October book question

Carool

Hi! Anyone have any books to recommend as we head into early darkness and reading by the fire? LOL (I, for one, have only my inner fire!)? I’m reading a compilation of ghost stories by M.R. James, titled “Curious Warnings.” For those unfamiliar with his writing and him, he was an English Victorian scholar and a writer of horror and ghost stories. He was a master of those genres.

Bug

I’m not reading anything at this time but I do appreciate these posts. They give me good ideas for the future.

Carool

Bug, thank you.

MarcieB

What a timely question for me! Every month our local library sponsors a Used Book Sale on the first Saturday of the month. That stopped last year due to the lock down, but today it opens again! Yay! Masks are required and they are only admitting so many at a time...but, I am about to wash my face and head on over! I don't need any books, I have a lot I want to get to already, but I LOVE being in a room filled with them. I love just reading the tiles and the synopsis, and the first line (which is my acid test as to whether or not I think I will like it).

Side note - when I began my chemo infusions, in 2018, my first appointment was on a Thursday and the Used Book Sale opened Friday that year because of our local town Fair (which happens every August). I remember standing in line to be among the first to get inside and thinking, "this chemo thing is not so bad...I bet no one in this line even knows I am being treated?" Well...that was the last time I had THAT thought! lol! I still went to the book sales, but my next one features me in one of my many head wraps. Oh well, I could still enjoy reading.

I will let you know what treasures I find. ;-)

Teachergirl

I enjoyed The Healer’s Series by Helen Pryke. It’s fiction and is a series about going into the past and using the power of plants and herbs.

Carool

MarcieB, I’m so glad I posted this! I hope your first post-lockdown library time is especially rewarding.

Interesting about your “acid test” on a book. I do something similar (after reading a review or two, as I now get all my books online through the public library, so I see reviews and then try to get the books that sound interesting). Of course, I also have my favorite writers whose books I get without reading reviews. For me, getting library books is so much easier online than shlepping them from the library.

I look forward to knowing which treasures you found.

Carool

Teachergirl, thank you! I’ve never heard of her. I’ll see if I like them. Good to know about. I do like fantasy.

lynn1950

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich - very good read.

Carool

lynn1950, thank you! Good to know.

MarcieB

Big score at the Used Book Sale! - A book by one of my favorite authors, Alice Hoffman, called *Local Girls*. A murder mystery called *Look For Her,* because I need to read a mystery for my book club. And *Ape House* by Sara Gruen, who wrote *Water For Elephants* - which I loved.

Carool

MarcieB, great!

It’s been many years since I read any of Alice Hoffman’s books. I’m looking for books to read, and that one sounds good to me, so I’m gonna see if it’s available online.

Thank you.

Carool

Turns out that “Look for Her” isn’t available. No problem. Maybe I’ll read one of the many of hers that is available.

MarcieB

Carool, the book 'Look For Her' is not by Alice Hoffman, her book is called Local Girls and I think it is an older one - it's just one I have not read. 'Look For Her' is a cold case murder mystery by Emily Winslow. I have no idea if it is any good? But I needed a mystery for my book club and I figured I could invest 50 cents in this one! The synopsis sounded good.

Carool

MarcieB, thank you. I meant to say “Local Girls” (that’s what I looked up). It’s from 2000 or so. I guess that’s one reason my library doesn’t have it.

MarcieB

Carool, I thought it was an older one. I guess you are going to have to find a used book sale near you! Do they even have those in NYC?

meyati

Marcie thanks for directly contacting me.. I think the algorithm knocked me off of WN. My page said that I wasn't following any of you at all. Carool and I have been mutual followers for a good 9 years. I did see Carool's question on my wall-but the only Email I got was today from Marcie.

I finished that Swedish Nordic Noir--they say the author is ground breaking and won awards. I don't get that. "the cruel stars of the night" by kjell eriksson leaves a lot to be desired. As one person commented, the detectives have a spell where a whole bunch of gentlemen farmers-semi rural men in their late 60s are either murdered or disappears in one area, and the police wonder if these might be linked? Then the author doesn't seem to know that wine and other alcohols are flammable? A detective trapped in a basement in a major house fire is pouring wine over herself to cool down. Like I said--before-the first 100 pages were like watching paint dry on a wall. I guess to make it interesting, the first line where the focus is changed or a new chapter is in the a very pale grey-very hard to see.

Since then, I read Lt. Col Alex Vindman's autobiography. I guess I'm dense, but I couldn't figure out why he would be listening to the president's phone call. It was Vindman's job, and he was getting a promotion for the job he was doing. Of course, he was removed from the promotion list. I'll give you an example, my husband was on a seagoing tug boat when JFK was killed. The Navy in San Diego put together a big conference of all ships' captains and executive officer, in case we went to war. Everyone was a Jr. lieutenant or higher-mostly admirals. My husband and other enlisted were there too, because they had to get the large ships out of the harbor into the sea lanes. My husband was the 21 year old executive officer on a tug. Some young kid out of the academy tried to throw the enlisted out, but they were Captains and Xes.

Anyway, It was interesting. Now, I'm reading another Wolff book about Trump---Fortunately- I read some of the books that Wolff refers too. Most interesting thing---Trump is almost bald and has a super wig. Trump was hot under the collar one day, and he didn't have his wig secured very well.

Carool

MarcieB, we used to have many stores selling old books, but many have closed. I have enough old books (paperbacks) mouldering away at home, and I’m not a fan of those stores. And too many books anyway. So I’ll have to skip that one.

Carool

Meyati, as a painter, I can find watching paint dry very interesting indeed. LOL. MarcieB, maybe it’s the same for you?

And that’s funny, about Trump’s baldness. My partner is bald. There’s nothing wrong with it, and if Trump were a different kind of man he wouldn’t care. But I’ll now shut up about him.

meyati

My husband started going bald at an early age. He was vain-I think most people are vain or self-conscious of how they look. It never bothered me. He was drop dead handsome for most of his life, Age does a job on most of us.

Carool

meyati, sure does. And we don’t realize how good we looked when young, until it’s altered forever.