What are your reading the week of August 29, 2015?
Talk What Are You Reading Now?
Join LibraryThing to post.
This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
1fredbacon
Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American Jewish author and rabbi. Potok is most famous for his first book The Chosen (1967), which was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies.
Herman Harold Potok was born in Buffalo, New York, to Benjamin Max (died 1958) and Mollie (née Friedman) Potok (died 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland. He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis. His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He received an Orthodox Jewish education. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that the novel Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and literature). He started writing fiction at the age of 16. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. Although it wasn't published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work.
In 1949, at the age of twenty, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Literature.
After four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. He was appointed director of LTF, Leaders Training Fellowship, a youth organization affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
Potok met Adena Sara Mosevitzsky, a psychiatric social worker, at Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, where he served as camp director (1957–59). They were married on June 8, 1958, and had three children.
After receiving a master's degree in Hebrew literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in South Korea as a transformative experience. Brought up to believe that the Jewish people were central to history and God's plans, he experienced a region where there were almost no Jews and no anti-Semitism, yet whose religious believers prayed with the same fervor that he saw in Orthodox synagogues at home.
Upon his return, he joined the faculty of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and became the director of a Conservative Jewish summer camp affiliated with the Conservative movement, Camp Ramah. A year later he began his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was appointed scholar-in-residence at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia. In 1963, he spent a year in Israel, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Solomon Maimon and began to write a novel.
In 1964 Potok moved to Brooklyn. He became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. Potok received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1970, Potok relocated to Jerusalem with his family. He returned to Philadelphia in 1977. After the publication of Old Men at Midnight, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died at his home in Merion, Pennsylvania on July 23, 2002, aged 73.
In 1967 Potok published his most critically praised novel, The Chosen, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. Potok wrote a sequel to The Chosen in 1969 entitled The Promise, which details the issues of the value and identity between Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. This book won the Athenaeum Literary Award the same year of its publication. Not long afterward the Jewish Publication Society appointed him as its special projects editor. In 1972, he published My Name is Asher Lev, the story of a boy struggling with his relationship with his parents, religion and his love of art. In 1975, he published In the Beginning. From 1974 until his death, Potok served as a special projects editor for the Jewish Publication Society. During this time, Potok began translating the Hebrew Bible into English. In 1978 he published his non-fiction work, Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s Story of the Jews, a historical account of the Jews. Potok described his 1981 novel The Book of Lights as an account of his experiences in Asia during the war. He said “it reshaped the neat, coherent model of myself and my place in the world.”citation needed
His novel The Chosen was made into a film released in 1981, which won the most prestigious award at the World Film Festival, Montreal. Potok had a cameo role as a professor. The film featured Rod Steiger, Maximilian Schell and Robby Benson. It also became a short-lived Off-Broadway musical and was adapted subsequently as a stage play by Aaron Posner in collaboration with Potok, which premiered at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia in 1999.
Potok's 1985 novel Davita's Harp is his only book featuring a female protagonist. In 1990, he published The Gift of Asher Lev, the sequel to My Name is Asher Lev. Potok wrote many plays, among them Sins of The Father and Out of The Depths. In 1992 Potok completed another novel, I am the Clay, about the courageous struggle of a war-ravaged family. His 1993 young adult literature The Tree of Here was followed by two others, The Sky of Now (1995) and Zebra and Other Stories (1998).
Chaim Potok's parents discouraged his writing and reading of non-Jewish subjects. He spent many hours in the public library reading secular novels. Potok cited James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ernest Hemingway, and SY Agnon as his chief literary influences. Many of his novels are set in the urban environments in New York in which he himself grew up. While not Hasidic, Potok was raised in an extremely Orthodox home. In the book, Asher Lev wants to be a painter which causes much conflict with his father who wants him to do something else, much as Chaim Potok did during his childhood. Asher decides to continue as a painter and it disturbs his family, but Potok eventually decided to be an author and painted in his free time. Potok has said he relates to Asher Lev more than any of his other characters.
Chaim Potok was also an artist. He recreated the painting "The Brooklyn Crucifixion", which the character Asher Lev painted in the book My Name is Asher Lev.
Chaim Potok has had a considerable influence on Jewish American authors. His work was significant for discussing the conflict between the traditional aspects of Jewish thought and culture and modernity to a wider, non-Jewish culture". He taught a highly regarded graduate seminar on Postmodernism at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 through 2001.
He bequeathed his papers to the University of Pennsylvania. The university houses a collection of Potok correspondence, writings, lectures, sermons, article clippings, memorabilia and fan mail. One of his admirers was Elie Wiesel, who wrote to Potok saying he had read all his books "with fervor and friendship".
