The Clam Before the Storm - Reading in 2013 edition

I hope to do more reading (and listening) than last year. :o)

Here's to that!
:)

*thumbs up*

I have you starred!

Yayy for even more reading and listening!
I'll be lurking along :o)

Thanks, peeps. :o)

I'll be following you too!

Have a great reading year!

{-:

I'm reading my first Kindle book, Oh Myyy! (There Goes The Internet) by George Takei and I am enjoying it immensely.

Speaking of which, I guess I'd better start a new LT collection for Kindle books. How do the rest of you handle that?

I just add a tag for books on my Nook, and catalogue them together.

Whoa, I love George Takei. I'll lurk for sure.

I use the tags, audio, Kindle and so forth. I like to keep my collections simple.

I just add the tag "ebook" to each, in addition to any other tags.

I put mine in their own collection.

I use tags for ebook and audio. Like others I want to keep collections simple.

Lurking along as I alway have...

I've used the tag, Kindle, when I remember...

I'm still a dead-tree guy. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts this year.

I use tags, but I think there is a way to find a unique ISBN for each. You might ask one of the real LibraryThing geeks.

I use tags - ebook, Nook and Kindle. Also I reassign the publishing info and the ISBN if I can't find the right edition.

I've decided to do both a tag and use a collection. That way as my brain crumbles with age I can almost be sure I won't spent five hours looking for a book on my shelves when I actually own an e-ink version.

I finished Oh Myyy! and really enjoyed it. It was a perfect first read for my Kindle because it was full of links and other interactive content. Though I knew enough not to try to open the YouTube links on the Paperwhite. ;o)



I'm currently working on State of Wonder by Ann Patchett for my library book group. I had trouble forcing myself to read a dead tree book, as majkia calls them, because I really want to play with the Kindle. So I also started The Curse of the Mistwraith on the Kindle. Enjoying them both so far, but I need to get the Patchett book done soon for the discussion on the 16th.

My meetup group read State of Wonder last year. I liked it a little better than Bel Canto.

I still have yet to read Bel Canto or Run, though I have them somewhere. Overall she is a very highly rated author here on LT, and one that several people who have similar reading tastes have recommended to me over the years. I'm glad I'm finally reading one. :o)

Congrats on the Kindle! I love both my Kindle and my Nook. My Kindle is a first generation, as I convinced my family to give me money to buy it a couple of years ago, and it still works like a dream! The Nook is cool, too. And I still like "dead tree" books, too. I am so into books!

<3 George Takei - he's really really awesome. Glad you liked his book, because I loved it, lol.
Can't wait to see what else you tackle this year. :)

Oh e-books are still 'books' to me - so I don't distinguish other than a 'digital' tag - because I have kindle/ibooks/nook/pdf versions and really don't want to separate them, since they're just all on one device.

They are still books to me as well, but my fear is that I'll go looking for a dead tree copy. Maybe I should rename one of my collections to 'has discernible mass.' LOL

(I consider my audiobooks to be books, too!)

I just tag them. It's only really an issue when I'm re-reading a series that I've switched format mid-way through. Something I try not to do...

I finished State of Wonder and I was completely blown away by the ending. I gave it five stars, though I can understand why some readers might have had some issues with the pacing. I plan to move Bel Canto closer to the top of my massive TBR list.



Now I shall try to give more attention to The Curse of the Mistwraith.

Well, I am enjoying Mistwraith so much that I already bought the second book for my Kindle. :o) As I am notoriously slow to finish any series I'll probably wait on the rest for now.

I finished listening to the audio version of The Fellowship of the Ring read by Rob Inglis. T'was a wonderful experience for me and offered a completely new perspective on the book after four decades of reading it (over 20 times at least) and after a decade of enjoying Peter Jackson's film version. I know we often process books auditorily very differently from the way we do visually, but I wasn't really prepared for this. I even cried in a few places that never really had much impact on me before. I'd have to say that the scenes with Galadriel in particular were both eye opening and eye moistening.



I'm still enjoying Mistwraith and am getting close to the end. I think it is taking me a while to get through it for several reasons. I'm still figuring out the finer points of using the Kindle, my daughter was still home until recently and she wanted much of my attention before she left for school and, finally, I would read for 10 minutes at night and not be able to stay awake because I haven't been getting enough sleep for the last three months. LOL I am now making sure I'm in bed with the Kindle in hand at a reasonable time, so I can read for a stretch AND still get eight hours of sleep.

Rob Inglis' reading of LoTR really is something special. I know I have mentioned it before but it was my first real audio book, 18 years ago, and it just blew me away. Even as I knew the story by heart it was an amazng experience.

Have you got the other waiting for you, or will you listen only to FoTR?

Yes, I have the whole trilogy, and I already started listening to TT today, Busifer. :o) It is truly amazing stuff. Love the singing, too.

I'm so glad you have that, clamairy! I thought it was just because I was obsessed with LotR, I had the same experience you described. So lovely it even made me miss my exit to work one day!

I'm kind of shocked. I knew I'd enjoy it, but I had no clue how much. I plan to listen to it every few years from now on. I had listened to The Hobbit once in 2009 and again a couple of months ago right before the movie was released. That was fun both times, but nothing like this.

I found a short interview with Rob Inglis about the LotR/Hobbit recordings from 12 years ago. Enjoy!

http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/RobInglis.html

Thank you for sharing that, clamairy. Now I want to go listen to them again! Maybe I will when I cancel my subscription to Audible.com. :)

You're welcome, MrsLee.

Now I wonder if I should listen to all of my old favorites to get a new spin on them. Has anyone ever listened to To Kill a Mockingbird? Do you think I'll discover something new there? (I've only read it three times, as compared to my gazillion readings of LotR. LOL)

I really enjoyed listening to Sissy Spacek reading To Kill a Mockingbird, but it didn't add anything new, besides the wonderful experience of having the story read to me in Spacek's lovely drawl.

But come to think of it, I think the only other time I'd read it was in Junior High (my memory is a little fuzzy here). I think I reread it for the first time after listening to it on audio. Either way, it's one of my favourite books.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Rob Inglis narration of Fellowship of the Rings. I've been thinking of re-reading LOTR, but I can't decide whether to "physically" read it or listen to it. Good to know the audiobook is that good. :)

#41- I think you can listen to samples on Amazon to help you decide if it's worth the effort, Hibernator. :o)

I LOVED Sissy Spacek's TKaM. She's from that area. Couldn't have more authentic.

I believe Sissy Spacek recorded some Rabbit Ears Radio shows, and I was very pleased with it. Now I want the audio of TKaM.

#30 "Well, I am enjoying Mistwraith so much that I already bought the second book for my Kindle. :o) As I am notoriously slow to finish any series I'll probably wait on the rest for now."

I would suggest that you read one more - Warhost of Vastmark which marks the end of the opening sequence. IT's not exactly a trilogy as each book does stand on it's own, but there's a more natural pause at the end of Vastmark. Looking forward to your comments on the group read thread.

#38 - I read a version of TKAM as a present for my mum! It's a great book.

31: Hmm, intriguing. I've never done an audiobook, but you certainly make this sound attractive. How many hours did it take? And wasn't it hard to sit through all those long and often gratuitous poems?

#45 - Already bought the next two for my Kindle. Don't know when I'll get to them, though. I have some other obligations. LOL

#46 - Well, I actually don't sit. :o) I'm listening when I am walking outside or on the treadmill, or when I am doing some much hated housework. The poems so far have been great, because most of them are actually songs! Tolkien wrote the music for some of them himself, apparently. In fact I found I appreciated the songs much more listening to them than I had just reading them. That's one more reason to give the audio a try.

