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Michiel
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Chari, (pronounced ????),
It's pronounced like "Michelle". My mom was a bad speller. Not kidding.
Loved, loved The Yearling. Now reading the first book of The 39 Clues. My older ds is inhaling this series, so I wanted to see what it was about. Surprisingly good. If I were in 5th grade, I'd be inhaling them too.
Michiel
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Karen T
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Has everyone been too busy with Advent/Christmas to read? or just too busy to post?
I thought we could add some last minute books to the 2009 list before we start the new one tomorrow!
I have just finished Dana Carpender's How I gave up my low-fat diet and lost 40 lbs and The Schwarzbein Principle - the Program by Diana Schwarzbein (getting a jump on that new year weight loss resolution  )
I've also read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I picked it up after seeing the movie Food, Inc and reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Fast Food Nation is a must-read for anyone who thinks that our food system is safe now after so many E. coli outbreaks (there's even less oversight now than there was 15 yrs ago). It also covers the whole business side of Fast Food and how it's affected our entire food supply by controlling markets etc, as well as the worker side of it - safety, immigration, etc. Wonderful read.
Since I've been doing so much food reading this year I also read The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmidt (I think). covers how and why mandatory pasteurization and homogenization came about, and some of the skewed research that "supported" it. Definitely a biased book, but he does give an extensive list of journal articles to back it up.
I finished another Patrick O'Brian book
Reverse of the Medal
and Louis deWohl's biography of Catherine of Sienna Lay Seige to Heavenwhich was wonderful. I've read about 5 of his books so far and they have all been great.
I'm currently re-reading The Scarlet Pimpernel one of my all-time faves, and listening to The Return of the Native on audio (mostly b/c Alan Rickman is the narrator  )
A friend and I are starting Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities next week - I hated it in high school but now that I've rediscovered Dickens I wanted to try it again.
Anyone else?
karen T
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donnalynn
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Right now I am really enjoying Elizabeth Goudge's collection of Christmas stories in "The Lost Angel". Such a wonderful storyteller!
And I am reading my 2nd novel by Susan Whittig Albert "The Tale of Holly How" - one of the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter - a pleasure to read.
I am also making my way through "Our Lady of Guadalupe -Mother of the Civilization of Love" by Carl Anderson - which is fascinating but I don't think flows well, IMO. Worth reading but it somehow seems a bit repetitive to me in some places and not all the references are really clear. The discussion of the actual images on the tilma is amazing though.
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donnalynn
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Natalia
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I recently finished:
Push (for book club)- the book the movie Precious is based on. It was a very hard to read book, full of bad language and such a raw story but, it lead a to a good book club discussion.
Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rummer Godden. Loved this one. It takes place in Kashimir and it is full of greatly drawn characters and a good story.
A collection of Christmas stories by Maeve Binchy.  Hated it.
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a YA book. It is good story but kind of weird. I am not sure i will read the sequels even though some friends have told me they get better.
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, set in Australia and England, it is a good sweet story. Good but not great.
Currently reading a mystery book by Josephine Tey.
See you next year!
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Natalia
http://pannuestrodecadadia.blogspot.com
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Mimip
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Karen T wrote:
Has everyone been too busy with Advent/Christmas to read? or just too busy to post?
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Yeah, definitely way, too busy to post and to read. I had sewing to finish for Christmas gifts so stopped reading completely
I could not get through the Michael Phillips book that I got, so  .
I am reading Handbook of Nature study and man what a lot of info to process!
Also finish reading In my own words, a collection of quotes by Padre Pio that was really a great read to just pick up and reflect on on a daily basis.
Now I need so fluff read. Curl up in the corner of the couch and read a good book. Nothing too intense and nothing that takes thought . Looking forward to next year's thread starting tomorrow.
Cheers to all of you in this year of great reads 
__________________
In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Chari
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Karen T wrote:
Has everyone been too busy with Advent/Christmas to read? or just too busy to post?
I thought we could add some last minute books to the 2009 list before we start the new one tomorrow!
I have just finished Dana Carpender's How I gave up my low-fat diet and lost 40 lbs and The Schwarzbein Principle - the Program by Diana Schwarzbein (getting a jump on that new year weight loss resolution )
I'm currently re-reading The Scarlet Pimpernel one of my all-time faves, and listening to The Return of the Native on audio (mostly b/c Alan Rickman is the narrator )
A friend and I are starting Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities next week - I hated it in high school but now that I've rediscovered Dickens I wanted to try it again.
Anyone else?
karen T |
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I HAVE been reading..........too busy to post! 
Is it time for the "I AM going to get back into shape" new year's resolution, yet again??? I am not sure I can face it anymore....sob.
