Greatest global online bookclub in town

I never saw them except on TV and did like them.  My husband took our 8 yr old son to see them live.  I think it was a birthday present or something.  Anyway he commented on how an eight year old and 80 year olds were all laughing and enjoying the show as much.

I have been listening to a Dick Francis tape and enjoying it.  It has been a long time since I have read him.  For those of you who don’t know this writer he writes mysteries and they all involve the horse racing world. The narrator is a jockey.  I am not a horsey person but enjoy reading his books.

Oh please do make copious notes, Jacky; I enjoyed their show and their humor so much when they were on TV. 

Good to hear your surgery went well, Darlyne.  I had my second post check and the Dr said all looks well, but I do not see as well with the newly repaired eye as the one fixed 3 years ago, but I spose it takes time.

We are going to see the Smother’s Bros in Devil’s Lake, ND this evening.  My hubby wanted to see how they’ve changed since we saw them when we were all young.

I like mornings too, coffee and reading in pj’s is so comfortable.  And now its dark when I wake, seems like the summer went very quickly.  I’m enjoying the Sue Henry Alaska mystery, but wonder why anyone wants to travel by dog sled.

Jacky Jones

It was great to hear from you Susan.  Thanks for the post on Gilead; I’ll see if booksfree has it.

I’m so glad your cataract surgery went so nicely - if all operations were that easy, wouldn’t life be fun!

I don’t mind getting up early, I just don’t like getting out of bed!!!!!!!!!  ;-)    Actually, I’ve somehow gotten my schedule mixed up so that I don’t get to sleep until 11 or later and so don’t wake up until 8-ish, sometimes earlier, sometimes later.  And it too depends on how often I have to get up to make the trip across the hall.  Even if I don’t drink anything after 5 except to take my nighttime pill, I seem to trot across the hall way more often than I like.  Sigh. 

But even getting up at 8, I stay in my nightshirt and slippers, brew my tea and get on this infernal machine.  This town doesn’t do morning papers except on Saturday and Sunday mornings which is a real bummer.  I like a MORNING paper.  But privileges of growing old - you betcha.  And so are the percent off days at the local department stores!  And the movie theater - but oh my the sound was so loud!

And I agree that mornings like this are the best part of the day even tho I get it later than you two. 

That is the privilege of getting old.  Sometimes I think mornings like that are the best part of the day.

Darlyne says “I like staying in my bathrobe and reading the paper and drinking coffee until quite late in the morning”.  Sounds exactly like my schedule, Darylne.  Wake up early, usually about 6:00 or 6:30, but never get moving until around 10:00 because I am reading the paper, working crossword, drinking coffee, and getting on this infernal machine.  But—isn’t that the privileges of being old???

JOY

It seems that I have had early appointments all week also.  I had my cataract surgery yesterday.  Julie came the night before and after the surgery we went out for breakfast, later went to a movie and then dinner at a Mexican resturant.  The surgery was a piece of cake.  the vision still hasn’t cleared but I am sure it will.

I don’t mind getting up early, in fact I usually do.  I just don’t like getting dressed early.  i like staying in my bathrobe and reading the paper and drinking coffee until quite late in the morning,

I started Gillead some time ago and for some reason just couldn’t get into it.  It still is in my pile of “to finish” books and I may some day.

It’s been a while since I posted. I think the last one was in July, but I did just read the posts for August and September, so I’m caught up, sort of. I’ve had company all summer, it seems like.

I read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson for our Sept. book club, and I really liked it, which is something since I haven’t really enjoyed novels much for some time. The book is written in the form of a letter/memoir from a dying minister in the little town of Giliad, Iowa, to his 7 year old son by his very late in life marriage to a much younger woman. The time is about 1956,

I think part of why I liked it was that I grew up in Ohio, and lived on a farm for a couple of years when I was a child during the depression, so I could picture what he was talking about. Those were very hard times, and the people were poor.

There is a lot of theological musing in the book, which I enjoyed, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. In the AOL book club, Gretchen said her husband didn’t like it, but I don’t know just why.