By Chaim Potok
Herman Harold Potok was born in Buffalo, New York, to Benjamin Max (died 1958) and Mollie (née Friedman) Potok (died 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland. He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis. His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He received an Orthodox Jewish education. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that the novel Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and literature). He started writing fiction at the age of 16. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. Although it wasn't published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work.
In 1949, at the age of twenty, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Literature.
After four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. He was appointed director of LTF, Leaders Training Fellowship, a youth organization affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
Potok met Adena Sara Mosevitzsky, a psychiatric social worker, at Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, where he served as camp director (1957–59). They were married on June 8, 1958, and had three children.
After receiving a master's degree in Hebrew literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in South Korea as a transformative experience. Brought up to believe that the Jewish people were central to history and God's plans, he experienced a region where there were almost no Jews and no anti-Semitism, yet whose religious believers prayed with the same fervor that he saw in Orthodox synagogues at home.
Upon his return, he joined the faculty of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and became the director of a Conservative Jewish summer camp affiliated with the Conservative movement, Camp Ramah. A year later he began his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was appointed scholar-in-residence at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia. In 1963, he spent a year in Israel, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Solomon Maimon and began to write a novel.
In 1964 Potok moved to Brooklyn. He became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. Potok received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1970, Potok relocated to Jerusalem with his family. He returned to Philadelphia in 1977. After the publication of Old Men at Midnight, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died at his home in Merion, Pennsylvania on July 23, 2002, aged 73.
In 1967 Potok published his most critically praised novel, The Chosen, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. Potok wrote a sequel to The Chosen in 1969 entitled The Promise, which details the issues of the value and identity between Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. This book won the Athenaeum Literary Award the same year of its publication. Not long afterward the Jewish Publication Society appointed him as its special projects editor. In 1972, he published My Name is Asher Lev, the story of a boy struggling with his relationship with his parents, religion and his love of art. In 1975, he published In the Beginning. From 1974 until his death, Potok served as a special projects editor for the Jewish Publication Society. During this time, Potok began translating the Hebrew Bible into English. In 1978 he published his non-fiction work, Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s Story of the Jews, a historical account of the Jews. Potok described his 1981 novel The Book of Lights as an account of his experiences in Asia during the war. He said “it reshaped the neat, coherent model of myself and my place in the world.”citation needed
His novel The Chosen was made into a film released in 1981, which won the most prestigious award at the World Film Festival, Montreal. Potok had a cameo role as a professor. The film featured Rod Steiger, Maximilian Schell and Robby Benson. It also became a short-lived Off-Broadway musical and was adapted subsequently as a stage play by Aaron Posner in collaboration with Potok, which premiered at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia in 1999.
Potok's 1985 novel Davita's Harp is his only book featuring a female protagonist. In 1990, he published The Gift of Asher Lev, the sequel to My Name is Asher Lev. Potok wrote many plays, among them Sins of The Father and Out of The Depths. In 1992 Potok completed another novel, I am the Clay, about the courageous struggle of a war-ravaged family. His 1993 young adult literature The Tree of Here was followed by two others, The Sky of Now (1995) and Zebra and Other Stories (1998).
Chaim Potok's parents discouraged his writing and reading of non-Jewish subjects. He spent many hours in the public library reading secular novels. Potok cited James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ernest Hemingway, and SY Agnon as his chief literary influences. Many of his novels are set in the urban environments in New York in which he himself grew up. While not Hasidic, Potok was raised in an extremely Orthodox home. In the book, Asher Lev wants to be a painter which causes much conflict with his father who wants him to do something else, much as Chaim Potok did during his childhood. Asher decides to continue as a painter and it disturbs his family, but Potok eventually decided to be an author and painted in his free time. Potok has said he relates to Asher Lev more than any of his other characters.
Chaim Potok was also an artist. He recreated the painting "The Brooklyn Crucifixion", which the character Asher Lev painted in the book My Name is Asher Lev.
Chaim Potok has had a considerable influence on Jewish American authors. His work was significant for discussing the conflict between the traditional aspects of Jewish thought and culture and modernity to a wider, non-Jewish culture". He taught a highly regarded graduate seminar on Postmodernism at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 through 2001.
He bequeathed his papers to the University of Pennsylvania. The university houses a collection of Potok correspondence, writings, lectures, sermons, article clippings, memorabilia and fan mail. One of his admirers was Elie Wiesel, who wrote to Potok saying he had read all his books "with fervor and friendship".
