April 2006 book thread

[NancyR]

Thanks to all of you who have recommended The Shadow of the Wind. DH found a bargain copy for me at the Half Price bookstore and I am loving it. What is everyone else in love with these days?

[tbb113]

I finished Eventide by Kent Haurf (I think that is right). It is the sequel to Plainsong . I then read Bel Canto so I'll be ready to lead the on-line discussion on the 15th. I now am almost finished with A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell which is about Italy during the final years of WWII and how the locals helped hide the Jewish refugees. Very good book. Not sure what I'm reading next...I think The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land by Donna Rosenthal. I also need to read The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni for an IRL book group.

[SheRa]

i finished Envy by Sandra Brown. I really enjoyed it! I'm still working on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and just started Outlander - my mom has been telling me about this book FOREVER and i finally got all the audiobook discs. there's a huge scratch on disc 4 though, so hopefully the library will get me a new copy quickly, and not make me go on that waiting list AGAIN! i waited for months only to get discs 11-28! so i had to wait ANOTHER 2 months to get 1-10 and now it's damaged! :rolleyes:

[ChristineVA]

I just started The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

[Terrytx]

I'm reading Bel Canto now and The Shadow of the Wind is up next.

[erin elizabeth]

I just finished Intuition by Allegra Goodman. She wrote Kaaterskill Falls which I really enjoyed last year. This one was OK--I like the way she writes and I liked the characters, but I got annoyed with them after about 2/3 of the book. I found myself skimming some of their whining :rolleyes: but, I was intrigued by the storyline and wanted to know what happened to everyone.

I just started The Princess Bride last night. I remember liking the movie as a kid so I figured I'd give it a try. I just finished the fake intro, so onto the story later today.

Tyra--what did you think of Eventide? I read Plainsong and enjoyed it, but didn't make it through the sequel.

[tbb113]

Tyra--what did you think of Eventide? I read Plainsong and enjoyed it, but didn't make it through the sequel.

It was okay. I don't think the story was as well-developed as Plainsong but it passed the time sitting at work with nothing to do :rolleyes:

[erin elizabeth]

I've read many a book for just that reason! :D :)

[Sookie]

I've been reading a lot lately since I was in Florida with MIL for 2 1/2 weeks and had very little to do during the day. I finished Bel Canto for the online book discussion. I just started Sarah today, so not sure yet about that one. In Florida I read The Giant's House (gentle love story that I found to be interesting but not great), Their Eyes Were Watching God (I liked this book, but the dialect kept me from reading it quickly. It took a while to get used to it), and Autobiography of a Face. That was really interesting. I also read a couple of mysteries and a true-life crime drama. I pre-ordered Lee Child's new book because he's my fav and I can't wait to get that. If anyone wants to read One Shot by Child, I'll send it to you, just PM me.

[SDMomChef]

Tyra - a couple of months ago, I also read A Thread of Grace and thought it was an excellent book.

Just finished reading The Shadow of the Wind and agree with others that it was an enjoyable book. One part in the story actually made me jump.

Not sure yet what I'm going to read next!

[foodfiend]

I just started The Princess Bride last night. I remember liking the movie as a kid so I figured I'd give it a try. I just finished the fake intro, so onto the story later today.


The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorite books. It is MUCH, MUCH funnier than the movie.

[luvItalian]

Thanks for this thread everyone. Leavingfor Az tomorrow and I was going to run out to the bookstore. I am going to check out A Thread of Grace and The Shawdow of the Wind. I will take any other suggestions, books I loved are: The Red Tent, The Other Boylen Sister (or is it Girl I forget), The Color of Water and A Million Little Pieces (even if it is BS).

My daughter is finishing Autobiography of a Face. It is really leaving an impression on her because she talks about it a lot even though she says she is not enjoying it. It is on her 8th grade reading list. Sookie do you think maybe this book is too deep for an 8th greader, I have not read it myself.

[Sookie]

Sookie do you think maybe this book is too deep for an 8th greader, I have not read it myself.
No, I think it's great for an 8th grader. The writer doesn't try to play the sympathy card at all. It's very thought provoking, although I guess if the child is the type who worries about illness it might not be good. But I think most kids don't worry about that stuff.

[granolagirl]

I finished The Undomestic Goddess and am now reading Cooking for Mr. Right.

[manetta]

I am just finishing The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, I agree with some of you who mentioned that you did not enjoy this as much as The Secret Life of Bees . Still, I have found it a pleasant read.

