What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

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Nancy
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Nancy » Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:05 pm

I got a survival guide book for dgson age 11 glad I fo6nd one for him. I have downloaded an app. To read on that topic. Also. :idea:

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lucylee
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby lucylee » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:48 pm

Man in the Blue Moon -- by Michael Morris

-- The blue moon refers to the Blue Moon clock company. The man arrives by parcel post in one of their boxes. He claims he is a long-lost relative and needs a place to stay. He helps a woman try to save her home and business. Her husband (his relative) has desserted her and their children, and the bank is about to foreclose on them. This is all taking place during the 20s/30s, I think. I've barely gotten started on it, but it is pretty good.
Tomorrow is another day.

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Ivy
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Ivy » Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:01 pm

DD came for Thanksgiving and she brought me 2 books to read:

"Ghost Stories of Washington," (the State; not D. C.) by Barbara Smith and

"The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time," Edited by David H. Lowenherz.

She's got some Nicholas Sparks books to ship to me. She has diesel in her VW and gas to come 1 1/4 - 2 hours South of her, down to us, is much more expensive than her popping books into the mail. :idea: :D Good idea. When I see her again, I return what she wants and keep for her, what she'd like me to hang on to, so she can re-red them at a later date. :D
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston

ellyphant
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby ellyphant » Fri Nov 29, 2013 2:43 pm

The Butterfly Farm by Diane Noble

A Nantucket Christmas by Nancy Thayer
How you do your work is a portrait of yourself.

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Harriet
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Harriet » Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:55 pm

Purchased for Angel Tree gift for 10-year-old girl whose parent asked for books for her:

An Elephant in the Garden - Michael Morpurgo, 2010 (by author of War Horse)
Almost Home - Joan Bauer, 2012 (new from auther of Hope Was Here)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert C. O'Brien, 1971 (Newbery Medal)

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Harmony
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Harmony » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:28 pm

I haven't been here in a while, but I am still reading. I read in the evenings and when I go to bed if I'm unable to get to sleep. Here's my list since I last posted:

Read a bunch of Miss Read books, they go fast and are sweet easy reads:
A Peaceful Retirement, Summer at Fairacre, Tyler's Row, Friends at Thrush Green, Affairs at Thrush Green, Battles at Thrush Green, Farther Afield, Farewell to Fairacre, Changes at Fairacre, and Christmas at Fairacre (3 books in that one - Village Christmas, The Christmas Mouse and No Holly for Miss Quinn). I hadn't realized I'd read that many of them! Anyone who likes Jan Karon's Mitford series would like these.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. Worth the time. Some humor in the beginning ("He seems to be attracting religions the way a dog attracts fleas").

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor...similar to the All Creatures series (veterinarians in Wales) by James Herriot. A Country Affair, by Rebecca Shaw about a Yorkshire English Country veterinarian. Sweet Mercy by Ann Tatlock, about a 17 yr old girl & family in prohibition/depression years. I like this author.

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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby BookSaver » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:07 pm

Harmony, I didn't realize that anyone else knew Miss Read. I just finished reading most of the Thrush Green series straight through in order from beginning to end. I have a few holes because I don't own a couple of the books.

I also just learned that she wrote a book called The World of Thrush Green which gives back story of some of the real people and places that were inspiration for the characters and village. I didn't have any luck requesting it through interlibrary loan, so I'm starting to look for a reasonably priced copy to buy.

One of the nice things about reading that series straight through is that it really put me in a good mood to look forward to Christmas. The descriptions of the little village's traditional holiday activities are either charming or funny, sometimes both, depending on which character is featured.

I've read several of Miss Read's Fairacre series in the past, but I'm not quite as fond of them as I am of Thrush Green.

Now I'm reading Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews, part of her mystery series with the character Meg Langslow. In the first chapter, some prankster(s) left a cage full of wild skunks in the town Baptist church a couple of days before the choir's big Christmas concert, which caused major problems as you can imagine. Someone stole a huge snake from the local zoo and put it in the sanctuary of another church. Later someone (may or may not have been the same perpetrator) smuggled hundreds of white ducks into the Catholic church. It's quite an entertaining story so far, and the series always includes a lot of comedy as well as a good mystery.

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Ivy
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Ivy » Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:10 am

:D I pre-ordered a book by Ryan Winfield, whom I saw on a local Seattle morning show. He lives in WA State, seemed bright and writes from a woman's point of view. I know another male writer who writes from the female point of view. Winfield wrote a romance, which is a tear-jerker. It's called "Jane's Melody: A Novel." It's in Paperback. From what I recall (it's been about 8 - 9 weeks ago since I heard him speak), his character's a 40-year-old woman who's daughter dies of a drug overdose or something. In order, in her grief, to learn more about her daughter, so she can feel closer to her, she takes in a younger man, who (from what I recall) is a musician. The mother slowly finds that she's accidentally falling in love with this younger man. It sounds deep, because of the death of her DD, but also, it sounds romantic because she's learned to love again. I won't get it until April, since it's on pre-order, but it's also available non-pre-order, too, and for the Nook, too. Kindle may have it at Amazon, too. This author really impressed me, he seemed so compassionate, sensitive and like a very nice young man. I'm turning 62, and to me, he looked 38 - 47, so "to me", that's young. He was very pleasant and I'm looking forward to a pleasant read, too.

In the meantime, I'll catch up on my reading, because when his book arrives, I'm certain it'll be a page-turner! :idea: :)
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston

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Harmony
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Harmony » Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:04 pm

Booksaver, I found the Miss Read books because I googled a question: books like karon Mitford and this name came up. About the liking one series better than the other, I think it's what one begins to read first. I started with the Fairacre series and those are mostly all about the teacher and her experiences and life. When I went to the Thrush Green and found it was about the Vicar and other townspeople, I didn't like it as well at first. A few books later, I'm into that series as well.

Right now I'm reading Miss Read's Miss Clare Remembers and Emily Davis, both books together. Miss Clare is the older teacher who willed her cottage to Miss Read when she died and this is her story, plus the story of her best friend Emily Davis. It goes back into the Victorian era when Queen Victoria reigned. Very interesting.

I don't think my library has them all either. Did you know she wrote a couple books about Caxley? The Howards of Caxley and Market Square. Those are both in one book together, also. She's been writing since 1950's! I will have to check if she's even still alive.

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Ivy
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Re: What Are You Reading This Year? 2013

Postby Ivy » Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:17 am

I downloaded a free e-book today called "Miss Buncle's Book," by D. E. Stevenson. It's about a lady who writes a book, based on a small village, it's published and the ironically all sorts of things start happening in the village people, based on the people in the book. It sounds like a fiction comedy plot to me, as the description read. :lol:
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston


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