By Chaim Potok
Jewish Ethics (1964–69, 14 volumes)
The Chosen (1967)
The Promise (1969)
My Name Is Asher Lev (1972)
In the Beginning (1975)
The Jew Confronts Himself in American Literature (1975)
Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews (1978)
The Book of Lights (1981)
Davita's Harp (1985)
Theo Tobiasse (1986)
The Gift of Asher Lev (1990)
I Am the Clay (1992)
The Tree of Here (1993)
The trope teacher (1994)
The Sky of Now (1994)
The Gates of November (1996)
Zebra and Other Stories (1998)
Isaac Stern: My First 79 Years (with Isaac Stern; 1999)
Old Men at Midnight (2001)
2fredbacon
Sorry I'm a bit late today. I'm currently reading The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu. It's the second volume in his Three Body Problem trilogy. It's an intriguing twist on an old trope. What would you do if you knew the Earth was going to be invaded by technologically superior aliens 400 years from now? It's a fascinating concept.
3seitherin
finished To Storm Heaven by Esther Friesner. It was a nice light read. Crossroad by Barbara Hambly is the last book in my Star Trek reread.
Still working on The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The God of Small Things.
Still working on The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The God of Small Things.
4CarolynSchroeder
Thanks for the kick-off, Fred!
I finished A Man Called Ove and loved, loved it; and am now seeing what all the hoopla is about in My Brilliant Friend.
I finished A Man Called Ove and loved, loved it; and am now seeing what all the hoopla is about in My Brilliant Friend.
5Limelite
Grateful for your notice of Potok. I'd forgotten I'd read My Name is Asher Lev many years ago until I saw it listed above. The memory of the book, its passionate appeal to the struggle of the gifted individual restricted by religious tradition and culture and framed in the epic battles he has with his father, and Asher's persistent insistence that he fulfill his artistic drive even if it means destroying the life built by those who love him is profound and affecting.
Am half way into Oe's A Personal Matter and am fascinated in a repellant way by the characters who are totally unlikable, immature, self-centered, rude, and undermining of self. Am hoping for some mid-century redemption for the new father of a child with a major life-threatening birth defect.
Made a mid-year resolution (that I'll be unable to keep -- I make it every year) to read my personal TBR down to a manageable tower. Unfortunately, I've made the same resolution numerous times, always with the same result. The pile grows.
Am half way into Oe's A Personal Matter and am fascinated in a repellant way by the characters who are totally unlikable, immature, self-centered, rude, and undermining of self. Am hoping for some mid-century redemption for the new father of a child with a major life-threatening birth defect.
Made a mid-year resolution (that I'll be unable to keep -- I make it every year) to read my personal TBR down to a manageable tower. Unfortunately, I've made the same resolution numerous times, always with the same result. The pile grows.
6rocketjk
Well, I finally finished Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall
Randall's book is quite comprehensive and largely understandable for a non-scientist reader like myself. Warped Passages gives a good overview of the evolution of theory about the makeup of the particles, forces and and dimensions that our universe may or may not be comprised of. The trick is not to try to comprehend every single concept and theory or to wrestle every paragraph to the ground before continuing on. My 50-Book challenge for this year went down the drain a while ago, so this was as good a time as any to tackle this challenging but interesting material.
Needing something somewhat lighter, I've begun a Western, Sudden Country, by Loren Estleman. Estleman has won awards for his Westerns and for his mysteries. This book is a lot of fun and quite well written.
Randall's book is quite comprehensive and largely understandable for a non-scientist reader like myself. Warped Passages gives a good overview of the evolution of theory about the makeup of the particles, forces and and dimensions that our universe may or may not be comprised of. The trick is not to try to comprehend every single concept and theory or to wrestle every paragraph to the ground before continuing on. My 50-Book challenge for this year went down the drain a while ago, so this was as good a time as any to tackle this challenging but interesting material.
Needing something somewhat lighter, I've begun a Western, Sudden Country, by Loren Estleman. Estleman has won awards for his Westerns and for his mysteries. This book is a lot of fun and quite well written.
7Tara1Reads
I never updated last week but I did finish A Spool of Blue Thread and I really enjoyed it but there was a boring part in the middle and the ending was a letdown. Then I read the dreadful Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Now I am reading Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.
8hemlokgang
I have always enjoyed Chaim Potok. Nice pick!
I am listening to the new Three Pines installment, The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny, and the new narrator is excellent!
I am reading and loving Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
I am listening to the new Three Pines installment, The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny, and the new narrator is excellent!
I am reading and loving Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
9seitherin
Finished Crossroad, the last of the Star Trek books I downloaded this month in a mement of nostalgia.
Next up is The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan.
Next up is The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan.
