What Are You Reading the Week of 15 March 2014?

Richard Thomas Condon (18 March 1915 – 9 April 1996) was a prolific and popular American political novelist whose satiric works were generally presented in the form of thrillers or semi-thrillers. More than being particularly clever genre works, however, all 26 books were written in a style nearly always instantly recognizable as Condon's, while their focus was almost always obsessively directed at monetary greed and political corruption. Fast-moving and easily accessible, they generally combined elements of political satire, bare-knuckled outrage at the greed and corruption of those in power, and were written with extravagant characterizations and a uniquely sparkling and frequently humorous style. Condon himself once said:

Every book I've ever written has been about abuse of power. I feel very strongly about that. I'd like people to know how deeply their politicians wrong them.

Condon occasionally achieved bestseller status, and many of his books were made into films, but today he is primarily remembered for two of his works: an early book, The Manchurian Candidate (1959), and, many years later, for four novels about a family of New York gangsters named Prizzi.

Condon's writing was known for its complex plotting, fascination with trivia, and loathing for those in power; at least two of his books featured thinly disguised versions of Richard Nixon. His characters tend to be driven by obsession, usually sexual or political, and by family loyalty. His plots often have elements of classical tragedy, with protagonists whose pride leads them to a place to destroy what they love. Some of his books, most notably Mile High (1969), are perhaps best described as secret history. And Then We Moved to Rossenara is a humorous autobiographical recounting of various places in the world where he had lived and his family's 1970s move to Rossenarra, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.

He was born in Manhattan and graduated from De Witt Clinton High School. Because his grades were so poor, he never went to college. He worked as an elevator operator, a hotel clerk and a waiter, then sold an article to Esquire magazine. While working as a copywriter for an advertising agency, he met a model named Evelyn Hunt, whom he married in 1938. Copywriting led him into movie publicity, with his first stop the Disney organization.

For 22 years, he was a movie publicist, working for almost every major Hollywood studio. With characteristic panache, he later described himself as "a drummer boy for the gnomes and elves of the silver screen." During this period, he saturated himself with movies, watching eight a week. They were, he said, mostly bad films, but they taught him the art of storytelling and the need for the novelist to be entertaining.

After service in the United States Merchant Marine, Condon achieved moderate success as a Hollywood publicist, ad writer, and agent. Condon turned to writing in 1957. Employed by United Artists as an ad writer, he complained that he was wasting time in Hollywood and wished to write a novel. Without Condon's knowledge, his boss deducted amounts from his salary then fired him after a year giving him the amount of money he had deducted in the form of a Mexican bank account and the key to a house overlooking the ocean in Mexico. He told him to go write his book. His second novel, The Manchurian Candidate, featured a dedication to his benefactor. The movie made from it in 1962 made him famous. Prizzi's Honor (1982) was likewise made into a successful movie.

Condon's works are difficult to categorize precisely: A 1971 Time magazine review declared that:

Condon was never a satirist: he was a riot in a satire factory. He raged at Western civilization and every last one of its works. He decorticated the Third Reich, cheese fanciers, gossip columnists and the Hollywood star system with equal and total frenzy.

The headline of his obituary in The New York Times called him a "political novelist," but went on to say:

Novelist is too limited a word to encompass the world of Mr. Condon. He was also a visionary, a darkly comic conjurer, a student of American mythology and a master of conspiracy theories, as vividly demonstrated in 'The Manchurian Candidate.'"

His books combined many different elements, including occasional outright fantasy and science fiction; they were, above all, written to entertain the general public. He had, however, a genuine disdain, outrage, and even hatred for many of the mainstream political corruptions that he found so prevalent in American life. In a 1977 quotation, he said that:

...people are being manipulated, exploited, murdered by their servants, who have convinced these savage, simple-minded populations that they are their masters, and that it hurts the head, if one thinks. People accept servants as masters. My novels are merely entertaining persuasions to get the people to think in other categories.

With his long lists of absurd trivia and "mania for absolute details," Condon was, along with Ian Fleming, one of the early exemplars of those called by Pete Hamill in a New York Times review, "the practitioners of what might be called the New Novelism... Condon applies a dense web of facts to fiction.... There might really be two kinds of fiction: the fiction of sensibility and the fiction of information... As a practitioner of the fiction of information, no one else comes close to him."