Up next is The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart. Another CLBB recommendation that I am looking forward to. Sorry, but I can't remember who originally posted about it and a search didn't turn up anything. :o

[Ostrlisa]

I read The Shadow of the Wind a few months ago and loved it. I then went out and bought all of the books referred to in the review quotes, that I haven't already read. Right now I'm reading one of the Benjamin January mysteries by Barbara Hambly, but I think Foucault's Pendulum might be soon.

I also just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I thought was wonderful. I feel like I've been on a roll with good books lately!

[granolagirl]

Just thought I'd mention that I got my copy of Julia Child's My Life in France (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043468/102-4364033-0900926?v=glance&n=283155) today. It's only $15.57 at Amazon.

[KristaMB]

Up next is The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart. Another CLBB recommendation that I am looking forward to. Sorry, but I can't remember who originally posted about it and a search didn't turn up anything. :oThis is my next read, too! (I don't remember who here suggested it either! :o ) I am almost finished with The Good Earth and The Myth of You and Me is waiting for pick up at the library.

It's taken me forever to read The Good Earth, I feel like I've had so little time to read lately. However, I think it's a wonderful book and I'm happy I finally decided to read it. Does anyone else know of any great classics or older books that are great reads? (Not that I don't have enough "current" books on my list... :) )

[rosie_one]

My favorite read this month was a book I checked out for my DD The Great Good Thing. So imaginative! I loved it. I should read kid lit more often. The main character, Princess Sophie, is the character in a book who "lives" when the book is closed. Lots of good themes about fiction and memory. DD enjoyed it too.

I'm into Anthony Bourdain's A Cooks Tour right now. Entertaining. He's quite the character. Tells it like it is while eating around the world.

I've about given up on Fortune's Rocks. I guess I'm just not in the mood for a brooding rich girl coming of age in the 1890s and fascinated with an older man love story. Has anyone else read this? Should I keep going?

I'm cooking from the 12 Best Foods cookbook. Some good stuff. The 12 best foods happen to be some of our favorite ingredients. Last night I served her suggestion of lightly steamed broccoli with small dishes of EVOO, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Holy cow, so good! I had no idea that combination would be so flavorful.

[stefania4]

I also just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I thought was wonderful. I feel like I've been on a roll with good books lately!
A friend of mine just passed that on to me, with the advice that "It's a little slow for, oh, the first 300 pages or so." I'm glad to hear a more positive recommendation!

I just finished Whatever Happened to the Class of 1993?. It was very entertaining - particularly for someone like myself who has never been to a reunion. I'm about halfway through The Elegant Gathering of White Snows - rather generic women's fiction, but not bad.

[manetta]

Just thought I'd mention that I got my copy of Julia Child's My Life in France (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043468/102-4364033-0900926?v=glance&n=283155) today. It's only $15.57 at Amazon.

Thanks for the reminder about its release! I read the excerpt in the current BA and really enjoyed it. I added it to my Zooba list.

[JLS]

I just finished Hard Truth by Nevada Barr. The author has been recommended a few times on the bbs. I really liked her writing style and the premise of the main character being a park ranger. I definately will be picking up another of her books. The topic of this book though, I found disturbing. Basically, it involved this guy, who disguised himself as a park ranger and kidnapped 3 young girls. While 2 of the girls escaped (and returned to their home, a commune of bigomist (sp ?)), the remaining girl was tortured and brainwashed, to put it mildly.

Again, the author did a really good job on the book. I guess, a testament of how good it was, is that, in all of my readings of the Cornwell book's, I was never as "disturbed" (for lack of a better word), as I was, while reading this book. My 2 sentence synopsis above, doesn't do the author justice.

I'm not sure what's up next, I'm going to stop at the library after work.

[SDMomChef]

I just finished reading The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry. I enjoyed it - it was a fun mystery/thriller read in the genre of the Da Vinci Code.

Started on the non-fiction book Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza. Here is a description from Amazon.com:

In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God.

[KAnn]

It's taken me forever to read The Good Earth, I feel like I've had so little time to read lately. However, I think it's a wonderful book and I'm happy I finally decided to read it. Does anyone else know of any great classics or older books that are great reads? (Not that I don't have enough "current" books on my list... :) )

Have you read My Antonia, by Willa Cather? O! Pioneers is also wonderful (but I am a Willa Cather fan since I read My Antonia in high school).

