Cozy Days Reading A Book

18 Comments

1. I’m reading Tinder Box, the history of HBO. Having worked there for over 30 years, I find much of it fascinating, and a great trip down memory lane. But surprisingly, at 1000 pages, some of it just just plain tedious. I’m trying to plod through it, and sadly, it has kept me from reading other books this summer. I am determined to finish by Labor Day.

2. Where the Crawdads Sing was a great read and the movie was good as well , but I liked the book best!

3. I love reading Elin Hildebrand books and her latest – The Hotel Nantucket- recommended here was one of my favorites ever. I read Tobacco Wives recently and that kept my interest that it was hard to put it down. I am reading The Mischief FArm right now by Hillary Burton Morgan ( an actress from One Tree Hill) who moved to LA to Rhinebeck NY to a farm and how it has changed her life with animals and gardening.
   I still remember when I got my own library card! I even worked at our local public library as a teen. Such good childhood memories of books in my life then and still now.

4. Have you read The Perfect Wife by Blake Pierce? I just finished it, it’s a psychological suspense genre. The ending was totally not what I expected, very good read. I downloaded it to my Kindle.

5. I’ve been keeping track of the books I read on Goodreads for the past few years. I try to read at least 50 books a year.

   The best fiction I’ve read lately: Bewilderment by Richard Powers; Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman; and When We Fell Apart by Wiley Soon.

6. I could probably write my own novel about the novels I’ve read and loved, but I would have to say that two authors changed my life forever: Jane Austen and Katherine Neville. Austen’s novels are classics but I had not read them as they were not required in high school or English Lit in college. I didn’t read them until I was in my 30s and happened to see the 1940s version of “Pride and Prejudice” black and white movie starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet and Lawrence Olivier as Darcy. I fell in love with the whole late Georgian/early Regency period of English history after reading all of her novels and read novels by other 20th century authors who write about the same historical periods for years, entertaining myself to no end! To this day, I still love a good period novel set in England before the turn of the 19th century. These days I read Amanda Quick’s period novels to scratch that itch. The Neville novel that changed my life most of all was “The Eight.” It may not be for everyone, being an historical novel that covers centuries and involves a chess set rumored to hold magical powers, but I couldn’t put it down and I’ve reread it many times over the ensuing years since it’s publication date in the 1980s. That book literally changed my life path by igniting a fire in me to find out more about the history of chess and the ancient origins of the game. It led to travelling to Europe and around the United States and friendships and associations with people I had never dreamed I would ever have met otherwise in a million years. It also led to the man who was the love of my life. Now THAT is a novel!

7. Spending time reading is definitely time well spent. From a young child until 4 years ago I always had my nose in a book. Reading was always one of my favorite pass times. I’ve read 3 books in the past 4 years!!! I ordered a lovely chair for my bedroom with great plans to set up a book nook. The lovely chair with ottoman and a sweet side table arrived but I can’t seem to crack open a book. Oh, I have a nice pile of “to be read” books. Big, big sigh!
   It’s definitely a sad state of affairs for me! Maybe you or some of your readers will read my comment and have some suggestions for me.
   Your readers have suggested some very interesting books.

8. 1. The Downstairs Girl, by Stacey Lee.
   Synopsis…
   By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.

   2. where the crawdad’s sing. buy Delia Owens. Has now been made into a movie.

   3. The Library of the Lost and Found. By Phaedra Patrick. Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people – though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she’s invisible.

   All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend – her grandmother Zelda – who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda’s past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

   1. I’ve read Where The Crawdad’s Sing. I now have the last book in my cart at Amazon.

9. I love to read and it helps that my job since I retired from teaching is working part-time in the local library. Recently I have read: “The Tobacco Wives” by Adele Myers and “Confessions on the 7:45” and “Last Girl Ghosted” by Lisa Unger. Also “Nine Lives” by Peter Swanson was very good.

   1. I’ve already read the last three books. Going to go check Amazon for The Tobacco Wives.

10. I just finished What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline. Very good thriller/family drama. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was very good also! Dolly Parton recommended it in an interview 😉

    1. I only have about 10 pages left of What Happened To The Bennetts. Great book! And I’ve ordered The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

11. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson is one of the best books I’ve ever read! It is the story of Cussy Mary who is one of the Kentucky Blue people and the WPA’s book program which distributed books to the very rural people of Kentucky. The book is one of the most compelling I’ve ever read and I just started the sequel The Book Woman’s Daughter last night. I read until 2 am because I just could not stop!

    1. I just ordered The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and put The Book Woman’s Daughter in my Saved List.

12. The Hotel Nantucket
    by Elin Hildebrand
    “The queen of beach reads” (New York Magazine) delivers an immensely satisfying page-turner in this tale about a summer of scandal at a storied Nantucket hotel.Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. …
    excellent read..
    But my favorite by this author remains “28 Summers”
    “Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love.”

    1. I will check these books out. Thanks!

    2. I liked “28 Summers”. You may like Mary Alice Monroe. Her beach series starts with “The Beach House.”

Comments are closed.