pontalba's 2013 reading list

[mrsmac]

Now that you've said it's o.k. Pontalba I'll add it to my list of DVD's to be acquired in the future.  

[pontalba]

Now that you've said it's o.k. Pontalba I'll add it to my list of DVD's to be acquired in the future.  

Oh, I'm glad!  It's well worth it.  In fact, I'd bet we end up buying the DVD as well, to watch again.  

[Athena]

I'm glad to hear you like the film! I may go to the cinema to see it (it should still be on for a while, it's only been released ~ a week ago here) or at the very least buy the Blu-ray when it's out.

[pontalba]

I'm glad to hear you like the film! I may go to the cinema to see it (it should still be on for a while, it's only been released ~ a week ago here) or at the very least buy the Blu-ray when it's out.

 

It's worth going to see at the theatre Athena.  If only for the special effects.  However, at the theatre, you can't control the sound...it's true.

Although....something worth thinking about...are you able to ask for earphones at the theatre?  We can here, and you could control that volume.  ???

[Athena]

I don't think that's possible here. I've never asked, though, but I've never seen anyone with earphones. Where would they be plugged into? There are no jacks here in the seats or anything. Generally I find for such a disability as mine, certain other countries have better facilities for them. But some other things are better here (ie. unemployment care) so can't complain really! I do find the sound in the cinema loud which is why, afterwards, I need some rest, peace and quiet.

 

EDIT: Thanks for the thought, though! Maybe it'll come in handy sometime .

Edited July 3, 2013 by Athena

[pontalba]

I don't think that's possible here. I've never asked, though, but I've never seen anyone with earphones. Where would they be plugged into? There are no jacks here in the seats or anything. Generally I find for such a disability as mine, certain other countries have better facilities for them. But some other things are better here (ie. unemployment care) so can't complain really! I do find the sound in the cinema loud which is why, afterwards, I need some rest, peace and quiet.

 

EDIT: Thanks for the thought, though! Maybe it'll come in handy sometime .

 

Athena, the earphones run on batteries, and must have some sort of Bluetooth capacity.  No plug-in needed.

[pontalba]

If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr 4/5

Berlin, 1934. Berlin has been chosen as the location for the 1936 Olympic Games and there is more than enough underhanded business to go around.

Hitler has just come into power, it is not an especially propitious time to be a detective, and even less so if said detective has something to hide, or several somethings. Bernie Gunther has lots to hide, both from the police and the SS. He has already had to leave his job with KRIPO, and is eeking a living as a House Detective for an upscale hotel in Berlin.

 

Naturally there is a murder that will not be investigated, the victim is not "ethnically correct", so Bernie is investigating. Throw in some American gansters, and...oh...did I mention there is a beautiful woman involved? Of course there is.

I'd call this noir, and the book certainly has those overtones, but Kerr is far too descriptive a writer for this to be truly "noir". Sometimes his descriptive powers are a little over-powering, but priceless all the same.

Just when we think Bernie's story is over, the story jumps to 1954 Havana, Cuba. Just prior to Fidel Castro's revolution. Revenge, murder and twists of fate abound.

 

Good stuff.

[pontalba]

An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi 4/5

 

What could have been a straight up and down story is turned into a personal search for......redemption perhaps.

 

Clare Moorhouse is the American wife of a British diplomat stationed in Paris. Her life is mapped out for her in great precision, with every detail to be planned ahead of time. The possibility of her husband being posted as Ambassador to Ireland throws a definite spanner into her life. You see, Clare has secrets that even her husband of 20 years is unaware of and could threaten both her sanity and freedom.

 

Other complications arise during her Mrs. Dalloway-like excursion into the markets of Paris to obtain the essentials of an important dinner party, a party that could affect the outcome of her husband's career. Is the person she has given directions to a terrorist, an assassin? And the face she continues to see, one from her past that haunts her.....is it real or imagined?

 

The story is told in both the present, and flashbacks to Clare's youth, which for the most part is typical All-American girl. No fodder for the newspapers there. But for a few months her life is an open book, but those few months could blast her entire present life into smithereens.

 

Recommended.

