pontalba

It's more than likely that I will, muggle. I did like it, and as I mentioned to Anna, I'm not usually a fan of Magic Realism. But I'm coming around more lately and BC had just the right amount for me. Thanks, Kylie! Ah, yes. Limbo Land. Know it well. /sigh-giggle/ We've been to another Estate Sale and found a few books.....and a desktop computer. lol Charles's went toes up. The list is, as follows: Dominion by C.J. Sansom (I'd debated about this for at least a year, but for a dollar...) The Missing by Tim Gautreaux It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis One Step Behind by Henning Mankell The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinberg Destination Morgue by James Ellroy Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman Influence and Intertextuality in Literary History by Jay Clayton The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie (hardback, already had softback... ) Malignant Self Love, Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin, PhD, Lidija Rangelovska (editor)

Interesting reviews, Diane. I really enjoyed The Husband's Secret, and Big Little Lies is on one of the stacks around here...can't wait to get to it, especially with your review. The Ice Twins sounds right up my alley too. Have a great reading year!

Hah, truth tell, I haven't finished SPQR yet, still about 100 pages to go. I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed. Re David Mitchell, I've read Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks. You may remember I'm not a big fan of magic realism, but Mitchell's books (that I've read so far) haven't had the level of MR that say, for instance, Marquez has. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is not my cuppa. But Mitchell has been, so far. BTW, I believe Slade House is a book best read after The Bone Clocks. Not sure how much it ties in though.

Oh, man. What a treasure your grandfather's trove would have been! Maybe keep an eye out at library sales and estate sales. Here is L'Amour's website. It has the order. http://www.louislamour.com/sackett/

Gotta love Library Sales!!! Good going, Gaia!

Some great reviews, Anna. I particularly am drawn to the Paris occupation story. I'll second muggle's recommendation of The Sacketts. There are about 19 or 20 of them, as I recall. I bought them a good 25 years ago from one of the book clubs in the form of 5 hardbacks. They're in chronological order there, and were absolutely wonderful! They span several hundred years, from England to the American West. Great stuff.

Thanks, Gaia. I've just finished a couple more. One Who Is Conrad Hirst? is one that's been around here waiting for goodness knows how long, and the other, Disclaimer is a new acquisition through Amazon Marketplace. Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall 3/5 An assassin that wants to get out of the business thinks he has a logical way out, but it proves much more complicated that he thinks. After all, he doesn't even know who he really works for, or why. The premise promised more than the story delivered, but was good enough. A little too "pat". Just "o.k." Disclaimer by Renee Knight 4/5 (solid) A woman finds a book on her night table, but how did it get there? Upon reading the book, she discovers that it contains a story of an incident in her past that only one other person knows about. And that person is quite dead, publically and without any doubt. Wonderfully layered, casting doubt about like confetti, the reader is lead to the past and back, through the voices of several narrators. How reliable the narrators are will be slowly revealed throughout the book. Don't think you know all that has happened until the final page. Well done. Highly recommended.

Absolutely love the pictures of your shelves at the front of this thread!! Beautiful! We really need you and frankie to come over here and organize our shelves!! Yays! No two ways about it, invest, invest, invest!! Hooray for your Dad! Great news.

Yesterday we went across the lake to New Orleans, and visited a few Estate Sales, and then went Uptown to a local landmark small bookseller that I'd never visited. I found out that they sell second hand copies of books as well as new books. The Maple Street Book Shop, http://www.maplestreetbookshop.com/ It's a great little place, full of cozy ambiance and some great books! Their second hand book prices are pretty fair and we managed to pick up a stack. What is interesting, is that they mix the new and second hand books on the shelves. The shopper doesn't have to check out another part of the store to see if there is a cheaper copy of a book they want. I read one of them, The Innocent, by Harlan Coben yesterday, staying up till 1:30 this morning to do so. I'd almost forgotten how much I like his stories. Besides The Innocent, we bought: Occupied City by David Peace Slade House by David Mitchell Faulkner and War with essays by various Out of the Sun by Robert Goddard Pushcart Prize XXXVI, Best of the Small Presses edited by Bill Henderson City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg This Census-Taker by China Mieville

Nah. It took him that many years to complete the trilogy. He wrote a number of other books, unrelated, in-between the 2nd and 3rd of the trilogy. I was ready to scream! Even though I know the story well, I could hardly wait to see how Harris handled the thing.

BB, I didn't care for The Wind Up Girl either, put it aside not too far into it. Meh, maybe someday......... Your review of Under the Skin intrigues me, I have to say. As you may remember I truly disliked his other book, Crimson Petal and the White. This other book might just be something I'd like though. /deep sigh/

Dictator by Robert Harris 4/5 Finally! After 10 years, the Cicero Trilogy is complete. Happy Days! Harris picks up this last of the trilogy with Cicero's exile, and no spoiler here, ends shortly after his death, or rather execution. Cicero's story is told by his slave and secretary Tiro, and in real life Tiro was in that position and was entrusted with Cicero's voluminous papers. Nothing in the book contradicted the real history I've read. Embellished, yes. Created, no. I was very pleasantly surprised....no surprised is too strong. Let me say only that I was happy to read the tone of this book. Granted it's been several years since I read the first two installments of the trilogy, Imperium and Lustrum, but I remembered the tone of those as being a bit flippant for my taste, although well done. This was a much more serious work. I believe the book profited from the long simmering. It's a wonderfully told story of love and loss, the fall of the Republic, and all the characters we've read about in History. Highly Recommended.

