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JennGM
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lapazfarm wrote:
| Fruitless Fall-about colony collapse syndrome in bees and the many issues with our modern agricultural system. |
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I need to read this! I'm glad for the reminder and high praise!
lapazfarm wrote:
| Made For More by Curtis Martin--wow! Can't say enough about this fabulous little apologetics book. |
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Geared for what age, Theresa? Are you making it fit for your son, or is it geared for teens?
lapazfarm wrote:
| Signs of Life:40 Catholic Customs and their Biblical Roots by Scott Hahn. Very straightforward and readable. Good stuff. |
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I love this book. 
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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lapazfarm
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Made for More--I think it is geared to young adults--teen to college age, though there is nothing in it that would preclude it being a good read for an adult as well.
And yes, DO read Fruitless Fall. It is fantastic.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Karen T
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Theresa, I'm glad you liked Till We Have Faces - I had avoided it for awhile thinking I really didn't want another telling of a Greek myth (Greek myths are fine but aren't my favorite genre) but a couple years ago when I went on a long C.S. Lewis kick, I read it and loved it too. He was such a talented writer.
I have just finished Winging It, A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot who is determined to Kill me, the story of a family who adopts a wild-caught African Grey parrot who hates them and never does really bond with them, but they are committed to caring for her, and their mishaps. Pretty good story.
Also, Farm City, the education of an urban farmer by Novella Carpenter. The title pretty much says it all - it's a true account of how this woman begins farming in the city, first with a garden, then a beehive, then chickens, on to rabbits and finally pigs. All in an Oakland, CA ghetto. It was very interesting, although I had to overlook the live-in boyfriend, the casual acceptance of marijuana growing (not her at this farm but mentions in the past), and some very leftist political ideas! It caught my eye since I've been leaning towards getting some chickens and rabbits to go along with my garden 
I'm working through The Domestic Churchby Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle with a friend. We're reading a chapter a week and then discussing it.
Reserving judgement so far 
Finished The Velvet Room with the kids. I didn't remember having read this book as a child, but the room itself is definitely part of my memory and I always wanted to find a room like that myself! Either I did read it or something very similar. I still didn't recall the rest of the story but we all enjoyed it a lot. Just started The Penderwicks with them.
I gave up on Cranford! I'd enjoyed North and South a few years ago but Cranford has no plot, just endless descriptions and observations about people and events in the town. I couldn't get into it.
I'm still trying to read ds's senior reading list but got bogged down by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and haven't gotten any further. I keep seeing books I really want to read and picking them up instead 
Karen
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JennGM
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Karen T wrote:
| Finished The Velvet Room with the kids. I didn't remember having read this book as a child, but the room itself is definitely part of my memory and I always wanted to find a room like that myself! Either I did read it or something very similar. I still didn't recall the rest of the story but we all enjoyed it a lot. |
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Oh, my favorite! Glad you enjoyed it!
Karen T wrote:
| I gave up on Cranford! I'd enjoyed North and South a few years ago but Cranford has no plot, just endless descriptions and observations about people and events in the town. I couldn't get into it. |
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I haven't read it, but dh and I watched the series and found it lacking a bit. Okay, but no Austen quality.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Karen T
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Just today I finished Island of the World by Michael O'Brien. Very moving, one of his better ones (I loved Fr. Elijah and some of the others but got really bogged down in one and never finished, not even sure which one it was now).)
This one follows one man from childhood to old age, beginning in his homeland of Croatia at the time of the Italian occupation, through Communism and forward to today. It's a LONG book but I finished it in about a week b/c it kept drawing me back in.
I also finished Sir Gawain and the Green Knight finally! and I did like it after all.
Karen
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Karen T
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I've been reading like crazy on ds's Brit Lit list to keep ahead of him.
Beowulf - this particular translation is great b/c the original is on the left side and the translation is on the right. Much better than I remembered from high school!