Thanks to this thread, I just got the Rob Inglis LOTR from the library for stellarwoman, who -- hold on! -- has never read it.

Great! Oh, mrclam hasn't read them, either. Though he's been forced to watch the film version a few dozen times. :oD

Neither of the clamlings has ever finished the trilogy. One stopped at the end of FotR and the other got lost in the Dead Marshes of TT. :o/

The Dead Marches is a tricky spot. I remember getting bogged down there myself. But I do plan on having another go at the whole trilogy someday.

My son just finished reading the trilogy, then he watched the extended versions of the films. I sat in my corner smirking while he critiqued and expounded on the "written" version to his friends. :) This is the boy who five years ago told me that he never needed to read a book because if it was important enough he could either watch the movie or find it on the internet.

A quiet smirk is all one dares in that circumstance, MrsL!

#51 - I am still hopeful. They're young. My daughter did try to start over again during Christmas break, but told me she was put off by how petty and small-minded some of the hobbits were in 'A Long-Expected Party.' LOL

I did finish off The Curse of the Mistwraith the other day. It was an enjoyable experience, for the most part. I have some bones to pick with some of the elements of the power and seemingly heartless choices made by Asandir and his cronies. I'll take that over to the book discussion thread, though.

I'm willing to overlook any and all quibbles when I hit sentences like this:

"A human mind ensnared in the consciousness of a tree will sleep, immersed in slow dreams that measure time in stately rhythms, of clean sun and silvered snow and seasons that slide one into another like the rain-kissed drift of autumn leaves."

Now I'm reading The Book of Atrix Wolfe based on @jillmwo 's recommendation and I am loving the language.

I have a real weakness for The Book of Atrix Wolfe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

#53 - That is truly a lovely quote.

#54 - I am. It's so... lyrical, or something. I just don't know how to explain it. :o/

#55 - :o) Isn't it?

Dear Clam, I've been so neglectful during this busy beginning of the new year. Sorry to have missed keeping up with you. The multiplication of new threads over in the 75 books group just about buried me and I ran into a reading slump trying to keep up and read Anna Karenina at the same time. Whew. I seem to have bounced and now am slowly re-starring a bunch of threads I de-starred in order to catch my breath Double Whew.

You make listening to The Fellowship of the Ring seem very, very attractive. Yesterday, I experimented with listening to a podcast of Books on the Nightstand while washing dishes and it worked pretty well. I have found that driving is about the only time I've successfully listened to a book, my mind wanders so much. (Elder onset of ADD, without the hyperactivity, unfortunately) but I think I am now willing to try some other times. Washing dishes (an unending task since I do it both at my house and at my niece's house) seems like a great opportunity. God knows I do not need to think much during that job!

OK, well, now that I am caught up with you I will try to visit more often.

I totally love Patricia McKillip and have been following her work since the start of her career. If anyone is within reach of Orlando in March, she attends the International Conference on the Fantastic - I think you don't need to register unless you are a presenter. Fun to see you enjoying her works - she writes like no other.

#53, thank you. :) If your hair is in a twist (and it's meant to be :) ) remember the prologue....the moral grounds and the motivations behind what the other characters and factions are doing unfolds later in the series, by design, and what you think about what you are seeing may radically change. (fair warning).

I really appreciate that you gave the book a shot and that you finished it and showed a passage you enjoyed.

#57 - Oh, no need to apologize maggie. You've made me glad I stayed out of the challenge groups, though. I already feel like I spend too much time online!

Yes, listening while doing mindless chores works well. Don't try to write a grocery list, though. LOL
*hugs*

I can imagine: eggs, milk, bedding for baby dragons, bread, bread fruits for lizards, sharpen swords, oh, wait, yes, I do need some fish for fish and chips....

Eggses, preciousss
Raw fishes

>31 clamairy: Ok, I appreciate I'm a little late - but the audiobook versions of LOTR are fantastic. Rob Inglis does a great job.

Time to catch up in here.

Last week I finished The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip and absolutely loved it. The ending was a smidge weak, but the writing is so lyrical. Just a wonderful reading experience. Thank you, @jillmwo. :o)



This morning I finished The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker for one of my book groups. I found it to be a mixed bag, though overall it was more positive than not. The story was gripping, but the writing just wasn't up to snuff. It's YA, so I cut the author a little extra slack. The science behind/about the slowing of the earth's rotation and resulting natural disasters was slim to non-existent. Plenty of food for thought in here about how we force ourselves to live by 'clock time,' though.

I read The Age of Miracles last fall. I had very low expectations, but it actually ended up being one of my favourite books for the year. I would have liked to know more of the science, and I did find the writing a bit uneven, but I found that the farther I got into the book, the more I got caught up in it. It was a book that I kept thinking about after I was done. I tend to like the kind of apocalyptic fiction where not much really happens. More of a whimper than a bang.

I got caught up, too. And I'm sure I'll be mulling it over for a while. It was interesting to me to read about people reacting to 'a possible end of all things' as it progressed, as opposed to something post-apocalyptic like The Road.

Lurking here. Today is my new credit day with Audible, so I got the Rob Inglis LotR audio book. I've been floundering trying to find something to listen to the last week or so, and listening to an unabridged LotR sounds like it'll be just perfect. I have the BBC radio dramas which are fun too, I love the music in them too clam, but I'm going to love listening to Tolkien's writing again.

Also added The Book of Atrix Wolfe to my wish list. *sigh* it's so dangerous being a lurker.

So glad you liked The Book of Atrix Wolfe!! I think it was the description of the medieval kitchen that caused me to fall in love. And she has plenty of other books you can read as well!

*happy dance*

#66 - I think you'll be pleased, Katherine. :o) And it will keep you occupied for a good long while! :oD

#67 - Yes, the kitchen and the dishes she described were wonderful. I could SEE them! But the woods... oh, the woods. *sigh*

I finished reading This Is How You Lose Her, and I loved it. I cannot recommend it for everyone, however. I would suspect those with an aversion to profanity would have a seriously rough ride with this. LOL I adore Junot Díaz and look forward to future writings. Now that he's received one of those much coveted MacArthur Fellowships he should have even more time to write!



To just give you some idea of why I love this man so much, here is what he said about love in an interview last year:

"Sometimes the right choice is also the hardest choice. Often, most of us choose for safety. I think it is easier to go to Mordor bearing the ring of the enemy than to advance into the unknown wilderness of another person’s heart."

OH, yes. That does give me a feel that the man has insight.

I hope all is good with you at chez Clam.

We're mostly good. Thanks, maggie. Though my daughter has managed to break a bone in her foot doing one of her marshal arts. She'll be wearing an inflatable cast for 6 - 8 weeks, poor kid.

Oh, Clam! I am so sorry. I hope she heals quickly!

Thanks, GD. I worry because she's usually so active and I can tell the lack of mobility is almost as painful to her as her damaged foot.

I meant 'martial' not 'marshal.' *sigh* I wasn't even drinking yet when I did that...

I finished listening to The Two Towers last night on my walk, and dove right into FotR immediately. Once again there were so many details I heard that I had forgotten or maybe even never noticed while reading. I have nothing but praise for this audio adaptation.



I'm working on Bill Bryson's At Home on my Kindle.

Finished off At Home last night. Loved it. Will try to come back with more thoughts on it later. It's too nice out to just sit here!

#76

That is one that interests me, but I have a couple of unread Brysons that I want to get to before I buy any more. But I see my public library actually has it (wonder of wonders), so maybe I'll borrow it.

I'm glad you're enjoying the audiobook versions of LOTR, Clam. They're a real treat.

I liked At Home a lot--I love his digressive journeys!