10whymaggiemay
>7 Tara1Reads: I'm a fan of Anne Tyler, but did not think that A Spool of Blue Thread was representative of her work. If you have not read other of her works, i would recommend you do so. Ladder of Years was the first I read of her work and remains my favorite, though I don't think it's her best. The Amateur Marriage is amazing, IMHO, but many people drop it or dislike it because not all the characters are likable.
11enaid
I finished the marvelous The Adventuress by Nicholas Coleridge very late last night. I think I can safely describe it as a 'romp'. It was fun and funny; just what I needed at the moment. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good summer read!
I'm still reading Roman Fever and Other Stories and enjoying it. I'm casting about for something else as well. I so, so, so need to get going on my many Mount TBRs but this where it becomes clear to me that I am utterly lacking in self discipline. When it comes to buying books, I have no spine!
I'm still reading Roman Fever and Other Stories and enjoying it. I'm casting about for something else as well. I so, so, so need to get going on my many Mount TBRs but this where it becomes clear to me that I am utterly lacking in self discipline. When it comes to buying books, I have no spine!
12Tara1Reads
>10 whymaggiemay: I loved Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Digging to America was really good. I hated Earthly Possessions and it put me off Tyler for awhile until a friend recommended Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. I also hated a couple others of hers or just found them to be forgettable. So I am already an Anne Tyler fan; I just find her to be uneven. I have the ones you mentioned as well as a couple others on my shelf waiting to be read.
13rocketjk
Well, I galloped right through Loren Estelman's fun and well-written western, Sudden Country. After having trudged through the interesting and informative, but slow-going, Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall, some lighter reading was in order. Sticking with that theme for the moment, today I'll be starting my second J.D. Robb mystery, this time reading Innocent in Death.
14grkmwk
Finished Zeitoun late last week, and haven't started anything new in it's place. Read small bits of Sharp Knives, Boiling Oil over the weekend, but with two bridal showers for my sister - one of which I hosted! - and a Saturday evening concert with my family, I had little reading time and even less mental focus to read. Hopefully I'll find time again this week...
16brenzi
I finished Amitav Ghosh's excellent conclusion to his Ibis Trilogy, Flood of Fire. Wonderful wrap up to the First Opium War in China.
Now I'm reading Louise Penny's latest, The Nature of the Beast.
Now I'm reading Louise Penny's latest, The Nature of the Beast.
17Copperskye
I should finish up Paula McLain's historical fiction about Beryl Markham, Circling the Sun, in a day or two. I've liked it quite a bit!
>16 brenzi: I'm looking forward to starting the new Penny, too!
>16 brenzi: I'm looking forward to starting the new Penny, too!
18hemlokgang
Finished the absolutely fantastic Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, a Brazilian mystical melodrama abut the duality of life.
Next up, for my RL book club September selection, A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman.
Next up, for my RL book club September selection, A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman.
19TooBusyReading
>1 fredbacon: thank you for the start and the great bio.
>4 CarolynSchroeder: I absolutely adored A Man Called Ove, am glad to hear you loved it, too.
>7 Tara1Reads:, >10 whymaggiemay: I usually enjoy Anne Tyler but was disappointed by A Spool of Blue Thread. I just couldn't make myself care much about the story or the characters.
Having finished the very good but dark Avenue of Spies, I decided to go for something light and silly so I started reading Christopher Moore's Secondhand Souls. Nothing like reading about Death Merchants and soul collection and People of the Squirrel to cheer me up.
>4 CarolynSchroeder: I absolutely adored A Man Called Ove, am glad to hear you loved it, too.
>7 Tara1Reads:, >10 whymaggiemay: I usually enjoy Anne Tyler but was disappointed by A Spool of Blue Thread. I just couldn't make myself care much about the story or the characters.
Having finished the very good but dark Avenue of Spies, I decided to go for something light and silly so I started reading Christopher Moore's Secondhand Souls. Nothing like reading about Death Merchants and soul collection and People of the Squirrel to cheer me up.
20snash
Finished The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. which was a very enjoyable presentation of a life during the very turbulent times of the French Revolution. It covers the time from Josephine's life in Martinique at age 14 to her marriage to Napoleon at age 33.
21grkmwk
Finished One Thousand Gifts this morning over breakfast. Not yet sure what my next spiritual/faith morning read will be...
Started I'll Give You the Sun last night. Promises to be quite good!
Started I'll Give You the Sun last night. Promises to be quite good!
22vivienbrenda
The first Anne Tyler novel I ever read is Morgan's Passing, the story of a her trademarke lost-in-space man who meets a down-to-earth woman. Quirky and insightful. I still love it.
