Peacefield Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 (edited) Hey, guys! I thought it was time I revive my own personal book blog after not having done so in a year or two. What I slacker, huh? Between work and other hobbies/interests I can't seem to keep my hands out of, my reading life is steady although a bit slow at times. I also may have many books on my wishlist and TBR shelves, but my mood dictates everything so when I finish one book it sometimes can take me a bit to decide what to read next. I also might look at my shelves and think everything is all wrong so I'll go out and find something new or re-read a book, which I like to do too, if I'm in the mood . I really read any genre of book, with a heavy bent towards historical fiction or any type of mystery to do with art or literature. Until a few years ago I never even so much as dipped a toe in the supernatural world but now I love it, and the same goes for YA. I've never read any fantasy (i.e. George R.R. Martin-type books) but I'd be open to it. In short, feel free to throw recommendations at me, I love them! Below is a a combo of my wishlist and TBR books, plus some re-reads I'd like to do in the future. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato High Fidelity - Nick Hornby Lake of Dead Languages -Carol Goodman Let's Kill Uncle - Rohan O'Grady Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton House at Riverton - Kate Morton The Last Bookaneer - Matthew Pearl Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami Luncheon of the Boating Party - Susan Vreeland Bellman & Black - Diane Setterfield One Thousand White Women - Jim Fergus Delicate Edible Birds - Lauren Groff Arcadia -Lauren Groff Conversion - Katherine Howe The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen - Katherine Howe The Art Thief - Noah Charney How to Buy a Love of Reading - Tanya Egan Gibson The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins Nerd Do Well - Simon Pegg The Eye of Zoltar (Chronicles of Kazam book 3) - Jasper Fforde Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde Forever - Maggie Steifvater Sinner - Maggie Steifvater Boundary Waters - William Kent Krueger Popco - Scarlett Thomas Underdogs - Marcus Zusak The Emigrants - Johan Bojer Peder Victorious - O.E. Rolvaag Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke Cut to the Quick - Kate Ross (re-read) Broken Vessel - Kate Ross (re-read) Whom the Gods Love - Kate Ross (re-read) The Devil in Music - Kate Ross (re-read) The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (re-read) Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears (re-read) Physic Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe (re-read) The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (re-read) The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl (re-read) Edited January 6, 2016 by Peacefield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I read 4 of the books on your TBR list and recommend all 4. One Thousand White Women - Jim Fergus (this was a wonderful read for me) From Amazon - One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time. Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde (Jasper Fforde, what else do I need say - it is a good read and I am anxiously waiting for the next in this new series) The Eye of Zoltar (Chronicles of Kazam book 3) - Jasper Fforde (since you have read the first two I don't really have to recommend the third book to you) The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins ( this book was on the best seller list for a long, long, time - and still is - I enjoyed the book) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 What did you think of The Fountainhead? Did you read Atlas Shrugged? Just curious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I'm always happy to see a new reading log. I hope you have a lot of fun with your reading . I haven't read any of the books on your TBR-list, so I couldn't comment, though I have a few on my TBR or a different book by the author on my TBR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) Of the ones on your TBR list, I have read: The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (re-read) Popco - Scarlett Thomas Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton I absolutely loved The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was so original and beautifully written, but I had to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it. I read The Fountainhead many years ago (after seeing it referred to in Dirty Dancing ) but I can't remember too much about it and I think I was too immature to get the message. I thought PopCo started off interesting, but then went off on an over-the-top anti-capitalism rant that sounded like preaching rather than storytelling. I found Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell to be a bit too long for my liking, but I'm not that much into fantasy books. The Girl on the Train was ok, but didn't live up to the hype and the main character irritated me. I loved The Forgotten Garden, and I must read The House at Riverton (which is on my TBR pile, but I just never seem to get around to it). Happy reading. Edited August 31, 2015 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Muggle - I've been looking forward to reading One Thousand White Women so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! Pioneering/old west stories really appeal to me and it sounds right up my alley! Both Jasper Fforde books I know will be great; with him you can't go wrong, right?! Anna and Bobbly - I first read Fountainhead during college and really liked it but like you, Bobbly, I wasn't sure I grasped the concept. I read it again a few years later and loved it. I didn't enjoy Atlas Shrugged as much, and that was mostly due to the female protagonist (I think her name was Dagny), who really rubbed me the wrong way. Thank you for warning me about Popco, Bobbly. I started it in the past and wasn't in the mood so I put it back on the shelf, but a book that turns preach-y like that I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy. The Morton books both sound interesting to me! I don't think I've heard anything negative here on BCF about The Forgotten Garden, in fact . Thanks, Athena, I'm looking forward to working on my lists! