Have a nice weekend! Hope you can find the things you're looking for, if not, try Amazon or Ebay. Hey, don't know if you like the Green Dragon or not, but those of us who live in California are going to try to meet up in Pleasanton on October the 12. There is a thread about it in the GD called something about Northern California meet up. I'm going to be there! It would be fun to meet you. I think we are meeting at a bookstore. :) I haven't checked it today, company coming in a few minutes for dinner, but if you are interested, come and look at it.

postet av MrsLee kl. 8:55 pm (EST) den Aug 28, 2008

MusicMom-I will be sure to let you know what I think of the book:)

postet av MsGemini kl. 10:54 am (EST) den Aug 27, 2008

About posting in The Black Orchid, there is a moderator, Eurydice, she doesn't mind if you start a topic, so long as it broadly has something to do with Stout, his books, characters, etc. I started several threads when I began reading through, I wanted anyone who wanted to discuss the books to join in. In the title of the thread I wrote the word "spoilers" so that people would know not to read it if they hadn't read the book.

I do like poetry, and have Rubaiyat, I have to be in the right mood to read poetry and I usually prefer the older stuff. I recently read some of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's and enjoyed them very much.

Of course I don't know many people who could put Rebecca down, and I'm thinking you would enjoy it again as many times as you read it. I've read it four times now and come away with a different feeling every time. I was very surprised this time to find myself liking and understanding the nameless narrator. Always before I have wished I could pinch her. I suppose age gives a different perspective. As to Du Maurier's other books, there are none like Rebecca. I don't think any other author has written a book as fine as that one is. Every book Du Maurier writes is different from the others. I enjoyed Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek, but one of my other favorites is The Scapegoat. I also like her historical fictions, The Glassblowers, Mary Jane and The Kings General. If you like a good suspense and a creepy feel, read some of her short stories, just not at night. The House on the Strand was not one of my favorites, though I know some people love it. Don't read the last book she wrote, can't remember the title right now, but it wasn't very good either.

Another man who got inside my head was Alexander McCall Smith. I really thought it was a woman named Alexander! I love those books, I find them so relaxing.

postet av MrsLee kl. 4:49 am (EST) den Aug 27, 2008

Thanks MusicMom41! I don't have the faintest idea about Poisonwood Bible, but I've moderated about six discussion groups, so it's pretty easy - just keep people typing and talking with each other and step aside. :)

I'd love to see your samples sometime - they sound lovely. My mother is a quilter, and I will be adding some samples of her quilting to my blog shortly. We really should compare notes sometime as I am sure we have a lot of cross over interests with our love of textiles.

Glad you can join in the fun!

vintage _books

postet av vintage_books kl. 4:14 pm (EST) den Aug 26, 2008

Hi musicmom! I'm glad you found my library interesting, too. Yes, we do seem to share many interests, although my reading is not quite as wide as it may appear from my library. The plays, some of the classics, and most of the "hard" science fiction belong to my husband. Still, that leaves quite a variety! If you are looking for classical music lovers, you might enjoy the BBCradio3 listeners group, and since you like Georgette Heyer, check out the Almack's group -- it isn't very active but it can be interesting.

postet av aviddiva kl. 11:38 pm (EST) den Aug 25, 2008

Hi MusicMom,

Thanks for your comment! Yes, I have read Anne Fadiman's book (and loved it).

Here's the web address for the Georgette Heyer challenge:

http://georgetteheyer.blogspot.com/

Just scroll to the bottom and look for the post entitled "The Challenge". Leave a comment on that post indicating that you would like to join.

I'm really looking forward to this!