Susan

I tried a nap two or three times yesterday - couldn’t get to sleep but come 7:30, I was ready.  I got up and walked around for a while, sat back down and stared at the tube for a while and finally made it to 8:30.  Did my nighttime stuff (wash, pills, eyedrops, etc), and went to bed.  Read about 5 minutes and off went the light.  Had to get up once but otherwise slept until 8 this morning.  I have to admit that this wasn’t just because I’d had to get up earlier than usual - I also haven’t been sleeping very well and it does eventually catch up.  So now, we’ll see how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I am today!

had to get up earlier three days in a row

 

That’s the pits.  I’ve had a similar problem, Jo, until today. Two naps–dropped off reading the paper and ”watching” TV–finally getting it together.

 

Candace

 

I’ve had to get up earlier three days in a row to make two 8 am dr appts and one 7:30-8 appt for my car to be winterized.  I feel like I’m walking around with my head in a pot of cornmeal mush!

My SIL, Margaret Irwin, found a trilogy of books on Queen Elizabeth I written by — Margaret Irwin.  This lady passed away in the 1950s, I believe, and SIL was hardly born then but I have been surprised at how many Margaret Irwins there are; my grandmother was the first and when SIL Margaret went into the nursing home where gramma was living and announced herself as Margaret Irwin, Gramma quite definitively spoke up, “No you aren’t, I am!”

And oh yes, the books are good too.

It’s raining a bit which is nice; tends to cool things off nicely.  And I’m going to go try to stay awake until bedtime.  No getting up early tomorrow!

And I’m exhausted, partly because our nice young guests from MD left, they were with a Christian Music group called Captive Free, and we were asked to have them as guests for two night.  They were very, very pleasant and plite,  and easy to have, but its a bit of a strain being a pleasant host, I’m kind of kidding, it was fun.  But anyway, I took the afternoon off and finished The Pact, and had to keep reminding myself, “It’s just fiction, Jacky.”  Maybe that’s a sign of good writing too. I liked the ending.  I wonder if the emotional part for me, is that its not so long since our own four were teens, and now we have teen age grandchildren.  Its maybe not anymore difficult to be parents and children than when pneumonia was deadly, and we had no running water, but there are certainly way different struggles for us all in this modern age.

I like Jodi P.s character development and will read more of her books, but now I have Murder on the Yukon Quest by Sue Henry, loaned by a friend who likes this author.  I’ll let you know how I feel about her.  Jacky

You’re absolutely right, Joy - it IS The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.  I have no idea whatever where the ‘memory keeper’ part came from but the daughter was certainly the key to the whole thing.  I had no idea the book would be like it was - even though I read it, I didn’t really like it but I wanted to find out what happened.  I guess that’s the definition of a ‘good’ book, right?

Jo

 

Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

 

This is really two stories that come together towards the end of the book,  Young girls are smuggled into this country and used for prostitution.  It is their story. Then a pregnant police officer along with others is taken as a hostage in a hospital.  She is there to deliver her baby. There is much more to it, the a government official is involved among others.  It is a riveting mystery and I will read more by this author.  Actually I listened to it.  Has anyone else read her writings?

 

JO: I think the name of that book is “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”. My daughter bought the book and I glanced through it but it didn’t interest me.

JOY

Sorry to hear of your husband’s med problems.  I was 70 last Nov. and celebrated for a week, it kind of just happended that way. 

Just had a cataract removed and see much better, but it seems like there is a lot of patching these days.

Jacky Jones

This novel by Kim Edwards was really a bit of a downer - the blurb didn’t make it sound that way.  I’m not much for reading a book about people’s problems especially when they don’t seem to ever ‘get over it’ and let the problem become their life.  And that is what this book did to me although I did finish it.  As far as I could tell, there were no loose ends at the end of the story, but I kept wanting to tell the doctor and his wife to get over it and get a life!  They made life pretty miserable for their son.  The nurse who raised their Down’s Syndrome daughter did a much better job at coping with what she had chosen to do.  The blurb from booksfree copies too small to be a comfortable read so I’m retyping it here.

“In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter’s affliction with Down Syndrom, turns her over to a nurse (his own office nurse) who secretly raises the child.”

The nurse had worked for him for a number of years and fancied herself in love with him.  She realized after a while that it wasn’t really love.

I really wanted to slap the doctor and his wife upside their heads with a 2×4 or something like it - I can’t believe how wrapped up in themselves they were. 

Since I DID finish the book, I suppose the story was well written - I didn’t catch but one typo! - and as I mentioned there were no loose ends, but what can you do with two unsympathetic characters? 