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - I'd never read any of SH stories before, just seen a few movies or TV episodes long ago. Excellent! reminded me a lot of Father Brown stories by chesterton.
The Importance of Being Earnest - comic story - I never read it before and it was quick.
Hamlet- OK, must confess I've never been a Shakespeare fan. But I am loving this! almost done.
A few I've read that are not on ds's list:
The Mislabeled Child about various learning disabilities and obviously, misdiagnosing them. Very full of info.
Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg - I'd followed some of her research years ago but had not kept up with it, all about how intelligent parrots really are, not just mimicking.
Karen
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lapazfarm
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Just finished Alexander of Macedon by Harold Lamb. Excellent read! Genuine living history!
I lucked into a bunch of old books at a used book sale and took home a big boxful--mostly wonderful old historical tales. I feel like I carried off a treasure trove! I can't wait to read them all!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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guitarnan
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I have just finished Margaret Atwood's disturbing but gripping Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, its companion. Scary. Definitely adult. After reading these books, it was Not Fun to hear on the radio that someone has developed a genetically-engineered salmon that matures in half the time a normal salmon would.
I am on my Canadian Lit kick, so I also read a book I didn't like much by Farley Mowat (I appreciate his environmentalist stance but he didn't seem to care much about leaving his wife and sons for a new relationship, grrr. Maybe there's a backstory I don't know about, but...) Now I am reading The Shipping News, about Newfoundland but written by an American author. (I know, I am behind the times. I am not a pop lit fan. Once a book becomes a movie, I am very disinclined to read it.)
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Erin
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Karen T wrote:
| .. have you read any more Willa Cather now, after My Antonia? I liked that one OK, but found Death Comes for the Archbishop to be my favorite of hers. |
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I've just read Death Comes for the Archbishop, so interesting, I've had my atlas open this morning pinpointing just where New Mexico is.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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Stephanie_Q
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I never did pick up another Cather after "My Antonia". I couldn't get into Dickens, so I went back to Elizabeth Goudge: "The Scent of Water". Loved it. I've been reading a lot of easy books - just read "Tuck Everlasting", "All of a Kind Family" b/c I never read them before and they were quick. I'm perpetually reading Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. I do want to read "Death comes for the archbishop".
I also read and meant to recommend "Promises To Keep" by William E. Walsh. I hated the first chapter but it was really good after that - a (Catholic) family close-up.
My friends have been reading 1) that guernsey potato peel society book and 2) "The Help". I've still not picked up the first that you all recommended last year. Anyone heard of / read the second?
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dd 6.02, dd 8.03, ds 3.05, ds 12.06 at Catholic school.
dd 12.09 at home.
Baby boy due 10.13
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guitarnan
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My mom's book club read both of them. Mom loved "The Help," but I have not read it. I did read the Guernsey potato peel one and did like it, although the friend I lent it to says she can't get into the format (it's letters).
My son is reading a bunch of plays for his English class (True West, Proof and two others and I read Proof yesterday. It was very interesting, aside from the chronic bad language - apparently the new fad in scriptwriting. 
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Erin
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guitarnan wrote:
| I did read the Guernsey potato peel one and did like it, although the friend I lent it to says she can't get into the format (it's letters). |
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I couldn't get into it either but I think it was just the mood I was in at the time.
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Erin
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Karen T
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Stephanie,
I loved The Help by Katherine Stockett. (I think that's right). I listened to it as an audiobook, though, which I highly recommend unless you really don't like audiobooks. It's read by several different women b/c the chapters are written from several different characters' perspectives, and the narration is wonderful. Also, if you are not from the Southern US, I have heard some people say they had difficulty reading the dialect.
I agree that the letter format of the Guernsey Potato Peel book was a little off-putting to me; I don't usually like that format either. but I'm glad I stuck with it b/c the story itself was quite interesting.
