Another month is upon us, so I am starting yet another thread for my 2009 reads.

My January thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/51105

My February thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/56421

My March thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/58749

My memorable reads for 2009 thus far are:

Nonfiction
Bound for the Promised Land by Kate Clifford Larson
Crazy Horse by Mari Sandoz
The Plays and Poems of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Volume 1
The Cobra's Heart by Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

Fiction
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Tethered by Amy MacKinnon
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Girls by Lori Lansens
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Young Adult
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Treasure of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
The BFG by Roald Dahl

A note about my memorable reads: I am not a book critic. My memorable reads list is just that: books that are memorable to me - that for some reason or other resonate with me. I do not rate books as many people here do for the simple reason that I am a terrible book reviewer! lol

My Touchstones have gone nutso and I am not fixing them all, so they will just have to stay nutso!

Message edited by its author, Apr 22, 2009, 4:54am.

My Must Read List for 2009: (Updated through 04/01/09, deleting the ones read)

Vietnam: A History - currently reading
The Best Year of Their Lives
Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire and At Canaan's Edge
The Search for Modern China
A River Running West
The Adventure of English
Moonheart
Rediscovering America: John Muir in His Time and Ours
The Proud Tower
When Titans Clashed - Read 04/20/09
The 900 Days
Fatal Justice
Modern Times
Noah’s Choice: The Future of Endangered Species
The Fortress of Solitude
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Coming out of the Ice
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Arms of Nemesis
The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft
Black Swan Green
Bard
In the Shadows of War
Penmarric
Clockers
The Heaven Tree Trilogy - Parts 2 and 3
I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company
Shadow of the Silk Road
Galileo’s Daughter
The Namesake
My Faraway Home
Christine Falls
Intimate Kill
Job, a Comedy of Justice
Keeper of the Light
Cultural Literacy
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Speak, Memory - Read 04/21/09
A Separate Peace
Cryptonomicon
And the Dead Shall Rise
Move Your Shadow
Shutter Island
Dog Man
Peace Like a River

Message edited by its author, Apr 21, 2009, 1:20am.

BAM!! You are starred again!

Just posting so I don't lose you :)

Thanks you two!

Got you starred. Don't want to lose you prior to TBR Singularity status.

Just checking in!

HA!! There are two books on the "must read" list that I've already read. I say again, HA!, as if it means something.

Message edited by its author, Apr 1, 2009, 11:01am.

My dog doesn't like coffee breath. She snorts and turns her head when coffee-breath-ed.

What does she do when she sniffs a carbonated beverage?

She's never encountered one...we don't drink them. I think she'd probably bark at it.

starred your thread number four and would like to say that you are simply amazing!

#9: Richard, I do not like coffee breath, either. Fact is, I do not like coffee. I am just not sure what it has to do with my thread?

#12: Nope, simply Stasia.

#8: You can come 'Ha!' on my thread any time you like, Linda.

I'm just here to harrumph that you held your seance telling off the civil war generals without me.

Sorry, Tui! Next time I will invite you and Joyce. I suppose she has told you how many headaches those guys are giving me!

mmmmmm coffee~

Wait...I have to confine myself to stuff that has to do with your thread?! When did you make that rule? Where was I when the motion was made, who seconded, and I move to strike that rule forthwith! Those in favor...?

>18 mckait...yeah, I know...funny thing is that Stella will slurp up the coffee with milk, and then *choo* at me when I blow coffee breath at her! Dog's weird.

Wait...Stasia, you don't sleep AND you don't drink coffee? Lady, how do you stay alive?!?

#19: I love tea and am addicted to Diet Pepsi.

Ah, I see now! The swept-up leavings of Asian hedge-trimming binges, boiled until the color of Mississippi water, and then possibly further turgidified by sweeteners (ugh), or highly fizzy chemical baths intended by nature to strip paint from 1959 Cadillac fins, instead of nature's most perfect, simple, and delicious beverage that refreshes but does not inebriate! Mm-hmm. I'm all clear now.

Yep, I am well-preserved. And coffee is in no way delicious.

Agreed. Coffee= yucky yucky yucky and only to be drunk when very VERY tired, with lots of sugar and milk, down in one gulp whilst holding the nose to avoid taste.

oh come on you guys! with lots of milk and sugar? :D

Thread four!!! Yea, Stasia. I love to read your threads!

I am also a Diet Pepsi addict but I still sleep a lot more than you. :)

I have to start the day with coffee--sometimes it is hits the spot and sometimes not so much--and finish the day with tea.

My goodness. Heathens! Black coffee, pure and unadulterated is the only way to go... that's the way it was meant to be and that's the way it shall stay!

*hrrumph*

I start the day with tea and then toward mid-afternoon switch to soda. I cannot abide coffee.

>27 dk_phoenix, I am here to give a witness! That's what a beverage should be...simple, elegant, fragrant, and powerfully delicious=coffee.

#29: Powerfully noxious, perhaps. Powerfully delicious, never.

>30 oh dear Stasia...has that brain tumor begun acting up again? I know you meant to apply that remark to the carbonated industrial effluents that are marketed in environmentally unfriendly plastic buboes, so of course I excuse your tone!

*heheeeheeee*

Coffee has higher acid levels than tea, and prolonged use may lead to bone calcium loss. I drink tea (and tisane), water, 100% juice, and, since I live in Texas, the occasional Dr Pepper (hey, it's the law here).

On the rare occasions that I do drink coffee, I add so much flavored creamer and sugar to it that I don't think you could call it coffee anymore. I thrive on strawberry banana flavored juice. Well, it's kinda a cross between juice and a smoothy would be more accurate.

#32: Coffee has higher acid levels than tea, and prolonged use may lead to bone calcium loss.

Thank you for supporting my theory aethercowboy - Richard has gone soft in the head :)

Oh sigh. More urban myths, like the whole "cats are acceptable" thing. Well, coffeeless Commie pinkos, revel in your delusions; I shall support the right-wing dictators prevalent in coffee-producing powerhouses.

*slurps up black strong deliciousness*

Poor little things.

I'm with Richard here. Yes, tea is healthier than coffee. But coffee is way healthier than Diet Pepsi (ha!). Coke is about the most evil drink there is for your body. And I'm not judging because I'm drinking a Light Coke right at this instant. I've had periods of drinking almost whole 2L bottles of Coke/Pepsi a day. I know, why don't I just get it over with and shoot myself instead? Now I drink the occasional can of Coke. But I NEED the caffeine so I've started drinking coffee instead. At least that's not carbonated. :)

>36. You should try Yerba Mate. It's a South American tisane (like tea, only not from the camellia tree) that has as much caffeine as coffee, but releases the caffeine at a more gradual rate, so you don't get the shakes or withdrawal headaches (so I've experienced). It also has antioxidants, which are good for you.

that sounds great, although I doubt I'll be able to find that in Greece, where I live. Supermarkets aren't that great when it comes to more "unusual" things. You'll find your usual brands of chocolate, cheese, and milk etcetera but nothing beyond typical brands. It's something that very annoying when it comes to, for example, foreign recipe books: it's hard to find some of the ingredients mentioned at your local supermarket. I'll try to look for it while I'm still in Spain maybe I'll have more luck here.

I tried to be healthy by giving up the regular Coke by refusing to buy it for my home, but still drinking it in restaurants. Then Coke Zero came out, and all my plans were laid to waste. Argh. And people who do not like coffee, need to try a Canadian Timmies! The double-doubles are like crack.

Now...........really.............hot chocolate is the way to go. And OJ. THAT is what I live on. And milk...........none of this adding milk to things to make it bearable, just drink the milk!!

What is tisane?

>41.

A tisane is a beverage brewed from a dried vegetable matter infusion that does not contain products from the Camellia sinensis tree. Any herbal tea is a tisane (and oddly enough, is not actually a tea).

#40: Allergic to both chocolate and milk, but I do like OJ :)

Oh you poor thing. Chocolate plus milk is one of the greatest inventions of all time.

Only on your thread, Stasia. hehe

I was told by my cardiology team that soft drinks of any sort, whether diet or with sugar, are pure poison and to avoid them like the plague. So I do. I have one delicious latté in the morning. My husband has an espresso machine, so sometimes I'll live wildly and have a café Americano on a Sunday afternoon. I occasionally drink herbal tea in the evening and regular tea in the afternoon. My most favourite drink of all is water, pure and cold from our well which taps into an underground stream.

ETA: Inspector Poirot always drinks tisanes. It helps with ze grey matter, 'astings.

Message edited by its author, Apr 2, 2009, 7:27pm.

So, Stasia, read any good books lately?

*snort* That's like asking an addict if they had a fix!

...or like asking a coffee, or tea, or Diet Pepsi addict which cup they're on?

I too, start with coffee and finish with tea, herbal or Earl of Africa.
I usually have a diet coke at lunch...

