posted on July 14, 2005 09:27:58 AM new
If I haven't mentioned it before...I love to read. I hunger for a good book...
Please let me know what books you have read, that were real page turners, those you just couldn't put down..or the ones that you will always remember for one reason or another..
posted on July 14, 2005 01:21:09 PM new
Sorry Maggie, I havent had a chance to read any good ones - but I think I bought some at some sales I went to! lol! If I ever get to them I will let you know what I thunk of em
posted on July 14, 2005 01:56:55 PM new
Well.. I like to read both fiction and non-fiction. I have read Dan Brown's DaVinci code and Angels and Demons.. every one of Kellerman's books,all of Reich's books, most of Anne Rice's books, some Caleb Carr's,Koontz,Grafton,Cornwell,and Grisham..and of course the classics...I have not read the Harry Potter books yet.
I guess just about everything, as long as it is a hardback... can't read a paperback, makes my tummy sick..LOL
Just wondered if anyone has read something lately that really wow'd them...
Bill, I heard that they are making the DaVinci code into a movie.. I also heard they will use Tom Hanks in the roll of Robert Langdon..and although I really like Tom Hanks... I would rather see someone else play Langdon. I think the movie won't do justice to the book..but that's me always the glass half empty...
DBL...what's been keeping you so busy lately?? Are you selling on Ebay?
posted on July 14, 2005 03:25:25 PM new
Have you read any Richard Ford books? The Sportscaster won a prize (I forget which), and there's a sequel. Riveting, fascinating. The sequel may be the first good novel ever written about a realtor.
There's another writer I'm crazy about and have bought all of his novels, but his name is escaping me at the moment (brain burp). When I find it, I'll tell you.
posted on July 14, 2005 03:27:00 PM new
maggie, I stopped selling on eBay as the fees just got so high I couldn't make anything on smaller priced items. I started selling on a dealers site that is mainly postcards and old documents, but I have let that die off too lately. I have been traveling some and still herdin' the Longhorns. I think I am getting lazy in my old age.
posted on July 14, 2005 04:02:06 PM new
You said you've read Caleb Carr, an author I always recommend when asked. Nelson DeMille has written some good stuff. I'm partial to his style since his main characters usually have a dry wit that I find appealing. From DeMille I would recommend: Night Fall about the crash of TWA 800 off of Long Island. Its a fictionalized story which also uses real events. The Gold Coast which is about an affluent couple living in the Hamptons who befriend a mob kingpin about to go to trial. Catherdral about the take-over of St. Patrick's Catherdral during the St. Patricks Day parade in NYC.
All of the above are easy reads but are also interesting and funny in their own way.
If your tastes run to non-fiction or historical works, I would also recommend the recently published 1776 by David McCollugh which is an outstanding read regarding one of the most important and pivotal years in this nation's history. McCollugh is an outstanding historian and has a way of writing history which is exciting and compelling. In that same vain, I would also recommend Setting the World Ablaze by John Ferling which is a non-fiction book about Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the American revolution. Its one of the most detailed accounts I've read about three of the most important men of the period. I highly recommend books such as these for people who haven't read much about the founding fathers or the revolutionary period. I think most would be surprised by what they learn about these men, their motivations, etc. Personally, I find this stuff endlessly facinating.
But if lighter reading is your bag, I would go with DeMille, most books written by Michael Crichton and anything by Mario Puzo.
posted on July 14, 2005 04:04:02 PM new
No.. I can't say as I have read any of Richard Ford's books, Roadsmith. I will check them out, thanks.
Bill, I sold on Ebay in the early years and loved it.. and actually made a few dollars..but sadly those days are gone. Like you, I feel it isn't worth the effort anymore. It was fun while it lasted though and like fish stories, my ebay stories of great sales and huge profits gets bigger every time I tell them..LOL
You sound like you are enjoying life, doing what you like and unlike our Profe here, with his wife, "the one that must be obeyed"you can pretty much suit yourself and do as you please!
posted on July 14, 2005 05:39:47 PM new
Although Richard Ford won the Pulitizer, I prefer Dave Eggers who wrote "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". Raymond Carver was another good writer in that group.
Right now, I'm reading Cynthia Ozick's latest book, "Heir to the Glimmering World. Next, probably Jose Saramago's The Cave....I'm always five years behind! If you want any of these books, let me know and I will give them to you. I used to sell books on Ebay and now I am left with more books than I will ever have time to read.
posted on July 14, 2005 05:41:51 PM new
I had never read any of Mary Higgins Clarks books,so I checked them out 3 at a time at the Library I have read them all...very good writer. I'm now reading Danielle Steel's life story,that is very interesting.
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on July 14, 2005 06:44:45 PM new
maggie, whaddya mean "unlike our profe"??? I'm doing exactly as I please...listening to SWMBO'd and herding the woolies BTW, you should read the Potter books...they're great fun..we planned this month's trip to town for this saturday so we can pick up some copies of the new one..one for me, one for the boy, and two or three for the classroom bookshelf..
bill, got any calves for sale?...always wanted to have a longhorn...
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Fue por lana y salió trasquilado...
posted on July 14, 2005 07:38:36 PM new
prof, probably so, We keep cuttin down the herd because we are so short of rainfall and the grass is just not growing. Still buyin' hay in July. Unheard of.
posted on July 14, 2005 07:45:05 PM new
Fiset, I missed your post..I have read a couple of Demille's books and really enjoyed them, And Puzo's as well.. haven't read Crichton though. I will read 1776.