Condon was also enamored of long lists of detailed trivia that, while at least marginally pertinent to the subject at hand, are almost always an exercise in gleeful exaggeration and joyful spirits. In An Infinity of Mirrors, for instance, those in attendance of the funeral of a famous French actor and notable lover are delineated as:

Seven ballerinas of an amazing spectrum of ages were at graveside. Actresses of films, opera, music halls, the theatre, radio, carnivals, circuses, pantomimes, and lewd exhibitions mourned in the front line. There were also society leaders, lady scientists, women politicians, mannequins, couturières, Salvation Army lassies, all but one of his wives, a lady wrestler, a lady matador, twenty-three lady painters, four lady sculptors, a car-wash attendant, shopgirls, shoplifters, shoppers, and the shopped; a zoo assistant, two choir girls, a Métro attendant from the terminal at the Bois de Vincennes, four beauty-contest winners, a chambermaid; the mothers of children, the mothers of men, the grandmothers of children and the grandmothers of men; and the general less specialized, female public-at-large which had come from eleven European countries, women perhaps whom he had only pinched or kissed absent-mindedly while passing through his busy life. They attended twenty-eight hundred and seventy strong, plus eleven male friends of the deceased.

Writing about The Whisper of the Axe in the daily book review column in the New York Times, Richard R. Lingeman praised the book in particular and Condon in general for his "extravagance of invention unique with him."

Not everyone was as exhilarated by Condon's antics, however. In a long review just two days after Lingeman's, Roger Sale excoriated Condon as a writer of "how-to books" in general, this book in particular, and Condon's habit of using lists: "A lot of it is done with numbers abritrarily chosen to falsely simulate precision."

In 1998, a California software engineer noticed several paragraphs in The Manchurian Candidate that appeared nearly identical to portions of Robert Graves' celebrated 1934 novel I, Claudius. She wrote about the apparent plagiarism on her website but her discovery went unnoticed by most of the world until Adair Lara, a longtime San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, wrote a lengthy article about the accusation in 2003. Reprinting the paragraphs in question, she also solicited the opinion of a British forensic linguist, who concluded that Condon had unquestionably plagiarized at least two paragraphs of Graves's work. By this time, however, more than seven years had passed since Condon's death and Lara's article also failed to generate any literary interest outside the Chronicle.

On p. 127 of his first novel, The Oldest Confession, one of the characters in the book purchases a copy of Graves' Antigua, Penny, Puce! Then, in Some Angry Angel, the book that followed The Manchurian Candidate, Condon makes a direct reference to Graves. In a long, convoluted passage on page 25, Condon reflects on "mistresses" and their, apparently peripheral relationship, at least to the reader, to Graves's writings about "Major Male" Deities and "Major Female" Deities. As Some Angry Angel was published only a year after The Manchurian Candidate, there is little question about Condon's familiarity with Graves' works.

Condon lived in Dallas, Texas, from 1980 until his death in 1996. He was 81.

Works
The Oldest Confession (1958) UK 1959, as The Happy Thieves
The Manchurian Candidate (1959)
Some Angry Angel: A Mid-Century Faerie Tale (1960)
A Talent for Loving; or, The Great Cowboy Race (1961)
An Infinity of Mirrors (1964)
Any God Will Do (1964)
The Ecstasy Business (1967)
Mile High (1969)
The Vertical Smile (1971)
Arigato (1972)
The Mexican Stove (1973)—cookbook co-written with his daughter Wendy Bennett
And Then We Moved to Rossenarra: or, The Art of Emigrating (1973) -- memoir
Winter Kills (1974)
The Star Spangled Crunch (1974)
Money Is Love (1975)
The Whisper of the Axe (1976)
The Abandoned Woman (1977)
Death of a Politician (1978)
Bandicoot (1979)
The Entwining (1981)
Prizzi's Honor (1982)
A Trembling upon Rome (1983)
Prizzi's Family (1986)
Prizzi's Glory (1988)
Emperor of America (1990)
The Final Addiction (1991)
The Venerable Bead (1992)
Prizzi's Money (1994)

