Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
It was snowing early in my part of Michigan when I first sat down eight years ago to start Bookflurries because I was lonely and winter was coming too soon. How can it be that long ago?
Tonight is in praise of your faithfulness in sharing your books and thoughts. I open the door as Robyn used to say and you pour forth your recommendations of books. Since I live in a rural area, it is a wonderful thing to hear about new books and to know what is good from older books. There are stories that touch our heart, that bruise us, that are poignant and inspiring. There are stories that are unforgettable.
There are strange books, adventure books, cozy mysteries and hair-raising mysteries. Fantasy books open new worlds to us and make us think. Non-fiction stories teach us so many things. It is exciting to know things that happened from all times in the past and all over the world.
I am not sure how I would have survived without all of you to visit with these many years. Thank you!!! At the end of the year, we will discuss our favorite books and set up challenge books, but for now, I want to wish you a bodacious reading season. (Bold+audacious).
I have crawled out of my comfort zone many times despite admitting to being a wimp and I have been rewarded for that. I highly recommend it.
I have taken a chance on new authors and been delighted more times than not. I have waded through challenge books and been glad I read them.
Curiosity helps. I have a need to know things. Why did this happen? How was it possible to do that? Which characters will learn and grow and be redeemed? I have read about the brain, wars, famous people, and interesting countries and continents. I have enjoyed poetry and essays. And all this time, eight years, you have cheered me on and helped me create a huge reading list. I am amazed.
I want to thank the authors who write the books, too. They share their thoughts with us and have the gumption to get it on the page. Thank you!!!
Are you presently reading a book outside your comfort zone? Are you reading a long, involved, but interesting book? Are you reading about modern times or years past?
If you check my list below, you will see that I am taking my time with Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader. I am enjoying it very much and I am glad to take my time and read one or two chapters each day. It is really interesting and well-written. The chapters are usually short. It covers so much that I never knew anything about. This year was the right year to read this book no matter how long it takes.
Is there a book on your TBR pile that you have been avoiding because of its sheer size? I have sympathy. I hope you will take a deep breath and get it out and enjoy it. Let us know about it. Get us involved, too. We want to hear about it.
More rambling: I have some books I would like to give away and I would NOT need them back. If you send me a Kos mail, I will be glad to mail them to you. I have sent books to about 13 people here and to other friends. I am happy to do it. If you don’t like them, you can give them to Goodwill or Better World Books or trade them in for something else at a used book store.
Journey Through Britain: Landscape, People and Books by David St John Thomas. (I did not read this one. A check of a few pages and I realized it was not my cup of tea.)
Instructions for Visitors by Helen Stevenson. Life in a French village. I liked it, but my children will be grateful if I give it away.
The Orientalist by Tom Reiss. A young boy escapes from Baku after the Bolsheviks arrive and everywhere he goes he expects to see machine guns set up in the square. Reiss spent a lot of time on the research for this true story.
Desert Queen by Janet Wallach a bio of Gertrude Bell.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. A friend gave me this one and it is the strangest mystery I have ever read. The narrator is 16 and autistic. It is a coming of age book that describes a tragedy. I am not sure what else to say.
Equally hard to describe: The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker. I have five books in the series. It is a swords, magic, and steam fantasy. The adventures are peculiar, but interesting. There are trains. I liked the characters and the adventures, but I can’t say that the writing was wonderful.
In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
Travels by Paul Bowles A really neat books of essays, but I will never read it again. It needs a good home.
A Cloak of Light by Wright Morris with some of his photographs. Hardback.
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsi A wonderful story, but poignant. A keeper, but I will part with it.
An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin…another one that I have not read and sadly will not. There is nothing wrong with it. It is just me.
Four Frontiers (Four YA stories in one book) by Robert Heinlein
Rocket Ship Galileo (not good)
Space Cadet
Red Planet
Farmer in the Sky
A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home by Sue Halpern…a really nice book, but I just don’t have room to keep it.
Let me know!
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! What is pacing?
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Kos Katalogue 2014 Holiday Mothership - HOTLIST THIS!!
by Sara R
http://www.dailykos.com/...
One more chance for a matched donation for AIDS Walk Austin
by anotherdemocrat
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: Kelly McCullough has a new book in his Aral series coming out in two weeks.
Kelly says below:
Drawn Blades
ACE (Peguin Random House) high fantasy, detective noir cross. Book V, in which much is learned about the non-human empire to the south and what really led to the fall of the goddess of Justice. Chapter one can be found here.
http://kellymccullough.com/...
Kelly McCullough - author of the WebMage series and the Fallen Blade books (Penguin/ACE)
by KMc on Wed Oct 15, 2014 at 10:16:09 PM EDT
NOTE:
plf515 has book talk on
Wednesday mornings early