I have a cup or two of decaf coffee with evaporated milk in the morning (had to start adding the milk to deaden the acid that was starting to upset my stomach) and then switch to tea the rest of the day--unsweetened, either cold or hot depending on the weather. I have never liked carbonated drinks or sweet drinks, fortunately. And a glass of wine once or twice a week, can't forget that if we are surveying habits of liquid intake!

I'm finishing up the day with some King's Tea wulong (oolong) tea with ginseng the wife bought for me in China back in February...Mmmmmm. 8^}

#46: nice try to change the subject. hehe

And Stasia has her nose happily buried in a book, totally ignoring the clinking of cups and the fizzing of pop cans on her thread.

Message edited by its author, Apr 2, 2009, 9:33pm.

Speaking of tea, has anybody else noticed that tea prices are through the roof? Droughts and high temps or some such in the tea growing regions.

And a book note. I've read four of the books on your must read in 2009 list. So, I guess I get to say Ha four times.

I managed to cut back on the soda (as we call Coke here). About a year ago I was up to almost 6 cans a day. Very not good. I tend to drink the caffiene added juices now to prevent the caffiene headache at bay.

54> But jasmyn9, your profile says you're from Illinois--don't we say "pop" here?

Just stopping to say Hi! Stasia.

Can hardly wait til Sunday to see what you've read this week! I started a new thread for a new quarter. :-)

Okay--back to the coffee/tea debate. I drink both.

#46: Terri, I finished Baghdad Burning today while all the beverage debating was going on. I highly recommend it.

#50: I drink tea all year long, too, Roni. I prefer loose to bags and buy quite a lot from Adagio Teas. I literally have a shelf devoted to nothing but tea at my house. I drink green, white, roobois and black tea, but my favorites are the black, with green (especially Adagio's Spiced Green) running a close second.

Stasia, I'm struggling to keep up. But just wanted to check if you already have copies of Best Year of their Lives and Arms of Nemesis. If not, I'll send them over to you - I definitely have BYOTL here and I think I didn't mooch off Arms of N. Let me know.

#51 DrN - geez that after dinner tea sounds healthy. I'm finishing up the day with a glass or two or Penfolds Bin 28. 2 pre-schoolers at home, 2 loads of washing, endless requests for food and drink and attention... time for a glass of wine! And I'm un-talkable-to until I've had a latte in the mornings.

#58 - replying to my own post...must be the wine. Stasia, I just realised that I haven't read Arms of Nemesis yet and have to find it, because I've just started the next one in the series! I could still send it but not for a month or so.

#59: Cushla, I have a copy of Best Year of their Lives, but do not have one of Arms of Nemesis, so once you are done with it, I would like it. I do not have a Bookmooch account, but I am on PBS.

Don't worry about PBS, I'll just send it. When I find it!

#61: Thanks! I certainly appreciate the offer. Let me know if there is something you would like, and I will get it to you.

I just love LTers generosity...
book sharing happens frequently.
Remarkable when you think about it, considering
the acquisitiveness we all share as well!

Nice steaming hot coffee at my side...

*continues to lurk in the shadows while sipping her third cup of coffee*

#55 Yes I live in Illinois, but my entire family has always said soda, they're from the east coast, so I'm maybe that's what they say over there.

On another note, I have tried tea as well, and it receives the same treatment as coffee....lots of flavored creamer and tons of sugar, which I think would negate any healthy affects the stuff has. I do drink Snapple on occasion though....does that count?

Tradition dictates that you use milk in your tea. Not cream.

And most bottled teas are effectively reconstituted tea syrup, which totally removes any health benefits the tea might have once had (plus, all that HFCS can't be good for you). Some beverage distributors offset this by adding antioxidants after the fact. Effectively, when you drink bottled tea, you're drinking brown sugar water.

Juuust finishing my seventh coffee with hot milk of the morning, debating whether to live large and have the eighth....

>63 mckait, I know what you mean...except I for one have become far less retention oriented as the years have piled up, along with the TBRs. I like to see books I loved on my shelves, but frequently give them away to the worthy and go buy another one. Books I didn't like, but which are not actively pernicious, I hand off as soon as is manageable. The pernicious I throw into the Catholic charity's bin by the cathedral, guaranteeing I will never run across them again.

#66 Brown sugar water doesn't sound very good. So what is a nice sweet, unbitter, but healthy tea that you can find readily in America.

Message edited by its author, Apr 3, 2009, 12:00pm.

#68
Honest Tea has a flavor called Peach Oo-la-long that is really good and its organic with no HFCS in it! :) Their other teas are also really good, but not all are sweetened.

If your tea is bitter, you're doing it wrong. Either your water's too hot, or you're brewing it for too long. So, keep track of how hot the water is (I use a meat or candy thermometer) and your brewing time (egg timer), and reduce one the next time you brew your next cup. I've seen some kettles with thermometers on the side, but I'm not yet ready to give up my Chantal.

Also, depending on how much surface area of the leaf is exposed to water at any given time, the tea will either be stronger (more surface area) or weaker (less). Due to that fact, whole leaf teas will be stronger than bagged tea, but broken leaf teas will be stronger than whole leaf teas (but then you might get more dregs that way).

Some people add lemon to their tea, which I suppose helps with the bitterness, as the sourness overpowers it somehow. Some people use milk for the same reason, as the basic nature of milk neutralizes the tannic acid (which makes tea bitter). Though, be careful of using both lemon and milk, as citric acid has milk-curdling properties.

Whole leaf black teas take boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Broken leaf black teas take 3-4. Oolongs take 180-190 F water for 3-4 minutes (and can be rebrewed many, many times). Green teas, depending on type, will take 140-190 F (MAX) water for anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes; Since there are many varieties of green tea, you should do research to figure out what the right temp and brew time is for that tea. White teas are the most delicate of all teas, and take 80 F water for 2-3 minutes.

Longer than that, and any tea will turn bitter.

If you don't need the caffeine, though, go with Rooibos or Honeybush. They're two herbal teas that had been used in place of black teas in the African colonies, where black tea was scarce. It has no caffeine, but more antioxidants than green tea. Also, it never turns bitter. You can brew it for hours, and it'll just taste stronger, never bitter. It also has a nice, mellow honey flavor.

If you want higher quality teas in the states, however, you'll either need to go to an ethnic market or order your tea online (Adagio and Teavana are two such online tea sellers), or be lucky enough to have a specialty tea store in your area.

Message edited by its author, Apr 3, 2009, 12:45pm.

Wow! That is a lot of information. I can tell you like your tea. I'll have to read over this again when I get home and see what my area stores have. I'm all for trying something again in a new way.

Rooibos tea, besides tasting good, is also good for nausea. My father started drinking Rooibos when he was getting chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I've recommended it to some of my patients getting chemo.

hi Stasia

I believe the Kitchen has moved to your thread ;-)

Mostly coffee, some tea (Earl Grey or Lady Grey) no sugar, a bit of cream in the cofee please.
Anita

Rooibos does act as both an antispasmodic and an antihistamine. If it had caffeine, it would be the perfect drink. Though I have heard that some people brew ground rooibos for caffeine-free late-night espressos.

Also, I suppose it should be mentioned by now: "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA"

jasmyn, there is a tea put out at Christmas by Celestial Seasonings called "Candy Cane Lane". I love this so much that I buy about ten boxes of it, enough to last until the next Christmas season. If you ever find that one, it's a real comfort tea. Tetleys makes an Earl Grey green tea which I quite like.

Oh Stasia, your poor thread. Quick, throw a book out here.

#74: One of my favorite Roobois teas is from Adagio - Caramel Roobois. Wonderful stuff! I drink it in the middle of the night while I am up - I do not need any caffeine then.

#75: How about I mention a book I discarded earlier in the week: Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge. I got to the 50 page point, decided the book was not doing anything for me, and promptly took it back to the library. I have also put off Skeletons at the Feast for right now, although I think I will go back to it at some point.

Stasia
I'm speechless.. The writer in me does not know what to write! I didn't read your thread in a day and now find all these wonderful posts re. tea...coffee...milk...soda...and, oh yes,...books.

You are incredible and it is obvious that you are loved!

If feels as though LT members visit you often, and if we cannot all physically sit around your table to sip a beverage while reading a book, we will vicariously talk about doing so.

Cheers. I confess that I like a cold glass of white wine two-three times a week.

#77: I confess that I like a cold glass of white wine two-three times a week.

You heathen, you! :)

Yes, everyone is invited to Stasia's thread for the tea party!!

Message edited by its author, Apr 3, 2009, 9:58pm.

Oh, yes, I agree! Linda is definitely a heathen (as I sip my Friday evening glass of white wine, cold!). I like all the beverages!

Never tried rooibos, though. Sounds interesting.

#76 Hmm....Caramel Roobois...sounds wonderful. Thanks for the "review" Stasia! I think I'll give it a try since I order tea every once in awhile from Adagio.

