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Lissa
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...with a question: What is the best book you read in
2004?
And perhaps this should wait until the boards are
open to the whole big group, but I thought it would be
fun to treat this forum like a real book club and
choose a title each month to read and discuss
together. Maybe we can start taking suggestions
now while we're in this gearing-up stage...
My favorite fiction reads of 2004:
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Look Back All the Green Valley by the
incomparable Fred Chappell
and a delicious re-read of A.S. Byatt's
Possession
Books I've never read but want to:
Kristen Lavransdatter
Ethan Frome (I've read everything else by Wharton
but somehow missed this one)
Cold Mountain
...and about 50 others off the top of my head. 
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Lissa
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MacBeth
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Probably at the beach...
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Lissa wrote:
...with a question: What is the best book you read in
2004?
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I rarely read grown-up books  Is this an inclusive group?
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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Chari
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Lissa wrote:
...with a question: What is the best book you read in
2004?
Books I've never read but want to:
Kristen Lavransdatter
...and about 50 others off the top of my head. |
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My absolutely favorite book of 2004 was Les Miserables by Hugo.
I found the main character probably the noblest character ever in literature. Please do NOT base the story upon any of the movies.......I saw them all after I read the book...........they all distort the stpry so much, that you actually miss Hugo's REAL characters. So pathetic, those movie characters are. There is a lot of Catholicism in the book, which I was not expecting.
I also enjoyed, fictionally speaking, in 2004: "The Scarlet Pimpernel".......it was great fun! what a surprise ending! again, I saw all three of the movie renditions after reading it.......they were all pathetic, and really ruined the story.
And, "How Green Is My Valley"...........this movie with Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowell.........did much better credit to the book, than the other movies.
Can you tell I like to see the movies AFTER I have read the book?
non-fiction: I had fun with "The Egg and I"......which is where the real Ma and Pa Kettle come from. I read two other of Betty MacDonald's books............she is very funny. I also very much enoyed : Beethoven's Hair" and "The Young Liszt"........I love reading about composers.
got to go to piano lessons........
love, chari............who gives up secular reading for Lent..............and just finished rereading Pride and Prejudice........and am trying to get quickly through a rereading of Emma
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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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Elizabeth
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Real Learning
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MacBeth wrote:
Lissa wrote:
...with a question: What is the best book you read in
2004?
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I rarely read grown-up books Is this an inclusive group? |
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That's funny. I have had trouble reading adult fiction ever since cancer. Not exactly sure why. I started reading __A Lantern in her Hand__ at Cay's suggestion and thought it paled compared to Lissa's books. Which brings me to my favorite read of 2004. I read this one just for me. I haven't shared it with my children yet. I read it one sheet of printed paper at a time. My favorite book of 2004 was read early in the year and it wasn't even bound; it was Across the PUddingstone Dam. You know how a great book or movie will haunt you? This one did. I knew that Lissa had written it after her miscarriage and I told her that the grief was palpable (far more than the books she wrote when Kate was sick). Then I miscarried a few months later. When I couldn't shake the sadness and I couldn't seem to cry in September or so, I bought myself the hardback version just to induce a good sob. Great book. Who needs adult fiction? But I do have Kristin Lavransdatter should you choose that (both the poor translation and the good one).
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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cathhomeschool
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Texas Bluebonnets
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trying again...
Chari wrote:
| I saw all three of the movie renditions after reading it.......they were all pathetic, and really ruined the story. |
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This is the way I felt about The Count of Monte Cristo. I loved the book, though it was verrry slow at first. The movies were less than wonderful, not to mention highly inaccurate.
My favorite read of 2004 has to be our re-read of The Lord of the Rings. We just LOVE that book! After we finish the Swallows and Amazons series, which will take a while since we're only on book 4, we'll move to The Silmarillion. BTW, the Swallows books are also among my favorite reads. As are the first three books in the Prydain Chronicles series, which we recently listened to on tape. Can't wait to finish the series.