Sharon

postet av Ex_Libris kl. 12:36 pm (EST) den Aug 25, 2008

Need a nap now? I tend to wear people out with "book talk". :-)

LOL! Actually, you made me feel more alive and curious. :) I suppose that is the difference in talking to a book person about books! I may have to try a Heyer, don't know when though. I do enjoy historic novels, I just don't care for trash, but I've heard about her from enough sources I trust to believe that she is worth a read.
You sound like an energetic and vivacious woman. A survivor and a thriver. :) How you keep up with 18 different students and a son, well, thinking about it wears me out!
I'm reading through The Lord of the Rings trilogy again. I just found lovely hardbacks at a price I could afford, so I'm wallowing in them for a bit. I love the smell, the feel, the illustrations and the writing. Trying very hard to read slowly and appreciate rather than gobble them whole. I know some people say Tolkien was not really a good writer, and when they point out his errors I can understand what they mean, but how to explain that within two sentences I'm lost in the world he created and I don't want to come out? If that is poor writing, then give me more!
Some Buried Caesar is one of my favorites. One that I can separate from the mass of other Stout books. I worked very hard and combined several recipes to come up with a chicken and dumpling recipe for that book. One that I felt would rival the Methodist's and the Baptist's! I think I posted it in The Black Orchid somewhere, but not sure where.
I'm also enjoying Memoirs of a Geisha. I find it a soothing and almost mythical read. Hard to believe it is fiction sometimes though. How a youngish man of Caucasian descent could write it, I don't know. Of course, I'm not from that culture or background, so I wouldn't really know if it was true to that, but I am a woman, and it feels true to my womanly heritage, if that makes any sense at all!
I forget from your library, do you read Daphne du Maurier? She's another of my favorite authors.

postet av MrsLee kl. 12:25 pm (EST) den Aug 25, 2008

Hello!
Since you like Barbara Pym, perhaps you should try Margery Sharp and Muriel Spark, two of my favourite English writers. Although different, they share a great sense of humour.
Happy reading!!

Paola :-))

postet av aluvalibri kl. 11:24 am (EST) den Aug 25, 2008

MusicMom-Thanks, I found the PwB reading group.

postet av MsGemini kl. 10:27 am (EST) den Aug 25, 2008

Great! I hope I didn't steal your thunder. I just figured it would be easy to create and post. :)

Thanks for motivating me to read a new book!

vintage_books

postet av vintage_books kl. 7:56 pm (EST) den Aug 24, 2008

Hi there!

Before we duplicate ourselves, I just created a Poisonwood Bible reading Group.

Cheers-

vintage_books

postet av vintage_books kl. 6:14 pm (EST) den Aug 24, 2008

Thanks for the friendship request. Do you know that if you join groups here at LT you can access them from your profile and see all of their discussion threads? The link to join is in the upper right corner of the group page. Please forgive me if I'm stating the obscenely obvious, but I'm still discovering things here after a year and a half!

The Lord Peter group is a Yahoo! group, here is the URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LordPeter/ if you join it, they want you to join the Piffle group as well, which is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piffle/

My daughter brought home The Man Who Was Thursday by Chesterton for me to read yesterday. I read it today and am sort of scratching my head. Have you read it? If so, when you have time, let me know what you thought of it, O.K.?

Hope you have a great school year, how many students do you have? I am still teaching my youngest, who is 15 now. This year he is studying world history through music and music theory. I'm integrating music into his history and English, and also into his other subjects as he must listen while he studies math and chemistry. He loves guitar and likes the idea of learning classical music and other types so he can play them on his guitar and use them to make killer rock 'n roll! :) Anything which makes him look forward to school is good with me. Also the fact that he is willing to listen to and study classical music and other styles. Fortunately my husband has some music knowledge, because I am pretty ignorant about it. I can tell him what I like, and that's about it.

I know the Black Orchid group will be glad with any contributions you have. We all contribute in fits and spurts, so don't worry about that. I may have to figure out where I got to in my Wolfe reads and then join you. :)

postet av MrsLee kl. 1:56 am (EST) den Aug 24, 2008

MusicMom-If you click on my name it will take you to my profile. At the top of the page...right hand corner....click on invite as friend.
Thanks for accepting my friendship. I look forward to comparing notes on The Poisonwood Bible.

