I did read The Falls and liked it better than this latest one. Her stuff is definitely dark and not at all uplifting. Now that you mention it, maybe it's time for me to read a book that won't be depressing! Any suggestions?

[beckms]

I'm slogging through The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. I'm trying to start a book club, and this is the first book we chose, but I could not care less about these characters! Maybe that's the point, but I want to strangle each one. And I really like Messud's writing style, it's almost like poetry. I've never read other books by her, we'll see if the ending of this one inspires me to try another.

In the car, I'm listening to Memoirs of a Geisha. I had tried to pick this up in book form over the summer and never got into it, but now I have a 30-min commute that allowed me more time to spend with it. I'm about halfway in, and I'm really enjoying it now.

Before Memoirs, I listened to Saturday by Ian McEwan. I enjoyed it, but thought it could have ended right after the climax. I look forward to reading Atonement, since people tend to like it better than Saturday.

Before that, I listened to part of Rosemary's Baby, which I got because I thought it was something else (Muriel's wedding, perhaps?)...Horrible! Terrible! I couldn't make myself listen to it after about halfway in. I don't recommend this.

[LakeMartinGal]

Yes, Kay, I did read The Falls and liked it better than this latest one. Her stuff is definitely dark and not at all uplifting. Now that you mention it, maybe it's time for me to read a book that won't be depressing! Any suggestions?Have you read Molokai'i by Allen Brennert? It's about the leper colony, following 1 girl from childhood to adulthood... you'll cry in every chapter, if you're like me, but it is really an uplifting book!;)

[KristiB]

Have you read Molokai'i by Allen Brennert? It's about the leper colony, following 1 girl from childhood to adulthood... you'll cry in every chapter, if you're like me, but it is really an uplifting book!;)

HA! I bought Molokai'i last week! It's my next read!

beckms-Phoenix needs book clubs!

[beckms]

HA! I bought Molokai'i last week! It's my next read!

beckms-Phoenix needs book clubs!

Well at the rate I'm going with my self-started book club, and me not even being able to finish the first book, I don't know...:o

Kristi, I work in Cave Creek! I'll wave next time I'm driving down the Carefree Highway.:cool:

[EllenL]

Beckms, I agree with your take on The Emperor's Children. I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters and only got through a few pages. I was disappointed since it got such glowing reviews.

Kay, Molaka'i is now on my book list. Sounds interesting!

[eas11]

Currently I am listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini while doing handwork. In retrospect, it might not have been a wise choice for listening, rather than reading. The unusual names allow for easy confusion. I have had to back up and re-listen to sections several times when I have been lost, which is harder to do than being able to skim back a few pages if I were visually reading. I don’t mind though for the story is beyond powerful – the characters and customs so interesting – the author’s words so poetic. Thank you all that have recommended this so highly over the past several months.



I actually loved listening to this book. I thought the reader was excellent, and did a wonderful job bringing these rich characters and the setting alive. I do know what you mean about the names- took me some initial intense listening to sort it all out. What a womderful book!

I am currently reading A Death in the Family by Agee, it's the pick for my book club this month. I've never read this classic before.

I just finished The Friday Night Knitting Club, which was fun for the knitting and sisterhood aspects of it, but otherwise, EH...
Also recently finished were The Boy with the Thorn in His Side by Fleming and The Art of Mending by Berg. I enjoyed reading each one and think there has been mention of both here before.

[Chefzhat]

I just finished Stealing Buddha's Dinner a memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen. She is a Vietnamese refugee who came to America as a very little girl with her father and sister. It was a fascinating take on the immigrant experience, she never felt Vietnamese or American and was actually raised mostly by her Mexican American stepmother. She tells the story of her childhood wrapped around her memories of food, American, Vietnamese, and Mexican. I felt like I had made a new friend by the time I finished reading.

I loved this book! The story is about her life here in my city so a lot of the descriptions, restaurants, etc. are very familiar. She lived in my neighborhood!

I am just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver. This is a fabulous book and is full of helpful websites, recipes, little side stories, etc. about their year of "eating local". Loved it.

Next I'm starting HP#7 (I know, I know - I'm the last one to read it :) ). I also have a couple of real estate books/flip that house books to go through, as well as a local history book to begin.

