Book Club

[Moonchilde]

@sandraskates, I both read the book and saw the series, and enjoyed them. Another series I enjoyed was The Manions of America which dealt with Irish emigration to the US. Early appearances for Pierce Brosnan and Kate Mulgrew.

[Big Joanie]

I often wish I had kept a list of all the books I have read .. as reading

is my favorite pastime's....

For history .. I must start out with James Mitchner .. of course ....

Leon Uris and Herman Wouk ...are other favorites ....JamesJones

who wrote " From Here to Eternity "  which I have not read ..also

wrote " Some Came Running"  which I was only familiar with

as a movie ...but which I have just got done reading ...it was great.

There are just so many great books .. I am sure others will come

to mind ...

One of the best days of my life was when my family moved from

the country to the city .. and I got on the bus for the first time and

it went by a library ...I was in heaven ...( oh yea. I was 12 at the time .

The first book I took out .. Kon Tiki ....also gentleman's Agreement

and Stage Door ....

OMG .. Roots .. Gone with The Wind .. North and South ..just so many ...

[Big Joanie]

Two books that I loved of Thomas Wolfe were .. Bonfire of The Vanities

and My name is Charlotte Rouse ...the lesson in both of these books

was that split second that you had to do right of do wrong in a situation ..

The split second for a life changing decision ....

Hey .. maybe its not too late to start that list !!!

[KathyM23]

Taylor Caldwell (now deceased) was an amazing writer of historical background novels, Captains and Kings about the Irish immigration to the US, Dynasty of Death about the munitions family, Dear and Glorious Physician about St. Luke - so many I can't begin to name them all.   Reading her books always made me think she lived in other times (I know, not possible, but when reading her books, I wonder).  This Side of Innocense, Let Love Come Last.  So many, all amazing.

Marcia Davenport - Valley of Decision, and many more.

[Big Joanie]

I just re-read the Captains and the KIngs early this summer ..

Great read ...

[Moonchilde]

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@QVCkitty1 wrote:

Have you read " Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin ? It is about an Irish immigrant in the early 1950's. The book and the movie were both good.

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@QVCkitty1 wrote:

Have you read " Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin ? It is about an Irish immigrant in the early 1950's. The book and the movie were both good.

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I haven't read it, @QVCkitty1, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, the film was very well received.

[Moonchilde]

@Big Joanie, I share your love of Michener (have read most of his books) and Uris. I read Exodus and the book about the Warsaw Ghetto (Mila 18??) when I was maybe 15. And yes, Kon-Tiki and one other of Heyerdahl's books were favorites. Aku-Aku started a lifelong interest in Easter Island.

[Moonchilde]

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@Big Joanie wrote:

Two books that I loved of Thomas Wolfe were .. Bonfire of The Vanities

and My name is Charlotte Rouse ...the lesson in both of these books

was that split second that you had to do right of do wrong in a situation ..

The split second for a life changing decision ....

Hey .. maybe its not too late to start that list !!!

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I remember when Bonfire of the Vanities came out - and there was a film. It was many years later before I learned where the book title originated.

from Wiki:

A bonfire of the vanities (Italian: falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by authorities as occasions of sin. The phrase usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy, on the Mardi Gras festival.  Such bonfires were not invented by Savonarola, but had been a common accompaniment to the outdoor sermons of San Bernardino di Siena in the first half of the century.

The focus of this destruction was nominally on objects that might tempt one to sin, including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards, and even musical instruments. Other targets included books that were deemed to be immoral, such as works by Boccaccio, and manuscripts of secular songs, as well as artworks, including paintings and sculpture.

[Moonchilde]

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@KathyM23 wrote:

Taylor Caldwell (now deceased) was an amazing writer of historical background novels, Captains and Kings about the Irish immigration to the US, Dynasty of Death about the munitions family, Dear and Glorious Physician about St. Luke - so many I can't begin to name them all.   Reading her books always made me think she lived in other times (I know, not possible, but when reading her books, I wonder).  This Side of Innocense, Let Love Come Last.  So many, all amazing.

Marcia Davenport - Valley of Decision, and many more.

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I remember reading Dear and Glorious Physician but I was the wrong age formuch of Caldwell's work at the time it came out.

[Moonchilde]

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Oznell wrote:

I read all the Mary Stewart novels before she got into her more mystical phase, but I've even read a few of those.

I love her easy familiarity with history, and even though the novels are popular entertainment, they have a literacy and charm that distinguishes them.  We've discussed them a little in the past here in the Book section--  my favorite was "My Brother Michael" in which one of her typical intelligent English heroines visits Delphi and encounters murder, mystery, Greek tragedy, and a wildly attractive but understated English don who helps her out, natch!

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@Oznell, I've read most of Stewart's books - the romantic suspense when I was in my teens & early 20s and the Merlin books after that. I enjoyed them all in their own time, but it's the Merlin trilogy that sticks with me and which I enjoy re-reading. Of the others, I remember The Moonspinners the most because of the description of the locale, and of course the film.