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06-04-2005, 02:07 PM
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#91
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Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 91
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Just finished Tears of the Giraffe, another one of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books. Love it, love it.......quick read, light mystery, very African
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06-04-2005, 05:14 PM
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#92
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 15,006
Height: 5'-2"
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Just finished, The Watch That Ends the Night. See above. It was excellent! Made me get all introspective and a little teary.
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06-05-2005, 10:32 PM
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#93
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I painted my avatar. :-)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Posts: 186
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For those romance lovers out there, has any one read anything by Jude Devereux??? I discovered her believe it or not, from a book on tape.
If you haven't, check her out!!! She is amazing.
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06-06-2005, 01:02 PM
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#94
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Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 91
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She's one of my favorites. Finished "High Tide" this weekend. It's not as tightly written as some of her others, though. I like her lastest stuff....Mulberry Tree, Summerhouse, etc.
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06-06-2005, 05:13 PM
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#95
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I can do this!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 7,139
Height: 5'11"
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ellis
I reread them when I'm going through a depression. Cozy.
Laurie, what are the Bow Street Runner mysteries? Who are they by?
...Oh... my absolute favourite is Rex Stout. (Nero Wolfe) I can TOTALLY relate to Wolfe's personality.
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Ellis, I love Nancy Drew, too. I do agree with critics that they are formulaic, but that helped me learn the different parts of a story when I was young. The books are just great and I still read them from time to time.
The Bow Street Mysteries are actually better called the "Sir John Fielding Mysteries". They take place a bit after the formation of the first formal police squad in England, the Bow Street Runners. Sir John was the one who conceived of and started the Runners. He was a blind judge (tee-hee) who seems like quite a character. The books are fabulous and full of tons of detail. Sir John is enigmatic, as is the narrator. I think the first one is Blind Justice, and they are all by Bruce Alexander.
How funny that you bring up Rex Stout! I just got one of his books on tape. I was pretty trepidatious about listening to it, because it just didn't seem my kind of thing. Then the reader had a very annoying voice at first, so I almost stopped listening, but the story grabbed me immediately (and the voice became less annoying). I'm loving it and I can totally see why Nero Wolfe would be of interest to you! I love how good he is at saying "No!"
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06-06-2005, 05:34 PM
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#96
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I can do this!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 7,139
Height: 5'11"
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Mamaeli, what's the premise behind the Ladies Detective Agency books? Are they funny? Dark? Set in a different time period? I'd love to hear more...
Schatzi, some of the audiobooks I've loved listening to (particularly because of the way they were done as an audiobook) are: The Christmas Train (unsure of author...), Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, Memoirs of a Geisha (author?), and any of the Brother Caedfael mysteries (these are very short...) taped by Derek Jacobi. So good!
Ellis, what was The Watch about? It sounds good...
Wenchy, I like Jude, but not as much as many other people do. There are other romance writers I like more, but go figure, none of their names come to mind right now! Have you read Maeve Binchy? She's great, as is Rosamunde Pilcher. Oh, I remembered one! LaVyrle Spencer. Her book Morning Glory made me sob so hard...it was so incredibly good and fulfilling.
Has anyone read the Mitford series by Jan Karon? They are so funny and poignant and sweet. They showed me what a relationship with God can look like.
For a bunch of books with strong female characters in the past, try:
- Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel (about Galileo's daughter...really interesting take on what Galileo's life was like and what it did to his family)
- The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman (partly about a woman who wears a high-class dress to get a higher class of clientele as a prostitute, but mostly about the effects of the cholera epidemic and the burgeoning study of medicine and the human body in Europe. Interesting!)
- Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (mystical novel that is set in the same time/place as The Giver, which is also fantastic, about a girl who questions the system)
- The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland (about Artemisia Gentileschi, a real painter who was raped early in her life, and used her rage at being violated and at the powerlessness of women in her society to create incredibly powerful paintings.)
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06-06-2005, 08:33 PM
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#97
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 15,006
Height: 5'-2"
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I love Nero Wolfe because he loves to eat, doesn't like to leave his home, loves to read, loves beer (I'm not a huge drinker, but I can see it...), doesn't put up with any crap, and doesn't care that he's fat. He's me!! (well, except for the acceptance of being fat. )
Laurie, I'm going to check those books out... thank you!
I read a book years ago by... John Creasy about the Bow Street Runners. Fascinating!
I enjoyed the Brother Caedfael mysteries.
Laurie... from the back of my book...
"In the deeply satisfying marriage of George and Catherine Stewart there was a shared danger: Catherine's illness, which might, any day, cause her death. They shared also a powerful memory - of Jerome Martell, who had been Catherine's first husband and George Stewart's closest friend, a brilliant doctor and a man passionately concerned with social justice, presumed to have died in a **** prison camp. It is the sudden return to Montreal of Jerome Martell that precipitates the crisis central to this novel.