Debie

[RecipeGirl]

Just finished, "Kabul Beauty School." Liked it a lot. Didn't feel like the author was an excellent writer as it was a non-fictional account of her experience in Kabul and she isn't a writer by trade. But if you can look beyond that, it was an interesting read.

The book is about a woman who goes over to Kabul with a group of people (pre and post 9/11) to help. She ends up teaching women over there how to do all of the beauty stuff so they can have their own professions and make money for their family. Beauty salons in Kabul charge a pretty penny for their services, so the graduates do well.

It's interesting to learn about the roles of women there... SOOO different than anything that we're used to. Life there seems so primitive compared to our modern conveniences.

Good book though- I recommend.

[grillmaster]

I recently finished "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. It's an absolutely fantastic read. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one day (night). Boy was I tired the next day, but it was completely worth it.

It toggles back and forth between present day and the past through an old man's memories of working for the circus. It's really worth the time.

Here's an Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565125606/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5920436-8594857?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188876104&sr=8-1

Also, I have yet to read it, but I'm looking forward to the latest book by the author of "The Kite Runner," Khaled Hosseini. It's called "A Thousand Splendid Suns" I think.

D

[EllenL]

Finished Consequences by Penelope Lively. Well written British novel about a young woman during WWII---then switches to her daughter---and finally the daughter's daughter, so it spans a number of decades. No involved plot; just about their lives and the consequences of the decisions they make/fate (how one thing or chance encounter can lead to something else...)

[Rae]

I almost finished Plenty : one man, one woman, and a raucous year of eating locally last night. I wouldn't say it's a ground breaking new book, in fact this ground has been pretty well covered lately, but I am finding it interesting. What is interesting to me is that this couple lives in Canada and write about their particular geographical challenges finding local food. I also think the local eating is a little more of a challenge to them because they are vegetarians, though they do eat fish, shellfish, etc.

While Barbara Kingsolver's book was mostly about growing what they were going to eat, Plenty is more about foraging and seeking out local resources. They do raise some interesting questions and I would recommend the book if you'd like to read more on local eat experiments.

[MKSquared]

I was also late on the Water for Elephants bus, but I LOVED it. The other books I finished on my trip were How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls and Getting Married. Neither of those qualify as great literature, but decently fun reads, nonetheless.

I'm currently in the middle of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. It's kind of got a mystical feel to it, and the style is very similar to the author's earlier book The Man Who Ate the 747.

Waiting to be read is The United States of Arugula, which basically looks at the transformation of America from burger-eating junkies to a nation of foodies, as far as I can tell.

[granolagirl]

I just started The Kite Runner. So far, so good.

[joybuzz99]

I have read the following books this summer:

SPY by Ted Bell~ fast moving. Everything you would want to do to a terrorist this guy does.

THE PALE BLUE EYE by Louis Bayard~ mystery set at West Point and involves Edgar Allan Poe. This was a recommendation in the Cosco magazine and I was glad I picked this book up for a different read.

MY SISTER's KEEPER by Jodi Picoult~ I finally read this and enjoyed it. IG hankie while reading this one.

THE SWAN HOUSE by Elizabeth Musser~ Since the story takes place in Atlanta I found this story interesting and a quick read.

THE EZIKEL PROPHECY by Joel Rosenberg~ Prophecy in the Bible corresponds with what is happening in the world today. Interesting but not my favorite book from this author.

I am presently reading MIDDLESEX~ about 75 pages so far and it is interesting. I am reading this for book club selection and should make for interesting discussion.

[SDMomChef]

I put aside Summer People because I had to squeeze in our book club selection - Keeping House by Ellen Barker. I had no expectations for the book, but I found myself really enjoying the structure of the novel and the storyline.

Here is a description from Amazon:

Set in the conformist 1950s and reaching back to span two world wars, Ellen Baker’s superb novel is the story of a newlywed who falls in love with a grand abandoned house and begins to unravel dark secrets woven through the generations of a family. Like Whitney Otto’s How to Make an American Quilt in its intimate portrayal of women’s lives, and reminiscent of novels by Elizabeth Berg and Anne Tyler, Keeping the House is a rich tapestry of a novel that introduces a wonderful new fiction writer.