I watched the origingal Manchurian Candidate when it came out 50 years ago, and it still spooks me sometimes when I think about it. I wonder what it would do to my poor bruised psyche if I actually read it. Recently my reading has slowed a bit due to over indungence in House of Cards, so obviously I'm interested in the murderous abilities of those in power.
I've been listening to The Odyssey on audio, which is probably appropriate. I was surprised to see that the dead were drinking blood 3000 years ago, not so surprised but rather disappointed to hear all women being accused of treachory due to the actions of one, Clytemnestra. The more things change...
I'm a little ways into Wide Sargasso Sea and don't know why it isn't grabbing me, but maybe it will in time.
I'm about 1/3 of the way through Outlander (my daughter has just started it). Fortunately, it does grab me.
I just finished a short graphic novel, Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan. Set in modern day Israel it follows Numi, a very masculine looking woman whom I thought at first was a man, as she convinces Koby, a taxi driver, to help her discover if her lover, Koby's father, was the unidentified victim in a recent suicide bombing. The more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes. Nothing is as you would expect it to be starting with the location of the killing. Everyone thinks it was in Haifa, the most recent disaster, and has to be reminded of the lesser one in Hadera just before. Numi is very rich and butch looking, her sister and mother are gorgeous and stylish. She has such sentimental feelings about Gabriel, the lost father whom Koby doesn't respect at all. Gabriel, the tender lover, seems to have been a total womanizer, and the women he conquers are the dejected ones no one else wants. You can see why no one wanted them, they're old, the most disposable of humans, and Numi, though young is so inappropriate in so many ways she was an easy target. It's a quick and surprisingly stimulating read.

Rereading and finishing The Crimson Crown by Cinda W. Chima
#4 in the "Seven Realms" quartet

I'm about to start Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend and I am listening to The Woodcutter on audio.

I've quite literally just finished The Nation's Favourite Comic Poems edited by Griff Rhys Jones and hope to finish both Ghost Hunter by Michelle Paver and the audio version of The Prestige by Christopher Priest over the weekend. I hadn't realised TP was actually on a group read for later in the year when I borrowed it from the library a couple of weeks ago.

While in the library today, I borrowed my next two audio books as I returned God of the Hive but also took a paperback which is very unusual for me (given I'm trying to get nearer the bottom of my personal Mount TBR)! I've started reading it while waiting in the car to pick someone up as I didn't have my other one to hand and didn't want to start the next disc on TP because I always turn them off when I've got other people in the car, therefore, I'm also reading The Mammoth Book of Steampunk edited by Sean Wallace. I picked this because I was looking for The Rook that I've seen mentioned by a few people but I'd forgotten the slip of paper on which I'd written the name of the author and thought it began with M (not a bad guess for O'Malley, but not close enough to actually stand a chance of finding it!), so having given up on that my eye was caught by this and I remembered a couple of friends raving last year about steampunk and thinking this was my chance to see what the fuss was about. So the first story in this book of short stories was interesting - so my curiosity continues and I shall read on and see what I think by the end.

I am about a hundred pages into Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwwod and so far am liking that book. I have a love/hate thing with Atwood in that sometimes I love her stuff and sometimes I hate it. (Loved Blind Assassin and hated Oryx and Crake.) I am also listening to Magician King by Lev Grossman and liking this recorded version. I am not sure I would read the book, but I like listening to the story.

Thank you for another great start to the week, Richard!

I should be finishing up Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, which has been deeply satisfying, this weekend.

Thanks, Richard!

Just finished the enjoyable Mystery, an Alex Delaware novel.

Next up to listen to at home is Tom Jones by Henry Fielding.

#6 benitastrnad
I have exactly the same thing with Margaret Atwood. Only I loved Oryx and Crake and hated Blind Assasin :-) I loved Cat's Eye, so I'm very curious to know what you think of it.

#6 & 9, I didn't love Oryx and Crake, but liked The Blind Assassin and loved The Handmaid's Tale.

Almost finished with The Boy Who Could See Demons which was a quick satisfying read. I'm also 50 pgs into my ER read Graduates in Wonderland, an epistolary memoir by two friends in their post-college years. Kind of juvenile and self-involved so far.

