dtrpath27

April 2014 - Short Story The Gentleman Thief by Goli Taraghi Publishing Information: ©2010, anthology ©2013 by Norton Pages: 32 Genre: Fiction Setting: Iran Synopsis: The Gentleman Thief tells the tale of a once-wealthy family living in Iran during the early days of the revolution. With lives already turned upside down by social and political upheaval, the family is sent into further confusion by the unwelcome visit of a surprisingly gentlemanly thief. This one evening serves as the catalyst for a chain of events that will change the family forever. Impressions: Translated from Persian, this story offers a perspective I haven't really read much about -- that of an Iranian family. It was amusing, poignant, thought-provoking -- in short, a very many things for a very little story to be! It's part of a collection of her stories that I picked up at a book sale for $1.50. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

April 2014 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Publishing Information: ©2014 by Algonquin Pages: 273 Genre: Fiction Setting: Present day in a bookstore on Alice Island Synopsis: Biding his time in a failing business and a failing life, bookstore proprietor A.J. Fikry is far from living the life he had planned. All of this changes one night when something unexpected is left in the aisle of his bookstore. Impressions: Okay, it sounds so clichéed, but really it wasn't. I admit, I'm such a sucker for books about books, but this one was done in a different way. I liked reading how books were the thing that sort of tied everyone together. To quote the book, "We read to know we're not alone, we read because we are alone, we read and we are not alone, we are not alone."

Just finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Next...

We've been really pleased with her English teacher this year. Homer first quarter, Shakespeare second quarter, Dickens third, and then more modern with Harper Lee fourth quarter.

Aww, thanks! You're so sweet. She's quite the reader, but at 13, needed a little help at first processing the archaic language and unfamiliar historical/cultural references; that's what started it all. Before long, she got the hang of it, but we kept going together because it was so much fun. Such nerds we are! For read-a-thon, I wound up reading a couple chapters in A Tale of Two Cities, the short story Gentleman Theif by Goliath Taraghi, all of A Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman, several chapters of the Bible, an assortment of book samples, and then finally settled on The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. A bit less than my goal for this time and way less than I read last time, but I had fun all the same.

The Day of the Triffids?

Dex, you are making some serious progress this weekend! Eta: Just finished reading The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman.

Aww, thanks! I'm in a bit of pain, so I'm just lying here with my ice pack alternating between reading my book and browsing the forums. I had a lovely dinner, though (fajitas!) and church was nice.

Shute even had the foresight to address this problem in the book. It wasn't the major players who started the trouble. Unfortunately, once that bridge was crossed, there was no one with sense enough to go back.

Lovely evening, Virginia!

Great; it's wonderfully descriptive. I've read it before, but my not-so-little one is reading it for eighth grade English, so I told her I'd read along with her. We're doing a fair bit of discussion along the way which makes it go slower but makes it even more interesting. Her next assigned one is To Kill a Mockingbird, which we'll also read together. It's a lot of fun -- sort of like our own mini book club.

One of the best children's books ever! My daughter's copy fell to pieces she read it so much, so we had to buy her a new one. I had a copy as a child, and the same thing happened to it. Like mother like daughter! Hmm...for books from my childhood, probably Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Although, that was more one that held its magic time after time. Absolute wonder.

Very well put.

Sigh...my goal might have been a bit ambitious. One short story, a chapter of A Tale of Two Cities, about a third of the way through A Light Between Oceans. I'll probably finish A Light Between Oceans and one more short story, but I don't think I'll have time to read a second book.

I think so, but it's real, not contrived, you know? I was really impacted by the book, but I felt like it was on my terms, not because the author said, "This is sad so you must be sad." He's a very skillful writer - one I wouldn't have known of had it not been for this reading circle. I checked out the Doomsday Clock information. Very interesting. I'm sure the climate of unrest/impending nuclear destruction did come into play. Perhaps this also served as a cautionary tale? I found an interesting blurb from his daughter, Shirley Norway on this very topic. She seems to feel that the book ignited a movement for nuclear disarmament/peace, not the other way around. Here are the site and the quote: http://www.nevilshute.org/Reviews/shirleynorway.php Incidentally I do believe that On the Beach started the CND ( Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ) in England and the Peace movement in the US. I may be wrong. It was indeed a very powerful book when it was first published. It was also the book which seemed to me to absorb him more than any other. It certainly absorbed me. I first read it in manuscript. - Shirley Norway

Yes... They are all well-written and the fact that she doesn't like it is neither here nor there, but the universality of her contempt is astounding.

So, I didn't answer this one initially, but have given it some thought and come back to it. It's a little late to the party, but that's okay! How does Shute's writing style affect the mood of the novel? Shute's writing is matter of fact and unemotional, serving to underscore the inevitability of the situation. With the given subject matter, it would have been far too easy to overplay things in an attempt to elicit a certain emotional response from the reader. Shute's narration takes a step back, passing no judgement and allowing the reader to make up his or her own mind. I think that's one of the things that makes this book still relevant today and makes it such an interesting one to discuss.

Nice! Our azaleas just finished blooming. I need to prune them now. It wound up being rainy and dreary all day, so we didn't get any gardening done. It's supposed to be more of the same tomorrow and next weekend, too, so I'm hoping to find some time during the week. Maybe if I pick up the flowers tomorrow, we can do the hanging baskets and potted things indoors. Then all we'd have to do is set them outside. One job I'm not looking forward to is thinning the bamboo. Sigh...I think I'll just do it a bit at a time.

Hello and welcome! In terms of mystery, you night want to try the Charles Lenox series by Charles Finch. The first book is A Beautiful Blue Death. Male protagonist in your target age range, historical, whodunit-style detective story. Very enjoyable. A book that many of us have read recently and enjoyed is On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Written in the 50s and set in the 60s, it is still relevant and thought-provoking today. Again, male protagonist in the target age range, simple writing style but heavy subject matter, quite a bit of drama, and a great deal on human relationships. Five stars, in my opinion. A third book I recommend is Lexicon by Max Barry. It's a psychological thriller set in the not-so-distant future where words have actual physical control over the minds of people. One of the main characters is female, but she is not the sole focus of the book. It is definitely not a chick-lit sort of book, if that's a concern. In fact, I would describe it as a bit gritty. My husband also really enjoyed it. Action, psychology, creative premise - definitely a don't put down, read again sort of book. You'll be able to get some great recommendations from everyone here. Feel free to stop by the Introductions thread so everyone can get to know you. Happy reading!

Debated about debate. Lol.

Right, sorry! Here are the related posts. :/

It just cracks me up every single time!

Yay!!! I feel technologically savvy.

Hmm...I know it's probably user error. How about this?

So funny! I wonder what the event was. Probably some of you have seen this one, but if you're a cat person it will crack you right up! http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk I tried to put the video in, but I couldn't get it to work. :/