pontalba Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 I'm glad you enjoyed the two books you read. That documentary / movie sounds interesting, but it's a shame there was a lot of anger . Thanks, Gaia. It was interesting, funny thing though. It didn't come across all at once as angry, or vengeful, it crept up on the viewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 I ran across another short story. This one by William Faulkner, Barn Burning.. http://lssc.edu/faculty/holly_larson/Shared%20Documents/Barn%20Burning%20by%20William%20Faulkner.pdf Typical Faulknerian themes, jealousy, revenge, very rough living. But there is always a bright spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 An article on James M. Cain's work. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/28/this-womans-work Meant to post before, I've had the link a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Have not read anything by Hellman, but I also have a bio of hers on the shelf to read. I knew she was with Hammett though. Hmmm, not sure, maybe Gertrude Stein? Hmm... It could be, but I don't get a sense of immediate connection of those two in my head. That doesn't mean anything, though I read The Magus about 30 years ago, don't remember anything except the awful WWI battlefield scene. Truly gruesome! It wasn't of the battle itself, as I recall, but the aftermath. You've read The Children's Hour then? No, I haven't read The Children's Hour yet. There haven't been any copies available at the libraries. Well, some day...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I finally have read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Such an ordinary little tale........until the end. But I do have to admit that I did suspect something along those lines. But still............ !!!! http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Fresh arrivals from Amazon. World Order by Henry Kissinger My Life in Court by Louis Nizer The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach None Shall Look Back by Caroline Gordon The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue American Sniper by Chris Kyle w/ Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I finally have read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Such an ordinary little tale........until the end. But I do have to admit that I did suspect something along those lines. But still............ !!!! http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf I <3 Shirley Jackson. The Lottery marked a monumental change in literature for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I hope you enjoy your new books ! I've saved the link you gave to the story, maybe I'll read it some time . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Enjoy all the new books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Ooh goody, free Murakami ! Thanks for the link. Sounds like you`ve read - and bought - some good books recently; I`ve Kimpled The Hunting Gun book, sounds intriguing . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Haven't seen you around in a while, I hope everything's fine in your neck of the woods! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) Haven't seen you around in a while, I hope everything's fine in your neck of the woods! Ditto - are you snowed in, Kate ? Edited March 7, 2015 by Little Pixie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Not snowed in, in fact not one flake has fallen within many miles of here. We are, thankfully, out of the severe weather range. Too far South. /phew/ But we have had too many nights of way below freezing weather. Down in the 20'sF. For the centigrade'ers out there, 32F is freezing. And now, starting tonight, we'll have rain for 4 days, forecast anyhow. But I'm not complaining! When I see the video of all that snow up there, it just horrifies me. All is find over here, we've been streaming a bunch of free stuff from Amazon (Prime), and some DVDs we already had. I've got 4 books going atm, can't seem to settle on any one of them for too long. One of them is Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough....it's third in her Masters of Rome series. I'd started it last year, and put it down about a third of the way through. I was just Rome'd out at the time. But the sections covering Sulla were absolutely fascinating. Her knowledge and research just shines! Frankie, I saw your notation on the new Rosie book over yonder in my notifications from GR. As mentioned, I'm so glad the sequel is as good as the first. I'll have to get to it. Sarah, I loved Scheherazade as well. I loved the uncertainty and open ended-ness of it. I guess neither of us has been online that much lately. But right now I'm looking out of the window seeing a beautiful blue sky with some fluffy white clouds and looking forward to some warm and dry weather today. And going across the lake to see a live production of Suddenly Last Summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 I thought I'd catch up on our purchases listings. Here are the newest arrivals. The Skeleton Road by Val McDermind The Wild Trees by Richard Preston The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Mind by Antonio Damasio Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer Lamentations by C.J. Sansom Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies: The Stage Adaptation by Hilary Mantel, Mike Poulton (Adapter) The Autobiography of Malcom X by Malcolm X, Alex Haley Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch (a HB, I only had the kindle copy before) The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation by Ian Mortimer Rain on the Dead by Jack Higgins The King's Curse by Phillippa Gregory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 I have actually completed three more books, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson 4/5 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami 4/5 Iron House by John Hart 3.5/5 Sarah, I don't remember if you've already read CTT, but you definitely should! