MissMarch's books 2011

Well it's a few weeks into the year now and because I've been on holiday have been able to do a lot of reading. There will be a wide variety of books on here because I pretty much just pick up whatever I can and I love old, classic children's and YA lit as well as recent adult fiction. Here's what I've gone through so far:

Death of a Blue Movie Star, Jeffery Deaver
Teed off in the USA, Justin Brown
Bowling Through India, Justin Brown
The New Noah, Gerald Durrell
Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
The Messenger, Markus Zusak
Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the U.F.O. (told you this would be a random list), David A. Adler
Watermelon, Marian Keyes

and currently in the middle of March by Geraldine Brooks, one I've wanted to read for a while. I also have a long list of recommendations from LT, so looking forward to finding some great books in 2011. Will read anything, so all recommendations welcome! I'm trying to get my hands on The Hunger Games right now!

Welcome! I really enjoyed Brooks' Year of the Plague, People of the Book, and Nine Parts of Desire. I've never read March, though, so I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Edit: wrong touchstone

I really enjoyed The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Now I'm just waiting my turn for the library's copy of Mockingjay. I remember loving The Phantom Tollbooth as a kid but I can' remember the plot at all. Maybe it's time for a re-read. March sounds really interesting so I also look forward to seeing your comments on it.

Welcome, great to see another Kiwi. I've only read The Messenger from your list but I really enjoyed the style and of course his The Book Thief is rapidly becoming a modern classic. Amazing how talented he is for one so young!

Yay a Kiwi! I haven't actually read The Book Thief yet, as it's always out of the library- that's the only reason I picked up The Messenger instead, but I really enjoyed it. He is definitely very talented!

Welcome!

Welcome from me too! I love Gerald Durrell -- got to see him speak at the Academy of Nat Sci in Philadelphia a couple (or more? ouf!) of decades ago! He was a charmer, to be sure, on the page and in person.

Harriet the Spy was my absolutely favorite book when I was about 10-12 years old. It made the rounds of friends, several of us were inspired to keep notebooks, and my next door neighbor and I had a spy route.

sibyx- SO jealous you got to see Gerald Durrell speak in person! That must have been amazing!
qebo...at the risk of you not following my thread anymore I have to say that I didn't actually like Harriet that much, but I do think it was because I didn't read it when I was young like yourself- if I had, I'm sure I would have had a notebook and a spy route too!

Just finished March last night- WOW! First off I have read Little Women and the sequel Good Wives far too many times to count and they are two of my favourite books of all time. I know them really well too so I was quite prepared to find fault with the account of Mr March's life.

But I have to say that I was completely blown away- not only did Geraldine Brooks clearly research both the Civil War and the letters / journals of Louisa May Alcott and her family in depth, but to see things like a poem one of Alcott's patients wrote included in the book took it absolutely to the next level for me. And above that, her writing style is lyrical and completely beautiful, and (perhaps the most important thing in my opinion) she included so many references to Little Women and incorporated their characters so well that I felt like I was really reading a book from the father's point of view, and there was little or no disconnection. I think just the fact that she managed to do that, relate it so closely to two of the best loved classics of all time so neatly, made her completely deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. I'll go out on a limb and say it will probably be difficult for me to read another book this year that impresses me as much as March.

Hope I haven't given too much away and if you haven't read it- DO! I've seen some very varied reviews online (some people really hated it, apparently) so I'll be interested to see what everyone else thinks.

Oh yeah, my point in that whole review was that I really felt that March gave me a better understanding not only of Louisa May Alcott but her books, and really, what more can you ask for?

I've heard mostly good things about March and your response confirms them. I liked People of the Book so I think I need to put this on my wishlist!

10 (MissMarch): Could be the era too. I first read it a few years after it was written. 25 years later, my nieces were utterly uninterested.

Very good write-up of March, I am so intrigued, I've never heard of it before. Also makes me look at my copy of Little Women with a bit of guilt as I don't recall reading it yet.

Hi! Welcome to the group:)

I'm adding March to my wishlist. Thanks for the tip!

Have a lovely day:)

Welcome to the group, Jo!

I also enjoyed March. Glad to see the book has found another fan.

Great review of March. I'm excited to read it now!

Thanks for all the welcomes / comments!

