Greatest global online bookclub in town

I have never read anything by her but that book sounds interesting.  Let us know about it when you are done.

I chipped a path one shovel wide on my front sidewalk.  It was covered with 1 and 1/2 inches of ice and we get fined if it isn’t cleared a few hours after the snow is done falling.  i have a drive way contractor for clearing that but they don’t do side walks and the kids around here don’t want to either. The ice isn’t going to melt for a while.  The high doesn’t get above freezing.  The ice will probably be here until April.  I did get out today.  The streets in town were messy but OK if you didn’t speed.

I have never read anything by this author, but this week while browsing at the local library on the NEW BOOKS  shelf this book by Joanna Trollope just jumped into my hands.  The title is Second Honeymoon regarding “the empty nest” we all have experienced. Has anyone read this and thoughts on the author, please. Joy

 

 

 

I’m another one who loved Precious Ramotswe and her detective business but didn’t care for any of the other series.  I don’t know what the difference is – did he give Precious and her friends more character?  I dunno.  I know some in here liked the Philosopher’s Club (?) series, if I’m remembering correctly.

At any rate – - – - – -

We got 8″ or so of snow the last couple of days and it’s cold cold cold.  Ice came along with it and you can bet your bottom dollar that THIS kid is staying home.  I don’t drive in this kind of weather; I don’t know how.  And I’m almost positive all my doors are frozen shut nb                 bhvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

That was a message from my new cat, Whiskers.   LOL

Anyhow, time to get busy.  Take care and stay warm everyone.

Darlyne, that’s probably what I will do.  I’m really struggling to get through his book.  It’s a great fix for insomnia.  Our next selection is “The Other Side of the River”, a non-fiction story about Benton Harbor/ St. Jospeh Michigan and the racial turbulance in those communities.  I’m looking forward to that one.  Is anyone else familiar with this book?

I  also liked the detective series but not his other books at all.  I am reading his latest one, Blue shoes, and am enjoying it.  I probably wouldn’t but it has been a while since I have read his books.

 

Could you park in your drive way after picking up your friend.  You could then walk to the neighbor having the book club.

This is the selection of our neighborhood group.  It is written by Alexander McCall Smith and I have loved his No. 1 Ladies Detective series, but this book is really going nowhere.  I abandoned it with the 50 page test and then invited a new neighbor to join our book club.  To my astonishment she accepted so I now feel I should at least read the book.  I also told her I would pick her up and take her to the meeting—only to realize later that the meeting was next door to me.  I know I am going to take a lot of heat from the group if they see me drive to a meeting that is next door.  Sometimes things get so convoluted.

The book arrived yesterday Jerry and I apologize for the delay in letting you know.

Judith gets it next – anyone else interested?

You have every right to feel virtuous, Darlyne, if you walk to a library nearly a mile away in 13° temperature!  I laughed at your last sentence but sure do agree:  “One wears a lot of clothes in that kind of weather.”

I’ve got floaters also but they don’t seem to be bothersome.  I am grateful about that.  I can’t imagine them just up and disappearing, however.  How fortunate!

I checked booksfree.com and they have The Blue Bottle Club so I put it on my list.  And moved it up to #3.  It sounds very good and I look forward to reading it.

Has anyone read Sidney Poitier’s Measure of a Man?  He had written one previously about his life in show biz; this is how he came to be the man he is today.  And I will say that he has strong values and sticks to them.  I have always liked him as an actor and was impressed by his book.  

Good luck and quick recuperation on your finger surgery, Jacky.  You may find you can type more easily than you think; I did when I had my carpal tunnel syndrome surgeries. 

I agree with Darlyne – milk that as long as you can — women don’t get this kind of opportunity very often.  8-]

I’m ready for a little spring weather!

Good luck on your finger surgery Jacky. I hope you have many books on hand.  You won’t be able to do dishes or housework you know—-get as much out of this as you can.  I learned about that from my father.  He couldn’t take out the garbage for over a year after his gall-bladder surgery.  It took that long for mother to catch on.

Jackie, I sure hope your finger heals quickly. We will miss you. Georgianna

And yes, Jo, I wonder about the subject matter. I don’t plan to read any more of her work.  I’m going to get the newest book by our ND writer, Roxanne Henke, she writes of human happenings too, but with a much more positive slant.  I also now have my own The World is Flat, but I’m not sure how uplifting that is either.

I’m going to have my rt pointer finger middle joint replaced tomorrow.  I frost bit my fingers and thumbs when I was 7, and this finger is now arthiritic and weak.  But I’m not sure about typing with my left hand.  But it will only be for a few weeks.  So I will still be reading and enjoying your messages. I will be wearing a splint for a while and do excercises. 

Jacky

 

Has anyone read this? I just started it. It opens with four girls sitting together in 1929. They each voice their goals in life and they are also written so they place them all in a blue bottle. This happens in the prologue. The book opens with a news reporter in front of an old house in 1992 (? actually I forgot the exact year but it is 60 years later or more) and the house is going to be demolished. She is frustrated – not happy with the job – mostly not knowing why she isn’t happy. After packing up and heading off from the site she decided to return and one of the workmen give her the blue bottle. She has just begun the search for these four women.

Georgianna

I also had a few floaters about seven years ago and they disappeared.  I will knock on wood.  I have had an occasional one since but can disappear it if I look up or down.  I know how irritating they can be if you have many and it is nice to know that something can be done about them.

In 2006 I was annoyed by floaters in my left eye for most of the year. In about December they disappeared. I told the opthalmologist about this during my regular checkup and he said this was fairly rare and usually the floaters are there to stay. I count my blessings.

