Posted: 2018/10/31 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: africa, anthology, boats, books, chick lit, Doris Lessing, Dorothy Dunnett, Early Review, england, Fiction, football, gardening, Hal Roth, Henry Roth, historical, immigration, italy, Ivo Andric, Jan Morris, John Grisham, leisure, librarything, lists, memoir, new york, NonFiction, Nora Roberts, ocean, Oxford, reading, Robert Wilson, romance, science fiction, self help, series, travel |
I don’t know where to begin with trying to explain October. From the beginning, I guess. It started with a trip home; a lovely week off with lots of reading accomplished. Then it was a New England Patriots football game followed by two Phish shows and a political rally for a state in which I do not live. If that wasn’t weird enough, I hung out with a person who could have raped or killed or loved me to death. Take your pick. Any one of those scenarios was more than possible. It was a truly bizarre month.
But, enough of that. Here are the books:
Fiction:
- Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. Quick but cute read.
- Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (AB/print). Sad.
- The Chronoliths by Robert C. Wilson. Interesting.
- Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric (EB). Boring.
Nonfiction:
- Oxford Book of Oxford edited by Jan Morris (EB/print). Only slightly less boring than Bridge.
- Always a Distant Anchorage by Hal Roth. Really interesting.
- African Laughter by Doris Lessing. Okay.
Series continuations:
- The Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett (EB/print). Detailed.
- Finding the Dream by Nora Roberts (EB). Cute but glad the series is over.
Fun:
- We Inspire Me by Andrea Pippins. Cute.
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- Gardening Under Lights by Leslie F. Halleck. When I set up the reads for October I didn’t include this because it hadn’t arrived yet.
I should add that October was a really frustrating month for books. I never really liked anything I was reading.
Posted: 2018/09/05 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: BookLust I, BookLust II, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: africa, Arnaldur Indridason, audio book, books, Bryce Courtenay, chick lit, china, civil war, colorado, crime, Donna Jo Napoli, Dorothy Dunnett, e-books, Early Review, Ed McBain, fairy tale, greece, historical, Iceland, india, Isabella Bird, Kerstin Ekman, Kirsty Needham, librarything, lists, mystery, NonFiction, Nora Roberts, Peter Bridgford, romance, Rona Jaffe, series, Sofka Zinovieff, sweden, Tarquin Hall, travel, women |
So. I’ve done a few short runs here and there. Nothing crazy, but at least I’m back in it somewhat. Spent more time with the books. Speaking of which, here they are:
Fiction:
- Under the Snow by Kerstin Ekman (EB/print)
- The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
- The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall (AB)
- Crazy Jack by Donna Jo Napoli (EB)
- Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (EB)
- Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett (EB/print)
- Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts (EB)
Nonfiction:
- A Season in Red: My Great Leap Forward into the New China by Kirsty Needham
- A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird
- Eurydice Street by Sofka Zinovieff
Series continuation:
- Arctic Chill by Arnuldur Indridason (EB/print) – which I forgot to mention when I was plotting the month. It’s the last book of the series -that I’m reading. (There are others.)
- Big Bad City by Ed McBain
LibraryThing Early Review:
- Where Eagles Dare Not Perch by Peter Bridgford (EB) – which came after I plotted the month of reading so it wasn’t mentioned before.
Posted: 2018/08/21 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, august, book lust i, book review, chick lit, Fiction, Rona Jaffe, society |
Jaffe, Rona. The Best of Everything. New York: Penguin Books, 1958.
Reason read: August is the best time to read Chick Lit.
The year is 1952 and women in the workplace are finding their collective ambitious voice. In The Best of Everything five young women seemingly only have the employment of a New York publishing company in common. Caroline wants to climb the corporate ladder; to go from typist to editor. April is as naive as they come but learns the timeless power of sex appeal. Gregg has the life of a jet setting actress, but secretly wants to settle down and be a housewife. Barbara is a single mother with a young daughter and Mary Agnes is mousy; too shy for words.