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Anna and Bobbly - I first read Fountainhead during college and really liked it but like you, Bobbly, I wasn't sure I grasped the concept. I read it again a few years later and loved it. I didn't enjoy Atlas Shrugged as much, and that was mostly due to the female protagonist (I think her name was Dagny), who really rubbed me the wrong way. I think I liked Atlas Shrugged more because it was so effortless in its philosophy. Objectivism was such an underlying theme, where as in The Fountainhead, it seems like every. sentence. means. something. Which I don't mind, it's just that it took me so long, I sort of think of it as my nemesis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Books make good nemeses, don't they, Anna? I finished Iron Lake over the weekend and am still thinking on what to read next. I feel like I'm still in the mood for a fast-moving, suspenseful book, so I might pick up the second William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series, Boundary Waters. Is anyone on the board an Iain Pears fan? His new book called Arcadia is due out very soon and I'm pretty excited Here's the blurb from Amazon: This is a captivating adventure story with huge heart and dazzling imaginative power, from the best-selling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost. Three interlocking worlds. Four people looking for answers. But who controls the future - or the past? In the basement of a professor's house in 1960s Oxford, fifteen-year-old Rosie goes in search of a missing cat - and instead finds herself in a different world. Anterwold is a sun-drenched land of storytellers, prophecies and ritual. But is this world real - and what happens if she decides to stay? Meanwhile, in a sterile laboratory, a rebellious scientist is trying to prove that time does not even exist - with potentially devastating consequences. Pears wrote one of my favorite novels, Instance of the Fingerpost but hasn't released anything since 2009 so it's thrilling now that there's something new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 (edited) This is a book that you may like. I read it about 3 years ago and recall that it was enjoyable. Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied—shocking their families and friends. “No young lady in our town,” Dorothy later commented, “had ever been hired by anybody.”They took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by spring wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, where they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied on barrel staves, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The man who had lured them out west was Ferry Carpenter, a witty, idealistic, and occasionally outrageous young lawyer and cattle rancher. He had promised them the adventure of a lifetime and the most modern schoolhouse in Routt County; he hadn’t let on that the teachers would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals.That year transformed the children, their families, and the undaunted teachers themselves. Dorothy and Rosamond learned how to handle unruly children who had never heard the Pledge of Allegiance and thought Ferry Carpenter was the president of the United States; they adeptly deflected the amorous advances of hopeful cowboys; and they saw one of their closest friends violently kidnapped by two coal miners. Carpenter’s marital scheme turned out to be more successful than even he had hoped and had a surprising twist some forty years later. Edited September 1, 2015 by muggle not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 That definitely sounds like something I would enjoy, Muggle, thanks! Even if it's a fictional account (based on various events), it's always so interesting to me to get some insight on what life was like in the earlier centuries. I've added this one to my wishlist . I was standing waffling in front of my bookcases last night, not knowing what book to start. I decided to read the first page of The Last Bookaneer and it felt right so I read until I turned the light out. I haven't read any Pearl in a few years so I'm looking forward to it! London, 1890—Pen Davenport is the most infamous bookaneer in Europe. A master of disguise, he makes his living stalking harbors, coffeehouses, and print shops for the latest manuscript to steal. But this golden age of publishing is on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: books could easily be published without an author’s permission. Authors gained fame but suffered financially—Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few—but publishers reaped enormous profits while readers bought books inexpensively. Yet on the eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is signed to grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The bookaneers are on the verge of extinction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 That definitely sounds like something I would enjoy, Muggle, thanks! Even if it's a fictional account (based on various events), it's always so interesting to me to get some insight on what life was like in the earlier centuries. I've added this one to my wishlist . I was standing waffling in front of my bookcases last night, not knowing what book to start. I decided to read the first page of The Last Bookaneer and it felt right so I read until I turned the light out. I haven't read any Pearl in a few years so I'm looking forward to it! London, 1890—Pen Davenport is the most infamous