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Post by chapeaunoir on Dec 19, 2016 8:57:22 GMT
Some of the reviewers panned the book because the scenes about the Marshalsea were 'disturbing.' Um...well, yes. It was a disturbing place.
Nothing new - Henry Fielding's final novel 'Amelia' took place partially in debtor's prison. Fielding wrote it after sitting as magistrate for the roughest districts in London and for not much money. He saw things no one should see, broke up lethal gangs, busted awful felons (sometimes in person) and seeing the really seamy side of life.
It was panned because it wasn't chirpy and happy like Tom Jones. Well, it wasn't a chirpy and happy subject. And by then, Fielding wasn't in a chirpy and happy mood. But it IS real.
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Post by betabutton on Dec 31, 2016 21:10:32 GMT
Just finished "Before the Fall" by Noah Hawley. Well known creator of the TV show Fargo. Really good mystery with twisty plot will keep you guessing till the end.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 21:55:13 GMT
Just finished "Before the Fall" by Noah Hanley. Well known creator of the TV show Fargo. Really good mystery with twisty plot will keep you guessing till the end. It looks good, beta. I just have to wait 91 days until the cheap version comes out. It's on my wishlist, though.
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Post by betabutton on Jan 6, 2017 1:52:32 GMT
Miss P, I corrected the spelling of the authors name in my post but cannot adjust it in your quote. Just don't want anyone to be confused. I am so fortunate that my local library is part of a network and when their copy was checked out, they ordered another copy from the network. I don't buy many books anymore. I borrow from the library and if I think I may want to read something again, like every book Louise Penny has written, I buy a copy to keep.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Jan 6, 2017 8:46:38 GMT
I buy piles from the Amazon penny booksellers, then lot them up and sell them again on eBay lol. I chew through them pretty quickly and have realised that I'm too absent-minded to borrow them from the library (I used to have awful library fines). About every other month the DH says "You've got another pile of books stuffed into the mailbox" and brings in a stack. Thrift Books makes stupid money on me.
Right now I'm reading through the 10 or 12 Star Trek Log books by Alan Dean Foster a third or so time before I lot them up and sell them for a couple of bucks as readers copies. I think I purchased most of them in the mid-1970s when they first came out. He was about 28-30 when he wrote them and now he's 70. Yikes! They're fun reads, though.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 10:19:10 GMT
I can't do the library thing either, Chap. I finally had to give it up because the fines and feelings of failure were too much.
Plus the minute I got a book I no longer wanted to read it right then. I need to own books so I can leave them on a shelf for a few months or years until the urge returns.
I'm thinking that ebooks will be good for me, apart from the yucky reading experience. No clutter, no more decisions about what to chuck out....there are probably other benefits too, that I haven't thought of.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Jan 7, 2017 2:18:06 GMT
I was early into the eReader development when Sony and Amazon were the ones on the market. I went with Sony because the Kindle then had such a funky design and was too delicate to cram into a backpack on hiking trips. The whole eReader thing started for me when the DH and I were hiking across England, and he picked up my pack one day and it weighed about 45 lb. Then he saw hardback books and the paperback books stuffed in it - I was picking various books up in the villages we passed through, reading them, but instead of leaving them somewhere for someone else, just stuffing them into my pack. He couldn't believe it.
So I got the eReader, but a lot of books weren't available then. Kindle won the battle so the Sony is for carrying maps and schedules but my Kindle is ancient and I'd love a new one. I don't have the whole "I need the feel of a book in my hands" thing for most reading - I want those words and since I'm a fairly quick reader books just pile up. So, a new Kindle is on my list after I get a smartypants phone.