I've polished off a few reads, but have been a complete slacker about updating this thread.

I finished listening to The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien and it was spectacular. I even listened to ALL of the appendices. :oD



Thanks to Jill I spent a brief but memorable time with Lady Susan by Jane Austen. Highly recommend this one! (And the kindle version is free!)



This next book was so bad it was unintentionally funny in many places. Despite the yucks I cannot recommend The Girl From Long Guyland by Lara Reznik to anyone.



And, finally, Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones is the first book I borrowed from Amazon's Kindle Owner's Lending Library. The first of many, I am sure. It was okay, but not great. I'm mainly just pissed off that I didn't realize it's the first of a series, or I wouldn't have started it. LOL I have a thing for post-apocalyptic fiction.

Right now I'm reading an ER book that is so-so. I need to finish it but it's not keeping my attention...

I hate when that happens. I actually stopped requesting them because I got a few in a row that were a chore to get through. :o/

I sat on a couple of ER books that I could not finish for a couple of years! Finally, i wrote "reviews" which said I'd Pearl-ruled them, and explained why I could not force myself to finish them. Seemed like the honest thing to do if not kind.

Me too! I've become very selective, after several onerous reads. Despite this precaution, I am finding one that arrived a month ago utterly burdensome. You get what you pay for? Well, I have received many that were excellent too, though not recently.

Clamairy - Have you been to the Freebooksifter site? They sort through the free ebook offerings out there, mostly on Amazon it seems, and sort them into categories which makes it easier for you to look through. They send you an email once or twice a week. I love it. My mom is devouring her Kindle books, so this helps her not to feel guilty. They aren't all gems, but easy to eliminate the awful if you end up with one.

Oh I just can't bring myself to do ERs ever again. I've had the worst luck with books that were just... I had to put on my "talk to the proverbial monster-in-law" hat in order to finish/review/etc.

And I have to say that I'm interested in audio books again after reading this thread. The last one I heard... well... let's say that there was a bunch of prequel books that were being written by a son of a famous author and there were a lot of high hopes and high hype about the books.....and it was atrocious (the reading & the story both!)....

Age of Miracles is one of those "not a fan of the story at all, but I like some of the concepts" books I've read (or movies I've seen as that happens quite a bit). The story of the earth slowing isn't original, but some other pieces were interesting, even though the story was just not for me. It kind of reminded me of melancholia (the movie).

(y'know, I think that maybe I lurk a bit too much sometimes, lol... ah well, back to lurking!)

#84 - Yes, the last year I was still requesting them the quality seemed to have dropped a bit. Though maybe I wasn't reading the fine print before requesting. I do still have Behind the Beautiful Forevers from ER to read, and I believe that won all sorts of accolades. But it looks really depressing, and I was already in a slump when I received it so I put it aside.

#85 - Yes, I checked it out, MrsLee. I need to go back and spend some time with it and possibly create a list. Amazon only lets you borrow one book a month. Yesterday, to my joy, I discovered that they added 'recommendations' to the Overdrive website my library uses for borrowing ebooks and audiobooks. I knew it had been recently revamped to make it easier to use, but I found a bunch of things to add to my wishlist. I think the only problem with these ebooks is that they delete themselves after 3 weeks, so anything I want to linger over, like Jon Meacham's newish book about Thomas Jefferson, will go *poof* if I take too long. (BTW, I have been on the waiting list for that particular ebook since the beginning of January and I think I am still 3rd in line!)

#86 - Audiobooks are great. I can actually make myself do some of the cleaning that needs to be done if I can distract part of my brain with a decent one. :o) I understand what you're saying about Age of Miracles. I kept having to remember it was YA. I think I would have loved it at 11 or 12.

We love lurkers here. But you already know that!

Well I've had a couple stinkers from ER and after that I was more careful on what I picked. I've won over 50 ER books and only a couple were awful and a few more that were so-so. This one I don't think had an accurate description of what it was about. Or maybe my reading comprehension was low that day. Either way I'll read it and review it. For as many good books as I've gotten for free I'm still on the positive side of things.

I checked last year (having tagged all my ERs it easy to see what I thought of them). They werent' runnign significantly differently to books I'd picked up by chance or my recommendations. I still need more books for better statistical power. ( i think this is a very good excuse for book buying).

#88 - I am probably still on the positive side, too, but when I hit those few in a row that left me spinning my wheels I decided to take a long break. I won't start asking for books again until I finish the ones I have. I had many stressful things in my life occur in a short period of time, and forcing myself to read something I wasn't enjoying was not something I chose to do.

#90 - LOL!

I seem to have forgotten to mention that I am currently reading The Twelve, which is a sequel to The Passage and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am listening to The Colour of Magic on my iPod when I walk.

OK, clam.... did you LOL at your own post? Are you really that funny?

Now, that's funny!

Hee hee! I meant #89.
But yes, now that you ask... I am pretty funny. ;o)

yup

>90 clamairy: are you enjoying the audiobook of The Colour of Magic, Clam?

#95 - It's a struggle NOT to pee my pants laughing when I am listening to it while walking! (I am exaggerating, but I am sure people who pass by must think I am off my nut.)

I knew I would love Terry Prachett when he made me laugh out loud in a restaurant as I was reading the first page of the first book I ever read by him. Hogfather

He is flipping awesome. Only thing of his I'd read up until now was Good Omens and I was never really sure what parts of it were his.

I'm glad you're enjoying it, I'd say the Discworld series takes a couple of books to hit its stride, but its great stuff. Terry Pratchett is a fantastic author.

Outside of the Discworld books, I really enjoyed Nation.

#98 - only the two authors know, and by now they'd probably have to go back and check. There was a lot of swapping of drafts and editing each others works until it was pretty much seemless. Not always the case with dual author works.

Finished The Twelve and really enjoyed it. It's the combination of the author's writing style and the post-apocalyptic setting that has me so enthralled with this series. I really need to get my hands on some of his previous books. I see that he won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the past.

Hmm, didn't know Cronin wrote anything else. I'll need to look into it as well.

Clam, I hadn't realized (or just plain forgotten) that you were a Discworld virgin. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've passed some Discworld audiobooks to my MIL. She listens to them in the evenings in her apartment so doesn't have to worry about public displays of solitary hilarity, but she does sometimes wonder what the people walking by outside her door thinks :o)

I might have been the last of my kind in this group. LOL Maybe I should get a teeshirt that says, I am a Discworld Virgin... NO MORE!

Awesome stuff, sandragon. Thanks for bringing the audiobooks to my attention. Yes, I would imagine that could be an issue for anyone. Hee hee, "public displays of solitary hilarity." PDSH *snork*

I finished listening to The Colour of Magic and loved it to bits. Will be doing the next two sooner rather than later. Though right now I have started listening to To Kill a Mockingbird.



I whipped right through the first in the Wool series and enjoyed it so much I bought the omnibus for my kindle. I'm going to wait until I finish that and count the omnibus as a single work.

I saw the Wool omnibus at the drugstore yesterday, and debated buying it, but held off because I'm trying to practice restraint.

Drugstore? Really? How much was it, may I ask?

Something like $12.75. The sign said it was on sale.

The ebook was $5.99.

Hmm. It's only 3.99 at amazon .ca. And the free preview includes the entire first story. I hate buying e-books, but if I like the first story, maybe I'll take the plunge. So now I just have to fit reading that story into my juggling act.

By the way, I'm loving At Home.

Yeah, isn't it great! I love Bryson anyway, but this was just awesome. And that is exactly when I did with Wool. I read the first segment before I decided whether I wanted to keep going. Do you have an ereader or tablet?

