Comments on: 3 Great Books of Summer

By: Best Things This Week June 8, 2010 : A Greener Tea

Best Things This Week June 8, 2010 : A Greener Tea — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:09:52 +0000

[...] my favorite summer books 09 was Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie. It was witty, literary, and [...]

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:07:56 +0000

Good one, I’ll go with it. I can make myself cope with some darkness for brilliance. Reminds me of John Irving’s Owen Meany, one of my favorite books of all time.

And I was looking at Amazon this AM and I see Alan Bradley has another book, something about “the hangman’s noose” or “the slipknot” in the title.

By: gina

gina — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:15:55 +0000

Have to say “Not Wanted on the Voyage” Canada’s own Timothy Findley…..brilliant. Okay maybe a bit dark in places but warranted. Let’s face it , it was the end of the world. And when you have grown up with the story of Noah and the Ark (how many of us had the play ‘ark’ and the little animals whether you were steeped in bible stuff or not… come on)
Again brilliant….gotta love Mrs. Noyes and her blind cat Mottyl.

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:19:13 +0000

Sonja,

Sounds like a great one. It’s on my list.

By: sonja

sonja — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:24:39 +0000

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: An English reporter right after WW II seeks to communicate with people on the Guernsey Islands. These were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied during the war. She develops a pen pal relationship with some of the residents and eventually goes there to meet them. Lovely book. Not horrifying tales of the war, more uplifting and also funny.

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:23:05 +0000

Thanks to both of you for these recommendations. I love to keep a list when I’m in my favorite Used Books store. Otherwise I wander and it’s just hit and miss.
The Four Seasons sounds very good. I read a couple of books about the Medicis, slightly gross in parts as historical fiction often is, but I enjoyed learning about the time period since so much very famous art and art history took place then.
And thanks Mary-Ellin for that list. The foot binding… I couldn’t do it. I know it’s pathetic, but I’d think about it for weeks. I still think about Memoirs of a Geisha and that was 4 years ago. The Curious Incident is indeed brilliant, I loved it. Are The Middle Place and One True Thing not too depressingly morose or graphic?
Your note puts me in mind that I should read more biography. Julia Child always seemed one of those extremely funny ladies. I may just start with her.
Please do send any thoughts for books you’ve loved (that were safe for we delicate types).

By: Taji

Taji — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:31:54 +0000

Thanks for the recommendations. I can reread ” Harry Potter” cause i love her descriptive language. My addition is ” The Four Seasons” by Laurel Corona. Just stumbled across it in a bookstore. ” A novel of Vivaldi’s Venice”. Two orphaned sisters who grow up in a foundling hospital which is also a music academy. They support themselves by doing concerts for the rich Venetians and Vivaldi comes to teach. The story of the two sisters and their differences and similarities takes you to Venice ( which i have been lucky enough to have been there twice).If you go to the author’s website—she even tells you which CD to buy that has some of the music used in the book.

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is a wonderful book—but it talks graphically about foot binding.

Happy Summer–
Taji

By: Mary-Ellin

Mary-Ellin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:49:56 +0000

I just finished another wonderful book today. It’s called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon. Told through the eyes of a 15-year-old boy with autism, it’s one of the most original books I’ve read in a long time.

Other recent favorites (not recently written, necessarily, but that I read this year) include:

The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan
One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, by Julie Andrews

Given all the press about the book and movie, Julie & Julia, I think I’m going to dust off my copy of Julia Child’s biography (Appetite for Life, by Noel Riley Fitch), which I never made it through on the first attempt.

Happy reading,
Mary-Ellin