pontalba

Good grief! We've had so much rain that it hasn't been quite as hot. But the humidity has been bad enough! Low 90'sF through the rest of and next week. Maybe even 89F on Saturday. Hope yours breaks soon!

The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory 5/5 Out of the three books of The Cousin's War series (of 6) that I have read so far, this one is the most compelling. Partially because, I think, it is a culmination of contemporaneous views. We've already seen Elizabeth Grey Woodville's and Margaret Beaufort's versions of the events of the conflict. This book, Anne Neville, Warwick's daughter's view, ties it up beautifully helping us to see the reasons everyone seemed to blame the "other side" for the war. Misunderstandings, distrust and emnity ruled their thinking. And let us not forget old fashioned greed. Or superstion. Anne may be the most innocent of the three. She is a complete pawn all throughout the conflict. First married to a "King", a failed one, widowed of, and daughter of a "traitor" to the York side. Then rescued by Richard, the youngest of the York brothers, she finally comes into her own. Richard III, the youngest of the York boys. Accused of murdering his brother Edwards boys, he has been villified thoughtout history. But what evidence is there, actually of this crime? Gregory presents some very credible versions of what could have happened to the Princes in the Tower, and Richard seems an innocent in this case. I can't wait for the next one to come out...The White Princess. Soon. Soon.

Julie, did you see this article in the New York Times? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/nyregion/answer-to-a-1985-disappearance-is-found-behind-a-false-wall.html?_r=0 What a story.

We love it too! We're watching The Sopranos on DVD. I'd not seen it, except for a few scenes. Whoa! Only the first season so far. More to come.

I actually couldn't stand the book at the time, but I do feel that Holden was totally misunderstood by most readers. He is in a great deal of pain, and dealing with it in the only way he knows......rebellion. I believe I like the book a bit better in retrospect to tell the truth. I also felt at the time of reading that I wished I'd read it as a young person, reading it in my late 50's was definitely not the best time!

What a sweetie your hubby is. I read the Bond books when I was, oh, I guess in my late teens or early 20's, and enjoyed them. However, I recently reread a few, and was underwhelmed. That said, some are better than others. I've downloaded it to my Kindle....will read it closer to August. Whoops, meant to add, I'm reading World War Z......it is fabulous! And, I might add, not a book I'd pick up ordinarily. But. Husband bought it after we saw the film previews at the theatre. /sigh/ I'm 38% in and...loving it. It's as hubby said......it's like reading newspaper reports of the future. War reports. Fascinating.

Try looking on ABE Booksellers site. They list books for sale from various vendors, small independent booksellers. If you search the name of the book on their site, it may be listed and give you a ballpark figure. I have to tell you, old books are not as valuable as one would hope.

Thanks! I know I will. In fact I'm about a third of the way through World War Z, and enjoying it immensely. LOL I have to say that The Red Queen, although fascinating to me, was not as "good" (I know, in the eye of the beholder) as The White Queen. That said....I've read The Kingmaker's Daughter, and absolutely loved it. Review to follow, soon. I'm holding the Lady of the Rivers to the side temporarily...hadda read Z.....husband loves it. And so do I!! Absolutely. Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean no one is after you.........always remember that!! /giggle/

I'll definitely purchase this.....but not till the price comes down some.

I'm reading The Kingmakers Daughter.....next after The Red Queen, and I love the way all three books dovetail in their telling of the same story. Fascinating.

Devi...I hope you are feeling some better. Never be embarrassed!!!!!!! Ahhh, the old doggie door...well, ours leap into the Jeep as we pass book sales! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Hot. Humid. Occasional thunderstorms. Huge, very black cloud banks in most directions. bleech.

Whoops, forgot to mention we bought two books.....another copy of World War Z...Charles is still reading it, and I want to start it as soon as I finish The Kingmakers Daughter. That'll probably be today if I can get off line. Oh, I was able to get the original cover art for this copy, so as his is the movie version it's a bit different. hee hee The other book is his. The Universe in the Rearview Mirror, How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality by Dave Goldberg.

Rob Lowe?? Gawd. Sean Dillon's character is supposed to be short, slight and have very pale hair and I believe pale eyes. I repeat........Rob Lowe????? Re second hand books, definitely! We have great Library Sales here, plus two nice second hand stores. Plus there is always Amazon Marketplace with their one cent books.

I liked it. I was actually surprised that Carey was so good in it. He is really talented.

@Athena...I think your exchanges with your BF sound lovely. Obviously you both are able to listen to and appreciate the other's passions. That is a wonderful thing! @ Devi...Yes, the stacks do have a tendency to pile up, and a smaller tv stand sounds just the ticket. I bet you could find one with shelves too. lol @ Julie...Hah, don't mention the "M" word! I won't think about it. hee hee And, yes, the RH factor, don't they call it? Insulation value in your exterior walls? @ Little Pixie...It's a fantastic mode of decorating....very artistic! If I may say so. lol @ Alexi...Yes! Embrace your inner Waterstones! By all means! You know, I kind of figure that the books are an investment in the future, one never knows if they'll cut down on printing actual books, and we live in hurricane country where the electricity can go out for weeks at the time if a storm really hits us. How would we charge kindles, etc?? Nope, while I like my kindle(s), me like actual books.

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/

Lily is adorable! Such a sweet girl! I tend towards Jojo...mostly because of the repetitive nature of the sounds. I think the pet responds a bit more to that sort of sound. But Chica is cute. I love calicos! Such a sweet girl! I've read that all calicos are female.

Julie, I can't tell you how happy I am for you!! Happy Days! About a thousand pounds just slipped off your shoulders! YAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

I had not even heard of the book. Just looked it up on Amazon/U.S. and the synopsis is certainly interesting. But here is a quote from the "About the Author"... lol BOLDING IS MINE........ Thanks for posting Janet. I need more books!

I've read the Donna Leon book above and really enjoyed it, I want to read more of her books. I've been really torn on the Mary Russell books. I absolutely loved the first two or three, but as Holmes slowly slipped out of the books, my enjoyment lessened in parallel. I didn't even read several in between, but did read, I think the last two and they were better. Maybe King listened to the gripes about Holmes absence. I read IQ84 and, sort of in spite of myself, enjoyed it. It isn't easily forgotten, and grows on you as time goes by I find. I've read a couple of Murakami and am ambivalent on his writing. Love the Sean Dillon/Jack Higgins series. That's the version we bought. I was really tempted to buy the trio in paperback though, it was beautiful.

We'd bought World War Z as we saw the previews of the movie at the theatre. I didn't have too much hope for it, but my husband is reading it now, and really likes it. He said it's like reading the newspaper of the future. Hopefully, I'll read it as soon as he finishes..... The author, Max Brooks is the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, two fabulous actors, so obviously talent runs in the family!

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