Everything By the Book

[attyfan]

Just finished a Plantagenet/Tudor binge that started early this month ... one about Eleanor Talbot (whose relationship to Edward IV may have rendered his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid, making the children illegitimate); one on Richard III and Hastings; Eric Ives' "Life and Death of Anne Boleyn" and "Lady Jane Grey", along with Alison Plowden's "Danger to Elizabeth" and "Two Queens in One Isle".

[ChelleC]

I just finished Greg and Penny King's latest book "The Resurrection of the Romanovs". It's a very well researched, fascinating read about Anna Anderson- the Anastasia claimant. It doesn't argue her case- the DNA evidence has proved that she wasn't who she claimed to be. The book goes into the evidence and her claims and her supporters and discusses how she pulled it off and managed to fool so many people for so long. Interesting reading, and probably the last word on the topic.

That definitely sounds like something I would enjoy. Will have to look for it. Thanks!

[vesperholly]

Wyliefan, you'll be happy to know that I started reading Little Dorrit (The Victorians! group on Goodreads is reading it for January/February).

Ooh, what's Goodreads?! Online book club? I'd like to do a book club but I work nights and my schedule varies so wildly that it's hard to keep a weekly appointment.

[galaxygirl]

http://www.goodreads.com/

You can keep track of the books you read, join groups, make friends, etc. I've belonged to a couple of groups there (including The Victorians) but I tend to forget that I belong to them so I've never actually joined any of the group reads.

There are also yahoo email lists for reading groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/. It can be kind of difficult to find a good group there, though, since the listings aren't organized too well and there are a lot of inactive groups. The Literature Reading Circle is a list that some of the other reading group lists belong to and to which they send out schedules so it's a good place to start looking for a group.

[Evilynn]

No, I really appreciate that you took the time to write that, Matryeshka. The cousin who bought the book for me, told me the same basic thing, that I should stop after book 8. She and I have very different reading tastes and her definition of porn is very different from mine, so I wasn't sure if she was just being her semi-prudish self or not.

IRC Hamilton was dissatisfied with her marriage and when it broke up she sort of channelled her...uh...issues, through the books, which apparently didn't make for very good reading. I keep reading them out of order (started with book 8 and very nearly didn't read anymore than that!) and view them as marshmallows for the brain-type reading. I'll be picking up book 4 for a reading challenge on GoodReads in January.

I'm still stuck halfway through the Lethem book, but I finished In The Night Garden right before xmas eve, and it improved a lot when you read larger chunks in one sitting. I started book 2 right away and have 150 pages to go. Sometimes I get lost in the structure of thing though. I counted levels of stories within stories within stories and reached seven(!) at some point, so it's a case of not seeing the forest for all the trees at times.

[Allen]

I went crazy on the Kindle for MAC app last night and download about 20 free books. Looks like I'll be catching up on the classics for the next little while. I did also download David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Has anyone else read that one?

I finished Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures last night and I liked it, but I'm not sure I liked it enough to read 7 more books. Especially now that I've simultaneously discovered Good Reads and the Kindle app for MAC. I'm thinking about starting a challenge on the Contemporary Chunksters group to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They have it spaced out between now and May, which seems like a bit of a long time for me, but I thought it still might be fun. I'm also doing one on Emma Donoghue's Room.

[zaphyre14]

As the Representative for Trashy Reading here, I eschew anything remotely literary and so spent my weekend reading Mary Balogh's Regencies "A Christmas Promise" and "A Matter of Class." I'd recommend both, if that's your fancy; Balogh has a knack for creating realistic characters and stepping just to the side of the traditional Regionacy format.

I have Nelson DeMille's "Wild Fire" going on audio in the car. It seems interminable but I do want to know how it ends so I keep plodding along with it.

[Wyliefan]

Just finished a Plantagenet/Tudor binge that started early this month ... one about Eleanor Talbot (whose relationship to Edward IV may have rendered his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid, making the children illegitimate); one on Richard III and Hastings; Eric Ives' "Life and Death of Anne Boleyn" and "Lady Jane Grey", along with Alison Plowden's "Danger to Elizabeth" and "Two Queens in One Isle".