[pontalba]

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory 5/5

 

A well written, and presented version of Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of the "Princes in the Tower" supposedly murdered by their Uncle, King Richard. This is so much more though, the story of the brothers is set in the historical background it deserves. The War of the Roses will be pretty much represented in this series of Philippa Gregory of 6 books. This, The White Queen is the first of that series.

Gregory comes up with a plausible version of what might have happened to the Princes, that I think even their mother, Queen Elizabeth (Woodville, the first one) accepted. The period is brought to life by Gregory, beautifully. I look forward to the rest of the series.  Maybe now I will get the time table of the War of the Roses.

 

Recommended, great historical fiction.

[Little Pixie]

An Unexpected Guest sounds very good - I`m quite tempted to add to it my TBR list.

 

I`ve got that Philip Kerr book as well - I`ve read the first 3 or 4 in the series, and have the rest to get through.

[poppyshake]

I like the sound of The White Queen, I'm so interested in that particular piece of history. Will put it on my wishlist .. thanks Kat 

[pontalba]

An Unexpected Guest sounds very good - I`m quite tempted to add to it my TBR list.

 

I`ve got that Philip Kerr book as well - I`ve read the first 3 or 4 in the series, and have the rest to get through.

My husband read An Unexpected Guest right after I did, and actually rated it higher than I did!

I've got several Kerr books....some of that series, and Kill Shot as well.

 

I like the sound of The White Queen, I'm so interested in that particular piece of history. Will put it on my wishlist .. thanks Kat 

  I'm glad!

 

Just finished The Red Queen.....man that Margaret Beaufort was a piece of work! Yikes!

[pontalba]

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 4/5

 

The Red Queen, named so for the red rose of the House of Lancaster, is the story of pious Margaret Beaufort, mother to the future King Henry VII of England. By will alone she brought her son to the throne of England through several York kings, lastly the infamous King Richard III.

Her story is told in first person, as is the prequel The White Queen. This tale dovetails nicely with The White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville's story. The different takes on the events are illuminating, and the bigger picture begins to emerge.

[Little Pixie]

My husband read An Unexpected Guest right after I did, and actually rated it higher than I did!

I've got several Kerr books....some of that series, and Kill Shot as well.

 

  I'm glad!

 

Just finished The Red Queen.....man that Margaret Beaufort was a piece of work! Yikes!

 

Erm, is it this one ? Thanks for the tip - I hadn`t realised he`d written `non-Bernie books` as well.

 

Hmm, I think An Unexpected Guest now might need to be looked at in a ` think about buying it` way.

[pontalba]

Erm, is it this one ? Thanks for the tip - I hadn`t realised he`d written `non-Bernie books` as well.

 

Hmm, I think An Unexpected Guest now might need to be looked at in a ` think about buying it` way.

 

Yes, that is the one.    I haven't read it yet, but if I like it as well as the Kerr I've already read......I'll be happy.

[Little Pixie]

Yes, that is the one.    I haven't read it yet, but if I like it as well as the Kerr I've already read......I'll be happy.

 

For some reason, the Bernie books remind me a lot of the Arkady Renko books ( Martin Cruz Smith ) - don`t know if you`ve come across those ? The first one - Gorky Park - was made into a film.

[pontalba]

For some reason, the Bernie books remind me a lot of the Arkady Renko books ( Martin Cruz Smith ) - don`t know if you`ve come across those ? The first one - Gorky Park - was made into a film.

I have it, read it a long time ago.  I have a few other of Smith's books, unread........as of yet.

[pontalba]

They closed the Books-A-Million store in Covington, the closest town to us...but they kept the space and put in a 2nd & Charles store....it's a second hand book/DVD/CD/games/stuff store.  They have great sales as well.  Today they had a "Buy 5, Get 5 Free" sale.  You know where we were earlier today, right?

 

We bought.........

