MARCH READS

[rapa]

Looking forward to calmer weather, signs of Spring and some good reads in March! What's on your plate?

[Carolyn Tewell]

Re: CJ BOX's new book...Endangered. I will get back to it....FIRM!

Another book I am slogging through is THE THORNBIRDS! Hope I can renew because it is long and slow going but very engrossing! I read it back in 1980 or thereabouts. But it feels like the first time?

Had the same experience with POISONWOOD BIBLE?

Maybe I should go back and reread all my favorites from the 70's and 80's?

A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE should get on that list?

[Mandy Muffin]

I read all three.  As Colleen McCullough recently passed, her "Thorn Birds" was a huge TV movie success at the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_McCullough  I read all of the Barbara Kingsolver books which reflect her time in Africa, Kentucky and Arizona and some in Mexico.  She just wrote on terrific book on the monarch butterflies called "Flight Behavior" that was placed in the foothills of Eastern Kentucky..  And "A Woman of Substance" is a recent throwback read of mine that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have read some Barbara Taylor Bradford over the years.  I recent finished "Sophie's Choice" as another throwback read.  Who can forget Merill Strep in the role of Sophie?  It is my observation that authors wrote novels of substance in those days, not "50 Shades" of bullcrap. 

[Slopok]

Just finished Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I ran across the title while reading another book, looked for it on Amazon. A moving story:

Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella it won a Hugo Award; the 1966 novel-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical.

Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in semi-literate "progris riports." He dimly wants to better himself, but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving:

I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time.

I dint know mice were so smart.

Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate...

Flowers for Algernon is a timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact. --David Langford

[Carolyn Tewell]

MANDY...THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE!!! For your previous post on trending story lines for popular writers.

SLOPOK...intriguing book review...will link in to Library and get it on hold.

[Grammie Sue]

I don't have a lot of time to read lately so I am still finishing up The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread by Richard Booker and I also almost done re-reading To See the Moon Again by Jamie Langston Turner.  I was glad I re-read it because it is better and more intense that it seemed the first time through.  I should be done with both by next week if I am more diligent about reading.  When I move on I am going to read We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates.  I have seen bits and pieces of the movie and heard often it is a good book to read.  It is a large print book so I should be able to read it on my Treadmill.  I will also be reading The Incomparable Christ by J. Oswald Sanders.  I like to have two books going at one time.  I always have done so. 

[Ioruach]

Yesterday I finished Cane and Abe by James Grippando and thoroughly enjoyed it until I got to the ending, which was not so much. Much more of a whimper than a bang, like he wrote himself into a corner and didn’t know which way to turn. I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who read it (Carolyn?) and what you thought. Nevertheless, it was a good read and difficult to put down, so I do recommend it, as I would for any of his other novels.

[Carolyn Tewell]

LORUACH...

CANE AND ABE....I absolutely LOVED this book!!! The ending was very "real" ...I mean let's face it not always are the mysteries of our ....

You know what.???.Can't write my views as they would lead to a spoiler. My DH (Dan'l Boone) is reading it now and totally engrossed...even listening at the Office!!! LORUACH, I will let you know what he thinks of the ending.

Read Gripando's NEED YOU NOW...very complicated...all about Investing, Treasury problems...maybe easier to follow in a real book rather than Audiobook. Takes place in New York.

MONEY TO BURN...by Gripando ...just started and lots about MIAMI....so I am more engaged since lived in South Florida for almost 30 years. See how it goes.

To be continued...

[Ioruach]

Cane and Abe was the thirteenth book of Grippando's that I have read. Since he has written, by my count now 21, I have missed a few of them. Got to find them somewhere. And I can understand your not commenting on the ending.  After checking the reviews in Goodreads, I am in the minority on that matter.

[Carolyn Tewell]

LORUACH...NOPE...You not alone! Dan'l finished today and he was trying to express his emotion:

***ARMS WAVING***

WHAT KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT???

***shakes head***

[Carci]

Just finished The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens.  This is his first novel and I will definitely read any others he writes!!!

This is the best book I have read in ages and I read a lot of books of all types. I highly recommend this to all my 'bookie' friends.  Do yourself a favor and read it!

Here's a synopsis from Amazon:

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same.

Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.

As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. 

Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?

[Ioruach]

Carci, your recommendation and Amazon's synopsis led me to put a hold on the book at my library. I am sixth in the queue and only one copy is shown so it will be a few weeks. The synopsis certainly makes it sound like a winner.

[rapa]

CARCI, I jumped right on it! Our library has three copies and are shipping one to my branch pronto. I agree with LORUACH that it sounds like a winner! Thanks for recommending!