Community Chat

[Judaline]

On 1/24/2015 Linders Back said:

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I'm thoroughly engrossed with East of Eden by John Steinbeck. There is so much more to the book than the movie or mini-series ever covered. Glad it's snowing today and no football because I really don't want to put it down. Always have been a Steinbeck fan but East of Eden eluded me.

I went right for the book after seeing the movie. I was too young, I guess. James Dean did more for me than Steinbeck. I know, I should be ashamed.

[LoriLori]

Linders Back: Re: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro: I lived there for a time and often went to the Gardener. So the subject matter of this book is naturally interesting to me -- but Shapiro's driving me batty with her first-person narrator: The number of sentences that start with "I." I this. I that. I this. I that...I (LOL) can't stand when writers do that, and thankfully most don't.

Sweet: For a while I wanted to PTB which I almost never do, but on page halfway through it took off. That's an awful lot of pages to read, and time spent, waiting for a book to bloom.

[Lilysmom]

I finished I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes. It gets 4.2 stars out of 5 on Good Reads. It was a very good read. Here is the storyline...

Can you commit the perfect crime?

Pilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn't exist. The adopted son of a wealthy American family, he once headed up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence. Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation.

But that book will come back to haunt him. It will help NYPD detective Ben Bradley track him down. And it will take him to a rundown New York hotel room where the body of a woman is found facedown in a bath of acid, her features erased, her teeth missing, her fingerprints gone. It is a textbook murder - and Pilgrim wrote the book.

What begins as an unusual and challenging investigation will become a terrifying race-against-time to save America from oblivion. Pilgrim will have to make a journey from a public beheading in Mecca to a deserted ruins on the Turkish coast via a Naz*i death camp in Alsace and the barren wilderness of the Hindu Kush in search of the faceless man who would commit an appalling act of mass murder in the name of his God.

[insomniac]

On 1/25/2015 Judaline said:

On 1/24/2015 Linders Back said:

<br />

I'm thoroughly engrossed with East of Eden by John Steinbeck. There is so much more to the book than the movie or mini-series ever covered. Glad it's snowing today and no football because I really don't want to put it down. Always have been a Steinbeck fan but East of Eden eluded me.

I went right for the book after seeing the movie. I was too young, I guess. James Dean did more for me than Steinbeck. I know, I should be ashamed.

(insomniac) I'll add this comment--

Decades ago, East of Eden was presented as a mini-series on TV. It featured Jane Seymour, who was phenomenal. This version beat the book and the movie!

[MrsSweetieBear]

Thanks dawg lover - I couldn't remember where I heard about The Rose Project. I had taken a break from here for several months. And I do also have The Rosie Effect on order from the library.

I'm still reading The Beautiful Mystery. I don't like being stuck in that monastery. I miss Three Pines. But at least the story is getting intersting. Louise Penny takes a long time to set the scene and let tension build. She is a very good writer.

[Sweetbay magnolia]

Elegy For Iris (John Bayley) is a gorgeous tribute to his wife, Iris Murdoch. I would especially recommend this book if you have read any of her works. She is an incredibly complex philosopher who became a novelist and the world they inhabit is (for lack of a better description) very deep. I'm currently reading it on my NOOK.

Bayley is, in his own right, a worthy writer.

[Linders Back]

On 1/25/2015 LoriLori said:

Linders Back: Re: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro: I lived there for a time and often went to the Gardener. So the subject matter of this book is naturally interesting to me -- but Shapiro's driving me batty with her first-person narrator: The number of sentences that start with "I." I this. I that. I this. I that...I (LOL) can't stand when writers do that, and thankfully most don't.

If you want another take on the Gardner Heist that is pure fun and more like Elmore Leonard (goodreads describes it as "Dennis Lehane meets Elmore Leonard in a Wick*d Pissa mystery"), try The Charlestown Connection by Tom McDonald. It is a story with more strange characters and plot twists (The Gardner is just a small part) than you can keep track of. If you know Boston, you'll enjoy this one.

[sunala]

Right now I'm reading The Remedy for Love, by Bill Roorbach. Funny thing about this book is that it takes place during a blizzard, which is what we've been going through these past few days. It's weird to read about a storm when you have the same type of storm raging outside your windows.

It's very good so far. Has anyone read it yet?

Happy reading!

[LoriLori]

Linders Back, thanks for the rec.

I'm reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. My niece and I exchanged book recs and this was hers. We're on Goodreads together so I couldn't get out of it. Brilliant writing but so aggressive and meaty, it's like the 72-ounce steak of literature. I'm going to devour Flavia for dessert as my reward when I ever finish.

[smoky22]

My copy of the newest Flavia has not become available yet, but I did read the ebook only short story that Alan Bradley wrote (The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse). It was fun but very short (27 pages). I think it cost .99 if you were buying it. It didn't advance any of her regular story line so I don't consider it a necessary read.

I finished Run (Ann Patchett) and really liked it. It wasn't just well written, it was an enjoyable book.

Now I'm reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles (the first Hercule Poirot book).