I've just finished, and loved, Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. (I know. I'm very,very late to this bandwagon.)

Since I seem to be on a roll with books about making a home in foreign places, I am going to start Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana by Isadora Tattlin.

I've just gotten over the halfway point in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, aka Notre Dame de Paris, the only title that doesn't give you a bunch Disney or illustrated/abridged links as touchstones. I'm also listening to Human Smoke, which is about the lead-up to World War II.

still working on Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

thanks for another bio!

Thanks, Richard. But, please stop "hawking'' books! You know my vulnerability. And, yes I just added four books. Starting The Exiled Blade part of The Assassini Trilogy by Jon Courtney Grimwood. Takes place in 15th century Venice. Yum!

Finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. The gender specific pronouns used to represent what is supposed to be a non-gender specific society was a little off putting; however, the story itself was pretty good.

Started A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow.

Still working on The Eye of the Leopard by Henning Mankell.

Thank you, Richard!

I finished the excellent and heartbreaking Twelve Years a Slave and the creepy The Winter People, and just started listening to Eleanor & Park. I'm not sure what I'm going to start reading now, but it's not like I have no choices. "Too many books, too little time" is a cliche for good reason.

I had a busy weeks so I'm still reading The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena. I like it but I'm not sure where the story is going except for a love connection.

>14 Travis1259: No.

*evilhearted cackle*

Everyone else in the world seems to like this guy's stuff, but Beautiful Ruin left me icy-freezing-cold and annoyed as hell. Still, many many more people love it than feel as I do. I bring this up because on all ereaders, that horrible book...excuse me, that title...is only $1.99.

"Enjoy."

I always am reading 2 books at once, one on my Kindle and a "real" book: Kindle Book is for teacher's read in June, The Hundred Foot Journey, my hardback read is Born to Rule Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria.

>19 richardderus:

I listened to Beautiful Ruins and was just bored by it. I've meant to get around to reading The Financial Lives of the Poets but considering my reaction to B. R., I may take it off Mount TBR.

But it's nice to know what's on sale.

I'm about halfway through The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, which is quite pleasant thus far.

Finished The Thing with Feathers (engaging) and Death Comes to Pemberley (meh), but haven't yet reviewed. Started Five Days at Memorial (disturbing), which is due back at the library on Thursday, and My Family and Other Animals (fun!) which is conveniently sized for reading on the train.

1> Decorticate, eh? Think I'll head over to the Words New To You site.

>24 nhlsecord: Ah yes, that lovely Time magazine zing. I love the word.

I am reading Boneshaker and Welcome To the Broadcast. We really miss Don Newman since he retired from his political show. The book is sometimes slow but is getting more interesting now that he's into the times I started being interested in government and politics.

Ach, I finished Wide Sargasso Sea. It's like The Yellow Wallpaper but with fire. I'll never think of Mr. Rochester the same way again. Just a totally creepy book.
Next up is The Unit. I think it's about Alzheimers, but it can't be worse.

I have Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths going in tandem with the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. This is the same way that I read the Epic of Gilgamesh last year alongside The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh. In both cases one work supplies historical context and background while the other furnishes the text that's under discussion. I think this is a fascinating way to read these ancient works whose influence is still alive in our culture and literature.

Meanwhile I still have several other things in progress and continue to enjoy varieties of lighter fare. Next up for major fiction: The Goldfinch. I saw the painting when the Dutch collection from the Mauritshuis visited San Francisco last year.

I'm currently reading my ER read, Graduates in Wonderland, in between other, more compelling reading. I just downloaded Confessions of a Sociopath onto my kindle.

>Richard: I was a bit meh about Beautiful Ruins. The thing that saved it for me was the audio version, listening to the narrator's gorgeous Italian and his dead-on impression of a sloshed Richard Burton.
But you're right; the story left me cold.

>30 NarratorLady: It just felt so contrived and flat to me. So many, many others loved it, but for me I don't care.

>27 Citizenjoyce: That is definitely a new description of Wide Sargasso Sea that I've come across. I too never looked at Rochester the same way again.

I finished Sedition: A Novel this weekend. It was my ER read, so I've also done a review. It was a quick read and, although it tries to do too much in 300 pages, it was fun.