Side note: dh Tim has read all of the above books to us (except Prydain on tape). He does a wonderful job of creating voices for each character and really adds life to the story. 
I'm with Macbeth -- I rarely read "adult" books. The last one I started was The World's First Love, by Fulton Sheen. I really enjoyed it and think that I will take it back up again for Lent.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Chari
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elizfoss wrote:
| Who needs adult fiction? But I do have Kristin Lavransdatter should you choose that (both the poor translation and the good one). |
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I meant to mention, that I have always wanted to read KL, too.......I also have the book, a very old copy. But, if you do it for a read..........don't you think it would take moms more than a month to read??
OH, Elizabeth......I know the kids' fiction is pretty awesome.....but adult fiction can be just as awesome........LOTR is adult fiction, at least according to Tolkien and Jane Austen........or, should we just classify these as Classics, and not really fiction? Les Miserables........is a book I am SO glad that I did not miss. I had to read it to see if Anne could read it.......I put it off for 3 years.........it was so incredible! I have not read any Elizabeth Goudge.....but she is high on my priority list. I have only read one Rumer Godden book.......but it was great, and i hope to read more.......
nope, I would not want to have missed out on these book for adults........
hey, we just finished AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS......a very fun story, the kids loved it! I told them we had to read the book before they could see the new movie. They were SO disgusted by the movie. The only thing in common with Verne's story, was the title.....and the names of three characters, barely. WHY do they have to do that!!!!!  what great movies they could have made, retaining the TRULY written story!
Right now, we are reading LITTLE HOUSE IN THE HIGhLANDS......the author's name eludes me right now.....
I am re-reading it because my youngers were babies when I first read them to my two oldest......
Have any of you read the Tom Playfair series by Father Francis Finn?
coughing in CA...........chari
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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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Willa
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I like Kristin Lavransdatter but it has been years since I read the series. I also liked Master of Hestviken by the same author.
Let's see, I know I'm blocking on the best book of 2004.... I reread Flannery O'Connor's letters, the collection is called "Habit of Being", last year for about the 10th time and I do recommend them.
We are big fans of Fr Finn, as Chari knows..... we should have bought hardback copies since our TAN edition of Tom Playfair is wearing out.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Lissa
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MacBeth wrote:
Lissa wrote:
...with a
question: What is the best book you read in
2004?
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I rarely read grown-up books Is this an inclusive
group? |
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LOL! Absolutely! I must read twenty kids' books to
every one adult book...
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Lissa
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Lissa
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elizfoss wrote:
Which brings me to my favorite
read of 2004. I read this one just for me. I haven't
shared it with my children yet. I read it one sheet of
printed paper at a time |
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Elizabeth, I'm blushing. Thank you. It was a hard
book to write, but I think it's my best so far. Martha
said some things that I needed to hear; she made
me articulate my conviction and I came out of it so
grateful for having had the opportunity.
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Lissa
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Lissa
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Chari wrote:
I meant to mention, that I have always wanted to read
KL, too.......I also have the book, a very old copy. But,
if you do it for a read..........don't you think it would take
moms more than a month to read?? |
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Hmm, good point. Well, if we decide to start an
official group read (should that wait until the boards
are open to the public?), we can take it at whatever
pace works best.
chari wrote:
Right now, we are reading LITTLE
HOUSE IN THE HIGhLANDS......the author's name
eludes me right now.....
I am re-reading it because my youngers were babies
when I first read them to my two oldest...... |
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LOL! And awwww....
Chari wrote:
Have any of you read the Tom Playfair
series by Father Francis Finn? |
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Kate has just finished reading three of those books.
(Are there more?) She loved them and added them
to her list of books for me to read--underneath eight
or nine Redwall titles, help.....
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Leonie
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My favourite fiction book of 2004?
I think it was Nicholas Nickelby.
I re-read it, after seeing the DVD last year. And remembered why I love Dickens - its the characters!
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: I'll start the ball rolling...