[EllenL]

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My LIfe--by Mameve Medwed.
I know the title sounds dry. It's not at all about reading poetry---it's about a young woman who grows up in Cambridge and who doesn't want to follow in her father's footsteps (a Harvard professor---she even drops out of college). Tries to find her way as an antique dealer, unlucky in love. She acquires a chamber pot and brings it on Antiques Roadshow and finds out it belonged to EBB and is worth $75,000. This starts to change her life, not always for the best. It's witty and well-written, never stuffy. About a 30-something unmarried woman, but not with the shallowness of chick lit. Strongly recommended!

[SDMomChef]

I've about given up on Fortune's Rocks. I guess I'm just not in the mood for a brooding rich girl coming of age in the 1890s and fascinated with an older man love story. Has anyone else read this? Should I keep going?

I also gave up on the book!

I finished reading Left to Tell last night - it was a very moving account of her experience in surviving the Rwanda genocide. Her faith is absolutely amazing, and I'm not sure that my faith would have remained so strong during such an ordeal. It also really made me stop and think about the pastor that sheltered her and the other women - and the courage that he had and the risk that he was taking. What makes some people stand up to evil and protect the innocent, and for others to protect themselves? Those are the types of questions that the book raised in my mind.

Just started The Secret Supper. Here's a blurb from Amazon.com:

Set in the late 15th century, Sierra's first book translated into English revolves around a papal inquisitor's investigation into Leonardo da Vinci's alleged heresies and offers a new way of interpreting The Last Supper. After receiving a series of cryptic messages from "the Soothsayer," who warns the 15th century church that "art can be employed as a weapon," the Secretariat of Keys of the Papal States dispatches Father Agostino Leyre on a twofold mission to Milan: identify the Soothsayer and discover what, if any, messages da Vinci is hiding in the painting. Leyre, who narrates, views the in-progress Last Supper at the Santa Maria delle Grazie and becomes fascinated. He makes a series of sometimes muddled discoveries about the painting, leading up to his interpretation of the painting's true meaning (not revealed until the last line of the last page). Those not well versed in Catholic history may have trouble following the many subplots involving factionalism and dissent within the church. The combination of code breaking, secrecy, chicanery within the Catholic Church and a certain artist is by now a familiar one, but Sierra's book, already a bestseller in Europe, is a fresh contribution to the da Vinci industry.

[boisewinesnob]

Although I almost never post on the book threads, I just started a book yesterday and I'm totally hooked.
I heard an interview with the author on our local npr station, conducted by the president of our local state university. Every week he has guests....some are local reporters, professors, or otherwise have a tie to our region or are visiting for some reason.

The book is called The Cyanide Canary and is about a young 20-year-old guy who was ordered by his slimeball boss to clean out a tank filled with some kind of sludge. Which turned out to contain a deadly amount of cyanide. The book is written mainly by the EPA agent who helped prosecute the boss. It all took place about 10 years ago in southeast Idaho.
I'm jumping the gun a little, as I'm only about 50 pages into it, so it may not be as exciting later, but so far it is hard to put down.

[luvItalian]

I just finished Shawdow of the Wind and LOVED IT!!! Thanks for the recommendation.

[Terrytx]

I just finished Shawdow of the Wind and LOVED IT!!! Thanks for the recommendation.

ditto for me also. Great book :D

[SheRa]

i just finished The Devil Wears Prada (as suggested to me in last month's thread) and i really enjoyed it. it was great hearing how annoying it is working for overly demanding people, because it makes you realize that it could be SO much worse at work :D thanks for the suggestion!!

[KristaMB]

KAnn, thanks for the classics suggestions. Willa Cather is one of my mom's favorite authors, but somehow I just haven't ended up reading any of her books. I'll have to add those to the list.

Suzy, I will definitely check out The Cyanide Canary . As a hazardous materials specialist by trade, your description peaked my interest. I've requested this from the library and can't wait to read it.

Manetta, how are you liking The Myth of You and Me? I'm enjoying it so far.

[manetta]

Manetta, how are you liking The Myth of You and Me? I'm enjoying it so far.

I have been so busy lately that I really have only just read the first twenty pages or so, but I am enjoying it. I am hoping for some quiet time tomorrow to read some more. :)

[boisewinesnob]

Suzy, I will definitely check out The Cyanide Canary . As a hazardous materials specialist by trade, your description peaked my interest. I've requested this from the library and can't wait to read it.


Krista, after I posted that I was looking on another site (mostly to see if I'd spelled cyanide correctly :o ) and another review said it got a little tedious once the trial started as the author was a lawyer so it might get a little dense.

SheRa, I read the Prada book and it was very entertaining.