Still getting through The Museum of Innocence. Boy, the protagonist is a sick man. But, I am absolutely in love with Orhan Pamuk's writing and plan to read the rest of his work as this is my first.

And, also reading a couple other books, including the next ER book, Mistakes I Made At Work. To be honest, I don't remember selecting it, but, of course, I must have. So, I'll do the right thing and try to get through it and add my review.

(I don't know where I read this or dreamt this, but someone got Boy, Snow, Bird for an ER read and could not get through it. Is there a way they could pass it on to another reader like, um, me? I really would love to read and review it.)

Tonight I started Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn, because, you know, I need a new series to start, only being in the middle of about six already. Anyway, Spycatcher seems like fun so far, 56 pages in.

#6 and 9 I am with you re Margart Atwood now I just pass her by, I have not had any luck with the few that I have tried.

I am still reading, and still loving Cape Breton Road by D. R. MacDonald, another great Canadian writer, this one reminds me of another of my favorites also set in Canada No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod.

Next up is Behind The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.

Started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society last night. The title and text on the back didn't make me at once wildly enthousiastic, but I like the tone of the book and the caracters so far. I think I'm really going to enjoy this.

>35 Vonini: I put off reading that book for years too because it didn't sound great from blurbs. But, I really enjoyed it in the end, particularly as I like the epistolary format.

If Guernsey catches your imagination after reading it (as happened for me), you might consider the wonderful The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G B Edwards. It is one of my all-time favorite books and I go back to re-read bits now and then. Such a shame that Edwards only wrote the one book and it was published posthumously. I've added a longish review on the book's LT page if you're interested.

>35 Vonini:, >36 jennybhatt: I read it in spite of the blurb and found it a pleasant read. Truthfully, to me it seemed like a romance novel published out of the genre ghetto. Still, the pages turned and the entertainment was had....

Today on all ereaders!! Agatha Christie's really, really good novel A Murder is Announced is $1.99!! I have read that book three times and enjoyed it heartily...and seen the Agatha Christie's Marple filmed version with Zoe Wanamaker and found that, while not identical to the book, very very enjoyable too.

Also, while I am tuning up the Satanic Book Warbling, a fantasy series...yes, fantasy! the man who really hates majgicqk and phantasticall nonsense is saying this...featuring the Iron Druid who lives in Arizona and has a bookstore/herb shop begins with Hounded. That Kindle book happens to be 99¢ today.

I, repeat me I Richard the fantasy allergic, rated the book 4 stars. And have read the next three in the series. And will read the others.

Not small stuff, that.

>37 richardderus: Yes, I agree with you that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society was mostly a romance novel in the end. I liked the various Guernsey characters, but, they paled in comparison to my aforementioned favorite Guernsey book, really. And, since the reading, I've come across a few some reviews of the former that it wasn't quite an accurate portrayal of the island and its people. Still -- a quick page-turner and entertaining, as you say, Richard.

#37 & #38 Richard and Jennybhatt

It really is quite entertainig and just the thing that hits the spot. I think there was a buzz about it some time ago here on LT and the title stuck in my mind. If it hadn't, I think I wouldn't have gone near it with a stick. The title immediately gives me a meh-feeling. But it just goes to show you really can't judge a book by it's cover...ehm...title.

I'll go and have a look at that recommendation of yours. Who here isn't always on the lookout for some new really good books? :-)

I finished my "journey" through the Southwest of the mid-1800s. Paul Horgan's Lamy of Santa Fe and Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop are both so beautifully written and researched that at times I felt I had a real glimpse of that fascinating, disturbing, heartbreaking, and amazing time and place.

Now I'm reading Dinaw Mengestu's new book, All Our Names.

I've begun Inside the Dream Palace by Sherill Tippins. I remember fantasizing about moving into the Chelsea Hotel as a teenager. Just Kids and listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen reignited the fascination. This book starts off proving that the Chelsea was an interesting and unique place even before it was built. One of the reviews suggested that it would have been great if the book came with a CD. I'm hoping to compile a playlist and a list of things to read (like I need more)

JennyBhatt ~ I loved The Book of Ebenezer LePage too! You are the first person I know who has ever even heard of it! Oh, how I love NYRB!!! But I also actually did like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society ... but I think it kind of found me at the right time. Maybe it would have been too cutesy otherwise. I agree the title is a little off-putting as per many similar Chick Lit titles.