I have a Sony reader, but now I mostly use my iPad. I prefer reading paper books, mainly due to habit, and I don't like buying ebooks because they just seen so ephemeral. But I'm slowly coming round to buying books I want really badly, and can't find a solid copy of at a reasonable price.

I'm the opposite of the person who uses the bricks and mortar store as a showroom then buys from Amazon. I download lots of previews from Amazon, then look for paper copies of the ones I like.

Yeah, that's what I used to do. I still borrow heavily from my state libraries through inter-library loan. And I used to haunt used book stores and library sales. I now try to only buy paper copies of something I think someone else in the house will read too, or that I will want to loan out. I like the kindle because of the adjustable font size. I wear mono-vison contacts and finding cheaters that didn't give me a headache was proving impossible. And I didn't like only reading at night after my contacts were out!!! I do still read real books, but I like having options.

Yeah, font size is definitely an issue in some books, even with bifocals.

I entered the wonderful world of online used bookstores a few years ago, and as I expected, it was a slippery slope. So now I'm trying to slow down my buying (both paper and ebooks) until my TBR pile shrinks to a reasonable size.

I liked Wool too. But not ready to annoit it with Great status. I'm most impressed with the author's publishing story. But the book was entertaining. The prequel less so.

#114 - Define reasonable. LOL I think my TBR list is close to 900 at this point, and that only contains what I own. (Although I am planning to whittle that down and unload some stuff this Summer.)

#115 - I'm afraid I'm on another post-apocalyptic jag. Pity me. ;o)

You two and your conversation about e-readers, font size, book prices, dicey eyesight, yada yada yada.... sound just like the converstion I have in my head, all the time. My latest coup was to find a paperback copy of the text for the class I'm taking at Amazon on the used book part... for $10 + $5 for shipping. The book, new, was looking like $100-$80 ! Yikes. I am glad I'm only planning on one class. This goin' to college is 'spencive.

Happy Friday, and don't forget we chat tonite at about 8 pm eastern times.

I finally downloaded (or perhaps I should say whispernetted) my first library ebook this weekend. So, I am taking a break from the Wool Omnibus to read Jon Meacham's Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Great stuff so far, but then I am an unabashed worshiper of Jefferson. I'll only have it on my kindle for 3 weeks, so I wanted to be sure I got to it right away.

ETA: I think I'm going to start a dedicated library ebook & OverDrive discussion thread.

great idea!

@clamairy, You know of course that, in the state of Virginia, every single college campus throughout the state has at least one building with a rotunda similar to that at Monticello in honor of the great man.

No, I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me!

A worshipful pilgrimage to Monticello is on my bucket list, BTW.

I finished the To Kill a Mockingbird audio and it was awesome. Not sure what I will listen to next. I have #2 & #3 of the discworld series on my iPod already.



Still slogging my way through the Meacham book on Jefferson. It's kind of uneven, IMHO. And in the meantime two other ebooks from the library were ready for to be downloaded. *sigh* I requested these all at different times, too.

I absolutely loved the Sissy Spacek version -- I mean she's from right there, and has the very accent in which the book was written. Fabulous!

I still her her voice in my head.

Yeah, it was spot on, in every way. I may need to revisit the film version again. I watched it with my kids maybe 8/9 years ago, and the only part that seemed off to me was the acting of the actress playing Mayella Ewell.

Groan! Now you are making me want to visit audible for this and I promised myself not to go back there until I had listened to the ones I've already bought!

*saved, Audible doesn't have it.

I can send it to you, MrsLee. :o)

Oh, but you want your own copy! Or is it a digital one I could borrow? I loved the Rabbit Ears story that Sissy Spacek narrated.

I loaded 11 CDs from the library into my iTunes and my iPod. I can send you the files using YouSendIt.

Cool!

I finally finished Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham and feel like it took longer to get through than it actually did. I wish we had quarter stars here on LT because I'd give it a 3.75. I just can't give it 4. Nope. Can't do it.



I started Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat and I am enjoying it so far. And I am listening to The Light Fantastic and yucking up a storm. :o)

Clam, are you intending to go through the Discworld books in order?

Going to attempt it, yes!

Excellent.

Looks like I'll have to intersperse a few dead tree books with the audio ones here and there. :o)

I feel like I gave birth. I finally finished Thereby Hangs a Tale and I swear I have been reading this for what feels like the last year at least. It was my official bathroom book, but I often ignored it. I am quite glad I read this, though much of the writing seems outdated and awfully politically incorrect by today's standards.



Note sure yet what will be taking its illustrious place on the book shelf in the throne room.

Your bathroom book? Gave birth, or...? Sorry, potty humor. I know how you feel though. :D

*snork* No, this one was gestating much too long. It had to be a birth. :oD

I started When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? and hopefully it won't take me two years to get through.

Well, you can't leave me hanging like that!!! When *did* wild poodles roam the earth? Having absorbed the knowledge, you can't just leave it there in the bathroom.

IIRC: the answer is "never." Ancient dogs were mostly wolf-like. It was only after they were tamed that selective breeding began.

#139 - Of course, but because this book is humorous in addition to being full of facts I am sure it will be written with tongue firmly in cheek. (Or should I say pen in cheek?}

#138 - I will try to remember to share that tidbit when I finally get to it. I assumed your post was meant to be humorous so I didn't feel the need to rush to reply. :o)

Adding the image from the cover:

Oh, yes, they look so so ferocious. But I'll bet Greta Garbo's ancestors, the wild Giant Schnauzers could whoop their butts.

#142 - And not look as goofy doing it!

Velocapoodleraptors?

Say that five times fast.

flying poodles

Wizard of Oz scenes.... the witch's minions

ah, ok, don't you just love Library Thing?

>145 MrsLee: that that that that that

:P~~~~~~~~~~~

*snork* :oD

Only in The Green Dragon would we find such goings on......

I finished listening to The Light Fantastic and although I chuckled a bit I found it to be not as humorous overall as the first in the series. I still moved right on to Equal Rites though.

Keep going, Clare, lots of people stumbled over that one, but I'm betting you will love the witches arc.

I have only read a small number of Discworld books but I can assert that Wyrd Sisters is great.

It gets good when the Witches arrive.

Yes, Equal Rites is quite funny so far. Thanks for the encouragement, all of you.

I finished reading Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson and thoroughly enjoyed it, though I think it could have used a bit more editing.



Next up is either One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson or Gulp by Mary Roach.

Ooooh, I have Gulp in transit from the library. I'm excited!

Me, too! Mary Roach is one of my personal gods. :o)

Consider the Fork looks tempting...

#158 - I borrowed that as an ebook through OverDrive. There were some editing errors, such as missing punctuation and the like, but I learned to ignore much of it.

It looks like they have it in print at my local library, and also on Overdrive. So I should be able to get a copy easily enough.

It went hand-in-hand with much of Bryson's At Home.

That was what I thought of when I read the descriptions.

They do overlap a little, but not in a bothersome way.

I finished One Good Turn and thoroughly enjoyed it. Kate Atkinson is hilarious. :o)



I think it is time to start Gulp.

I just started reading Stiff. My, Roach is funny, and quite a bit Puck-ish.

Roach is just awesome, sandragon. I only wish she were a bit more prolific.

I did finish Gulp and other than warning folks that certain chapters near the end of the book should not be read while eating I really have nothing other than praise for the book.



I'm currently working on The Dinner by Herman Koch for my ladies book group. Not bad so far.

I finished The Dinner and I have some very mixed feelings about it. While it was very compelling I really disliked everyone in it. And I mean everyone.



Not sure if I'm going to finish Wool now or start Four Fish.

Yay! I finally finished the Wool series! I really enjoyed it. Many thanks to @GeorgiaDawn for recommending it and to @stellarexplorer for seconding the recommendation.