Jo

I hope your husband is OK, too, Georgianna - these health problems get to be a real pain, don’t they?  Just when we can go and do without worrying about kids and school, we start falling apart at our seams.  Damned inconsiderate, I’d say.

 

Jo

I read something by her but can’t remember what it was but I know it was an easy read and I enjoyed it.  Let us know how you like it.  I hope your husband is OK. 

Jo, I have the one you read on my list but there are many holds on it at the library so it may be a while before I get to it.

Myhusband dhas had some health problems and we are in the process of tests and appointments. Kept me busy. Just celebrated my 70th birthday. Got three books but have had no time to really read. I started one. it is by Fannie Flagg and the title is “Can’t wait to get to Heaven.”

Georgianna

This novel by Alan Brennert is absolutely a page-turner and I can highly recommend this book to all. It has its sad parts and its happy parts but I could hardly put it down once I started it.

Moloka’i is the island of the lepers, as I’m sure we all know. The story starts with 5 year old Rachel Kalama, the youngest of four who parents love them dearly. But Rachel gets a red sore on her leg which is recognized at leprosy. She spends time in a Honolulu hospital (segregated from the rest, of course) but then she and her parents are informed that she is going to Kalaupapa on Moloka’i. She of course is absolutely shattered but knowing her Uncle Pono is there makes the problem seem a bit better. However, since she is only 5, she is told that she can’t stay with him permanently; she will have to live in the dormitory with other girls as he is not physically able to protect her from people wishing her harm. In addition, Pono has a live-in lady, Haleoki, and the household is not deemed fitting for a child.

Remember this is the early days of Moloka’i when the Christian missionaries and Father Damien were in charge. Many of their ideas were good but many others were not.

At any rate, Rachel spends a life-time on Molokai going thru WW II, altho neither of the two world wars were gone into in great detail. Rachel meets a young man of Japanese heritage and the two fall in love and marry.

This is a most engrossing story with some of the characters real people, some based on real people and some totally fictional but with the characteristics of real people, those with the disease and those who were ‘clean.’  His telling of the feast or famine treatment of the people and those who took care of them is masterfully done.

Brennert did an awesome job in his research and in telling the story. You won’t be disappointed if you elect to read this tale.

 

Thanks to Jenny, I’m on track again.  A rainy, cold, dark day here.  My sister helped me get my basement back in order after our middle son in law painted the dark paneling a very light yellow.  A pair of young singers from a Christian group are spending Sun night with us.  They are performing for our few youth here in Oslo, and i knew I’d get that area back in order if I had a reason. 

Am also about half through The Pact, and I did catch the foreshadowing of child sex abuse in the beginning of the book, which explains much of the plot, I’m sure.  Jodi Picoult does keep this reader interested, although some of the characters are so humanly emotional, anger, love, all rolled into one. 

 Jacky Jones

Jo, good for you writing those letters and getting them published.  My family are letter writers also and think it is importent.  the letters to the editor are something I always read in newspapers.  (I read two of them on line)

 I just got home from taking a friend for a colonoscopy.  She had to lay on that cart for two hours for the Dr.  who was very late.  I don’t think I would have put up with that but after the prep there isn’t much choice but they could have let her sit in a chair or something.  She is glad that it is over.

 i did start reading Trip Wire and find it entertaining enough that I will finish it.

I did not finish this book - to me, it is a ‘downer’ altho not as bad as some.

Aletta is married to Jimmy, a man who can decide whether to be married and father to his 3 children, and one on the way, or not.  She has psychic ability and when he has not been around for a few weeks, she put up a sign in her yard.  Apparently he finally found out about it, came back ‘home’ and yanked the sign out.  She had baby #4 just after they had had a big fight.  Scared the kids.  He has bottles stashed here and there.  I read a page or two here and there and the whole books seems to be that way.  I read the last two pages and she sends off a man who has loved her for years and worked on her car for free, Jimmy is about to go off again and the author leaves us hanging as to whether or not she is finally free of the jerk.

Not my kind of book and I even went 116 pages into it.  I kept hoping she’s report him or something.  He choked her and she told the doctor (this was the fight prior to her going into labor) that it was something else. 

I’m going to start Moloka’i later on today.

Jo