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I thought I'd catch up on our purchases listings. Here are the newest arrivals. The Skeleton Road by Val McDermind The Wild Trees by Richard Preston The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Mind by Antonio Damasio Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer Lamentations by C.J. Sansom Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies: The Stage Adaptation by Hilary Mantel, Mike Poulton (Adapter) The Autobiography of Malcom X by Malcolm X, Alex Haley Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch (a HB, I only had the kindle copy before) The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation by Ian Mortimer Rain on the Dead by Jack Higgins The King's Curse by Phillippa Gregory Lots of books about the royals The stage adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies will be interesting .. to see exactly how they've altered the books to suit. Lovely lot of book purchases .. did they all come at once or in dribs and drabs? Very exciting. Hope you enjoy them Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I hope you enjoy your new books, Kate, and I'm glad you liked the ones you read . I hope you'll get more into your current reads soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Lots of books about the royals The stage adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies will be interesting .. to see exactly how they've altered the books to suit. Lovely lot of book purchases .. did they all come at once or in dribs and drabs? Very exciting. Hope you enjoy them Kate Thanks, Kay. Yeah, well Mantel worked on it so I expect it will be at least somewhat close. heh Somehow I can't see her allowing too much mangling. Dribs and drabs. I'd see something that filled in a hole in our library, and hadda have it! I hope you enjoy your new books, Kate, and I'm glad you liked the ones you read . I hope you'll get more into your current reads soon. Thanks, Gaia. Funny thing is, I really do like all of them......but there has been too many other things going on, and I don't get as much reading time as before. We're following three TV shows.....The Blacklist, Elementary, and Person of Interest. Another new entry arrived. The Death of Caesar by Barry Strauss, it's supposed to be an in-depth examination of the machinations and politics surrounding Julius Caesar's assassination. Right up my alley! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks, Gaia. Funny thing is, I really do like all of them......but there has been too many other things going on, and I don't get as much reading time as before. We're following three TV shows.....The Blacklist, Elementary, and Person of Interest. Another new entry arrived. The Death of Caesar by Barry Strauss, it's supposed to be an in-depth examination of the machinations and politics surrounding Julius Caesar's assassination. Right up my alley! I'm glad you're liking all your current reads. I don't know any of these TV shows, though it should be said the Dutch TV only shows a minor fraction of USA shows (obviously, since the US has like.. I don't know.. 100+ channels? and we have ~10) so maybe it makes sense. I'm glad you're enjoying the shows though . I also hope you enjoy your new book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I have actually completed three more books, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson 4/5 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami 4/5 Iron House by John Hart 3.5/5 Sarah, I don't remember if you've already read CTT, but you definitely should! It`s coming out in paperback on the 4th of June here, so I`ll hang on a while longer ; I find that the used hardbacks suddenly drop in price once the paperback is out ( though, if the paperback is a good price... ) Glad that you enjoyed it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Ooh, lots of new books ; I`ll be interested in the Philippa Gregory one particularly, `cos I recently read The Other Boleyn Girl and was quite taken with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Thanks, Gaia. Sarah, re the Philippa Gregory book.....in a way it's a continuation, or more accurately an offshoot of the White Queen books. It's the story of the last of the Yorks, Margaret Pole. A good part, mostly, takes place in Henry VIII's reign. A few more books....... The Drowning Pool by Ross MacDonald The Death of Caesar by Barry Strauss The Third Reich in History and Memory by Richard J. Evans Refusal by Felix Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I hope you enjoy your new books, Kate ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I'm glad to see you around and to hear things are alright with you! Frankie, I saw your notation on the new Rosie book over yonder in my notifications from GR. As mentioned, I'm so glad the sequel is as good as the first. I'll have to get to it. It's only my opinion of course, some might not see it as good as the first novel. But Marie H is also enjoying it very much, as is poppy. I hope you can get to the book soon, I'd love to hear how you like it! ISummer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch (a HB, I only had the kindle copy before) I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this when you've read it, since Dinner was such a polarizing title! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I hope you enjoy your new books, Kate ! Thanks, Gaia.....they're coming faster than I can read them! I'm glad to see you around and to hear things are alright with you! It's only my opinion of course, some might not see it as good as the first novel. But Marie H is also enjoying it very much, as is poppy. I hope you can get to the book soon, I'd love to hear how you like it! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this when you've read it, since Dinner was such a polarizing title! Thanks, Sari. I will be getting to it, I'm sure. I have already read it in ebook form. Last summer.....I just happened to see a hardback in the consignment store we sometimes frequent. Hadda have it. Here is my review of last July. http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12437-pontalbas-2014-reading-list/?p=400377 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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