Now onward to the ebook I borrowed through Overdrive, When Will there be Good News, which is book three in the Jackson Brodie series.

I have to read the Wool omnibus. You are the most recent of many to give it high praise.

I'm in the last section of the Wool omnibus now. Good story. I'll probably buy the next one, too.

I bought the next one, and things began to wane there for me...

You're talking about the prequels, yes? I've heard mixed things, so they're on the back burner for me. (Or it's more like they're in the pantry, so to speak.)

Yes, the first prequel. That was pretty much the end for me. Not awful, but I reached the saturation point and moved on.

I want to read the prequels, but they're not a priority. I want to find out what the world was like before silos and why they're stuck in the silos now. I thought Wool was good, but I don't seem to like it as much as most.

I'd say the same, sandragon. Good, enjoyable, not great literature, not going to make my top recommendations list.

They were definitely uneven, but very entertaining.

I'd been listening to music while I walked the last month or so, but then I finally finished listening to Equal Rites and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the best of three Pratchetts I've listened to so far.



I've started listening to American Lion.

Oh, keep listening/reading the witches story arc. They are right up your alley.

I do have both Sourcery and Wyrd Sisters in my iTunes already. I just felt the need for a bit of a change, and Andrew Jackson bio is doing the trick. My father was named Andrew Jackson Moran, BTW. I always thought it was his Scottish mother's doing. I must be the only person on the planet who didn't know Andrew Jackson's parents were Irish immigrants*. :oD

Granted they were the Protestant variety.

:) I always break up a Pratchett with at least a book or two. I appreciate the humor of them more that way. I had no idea Andrew Jackson had parents. ;)

Well poor Andrew's dad was already deceased when he was born. Not that you asked for a history lesson. ;)

I finished off When Will There Be Good News? and I loved it to bits. I didn't realize that the 4th book in this series was already published so that went on my wishlist, as did Atkinson's latest stand alone novel Life After Life, which just got the number one spot on Amazon's list of best books of the year so far.



I've already started And the Mountains Echoed, and am having to adjust to reading with the light on again. LOL

I'm reading Life After Life now, from the bandwagon.

Thought it would be a good complement to Replay

Uh oh. That looks good, too.

Ideas in it are excellent, execution could (almost always) be better, but an easy addicting read. One or two sittings. Liked it.

I finished And the Mountains Echoed. I enjoyed it, though it did not have the emotional impact for me that A Thousand Splendid Suns did. He is just a fabulous weaver of tales, and I always imagine there are many real incidents embedded in his fiction.



I have started The Book Thief. Oddly enough I borrowed the Kindle version through OverDrive and was having a lot of trouble getting into it. I wondered if it was a formatting issue, and indeed it was, because as soon as I switched to the trade paperback copy I swiped from my daughter's room I had no trouble with it at all. Those of you who have read it know that the paragraph/sentence format is unusual for prose, and it did not translate well to the Kindle, probably due the font/size I use.

Taking a break from The Book Thief to read Neverwhere, which was ready for download from Overdrive and would have disappeared after 48 hours. I will either finish reading my paper copy of Thief afterwards or re-borrow the kindle version. There didn't seem to be any other readers waiting for it, oddly.

Good Saturday morning, Clam. I am "back" from the cataract surgeries. The doctor tells me that in about a month my eyes will have settled down and we can measure my new vision. I may need prescription reading glasses, or maybe just those cheap ones available in drugstores. Nevertheless, I am able to read for small stretches now! And I'm trying to catch up with threads. Daunting! But I am here to say "hi" and let you know I'm around.

Welcome back, maggie! I hope your eyes have recovered and you are all caught up. (If that is even possible!)

I finished Neverwhere and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just adore his sense of humor, though it's not a humorous book at all.



I've decided to revisit a childhood favorite, Eight Cousins. That Suck Fairy had better keep her distance. :oP I am taking a break from listening to the Andrew Jackson bio and have started listening to Fragile Things read by Gaiman himself. Oh, what a voice he has...

Thanks, Clam. The eyes continue to improve. Sunshine is very hard on them, so I'm one of those who is wearing sun glasses even when it is cloudy. I'm reading in a new Kindle which gives me large font and that is a big help. I use drugstore "readers" for reading on the computer, and I do it in small spurts. Yes, still working to "catch up".

BTW, I shifted my Words with Friends efforts to the Kindle and it is marvelous! So much better than on the phone.

Glad to hear the eyes are improving!

Ah, the Kindle fire? I have a paperwhite which is meant to mimic the printed page and I don't think the game will play well in shades of gray. I am probably going to get a new phone soon, and am looking at the Galaxy 4. I'm not sure I'm going to put WWF on it though. The temptation to play it all the time might be too much for me again. LOL

Dare I ask? What is Words with Friends? Will it suck me in and make me lose all sense of time?

Yes. Well, only if you have a tendency to go OCD on things like that*. I have been playing WWF for almost two years, and at one point I probably had 20+ games going at once, and would check my phone all the time to see what moves I could make. :o( Since I took it off my phone I am only allowing myself to play once a day a FaceBook.

*I love word games. I used to play Probe with my family when I was young. It was kind of like Hangman, with each of you having your own word. You kept your letters hidden and had to guess each other's words, one letter at a time.

I've been staying away from the games on Facebook, but you're making me curious. I haven't played word games in a while. I'm not great, but J refuses to play any kind of word game with me. He blames it on growing up with a librarian mom, an older sister that was an English Lit major, and a very competitive bibliophilic SIL. We're mostly a card game playing family these days.

Cards are good. We didn't play for years but this past Summer we started playing Gin for some reason. Now I have no one to play with, though. Both kids are gone and my husband has a hard time holding cards. :o/

I love card games but I don't really have anyone to play cards with me. I only play fewer than 6 Words with Friends games at a time, and I try not to check it all the time. Having it on the phone was hard though because the phone would give me a little audible noise when someone had posted their moves. With it on the Kindle Fire I don't hear about it, and I play when I have time to sit down with the Kindle. That is often only in the mornings when I'm at the kids' house and they are still asleep, or in the evening when I'm getting ready to fall to sleep. Whew.

Games are good though. But not as good as books.

Your house must seem so quiet now :o(
We have at least 9 more years before our boys go to college*.

Fortunately, J's family all lives in the same city we do and several of them love to play cards, so about once a month we get together. Contract whist and Euker are our favorites. Both kids like to join in on card night, and our nephew and his girlfriend as well. My youngest may turn out a bit of a card shark. He looooves cards. He's just learned how to play crib and he's beating me 2-nil so far.

*Just to clarify: before both boys are off at college. One is in grade 4 and the other in grade 7.

It is VERY quiet. My daughter just left last night, so today is really the first day of 'no kids.' :o( I am getting a lot done, however! LOL

Keep them playing. Mine hit an age were video games became much more enticing and we barely touched the cards for ages.

Mine are already at an age where the video games are all important. I've been strict with them about it this summer (no video games until after chores are done and until after noon!) And after they play a couple hours straight, I get twitchy and make them do something else for a bit. A friend has said they'll lose interest in video games and cards at about 15. Then girls become the all-consuming factor.

Edit to add: I often wish for a day with no kids. Don't know about whole semesters though.

I have faith in you, Clam, to find many, many other things to do with your new empty (well, somewhat more empty) house and the great swaths of time you'll find available.

I used to be sad but relieved when school started each Fall. By September mine were usually at each other's throats. Once they hit high school I was just sad in the Fall. They'd stopped trying to injure each other and were more fun to have around.