#80: I love Adagio Teas, Lorie. I like the fact that you can get samples before you try the larger sizes, so Catey and I have tried a bunch of them. The only tea of theirs that I have tried that I just could not do was a White Tangerine - terrible :(

Linda, come over for a La Playa Viognier one Friday! I make hot sherried cheese puffs, and curried toast with chutneyed cream cheese....

#82: I am salivating and I was not even invited, lol

I love the SOUND of all these teas but not sure I would like the taste of any of them. So keep talking and I'll just keep imagining them and then I'm guaranteed to like them lol

Stasia, I'll drive to Texas, pick you up and then we will drive to NY to see Richard and talk about books into the wee hours and you can drink tea, I'll bring wine and we three will all laugh while eating Richard's delicious hot sherried cheese puffs..and curried toast.

Great! How 'bout swingin' through Ohio and Pennsy for Jude and Kath? Say weekend after next?

The Divine Miss's garden is lookin' good...her mock cherry is bloomin' its fool head off, as are the andromedas, crocuses and daffodils. The tulips are still focusing on photosynthesis, it seems, lazy slug-bait.

ETA: say, has anyone seen porchy lately?

Message edited by its author, Apr 4, 2009, 11:34am.

Does anybody know where to get GOOD jasmine tea in decaf?

I'm in richardear. My two weeping cherry trees are in bloom.. so pretty!

As for beverages.. Guinness! It surpasses wine in my opinion!

:)

>86 - I'm here, Richard. I've had my head down working, but the mention of hot sherried cheese puffs got my attention.

By the way, Linda (and all of the other wine drinkers), my parents started growing grapes a couple of years ago. They live in Northeast MO, a pretty good area for grapes, so hopefully in a couple of years, I'll be able to give wine making a try!

#87: Jadebird, I woud like to help you out, but I detest jasmine tea. I did check, though, and Adagio does have a Roobois Jasmine http://www.adagio.com/rooibos/rooibos_ja.... You might try that one! The sample size is only $2, so if you do not care for it, you are not out ton of money.

I could not very well let Catey do this and then not do it myself, so here is mine:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - I am reading this with the group read for this year
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - In with #33
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I attempted this one a number of years ago and did not care for it, so I will have to give it another go
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce -
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - currently reading and it is terrific!
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - The first book I ever purchased for myself, and I still have my original copy!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare Isn't this one in the Complete Works?
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

30 unread, 2 currently reading, 68 read

Message edited by its author, Apr 5, 2009, 10:30pm.

Very impressive list! Finally, someone who has read Rebecca. Have you ever read any of Du Maurier's other works? I wonder how they stack up to her most famous.

#92: I think Rebecca is deservedly her most famous, although I have read a couple of her other books. The House on the Strand is my most recent read of her other books, and while it was good, it is still not up to the standard she set with Rebecca. I have not read all of her books, but the ones I have read are good, just not great, which IMO, Rebecca is.

Stasia,

A very interesting list. I think I will put Rebecca higher on my list. It keeps poking out on the bookshelf, with such a good recommendation.

I think I need to reread it as I was just a sprat when I read it. Do you think it would qualify as a "classic" for my classic reread goal?

It is a very very long time since I read Rebecca, but I recently read a collection of her stories, Don't Look Now, and several of them are stunning, including "The Birds," which is infinitely more chilling than the Hitchcock movie based on it.

#90 Thank you for the tea link!

I've not read any Du Maurier, but husband, by chance, recently read her Mary Anne and said it was quite good.

#94: The list did not start with me - I think aquascum started it and it is just travelling through the group!

#95: By the loose definition we use of 'classic' here on the 75ers thread it certainly qualifies (we use anything published before 1960). Rebecca was published in 1938.

#96: Rebecca, my local library has that one, so I will pick it up on Tuesday when I am there. I like Du Maurier and will probably read all of hers before all is said and done.

#97: You are quite welcome.

By that definition I'm a classic too.

#99: I have absolutely no quibble with that comment :)

More duMaurier.....

Agree that Rebecca is her very very best and certainly a classic. My Cousin Rachel and Jamaica Inn good choices too.

This week's reads:

140. Small Miracles of the Holocaust by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal - nonfiction; this book of anecdotes was pretty good, each story independent of others in the book, but each sharing the same theme: for all the bad that came out of the Holocaust, there was some good as well; recommended

141. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich - a BC book for me this week, but I was sorely disappointed that Grandma Mazur did not appear in it more often; recommended only for die-hard Evanovich fans

142. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz - thanks to drneutron for the recommendation of this series; I really enjoyed the first book of the series more than I thought I would, not being sure exactly what to expect; recommended

143. Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester - this one was recommended by HorusE and since I have enjoyed the novels in the Hornblower series, I thought I would give it a try; it's pretty good, although the coincidence at the end is a bit of a stretch; still recommended, despite the drawback

144. Baghdad Burning by Riverbend - nonfiction; this book was recommended by aglaia531; this insider's view of the Iraqi war is interesting, if a bit one-sided, since several of the ethnic groups seem to be missing (although I am certainly not an expert on Iraq), but the book does not purport to be anything other than what it is - this girl's views on what was happening in Iraq at the time it was happening; highly recommended

145. Island by Aldous Huxley - I found this book disappointing, and could not honestly recommend it to anyone unless they were determined to read all of Huxley's books

146. Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o - FANTASTIC book and a must-read; this allegorical book could be set in any number of African countries where the minority has come into power and then promptly abused it; highly recommended

147. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - I rather enjoyed this retelling of the story of Penelope and Odysseus from Penelope's point of view and I really liked the chorus; recommended

148. This Terrible Sound by Peter Cozzens - nonfiction; this is the second book in Cozzens' Civil War trilogy and much better than the first - Joyce has written a very good review of it here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/61244; highly recommended for Civil War and military history buffs, not so much for the casual Civil War reader, though

149. Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb - I read 2 books on the Lamb siblings last year and my interest was piqued to read their prose version of Shakespeare; I think the book works well on its own as a matter of fact; recommended

150. Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman - young adult; I read a short story of Goodman's in the Firebirds Rising anthology that I read earlier this year and enjoyed it, so I thought I would give the book a try that involved the characters in the short story; the book belongs firmly in the young adult camp having a character that is a hermaphrodite; I found the book to be an enjoyable exploration of the growing relationship between the 2 main characters, the one human and the other Chorian; recommended

OK, my March wrap up: 142 books read, of which 14 of which were nonfiction, which gives me 33 nonfiction reads for the year, slightly off-pace of reaching my goal of 150 nonfiction books this year. I read 3 books towards my goal of reading on the Vietnam/Civil Rights era, and 2 books from my 'must read' list.

Stasia, I am so glad you like Wizard of the Crow as much as I did. It started me reading a lot more of Ngugi and I can heartily recommend Petals of Blood too. It takes place in the period just after Kenyan independence from Britain; it's humor is darker and more cutting than that i Wizard, and the book contributed to Ngugi getting arrested and thrown into prison for several years.

Also, to get back to DuMaurier's collection Don't Look Now, I read the recent New York Review Books edition; there may be different stories in different collections.

#103: Unfortunately, Wizard of the Crow was the only book of his that my local library had, which is really too bad. More people need to be exposed to his work if it is all at that level, IMO. I am going to check the local college library and see if they have any more of his works. I have heard that A Grain of Wheat is also very good.

As far as Don't Look Now goes, I have no idea which edition my local library has, so I guess I will just take my chance with it.

Make sure it has "The Birds" in it! As for A Grain of Wheat, I have it but haven't read it yet.

#105: I will!

# 86 richardear~

I had a note from her today, and sent a copy to your profile comments... porchsitter has been having some very serious eye problems. She says
"Please ask all my buds to say a prayer for me, this is some of the worst pain I've ever endured. And I am scared to death of the damage my cornea has already sustained."

I miss her too...

Thats quite a list Stasia! impressive :)

>87.

All teas can be decaffeinated easily. Simply brew the tea for 30s to 1m, and then discard the water (the water you're discarding has 80-90% of the caffeine from the tea). Then, reinfuse the leaves and prepare as normal. The second infusion will have 20-10% of the caffeine (the same amount as regular decaf tea), and will have pretty much the same flavor.

Yay, only one book I want from the list of this weeks reading, what a relief! :) Wizard of the Crow goes onto the wishlist.

Stasia, and all other interested parties, I have posted aquascum's discovered BBC meme over here for further fun. Stasia, why not copy your list over there?

Wizard of the Crow looks really interesting! Onto the List it goes. Although I must admit I'm a little daunted by the length.

The one thing I would say about Wizard of the Crow is that it takes a little while to get started as Ngugi introduces a variety of characters and situations -- don't let this put you off as it is a wonderful book.

