tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post323593127622584153..comments2023-07-20T08:35:44.681-07:00Comments on A person named Eunice: Book ReportDarlenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390374931911258822noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-47800385134871819742009-08-22T21:31:08.090-07:002009-08-22T21:31:08.090-07:00I really liked Bel Canto but hated all of Ann Patc...I really liked Bel Canto but hated all of Ann Patchett's other books. I will admit that I just didn't like <i>The Glass Castle</i> very much, although everyone else I know liked it a lot. <br /><br />Hmm, I read a lot too so I'm trying to remember some good ones (if you ever want recommendations, I summarize monthly and the posts are all labelled 'books' on my blog). I just finished <i>Olive Kitteridge</i> and liked it a lot more than I though I would. I also just read <i>The Giant Joshua</i> and thought it was excellent. Another book I recommend highly is <i>Caramelo</i> by Sandra Cisneros. It was great. I also don't know if you've ever read anything by Lee Smith, but I'd recommend both <i>Fair and Tender Ladies</i> and <i>Oral History</i>FoxyJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17950095008611661757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-31514102080913764362009-08-22T21:19:15.892-07:002009-08-22T21:19:15.892-07:00Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce is a great, great,...Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce is a great, great, great story about a boy who is big for his age. Also, I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog, too.---KathrynAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09515878838823750406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-33576928378094284032009-08-21T12:10:38.028-07:002009-08-21T12:10:38.028-07:00But the year isn't over yet!
Okay, how about ...But the year isn't over yet!<br /><br />Okay, how about if I recommend some books that I've read in the last 12 months?<br /><br />I liked THE SHACK by William Young because it was interesting to imagine what it would be like to spend a weekend hanging out with the Godhead. Didn't agree with all of the theology presented, but I liked the heart that was in the story.<br /><br />Read MAGGIE by Charles Martin next (sequel to THE DEAD DON'T DANCE) and I like his work very much. I first read his WHEN CRICKETS CRY and felt all through it that without saying so, he was showing how God is in the details of our lives. MAGGIE and its prequels are a bit more overtly spiritual. He manages to explore his characters' relationships to God with sensitivity and skill. I've also read his WRAPPED IN RAIN and CHASING FIREFLIES (both of which I recommend as well) and I plan to read more of his work.<br /><br />The next book I'd like to recommend is Ann Edwards Cannon's THE LOSER'S GUIDE TO LIFE AND LOVE. It's a delightful YA that is a kind of retelling of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM, and it was fun to see how she did it. She uses all four points of view to tell the story, and each of them is unique and interesting.<br /><br />I highly recommend THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Burrows. Some people I've recommended this to had trouble getting into it, but once they did, they loved it. A delightful story.<br /><br />A great YA fantasy I read next is PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL by Jessica Day George (I recommend her other books as well). A very clever and well-thought-out retelling of the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses with a soldier who knits.<br /><br />I also read Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (it won the Newberry) and loved it. Didn't realize till near the end that it's a reinterpretation of the Mowgli stories from Kipling's THE JUNGLE BOOK (which I also love--I hate what Disney did to the story). Very clever and fun.<br /><br />I have recommended Jamie Ford's HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET to as many people as I can talk to about books. Beautifully done.<br /><br />Another YA I liked is EVOLUTION, ME, AND OTHER FREAKS by Robin Brande. It's about a girl who has been ostracized from her oppressive religious community for apologizing to someone the members of the community decided to victimize. Her growth and understanding about herself and what true religion is was very well handled.<br /><br />I liked THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch so much that I bought copies to give to my daughters and their husbands (and I underlined all over the place in my own copy).<br /><br />This is getting a little long, but I want to recommend one more book, a best-seller in Europe, originally written in French. The title in English is THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, and it is a beautiful translation. I've read some reviews on Goodreads by readers who really didn't like it, and it is very literary, but in what I think is the best possible way. It absolutely amazed me.<br /><br />And that's my list--some of the books I've read and recommend from the past 12 months.