When Dolly Magnuson moves to Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, in 1950, she discovers all too soon that making marriage work is harder than it looks in the pages of the Ladies’ Home Journal. Dolly tries to adapt to her new life by keeping the house, supporting her husband’s career, and fretting about dinner menus. She even gives up her dream of flying an airplane, trying instead to fit in at the stuffy Ladies Aid quilting circle. Soon, though, her loneliness and restless imagination are seized by the vacant house on the hill. As Dolly’s life and marriage become increasingly difficult, she begins to lose herself in piecing together the story of three generations of Mickelson men and women: Wilma Mickelson, who came to Pine Rapids as a new bride in 1896 and fell in love with a man who was not her husband; her oldest son, Jack, who fought as a Marine in the trenches of World War I; and Jack’s son, JJ, a troubled veteran of World War II, who returns home to discover Dolly in his grandparents’ house.

As the crisis in Dolly’s marriage escalates, she not only escapes into JJ’s stories of his family’s past but finds in them parallels to her own life. As Keeping the House moves back and forth in time, it eloquently explores themes of wartime heroism and passionate love, of the struggles of men’s struggles with fatherhood and war and of women’s conflicts with issues of conformity, identity, forbidden dreams, and love.

[Sookie]

I'm slogging through The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. I'm trying to start a book club, and this is the first book we chose, but I could not care less about these characters! Maybe that's the point, but I want to strangle each one. And I really like Messud's writing style, it's almost like poetry. I've never read other books by her, we'll see if the ending of this one inspires me to try another.


I am slogging through also. :( I don't think it has EVER taken me this long to read a book. I keep hoping that it will get better and that it's worth it. It has received great reviews!! I'm about 1/3rd of the way through and so far...well, is there a plot? A storyline? :confused:

[LittleBrownCat]

Just finished reading "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. This was a very good read, and really kept my interest from start to finish. The Dracula stuff is presented very convincingly and if all you know of Dracula is Bram Stoker and B movies, this will really make you think.

From Amazon's website:

If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cache of yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of the book are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressed to: "My dear and unfortunate successor." When the girl confronts her father, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out to concern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search was a fellow student named Helen Rossi (the unacknowledged daughter of his mentor) and our narrator's long-dead mother, about whom she knows almost nothing. And then her father, leaving just a note, disappears also.
As well as numerous settings, both in and out of the East Bloc, Kostova has three basic story lines to keep straight--one from 1930, when Professor Bartolomew Rossi begins his dangerous research into Dracula, one from 1950, when Professor Rossi's student Paul takes up the scent, and the main narrative from 1972. The criss-crossing story lines mirror the political advances, retreats, triumphs, and losses that shaped Dracula's beleaguered homeland--sometimes with the Byzantines on top, sometimes the Ottomans, sometimes the rag-tag local tribes, or the Orthodox church, and sometimes a fresh conqueror like the Soviet Union.

Although the book is appropriately suspenseful and a delight to read--even the minor characters are distinctive and vividly seen--its most powerful moments are those that describe real horrors. Our narrator recalls that after reading descriptions of Vlad burning young boys or impaling "a large family," she tried to forget the words: "For all his attention to my historical education, my father had neglected to tell me this: history's terrible moments were real. I understand now, decades later, that he could never have told me. Only history itself can convince you of such a truth." The reader, although given a satisfying ending, gets a strong enough dose of European history to temper the usual comforts of the closing words. --Regina Marler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[SDMomChef]

Just finished reading "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. This was a very good read, and really kept my interest from start to finish. The Dracula stuff is presented very convincingly and if all you know of Dracula is Bram Stoker and B movies, this will really make you think.



This probably has been one of the best books that I have read in a very long time. It just struck me as so original. It is one of the few books that I have insisted upon keeping rather than giving away because I can see myself reading it again someday. I just really, really, really hope there is a sequel!

[lmtladb]

Just finished reading "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. This was a very good read, and really kept my interest from start to finish. The Dracula stuff is presented very convincingly and if all you know of Dracula is Bram Stoker and B movies, this will really make you think.



I just started this book. I bought it months ago but wanted to read this and Frankstein and get me through October. Takes me forever to read a book. But I've heard both good and bad comments on 'The Historian" so was pleased to see a few good ones here.