The last time I went on a long, multi-day packpacking trip I had my old eReader with a bunch of books on it - it made it SO much easier!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2017 5:15:33 GMT
chapeaunoir the kindle fires are like ereaders and smarty pants phones rolled into one. And stupid cheap. You can't make calls/text on them but wifi internet and apps are available. If i ever get through the unread shelves of real books I'll figure out the library/book aspect but it is great for newspapers, internet surfing/reading, games, etc. It is a different os then Apple/Android so maybe not all the main apps (like Cartwheel since we're on that...) but well worth considering. I think they're $50ish but i got a black Friday deal last year (2015) for $35.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Jan 7, 2017 6:29:21 GMT
Thank you! I'd been looking at those.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 17:29:49 GMT
I am just now easing into e-books. I get them from overdrive.com and read them on my regular tablet. At this point I've only checked out e-books if my library has either lost the hard copy, or the wait for the hard copy is too long. If I ever reach a point where I'm reading e-books because I like the convenience I'll get an actual e-reader. I think I would like the Kindle Paperwhite.
I do like that I don't have to worry about a return date with e-books. Overdrive takes care of that for me.
With my hard copy books I put a post-it with the due date on my computer. That way when I realize "Oh crap, that's today", I'm in the right place to renew online before I forget again.
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Post by frakinfashion on Feb 18, 2017 21:17:06 GMT
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I don't know if anyone has recommended it yet as I don't really read this thread. I only read books for my fiction bookclub and I joined it because it was a very atypical thing for me to do. Anyway, this book is really, really great! So well written, amusing and touching all the way through. This writer is a Swede and, happily, it is not like the American writers I've been forced to read for the bookclub where there's always a writing teacher or university student and/or a lesbian. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that but American contemporary writers all seem to be teaching at writing workshops on university campuses and they are afraid to write about something they don't know first hand apparently. And my bookclub buds will not vote for reading anything sci fi or fantasy. Thus, the inevitable university professor, writer and lesbians...
This book is so good that I will be investigating his other books. Really, go get it.
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Post by treetop on Mar 11, 2017 15:35:18 GMT
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I don't know if anyone has recommended it yet as I don't really read this thread. I only read books for my fiction bookclub and I joined it because it was a very atypical thing for me to do. Anyway, this book is really, really great! So well written, amusing and touching all the way through. This writer is a Swede and, happily, it is not like the American writers I've been forced to read for the bookclub where there's always a writing teacher or university student and/or a lesbian. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that but American contemporary writers all seem to be teaching at writing workshops on university campuses and they are afraid to write about something they don't know first hand apparently. And my bookclub buds will not vote for reading anything sci fi or fantasy. Thus, the inevitable university professor, writer and lesbians... This book is so good that I will be investigating his other books. Really, go get it. I read his book My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry a couple months ago, and it was good, but not really my cup of tea. It kept my interest, and I liked it enough that I read A Man Called Ove last month on vacation. I loved it! I kept reading passages to DH and I rarely do that. It was very funny in parts, and very touching in other parts. So often the grouchy old man is one-dimensional, but this book really made you understand and like him. I loved the way his story unfolded gradually, not like a grand mystery was being revealed. Highly recommend. If you like psychological mysteries (my favorite), I've been enjoying Mary Kubica's books. Pretty Baby, The Good Girl, and I'm now in the middle of Don't Cry Now.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 14:38:50 GMT
I have A Man Called Ove on my reading list. I'll bump it up to the top.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2017 1:09:33 GMT
Handmaid's Tale. I read it in the early 90's, but re-read it again since its now a new series on Hulu.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2017 3:59:08 GMT
I just clicked into this thread for the first time tonight, and started with the last page of most recent posts.
How ironic to find A Man Called Ove mentioned as I'm about halfway through it as it is the April selection of the book club at our local library. It's probably not a book I would have picked up on my own, but I am enjoying it. Oddly enough, I do see several traits of DH in Ove. Two that come to mind right off is the part about why eat out when you can eat at home so much more cheaply and the other is his dislike of cats and the smell of cat pee. Sorry CCLs!! DH was an electrical engineer and anyone familiar with engineers know that most are a quirky breed unto themselves.
In fact, youngest DD went to work with DH one day while in junior high and came home very aware of the fact that while engineers are 'different', she was pleased to discover that her dad wasn't as different as most of the ones she met!!