postet av MsGemini kl. 8:28 pm (EST) den Aug 23, 2008

Finn is a tricky one. I think it was a very good book, and I'll definitely read anything else that Jon Clinch decides to write, but it wasn't easy to read. It's dark and disturbing and there are some scenes that almost made me put it away. That said, the general consensus of the group read was that it was well-written, and everyone was glad they had read it, but it kinda leaves a bad taste. I wouldn't read it when you're in the mood for fluff!

postet av jfetting kl. 7:18 pm (EST) den Aug 23, 2008

MusicMom - Wow, you have a great library. I just wanted to pop over and give you a couple of suggestions that may ease the reading of The Sound and the Fury should you attempt it. So, the first time I read it, I found it a lot easier to start with chapter 3 (Jason's chapter), then read chapter 4 (Dilsey's chapter) before going back to Benjy and Quentin's chapters. The reason is that Jason and Dilsey are the ostensibly "sane" characters, so the language is straightforward, while Benjy and Quentin are so stream-of-consciousness as to be practically incomprehensible. By reading 3 & 4 first you'll get a better sense of the who all the characters are and the major plot points. Also, a little outside help (something like Cliff Notes, but not actually Cliff Notes because those aren't always correct when it comes to this book) can help.

Again, definitely read Lolita. Something that really helped me at first is that my copy is called "The Annotated Lolita" which has endnotes that point out a lot of the Nabokov brilliance and puns and wordplay. I know I got more out of the book because I had those notes than I would have otherwise, but since they're endnotes you can ignore them at will.

postet av jfetting kl. 7:46 pm (EST) den Aug 22, 2008

I just went into the Dragon and see that you've found it. Your name is familiar to me, so I think we've bumped into each other before?

postet av MrsLee kl. 1:09 am (EST) den Aug 22, 2008

Hello MusicMom41
I liked your comment on Vane and Fadiman so much - I presume our reading taste matches quite well. Would you agree to a LT-friendship?
Regards from Zurich
vreeland

postet av vreeland kl. 1:06 am (EST) den Aug 22, 2008

Hi, thank you for the note. :) Like you, I'm amazed at how well our reading tastes match up. Almost all of your "big" authors on your author cloud are at least familiar, and most of them I really like. Probably the reason you see me posting everywhere here is because I don't have very many RL people to talk to about reading either. I am so thankful for LibraryThing! Have you tried any groups yet? I am in a few that you might like, a cookbook group, a Nero Wolfe group and the Green Dragon. The Wolfe group is called The Black Orchid, we talk in fits and spurts there, same with the cookbook group. The Green Dragon isn't for everyone, but it is a fun and goofy place to talk about Tolkien and other fantasy and sci-fi. They avoid religion and politics as much as possible and try to find the common ground for people to meet on. Don't know if it's your kind of thing or not.

Don't be a stranger, I love to talk books! I see that you don't have much Ellis Peters in your library, are you not a Cadfael fan? I think I've only read one Georgette Heyer book, a mystery which I didn't care much for, but a Yahoo group I'm in that is a split off of a Lord Peter group had a big discussion going on about her. Lots of them love Jane Austin too. Are you interested in a Lord Peter group? I could find the link to it if you want. It has been lots of fun. They read through the canon about every other year. I'm not active in it at the moment because I just finished a read through and I can't do it that often and read all my other books as well, but I enjoy the chatting broad-topic offshoot called Piffle. Let me know if you would like to know more about it.

postet av MrsLee kl. 12:54 am (EST) den Aug 22, 2008

MusicMom41--glad you will own [China Court] because I suspect you will want to reread it. I keep remembering lines from this book at odd times or times appropriate to that thought. Extraordinary!

postet av augustdreams kl. 4:33 pm (EST) den Jul 23, 2008

An Episode of Sparrows is now back in print, and altho this could be considered YA reading, it has lots of elements of her extraordinary [China Court]. China in this book refers to the China Works in Cornwall, England, not the country of China--although there are two family members who go to China. But the action all takes place in England in this novel. Yes, I did read [In This House of Brede] and liked it also. Rumer is sometimes called a Catholic writer, which may be why she is out of fashion. But I urge you to make the effort and read her books!

postet av augustdreams kl. 10:49 pm (EST) den Jul 18, 2008