Alan Rickman??? I SO understand. I LOVE the Scarlet Pimpernel!
I am in a 900ish page Dickens right now........that is why I have not posted many books.......but I DID read two books while in the middle of the Dickens.....
I think I already wrote about Better.........
and now I have read "COMPLICATIONS: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" by the same author, Atul Gawande. I very much enjoyed it! Slightly more than BETTER which came second.
I am too tired to write about it.......it IS after midnight, after all
let me find some online words:
Amazon.com Review
Gently dismantling the myth of medical infallibility, Dr. Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science is essential reading for anyone involved in medicine--on either end of the stethoscope. Medical professionals make mistakes, learn on the job, and improvise much of their technique and self-confidence. Gawande's tales are humane and passionate reminders that doctors are people, too. His prose is thoughtful and deeply engaging, shifting from sometimes painful stories of suffering patients (including his own child) to intriguing suggestions for improving medicine with the same care he expresses in the surgical theater. Some of his ideas will make health care providers nervous or even angry, but his disarming style, confessional tone, and thoughtful arguments should win over most readers. Complications is a book with heart and an excellent bedside manner, celebrating rather than berating doctors for being merely human. --Rob Lightner
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Chari
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Quick!!  Add your last bit of books to this 2009 list! On to the next decade of reading!!
TOGETHER!!!! 
__________________
Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Karen T
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Chari - which Dickens are you in the midst of? I have read and enjoyed this year - Nicholas Nickleby(my fave), Great Expectations, and Little Dorrit(good but SO long). After Two Cities I want to read the Pickwick Papers. I can't believe I avoided Dickens for so long, based just on my high school experience!
I look forward to reading the books you listed on the medical field - Complications and the other one. One of the reasons I am currently "retired" from veterinary medicine is the pressure I began to feel to always get answers, never make mistakes, and do it as cheaply as possible 
Karen T
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Chari
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Bleak house.............and, I had the joy of laying in bed for an hour today, reading it 
I still have about 250 pages to go........it took him till about page 350 to lay the background story....there are an immense amount of characters to keep track of.....but, for my FIRST Dickens outside of Chritmas Carol...I like it very much....and I am looking forward to the movie!! I LOVE those long literature-based movies
I know it was a funny and unsual pick for a first Dickens.....but, my dd wants to see the movie, since she had read it....and I would not let her till I read the book
I did not diberately ignore Dickens...I just never got started.........so.many.other.books got in the way!
Oh, Karen..I think you will most definitely enjoy Better and Complications........I am recommending it to all of my medical professional friends.......including you!
He chose some great topics to cover. I was SO surprised my country......I mean county , library had BOTH of them......no ILL this time!
__________________
Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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teachingmom
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Well, it's been months since I've come to post all the books I've been reading. But I have to tell you all that two days ago, I spent a few hours alone in my house while dh took all the girls to the movies. How did I spend that precious time? I came to this topic and read through all 8 pages to begin a list of possible books to read in 2010! I went back and forth between here and my library website and put a half dozen or more books on reserve based on recommendations here!
On to highlights of my reading these past months. As read alouds with the kids, I read both THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY by Trenton Lee Stewart and the sequel, THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY AND THE PERILOUS JOURNEY. Both were excellent! One of my Christmas gifts to the girls was the 3rd book in the series, which we are looking forward to starting soon.
We also re-read our annual favorite, THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER. And for the first time ever, we spent our Advent evenings reading through JOTHAM'S JOURNEY.
I have to highly recommend the book SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME: A Modern Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent. Everyone ought to read this book! I also enjoyed a follow up book by the same authors called, WHAT DIFFERENCE DO IT MAKE?
I also finally read THREE CUPS OF TEA and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I enjoyed three more of Elizabeth Aston's Pride and Prejudice sequels as light reading. In other light reading, I read through every book of Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series.
Mary Chris recommended (and lent me) the book I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith (of 101 Dalmations fame). It was quirky, but a fun read.
In young adult and older kids literature, I enjoyed books by Debbie Viguie. MIDNIGHT PEARLS and SCARLET MOON are both retellings of fairy tales. I also read through her 4 Sweet Seasons novels, which are Christian fiction for teen girls. My teens really enjoyed them. I thought they were twaddly but entertaining, and they showed a girl trying to live in the culture, while keeping her faith and morals. Finally, I pre-read yet another book by Margaret Peterson Haddix called HOUSE ON THE GULF. She has a gift of writing exciting and sort-of-suspenseful books for middle elementary school kids.
On to 2010!
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: Our 2009 Book List!