Huggz all,

Jerry

Today there was an article in the paper about a doctor in Falls Church, Virginia who uses a lase beam to zap floaters. I’ve always been told there was nothing that could be done for floaters. Dr. Karickhoff has done the procedure “more than 1400 times in the past 15 years and claims a success rate of better than 90 percent with minimal risk of complications.” I hope this is something that will become accepted.

Candace

I n the afterglow of her Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller Beloved, Morrison moves to even higher ground–the story of Joe Trace, a door-to-door salesman in his 50s, his mentally unstable wife, and his 18-year-old lover. Set in Harlem in the 1920s, the story captures the rhythms of the city and the bittersweet mood of African American life at a moment in our history we assumed we understood. This is the summery the library had.
Of the 14 people in thelibrary book group only three hadn’t read it.  I counted myself because I only read half of it and skipped to the end.  They all thought the writing brilliant and most said it was not easy to read but worth getting through it.  Now that I heard about the middle of the book I will probably finish it,  I see that it is a recorded book so I may pick up that and listen to it.  I seem to listen faster than I read.  I did read and liked Beloved and Bluest Eyes by her.
I feel virtuous because I walked to and from the library which is almost a mile away—and the temp was 13°.  One wears a lot of clothes in that kind of weather.

Both Jacky and Darlyne wrote about books with a hard-to-deal-with theme and I for one wonder why people write NOVELS about subjects like teenage date rape.  Isn’t it enough that it happens?  Do authors think they can change things like that?  it would seem to me that a book could be written to help explain why things like date rape takes place and what can be done to avoid it, report it, deal with it.  But a novel????????

Maybe I’m grumpy today.

So Darlyne, let us know what Jazz is about and how your book group felt.  I read for pleasure and the books Jacky and Darlyne both mention do not seem to be all that pleasurable.  Heaven knows there’s enough mayhem in the news that one doesn’t need to pick up a book to find it.

Jo

 

That welldigger’s behind is still cold.  One tends to get used to it though.  It is February you know.

I am trying to read Jazz by Toni Morrison for a library book group.  I am having a hard time with it and will try to finish it but probably won’t.  I admire her writing but not the content. It will be interesting to hear what others in the group think of it.  I have a feeling I won’t be the only one not finishing it.

But its colder in Winnepeg, -45. and that’s temp, not wind chill.  120 miles south, here in Oslo, we were only -35 this morning at 6 am. 

I’ve gotten behind with GGOBIT messages as we’ve been in St Paul at our youngest daughter’s again.  She sent a sos, as her father in law in Madison, WI had a 14 1/2 hour brain surgery last Wed, and our son in law went to be with them.  He’s doing as well as can be expected, they are almost sure it was benign, and we are all back in our own homes again.  There’s no time for e mail, the newspaper, or even tv news in a household with three small kids.  But its nice to be of help. My sister and husband took their grandaughters to Disney World and phoned me about the tornados near them last week. 

I’m reading another Jodi Picoult book, the Tenth Circle, about a teenage date rape, not an uplifting book!  I read she has a new one out called 19 minutes about bullying.  I don’t know how she can write so convincingly of such awful happenings. And wonder if I really need to know when I probably can’t do anything about any of it?  But I do want to know what happens in them.

Jo, I see there is still some wiktel stuff in the group addresses, but I think it was an old message from you.  I did erase and rewrite, so hope its straighened out.

Jacky Jones

it’s colder’n a welldigger’s behind – has yet to get out of the teens!

enough already!!!!!!!!!!

It is 7° here this AM.  That is almost MN weather.  I am not used to this now.  I might not go for my walk.

We had enough snow that it actually covered the grass!  And I for one hope that’s ALL we get. 

Been reading a lot and have a couple of authors you mystery fans might like.

J S Borthwick has written several  and I do wish booksfree would list them in order but that would be difficult at best.  Her tec is Sarah Deane, who is an English teacher.  The first one is Bodies of Water. 

Next is Sinclair Browning, a ‘dirty shirt’ cowgirl as is her rancher/PI, Trade Ellis.  Trade is part Apache and can get into trouble quite easily! 

Neither are deep mysteries a la PD James, but are still good reading.

And I’m off to do some chores.

Take care all and stay warm and de-iced!

Jo

PS Remember to sign your name to your posts; Bookworm forgot!  Saves us from having to tax our brains to remember who’s who these days.

 

I spent a lazy day (after taking car to Jiffy Lube) watching two movies.  Brassed Off was as good as Bohl said it was.  I also watched United 93 which was also good but did bring back a lot of bad memories.

I also finished listening to Scribbling The Cat.  I listened to Don’t Lets Go To The Dogs tonight which was a memoir of the author growing up in Africa during the Rhodesian war,  Scribbling is a true story of her travels back through Africa with a battle-scarred veteran of that war.  Both were page turners, if I had been reading the book.  I would recommend them.

Sure seems like everyone is out of pocket.  Must be the cold, bad weather.  I’ve never seen the posts so few and far between!  I know we’re reading a lot, and watching a lot of good movies (from Netflix) I’m sure – - BTW, did everyone watch “Good Night and Good Luck”, that was certainly an excellent movie.  Brought back memories of those bad old “McCarthy era” days and TV (such as it was then). I remember watching Edw. R. Murrow.  A special, warm hello to anyone who is buried up to their earlobes in snow or ice!  It’s just cold and rainy here in Big D today (saw a few flakes yesterday for about 2 minutes; didn’t stick of course).