That sounds like a great binge! Which one did you like best?

[Grannyfan]

I'm reading Laura Hillenbrand's new book, Unbroken. It's an amazing WWII survival story.

[my little pony]

the mailman just brought a copy of the autobiography of pursemaker Roberta Di Camerino, I waited a long time for it. it's in Italian so it will probably take me a while.

[immoimeme]

I had no idea I had requested "Free For All: Fixing School Food in America" but the library said I did so I went and got it. It's by Janet Poppendieck and I thank my lucky stars that is not my last name.

[Southpaw]

I did also download David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Has anyone else read that one?

I got it for Christmas!

The guy who gave it to me said it was his favorite book this year, and he's fiction aloof so there ya go.

[Spinner]

I just finished Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind yesterday and I'm still breathless. We've all read books you can devour in one sitting or those you force yourself to plod through bits at a time because they're either difficult or not good, but neither holds true here. It's best savored and slowly digested. Set in Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, it's a masterwork of intrigue, suspense, mystery, romance, murder and adventure that I can best liken to sort of a Neverending Story for adults.

Its main character, a young Daniel Sempere, is taken by his father to the secretive Cemetery of Forgotten Books where tradition holds that upon your first time entering you must choose one book and protect it for life. He happens upon Julian Carax's The Shadow of the Wind as his selection. That night he becomes so engrossed in the story he barrels through it in one sitting. As he tries to find more books by Carax, he happens upon the mystery of a strange character who is also seeking Carax's books--every copy possible--to burn them. The story unfolds from there and oh, what a ride!

I'm now on his next book, The Angel's Game, a sort-of prequel to Shadow set a decade earlier. As I mentioned in the previous thread, I haven't happened upon such amazing writing in a long time. Kudos to Lucia Graves as well who translated his books from Spanish.

[attyfan]

That sounds like a great binge! Which one did you like best?

Eric Ives's book on Anne Boleyn ... some interesting reasons behind her fall.

[Prancer]

A question for those of you who have e-readers:

When I read a book, I prepare to turn the page when I get about, oh, 3/4s of the way down the page. I slide my index finger in there and get ready to turn when I have three or four words to go.

Common, right?

Well, I find myself doing this on my e-reader. I obviously can't get my finger under the page, but I keep TRYING to get my finger under the page, which makes the page flip when I am not done reading it yet.

This is driving me CRAZY. Am I going to stop doing this soon?

Otherwise, I am loving my reader and think that my husband's dream of me not piling books on every available surface just might come true.

[Allen]

I am about 1/3 through The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It is fabulous, but is definitely slow going. I also started reading Patti Smith's autobiographical Just Kids, which I also love and is an extremely quick read. Next up is Hilary Thayer Hamann's Anthropology of an American Girl.

[Southpaw]

I also started reading Patti Smith's autobiographical Just Kids, which I also love and is an extremely quick read.

I was just looking through that one yesterday. Looks good!

[Grannyfan]

Finished Unbroken and have started The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I'm hoping it's as good as The House at Riverton, which I absolutely loved.

[genevieve]

I'm still stuck halfway through the Lethem book, ...

Which one? I still haven't read Chronic City. I bought it well over a year ago now!

Just started Sarah Waters' The Night Watch. I'm not far enough into it to have an opinion, but I really like her writing.

[LilJen]

A question for those of you who have e-readers:

When I read a book, I prepare to turn the page when I get about, oh, 3/4s of the way down the page. I slide my index finger in there and get ready to turn when I have three or four words to go.

Common, right?

Well, I find myself doing this on my e-reader. I obviously can't get my finger under the page, but I keep TRYING to get my finger under the page, which makes the page flip when I am not done reading it yet.

This is driving me CRAZY. Am I going to stop doing this soon?

Otherwise, I am loving my reader and think that my husband's dream of me not piling books on every available surface just might come true.

My problem is pushing the RH button to go forward, and then if I change my mind and want to go back, I push the LH button. . .only there are BOTH forward and backward buttons on both sides (I have a Kindle), so I end up even further ahead than I meant to be! I think I'll get used to it but for now I'm loving how much smaller it is than the two bulky books I am reading.