Finished The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine today, about a child prostitute in India. Not sure how to review it because as a rule I don't really enjoy these kinds of books (The Kite Runner being another example), but I do appreciate the writing and whatever I thought of the book's content, the writing was beautiful and very moving as it dealt with such horrible subject matter and made the atrocities described sometimes almost poetic.
Definitely not for the faint hearted and it's not one I would read again: can't say I enjoyed it as a whole, but I did still want to finish it.
Oh and also picked up The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch which I've just somehow never gotten around to reading. Simple and heartfelt and I really enjoyed it.

The Blue Notebook looks like an interesting book. Have never heard of it before, so adding it to my wishlist. Thanks:)

Hi Jo, another kiwi here. I'm also a fan of children's books so look forward to seeing what you've been reading. I also loved March though I'm not an avid fan of Alcott's books.
I hope you can get hold of a copy of Hunger Games, it's fairly riveting reading. I've read all Zusak's books and liked every one. His YA books about the Wolfe brothers are just wonderful IMHO.

Hi There

I'm compiling a list of birthdays of our group members. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.

Thanks.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

I loved March when I read it a couple of years ago, and I was prepared not to. Great review! Also The Phantom Tollbooth is a favorite of mine!

Okay, next two books finished are:

An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aidan, and The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly.

Loved the Pamela Aidan book, was put on to this series (Pride and Prejudice from Mr Darcy's point of view, for anyone who doesn't know) by a few people on LT and thought it was fantastic.

The Book of Lost Things....might make a few people angry by saying I didn't love it! I've been trying to work out why, since I think it was well written (except for the over-long chapters at the start before the action started) and the story was good, but it just left me cold and I found myself not really caring. I actually read half of it and then forgot about it for a week, which shows how unabsorbed I was! I've come to the conclusion that it was because of the main character- I thought he should have been older, for a start, and I don't think you have a clear enough idea of his personality to actually identify with him. I felt the book was more a description of all these things happening to him, rather the way he felt about it all. A deeper exploration of his reactions / feelings would have made this story much better for me. I didn't dislike it, and thought some parts were really good, but I just couldn't bring myself to care that much. I don't know, it was strange! Sorry to all the fans. I may have hyped myself up too much for it also- I tend to do that.

#23: I did not love The Book of Lost Things either and the friend I read it with did not as well, so you are not alone :)

#23 I'm always very suspicious of Austen follow-ups, sequels, etc. Whenever I browse through them at the bookstore/library I find them to be such a far cry from her wonderful writing that I can't imagine actually reading one. Maybe I'm too picky. Or maybe I just haven't run across a good one. Glad you enjoyed the one you found.

Hello and Happy Almost Birthday! I hope Sunday is a special day for you.

I have The Book of Lost Things sitting on my shelves. Can't wait to give it a go and see what I think of it. It's always interesting to see diverse views of books, especially one where everyone loves and then someone who doesn't. That is what makes reading books so great! Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. :)

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for the birthday messages! I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while but most of you will have probably heard about the massive earthquake in NZ last week, I am actually studying in Christchurch and was here when it hit. I'm fine and the place where I'm staying is okay too, but haven't had a lot of time to read unfortunately! I'm definitely one of the lucky ones, hope all LTers out there in NZ are okay too.

Oh, wow. I'm so glad you're okay. Best wishes for your birthday. Take care.

Hope you had a nice day yesterday, take care down there.

You certainly were under a lucky star to have emerged whole. That must have been something!

Thanks everyone. Haven't had much internet access recently but I have just finished reading The Three Musketeers and wanted to post about it because it was fantastic! It was one of those ones I always knew I should read but never got around to it, and it looked a bit dry when I picked it up but it wasn't at all, it was great!
I loved all the old murder/intrigue/plotting stuff, and the characters were so vivid and real- I think that's what made it so good. The second half wasn't as good as the first and I was quite surprised by the ending, having watched the movies, but I won't give anything away!
An excellent read, I highly recommend it if you're after something to sink your teeth into :)

>33 MissMarch: I just saw a play adaptation of The Three Musketeers a few weeks ago and it made me move it up the mental order I have of books on my TBR list. Your review has nudged it a little bit more. :)

Just crossed off a book I've been wanting to read for a while: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I had heard a lot of good things about it so I was really looking forward to it.
All in all it was good. It wasn't earth-shatteringly good, and I guessed "whodunnit" so I'm always disappointed when that happens, but except for way too many similes it was well written and had a lot of wry humour I appreciated.
I would recommend not setting your expectations too high and you'll enjoy it.

Oh and I have finally got my hands on a copy of Jeffery Deaver's The Burning Wire. Can't wait, I love new books by my favourite authors!

#36: Congratulations, Jo!