 

Catherine deMedici, Renaissance Queen of France by Leonie Frieda

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

Arming America, the origins of a national gun culture by Michael A. Bellesiles

The Inheritance of Rome, Illuminating the Dark Ages by Chris Wickham

The Great Fire of Rome, The fall of the Emperor Nero and his city, by Stephen Dando-Collins

The Wall by John Marks

Cloak of Darkness by Helen MacInnes

Edward VI by Chris Skidmore

Right As Rain}

Drama City}  all by George Pelecanos

Soul Circus}

[Athena]

I've never seen a "Buy 5, Get 5 Free" sale, it sounds awesome! (although of course buy 1 get 1 free is technically seen, better)

 

I'm glad you had fun .

[Little Pixie]

I have it, read it a long time ago.  I have a few other of Smith's books, unread........as of yet.

 

As someone with a TBR list approaching 700, I don`t think I can appear to be shocked that someone else has unread books.

 

The books look good : I hadn`t heard of Helen MacInnes until recently, and got a couple of her books to try ( or perhaps just to sit decoratively in the pile  ).

[pontalba]

I've never seen a "Buy 5, Get 5 Free" sale, it sounds awesome! (although of course buy 1 get 1 free is technically seen, better)

 

I'm glad you had fun .

  Thanks, it was.....even though we were tired by the time we got there.

 

As someone with a TBR list approaching 700, I don`t think I can appear to be shocked that someone else has unread books.

 

The books look good : I hadn`t heard of Helen MacInnes until recently, and got a couple of her books to try ( or perhaps just to sit decoratively in the pile  ).

 

LOL  I'm in the same boat TBR wise, but there are just so many books out there to appeal! 

Our book count of "yours, mine, and ours" comes to, at the moment 7,814, and as a guess, I'd say less than half are "TBR".  However, and that's a big HOWEVER.  However, I at least, go on tears of reading certain subjects......right now, for the moment, it's the War of the Roses.  And due to that present interest, I bought a couple of the books in the above list.  So, that adds to the TBR list. 

 

TBR lists are funny things.  Ours are flexible in that as our interest wanders we might buy new books in a certain genre to follow that interest and allow others to go by the wayside.  When I get off this War of the Roses, I'll go back to Elizabethan interests.  But certain mysteries/detective stories will intrude on that.  And....who knows, we may see something else on the way.

Between my husband and myself, we probably read about...well...right now I think I have 50-odd books on my list that I've read so far this year, and he has 40-odd books.  So, whatever that ends up as a yearly total is it.  I'd say not quite double that figure as already read books. 

 

We also have "deferred" lists...books that we might get back to, and then there are books we have started and abandoned, never to be finished.  /sigh/  Thank goodness I married someone as nutty about books as I am! 

[julie]

Wow !!!

 

 

7814   books - Now THAT is a huge book collection .  

 

How does that number stack up in here ? Does anyone have a higher number than that ?

 

And how do you keep them all catalogued ? Do you have them listed online, or in notebooks, or what way do you keep them organized ?

[pontalba]

Organization?  Hah, that ended, mostly, when Charles's books arrived.  Most everything is shelved, but only organized into rough sections.  I know where a lot of it is, but some few I have lots of trouble finding.  But they turn up eventually. hee hee   I try to at least shelve the new arrivals by genre. 

 

What we need really is for Frankie to come over and organize us! lol

 

I have them listed in three accounts on Library Thing, and have over half listed on Goodreads.

But the Library Thing account(s) are the way I really keep accurate track of what we have.

 

Oh, lots of people have more.....I read about a couple of collections in the New York Times years ago.  One person had over 20,000 books and another over 30,000.

[julie]

Holy Smokes, I can't even imagine that many books in one house ! 20,000 is probably more than our town library has .

Do you have just one room that you keep them all in as your main library, or do you have shelves all over the house ?

[pontalba]

lol  We have shelves everywhere!  I counted up once, and we have equivalent to 75 bookcases.  Practically every possible wall is taken up.  The upstairs hall, the downstairs hall, Two walls in the media room, ceiling to floor.  It's a large living room, and we have it divided with two rows of back to back bookcases, and another wall in there as well.  There is a doubling back staircase in the middle of the house and we have bookcases all around that as well.  In the study/computer room the two long walls are built in bookcases.  In fact the background in my avatar is a partial picture of one of those walls.  Oh, and I converted a hall closet by the front door into a ceiling to floor three sided bookcase.   

Then there are the stacks in here as well.  /sigh/