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bethany725

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About bethany725

  • Birthday 07/25/1982

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  • Reading now?
    The House I First Believed -Wally Lamb
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location:
    Atlanta, GA

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  1. Just wanted to update everyone that I made it to and from London safely! The book shoppes were fabulous - I have to say that I think my favorite was the new(ish?) Waterstones near Piccadilly. I mean honestly... it was pretty much heaven. I brought back a whole extra bag of books (husband's frequent flier status allowed for extra baggage), and even read a few books while I was in London! Totally a success. Thanks to everyone who helped out by giving me suggestions! I appreciate it!
  2. Happy Birthday Bethany. I hope all is well and happy with you, x

  3. This is amazing, Vodkafan! Thank you so, so much! I'm more than happy to both split them up over multiple days (I'll be there about 5 days), and also happy to walk quite a bit... NYC living prepared me for lots of walking, so I'm good to go there. I appreciate you grouping these together for me - gives me a lay of the land, and a plan about how to break things up over a few different outings. Excited to make it to as many of these as I can!
  4. My trip IS soon! I'm compiling my list today to start building out my routes, so I came back to this thread for reference. I'll be leaving Friday, arriving Saturday. I think the bookstores I'm going to hit up for sure are in the following areas... Anyone know which may be good to group together, just in terms of proximity? Foyles - Charing Cross, SOHO Secondhand stores off from Charing Cross, towards Trafalgar Square (Cecil Court) Waterstones - Piccadilly Lutyens & Rubenstein - Notting Hill Daunt Books - Marylebone (seems like everyone suggestions this one as the best Daunt Books... is this accurate?) Primrose Hill Books
  5. This is awesome... Thanks, James. I will definitely visit Cecil Court!
  6. This is awesome - Thank you, guys! I HOPE I have to buy an extra suitcase or mail my large volume of books I find.
  7. Hi guys I'm planning a trip to London for a week, and plan to spend a day just visiting different bookstores around the city. I've started doing some research and compiling a list... then it hit me that you guys would probably be a great resource. If it helps to know, I'd like to visit both some chains and independents, and I read mostly fiction novels. I'm also hoping to just visit some stores that maybe have a unique or special atmosphere, even if their book topics aren't things I buy all the time. Some of the ones I'm eyeing so far are... Daunt Books Clerkenwell Tales Waterstone's Stoke Newington Book Shop Any suggestions? Thanks so much! Beth
  8. Be sure to shoot me a message when you track it down and start reading it... I'll be curious to hear your thoughts, Weave!
  9. Review for "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt: I ran hot and cold with this one... The writing was beautiful, and really brought the characters to life. I can almost SEE Boris in front of me, and I can hear his voice EXACTLY when I read the passages spoken by this Ukrainian misfit. Same for Andy... Through Theo's descriptions, I can just see him poking his glasses up on his nose, and hear him wheezing and sniffling due to his apparent need to live in a bubble. There were days when I couldn't put this book down due to being so drawn in, and then, on the flip side, there were days when the prose made me want to do anything BUT keep reading this story. It's heavy-handedly beautiful, as opposed to beautifully heavy-handed. The story is compelling, especially through Theo's time in NYC towards the beginning. However, soon after, his time in Vegas seemed to stretch on forever, and unnecessarily so. The compulsion picked up again upon his initial return to NYC, and then through the latter part of NYC and into Amsterdam, I was frustrated again at just how long things were dragged on. The horse... He was dead. As for the last 30 pages, I was about fed up and I couldn't help but resort to skimming... The ending felt incredibly self-indulgent to me. There are actually some wonderful Theo-learned lessons delivered during the last (15-page) stream of consciousness, but they're so far buried within the rambling that one must really FOCUS to pull them out, and after 755 pages of running hot and cold, focus wasn't my strong point at the time. Overall lessons for me: The power of the human spirit's will to survive, despite life being downright sad sometimes. One bad decision leads to another, sometimes as quickly as a sweater unraveling. And "We can't choose who we are and what we want." (I actually pulled out one of Theo's life lessons in those last 15 pages.) It's one of those books where you both love and hate so many of the characters, and you feel both so hopeful and hopeless simultaneously about life, and despite some quirks along the way, any author who can make me feel that is someone I'm likely to try again.
  10. Your favourite read of the year? Your favourite author of the year? Your most read author of the year? Your favourite book cover of the year? The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? The book that most disappointed you? The funniest book of the year? Your favourite literary character this year? Your favourite children's book this year? Your favourite classic of the year? Your favourite non-fiction book this year? Your favourite biography this year? Your favourite collection of short stories this year? Your favourite poetry collection this year? Your favourite illustrated book of the year? Your favourite publisher of the year? Your favourite audiobook of the year? Your favourite re-read of the year?
  11. Keeping mine pretty short, focusing on a bit of a "unversal list" that I'd recommend to just about anyone regardless of gender, age (within reason), cultural background, and interests. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese (with the disclaimer to stay with it to get past the first 150 pages or so) Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay (with the disclaimer that it's very sad in parts) The Fault in our Stars - John Green
  12. I saw Disney's new animated feature, "Frozen", last night. Loved it! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/ http://movies.disney.com/frozen - warning: link has sound as soon as you open it http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frozen_2013/
  13. I'm about 1/4 of the way through "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb... Decent so far, but I wouldn't say it's "riveting" or anything.
  14. To Read The Shadow of the Wind -Carlos Ruiz Zafon Pride and Prejudice -Jane Austen The Goldfinch -Donna Tartt The Secret History -Donna Tartt And the Mountains Echoed -Khaled Hosseine Longbourn -JoBaker Eleanor & Park -Rainbow Rowell Read The Goldfinch -Donna Tartt (3/5) Rating Scale: 1-5 (5 being highest)
  15. Happy birthday Bethany! Hope you have a wonderful day x

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