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Post by chapeaunoir on Apr 23, 2017 23:42:58 GMT
frakinfashion This writer is a Swede and, happily, it is not like the American writers I've been forced to read for the bookclub where there's always a writing teacher or university student and/or a lesbian. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that but American contemporary writers all seem to be teaching at writing workshops on university campuses and they are afraid to write about something they don't know first hand apparently.I wanted to mention that this is what publishing houses are all pushing - its not necessarily the experience of the writers, but a lot of people write to script to make it easier to get published, and publishers are only interested in a narrow sector (which changes from fad to fad). To be fair to them, it's a high-risk industry. I think one out of maybe 10 books they gamble on goes anywhere and they eat the loss for the rest. These "New York Times Best Seller" lists are usually more curated than actual popularity, same with WSJ lists, so aren't really very reliable insofar as raw sales go. This has resulted in the kind of tedious sameness to so many novel genre (plus people wanting to get on a 'best seller' bandwagon). It's also why so many very good writers are simply bypassing the whole publishing company/agent, etc. schtick and publishing on their own. This is a good thing because a book that's published privately ("vanity press" is a misnomer - it's actually old tradition to self-publish or publish privately) or through a small publisher not only allows for more innovative writing, but a larger high-circulation publishing house may pick it up on an either lump sum or royalty basis. I recall submitting things to the 'smalls', or what's known as the small format publications (they're usually little sort of artsy magazines) - they had a list of requirements that confined the writing to such a constrained style/subject/format that, if you were good at it, you could just rubber stamp articles and stories. If you had something innovative or at all unusual to submit - forget it. Every "small" I ever read has read the same.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2017 22:51:21 GMT
Well, yay for me! I just finished 553 pages of The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. It's the first book in The Cazalet Chronicles.
Written in the 1990s, about a wealthy English family 1938 onnward.
I hate family sagas and always have. I got tricked into this one because...because I don't know why. I'd say it's because I adore the time period and because the books were all 66% off.
I have trouble keeping the characters straight. If someone doesn't appear for a chapter I forget who they are. I spend a lot of time thinking, "Hang on, Louise...oh, she's the one who wants to be an actress...but who's her father?"
The author has made two of the ladies have "late" babies, so that the next generation is taken care of. Luckily she put in a much younger wife, so she can squish out a couple too.
The writing's quite okay, it moves along and stuff, and the dialogue is pretty great now that I think about it. But I never in my life encountered such a dull set of people. And there are three or four books to go. Ugh. I'm going to make myself read another one then have a break with something I know will be fun.
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Post by titus730 on Aug 5, 2017 23:13:41 GMT
@misspettigrew, I could have sworn I read something by Elizabeth Jane Howard in my distant past but the titles don't seem familiar.
I did see the BBC production of The Cazalets. But I'll watch anything with Hugh Bonneville. www.imdb.com/title/tt0283280/?ref_=nv_sr_2
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2017 4:20:12 GMT
Hugh Bonneville doesn't do it for me.
I'm interested in some of her non-Cazalet books. And not just because they're shorter.
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Post by SA on Aug 6, 2017 4:37:47 GMT
For eReaders, check with your local library. I don't know if they do it everywhere, but last 2 places I've been you can check out an ebook for your device
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 14:46:53 GMT
So I'm chomping through book 2 of the Cazalets ("Marking Time") and I'm knocked off my chair.
One of the characters is looking through her clothes to see what she needs to replace, and she sees her "n****r-brown" suit.
I've been on my 1900-1950 reading jag for a while now, so it's not the first time I've encountered an offensive or distasteful word use. They stand out in neon lights. But the books were all written when the dominating group used those words or ideas every day. Sometimes, even though the author was of that group, they show their disapproval. A book should remain as the author wrote it. I'll fight to the death anyone who wants to bowdlerise anything.
THIS book was written in 1990. HOW did it get past the editor? There are a couple of other instances of it too, so far. So it's not once, it's A Thing.
