Book, Blog and Subscription Recommendations

I'm currently reading Starvation Heights which is nonfiction about a female 'doctor' here in Washington who advocated fasting as the end-all cure and killed many patients while doing so. Along the way, she pilfered their banks accounts. Fascinating.

I also just finished McDermid's The Grave Tattoo, which I give a 9.5 because it was not quite as good as A Place of Execution.

Also read All My Enemies by Barry Maitland, another mystery/thriller type. Pretty good. Maybe an 8.

Portland - you will be pleased to know that I saw a roadside advertisement for the new Steig Larson, Snoball, due out later this month. Enjoy - I find the fascination with his writing puzzling and uncomfortable. But I do appreciate that I am the odd one out on that.

Pleased to hear Mantel has such a distinguished waiting place -

Interesting Laurie - I did not want to read those 3 Larson books but several of my friends were reading them and talked me into it. I was a bit in a quandry about why I was liking them but I have to admit I have enjoyed them. I guess I will read Snoball as well!

Is Snoball the same storyline or a different one? I tried to read the first of the 'girl' books but could not get into it. I tried 3 times. I did see the first movie and was forewarned so I left during the scenes I didn't want to see and then went back in. And I thought it was a pretty good story. I may go and try and reread that first book again. I bought it hearing it was so good. I rarely buy books, so that was a bit of a waste of money!

I just finished the tattoo one. It is boring for the first few chapters. I think adjusting to the swedish words and nothing is familiar. But I did enjoy the story and will read the rest of them. I like that odd girl.
I also read Greg Iles "The Footprints of God" and "The Devil's Punchbowl" and "Sleep No More". Also "Winter Rose" by Jennifer Donnelly. And my DS brought over about twenty books for me to read and I'm sure I will. I'm about half way through "Dragongirl" by Todd McCaffrey.

I clearly don't have the time to read that you guys do, but I was talking to my SIL and brother yesterday about a science fiction series they're reading right now.

S.M. Stirling http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/s-m-stirling/

First Set of Books
Islands in the Sea of Time
Against the Tide of Years
On the Oceans of Eternity

Dies the Fire
The Protector’s War
A Meeting at Corvallis

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_in_the_Sea_of_Time

At some point the setting of the story moves to Oregon . . .

I've read Island in the Sea of Time. Am almost finished with Against the Tide and have on the Oceans waiting. I didn't realize there were 3 more after that. Are they a different trilogy or part of the same story?

I think they're related, though not exactly in the same trilogy. According to Wikipedia, it's a spinoff. These must be the ones that take place in Oregon. I'm looking forward to reading them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_the_Fire

This is interesting - I hadn't thought about reading in the dark with one of the ebooks, actually makes me want to try one - well, maybe not quite - but I could imagine the fun of reading under the covers again - but this time the torch batteries wouldn't go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/aug/30/glowing-praise-digital-books

Interesting about the turning pages feature

And just one more thing - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/after-keeping-us-waiting-for-a-century-mark-twain-will-finally-reveal-all-1980695.html

I have ordered my copy of Twain's Autobiography - would you love to get a signed copy!!

This message was edited Aug 31, 2010 4:46 PM

My kids gave me a Barnes & Noble Nook, and at first I was excited, but now (and don't tell them!) I don't use it. Once I realized I don't like reading books on it, I downloaded a dictionary but it takes soooo long to find words that I gave up. It does not illuminate so you can't read in the dark. On an airplane at night you still need the overhead light. I would love to have an ipad, but I already have a wonderful Mac computer so it's hard to justify spending more money...someday. I resisted Apple products for a while but now I am a fan. They never disappoint. I love my iphone and the way I can get email anywhere, and the gluten-free grocery list I can consult in the market., and the calculator, and the maps, and the gps, and the camera, and the dictionary, and the converter, and the.......

I have a Kindle; it took a while getting used to it, and I still do buy regular books sometimes, but it's very convenient and I'm really out of house room for more hard copies! I may be getting an iPad, though; we're heading to France this fall and I want to be able to check my email and also use it to look up places to go in the areas where we'll be staying. I am a Mac person for forever; we got an Apple IIGS in the early '80's and then switched to Mac and have used them exclusively since then.