[KristiB]

I enjoyed The Historian too!

I'm halfway through Molokai by Alan Brennert.

It's a real page turner about a young Hawaiian girl who is taken away from her loving family and sent to live in a leper colony in the 1890's.

I'm really enjoying it the story and learning. I didn't know much about leprosy, leper colonies or the history of Hawaii.

Because of this book I put The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman on my list.

[Kristilyn1]

I just finished The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond for my book group---it's our debut novel and was a good one.

Six year old Emma disappears in the dense fog at the beach when her soon to be stepmother turns away for just a moment. Can't say much without giving stuff away but it was excellent reading and picked it up based on the review of my friend who is a reviewer and it did not disappoint.

The Quilters Homecomingokay, I admit I know nothing about quilting--can't even say I'm interested in it--but this novel I really enjoyed. Two newlyweds leave everything behind in Pennsylvania to pursue a dream of owning their own ranch. They stake everything they own on a ranch in California only to find out when they get there that they have been swindled. Takes place during Prohibition.

I've read several other things in the last few weeks but apparently nothing that I can remember.......:cool:

Kristi

[barbara-cook]

Currently reading "Charleston" by John Jakes. I picked it up from a customer who was sending it to a garage sale. It's the on-going saga of a family in Charleston, starting during the American Revolution. It's interesting reading (the plot isn't anything new) because he gives historical details, not just about the history being made on an almost-daily basis, but about fashions, and foods, and the anti-slavery/pro-slavery ideas that were circulating the country. He also goes into laws (not too deeply) that were in place for blacks and women during those times. Very interesting reading.

I am a little excited that one of our local libraries is having a Friends Of Sale tomorrow that I'm going to. I usually can find about a dozen books for about $10 or less.

Happy Reading!

[MKSquared]

I flew through Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Dress, but it was all fluff. I guess the author publishes some of her stuff in a magazine (Marie Clare? Don't remember.) Basically, the trials and tribulations of being a cute, fashionable girl who can't keep a guy. It was like Sex and the City, but with a "poor, poor me" attitude - and a desire to show off.

Also started The Sex Life of Food: When Body and Soul Meet to Eat, written by (no joke) Bunny Crumpacker. Here's what the Washington Post had to say: From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
"The first meal is a simple one. Eve's was just a bite of apple; a baby's is just a bit of milk." Thus, with admirable forthrightness, begins Bunny Crumpacker's sly meditation on the delicious and dirty convergences of sustenance and psyche. It's a formidable subject, and an irresistible one for those of us who find eating to be one of the great fascinations of life. The writer wisely avoids a doomed attempt at comprehensive analysis. The Sex Life of Food turns out to be instead a semi-comic, opinionated, book-length prose poem. Like a character out of Dickens (and who else could have come up with a more appropriately naughty name for the author of such a book?), Bunny Crumpacker rambles willfully, making gleefully strained connections, stating as incontrovertible fact some fairly suspect notions and cracking wise on topics ranging from the erudite to the sophomoric. (She refers to Hitler, in the title of her chapter on peculiar eating habits, as a "Vegetaryan.") Sometimes she manages both vulgarity and bookishness at once, as during a lengthy breakdown of the etymology of the word "poot." In truth, the title is a bit misleading.

I couldn't get past the third chapter. It all sounded like a rambling, ridiculous introduction to a paper that never got to the meat of it all. (But talk about meat she did. Like it was all that hard to notice the phallic nature of a carrot.)

[petitechef]

I just finished: The Other Boleyn Girl Great Book...here's the lowdow: Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir. Rather than settling for a picturesque rendering of court life, Gregory conveys its claustrophobic, all-consuming nature with consummate skill. In the end, Anne's famous, tragic end is offset by Mary's happier fate, but the self-defeating folly of the quest for power lingers longest in the reader's mind.


