Y&R Discussion Group -- What are you reading?

Y&R Discussion Group

Topic: What are you reading?

Topic Posted by: Cassies grandma
Date Posted: Sun Jan 8 17:37:02 2012
Additional Comments: I am reading a first novel right now. Very good. Historical fiction called The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. An Irish family in the 1700's comes to the US as indentured servants. The parents die on the voyage. The 6 yr old daughter is taken by the captain of the boat and ends up with the slaves on a VA plantation. It is hard to put down. I am only about a third of the way done.

Sat is our book club and we are discussing Still Alice. It is the Galveston reads book this year. About Alzheimer. Interesting novel written in first person by a Harvard professor who was diagnosed with early onset ALZ.

Posted by: Peaches
Date posted: Wed Jan 11 20:18:41 2012
Message:
I'm reading The Help. Saw the movie first, but I'm liking the book better so far. More details. I'm less than halfway through the book.

Replies: (list all replies)

I really want to read that book too. The next time I am out & about & see it, I am going to pick it up................Liz

Posted by: faysie
Date posted: Wed Jan 11 15:33:19 2012
Message:
I just finished reading The Kitchen House too. :) ITA it's a great read. Definitely hard to put down.

Replies: (list all replies)

I just got to the part where Lavinia is engaged and then Will shows up. I am afraid to read more! I don't want anything bad to happen. eom CG

I know exactly what you mean. :) While not 'spoiling' anything for you, I'll just say that the book definitely kept my interest right up to the last page. /faysie

Posted by: Jolypha
Date posted: Tue Jan 10 23:02:04 2012
Message:
One Second After, by William R. Forstchen. It's about the destruction of America after an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is used on us. This kind of shockwave is real, btw.

Replies: (list all replies)

I read that last year. Interesting book--not terribly well written but interesting. eom CG

Posted by: monkeymome3
Date posted: Tue Jan 10 16:05:30 2012
Message:
Putting Still Alice on my must read list. Thanks!

Replies: (list all replies)

it's one of the things we don't like thinking about but we probably need to know about! interesting family dynamics in the book eom CG

Posted by: monkeymome3
Date posted: Tue Jan 10 16:04:48 2012
Message:
I bought a book for my daughter, Distant Waves, A Novel of the Titanic and I started reading the first couple of pages and now I'm hooked! I love anything Titanic, even fiction.

Replies: (list all replies)

I was switching channels the other day and watched about 10 minutes of the movie! eom CG

Posted by: scobe
Date posted: Tue Jan 10 15:00:52 2012
Message:
Currently reading Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. It's the fourth (and I believe final) edition of the Wicked series.

Replies: (list all replies)

not much into that genre but it must be good! for you to read all of them eom CG

It's not my genre of choice either, but have enjoyed the series. This book really ties the first three together. Still have about 1/5th of the book to go but enjoying it. (scobe)

Posted by: Ginger G
Date posted: Mon Jan 9 15:21:23 2012
Message:
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin. I'm having eye surgery on Thursday, so I downloaded the audior version of The Help onto my kindle, so I plan to listen to that while I'm recovering.

Replies: (list all replies)

you will love the Help. Great book eom CG

Posted by: Nancy
Date posted: Mon Jan 9 11:20:55 2012
Message:

Currently re-reading Black Like Me. I first read this in high school or college and have been wanting to read it again since my son read it in 8th grade a couple of years ago. I am as appalled with Griffin's treatment as a black man as I was when I first read it.

I recently read The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I highly recommend it. It is the story of a Mexican American, based on his journals from his childhood in Mexico to adulthood in the US during the 50's. Kingsolver is a wonderful writer and I loved Harrison's story.

I also read A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay, the author of Sarah's Key. It was just ok. I liked Sarah's Key a lot, but mainly due to the story, not the writing.

Replies: (list all replies)

Our daughter's babysitter last summer said she was reading that. She is a young African American gal and she is so smart and interesting. She is in her freshman yr in college now. Great gal. I didn't know people were still reading that book. eom CG

I told my mom how much I enjoyed The Help and she suggested Black Like Me, maybe I need to pick that up. mm3

Posted by: Liz
Date posted: Sun Jan 8 21:35:31 2012
Message:

Ann Rule's latest. In The Still Of The Night. After I'm finished with this book, I've got Janet Evanovich next on deck. The 17th in the Stephanie Plumb series. I'll need a good laugh after a serious dose of true crime.