Right now I'm reading another of the D.E. Stevenson books Shoulder the sky. Her books are a great fill-in between heavier reading. My other reading right now is Hamlet and Sugar busters (still trying to break those cravings!)
Karen
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aforb001
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I just got the new Kindle last week and absolutely love it! I downloaded a bunch of older free books. I just finished reading The Rosary by Florence Louisa Barclay. It was the most beautifully written love story I've ever read.
I also just finished reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldonthat a friend gave me. I wasn't crazy about it the first 100 pages, but I stuck it out and enjoyed it. The time travel love story was a little far fetched, but the historical aspect was good. it made me want to read more about Scotland.
Adele
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guitarnan
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Adele, I am glad you stuck with Outlander. Try the next volume (Dragonfly in Amber - still my favorite volume of the series). You do need to suspend disbelief to allow the characters to get where they need to be, but the characters tend to take over once you buy into their existence.
Does anyone know if Anya Seton's novel about Katherine Swynford (I think it's called "Katherine" or something profound (!) like that) is still in print or available in libraries? I just read Alison Weir's bio of Katherine Swynford and Weir gives a huge hat tip to Seton...it would be fun to read Seton's novel if it's out there in libraryland.
Karen T, thanks for the insight on The Help. (It helps.  ) I think I might like it, if it's told from different points of view. Mom thought my dd (12) might like it, but I'm guessing it might be too adult for her?
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Karen T
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Nancy, I probably wouldn't hand it to my dd at that age but maybe a little older would be OK. There are a couple of incidents that are rather adult - a strange man shows up in one of the ladies' backyards, and is waving around his, uh, "equipment."
Also, one of the characters is regularly beaten by her husband, which could be a great point for conversation but you'd definitely want to read it first. Overall, I thought it was an excellent commentary on the life of black women in the South in the 50's and 60's. I grew up in the South, and we, like most other middle-class white families, did have a black maid, although ours was only once a week to do the big chores, not daily like in the book. But I could relate a lot to the situations.
Adele,
I loved the Outlander books when I first read them about 15+ years ago, when there were only 4. There are a few really graphic scenes in some of them, like Jamie in prison in the first one, that are hard to read (and much worse to hear on audiobook IMO  ) but I loved the historical aspects of them. The 5th book is pretty good, too but I think after that they just get too long and convoluted. I haven't read the newest one yet and I definitely don't recommend the sideline books on Lord John Gray.
Karen
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aforb001
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Nancy,
I have started Dragonfly in Amber, but I haven't gotten very far yet. Never enough time to read!
Karen,
That Prison scene was horrible!! I really wish she had not gotten so detailed. I really did not think it added anything to the story. I already knew what was coming; I didn't need the picture painted for me. Also, it made Jamie kind of superhuman to have survived all he went through. Other than those things, I loved the historical aspect also, and that is why I did stick with it.
Adele
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aforb001
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Karen,
I forgot to add that Katherine is still available in libraries. I read that many, many years ago, so I barely remember it except i liked it.
Adele
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SuzanneG
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guitarnan wrote:
Does anyone know if Anya Seton's novel about Katherine Swynford (I think it's called "Katherine" or something profound (!) like that) is still in print or available in libraries? I just read Alison Weir's bio of Katherine Swynford and Weir gives a huge hat tip to Seton...it would be fun to read Seton's novel if it's out there in libraryland. |
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Most of Anya Seton's novels have been republished by Chicago Review Press....here is the link to Katherine...which is my second favorite of her books! Avalon is my favorite!
Both our library systems have lots of copies of most of Seton's books.
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Chari
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Hey!
I have been meaning to get here for ages...I have been keeping track of all of my books...somewhere (looking for the flashdrive it is on!).....and will post it here as soon as I find it.
Please list as many books as YOU can remember reading since your last post!
I can't wait to see what is on YOUR list!
then, we can get a move on for 2011's list!
Love,
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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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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: Our 2010 Booklist!