23Iudita
I am making my way through City on Fire which is a big sucker of a book but so far, so good. I am also listening to Euphoria which I am loving. This is a novel I will come back to again and I will certainly try something else by this author. It is very introspective and atmospheric. The whole world just disappears and I am inside the story.
24browner56
I'm in the middle of The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. Very compelling and intense so far and I think it is about to get even more so.
25Limelite
>23 Iudita:
>24 browner56:
You're reading my favorite novels of 2014 and 2015. Both are unforgettable, deeply affecting, and artistically beautiful.
>24 browner56:
You're reading my favorite novels of 2014 and 2015. Both are unforgettable, deeply affecting, and artistically beautiful.
26hemlokgang
Just finished the brilliant novel, A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman, about the moral dilemmas facing multiple generations of one family of Russian immigrants.
Next up is The Palm-Wine Drinkard & My Life In The Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola.
Next up is The Palm-Wine Drinkard & My Life In The Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola.
27Erick_Tubil
Finished reading the novel Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
29enaid
I picked up Cheryl Strayed's Wild and just sped through it. I really liked it although there was a particularly difficult animal scene that caught me off guard. Still, she is a fine writer and has a great style that made it very difficult to put it down, no matter how late it got!
30hemlokgang
I just finished listening to another excellent Inspector Gamache installment from Louise Penny, The Nature of The Beast.
Next up for listening is a collection of short stories, The Unamericans: Stories by Molly Antopol.
Next up for listening is a collection of short stories, The Unamericans: Stories by Molly Antopol.
31CarolynSchroeder
19 ~ TooBusyReading ~ Gosh, yes, I just loved A Man Called Ove. I am glad you did too. It's kind of funny too because I'm not one for "the it book" or even humor-based writing (just never find it funny), or any of that, but maybe it is because Ove IS my Dad, but I just felt it deep into my heart ... and that is a great book, that can do that.
On the flipside to friend Ove, I am struggling mightily through My Brilliant Friend on the theory that it it will get better. I loved her book The Days of Abandonment, but this one is tedious on every level. I expected, and was warned, the main friends/characters are not likable, but I cannot find a likable character in this entire book! I am told a reader gets very hooked by the book's end and wildly anticipates the subsequent three books in the series, so that may yet happen. Being patient. But there is this surreal sense of "reporting" about all of these people, and no one seems to actually LIKE or care for each other ... the only emotions I can detect are retribution, jealousy, comparisons and grudging tolerance. But hey, maybe that is real, but oy, not sure I can spend 1000+ pages enmeshed in it.
On the flipside to friend Ove, I am struggling mightily through My Brilliant Friend on the theory that it it will get better. I loved her book The Days of Abandonment, but this one is tedious on every level. I expected, and was warned, the main friends/characters are not likable, but I cannot find a likable character in this entire book! I am told a reader gets very hooked by the book's end and wildly anticipates the subsequent three books in the series, so that may yet happen. Being patient. But there is this surreal sense of "reporting" about all of these people, and no one seems to actually LIKE or care for each other ... the only emotions I can detect are retribution, jealousy, comparisons and grudging tolerance. But hey, maybe that is real, but oy, not sure I can spend 1000+ pages enmeshed in it.
32jnwelch
Speak: A Novel by Louisa Hall was intriguing and good. Like brenzi in >16 brenzi:, I'm a good ways into the newest Inspector Gamache mystery, The Nature of the Beast. Excellent so far.
33Copperskye
>19 TooBusyReading: >31 CarolynSchroeder: I also absolutely loved A Man Called Ove.
>32 jnwelch: The latest Gamache is next up for me. Can't wait!
>32 jnwelch: The latest Gamache is next up for me. Can't wait!
35mollygrace
All the reorganizing and book-discarding has left me too unsettled to read. I did finish the biography of actor Karl Malden {When Do I Start? which I really liked, especially the part about his work with Brando, Kazan, Clurman and so many others in the New York theater scene of the 40s and 50s. I've set aside a couple of other books I had begun reading -- perhaps I'll get back to them later. New books arrived today so maybe they'll inspire me to use the long weekend to get back to reading. I hope you all have a good weekend.
37librarianarpita
Hi Iudita,
Have you finished City on Fire? If so, please let me know what you thought. I enjoyed it very much, but there is a scene at the end (Avery at the airport) that I did not quite understand. I would like to discuss it with another reader.
Cheers,
Arpita
Have you finished City on Fire? If so, please let me know what you thought. I enjoyed it very much, but there is a scene at the end (Avery at the airport) that I did not quite understand. I would like to discuss it with another reader.
Cheers,
Arpita