bookaneer in Europe. A master of disguise, he makes his living stalking harbors, coffeehouses, and print shops for the latest manuscript to steal. But this golden age of publishing is on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: books could easily be published without an author’s permission. Authors gained fame but suffered financially—Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few—but publishers reaped enormous profits while readers bought books inexpensively. Yet on the eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is signed to grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The bookaneers are on the verge of extinction. The book is supposed to be based on the author's grandmother and is factual. I think you will like the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I was standing waffling in front of my bookcases last night, not knowing what book to start. I decided to read the first page of The Last Bookaneer and it felt right so I read until I turned the light out. I haven't read any Pearl in a few years so I'm looking forward to it! London, 1890—Pen Davenport is the most infamous bookaneer in Europe. A master of disguise, he makes his living stalking harbors, coffeehouses, and print shops for the latest manuscript to steal. But this golden age of publishing is on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: books could easily be published without an author’s permission. Authors gained fame but suffered financially—Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few—but publishers reaped enormous profits while readers bought books inexpensively. Yet on the eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is signed to grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The bookaneers are on the verge of extinction. Glad you found something to enjoy! The book sounds fun. I hope I didn't offend you when I said I didn't normally read Historical Fiction (way back a few weeks ago!) I really like your thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 Glad you found something to enjoy! The book sounds fun. I hope I didn't offend you when I said I didn't normally read Historical Fiction (way back a few weeks ago!) I really like your thread Oh no, not at all, Anna! As you can tell I do like a bit of historical fiction Variety is the spice of life, though, right? It's all good and I'm glad you pop in my thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 Sorry I'm so late to the party, but there were some unexpected things happening over the weekend and I haven't been able to come on the forum before yesterday. I'm really glad to see you've now set up your thread! I have to say, I haven't read many from your wishlist/TBR, but those that I have read I've loved These titles are The Girl on the Train and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Highly recommended! Let's Kill Uncle - Rohan O'Grady Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton House at Riverton - Kate Morton The Last Bookaneer - Matthew Pearl Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami These are all on my wishlist, the Murakami book is on my TBR. I was reading your post about The Last Bookaneer and thought that's going on my list Almost should've known that it was a Matthew Pearl book I've still to read that one book of his that I own... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 Oh no, not at all, Anna! As you can tell I do like a bit of historical fiction Variety is the spice of life, though, right? It's all good and I'm glad you pop in my thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Sorry I'm so late to the party, but there were some unexpected things happening over the weekend and I haven't been able to come on the forum before yesterday. I'm really glad to see you've now set up your thread! I have to say, I haven't read many from your wishlist/TBR, but those that I have read I've loved These titles are The Girl on the Train and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Highly recommended! These are all on my wishlist, the Murakami book is on my TBR. I was reading your post about The Last Bookaneer and thought that's going on my list Almost should've known that it was a Matthew Pearl book I've still to read that one book of his that I own... I'm glad to hear you loved Girl on the Train and Jonathan Strange! I admit I started the latter at one time but was not in the right mood so I put it back on my shelf. I had a feeling I would probably enjoy it though so I kept it for a later date Which Pearl book? The Dante Club? Frankie, Frankie Frankie... I was up at the cabin this weekend and surprisingly didn't get much reading in! I was busy enjoying the weather and doing yard work followed by evening-watching of Midsomer Murders so by the time I went to bed I was wiped. On Friday before I went up I ran to Half Price Books and managed to find a copy of Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger, the 2nd book in the Cork O'Connor series so that was very exciting! I also found out that Iain Pears' new one, Arcadia, isn't out here in the US until 2016 but in the UK it came out last week, so I wandered over to the Book Depository site and ordered it . Can't wait! How was everyone else's weekend? Did you get lots of reading in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) I'm glad to hear you loved Girl on the Train and Jonathan Strange! I admit I started the latter at one time but was not in the right mood so I put it back on my shelf. I had a feeling I would probably enjoy it though so I kept it for a later date It's such a long novel that if you're pretty sure you're not in the mood for it, there's no sense in forcing it. It's just going to cause annoyance and the poor book won't be enjoyed as much as it otherwise might have been. Which Pearl book? The Dante Club? Frankie, Frankie Frankie... Yep, that's the one Shame on me! I was