Posted: 2019/11/07 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: E-Books, Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: biography, books, butterflies, caribbean, chick lit, Early Review, Elinor Lipman, Fiction, Howard Sounes, John Gardner, Lee Child, librarything, lists, Lou Reed, mary ohara, medieval, memoir, Michelle Huneven, murder, mystery, NonFiction, Patrick Chamoiseau, series, Sharman Apt Russell, Sigrid Undset, Vermont, wyoming |
Fiction:
- The Master of Hestviken: the Axe by Sigrid Undset.
- October Light by John Gardner.
- Jamesland by Michelle Huneven.
- The Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows by Patrick Chamoiseau.
- Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman.
Nonfiction:
- Wyoming Summer by Mary O’Hara.
- Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell.
Series continuation:
- Running Blind by Lee Child.
Early Review for LibraryThing
- Lou Reed: Notes From the Velvet Underground by Howard Sounes.
Posted: 2019/10/23 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, E-Books, Fiction | Tags: 2019, book lust i, book review, chick lit, Elinor Lipman, Fiction, massachusetts, october |
Lipman, Elinor. Isabel’s Bed. New York: Washington Square Press, 1995.
Reason read: Lipman’s birth month is in October. Read in her honor.
Harriet Mahoney gave twelve years of her life to a man who just left her to marry a woman he’s only known for a few months. Adding insult to injury, he kicks Harriet out of the house she has shared with him as his common law wife for all those years. Dejected but determined to land on her feet, (without her parents’s help…she is over forty, after all!) Harriet takes a job in the seaside town of Truro, Cape Cod, to ghost write celebrity Isabel Krug’s tabloid story. Everyone knows Isabel was the femme fatale using a vibrator in a married man’s bed. Everyone knows the married guy’s wife stormed into the bedroom and shot him dead. Everyone knows because the trial was a sensation full of titillating details, but Isabel wants the world to know her side of the story (it’s even more sordid) and because she isn’t shy, she’s willing to tell all. Harriet is in for the ride of her life working with feisty Isabel…until the not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity widow comes knocking.
This is a fun read but a bit silly at times.
Line I really liked, “My taste buds strained in their direction” (p 276).
Author fact: Lipman is from Lowell, Massachusetts. Same as Hey Jack Kerouac.
Book trivia: So. This story is supposed to take place in Cape Cod. One character is supposed to have a wicked Boston accent. He does…for the most part. It comes and goes.
Nancy said: Pearl didn’t say anything specific about Isabel’s Bed.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Elinor Lipman: Too Good to Miss” (p 146).
Posted: 2019/10/11 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: E-Books, Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: biography, books, butterflies, chick lit, crime, e-books, Early Review, Elinor Lipman, Fiction, John Gardner, Lee Child, librarything, lists, Lou Reed, medieval, memoir, mental illness, Michelle Huneven, murder, Music, musician, mystery, NonFiction, Peter Turnbull, science, series, Sharman Apt Russell, Sigrid Undset, Vermont, wyoming |
I am so frigging late with this it’s not even funny. Here are my excuses: I was home-home the first weekend in October. I am hosting an art show. I’m trying to hire a new librarian. And. And! And, I have been running. Only 13.25 miles so far but it’s a start, right? I’m thrilled to be putting one foot in front of the other. But, here are the books:
Fiction:
- October Light by John Gardner – in honor of October being in the the title of the book and the fact that it takes place in Vermont, a place that is simply gorgeous in the fall.
- Jamesland by Michelle Huneven – in honor of October being Mental Health Awareness month.
- Long Day Monday by Peter Turnbull – in honor of police proceedurals.
- The Axe by Sigrid Undset – in honor of the fact I needed a translated book by a woman for the Portland Public Library challenge. Weak, I know.
- Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman – in honor of Lipman’s birth month.
Nonfiction:
- Wyoming Summer by Mary O’Hara – in memory of O’Hara dying in October.
- An Obsession with Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair by Sharman Apt Russell – in honor of Magic Wings opening in October and the fact that Monhegan was inundated with monarch butterflies for the month of September. We even saw a few while we were home.
Series Continuation:
- Running Blind by Lee Child – started in honor of New York becoming a state in July (where Lee Child lives). However, big confessional: I am reading this out of order. My own fault completely.
LibraryThing Early Review:
- Notes from the Velvet Underground by Howard Sounes
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.