Stasia
I'm adding Wizard of the Crow to my list. 142 books thus far! You are amazing!

"142 books thus far! You are amazing!"

agreed~!

Stasia
Please do promise not to leave us... We know you read many more books than the 75 for the challenge, but truly if you moved to a 500 book challenge you would be missed!!!!! And, I have no doubt you could obtain that goal.

Stasia

I'm glad you liked Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. My Dad and I read them together when I was in fifth and sixth grade. We read them one at a time and discussed them over that period. I've always thought that was one of the reasons I loved Shakespeare's plays as he wrote the with no hesitation--I knew the stories so I didn't find them difficult to read and understand. Of course, when I was in high school Dad and I read several of the plays together, not just the ones that were required reading for school. We were living in Oregon at the time so we also went to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival every summer. That may have helped my deep appreciation of them also! :-)

#110: Done, Richard dear.

#113: I am up to 150 now. 142 was only through the end of March. I am not amazing, I just do not sleep.

#114: See above.

#115: Why would anyone think I was leaving? I am not leaving! I do not want to leave! Please do not make me leave :(

#116: Carolyn, I think Tales from Shakespeare really should be taken on its own merit. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the Lambs did a very good job. I think it's terrific that you and your Dad could read them together.

The Lamb books is called Tales FROM Shakespeare for a reason...it's not meant to be Shakespeare, but the stories retold for a younger audience. It's a separate endeavor, and deserves to be addressed as such.

I think, taken on that basis, it's pretty good; taken as Shakespeare, peee-yeeewww!

#118: Agreed! I never said it would replace Shakespeare - what could?

118 & 119

I think the benefit gained by being introduced to Shakespeare by reading Tales from Shakespeare in elementary school is that you've been introduced to the stories he used. Then while you are learning to appreciate Shakespeare use of language and his takes on these stories you have a background knowledge from which to draw to understand what he was doing. Shakespeare's stories and plots are not original, it's what he did with them that is so spectacular.

This is totally off topic, so I hope you don't mind. But I just had to say that after reading everything you had to say about Adagio teas, I ordered several samples last week. They came in today, and I can't wait to try them- they smell fantastic, and if they taste as good as they smell, I'll be very happy. But I wanted to thank you for introducing me to something new.

Ack. Accidentally double posted.

Message edited by its author, Apr 6, 2009, 1:48pm.

#121: You are quite welcome!

And hey, it's my thread, everything here is totally off topic :)

I took notes this weekend on all the tea advice, and I probably will give it another try...now to just pick a flavor.

I see back in >73 Anita, like me, thought she'd accidentally wandered into the Kitchen... at this rate you'll have to start a new thread before the week is out!! Glad you've fitted a few books in there amidst all the drink talk.

#124: Jasmyn, now you know why I have a tea shelf. I love having tons to choose from!

#125: Hey, Rachael, glad to see you again! Thanks for dropping by.

I must admit I also purchased the beginner's kit at Adagio Tea's website. I've never tried tea that wasn't from a tea bag, so I'm curious now. Is there a big difference?

Depends on the tea. Some teas need to expand to really get the flavor out and a bag prevents that. "Blooming tea" is an extreme example: it's tea and blossoms and such tied up in a tight ball that expands into a flower-like arrangement in the pot when steeped. Gunpowder teas, some types of oolongs and green teas are rolled into pellets that need to expand in the pot.

The Story of Tea was a really good intro to tea for me, including prep methods and such, by a couple that run a tea shop.

Going back to no.37 just for a second to thank aethercowboy for recommending I try Yerba Mate (no, not a book, sorry). I was able to find it here in Spain. Haven't tried it yet but have bought a pack and will try it as soon as I get back to Greece :)

>129.

I'm glad you were able to find it. Did you get the gourd and straw so you could try it traditionally? Well, some cultures traditionally add coca leaf to it, but that's frowned upon in some places...

I hope you enjoy it. If you don't like the flavor, you can always mix it with something fruity, minty, or add honey or sugar, or anything else that has a strong yet appealing flavor.

Gourd and straw? Nope. I can't wait to try it, although secretly I hope I won't love it too much because I know I won't be able to find it in Greece and I'll just be longing for it all the time :P

This goes way back to the "how unhealthy is coffee" debate that was going on earlier, but I found interesting article on WebMD:

Coffee: The New Health Food?

There is also this article on MSNBC.com that also suggests coffee is healthy, but in moderation rather than excess:

A Cup of Confusion: Is coffee healthy or not?

Message edited by its author, Apr 7, 2009, 5:10pm.

Thanks for these websites. I suffer from migranes and there is nothing better than a tablet of fiorcet taken with a cup of hot coffee to relieve the pain.

Glad you enjoyed Appointment in Samarra and thanks for the note at my profile!

>133, You're very welcome! I just happened to come across them while googling tea health benefits and thought people would find them interesting.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how accurate or fictional those articles are. I've learned by now to take everything "studies show" with a liberal dose of salt.

#134: You are quite welcome!

>135. I've learned by now to take everything "studies show" with a liberal dose of salt.

Studies show that that's not good for people with high blood pressure...

"I've learned by now to take everything "studies show" with a liberal dose of salt."

Studies show that studies may be manipulated to show almost anything about what was studied.

hehe aether
hehe orangeena

Hi Stasia! How 'bout my Mets, smackin' the Reds around? And hawhawhaw all over the Yankees, may this be what their whole season is like!

#140: Richard, unfortunately your Mets are not doing so well this afternoon, but they still have time! I hope they rebound to win.

I feel the same way as you about the Yanks, but things will change once A Rod is back, unfortunately.

*considers taking up knitting*

....and back to books, re #109 and your Tales from Shakespeare read, Stasia. You might want to consider Peter Ackroyd and his The Lambs of London a fiction piece which looks at the scandal surrounding the Lambs. He is a very good writer.

#142 mckait

Actually, that is a very good way to watch baseball games. But i doubt it would work for you--you have CATS! ;-)

Fingers crossed for the Giants--they start in one hour!

#143: The Lambs of London was one of the books I read on them last year, kiwidoc, which is why I was reading Tales from Shakespeare this year. I appreciate the mention, though.

#143 & 145

I think The Lambs of London will have to go on my TBR pile--even if it is fiction. He's a good writer I need to start reading again! There are several of his I want to get--maybe I should make him a category next year. That would be fun!

#146: Carolyn, The Lambs of London was an OK read, but not great IMO. The other book I read on them last year, Mad Mary Lamb : lunacy and murder in literary London was better. It is nonfiction, though.

From the reviews of The Lambs of London, it looks like Ackroyd doesn't explain that Charles became his sister's guardian after she murdered their mother. That seems like a pretty glaring omission; I've always thought that was the most remarkable aspect of their sibling relationship, that he would fight so hard to keep her out of the asylum and then structure his life around taking care of her.

Lamb's Essays of Elia is one of my favourite little essay books.

ETA: I always wondered if Mary was a paranoid schizophrenic - did anything you read speculate about her condition, Stasia?

Message edited by its author, Apr 9, 2009, 6:26pm.

Stasia

Thank for the tip! I would prefer nonfiction in this case because I'm thinking in terms of a biography type read. Mad Mary Lamb looks like just the thing I would like. Should I be concerned that the LT predictor say I will "love" it! ;-)

musicmom, you are absolutely right.. *discards notion of knitting*

Hey, wait! My cats LOVE to help me crochet while I am watching TV.

Two more books just hit my TBR pile - smiles crookedly at Tiffin and Stasia. They sound very interesting.

(Ackroyd has a habit of selectively omitting various facts of history with his fictionalized biographies/histories - I am not sure if it is commendable or irritating).

#149: Tui, Hitchcock's premise was that Mary was manic-depressive, not a paranoid schizophrenic (I am not an expert, but I think they are different things). I liked Hitchcock's book more than Ackroyd, all in all.

#153: Karen, considering how many books I have added to the Continent from your thread, I feel absolutely no remorse in adding to your TBR pile.

Hope to catch up with you soon!