Hey Muggle. Well, it's thanks to you that I started reading Burke, and I do appreciate the tip! I've certainly enjoyed what I've read of him. I think that part of my problem is the place he is writing of in these books, the Texas ones. The land he describes is bare, forlorn, and downright inhospitably mean that it becomes a character in it's own right, and I can't stand it. heh I could probably enjoy the Robicheaux books more because, firstly the Louisiana landscape is more beautiful and lush...........plus I'm very familiar with it as it's my home. Not exactly where he writes of, but very close.

Ahh, when I saw the heading, I thought of what we call potato chips, I believe Brits call them crisps? So, that'd be sour cream and chive dip, please. However for your chips, (our French Fries) ketchup or butter please. Although a creamy Ranch dip would be nice.

Without a doubt, the top contender is Chocolate Cream Pie. After that Peach pie and Chicken Pot Pie.

As far as authors giving away plot lines of previous books in a series, I can't say it's come up for me really. OTOH, I've read books in the middle of series and they did reference something in a previous book, or by the progression of the plot line of that (later) one gave something away. For example the Jane Whitefield series by Thomas Perry the main character is married to a particular person that evidently she was not early in the series. Doesn't bother me.......lol.......frankly, I'll probably forget about it (not the marriage though) when and if I read the earlier novels in the series. My pet peeve though is detailed reviews of books that people write that give away the entire plot of a story.....who does what, when and how, and why. Honestly, it's awful sometimes. Finally last week, I'd had enough of one particular person on Good Reads that itemized her reading practically daily, giving the whys and wherefores of the plot of her present read. Gak. I finally made a post, a mild one, to the effect that well, I needn't read the book now, as she'd itemized it so well. lol She took great umbrage at that, became quite defensive. /sigh/ Oh well.....guess I shudda kept my keyboard shut.

Thanks, guys. Much appreciated. I'm still plugging away at SPQR by Mary Beard. But I'm chomping at the bit to read Robert Harris' Dictator. So many stacks, so little time!

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I've read a couple more, The Autobiography of James T. Kirk by David A. Goodman....only a 3/5 and one must be a fan of Star Trek. Really! Also read Lay Down My Sword and Shield by James Lee Burke, only a 3/5 also. Surprisingly. First in what is so far a three book series. This one was written back in the 1970's, and the era and Burke's young writing shows. I've also read about one-third of the second in the series, published in 2009. I doubt I'll continue. While Burke's writing is really gorgeous.....lyrical and so very evocative of place and exceedingly descriptive of personalities.....the real brutality of the stories is so truly hurtful that it's difficult to read. I've read 7 or 8 of his Dave Robicheaux series, The Neon Rain and Heaven's Prisoner being the first and second of them. In the second one, his opening description of the Gulf of Mexico is so absolutely wonderful and true that it almost brings tears to your eyes. But they are brutal too, increasingly so as the series continues.

Excellent reviews, Noll. I loved both of Claire North's books I've read. Harry August, and Touch. Very fast paced like a whirlwind! Interesting.

Thanks, Kay! I'd looked at your new thread the other day but wasn't sure if you were open for business. I hope your year, reading and all ways is great! Thanks Kylie. Much appreciated.

Library Thing tells me I've had The Gunslinger (1st in the Dark Tower series) by Stephen King since December 19, 2009. I think it's about time I started it.........

BB, lots of great reviews! Just catching up on some of them. And.....we've agreed on many! /shock and awe/ HEY! And what, pray tell, is wrong with 3 digit increases.............??

Husband has read Joyland, and liked it.....it's on my stack. Frankie, somewhere you commented about Big Little Lies..... can't find it atm, but wanted to thank you for your comment, and mention I've ordered it 2nd hand. It does look good!

I liked her other book....The Husband's Secret pretty well. I'll have to read this one too. Hah, We love the George Gently TV series, just binge watched it recently. So, when I saw the kindle books on sale I bought the first 4 in a package. Haven't gotten to them yet, but it won't bother me that it isn't the same, I liked Maigret as well (both TV and books!). lol My last book read of 2015 was The Door by Magda Szabo, it was a 5/5 for me.

Thanks, frankie. Just finished Silence by Mechtild Borrman, translated from the German by Aubrey Botsford. I suppose it's about a 3.50/5...hovering . I may or may not write up a real review later, but will say now that as mysteries go it was interesting, although not riveting, and kept my interest enough to finish. There was an unexpected (sort of) twist near the end that added quite a bit to the story. Basically a man whose father has died finds some identity papers and a come-hither photo of an unknown woman in a box in the late father's desk. The story unspools from there uncovering a murder 40 years previously and possibly causing another death in the stories time frame of the late 1990's. The relationships are quite convoluted, and I had some slight trouble keeping some of the characters straight at first. The book ended rather abruptly, summing up various fates as though in a documentary.