I'm now reading Fat Land: How Americans became the fattest people in the world here's the lowdown: You reap what you sow. According to Critser, a leading journalist on health and obesity, America about 30 years ago went crazy sowing corn. Determined to satisfy an American public that "wanted what it wanted when it wanted it," agriculture secretary Earl Butz determined to lower American food prices by ending restrictions on trade and growing. The superabundance of cheap corn that resulted inspired Japanese scientists to invent a cheap sweetener called "high fructose corn syrup." This sweetener made food look and taste so great that it soon found its way into everything from bread to soda pop. Researchers ignored the way the stuff seemed to trigger fat storage. In his illuminating first book (which began life as a cover story for Harper's Magazine), Critser details what happened as this river of corn syrup (and cheap, lardlike palm oil) met with a fast-food marketing strategy that prized sales-via supersized "value" meals-over quality or conscience. The surgeon general has declared obesity an epidemic. About 61% of Americans are now overweight-20% of us are obese. Type 2 (i.e., fat-related) diabetes is exploding, even among children. Critser vividly describes the physical suffering that comes from being fat. He shows how the poor become the fattest, victimized above all by the lack of awareness. Critser's book is a good first step in rectifying that. In vivid prose conveying the urgency of the situation, with just the right amount of detail for general readers, Critser tells a story that they won't be able to shake when they pass the soda pop aisle in the supermarket. This book should attract a wide readership.

[KristiB]

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

I normally don't read graphic novels but this gem tells me I should give this genre a chance.

It took me an hour to read this amazing graphic autobiography about a girl growing up during Iran's Islamic Revolution.

The art is great and the story is witty, insightful, heartwarming and she reminds me a little of myself.

Her parents were Marxist radicals and and she's a little rebel herself. Life around her gets pretty grim with executions, public beatings and loss of freedom but her outlook on life and refusal to conform to the fundies totalitarianism is inspiring.

Anyway, there's a sequel and she's written some other graphic novels too and I can't wait to read them!!

[KristiB]

I started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and by is it ever spectacular!!

Here's a description from www.readinggroupguides.com because I can't do any better :) :

The Shadow of the Wind is a coming-of-age tale of a young boy who, through the magic of a single book, finds a purpose greater than himself and a hero in a man he's never met. With the passion of García Márquez, the irony of Dickens, and the necromancy of Poe, Carlos Ruiz Zafón spins a web of intrigue so thick that it ensnares the reader from the very first line. The Shadow of the Wind is an ode to the art of reading, but it is also the perfect example of the all-encompassing power of a well-told story.

At the first light of dawn in postwar Barcelona, a bookseller leads his motherless son to a mysterious crypt called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. This labyrinthine sanctuary houses the books that have lost their owners, books that are no longer remembered by anyone. It is here that ten-year-old Daniel Sempere pulls a single book-The Shadow of the Wind-off of the dusty shelves to adopt as his own. With one fateful turn of a page, he begins an adventure that will unravel another man's tragedy and solve a mystery that has already taken many lives and will shape his entire future.

When Daniel speaks with Gustavo Barceló, a local booktrader, to find out more about his new treasure, word begins to spread that he has uncovered a long-sought rarity, perhaps the only copy of any of Julián Carax's works in existence. Soon after, a mysterious stranger whom Daniel recognizes as Laín Coubert, the leather-masked, cigarette-smoking devil from Carax's novel, propositions Daniel, offering to buy the book from him for an astronomical price. Daniel refuses, in spite of the man's thinly veiled threats. With the help of his bookselling friends, Daniel discovers that Laín Coubert has cut a swath of destruction through two countries, methodically searching for and destroying all of Carax's books while erasing every trace of Carax's life.

Daniel and his best friend Fermín Romero de Torres search through Barcelona, tracking down the people who knew the Shadow's elusive author best, hoping to understand Coubert's ruthless pursuit and why Carax's life came to a bitter end so quickly. Each clue reveals a little more about the tragedy of Julián and Penélope, star-crossed lovers who met their doom in a cursed mansion called "The Angel of the Mist." Daniel is swept up in unraveling the great mystery of the author's short but wretched life, an epic of two Barcelona families devastated by a secret no one could have guessed. Only when a woman is brutally murdered for trying to reveal the truth, and Fermín is framed for the crime, does Daniel begin to understand that the threat to his life is very real. And what begins as a young bibliophile's hobby turns into a diabolical murder mystery that, if Daniel is not careful, may write his own tragic ending.