I have been picking up and putting down "The Corrections" by Franzen for the past month or so. Just hasn't grabbed me, although it does have occasional turns of phrases or images that make me laugh. I just heard on the radio that it is or was on Oprah's booklist, and read some lavish reviews online, so maybe I'll continue to slog my way through it. Perhaps it's just not the best book to take camping - I usually like a pretty light quick read then since I'm interrupted so often. Maybe I'll try it this afternoon curled on the couch with the background rain. I'm guessing that combo will only put me to sleep though.

I really enjoyed "The Corrections" when I read it. His use of language and ability to choose the right phrase is wonderful. Most American writers don't seem to have that facility.

I switched to Mac when I retired from architecture - until then I used Dells because Revit & Autocad are pc-based programs. Love Apple products!

Bonehead - maybe now is not the right time - you are thinking camping and Franzen just doesn't strike me as a camping kinda guy. Put it on the Library later step, and pick up something else. Reading is pleasure and needs to fit the mood - how about a bit of retro with Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mame. I just picked up a copy for a delightful 1950's reading. Now that would be a wonderful contrast to the great outdoors!

I've been wondering about switching to an Apple on my next laptop - but I have no idea why I am thinking this.

This message was edited Aug 31, 2010 6:30 PM

Laurie, because you've read all the hype about Macs. I think they're great and they are very unlikely to get viruses, too.

I used a mac in a job a few years back and I love them. I only own a pc because my reporting software doesn't work on a mac. Both my younger kids chose to get mac laptops when they went off to college and are very happy with that decision. My oldest got a pc laptop.. Altho he really never uses it because he built himself a fancy desktop (pc). He has a lot of fancy photography editing software on it and a fancy tablet, etc. He likes mac but feels the pc works best for his applications.

This laptop is my first pc that hasn't had scads of problems all the time. But it's also the first computer I've had that is 100% mine and none of the kids get on it. I think they were visiting porn sites and such (teen boys) that caused a lot of problems. Then they had computer games that would really screw up the computer. So nice now to have my very own!

I work on both a PC and a MAC at work. I have a PC at home, but will probably go with a MAC for future use. My brother is a 63 year old computer geek who is well versed in both. His choice for home use is MAC, iphone, ipad, etc.

I would *love* to have a Kindle. Just can't afford it though, even though the price has come down. Most of the reading I do is library books anyway. :-/

I'm reading the first of the Lord John books by Diana Gabaldon now- I finished all 7 of the Outlander series (can't wait for #8!) and decided to give these a try. Not as riveting as the Outlander books, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Cool, Pony. I find Lord John much more sympathetic a character as I get to know him.

I can't remember - did you read the George R.R. Martin series? They're making an HBO movie out of Game of Thrones. I don't get cable, so I'll have to rent it when I can.

I haven't read any George R.R. Martin- I'll look him up. :)

I am fond of Lord John. I'm getting more wrapped up in this first book now, (halfway through) and glad I got all three at once so I can read them back-to-back. :)

That's the best - having the next in the series waiting for you.

Yes! Closing one and opening the next is so gratifying... hehe.

Knowing there's another one waiting seems to ease the pain of finishing a good story . .

Could be gg, just something out there in the ether world.

I've been reading Bruno, Chief of Police and The Dark Vineyard, the first two books of what I assume will become a detective series by Martin Walker, which takes place in the Périgord. He is an American who lives in Washington, DC and the Dordogne, and he seems to have captured the feeling of a small village in Southwest France very aptly. Since we're heading for the Dordogne at the end of the month I have really enjoyed reading them; they're intelligent, well written, and quite atmospheric. Walker has also done a book on the Cold War which was named one of NYTimes Notable Books of the Year and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize, and he is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in DC. I was really impressed with his credentials but they didn't stop him from writing a good book with very sympathetic characters!

I'll add those to my list gg - thanks.

Recently finished Little Bee by Chris Cleave, which I thought was good. A chance encounter intertwines the lives of a London couple with a young Nigernian refugee. Written from alternating perspectives (the teenaged girl and the youngish mother).

I just finished a very light but entertaining crime/mystery novel by John Sandford called The Hanged Man's Song. I have read a few of his books lately, and enjoyed them all. Nothing profound, but good light reading that helps a tired mind unwind.

I call that type of book "Brain Candy". :)

^_^ Good term! That is mostly the kind of stuff I like to read because after dealing with problems and the public all day, I want fantasy and to be able to turn my brain off off off off off.