Replies: (list all replies)

Don't think I have heard of the first one. Not much of a fan of mysteries. But we do listen to them when we travel. eom CG

Ann Rule is one of the best known true crime writers in the country. She once workd with Ted Bundy at a suicide hotline & became a life long friend. She later wrote the book ''The Stranger Beside Me'' about Bundy. IMO, it was her best work...................Evanovich & the Plum series is pure fluff, good for a few out loud guffaws!......................Liz

Posted by: Peridot
Date posted: Sun Jan 8 21:24:49 2012
Message:

I've recently discovered British author Ken Follett. Awhile back I read World Without End, an epic historical novel set in 14-century Britain during the reign of Edward III. This book is a sequel of sorts to Follett's earlier novel Pillars of the Earth. I was completely engrossed in this story, all gazillion pages of it. I'm currently reading another Follett novel, Hornet Flight, about Danish resistance fighters during WWII.

Before Christmas I read Stephen King's latest, 11/22/63, about a man who travels back in time, hoping to stop the assassination of JFK. IMO this is one of King's best books in recent years. It's overlong, a complaint I have about most of his novels, but still entertaining, especially for folks who enjoy stories about time travel.

Replies: (list all replies)

Pillars of the Earth & World Without End were 2 of my most fave books of all time! I gave them to my Mom who also loved them. I bought her the Pillars mini series on DVD last year for Christmas. That era fascinates me completely. I have a couple of other Follett books that I have never read..................Liz

I have read Pillars a couple times and we watched the mini series. Book is 100 times better! LOL I need to tackle the sequal one of these days. eom CG

What got me started on Follett was watching the Pillars miniseries on DVD, which I absolutely loved. You've got your virtuous prior and your corrupt bishop, your assorted royals grasping for lands and titles, with a supporting cast of masons, soldiers, monks, and villagers. Great 12th century soap opera! - Peridot

The books are always better. What annoyed me about the mini series is that they did not stick to olde English dialect. When Aliana said ''Alfred kicked me out'' I literally cringed. a lady from the 11th century in England would NEVER say that!........I loved the costumes & I thought they did a good job with the journey to France. I thought the actor who played Jack was horribly miscast. Surely, they could have found a better, red headed actor?.....................Liz

Liz, I thought there were a lot of speech anachronisms in the sequel too, although it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. In a book that long, perhaps the author didn't want readers to get too tangled up in archaic language. - Peridot

I liked it too. Enough to watch it twice. I hope they make a series out of ''World Without End.'' Gwenda was such an interesting heroine...........Liz

Posted by: farmer brown
Date posted: Sun Jan 8 19:12:55 2012
Message:

A friend of mine has let me borrow her book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Sadly, Shaffer died before the book was published, and I think it was her first novel. A loss for us. Annie Barrows is her niece, and I hope she continues to write.

The book is utterly charming. It's about a young woman writer in post-WWII England who by fluke has started taking up correspondence with residents of the Channel Island of Guernsey. They're delighted to have contact with the outside world after years of German occupation, and she's intrigued about their life under the thumb of the Nazis.

It's all written as letters -- letters that the writer sends to people and letters they send to her. It's a clever technique.

About almost halfway through and already sorry I'm almost halfway done!

Replies: (list all replies)

I have read that book 2 or 3 times. It certainly is charming. And a happy ending. eom CG

I liked Guernsey a lot, too. (Nancy)

Posted by: Paula
Date posted: Sun Jan 8 18:22:20 2012
Message:
I just finished 'Larry's Party' again by Carol Shields, and reread 'The Woman and the Ape' by Peter Hoeg... great book!!! Also loved 'The White Bone' by Barbara Gowdy. Read a murder mystery yesterday set in 1100s by Margaret Frazer - love her, too.

But today I started a vampire-werewolf murder mystery by Charlaine Harris :)

Replies: (list all replies)

you must read much faster than I do. eom CG

What ia m reading. read on