[granolagirl]

I finished Cooking for Mr. Right, which was OK. Right now I'm reading The South Beach Diet--I'm oddly fascinated by diet plans. :o

[cniles]

I picked up Shadow of the Wind at Borders the other day. I am loving this book. It is sooo well written. Thanks so much for everyone's recommendation!!!! :)

[NancyR]

I just discovered James Lee Burke and am surprised at how much I am enjoying Crusader's Cross. I know he has been around forever but this is my first and I love the main character and beautiful imagery of the New Orleans area.

[SheRa]

i finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris and it was OK. nothing special. it made me laugh sometimes, but it didn't seem too cohesive. i listened to it on audiobook, and i didn't realize that it was short stories at first, but even so, i felt that the stories weren't put together well. i gave it a 5/10 because i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either.

[erin elizabeth]

Just finished a good book of essays--The Woman at the Washington Zoo by Marjorie Williams. She died in 2005 and her husband compiled this book of her work--essays from Slate, Vanity Fair, etc. Some personal, some political, most really, really good. She finally articulated how I felt about the Lewinsky/Clinton thing and had some good "portraits" of Barbara Bush, Jeb Bush, the Cafritzes, and the Roosevelts--didn't even know these last two (Washington DC insiders) and still found the essays interesting. The personal is about her battle with cancer, a portrait of her mother, and her two kids. All in all a good read.

[tbb113]

Finished two good books recently. First book was The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman. I had actually read this book once before and had forgotten that when a friend passed it to me to read. I enjoyed it both times. It is a mystery (but not a true who-dunnit type) about a woman who is determined to write a memior about her mother who was a writer and died when the girl was 10. Here is the blurb from Amazon

Carol Goodman's admirable second novel, The Seduction of Water, has much in common with her bestselling debut, The Lake of Dead Languages. Both feature heroines who are at crossroads in their lives and who choose to move backward and inward. In the first novel, the main character returns to teach at the woodsy private school where she had been a scholarship student, triggering the horrible repetition of the violence that had marred her senior year. In The Seduction of Water, the heroine returns to the woodsy hotel in the Catskills where her parents had worked, in the hope of uncovering her dead mother's secrets. Somehow, the book doesn't feel like a reiteration of the earlier novel, perhaps because the tone throughout is lighter and more sure.
Iris Greenfeder is a 36-year-old barely published New York writer and teacher whose long-term boyfriend, an artist, sees her schedule as strict and therefore will not spend the night, because he likes to get up and paint first thing every morning. When one of Iris's stories about her mother is picked up by a small literary journal with a well-connected editor, things start to happen for her. She becomes convinced that a summer out of the city, working as manager of the old hotel, will give her the perfect setting in which to pen a memoir of her writer mother, as well as an opportunity to look for the rumored manuscript of her mother's final book. But there are those who are just as determined to keep the dead woman's secrets in the grave. Only mildly suspenseful, and relying too much on coincidence, The Seduction of Water isn't the page-turner that Goodman's debut was, but patient readers may find it a richer and more satisfying novel overall.


Second book was Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This book takes place in 19th century China and focuses on two girls (Snow Flower and Lily) that are laotong (old sames) and their friendship throughout their lives. Gave a great look at what it would have been like to be a woman during that time period.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see"). As both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle, this novel has bestseller potential and should become a reading group favorite as well.

[gertdog]

Finished two good books recently. First book was The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman. I had actually read this book once before and had forgotten that when a friend passed it to me to read. I enjoyed it both times. It is a mystery (but not a true who-dunnit type) about a woman who is determined to write a memior about her mother who was a writer and died when the girl was 10.

Tyra, did you also read Lake of Dead Languages? If so I'm curious to know how they compare- I was kind of disappointed in Lake of Dead Languages .

I've finished a few books in the last week or so.

I read Bel Canto while on vacation (posted thoughts on the book discussion thread) and enjoyed it- in fact, I picked up Ann Patchett's book The Magician's Assistant to read soon.

Also read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Oh man, what a tearjerker!! I liked the alternating perspectives- I kept getting so mad at the mother, but it was also her chapters that had me crying the most.

Let's see, what else. Isabel's Bed by Elinor Lipman- funny, light, satisfying. Who's Sorry Now which is a lightweight mystery by Jill Churchill, part of her Grace and Favor series set in upstate NY during the Depression. And Anne Perry's most recent William Monk novel, the name of which I can't remember now- but it was one of the better books in the series, IMO.

I'm currently reading Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner and have the biography Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson up next.

[tbb113]

Stephanie - I haven't read any of her other books. I actually thought my friend was lending me Lake of the Dead Languages instead of The Seduction of Water.