I like a mixture, but for true brain candy, Katie Fforde is great. I usually share those with my DIL who likes a relaxing, fun read too. That said, I just ordered Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages and Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel, because they looked intriguing in last week's NYTimes book review. I am loading up my Kindle for our trip to France. I also got Smollett's Travels through France and Italy, written in the 1700's. That should be interesting!

I just looked up John Sandford and Katie Fforde, both look like good brain candy. I added them to my library list. :)

GG, I'll be interested to hear how you like Smollet.

The blurb about it made it sound as though he was quite the misanthrope, somewhat akin to HL Mencken, I presume. But I'm curious about what he found in France at that early period, after having read Graham Robb's The Discovery of France and also having almost finished Eugen Weber's Peasants into Frenchmen - The Modernization of Rural France 1870 - 1914; that's a tome that lends itself more to dipping into than reading straight through. I had planned to read it in France; I also have Daudet's Lettres de Mon Moulin on my Kindle, and I'm reading that a bit at a time, too. What surprised me reading Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey and An Inland Voyage was the fact that, contrary to what I got from Robb and Weber and also the author of a memoir about growing up early in the last century in Brittany, Stevenson seemed able to communicate quite well with whomever he encountered in France, speaking what I assume was standard French, even in the most rural and remote areas. It does leave you wondering.

It does. But perhaps that is why it became standard - enough shared words between dialect?

But it makes me think of some of my patients: the ones who feel they can't be understood, ever! (although they are), and those that believe they can be. Perhaps Stevenson just believed he could be understood, and consequently was to a certain extent - and more importantly, felt he was even though it was imperfect. I think there are those who are life's travellers, they see problems and mountains as interesting experiences, while for others - everything is just an insurmountable problem, one might as well stay home.

French as it was spoken in Paris became the standard language of France, forced on the rural population through a system of schools and teachers as an essential component of the unification efforts. All the texts were in French, but often even the teachers weren't fluent in it, but spoke the local dialect instead. They used that dialect to explain the lessons to the children so they could understand them. Even when the children seemed able to read French well, they often didn't know what they were reading and instead were just parroting unfamiliar words.

You may be right about Stevenson just believing he could be understood, but frequently he was asking directions, or for other kinds of information, and I was surprised that he never alluded to any language barriers. Of course, through much of his travels, not necessarily in France but in the U.S., he was very ill and underwent severe hardships, but he never mentioned that in his writings either.

Also, a fellow who followed his trail in France not long afterwards, and took photos, complained bitterly about the horrible sewage in the streets and the other primitive conditions that he found!

Interesting about your patients; even reflecting back their thoughts and concerns doesn't convince them that you've gotten it?

Nope - if the someone really believes they can't be understood, it doesn't matter whether the listener speaks standard, perceived English or not - because they just don't believe they can be understood. It is their position of comfort - even when they are quoting me directly! Frustrating and amusing at times.

I have a wonderful story from Paris about hearing. I speak no more french than toallow me to order coffee. I just don't have an affinity with languages.

My husband was teaching in Versailles one summer, and I spent time in Paris (a shortish train ride away). I was at one of the big corner cafes in St. Germain, and admittedly had dressed for Paris. I had tea, and was reading an English newspaper, and behind me a party of 4 Americans - the two men in western hats - arrived ordering with hands and slow english "two- coCAcolas, a CAFFEE, and a B-ier silver plate", and the waiter looked at them and shrugged. The American tried again, painfully stressing each word. The waiter shrugged. Now I knew the waiter's english was perfect having had a short chat with him - but he leaned over the table, and asked me in English would I mind interpreting. The American told me in English "two coCAcolas, a CAFFEE, and a B-ier, madamamselle", so I smiled and said to the waiter, in English "They would like two coca colas, a coffee, and a beer please". And the waiter said, in English, "of course, immediately" and scooted off. 'Ohh' said the American, 'Madamamselle, I understand your french, but I just couldn't understand the waiter at all'. "It takes practice." I replied.

GG, I think, at times, we all resort to hearing what we believe, it isn't so surprising that patients do it as a matter of course.

Laurie, that's a hysterical story!! And they never got it at all! How funny! Truly worthy of Wodehouse or Saki!

That is so funny. I would have loved to see their faces if they did finally figure it out.