One central theme to The Best of Everything is the need women feel to protect themselves from predatory men. They are always defending themselves against the less than admirable advances of the amorous kind. There is a great deal of strategic purse shuffling and genius body blocking at parties and at the office. Yet, they all want to be married to respectable men.
A few quotes (out of hundred) to quote, “It’s like holding hands and jumping off the top of a building; did we think it was going to be any easier because we were holding hands?” (p 95), “It was like trying to categorize something in order to make it exist” (p 118), “The hard mechanical palm he had extended to her in his handshake had not been a unique phenomenon, it had simply been an uncovered part of the entire unyielding whole” (p 164), and probably the most tragic quote ever, “She leaned out the window and all of a sudden the mile long limousine with the two of them in it and the liveried chauffeur and the armful of rises and the soft music and the hip flask if bourbon wasn’t glamorous anymore; it was ridiculous; they were two frantic stupid people speeding through an ugly-smelling countryside to attend the murder of love” (p 194).
Author fact: In 2005 Jaffe wrote a foreword to The Best of Everything. In it she admitted her rise to success happened before she had even published the book. Who she knew helped a great deal.
Book trivia: The Best of Everything is Rona Jaffe’s first novel and it became a New York Times Best Seller and a movie.
Nancy said: The Best of Everything is a given when thinking about the category of fiction that primarily explores the lives of young, single women.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Chick Lit” (p 53).
Posted: 2018/08/01 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Athens, audio book, books, Bryce Courtenay, chick lit, china, colorado, crime, Donna Jo Napoli, Ed McBain, fairytale, Fiction, greece, india, Isabella Bird, Kerstin Ekman, Kirsty Needham, list, memoir, mystery, NonFiction, Nora Roberts, romance, Rona Jaffe, series, Sofka Zinovieff, sweden, Tarquin Hall, travel |
Since the Run for Nancy was only a few days ago I am still on a high from not only running four miles, but running four miles without pain. No pain whatsoever. The pain is so gone it’s as if I imagined the whole thing. Weird. Weird. Weird. As for books, since I don’t have any other running plans in the near future:
Fiction:
- The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – in honor of August being Chick Lit month.
- The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay – in honor of Courtenay’s birth month being in August.
- Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts – in honor of August being Dream Month (hey, I read it somewhere).
- Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett – in honor of Dunnett’s birth month being in August.
- The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall – in honor of Rajir Ratna Gandhi’s birth in August.
Nonfiction:
- A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird – in honor of Colorado becoming a state in August.
- Eurydice Street: a Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff – in honor of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin.
- A Season in Red by Kirsty Needham – in honor of the Double Seven festival in China.
Series continuations:
- The Big Bad City by Ed McBain – to continue the series started in July.
If there is time:
Fiction:
- Under the Snow by Kerstin Ekman – in honor of Ekman’s birth month.
- Crazy Jack by Donna Jo Napoli – in honor of Fairy Tale Month.
Posted: 2018/07/31 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Alice Mattison, Arnaldur Indridason, Caroline Preston, chick lit, childrens book, cookbook, cooking, crime, David Halberstam, Early Review, Ed McBain, Elizabeth David, Elizabeth Lowell, Fiction, greed, historical, Iceland, Jacqueline Kennedy, James Stewart, Joan Aiken, Kate Walbert, Korean War, librarything, Lizzie Borden, Mediterranean, mystery, NonFiction, relationships, romance, series, short stories, Tristam Korten, Walter Satterthwait, women |
July was jamming. Guess what! I ran a few times this month. Even participated in a charity run for an aunt-in-law (is that a thing?). I am feeling much, much better! And. And! And, I was able to read a ton:
Fiction:
- Jackie by Josie by Caroline Preston – in honor of Jacqueline O. Kennedy’s birth month.
- Cop Hater by Ed McBain – in memory of McBain’s passing in the month of July.
- Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait – in honor of Lizzie Borden’s birth month.
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken – in honor of July being Kids Month.
- Gardens of Kyoko by Kate Walbert – in honor of Japan’s Tanabata Festival.
- Animals by Alice Mattison – in honor of Mattison’s birth month.