This week's reads:

151. Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - This was the first book of Wodehouse's that I have ever read and I was disappointed; from all that I had heard about Wodehouse, I expected that the book would be very funny, and I did not find it that way, so maybe I was expecting too much - it was funny, just not as funny as I was anticipating; still recommended, but possibly only for die-hard Jeeves and Wooster fans

152. The Given Day by Dennis Lehane - I am a big fan of Lehane's mysteries, so I was curious to see how he did with historical fiction and I was very pleasantly surprised at this one; it would be a 4-star book for me if not for the prevalence of the 'f' word on every single page, but still, I thought the book was very well written; highly recommended

153. Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson - juvenile fiction; I read Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13 last and enjoyed it, so I thought I would give this one a try and I really enjoyed it, probably a tad more than the prior book; this book is kind of a witchly form of Cinderella as far as the plot line goes, but is more humorous; recommended

154. Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara - Blackdogbooks recommended this one and it is a very good read (his review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/51792); recommended

155. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley - young adult; I actually preferred this book of McKinley's to The Blue Sword, which I read last week; Carolyn and I read this together and her review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/61650; recommended

156. The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby - nonfiction; I thought Crosby did an admirable job in this book of not making the medicine behind yellow fever overtake the book and thus rendering it unreadable for the general public; I was also very pleased to see both a well-written Notes section and bibliography, for people like me who use books as a platform to other books; recommended for everyone, highly recommended for those with an interest in the subject

157. Germinal by Emile Zola - this was a very visceral book for me to read because Zola did such a great job of making me feel as if I were actually there watching the events unfold; deebee does a great job of reviewing the book on her thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/53307; highly recommended - it is a classic and deservedly so

158. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede - young adult; thanks to Roni for the recommendation on this one, a book I really enjoyed; I thought the character of Cimerone was well-written and well developed and I liked her interactions with the dragons; highly recommended

159. Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan - juvenile fiction; this is the first book in 'The 39 Clues' series and I can see why younger readers would like it - there is both adventure and humor; I would think that this would be a good book for reluctant readers because once it gets going it keeps on going and certainly holds the reader's interest; recommended

160. Mistress Masham's Repose by T.H. White - I love White's The Once and Future King, so I was not sure how this book was going to stand up to the comparison, but I found the book to be delightful and charming; I had to laugh at the section where the Lilliputians are holding up signs saying 'No Algebra Without Representation', thinking my oldest daughter would most certainly agree (although Beth's would probably say 'No Algebra At All'); highly recommended

161. The Rarest of the Rare by Diane Ackerman - nonfiction; I have no problem at all with the text of this book, thoroughly enjoying Ackerman's trips to places I will likely never see in pursuit of creatures I will probably never lay my eyes on - my problem with the book is that there is not a single photograph in it! Come on, Diane, you went to Japan, Hawaii, the Amazon, etc and did not carry a camera?, unbelievable!; still, I would recommend the book for the text alone and at least the Internet allows for some pictures of the animals and insects mentioned in the text

Message edited by its author, Apr 12, 2009, 6:44am.

Stasia, every time I see the list of books you read in a week, I feel slightly jealous. I would like to have that ammount of time to read!

Sorry to hear that you didn't like Wodehouse. I just a book with a selection of his different works. I didn't start it yet, now I'm a little afraid to do so...

Mistress Masham's Repose by T.H. White... I too, loved The Once and Future King It is an all time favorite, as well as a sentimental one.. I will have to read this one.

>157 & 159: It's really a wonderful book...few people seem to have heard of any of his books beyond The Once and Future King or, worse, just The Sword in the Stone.

#158: It's not that I completely disliked the book, it's more that my expectations were so high that I was very disappointed in the book more than anything else.

Well, there are those removed then redeemed chapters that became The Book of Merlin. I confess that oddly, I never looked beyond that book either. Unusual for me, as when I find an author I like I usually read more than one book, as in De Lint.. and the many of his books I have read..Alice Hoffman, etc.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I've added almost all of your reads to my tbr pile. Your site is marvelous...and dangerous to my vow to whittle down the tbr pile.

I'm especially interested in book #156. Have you read Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson? If not, I think you might like to check this one.

http://www.librarything.com/work/6857/bo...

I am not here so I cannot comment.

I look forward to Sundays, so I can hear all about the books you read during the week--I always expect an interesting variety (not to mention a phenomenal number) of books.

I agree with you about Jeeves--I've never found the series that funny.

Other excellent Zola books: La Terre, L'Assomoir, La Bete Humaine. One of my life reading goals is to read all the books in the Rougon-Macquart series.

Happy Easter!

Coincidentally, an Emile Zola adaptation was what I was listening to on the radio this afternoon. Was quite good. Can't remember what the title was though!

And I love the way nearly everyone loves the Damar books, but there is always dispute over which is the better

#163
I second that recommendation. Excellent young adult historical fiction. If you enjoy her writing in that one, I would also recommend one of my favorite young adult books,Speak. I would say it had a profound impact on the lives of my four daughters.

>157 happy to know that you liked Germinal. i read Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier soon after i read Germinal, and found his description of the British coal mining towns and work in the pits in the 1930s mirroring those portrayed by Zola more than half a century earlier in France. another good read along the same themes this time with a journalistic bent.

#168. I'll see if my local library has Speak, if not I'll get it via Inter library loan.

Speak is excellent! We used it for an "at-risk" girls group I volunteered for in college.

#163: Linda, Fever 1793 is on the Continent - I just have not had a chance to read it yet.

#164: Since you are not here, Richard, I am not saying Hello lol.

#165: Deborah, thank you for dropping by!

#167: I am new to Robin McKinley, so I did not know that there were more in the series. I will have to look for the others.

#168: Speak is already on the Continent - another one I just have not had a chance to get to yet.

#169: I will have to look for the Orwell book as well, considering how much I liked Germinal.

Stasia

So many books--so little time! Sounds like you had a good week.

Somewhere I have a copy of Mistress Masham's Repose that was given to me as a child and I never read it. I will have to dig it out and finally read it!

I agree with you about Jeeves and Wooster--I find the books mildly amusing but so far have not become enamored with them. However, I really enjoy the British series starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry!

I've been wanting to try Patricia C. Wrede--Dealing with Dragons sounds like a good one.

#174: Overall, a pretty good week, yes. Not my best reading week this year, but not too bad, either.

Do dig out your copy of Mistress Masham's Repose, Carolyn. I do not think you will be disappointed in it.

I will give Wodehouse another try some time in the future, but tone down the expectation some what.

I am going to pick up the second book in the Wrede series this week at the library. I hope it lives up to the promise of the first!

>175: Maybe you should read a non-Jeeves/Wooster Wodehouse next? There's the Blandings Castle series of books, starting with Something New, for example.

Lycomayflower (sp?) posted this on her thread, so I thought I would give it a shot, too:

Copy the questions into your own post and answer the questions.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
J.D. Robb

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
The Bible

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No, although I try not to do it!

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Jamie Frasier (from the Outlander series), Roarke (from the In Death series)

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
The Bible

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I am not sure I was ever 10 and I certainly cannot recall which book was my favorite!

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory hands down

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Germinal by Emile Zola

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I cannot narrow it down to just one

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I have not got a clue

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
None, I prefer using my own imagination

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Outlander

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I cannot think of one - I never can remember my dreams

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I am not sure what that means

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
There have been a lot of the 'classics' that I have struggled with, but if I had to narrow it down, I would say Plato's Republic

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
The Winter's Tale

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Russians

18) Roth or Updike?
Neither - I have read only 1 Roth (nonfiction about his father) and no Updike, so I do not have enough information on which to base a decision

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I tried one Eggers book last year (which I did not even finish) and have never read Sedaris, so again, not enough information to decide

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Boy, that's a tough one, but I will go with Shakespeare

21) Austen or Eliot?
Eliot - I love Middlemarch

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
One of the reasons I read so much is because I know that I do not have a gap in my reading, I have a canyon - there is just too much missing for me to list it all

23) What is your favorite novel?
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, one of the first books that I remember thinking 'I wish I could write like that'

24) Play?
Classic: King Lear by William Shakespeare
Modern: Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello

25) Poem?
In a Library by Emily Dickinson

26) Essay?
Any of Anne Fadiman's in Ex Libris, I love them all

27) Short story?
Not one in particular, but I love the short stories by Somerset Maugham

28) Work of nonfiction?
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, River of Doubt by Candice Millard, Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour

29) Who is your favorite writer?
C.S. Lewis, although he is one of many

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephanie Meyer

31) What is your desert island book?
If I had to forgo all other books, I would still want my Bible with me

32) And... what are you reading right now?
The entire list of all current reads? OK, Black Hearts in Battersea, The Seven Daughters of Eve, The Shipwreck of their Hopes, Manila Espionage, Quicksilver, Alas, Babylon, There Goes My Everything, 1968, Vietnam: A History, Lighthouse and my 2 group read books

Don't give up on Wodehouse! I agree with wunderkind, try a Blandings Castle book. Leave it to Psmith is one of my favorites :)

I am a Jeeves and Wooster fan - at least I think I am! I am reading Hot Water (not J & W) as recommended. I thought I would die laughing - not even a snicker! It's clever; Wodehouse is an excellent plotter, but it is just not briliiantly funny. I am enjoying reading Emperor: The Gates of Rome much more - it is superb. A bit graphically violent in places but the characterisation is wonderful and the story is simply gripping. Recommended by Bernard Cornwell, who wished he had written it.