>42 CarolynSchroeder: I came across it first because of reading John Fowles essays and articles. He was a fan of G B Edwards. Then, I was planning a trip to Guernsey (back when I lived in the UK) and read more about the book. While the trip didn't happen, I finally stumbled onto a book copy in a used bookshop and just fell in love with its perfection. It's that unique narrative voice with the bits of Guernsey patois, the unique characters and the entire island way of life, even through the wars.... I inhabited that world completely for the duration of reading the book and can't resist going back every now and then. I still want to go to Guernsey some day, although I worry that it will be very different from the island Edwards described -- even in his story, it was already changing, as you know, much to Ebenezer's annoyance.

(Edited to add): By the way, Carolyn, have you seen the British TV series, 'Enemy At the Door' or 'Island at War'? Both are set in similar times. I preferred the former over the latter. The Germans shown in the latter had very dodgy accents as most of them were Brits.

There is, apparently, another book by a Peter Lihou -- Rachel's Shoe -- that is also set in Guernsey during the German occupation. I need to look into it.

I'm about half way through Outlander and the blush is certainly off the rose. Gobs of romance and irrational jealousy spiced with sanctioned wife abuse and marital rape. I'll make it through this book, but I doubt I'll be reading any of the rest of the series. Too bad, because what isn't romance etc. is very interesting.
On the other hand The Unit just gets more and more wonderful - like Never Let Me Go but starting later and with much more social support. I love the comment by the librarian that people who read books tend to be dispensable.

>44 Citizenjoyce:

I just about gave up on Outlander when I got to the wife abuse and marital rape part, but I think it redeemed itself in the end. I agree that it was a little heavy-handed on the romance aspect. I listened to the audio version and think I liked it more than I would if I'd read it because the narrator was wonderful.

>45 TooBusyReading: I'm listening to it too. My daughter is reading it, but if I were I probably would have given up by now. Davina Porter has always been one of my favorite narrators.

Blue Coffeepot, Pablo Picasso (1944)

Nice coffeepot/cup! Although with the way Picasso has twisted and distorted them, I bet there'll be spillage.

Attachments was a pretty good YA, although the author has done better after this first novel of hers, and Mrs. Tim of the Regiment was a good old-timey read from the 1930s.

I'm now reading the oddball Dream London and Sarah Addison Allen's new one, Lost Lake.

#44
I loved Outlander. I have now read all of the series except for the last one. I really like all the medicine in it. I do think the romance part becomes less and less of the book as the series progresses and more and more historical and medicinal history.

Finished Watching You by Michael Robotham, which I got as a digital ARC from Edelweiss. Psychological suspense, great page turner. It didn't blow me away, but it was still highly entertaining. Also reading Dying for Chocolate for an upcoming crime fiction genre study meeting.

> 47: I normally don't like Picasso at all. However, this one I really like! I think maybe, it must be the distortion of the human figure or facial features that really bother me, normally. I found it interesting that the colors appeal to me, and hubby knew it was Picasso right away by the colors when I showed him the picture. Too bad I'e never noticed the colors before. I think the distorted figures block me from noticing. Usually, I just have an image of red and blue, but I've never seen the depth of the colors before, nor how he blends in white for light and black for shading and how it works to make light and shadows really stand out.

Thank you for the lesson in art appreciation! (Although I still think his portraits of people look like they are being tortured in hell.)

>49 benitastrnad: I was enjoying the medical and Scottish history which I guess made me doubly disappointed with all the romance. I'm glad to know there's more of the good stuff in further books, I just don't think I can take all the romance I'd have to slog through to get to it. Sex is great and all, but once she gets started she barely comes up for air. Well, heterosex is good. She doesn't seem to have anything positive to say about homosexuals, but again, maybe that comes in further books.

>51 bookwoman247: I felt much the same way about the figures...except Guernica, which is one of the most powerfully moving artworks I've ever seen.