up at the cabin this weekend and surprisingly didn't get much reading in! I was busy enjoying the weather and doing yard work followed by evening-watching of Midsomer Murders so by the time I went to bed I was wiped. Come winter, and there's no yard work, and loads of cold and miserable weather, and plenty of reading time... Might as well enjoy the outdoors while one still can Sounds like a perfectly relaxing weekend I didn't know you got Midsomer Murders on TV over there! How was everyone else's weekend? Did you get lots of reading in? No reading I missed the read-a-thon, too, which annoys me. I wish next weekend was read-a-thon... Edited September 8, 2015 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I'm glad to hear you loved Girl on the Train and Jonathan Strange! I admit I started the latter at one time but was not in the right mood so I put it back on my shelf. I had a feeling I would probably enjoy it though so I kept it for a later date Which Pearl book? The Dante Club? Frankie, Frankie Frankie... I was up at the cabin this weekend and surprisingly didn't get much reading in! I was busy enjoying the weather and doing yard work followed by evening-watching of Midsomer Murders so by the time I went to bed I was wiped. On Friday before I went up I ran to Half Price Books and managed to find a copy of Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger, the 2nd book in the Cork O'Connor series so that was very exciting! I also found out that Iain Pears' new one, Arcadia, isn't out here in the US until 2016 but in the UK it came out last week, so I wandered over to the Book Depository site and ordered it . Can't wait! How was everyone else's weekend? Did you get lots of reading in? I am glad to hear this about Girl on a Train as well, I own it and it's just sitting on my Kindle (a rare occurrence!). Saw you had a nice Labor Day holiday in the September thread, glad you had some nice weather... you are in the North, right? We are cooking here. Supposed to be 104. Did a bit of reading myself, with the read a thon. No reading I missed the read-a-thon, too, which annoys me. I wish next weekend was read-a-thon... I made mine 4 days instead of 3 If you do one next weekend, post, I'd love to see how you do! Good to see you around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I made mine 4 days instead of 3 If you do one next weekend, post, I'd love to see how you do! Good to see you around! I love a good 4 day read-a-thon Okay I'll post, if I end up doing one! Would you be interested next weekend, too? Not that I'm promising to do any reading, because I'm not sure if something else will come up before that... But it's a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 (edited) I love a good 4 day read-a-thon Okay I'll post, if I end up doing one! Would you be interested next weekend, too? Not that I'm promising to do any reading, because I'm not sure if something else will come up before that... But it's a possibility. I might be away this weekend or next, but maybe?? ~OR~ Maybe we can do a Halloween one (in October). Peacefield- might be a good way to knock off something on the TBR ^^ Edited September 9, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I might be away this weekend or next, but maybe?? ~OR~ Maybe we can do a Halloween one (in October). But that's ages away... But sure, that's an idea, too! We had one impromptu Halloween read-a-thon last year and it was fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I'd be up for a Halloween one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Do Halloween Read-a-thons require scary books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Hey, guys! Oh I'm sorry I haven't posted in a couple days! I came to sneak a couple of peeks but it's been a bit of a crazy week. After tomorrow though it's the weekend and I have Monday off so yahoo for that! Right, Frankie, lots of miserable weather in the winter so I'll be working on my 'indoor' activities, keeping myself busy while I'm in my powered-down and just a wee bit grumpy winter mood. It's one thing about living here is that we really enjoy the summer months as long as we can before hell literally freezes over . If only there was such a thing as a perpetual autumn! I'm looking forward to reading Jonathan Strange and then seeing the mini-series. I get Midsomer Murders on Netflix. We stream it on the Apple TV usually and I believe there are 14 seasons and both my mom and I are hooked! You are a fan, I take it? Anna, yep, I'm in Minnesota. Are you in So. Cal? I have 3 siblings who are all in So. Cal. I was out in May and was laughing at them because it was cold to them but for me it was perfect! They've been away from a MN too long, methinks I'll confess, guys, I've never done a read-a-thon. I'm not even sure I know what it is! Do you just try to read as many books as you can in a certain time period? I might not finish, but I'd certainly be up for trying! I haven't read a scary book in a long time, Noll, so that'd be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 (edited) I'll confess, guys, I've never done a read-a-thon. I'm not even sure I know what it is! Do you just try to read as many books as you can in a certain time period? I might not finish, but I'd certainly be up for trying! I haven't read a scary book in a long time, Noll, so that'd be fun! Well, we just try to read a lot . Usually we don't have any set goals on amount of books or themes or anything. We have a monthly read-a-thon (last page of the thread linked currently). Last year there was an extra Halloween read-a-thon, I believe people did read somewhat scary books (I didn't participate), but we could think about doing that. I have some scary(-ish) books I could read for it. EDIT: I've posted here. Edited September 11, 2015 by Athena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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