- TT

#179: My main disappointment with the Wodehouse that I read was exactly as you put it - 'not brilliantly funny', which I what I was expecting. Yes, there were some funny moments, but not enough for me to make up for my overall disappointment with the book, TT. I will try Wodehouse again, though, but perhaps a Blandings title. Maybe I will get luckier with the laughs this time around.

totally agree on Wodehouse. Read my first one last month and my reaction was pretty much the same. Some of it was funny, but generally I was disappointed in what felt like an overhyped read - and author.

#181: Guess it's not just me (and TT) then. I will give him one more shot and if he fails to impress again, move on.

OK, this is for Catey who got mad at me because I answered the other questions, but not these from her thread:

On your nightstand now:
As I have at least 30 books on, in, and around my nightstand, I am not listing them here!

Favorite book when you were a child:
Little Women

Your top five authors:
Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, J.D. Robb, Christine Feehan

Book you've faked reading:
I cannot think of a single one

Book you are an evangelist for:
At present, Germinal by Emile Zola - come back next week and the answer will change, I am sure :o)

Book you've bought for the cover:
Several, but the names of none of them come to mind

Book that changed your life:
The Bible on several different levels and Charlotte's Web, the book that started it all for me

Favorite line from a book:
I do not have one

Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Charlotte's Web

Book you wish you had written:
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - as mentioned before, the first book that I said to myself 'I wish I could write like that'

Catey listed her haul from today already, so here is mine:

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell - I actually got this one in the mail from PBS, not at Goodwill or the library sale
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Time After Time by Allen Appel
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
A Rumour of War by Philip Caputo
By the Sword by F. Paul Wilson
Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
Forever by Pete Hamill
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer

Not bad for less than $15!

I just got A Tree Grows in Brooklyn too! It was one of those children's books that I want to read again because I remember that I was very moved by it, but I can't remember any details at all.

#184 and 185 I hope you both enjoy A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It's one of my all time favorites.

#184, what a bargain. Lucky you. Happy reading.

#185/186: I have never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. One of the books I have just never managed to get around to, so now that I own it, I have no excuse.

#187: Thanks!

Stasia
It looks like you found some amazing books today!

*peers into crystal ball and reads the entrails of a dead cricket I found on the floor*

Verdict- all portents and signs declare you will like the heck outta A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

A Rumour of War by Philip Caputo - Read it this year! One of the best memoirs of the Vietnam War I've read. Period!

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - Picked this up a few days ago myself. What a coincidence!

#191: Peter, I remembered A Rumor of War from your thread, which is why I grabbed it when I saw it. The book fits in nicely with my Vietnam reading this year.

So glad to see A Tree Grows In Brooklyn on that list. A very definite contender for my favourite book ever.

Forever is also very good........and very different. Written like nothing I've ever read before, I've only reread it once because its so dense. Enthralling throughout though.

#193: I read Forever last year and really liked it, which is why I copped that one.

I am obviously going to have to get A Tree Grows in Brooklyn read very soon!

This week's reads:

162. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken - juvenile; I liked this book more than the first book in the series, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase; recommended

163. The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes - nonfiction; I thought this was a very interesting book and that Sykes did a wonderful job of making a complex subject and making it accessible for the general public; my only real quibble with the book is the lack of a bibliography; recommended

164. The Great Eight: How to Be Happy (Even When You Have Every Reason to be Miserable) by Scott Hamilton and Ken Baker - nonfiction; Scott Hamilton's suggestions for making the best of what he calls 'God-scheduled opportunities'; the book uses skating as an analogy for overcoming whatever life throws at you; recommended

165. Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka - this is the first book in the Russell Quant mystery series and overall, not too bad - what I would call a 'serviceable' first mystery and good enough that I will continue to read the series; recommended (but if you are extremely homophobic, give it a pass as the protagonist is gay)

166. Manila Espionage by Claire Phillips - nonfiction; this book resided on Continent TBR for about 5 years before I finally got my hands on a copy, it is the true life story of Claire Phillips, who after the break up of her first marriage, returned with her toddler daughter to the Philippines and fell in love with a soldier who was subsequently captured by the Japanese and died in the Cabatanuan camp; his death spurred Claire to become involved with the Philippine underground which she did very successfully until captured by the Japanese; there is racism understandably toward the Japanese in the book which was published only 2 years after WWII ended; highly recommended, not for the writing, but for the story itself

167. Eat This Not That by David Zinczenko - nonfiction; a guidebook to making simple changes in your diet to lose weight; what surprised me the most were how many of the chicken dishes, which I would have thought to be the healthiest, actually were not; highly recommended

168. The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith - nonfiction; a recommendation from rebeccanyc, this is an excellently written book about the circumstances leading up to and the aftermath of the crash of 1929; highly recommended

169. There Goes My Everything by Jason Sokol - nonfiction; TheOneandOnly recommended this well-written account of the Civil Rights movement as seen by white Southerners; highly recommended

170. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - this classic book on the aftermath of nuclear holocaust was given to me by alaskabookworm (thanks again!) and I very much enjoyed it; due to the time period in which it was written, there are some racist and sexist remarks; highly recommended

171. Dark Light by Jayne Castle - my BC book for this week, and the only comment I have to make is that the cover model for the book was a terrible choice, lol

172. The BFG by Roald Dahl - juvenile; Linda (Whisper) recommended it on her thread here, http://www.librarything.com/topic/51585&..., and I have nothing to add to that review; highly recommended

All in all, a nonfiction heavy week for me, which came as a bit of a surprise.

Manila Espionage sounds really, really interesting! I'm going to have to track down a copy. Thanks :)

I look forward to Sunday mornings when I can see all the lovely books you have read this week.

I have a friend who is from the Phillippines. Her father was a part of the Baton death march. He survived but it haunted him all his life.

I'm always interested in learning more of her country and culture. I'm adding book #166 to my tbr pile among others here on your recent list.

I'm also adding A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I'm embarrassed to say I've never read this book.

Stasia

Here is a site I found regarding Claire Phillips

http://www.cnac.org/emilscott/phillips01...

167. Eat This Not That by David Zinczenko is one of my tbr reads, too.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of those books I read over and over in middle school and my copy got passed around my group of friends. It's looking very tattered (but loved!) now.

Books 164 and 167 sound very good... I have a terrible record with this sort of slightly self-help-y read, in that I acquire them, read about three chapters, and never quite stay the course. I obviously need a self-help book that tells me in three chapters how to like myself enough to finish self-help books ;-)

#201

Do you think we could count this as fear of commitment in regards to self help books?

I can't do them either

#195: Wowie Wowzers up to 172 books already!

But I thought I'd drop by and say hello anyway!

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:38pm.

#196/197: I finally had to get Manila Espionage on Interlibrary Loan because the least expensive copy for purchase that I could find was somewhere around $150, so you may want to consider the ILL route for yourselves.

Thanks for posting the link, Linda! I did not know what happened to Phillips after WWII. I learned about her initially through Hampton Sides' book, Ghost Soldiers, just as mentioned on that page.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my all time favorite books too. It is one of the only books as an adult that I have reread multiple times!!

#205: Thanks for dropping by! I will return the favor, lol.

Thanks for the heads up regarding Manila Espionage and the need to obtain in via ILL.

#207: The copy I ended up with came from Kansas City, so evidently my local library did not find it in the entire state of Texas. It will be interesting to see where your copy comes from, Linda!

Mark me up as another interested in Manila Espionage. I wonder if my local library here in Tokyo has a copy? ;)

#209: Good luck with that, Peter. You will have to let me know if you find it!

Back to Wodehouse - you gotta not think of him as brilliant, just as a light read with lots of funny moments. I agree with the suggestion above to try Leave it to Psmith if you can, or maybe Summer Lightning. Different to Jeeves and Bertie. (I seem to be saying this on multiple threads these days, apologies to those who've seen me repeat myself elsewhere!)

Nice to discover you, alcottacre :) I, too, have added A tree grows in Brooklyn to Mt TBR.

#211: I will give Leave it to Psmith when I get a chance and give Wodehouse another go.

Nice to be discovered :) Thanks for dropping by!

Interesting reading, Stasia. I notice The Seven Daughters of Eve on your list. I have that one in my TBR - did you figure out which line you are from?

The Great Crash is an interesting read for our emerging financial times, too.

#213: Karen, I thought about sending in my DNA to be tested (Sykes mentions his website in the book), but changed my mind when I found out how much it was going to cost me! So, I still have no idea what line I am from - although mine would not be completely correct anyway since I have Native American in me on my mother's side and that would not be covered by the European DNA mothers.

I envy that you got to read Dealing with Dragons! I only have the third book of the series (which reads like a standalone), Talking with Dragons. It's one of my fav re-reads :) Cracks me up!

ETA I'm glad you did Catey's questionnaire -- I liked those answers a lot.

Message edited by its author, Apr 20, 2009, 9:32am.