From that dramatic point Hugh MacLennan takes the reader back into the lives of his three characters, and back into the world of Montreal in the thirties, when politics was a matter of fierce belief that could send an idealist across the world to Spain... then France... Auschwitz... Russia, China... then back, like a ghost, to his old home."
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06-06-2005, 09:06 PM
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#98
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I painted my avatar. :-)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Posts: 186
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Mameli, have you read the Forever series????? OMGoodness.....I hope she writes another one....
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06-07-2005, 04:48 AM
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#99
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Member
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 43
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I am such a child. I am re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, just to help me play catch up since the new book is coming out 07/16/2005
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06-07-2005, 08:34 AM
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#100
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GARDENING ADDICT
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Auburn,GA,USA
Posts: 1,544
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I just finished reading Velocity by Dean Kontz (real page turner) and will begin Marker, the new medical thriller by Robin Cook.
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06-07-2005, 09:52 AM
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#101
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Super Duper Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: DC Metro Area
Posts: 4,626
S/C/G: 289/T/190
Height: 5' 7.5"
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nweisha-- I will re-read the Goblet of Fire when the movie comes out in November And will re-read phoenix once the 6th book gets it's paperback edition.
I've been avoiding this thread like the plague because I have no $ to buy books but have so many books I want to read.
The last books I read were by Jane Green -- Jemima J, Straight Talking, and Mr. Maybe . I also read Bridget Jones 2 all in the past 5 months or so. But it's hard getting some reading in seeing as how I no longer have a commute in by bus and train 2x a day!
Books I want to read this summer/year:
1) God's Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis
2) Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
3) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by the writers of The Daily Show
4) The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (saw the movie on TV)
5) Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
6) Naked by David Sedaris
7) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
There are many more but I started this post so long ago, I just need to post it!!!
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06-07-2005, 09:58 AM
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#102
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I can do this!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 7,139
Height: 5'11"
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Oooh, Ellis, that sounds fascinating!!! My grandparents were living in Montreal in the 30s or early 40s I think. Hmmm... I'll have to check that out! I'm with you on Nero. I want an Archie to run interference for me so I don't have to answer the phone or the door. That would be great! Oh, and Ellis...he has time to read...or, rather, he makes time to read. Reading and eating, my two favorite things...
Nweisha, you are so not a child! I LOVE Harry Potter!!! I read it because as an educator, reading kids books is just part of the job (one of my favorite parts!), but when I looked online to purchase books 2 and 3 (I was behind when I started), I found that most of the reviews were written by adults! The books are certainly written at a level of maturity that adults can relate to. I love the books and have had my copy of the next one preordered for months.
Sil, do you read Koontz often? What types of books does he write? What's his style like? He's very popular, but I'm always hesitant to try him...
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06-07-2005, 10:04 AM
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#103
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 15,006
Height: 5'-2"
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Nweisha, I'm with you on the Harry Potters! Every time my daughter bought the latest, we'd be constantly wrestling over who was reading it first.
Laurie, I know... I thought about your grandparents when I was reading it.
Jenn, you are going to LOVE Naked. It's a scream.
Sil, Velocity sounds so familiar... I have a bunch of my Dad's book I need to go through... I wonder if that's in there...
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06-07-2005, 11:05 AM
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#104
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Working for the Cruise!
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 385
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Jenn, The Five People you Meet in Heaven is fantastic! The movie doesn't come close.
Wenchy - I like Jude, but not so much the forever series....she always seemed a bit too typical for me. Not enough depth....or something...
Maybe because I prefer romantic suspense...JD Robb, Suzanne Brockmann, Elizabeth Lowell, etc.
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06-07-2005, 11:52 AM
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#105
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I can do this!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 7,139
Height: 5'11"
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Jenn, I'm a very poor girl considering I'm a lowly Grad Asst. I live by the library. You can look up most books online, and I bet your library system has most of them! You can order books for interlibrary loan over the computer for our library, so I bet your big-city one does it too. Very cheap and very easy. If I absolutely can't find something at the library, I try looking for it at www.half.com It's a used book site run by e-bay that is fantastic!
David Sedaris is wonderful!! I didn't laugh out loud as much with Naked as I did with Pretty Some Day, but it had more depth in many places. He is a great writer and I'm dying to read Corduroy and Denim. If you ever get a chance, listen to the Santa Diaries on the NPR site. Free and darn funny!
Jenn, have you ever read Sarah Waters? I love Tipping the Velvet, but Affinity and Fingersmith are good too. She is such an amazing writer, but I would think that you would find them particularly poignant.
Five people you meet in Heaven is great...very spiritual and very deep, but satisfying, too. Love your choices...I'm dying to read the sisterhood of the traveling pants books, and the political ones sound really good. I've put them on my list.
Did anyone read the Nanny Diaries? One of the authors is a daughter of one of our English professors. She and her coauthor wrote a new book called Citizen Girl. They came to do a reading here a couple months ago. The book was good but a bit weird in the end. Very funny in parts, though, especially if you've been a 20-something in this economy and job hunting.
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