Thanks, maggie. LOL I am hoping to use the time to do much of the stuff I have let slide for the last few years. I have so much 'catch-up' gardening and landscaping to do it is almost ridiculous. I also need to purge my bookshelves before the library sale which is only 4 weeks away. Plus I am learning to use some new equipment in the house which should allow me to get my husband up off the floor by myself.

Clam, I just bundled one off to college, and the last two start their freshman years after Labor Day. This empty nest thing is going to be weird, but I like what you have to say about getting things done.

All this talk about nest emptying has prompt to say that my youngest is back to school (second level) tomorrow. His older brother has left home three times and come back each time due to lack of funds.

Their older two sisters got married within the past 14 months.

A week ago we rescued four kittens from the wild life and they are making sure we get nothing done. Our Labrador has not been introduced to them properly yet.

#202 - Well, now I imagine that would keep my mind off my sorrows! Four kittens... As much as I am intrigued by the idea I think I'll wait a while before I bring cats back into my house. LOL

#201 - That's right, your twins are leaving! Did they decide on separate schools after all? I can't remember.

Reading the Alcott is going well, and I understand why I loved it as a kid. It's certainly YA, though. I'm not sure I'll read the sequel.

I enjoyed the sequel, clam! There's a death that takes place that made me cry even as a young adult in her twenties! Some of it hasn't aged well, I know, but oh, that deathbed! Although my favorite of hers is An Old Fashioned Girl which I read at the age of twelve when I got it as a birthday gift. It's still on my shelf... (After all, it introduced me to the good ladies of Cranford.

P.S. The children do come back. It may not feel like it at first but they do. (Assuming you haven't been beating them or starving them...)

Many do, some don't. Books are always.

#204 - Maybe I will keep going, Jill. Funny thing is I think it was the sequel that made me remember the books so fondly in the first place.

ETA: I have a couple Gaskell on my radar as well, but not that one.

I loved Cranford when I actually read it; I'd heard of it but it wasn't well known beyond academic environments during the '80's and '90's. It's short as novels of the 19th century go. It's got that same sense of confined community that you frequently find in Austen. It's got that same sense of gentility. Alcott makes reference in An Old-Fashioned Girl, as Polly and Fan have joined a bunch of bohemian females for lunch, to Polly sucking her orange with a gusto that would have scandalized the good ladies of Cranford. Once I read Cranford, I understood the snickering humor intended.

#207 - And now it's on my Kindle... LOL And technically I didn't break my August ban on book buying because it was free. :oD

Cranford is a delight--I hope you'll enjoy it!!

The girls are going to the same school, Clam--and only about a half-hour away, which is a good thing for them--far enough to start learning independence, but close enough if they need support.

>207 jillmwo: I like that lunch scene in An Old-Fashioned Girl. It adds a new dimension to Polly's character. It adds a little spark to a personality that is almost overwhelmingly good and sweet.

I'm glad, Marissa. Yeah, I agree about the distance thing. Mine are both only 35-40 minutes away. Close enough to visit easily, but far enough to feel like they are standing on their own. :o)

#207 & #210 - And now it looks like An Old-Fashioned Girl is jumping on Mount Tooby, as well. :oD

It is a lovely old book, clam, and I love it a lot. Interestingly, it feels like two completely different novels.

The first half is a country mouse/city mouse kind of a story with naive country Polly trying to make sense of high-fashion Fan and her social activities that seem so false and empty.

The second half has all the same characters, but we are following them into adulthood, complete with altered fortunes and true love. (And an afternoon luncheon spent with some truly liberated young ladies!)

I don't know this for a fact, but I rather imagine it was published serially...or perhaps even as two volumes.

A vote for Words with Friends. I too love word games. But it can take over your life if you let it....

Re #213 An Old Fashioned Girl was indeed serialized -- at least the first half of it -- the country mouse/city mouse chapters in a publication known as Merry's Museum. When it was released as a book in 1870, the subsequent chapters were added to flesh out the story of the girls.

And just to be a bit clearer on what I said about Cranford not being particularly in favor during the '80's and '90's; I meant that was the case in the United States. Folks in the UK have always known about Mrs. Gaskell and valued her. But Cranford is another of those books favored by women but about which men tend to complain as a book where nothing actually happens! (By which is generally meant no car crashes, space ships or pirates).

Mrs. Gaskell with space pirates could be pretty amazing...just sayin'. ;)

An old-fashioned girl is one of my favourite Alcotts too.

Re: Cranford - there was a very well-regarded BBC adaptation of the book and a couple of related short stories about 5 years ago. It was probably shown on PBS in the States, and is almost certainly available on DVD/Netflix if anyone is curious.

I might give it a go after I read it. And I am guessing I should read it before An Old-Fashioned Girl.

I finished Eight Cousins. The Suck Fairy didn't visit, but I sensed her flitting about, mainly because Uncle Alec is a bit of a sexist. LOL Quite a few of the aunts are dithering airheads. Then again, most of Rose's male cousins aren't too bright either. So I guess Alcott just didn't think the average person was terribly smart. I really did appreciate how clear the language was. I am kind of amazed that it was written so long ago. It's almost 140 years old. I had first read this when I was somewhere between 9 - 10, I think. I can understand why I loved it so. Might get Rose in Bloom read next just so I don't forget who everyone is.

I finished the audio version of Fragile Things last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Gaiman reads his own works almost as well as he writes them. :o)



I finished Rose in Bloom yesterday, and while I'm glad I reread it I'm probably going to steer away from rereads of childhood favorites for a while now. I don't like being able to see how easily I could be manipulated as a yoot. LOL

That was exactly how I felt last time I re-read Rose in Bloom. It's what's keeping me from re-reading An Old-Fashioned Girl, and some of L. M. Montgomery's books.

I've found and starred your thread, thanks for the pointers over in mine!

Rereading childhood favorites can definitely be fraught with peril. I'm also surprised how much my taste can change in only a few years with some rereads- sometimes the suck fairy works fast! (Luckily, there are also books I come back to and enjoy more the second time around to balance things out.)

How I regret not leaving some of my childhood favorites to lie in pristine repose! There I'm left to emphasize to myself the lived and (dimly?) recalled experience of reading, rather than the merits of the book itself. Though that's not a minor part of the experience of reading anyway, and especially reading as a child. I'm not convinced there is any book at all that could offer me the sheer absorption and exhilaration of -- just one example -- Narnia as an 11 year old...

I think you have something there, stellarexplorer. As good as a book may be now, and however much I may get absorbed in it, I just don't live it like I used to.

*waving hi*

I can still live it, but my standards have altered. I am much less likely to allow myself to be sucked in by fantasy and scifi, and this makes me sad. I was just telling someone yesterday that the only two books from my youth that have stood the test of time are LotR and To Kill a Mockingbird.

I cannot return to Narnia either, stellar. I did try to read the books to my daughter when she was young and it didn't go well for me.

I'm glad you found me, sandstone. I don't really post reviews, just very brief comments of whether or not I enjoyed the reading experience.

The only children's book so far that has stood the test of time was Little Women.

This discussion of childhood books not impressing a reader later in life reminded me of a comment I heard from an author (and poet) friend which I think has a parallel with this idea.

He said that every author has the experience of looking at their earlier stories and seeing ways in which he/she could improve it. His interpretation of this phenomenon is that the author has grown and if he/she did not see ways to improve the earlier work he/she would not have grown.

It was also his contention that this did not hold true for poetry as a poem could be honed to perfection at which point it could no longer be improved.

#227 - See, I was working up to rereading that with the other two Alcotts and now I am afraid. :o(

#228 - Seriously? He thought there was such a thing as a perfect poem?

Don't be afraid. I gave Little Women an 8 or 9 when I read it within the last year or two. Eight Cousins did not fare near as well. I think it got a 5.