Yes, the characters are living in England in the 1930s. But they are created by a person living 70 years later. And it's not even necessary. It would have been absolutely fine if the suit was just "brown". Or "green" or "mustard".
It's like the author did it for a dare. I can see no other reason. There's PLENTY of convincing period stuff in there without that little bombshell.
And FINALLY someone has twigged that the unmarried daughter and her dear friend are lesbians. Most of the characters are women who've led fairly protected lives, but there are a few males and females who are more savvy and should have picked up on it; two of her brothers, in particular. But they're all extremely self-centred so maybe that explains it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2017 7:51:00 GMT
Yay me! I finished all five Cazalet books! I knew I'd have to read them all because if I stopped midway and read something else I'd never go back.
So that's over 3000 pages out of my TBR pile - and my house - forever.
The death scenes were good. The married relationships were interesting. The whole thing is pleasantly easy to read. But I never, ever got a firm hold on the characters. The ending was kinda depressing, but maybe that's the way family sagas are? I haven't read enough to know.
On the whole, it wasn't bad. I mean, I disliked nearly every moment of it, but I'd bet I'm in the tiny minority.
I've got a feeling that her earlier, single novels might be better. So I'll give one a go sometime.
And now it's back to my detective books! Edmund Crispin, Love Lies Bleeding. Yayayayayay!
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Post by frakinfashion on Aug 30, 2017 0:35:29 GMT
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout. Beautifully written, touching and not too long.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2017 13:50:05 GMT
I'm late to the party with Elizabeth Strout. I just read Olive Kitteridge last year, then picked up My Name is Lucy Barton when I returned it. Really like her. I'll have to put the new one on my list.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 5, 2017 0:40:25 GMT
The DH gave me a 6-month Kindle Unlimited membership along with the Paperwhite for my birthday. You can check out books for free with the Kindle Unlimited, or purchase for about $4-7. I've been chomping through the Kindle library and it gives me a chance to sample books to see if I want to keep reading, and borrow all the books in the Kindle library I want. You only have to read 16 books a year to pay for the $9.99 a month membership at average Kindle book prices - far fewer if you're paying the library fines I end up paying (absent minded) or buy used books at the rate I do (5-10 a month at any rate). For me it has paid for itself over and over.
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Post by frakinfashion on Nov 5, 2017 17:08:34 GMT
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. A bit long for one such as me but enjoyable. Don't worry if you think it's not enough fun for the first third or so; some in our book club felt that. Wonderful writing and really captures the Russian sensibility, at least as I saw it in my nana.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 5, 2017 17:25:45 GMT
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. A bit long for one such as me but enjoyable. Don't worry if you think it's not enough fun for the first third or so; some in our book club felt that. Wonderful writing and really captures the Russian sensibility, at least as I saw it in my nana. You might enjoy Mikhail Zoshchenko's "Nervous People" and other short stories. He wrote in the 20s shortly after the Revolution and they mostly concern the doings of his neighbours and events in his area. He's funny and very colloquial with a dry wit but trenchant enough that he periodically go into trouble - I had a good translation of his short story collection but I can't find it now.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2017 1:49:13 GMT
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. A bit long for one such as me but enjoyable. Don't worry if you think it's not enough fun for the first third or so; some in our book club felt that. Wonderful writing and really captures the Russian sensibility, at least as I saw it in my nana. You might enjoy Mikhail Zoshchenko's "Nervous People" and other short stories. He wrote in the 20s shortly after the Revolution and they mostly concern the doings of his neighbours and events in his area. He's funny and very colloquial with a dry wit but trenchant enough that he periodically go into trouble - I had a good translation of his short story collection but I can't find it now. It's out of print, Chap, but there's a collection called The Galosh and Other Stories which might incorporate it. It has 65 stories in it. frakinfashion I can read 480 pages if it's not padded, but books that long usually are. He has one called Rules of Civility which might be fun, and it's 130 pages shorter.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 9, 2017 2:25:14 GMT
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 9, 2017 2:28:34 GMT
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