#215: I have the second book in the series home from the library now. I am hoping to get the entire series read in the next several months. Roni recommended them to me and I thoroughly enjoyed Dealing with Dragons and am looking forward to the rest of them. I hope you get moved back to 'civilization' soon, so you can start collecting books again, lol.

Actually, Talking with Dragons is the fourth book chronologically in the series, but was the first one written. It was also the first I read. I can never decide whether 'tis better to read it first, when you don't have all the background and so are deliciously surprised at every corner, or to read it as the culmination of the series, where every detail has import. But if you can only have one, it is the best one to have!

Looks like you've read an awesome variety of books the last few weeks. I'll need to take notes. I'm always looking for variety to spice up the bookshelf! The Seven Daughters of Eve and Manila Espionage sound great.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is one of my favorite books past and present.

Dealing with Dragons is on of my favorite books. I look back on reading it and can't wait to share it with my daughter when she's older.

Hi, Stasia - finally found you here.

Dealing with Dragons, et al, were favorites of my son and me, and some of the last books I read out loud to him when he was about 6th grade. We loved them and read them several times. Great fun.

I was interested that your copy of Manila Espionage came from Kansas City, and checked the World Cat site - they say that Houston Public Library also owns a copy - I'm surprised you didn't get theirs. It looks like most copies are owned by universities (including Univ of N Texas) - do they not play nice with public libraries?

Glad you liked Seven Daughters of Eve. The Great Crash of 1929 is the book on your latest list that caught my eye. I've become more interested in the depression era (even before our current economic situation) and really haven't taken time to investigate it much yet. Is this book a good place to start?

I'm starring this thread so I don't lose track of you, although I don't know why I'm bothering, since you'll be starting an new one soon, I'll bet.

#218: Thanks for dropping by, Amy-Sue! Anything I can do to spice up bookshelves is a good thing in my book.

#220: Sandy, if Houston has a copy of Manila Espionage, I am not sure why the copy I received from KC. I am not surprised that most copies are owned by universities.

You cannot go wrong with The Great Crash 1929. It is an excellent introduction to the economics of the time period and Galbraith does a great job of giving the details of both the causes and aftermath of the crash. If it is a subject in which you are interested, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I am trying to make this thread last until the end of April. Surely one thread a month is enough for anyone :)

#222 I placed a hold on The Great Crash - perhaps not surprisingly, all copies are currently checked out. They've got more on order, so it may take a while. I was surprised to see that this book was originally published in 1955, when the event would still have been part of the collective memory of people. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Re: The Great Crash

Well, I've finally pulled my finger out, and am making a start on my 'depression' collection!

See HERE

Starting with The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes, since Galbraith's book seems to have been getting most of the attention!

Dealing with Dragons sounds remarkably similar to Edith Nesbit's picture book The last of the dragons. Interesting.

#224, petermc, I cannot recommend highly enough Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 for your depression reading. Don't be deterred by its length: it is impeccably researched, highly readable, and fascinating. I will be interested, however, to see what yo think of The Forgotten Man, since it has gotten conflicting reviews, to put it mildly.

Message edited by its author, Apr 21, 2009, 7:41am.

OK, I am totally stoked: I just got in my ARC of The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I loved The Shadow of the Wind when I read it last year! I am off to read before school.

Happy reading Stasia!

Stasia - I just saw where The Angel's Game was coming out in English. I can't wait to read it. I loved The Shadow of the Wind when I read it last year too!

#226 - Thank you. I won't let the size of Freedom from Fear daunt me from tackling it soon. And yes, The Forgotten Man certainly has had mixed reviews. Unfortunately, American history is not my strong suite, so I have been devouring both good and bad reviews that I might approach it more critically.

Stasia

Great list of books you bought. I have In this House of Brede and The Devil in the White City on my 2009 list of books to read.

Manila Espionage sounds like a book I would really like. My Dad was involved in the Philippine Islands during most of the war. I hope I can get my hands on a copy.

May 4th I will once again be able to rejoin the living and reading community! Meanwhile--I lurk when I possibly can and read a little, too. "April in the cruelest month!" :-)

Edited for spelling!

Message edited by its author, Apr 21, 2009, 9:05pm.

#229: Thus far, The Angel's Game is not as good as The Shadow of the Wind, but it is still quite good.

#231: Carolyn, The Devil in the White City is a terrific book. Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. I hope you enjoy the book when you get a chance to read it.

I have not read In This House of Brede, so let me know if you would like to read it together.

I hope you can get your hands on a copy of Manila Espionage although the book really does not have a lot about the war itself. It is more concerned with Claire Phillips' experiences as a spy. If you would like a book more concentrated on the war in the Philippines, you would be better served by another book.

I hope your readingless April ends soon!

>225 Although the two stories might sound similar on the surface, they are very, very different in tone and substance. No prince, no taming, much more characterization.

Cool, it sounds good!

In This House of Brede is a wonderful book!

#231/233
I finished Devil in the White City earlier this year for a history class and I was amazed at the way Erik Larson was able to bring Chicago and it's people to life. He knows how to draw the reader into the story quite well.

I must have been in a funky mood while reading Devil in the White City because I thought it was totally boring! I found myself skimming which only made it worse. And it was one of the few books I didn't bother to finish. I even finished A Brief History of Time (talked about on other threads today) so it's not like I don't have any stamina for difficult reads. The act of reading is so much about the reader, isn't it?

#238: I didn't like Devil in the White City either. Got it from the library a few years ago because the summary on the back sounded interesting. Never finished it, neither did my mom. We both gave it a try, but it was too boring in the end. Maybe I was just too young to enjoy it, though I doubt it.

My wife has repeatedly recommended In this House of Brede. someday I will get to it.

Quite honored that you linked my review to your entry on Appointment in Samarra Thanks!

#240: I believe in giving credit where credit is due, Mac! I try to remember whose threads I 'steal' books from (not always successfully, though). I appreciate the time and effort others put into their reviews, since I do not do them.

speaking of reviews, has everyone noted and been pleased that Linda and Tui botth have hot reviews today??

Hi Richard. You are ever so kind to note this! Thanks for letting me know!

> #238/239

Perhaps I enjoyed it more as I live about an hour outside of Chicago. A few of the landmarks mentioned in the book I have either seen or driven past where they used to be. Reading a history that involves an area so close to our own homes has always seemed more interesting to me.

#242: I know, you are not here :)

Congrats Linda and Tui!!

#244: I liked it very much and I do not live anywhere near Chicago (I wish I did!)

I found The Devil and the White City interesting for the history of the Fair, particularly the story of the Ferris Wheel, and well as the amazing tale of the "Devil".

Totally impressed, Stashia! I haven't been around for awhile so I was pleasantly amazed to see you've begun Take 4 and after only 24 days you've got 247 posts! I'd say you've got what they call magnetism!

I've had The Devil and the White City on my TBR for quite along time now. You're discussion of it reminds me to move it up on the list a bit.

Carmenere
Stasia has magnetism and more than that..a kind, wonderful, soul that reaches out to others.

Perhaps that is the "magnetism", ie a genuine person who cares and that is IMHO but one of the reason we flock to her thread.

Smiles to you...
Linda

#248/249: Stasia is blushing :)

#248: Lynda, do move The Devil and the White City up on your TBR stack! It is worth the read, IMO. I am a bit biased, though - Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers.

Lol, I can be mean about you if it would stop the blushing!

Stasia has an ulterior motive, she wants to make the rest of us look bad and inferior by reading so much, and such good things!

Also, the number of posts you get are a way of stopping us reading further. If you can keep us on LT, you can keep us away from books and thats your biggest ambition!

Is that better? Any blushing? No.......good :)

#251: Thank you for the help in getting rid of my blushing, luna. You have managed to unearth all of my ulterior motives, lol.

#251 Ah! So there is a method to her madness. Know what? It's working!!!

Yes, it is working because here we are posting more comments and anxiously waiting for tomorrow's list of her wonderful reads.

I'm doing the math and what is happening is during the week I may read one or two books, but come Sunday, I've added six or seven of Stasias.

I'm happy though because I'm learning ever so much.
My LT to be read list is analogous to the dust floating all over my house. I can clean, but it is gonna land right on down to the tables and furniture no matter how hard I try.

Well, Linda, if you'd cover the tables and furniture with books, they wouldn't get dusty, now, would they? ; )

I have a sign that says "Dust is the protective covering of fine furnishings." The way my house looks, I could replace "Dust" with "Books!"