Nonfiction:
- The Coldest Day: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam – in honor of July being the month the Korean War ended.
- The Book of Mediterranean Cooking by Elizabeth David – in honor of July being picnic month.
- Den of Thieves by James Stewart – in honor of July being Job Fair month (odd choice, I know).
Series Continuation:
- The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason – to continue the series started in June.
- Midnight in Ruby Bayou by Elizabeth Lowell – to continue the series started in April.
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- Into the Storm: Two Ships, a Deadly Hurricane, and an Epic Battle for Survival by Tristam Koten.
Posted: 2018/07/20 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust II, Fiction | Tags: 2018, biography, book lust ii, book review, Caroline Preston, chick lit, Fiction, Jacqueline Kennedy, july |
Preston, Caroline. Jackie By Josie. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Reason read: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born in July; read in honor of her birth month.
Josie Trask is one neurotic woman…but she has a lot of heart. Hired to research the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for a less-than-serious biographer, Josie moves back in her childhood Massachusetts home for the summer in order to be close to her source’s personal history. It’s right after Jackie O’s death and digging up the most private of Jackie’s dirt takes time. This means moving back in with an overbearing and alcoholic mother while contending with a typical three year old son, all on her own. Husband Peter has headed to California for a teaching job, carpooling with college friend, Monica. While Josie is trying to satisfy a constantly demanding employer and worrying about her absent husband, she is convinced her mother is dating a criminal and her husband is having an affair. As Josie digs deeper into Jackie’s life she can’t help but notice the similarities. What lessons can she learn from the life of a former First Lady?
Author fact: While Preston has written a bunch of books, Jackie by Josie is the only one I am readng for the Challenge.
Book trivia: Jackie by Josie is Preston’s first book.
Nancy said: Jackie By Josie was “wonderful reading, each in its own way” (More Book Lust, p 132). She goes on to say some books have more depth than others. I would think Jackie By Josie is one such book.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Just Too Good To Miss” (p 132). I keep wanting to add the word “Period” to it. As an aside, this could also have been listed in Pearl’s Maiden Voyages chapter.
Posted: 2018/07/02 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Alice Mattison, Arnaldur Indridason, audio books, Caroline Preston, chick lit, childrens book, cookbook, cooking, crime, David Halberstam, e-books, Early Review, Ed McBain, Elizabeth David, Elizabeth Lowell, Fiction, hurricane, Iceland, James Stewart, japan, Joan Aiken, Kate Walbert, Korean War, librarything, Lizzie Borden, Mediterranean, mystery, NonFiction, romance, series, Tristram Korten, Walter Satterhwait, war |
I have a prediction for July. I will read a crap load of books. Actually, I am cheating. It’s not a prediction because I already know I will. Case in point – yesterday my husband and I spent seven hours on the water. He fished. I read. Yesterday was July 1st so I was already knee-deep in the July Challenge list and thanks to an iPad I had five books with me. I made a decent dent in the “Boat” books:
Fiction:
- Jackie by Josie by Caroline Preston – in honor of Jacqueline O. Kennedy’s birth month.
Nonfiction:
- The Coldest Day: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam – in honor of July being the month the Korean War ended.
- The Book of Mediterranean Cooking by Elizabeth David – in honor of July being picnic month.
Series Continuation:
- The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason – to continue the series started in June.
- Midnight in Ruby Bayou by Elizabeth Lowell – to continue the series started in April.
Others on the list:
Fiction:
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken – in honor of July being Kids Month.
Nonfiction:
- Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart – in honor of July being Job Fair month (odd choice, I know).
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- Into the Storm: Two Ships, a Deadly Hurricane, and an Epic Battle for Survival by Tristam Koten.
If there is time:
- Gardens of Kyoko by Kate Walbert – in honor of Japan’s Tanabata Festival.
- Animals by Alice Mattison – in honor of Mattison’s birth month.
- Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait – in honor of Lizzie Borden’s birth month.
- Cop Hater by Ed McBain – to honor McBain’s passing in the month of July.