<br /><br />Sorry I posted such a long post. It was longer, but the software made me cut it.Kathleen Dalton-Woodburynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-828203664768771702009-08-21T10:41:34.668-07:002009-08-21T10:41:34.668-07:00(BTW I'm sure Dean expressed his view of the b...(BTW I'm sure Dean expressed his view of the book more diplomatically than that--that's just my crude summation of what he seemed to think of the book.)Zinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01296527480464047161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-12125224494818869812009-08-21T10:36:26.566-07:002009-08-21T10:36:26.566-07:00I loved Bel Canto (although I disliked the sex sce...I loved Bel Canto (although I disliked the sex scenes (by which I mean I liked them, and that was the problem,) whereas Dean thought it was implausible and dumb that everybody would get all entranced and enchanted just from some diva singing opera. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-5387346611497423382009-08-21T08:05:44.337-07:002009-08-21T08:05:44.337-07:00Geez, Darlene. You like to read, doncha. :-) Ser...Geez, Darlene. You like to read, doncha. :-) Seriously, I wish I'd been able to read as many books as you have this year.<br /><br />Was I the one who recommended The Giant's House? Coulda been. I know I read it at least 10 years ago, but I really liked it then.<br /><br />I have never been able to get into Bel Canto. Terrible!<br /><br />I remember reading "Brokeback Mountain" during my MFA and thinking the prose was beautiful. Don't remember much more about it though. (This was before the movie came out.)<br /><br />Okay, on the Sus5an Smith book--the other day I saw a commercial for a new teen movie by Disney called "Bandslam" and in the commercial a girl wrote her name down as Sa5m. "The five is silent" she said. Blatant THIEVERY!!<br /><br />Glad you also liked Hunger Games. My son has now read it three times.<br /><br />I have a copy of New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, too. Although if we're going to go Oprah/New Age, I still much prefer The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukov (except all the dolphin stuff--yes, we like dolphins but c'mon, Gary).<br /><br />I loaned my copy of The Bonds that Make Us Free to a friend of mine who was having marital trouble like five years ago. She needs to return it! (Although she's still having marital trouble.)<br /><br />So now you need to read: Olive Kitteridge. Possibly Mudbound. I think you'd like bothAnghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08026899563208525525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23774671.post-7059119715884924372009-08-21T08:01:17.522-07:002009-08-21T08:01:17.522-07:00Thanks so much for the list--it's nice to have...Thanks so much for the list--it's nice to have a lot of weeding done for me in advance. I'll have to come back here and scribble some titles down before my next library trip.<br /><br />My summer reading was mostly middle-grade things I was reading along with my kids (the Last Apprentice series, Percy Jackson, Alex Rider.) I'm trying to remember whether I read anything more substantial and drawing a blank. (I guess I could review those, though: the Last Apprentice are very well-written and have an interesting setting. The suspence and pacing are moderate--I think the pauses throughout are deliberate so as not to not scare young readers too much--and once in a while the main character annoys me by not guessing a major plot point until long after it's obvious. But I like the series. I enjoyed Percy Jackson and would have really loved the series as a kid. The Alex Rider books are so strict to the James Bond formula that there's never any real character development, but the action is pretty well-paced--they're just fun, light reads for a little suspense without engaging your brain much.)<br /><br />I'm currently reading "The Tree House" by Doug Thayer and it's excellent so far. (My mom says she thinks it's his best novel.) Right now I'm in the part where the protagonist is on his West German mission, and I'm surprised by how much it resonates with me for my mission in Belgium/France almost fifty years later (although many things were very different. The Elders go to movies and plays and go swimming and determine their own schedules FAR more than we did on my mission.)<br /><br />I'm glad to hear someone else had a rough time getting through Rough Stone Rolling. It's been on my bedside table for ages, and I still want to read it (theoretically.) Actually I'm doing the same thing with McCullough's John Adams--I really enjoy it when I'm reading it, but I tend not to pick it up. I think maybe both of these books are just too heavy (literally) to read while nursing, and I need to find a different location for reading (like in a chair rather than lying down.) Maybe if someone posted a chapter a week as a blog post . . .<br /><br />Oh, I knew I had read at least one other thing and I just remembered: Hattie Big Sky. Maybe you've already read it. It's YA historical fiction about a young woman trying to stake a claim in--oh dear, I've already forgotten--Montana or maybe Nebraska. My sister-in-law recommended it and I really loved it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com