>52 Citizenjoyce:: Copious amounts of gratuitous sex ruin books for me, too. I'm not a prude, but enough is enough! If the point of a book is sex, then sell it as a sex book, soft porn. Those who want to read about non-stop sex will find those books more easily, and those who are actually interested in books about history, medicine, or any other subject won't be disappointed.

>54 bookwoman247: +1

#52 Citizenjoyce - I couldn't agree more. I would not consider myself a prude either and sometimes a well written sex scene is very relevant to the story but I am not interested in reading a great deal of bodice ripping and panting. A sex scene without relevance is nothing more than a thrill tactic thrown in by the author and I don't have much appreciation for it.

I'm recovering from an asthma attack and the single benefit is that I get to lie around and read a lot. I think my attention span must suffer a bit because I have four books on the go right now: Splendid Century by W. H. Lewis(C.S.'s brother), Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf, Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Looking over this list of books I can find no connection between any of them!

I have to admit that I read Outlander when it first came out and didn't hate it. Some of the writing seemed charmingly old fashioned like an old Mary Stewart romance. I kept Outlander around and re-read a few years later but didn't enjoy it much at all the second time. The parts that are about herbs and healing held up though.

In Diana Gabaldon's defense, the couple having all the sex have been married only a month. You know the old saying that if you put a penny in a jar every time you make love for the first year of your married life then take one out each time you make love thereafter the jar will never be empty. They're filling up their jar quite nicely, it's just that I don't feel the need to read about each time. I'd much rather have more of the afore mentioned medicine, which is fascinating.

#58
Then you will love books 5, & 6. much less romance (sex) and much more history and herb lore.

I laughed when I read all the comments about romance novels. I just need to point out that romance novels are the biggest selling genre and bar far the biggest sellers in terms of cash of any of the trade books. I confess, I read them from time-to-time, I enjoy Eloisa James and adore Lauren Willig, and while I don't consider them to be great literature, neither do I consider anything by Charles Dickens to be great literature. I love a good sex scene and even tolerate the badly written sex scenes.

It should also be pointed out that Outlander is going to become a TV series - which puts it right in the same catagory as that series of books that I have dubbed "See How Many Creative Ways There are to Kill, Maim, and Torture People" and the rest of the world calls the Song of Fire and Ice - which also has plenty of sex scenes in it. Or are they really torture scenes masquarading as sex?

I finished reading Thrown Into Nature by the Bulgarian author, Milien Ruskov. The story of a doctor of 16th Century Spain who believed tobacco was the cure-all serves as a back drop to a witty commentary on the folly of man; his self-centered ludicrous beliefs and his greed. I found it quite entertaining and fun.

Finished the intense and excellent Doctor Sleep.

Next up for listening in the car is The Shoemaker's Wife. Some neighbors in my new neighborhood formed a book club. My primary group has been meeting for 20+ years and reads some intense works of literature, but the titles they chose in the new group seem light, so I am going to give it a try. Good way to get to know the neighbors at the very least.

I finished The Da Vinci Code and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen today - next up Divergent and The Cat Who Came To Breakfast

Just finished The Silent Wife, which has drawn many comparisons to Gone Girl, which I also read. I definitely can see the obvious similarities, but there are differences as well. Thoroughly enjoyable, quick paced and well written.

Lost Lake was good, and now I'm back to reading Why We Read Jane Austen.

#63 - I felt the same way about The Silent Wife. I didn't love it as much as I loved Gone Girl, but it definitely stands out from the huge number of psychological thrillers being published.

Finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Quick, pleasant read that was solidly good. Now onto The Lace Makers of Glenmara for my book club's April selection. Seems like it, too, will be quick, and not too heavy. I'm in the midst of my "busy season" at work, so I need non-taxing reads right now!

Hello everyone! :) I'm just catching you all up on the reading I did for the week of March 15th - not really all that much as I only finished one book - but anyway. :)

I started reading Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler on Thursday afternoon, March 13th - but I have to say, that by Saturday, March 15th, I was struck by a bout of puzzle mania! ;) I finished this book on Wednesday, March 19th, and thoroughly enjoyed it! :)

On Wednesday afternoon, March 19th, I started reading Reader's Digest Condensed Books Volume 2 1957. The first story is The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier. So far, it's really good! ;)