Never picked up.......:|

I don't have it in my hot little hand yet but come Nov 7th I'll be reading Donna Brazile's 'Hacks' :glasses:

I am in the home stretch of the new Grisham book The Rooster Bar!

It's a very fast read, interesting premise, warm characters, and if you have or have had student loans and have had to deal with "Loan Counselors" in regards to re-payment schedules you'll definitely get a chuckle out of some of the correspondence! There are also a few other places that made me laugh out loud in the book as well.

If you've ever thought about reading a Grisham book or are already a Grisham fan you should enjoy this one.

I'm reading Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge. Jane of Austin offers readers a fresh and contemporary take on a beloved classic.

When driving I just started listening to Lincoln at the Bardo by George Saunders. I'm very excited about this one.

February 1862. The Civil War rages while President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son is gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory -- called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo. Within this transitional state, where ghosts mingle, gripe, and commiserate, a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

I finished this in about a day and a half! I can't recommend it enough:hangloose:

Atwood
 

Just picked up a copy of The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood.. but I am starting with another book that I also just picked up The World Beyond Your Head by Crawford.

Eric Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios. It's supposed to be a great thriller. I am not feeling it. It's one of his pre-WWII novels, which people cite as classics of the genre. Oh well, I am only about a third in. Maybe I will start enjoying it soon.

people who enjoy atmospheric pre-WWII spy stories set in Europe ( and particularly Eastern Europe ) might enjoy novels by Alan Furst ( ie. "Spies of Warsaw ", etc. ) Nobody sets this murky, realistic environment better.

this is SUCH a good read!

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Just finished The Innocent by David Baldacci. It kept me guessing until the end… but the very ending got a little too perfect and sappy while wrapping things up.

Apple tree yard
 

I haven't long started this book.
Really enjoying it so far, there has been a TV series over here in the UK that's based on it too. So when I have finished the book I will see how the show compares.

I am starting The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis. This book was in the juvenile section of the library. I loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was young. This was referenced in the last book I read so I decided to check it out.

Activities around Veterans Day got me interested in 21st century military history, so i am reading Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, by Robert M Gates (SECDEF under Bush and Obama, CIA director under the other Bush)

I figure this is a good source for the establishment version of both Iraq wars and Afghanistan. I have further reading planned giving the soldiers' version and then more that gives the anti-war version.

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Also i have to read The Code of the Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse, for December's Book Club meeting. November's title is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, which i finished on Sunday

Oh and i just got notification that my preorder of Artemis is available. This is the second novel by Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian-- which was my favorite book of 2014

Braving the wilderness : the quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone / Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW.
 

"True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Social scientist Brene Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives--experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging.

Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, "The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand."

--------------------


Not familiar with the author. I'm hoping this is not another self actualization or spiritual awakening rehash.

"A critique of postcolonial reason" by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak :glasses:
It's not an easy one, it's related to my field and I hope to be done with it by the end of this week :seeingstars:

Secret Pond Gerri Hill


Strictly lesbian fluff................3 grieving people find each other and each helps another out of their dark lonely place.


btw I thoroughly enjoyed Donna Brazile's 'Hacks'

The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall
 

Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parents - a fencer, a horse rider & a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer & a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women.

-The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall

The Secret Pond was just what I was in the mood for!

:glasses::glasses:

Is it just me or did anyone enjoy this?

"The lonely city" by Olivia Laing

In this non-fiction book Laing conducts an investigation into what it means to be alone, how loneliness might be redeem and embraced. The lonely city is New York which Laing explores by way of art.

Referring to Edward Hoppers urban scenes: "[...] it also replicates one of the central experiences of being alone: the way a feeling of separation, of being walled off or penned in, combines with a sense of near-unbearable exposure"

I've never read it either, just seen the movie.............:movieguy:

Cindy's other book Getting Back is just wonderful! If you have a reader on your shopping list, it would be a fine addition!

For some reason I could never get into hers or any lesbian detective series but she did some fantastic romance books, one being An Emergence of Green:hangloose:

These books IMHO are a godsend..............

Online articles about Comfort Women used during WWII.