[Kristilyn1]

I put aside Summer People because I had to squeeze in our book club selection - Keeping House by Ellen Barker. I had no expectations for the book, but I found myself really enjoying the structure of the novel and the storyline.

.

This sounds like a nice relaxing read, is it out in paperback?

Kristi

[SDMomChef]

This sounds like a nice relaxing read, is it out in paperback?

Kristi

Unfortunately, it is not! The author is going to be stopping by Barnes & Noble in my town, so I'm looking forward to meeting her.

Right now, I'm reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It is a fictional story about Mameh Cheney and her long-time affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. I know very little about Frank Lloyd Wright, but the story about her affair in the early 1900s, and its impact on her family and his family and her conflicting emotions makes this a great read. I'm going to suggest it for a future read for our book club.

[KristiB]

Right now, I'm reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It is a fictional story about Mameh Cheney and her long-time affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. I know very little about Frank Lloyd Wright, but the story about her affair in the early 1900s, and its impact on her family and his family and her conflicting emotions makes this a great read. I'm going to suggest it for a future read for our book club.

This is in my "to read" stack. I'm looking forward to your review.

[SDMomChef]

I finished reading "Loving Frank" and it was really enjoyable. It was a unique historical fiction novel - different in terms of the subject matter and time period from other historical fiction books that I have read lately. I really enjoyed how the author included actual excerpts from newspapers at the time into the story line - the characters seemed very believable. Definitely alot to discuss with this novel.

Currently am reading "Art Thief" by Noah Charney (?) that is a thriller about three separate art thefts. Not sure how they are connected or where the author is going, but I have enjoyed the first 1/3 of the book.

[cniles]

I started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and by is it ever spectacular!!

Here's a description from www.readinggroupguides.com because I can't do any better :) :

The Shadow of the Wind is a coming-of-age tale of a young boy who, through the magic of a single book, finds a purpose greater than himself and a hero in a man he's never met. With the passion of García Márquez, the irony of Dickens, and the necromancy of Poe, Carlos Ruiz Zafón spins a web of intrigue so thick that it ensnares the reader from the very first line. The Shadow of the Wind is an ode to the art of reading, but it is also the perfect example of the all-encompassing power of a well-told story.

At the first light of dawn in postwar Barcelona, a bookseller leads his motherless son to a mysterious crypt called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. This labyrinthine sanctuary houses the books that have lost their owners, books that are no longer remembered by anyone. It is here that ten-year-old Daniel Sempere pulls a single book-The Shadow of the Wind-off of the dusty shelves to adopt as his own. With one fateful turn of a page, he begins an adventure that will unravel another man's tragedy and solve a mystery that has already taken many lives and will shape his entire future.

When Daniel speaks with Gustavo Barceló, a local booktrader, to find out more about his new treasure, word begins to spread that he has uncovered a long-sought rarity, perhaps the only copy of any of Julián Carax's works in existence. Soon after, a mysterious stranger whom Daniel recognizes as Laín Coubert, the leather-masked, cigarette-smoking devil from Carax's novel, propositions Daniel, offering to buy the book from him for an astronomical price. Daniel refuses, in spite of the man's thinly veiled threats. With the help of his bookselling friends, Daniel discovers that Laín Coubert has cut a swath of destruction through two countries, methodically searching for and destroying all of Carax's books while erasing every trace of Carax's life.

Daniel and his best friend Fermín Romero de Torres search through Barcelona, tracking down the people who knew the Shadow's elusive author best, hoping to understand Coubert's ruthless pursuit and why Carax's life came to a bitter end so quickly. Each clue reveals a little more about the tragedy of Julián and Penélope, star-crossed lovers who met their doom in a cursed mansion called "The Angel of the Mist." Daniel is swept up in unraveling the great mystery of the author's short but wretched life, an epic of two Barcelona families devastated by a secret no one could have guessed. Only when a woman is brutally murdered for trying to reveal the truth, and Fermín is framed for the crime, does Daniel begin to understand that the threat to his life is very real. And what begins as a young bibliophile's hobby turns into a diabolical murder mystery that, if Daniel is not careful, may write his own tragic ending.

Kristi - I LOVED this book!!!:)

And I put away The Emperor's Children - did nothing for me!