This week's reads:

173. When Titans Clashed by David M. Glantz and Jonathan House - good introductory volume to the WWII Russian-German conflict, but it is written as a military history, so you really get no sense of individuals/personalities involved; recommended for those who have an interest in the subject

174. Speak, Memory - nonfiction; this autobiography is in no sense a traditional one, this one is Nabokov as a word artist, almost like an impressionist painting; I loved it and highly recommend it

175. Villette by Charlotte Bronte - back to back 5 star reads for me this week; this story of Lucy Snowe, whose name is highly appropriate (she appears very cold as the story begins to unfold) is a story that unfolds slowly, but is very worthwhile; one detraction in the book is that the French was untranslated in the edition I read, but my schoolgirl French got me through; highly recommended

176. In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker - this science fiction book is almost a morality play, at least to me - it is cautionary in its dealing with effects, both good and bad, of creating immortals and also very anti-'Religion'; recommended

177. 1968: The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky - nonfiction; I read this for my Vietnam War/Civil Rights movement reading this year, but this book did not limit itself just to discussion of what was happening in the US in 1968 - it was densely packed with information about what was going on around the world that year; recommended

178. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - I was looking forward to reading this book, but boy was I disappointed in it; the listener of the novel is portrayed as a stereotypical American, but the entire book is the narrator trying to convince him (and us, the readers) that he is not a stereotypical fundamentalist terrorist type; the scene where he is trying to make love to his American girlfriend while pretending to be her dead boyfriend just made me say 'Yuck' and the book just left me wanting more; not recommended

179. One of Ours by Willa Cather - this is the book that won Cather the Pulitzer Prize and I am still trying to figure out why - not that the book is not good because it certainly is, but IMO both My Antonia or Death Comes for the Archbishop are more deserving; still highly recommended

180. Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout - my first Nero Wolfe novel which I listened to in audiobook form and I had a great time with it!; recommended

181. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson - this book is not what I think of as traditional historical fiction, but Stephenson's take on historical fiction; I enjoyed this book very much, but it is not for the faint of heart - the library copy I had was 900+ pages long, because if Stephenson knew a fact, he put it in there; recommended

182. My Own Country by Abraham Verghese - nonfiction; I very much this memoir of a doctor working in the Appalachian mountain region of Tennessee, specializing in infectious diseases at the time of the initial spread of the AIDS virus; I found the stories of his patients by turns heartrending and uplifting, especially the story of Will & Bess - Will, who contracts the virus because of a blood transfusion during surgery and unknowingly passes it on to his wife Bess, but as he is seeking treatment can tell his doctor 'My God is not a vengeful God' (neither is mine); highly recommended

#256 Completely impressed by your wide scope of reading material Stasia!
I was going to purchase the Reluctant Fundamentalist a couple of months ago.....so glad now I did not.
I've added 1968 and speak, memory to my TBR. Thanks for doing the legwork for me again :)

#257: I do not think of it as legwork - it is 'brain' work for me - my legs do not work as well as my brain, lol.

I believe this is the first time I've seen anyone mention another book of C.Bronte's besides Jane Eyre :)

Stasia - What a great week you had! I'm about half way through My Own Country and am enjoying it too. Speak, Memory sounds amazing. I'll definitely at that one to the TBR list.

great list! My Own Country is on my list as well.. from docs thread I think?
All of the books by this author look good to me.

Your reviews made me want to re-read Villette. I read Villette and Shirley while a teenager but I don't remember much about either of them, unfortunately! I do remember the French parts bothered me, though, since I don't know a word of the language. I felt like I was missing out! But I know I did enjoy them. I'm also going to check out Fer-de-Lance.

--> 261

All of the books by this author look good to me.

I can vouch for Abraham Verghese's The Tennis Partner. It's a sad and touching memoir about the friendship between Dr. Verghese and a medical student. Their friendship was based on the love both of them had for the game of tennis.

Dr. Verghese's writing really touches an emotional chord within me. I can't wait to read more of his work. I have a feeling that the best is yet to come.

182??? 182 books read! Wow. That is truly amazing!

Do you have a "favorite" or a few "favorites" of those read?

Suffice it to say that once again this week, those books you recommend that are not already on my tbr pile are going to be added.

Those you don't recommend I'll stay away from. I trust your judgment.

Thanks for another pleasant Sunday list.

>256, ooh, some great books this week! The Nabokov looks fantastic in particular.

My mother-in-law has lent me The Reluctant Fundamentalist, partly as I bought it for her in the first place (as part of a Booker shortlist package), and somehow I just haven't got round to reading it. I don't feel inspired to bump it up after your review, I must say... although I'll have to read it one day as she'll want to know what I thought!

I started the year with the intention of reading more Brontes, and that has been bubbling up again this week, so your five stars for Villete (another book I have owned for many years without reading, even though my sister-in-law loves it) comes at a good moment! After I've read my current book and the two I had lined up next, I think it'll be time for a bit of a Bronte patch.

Always look forward to Opening your thread on Sunday morning for your weekly reviews!

Villette and Speak, Memory are both waiting on my shelf, so I'm glad to hear you liked them both. I'm hoping to get to them this year. I'm sorry you didn't like The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I liked it very much--I found it more ambiguous than you seemed to.

Stasia

I always look forward to your Sunday List. Sounds like a better than average week.

I have Villette and have moved it to my 999 classics category (along with my 2 Anne Bronte books!). I really want to read something by Nabakov and don't think I can handle Lolita so Speak Memory goes on the "to buy" list. (See how much I trust you!) In the Garden of Iden and My Own Country both sound great, so I'll be looking for them also. Of course, I plan to eventually read all of Willa Cather, so that's already on my TBR list.

hi stasia...thx for dropping a line, gout's not a lot better and it's too hot to sit in my room for long...91 here today, no central air.

blech

#256

I almost envy you starting out on the Rex Stout / Nero Wolfe series. They are among my all time favorites and are especially well-suited to audio format. You have many wonderful books and short stories ahead.

If you'd ever like to see what Archie Goodwin would look like in cat form, click on my profile. I really did name my cat after him.

#259: Eliza, I did not know that Charlotte Bronte had written anything other than Jane Eyre until I discovered it on Library Thing!

#260: Amy, I hope you get a chance to read Speak, Memory and enjoy it as much as I did.

#261: I hope all of Verghese's books live up to the first one, Kath!

#262: Angela, if you have not read any of Rex Stout (I hadn't), Fer-de-Lance is a good starting place because it sets the series up nicely.

#263: The Tennis Partner is the next Verghese book on my agenda. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did, Madeline.

#264: Linda, since I do not think you are particularly interested in military history, I would give When Titans Clashed as pass if I were you. The ones I would wholeheartedly recommend to you from this past week are Speak, Memory, Villette, One of Ours and My Own Country.

#265: Rachael, there are several people whose opinions I respect who liked The Reluctant Fundamentalist more than I did (Deborah in message 267 would be one of them), so you need to give it a try for yourself. I am probably in the minority on the book.

#266: Thanks, Roni!

#267: Deborah, perhaps it is the very ambiguity of the book that I did not care for - I am not sure, but when I finished it, the book just left me unsatisfied. I hope you get a chance to read both Speak, Memory and Villette this year. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on them.

#268: Carolyn, Lolita does not appeal to me, either, but I read Nabokov's The Real Life of Sebastian Knight last year, so you might be interested in reading that one if you want to try some fiction by him. It was his first book and I thought that overall, it was quite good. I have not read any of his other fiction yet, so at this point, that is the only one I can recommend.

The Garden of Iden is the first book in a series in case you were not aware. I currently have the second one in the series, Sky Coyote on order, so I am hoping that it is good as well.

I will be interested in seeing your thoughts on One of Ours when you get to it in your Cather reading.

#269: Richard, I hope you have some improvement soon! I can commiserate with the no central A/C. We lived in a small house for about a year and a half with no A/C and as you know, in Texas it gets plenty warm :)

#270: Maryann, I loved the picture on your profile! I have already ordered the second book in the series. I cannot believe that with as many mysteries as I read I have managed to miss Rex Stout over the years, but there you have it.

Wowwww, lots to add from your list this week! I've often wondered about the Stephenson books, so I guess I'll have to give them a go now. I've also had the Wolfe books recommended to me before but never bothered and then forgot about them... yay reminder! And the Bronte one... and Garden of Iden... *phew* ...so many, what a great reading week you had!

#276: Anything I can do to contribute to the delinquency of a TBR pile :)

I am glad you liked the Stout. One of the best things about his writing is it is very consistent. In other words, if you like one, you will probably like all of them; not like some series where they quickly go down-hill.

Added Villette to my list -- think it will work nicely for my 999 classics category. Hmmm for some reason mystery, scifi and fantasy categories are already complete LOL

#276 I also want to tackle a Neal Stephenson book, I've already got a couple of his books in anticipation but other books are taking priority at present. Villette looks to be a must read for me, I reread Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights last year.

I've always loved Villette - its attitudes (or Lucy's attitudes) are so different to today's norm, and the novel is full of atmosphere. I think the ending's a bit of a cop out though.

#281: Yes, the ending is a bit of a cop out, but I rather think that is a product of the time that Bronte was living in, so I will forgive that given the overall excellence of the rest of the book.

I have started another thread for May here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/63947 since this one is creeping toward the 300 message mark.