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Just started... but here’s the synopsis:

Vance describes his upbringing and family background. He writes about a family history of poverty and low-paying, physical jobs that have since disappeared or worsened in their guarantees, and compares this life with his perspective after leaving that area and life. Vance was raised in Middletown, Ohio, though his ancestors were from Breathitt County, Kentucky. Their Appalachian values include traits like loyalty, love of country, and tendency towards violence and verbal abuse. He recounts his grandparents' alcoholism and abuse, and his unstable mother's history of drug addictions and failed relationships. Vance's grandparents eventually reconcile and become his de facto guardians, particularly spurred by his tough but loving grandmother, such that Vance was able to leave his town and ascend social ladders to attend Ohio State University and Yale Law School.

Alongside his personal history, Vance raises questions such as the responsibility of his family and people for their own misfortune. Vance blames hillbilly culture and its supposed encouragement of social rot. Comparatively, he feels that economic insecurity plays a much lesser role.

Not one to just read one book at a time, here’s another :-).

Inheriting Edith by Zoe Fishman

Based on the synopsis, I thought this was going to be a deep and insightful work of fiction looking at aging parents, suicide, and family relationships. But I just got the first hint that there may be a bit of a romance woven in... why tarnish a perfectly good story...hm.

One of my favorite books

r
 

"I'm Watching You" Teresa Driscoll
"The Girl Who Dared To Descend" Bella Forrest
"Mark of Fire" Richard Phillips
"Configured" Jenetta Penner
"Fatal Trust" Diana

ETA: I just finished The Handmaid's Tale

I'm reading books I absolutely enjoyed during last summer:

Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty), The Help (Kathryn Stockett) and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Fannie Flagg).

:hk20:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck : A counter intuitive approach to living a good life by Mark Manson

Crude and in-your-face but thought provoking nonetheless. Only 1/3 way in so far, and I haven’t put it down yet.

Miss Katz, have you heard that Big Little Lies was such a hit that HBO is doing another season? There are so many ways the story line could go based on events in the book that were never discussed in the first one. Should be interesting to see how they go, don't you agree?

Oh, definitely homoe!

I read recently on Nicole Kidman's and Reese Witherspoon's f.b. pages that they are filming season two of Big Little Lies!

Some interesting scenarios that might be expanded:

1) Jane and the coffee barrister, whom the girls thought was gay, but is not.

2) Madeline (Reese W.) Had an affair with the performing arts guy, so that's an possibility. She kept telling her husband that he was first in her life, but he knew he really wasn't, but Madeline has issues with her ex-husband who's together with the yoga instructor, on top of the affair she had too.

3) There is also the outcome of Ziggy, Jane's son, and being blamed for what the twin sons of Nicole Kidman's character did to Ziggy (bullying by parents kids and school staff).

There's a LOT that could happen in season two, for sure. :balloon:

AND YOU KNOW........now that Nicole Kidman's character is a widow, they could have her "experiment" with lesbianism!

I dunno, I don't know that it's some sort of subplot at all. I mean, I've read the book and as anyone might realise, the HBO miniseries is not exactly adapted from the book -- hence your prior observation and comment about viewing the miniseries left you "scratching your head."

Of course, the screenplay and role development to expand the series might build upon the already known facts about Nicole Kidman's character: she was an attorney with specialized knowledge and took up the special case representation for her friend Madeline (Reese W.) Because certain wealthy acolytes in town were opposed to her theatrical troupes play (concerning sensitive subject matter). I can see the screenwriter's developing her character, in post-aftermath, by opening up her own law practice and I can also visualize the miniseries expanding the plot surround her twin son's and their behavioral issues as well as the co-mingling subject of Jane's son Ziggy being blamed for their behaviors and subsequent bullying by children or school staff.

But, I don't see your idea about Nicole Kidman's character in the Moriarty book, either.

I guess we will find out next fall, when season 2 of Big Little Lies premiers on HBO! :rrose:

Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History
by Katy Tur




I got this book about a week ago and I've picked it up and put it down a couple times. Last night I began to read it in earnest and am finally enjoying it.