#229

Seriously? He thought there was such a thing as a perfect poem?

He is a pedant in terms of form etc... and he considers it possible to have poem that is perfect in terms of being as good as it can be with regards to meter, word selection, etc... I would suggest he would not think there is "a perfect poem" against which all other can be compared, but yes, he believes there is a limit to how much any given poem can be perfected.

Not being very fond of poetry I would not venture a comment on this matter. I am only the rapporteur. I just sit in the corner and play the piano.

:-)

#230 - I still think I'll wait to re-read it for another 10 years or so, but I am relieved to hear that it fared well. It was one of my childhood favorites. I am pretty sure I read it at least three times when I was 9 - 11 years of age.

I finished off The Cuckoo's Calling



and The Day of the Triffids



and I enjoyed them both. The Rowling was good fun, but the Wyndham was just freaking awesome, with extra awesome sauce. Damn! I want to see the film version now, but I am afraid it will make me giggle. :o)

I finished Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower yesterday and, damn! What a book! How did I not know about Butler before this? It was as good Triffids in its own way.



I dove right into Extinction Point because I was on a post-apocalyptic jag, but the writing was so awful I dumped it. :o( How does this stuff get published without being edited properly?

So now I'm reading Life After Life instead. It's not post-apocalyptic at all, but written well. :o)

It is nice, though, that as our tastes change and return to the origins and then go wandering off again there still are books unheard of, and authors unknown! There are definitely "genre" I will not touch with a ten foot pole, but then there are whole libraries of books I've not yet met. Thank goodness for that!

>234 maggie1944: Awww, come on. I have some historical and paranormal romances that are just calling your name...

#234 - Yep, it's nice to bounce around genres like a billiard ball. :o)

#235 - LOL Poor maggie.

Edited to add: I've given up on listening to the Andrew Jackson bio for now. He sounds like a bit of a tyrant, to be honest. I've started listening to Wyrd Sisters and it is all I can do to not guffaw at the top of my lungs when I am out walking. This is the best of the Pratchett I've listened to so far.

I think I'll be able to resist the Sirens calls.

>236 clamairy:: The Witches books are probably my favourites of the Discworld novels. I got a Shakespeare-loving friend hooked on Pratchett by giving her Wyrd sisters!

Wyrd Sisters was the first Discworld book I read and I loved the Shakespearean allusions.

So which particular Shakespeare is alluded to in Wyrd Sisters; obviously Macbeth based on the title, but which other plays? Amazon has marketing twaddle that says the book actually parodies Shakespeare. Is that true?

#240 So which particular Shakespeare is alluded to in Wyrd Sisters;...

Hmmmm! I wonder if it is time for jillmwo to do some assigned reading. :-)

Get her, pgmcc! What's good for the goose is good for the gander. ;)

It's been some time since I read Wyrd Sisters, but I think there are various references to the whole Shakespeare canon, in general terms, but the focus is Macbeth.

The focus of Maskerade (I think) is Phantom of the Opera, and takes place mostly in an opera house/theater. If you haven't read them, jillmwo, you might want to start with these.

Of course, MrsLee, to really appreciate Wyrd Sisters jillmwo will have to reread the whole Shakespearean canon first, just to get everything fresh in her mind. ;-)

That sounds suspiciously as if you are calling my bluff! Does it count if I just watch a couple of modern adaptations? I have all four segments of The Hollow Crown awaiting my attention during the holiday weekend coming up.

I haven't read any Pratchett that I found memorable since Good Omens which I did find sufficiently humorous to share with my son. I think I read one of the YA titles that involved one of the Grannies and some of the little blue men (can't remember what they're called). But obviously it didn't make much of an impression.

Suddenly rereading Shakespeare seems far less daunting. But I always love literary allusions so I'm adding Wyrd Sisters. Upon reflection, I think I like the idea of Macbeth done with humor! I found the Patrick Stewart Macbeth to be dreadfully bloody and l-o-n-g.

Edited to add: I looked it up and the other Pratchett I read was Wintersmith back in 2008. It was Granny Weatherwax and the Nac Mac Feegles. If anyone (*cough* @pgmcc) should require proof, I blogged it at: http://individualtake.blogspot.com/2008/04/wintersmith-by-terry-pratchett-review...

Apologies, @clamairy, for hijacking the thread!

That's not hijacking. You're all talking about a book I'm currently enjoying. Sorry I didn't participate, but things have been tough here. My husband was quite sick all week. Things are looking up, though.

I am so glad "things are looking up". No fun to have the hubby down.

Sorry to hear your husband was not feeling the best.

I hope things keep on looking up. Best wishes to both of you.

Thanks, everyone. He's improved and has gone back to work. He's still not quite feeling as well as beforehand (which was not great anyway) but at least he's up and around.

I finished Life After Life yesterday and thought it was just fantastic.



I have moved on to The Midwich Cuckoos for my Halloween book.

Clam, I am happy to read the hubster is up and about! Good deal. I hope the week gets better and better.

That he's feeling well enough to work is good news indeed.

Thanks, folks. He's still not quite back up to his usual, but he's starting another new medication this week that might help. The poor guy takes so many Rx pills as it is. :o/

So I finished The Midwich Cuckoos and it was quite good. It wasn't as good as The Day of the Triffids, in my opinion. But I will definitely read more of Wyndham.



And I moved on to The Drunken Botanist, which I believe MrsLee recommended. So far I am loving it.

I agree with you in preferring Triffids to Cuckoos. I must reread The Chrysalids as I seem to remember that being the best of all.

The Day of the Triffids TV show from the 1980s scared the life out of me as a youngster… I'm sure it wouldn't have the same impact on me now, but honestly I've never wanted to watch it again. I've also never read the book... Maybe I should give it a try? Chocky is another show from my childhood that will probably stay with me forever… I really should read the books.

Time for a bit of Amazon window shopping I think! Thanks for the inspiration, Clam :-)

You're welcome. :o) I tried to find these either of the two mimi-series on DVD through the library inter-loan service, but all they had was the old movie version. (Which, as I have mentioned elsewhere, was unintentionally hilarious.)

Finished listening to Wyrd Sisters and loved it. I want to read this with my eyeballs at some point as well, as I think it might tickle other parts of my brain than the audio version did.



I started listening to Sourcery but it just wasn't grabbing me. Might take a break from audio books for a week or so and just listen to music when I walk.

My husband and I sat in the car for an extra five minutes this am just to listen to the entirety of Don McLean's American Pie. We knew all the words. Do you sing along as you walk?

Yup. LOL I'm sure I sound awful, but in our neighborhood the houses are set pretty far back from the road. Plus I try NOT to sing at the top of my lungs, so I figure if anyone hears anything it won't be more than a note or word here or there. :o)

ETA: I'd like to think I know all the words to it too, but I bet I'd stumble a bit here or there. Great song, though.

#257 & #258

American Pie would be one of the songs I would also sit in the car to listen too and sing along with and not just because my name is McClean. However, the album that I would nominate as the classic album that marks the days of my youth is Bridge Over Troubled Waters. When any track from that album is played on the radio I sing along with it and when the track ends I begin singing the next song on the album. Of course, if you asked me to name the tracks in sequence I couldn't, but play a track for me and I will roll straight on to the next one without thinking. :-)

At some point I realized that I need to read The Drunken Botantist in paper form. There are too many cool notes and drawings and side info, and the Kindle just doesn't do the reading experience justice at all. So I am going to ask for a copy for a gift. I moved on to (and finished) Stephen King's 11/22/63 in honor of the 50th anniversary. It was a great read.



And then I picked up and whizzed through a Kindle short by Andy Borowitz called An Unexpected Twist which was good fun.