Helen, thanks very much for the offer. If you have any that you really enjoyed,and you don't mind parting with, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to pay you for them!
Profe, I somehow knew all along that even if you refer to your woman as SWMBOB'D..that it is your pleasure to do so.. kind of like when I convince my hubby that what I want was his idea.. and a real good idea at that...then everyone is happy!
I will read the Potter books eventually and probably Tolkien's Lord of the rings collection too...
Mah..Clark and Steel are two I don't like..I have read a few from both and for some reason they didn't do it for me.. but thanks everyone for the good suggestions.. Maggie
posted on July 14, 2005 08:24:53 PM new
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
Its not current, I haven't read anything new.
I used to be a huge fan of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series. She went into painstaking detail of how cromagnum man and neandrathal (sp?) lived.
Most Sci Fi. Assimov. Bradbury
Linda we always had to buy hay. 3 horses not enough acreage. I miss our small farm
posted on July 14, 2005 11:43:59 PM new
It's funny how many authors we all enjoy commonly despite all of our political differences.
BTW Maggie - my own guilty pleasure reading is Tom Clancy. Of course once you read Sum of All Fears you get a clear understanding of just how horrendous that movie was (I just asked her this morning...how did you know? Cause he's a master spy you brain dead twit...Shoot that script writer now).
But seriously, dispute his love of minutia at times, he is a great story teller with an interesting mind.
(There's another Clancy fan here, forgot who, that I recommended Teeth of the Tiger to.... did you ever read it?)
I'm reading the John Dean autobiography now (I admit it - the whole Watergate story fascinates me). I'll pick up the new Woodward book as soon as I finish that.
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No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on July 14, 2005 11:51:01 PM new
Etexbill I'm biting my tongue(or my keyboard) not to make fun of your list of reading materials, """Salt, A World History" by Mark Kurlansky"", Hot Stuff!
OK, OK, before you get huffy i really enjoyed the History of Glass.
And, at least we don't read that grocery store crap "Sweet Savage Love" or "Savage Bold Love" or Bold Savage Sweet Love".
Can't they make a DIIFFERENT COVER for those damn books. The Ultra white woman with torn dress and the dark skinned ultra muscled man both with long flowing hair. The sameness from book to book is creepy!
posted on July 15, 2005 05:24:25 AM new
Our grass here depends on the winter rain, and we finally got enough last winter to have some spring grass. It's been enough for the sheep so far, but we have to feed hay to the cattle, goats and horses...apparently, hay farmers are using gold as a fertilizer, and it isn't working very well...prices are sky high and quality stinks...the horses are now eating hay that 10 years ago I wouldn't have fed to the cows..
bill, have you ever heard of a product called Chaffhaye? It's made right there in Tejas. We're in the process of converting the goats and horses over to it. They love it and there's NO waste...one 50 lb. bag is the equivalent of two bales of alfalfa hay, and I get it delivered for 7.50 / bag. The horses are losing their haybellies too.
posted on July 15, 2005 07:42:12 AM new
Maggie: My brain healed overnight and when I woke up a while ago there was the author's name I was trying to remember--clear as a bell: Richard Yates.
A writer I admire tremendously, about two years ago, mentioned that Yates had written the best book (novel) on marriage that had ever been written: Revolutionary Road. I got it cheap on the internet, read it (devoured it), and then ordered all 7 or so of his novels.
Fenix: About John Dean--In the late 80s, my husband was academic v.p. of a university so we went to a lot of functions. The students had invited John Dean to speak and stay for a luncheon afterwards. When we got to the luncheon, the students were all shy about sitting next to Dean, so I did. I can chat up strangers pretty nicely, so we started talking about Watergate. I had a chance to tell him how much my best friend Patty and I had admired him for what he did in the hearings, in the 70s. That we'd watched the hearings all day long on TV; Patty and I lived 4 blocks from each other but each had small children in the home and had trouble getting out. Some days we'd sit at our telephones watching the hearings together! Patty had color TV, I had b&w, so she'd tell me the color of his tie and we'd both admire what his wife Maureen ("Mo" was wearing and how gorgeous she looked. Dean and I started talking then about how public life can affect a marriage; he'd had it in spades, and in my own small way (a non-Mormon in a Mormon state) I too had experienced the fishbowl existence. I think we talked for about 30 minutes and it was wonderful. Afterwards, I called Patty and told her all about it, and she was jealous as heck.
Dean was very brave to come forward when he did. He now lives in the L.A. area and I see him on TV every once in a while.
posted on July 15, 2005 07:41:02 PM new
Thanks, prof. I'm just seeing this as I went to Ft. Worth today. Thanks for the link, I'll check that out. I see there is a dealer not far from me. Thanks again.
We are over 8 inches short of average rainfall for the year and if we don't get it in April and May we usually don't get much more in the year. We did have a good shower the last 3 days in the afternoon.
[ edited by etexbill on Jul 15, 2005 07:47 PM ]
posted on July 15, 2005 08:39:33 PM new
Roadsmith, thanks again! That was a great story about your meeting John Dean..thanks for sharing.. Maggie All Men Are Animal's; Some Just Make Better Pets