I picked up The Book Thief at Target yesterday and am looking forward to reading it. Has anyone read this one?

[tbb113]

I finally broke down and bought some books at Borders (instead of reading hand-me-down books). Quickly finished The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal. Story about a bride in India who discovers that her mother-in-law and husband are plotting to kill her since her dowry hasn't been paid and she hasn't conceived a child yet (she is only married one year). She runs away to her cousin-in-law's house (who has a crush on her). At times the book is very predictable (almost a romance novel) the ending surprised me. Quick, easy read with details about living in India.

I'm now reading The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner. So far so good...but I'm only a little bit of the way in to the book.

[SDMomChef]

I picked up The Book Thief at Target yesterday and am looking forward to reading it. Has anyone read this one?


I did read it - it took my awhile to get into it because the style is so different. It is a very poignant story.

[leightx]

I just finished The Memory Keepers Daughter, which was an enjoyable read, but not as good as I had hoped. IMO, the title just doesn't quite fit the book. And I had trouble relating to the characters - especially the dynamic b/w the David and his son. I can't really put my finger on what was lacking or missing...

Up next is March, which follows the dad from Little Women through the war.

[SDMomChef]

I just finished reading Art Thief by Noah Charney (?). It is a definitely not a book for everybody. You really need to have an interest in art to be able to get into the story. It essentially involves the theft of three presumably unrelated masterpieces, forgery and some interesting twists in the characters along the way. The ending was really complicated - I had to read it twice and I still have some questions. it was different from other books I've read lately.

I'm currently reading Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston. It is the story of a couple that went through infertility unsuccessfully and in the aftermaths of dealing with the emotional issues, the husband ends up having an affair. I started it last night, and I think I must have stayed up an hour past my normal bedtime. The characters are very believable, and even the husband ends up a sympathetic character. This is the first book that I have read by this author, and I'm looking forward to finishing it over the weekend.

[honeygirl1971]

Kristi, didn't they make a film of Persepolis that came out last year? I think so (unless I'm confused) and after reading glowing reviews of the book and film, I've wanted to check out both. Your comments make me want to do so even more! :)

I recently read The Emperor's Children as well. I thought it was OK, not great. I liked her book, The Last Life, though. This one was disappointing to me, however. I read the whole thing, but at the end, just sort of thought, "eh."

I've been doing a TON of fiction reading lately, and last night I finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics (by Marisha Pessl) and really enjoyed it. The book I've liked best recently, though, was Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. I'd never read anything quite like it, and I loved it!

[mightyh]

If you like Lolly Winston's Happiness Sold Separately, I would also recommend her first book, Good Grief. It's about a young woman who is widowed early and how she deals with her unusual situation. I just love her characters and writing.

I picked up Love Walked In, recommended earlier on this thread I think, and LOVED it. What a great read--romance, storyline, great characters, and writing you could lose yourself in. I never wanted it to end.

I also read The Last Chinese Chef--also recommended by someone on this BB--and found it an amazing read. Completely different tone than Love Walked In, but a must-read as well.

[MusicMom]

In the past few weeks, I've finished Illuminated by Matt Bronleewe and Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman.

Illuminated was advertised as a cross between DeVinci Code, National Treasure, and Indiana Jones. (The hero was charged with interpreting the drawings in the Gutenberg Bible to save his kidnapped son and ex-wife). I found the story to be predictable and the writing was not very sophisticated.

Rebecca's Tale was pretty good. It provides the author's vision of the backstory to Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, one of my all-time favorite books.

Now I'm reading Jimmy Carter's memoir, Sharing Good Times. I'm not usually interested in biographies, but these introspective essays describe his relationships with childhood friends and his family. I like it- and I might try to get DH to read it.

[lindaofthelakes]

[QUOTE=mightyh;1279425]If you like Lolly Winston's Happiness Sold Separately, I would also recommend her first book, Good Grief. It's about a young woman who is widowed early and how she deals with her unusual situation. I just love her characters and writing.Ditto for this recco

[KristiB]

I also read The Last Chinese Chef--also recommended by someone on this BB--and found it an amazing read. Completely different tone than Love Walked In, but a must-read as well.

That was probably me! The Last Chinese Chef has to be one of the best books I've read this year!