APRIL READS

[rapa]

RABBIT RABBIT RABBIT and welcome to April. Looking forward to Easter, April showers, FINAL FOUR and no more snow!
I have Anita Shreve's STELLA BAIN and Jo Nesbo's COCKROACHES in my stack. Anything interesting awaiting you?

[Ioruach]

I am nearly 200 pages into We Are Water by Wally Lamb and am having a difficult time liking it.  It is rather an intense read and perhaps I should not have attempted it immediately after finishing The Goldfinch. But I had it reserved, the library called and so there we were. But it is so well written, had many good reviews, and was recommended by a number of you here on Bookoholics so I intend to keep going. It’s certainly not that I dislike the book, because it really is very good.

But for a bit of a relief I frequently switch to one of a couple non-fiction books I am reading. One is Cosmos by Carl Sagan, which you are all familiar with; the other is Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn by Amanda Gefter. Here the author is a journalist who becomes interested in physics and goes on a desperate search for an answer to the question: Why is there Something rather than Nothing, meaning the beginning of the universe and the Big Bang Theory. She finds and talks to famous physicists and gets into obscure (at least to me) things like Einstein’s theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, M theory and so forth. Pretty soon your brain feels like it has been turned inside out.

And with all this, I just received a call from the library saying that I have two more books available: Missing you by Harlen Coben and In the Blood by Lisa Unger.  When it rains, it pours, I guess.

[Mandy Muffin]

I would urge reading some background on the Great Norwich Flood of 1963.  Anyone who reads Lamb should know that Three Rivers is really Norwich, Connecticut, a region of Connecticut where I made my home from 1957-1965.  Here is a bit of background:  http://www.remindernews.com/article/2013/03/17/spalding-dam-flood-o...   http://www3.gendisasters.com/connecticut/18029/norwich-ct-earthen-d... I also graduated from the University of Connecticut, where Lamb teaches.  I have read everyone of his books and they are like a trip to a part of the world where I know all the landmarks and history. 

[Eaglewoman]

We are Water was one of the books that they recommended, let us know if it gets any better.

[Mandy Muffin]

A trip to the fifth dimension.  I'm reading "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madelene L'Engle.  Although it is generally categorized as a young adult read, the classic is enlightening to anyone who has thought about human understanding and the way we treat each other.  http://www.amazon.com/Wrinkle-Time-Anniversary-Commemorative-Madele... 

If you want to follow up the book with a movie, and excellent one was made a few years back that is available to anyone who subscribes to a movie service.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290382/

[rapa]

Am surprised I've never read this book! Looks like it would be a good gift for my 14 year old granddaughter and of course I'd read it first! ;)

[rapa]

Just finished a marvelous read by Susan Crandall. The story elicits both laughter and tears and it's hard to put the book down. WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD deals with civil rights in 1963. Here is a mini review via Amazon: "The South on the eve of the civil rights movement, as seen through the eyes of this novel’s plucky nine-year-old narrator. Starla Claudelle lives in Mississippi with her stern grandma. Her daddy is away working on an oil rig. Her mama has gone to Nashville to be a star, so Starla decides to head there when she gets herself in trouble one too many times. She’s offered a ride by a black woman named Eula, who has with her a white baby found abandoned on the steps of a church. Eula takes Starla and the baby home, but violence forces them back on the road with no money and a truck about to break down. During their long and sometimes perilous trip, Starla sees firsthand what it’s like to be the wrong color in a segregated society, and her keen sense of injustice and need for love help her create a bond with Eula that transcends any barriers. It’s not easy to keep such a young narrator convincing for more than 300 pages, and for the most part, author Crandall manages it well. Readers will take to Starla and be caught up in her story. --Mary Ellen Quinn --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."

[grammyk]

Thanks for the recommendation, rapa!  Sounds like a great book!  I splurged and bought it on Kindle because I think my granddaughter (age 10) and youngest grandson (age 11) would like it too and they are on my Kindle account.

[Carci]

I finished The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo yesterday and it held my interest to the very end.  I will get the second Harry Hole book when I get back to town.  We are up north at our cottage for the next week so I am now reading a book that I bought several years ago when I heard the author speak at our local Woman's Club.

It is Scream Quietly by Elizabeth Carlson, a story of her family's journey through Poland and Germany during WWII.  They survived many horrors and eventually migrated  to the USA after the war. She was a young child during the war and most of the book is written from stories her mother relayed many years later. Although simply written it has captured my interest as they moved from city to city trying to find safety and finding mostly the horror of hunger & death... a very moving account of what it took to survive those days.

[Flowergram]

Just finished a book by Kathryn Hall Page - minister's wife in a mystery series - The Body in the Attic - title and today finished Serpents Tooth by Craig Johnson.  I am reading The Island House by Bob Williams - story of Mackinac Island and a storyline around WWII and started Morag Joss's - Our Picnics in the Sun.  So little time and so many books. Cannot keep up now with spring in full gear here.  LOL.

[Mandy Muffin]

I will finish up the month with "The Madonnas of Leningrad" by Debra Dean.  It is a great read if you want to experience the German attack on St. Petersburg from the point of view of the Russian guides and other museum workers.  I am reminded of tour I took of the Hermitage in 1999, with a delightful guide named Natasha. I remember here little joke:  What is the difference between a regular joke and a political joke in Russia?  The answer is 20 years in a Siberian gulag.  

I'm still in awe of the magnificent collection of art that is housed there. 

[Ursula]

April has been an extremely busy month for me, but did want to check in with all of you.  Looks like there has been lots of good reading.  Not so much in my house, but hoping  that will change soon.  I did manage to read the new Jeffrey Archer book, Be Careful What You Wish For; it's book #4 in the Clifton Chronicles and the story continues to be interesting.

I also read Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for my book club.  How ironic that we chose this book last month and then he died last week.  The book dealt with the concept of honor and was set in a small village in Columbia in the 1950s.  It was definitely a different world than the one we live in today.

Next on my list is The Goldfinch; your comments make me want to carve out some time to read without any interruption, but my life seldom works that way.

[Carci]

Finished the month of April by finishing Tell No Lies by Gregg Hurwitz.  Another compelling thriller but with an improbably scenario and villain... but I guess that's true of many novels.

I also recently finished my first Kindle short novel that I actually purchased ...not one of the over 500 freebies that I have downloaded in the past 2 years. l bought it because it was not available in hard book format from the library  which I suspect will become a trend in the future.  It was Bullseye by David Baldacci, a short novel featuring 2 of my favorite characters, Oliver Stone (Camel Club) and Will Robie together for the first time.  I read it in about 2 hours on our car trip up north and it was well worth the big splurge of $1.99 ...  lol.