I'm currently reading Things We Set on Fire which is part of the Kindle First program, and I am listening to Witches Abroad which is good fun, but not quite as good as Wyrd Sisters. Though that might be because it is a different narrator.

I have 11/22/63 to read. So many To Be Read books. I do not know why I keep buying more….

I hear ya, maggie. I guess most of us do the same. In fact, despite all the stacks sitting around here, and the virtual pile loaded on my Kindle, I downloaded a freebie from the Kindle First program called Things We Set on Fire. I polished it off in a couple of days. Really enjoyed her writing style.



And now I've started Tinkers which I bought a while back.

Well, I've been on a streak! I finished Tinkers this morning. A very interesting book. Reads much like prose poetry. I enjoyed it, but I can understand why others would not.



Not sure what I'll read next. :o) Probably will be very busy for the next 10 days, so something short and fun, I think.

I finally decided on one of the books I got at the Book Expo last Spring: What's So Funny?: My Hilarious Life by Tim Conway. I have always loved this man and so far the book is a pleasure to read. :o) Just what i was needing right now. (I got to meet the author when he signed the book for me, too! One of the funniest men on the planet, IMHO.)

I finally finished my bathroom book, When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth?: An Imponderables Book by David Feldman. A little of the info is outdated, but most of it is still relevant and quite humorous to boot.



Now it's onto another on of his called Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?: And Other Inponderables of Everyday Life

I set aside the Tim Conway memoir to read Richard Russo's memoir Elsewhere instead. What an awesome book, especially for anyone who has had elderly parents to deal with.



I just started The Emperor's Soul by my main man Brandon Sanderson. :o)

I also remembered I only have two weeks to read the new Jamie Ford book, Songs of Willow Frost, and I haven't gotten it yet.

I too found 11/22/63 a thoroughly enjoyable read. Moreso for readers of a certain age, mebbe. Timely too ;)

Yes, I saved reading it for the 50th anniversary. I do remember it, though I was bit young to grasp the enormity of what happened. Oddly when I talked to people my own age very few of them remember it at all. I was 4 at the time, and I still remember my mom taking me into a store but leaving hurriedly without buying anything when the clerk told her what happened. She basically dragged me to the car with my feet barely touching the ground and turned on the car radio. And then I remember her crying on and off for the rest of the day...

#268
I was six. I was in the kitchen drying dishes when the news came on the television. He was well liked, if not loved, in Ireland and everyone was shocked and sad about the news. We could not believe it.

The Russo looks interesting. I enjoyed his Empire Falls a while back. Looks as if Elsewhere would be an interesting contrast to The End of Your Life Book Club, which also deals with a son and his mother facing her death. I'm adding it to the list.

A friend at work recommended 11/22/63 to me. Maybe I'll add that too. I was ten, and it was the first time I ever saw nuns cry--quite weird.

I was five. Mainly I remember being disappointed because cartoons were not shown Saturday morning due to the funeral. Of course now, I feel a personal loss I didn't feel at the time. Odd.

I was 19 and the days are very vivid in my memory. Still feels like before was a fantasy and after a reality too often unpleasant.

#270 - Elsewhere hit pretty close to home for me. Brought up some pleasant and not so pleasant memories of both my own mother and my mother-in-law. I love Russo's books, especially Nobody's Fool.

#271 - We didn't have a TV at the time. (My parents were on a 'it rots the brain' kick.) My grandfather loaned us his portable so we could watch the coverage, and I did indeed rot my brain during the time we had the TV on cartoons I hadn't known existed until then.

I finished The Emperor's Soul and damn! What an awesome novella. I suspect it would make a one fantastic movie, if done correctly.



I know you won't get to see this, but well done @BrandonSanderson! We really miss you here on LT, but if it means you keep writing things like this then I guess we can deal with it. :)

Now it's on to Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford, for one of my book groups. I loved his Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and enjoyed chatting with @JamieFord here during one of those official LT author chats.

I have Songs of Willow Frost at home; I did start it and it promises to be a good read. I am just too engaged in Hawaii for the moment. (poor me!) I, of course, love the references to early Seattle. I will be interested to read what you think of it.

Did you ever get a copy of Clam Before the Storm?

No, I did not. As much as I love the cover & title there are no reviews for this book on LT and it is 'print to order.' (It does have one rating of 4 stars on Goodreads.)

Sadness.  I'm tempted to snag a copy, just for the title. ^^;

I should just get it and leave it out on display forever. LOL

Consider the Fork is available for download now. Not the greatest timing, but I'll put it on my Sony reader with no wi-fi, so it won't go poof until I have to recharge it.

Yes, I've done that many a time. I think it stinks that they only give us a certain period of time when it's a digital copy. Give us a couple of months, especially when they often all come in at once!

And there are so few copies available to the consortium that there are waiting lists for everything and you can never renew.

I finished Songs of Willow Frost on Monday, just hours before my book group met to discuss it. I like to live dangerously close to the edge. :oP I liked it but I didn't love it. Jamie Ford's writing style is wonderful but this tale was darker than Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I had planned to give a copy to my sister as a Christmas gift, but I changed my mind. Might wait for Valentine's Day instead. LOL



I also finally finished listening to Witches Abroad though there were some glitches in the both of the digital formats on the disc I borrowed from the library. I may have to get my hands on a physical copy and read the last bit.



Right now I'm enjoying Wishin' and Hopin' because I wanted something light and Christmasy to read. I'll be listening to Lords and Ladies next.

I have Songs of Willow Frost started and sitting in the car. I'm reading on the Kindle right now trying to finish The Bloodletter's Daughter which I bought on an impulse from Amazon. It is kind of "meh" but good enough to finish. Then, I need to read The Good Earth for the book group meeting in January. I just got it for the Kindle, and then, I want to read Falling to Earth a book much appreciated by a real life book group friend. So many books.... so little....

Oh, well, I guess I'll get off the computer.

and go read.

This time of year it's quite challenging to find reading time, maggie. Hope you've manged to find some!

I did finally finish Wishin' and Hopin'. Even though it's very short I just wasn't finding any time for it. It was a cute Christmas tale. There wasn't a lot of originality there, but because it's set in Connecticut during the 1960s I found much to appreciate.



I started Eleanor & Park! :o)

>285 clamairy:: I've heard great things about Eleanor and Park; hope you enjoy it. I have Fangirl by the same author on my kindle as it was on special offer recently.

Hi, Clam. Yes, I have found some reading time. The Bloodletter's Daughter turned out to be kind of cool as the author based the story on some real life history in Bohemia. I was impressed by her research, and amused because I thought the story a bit hard to swallow, but lo and behold there was some reality in it.

I am now working on The Good Earth, determined to finish it before Jan. 1. And planning a trip to B&N to buy a couple of kids books to hit the number 36 for the year. Made happy by small goals accomplished. ha ha ha

#286 - I got Eleanor & Park for $1.99 through some special 'Best of 2013' Kindle offer, along with The Goldfinch and a couple of others, I think. I am weak....

#287 - Yay! Glad to hear it! :o)

I finished off Eleanor & Park the other night. Technically it was 2014, because it's was about 1:00 AM on the first, but I am counting it towards 2013 because I read about 95% of it during that year. And yes, I stayed up to finish it after everyone else went to bed after whooping it up all evening.



I haven't decided if I'm going to add it to my 'Best of 2013' list yet.

Overall I was pleased with my reading on 2013, even though I managed to read exactly one more book than I did in 2012. I had planned to read a book a week at least but 'Real Life' intervened. My 2013 list can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/User:Clamairy#Books_Read_in_2013

Looking forward to reading in 2014 with you, clammy!