| Author |
Message |
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, June 27, 2016 - 5:17 pm 
OK, Uncle Ricky - The Little Life had me in tears today as I was driving! I'm only on the second part of four parts, but there is No Way I can listen to this particular book while doing my bike riding! The horrible parts are SO horrible, but there is also so much goodness and hope and love. THANK YOU for the recommendation!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, June 27, 2016 - 5:44 pm
And here I thought I might have been overreacting, Teach, (a common fault of mine) about the emotional wallops the reader is subjected to. I'm so glad you're experiencing A Little Life on such a deep level. (I don't think it can be experienced any other way.) It's one of those rare books that really gives your emotional machinery a vigorous workout!
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Monday, June 27, 2016 - 5:59 pm
Need to check "A Little Life" out!
I am currently reading "The Girls" by Emma Cline and enjoying it. I believe Mamie mentioned it a while ago. Interesting story about a girl who joins a Manson-like-cult in the late 1960's. Gives some insight into why someone would join a cult like that.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - 6:32 am
I keep picturing "my kids" from school as Jude's story is revealed, and that makes it even worse. The balance is perfect, though. If it were the horrible all the time, it would be unbearable, but there IS such hope and inspiration that I am looking for places to drive so I can keep listening. (Too much distraction to listen at home with an 8-week old Border Collie puppy!  )
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - 6:53 am
I am going light and reading First Comes Love by Emily Giffin.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Friday, July 01, 2016 - 6:53 am
Have just gotten "A Little Life"! Can't wait to start it. It is a long one, so it will take me a while! Couldn't resist after hearing Ricky and Teach discussing it
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Friday, July 01, 2016 - 8:12 pm
Reenie! I can't wait to read your review. I still think of that book often and I finished it nearly 4 months ago. I will venture to say it'll be one the most intense reading experiences of your life, but it should also be pretty unforgettable, too.
This morning I finished Did You Ever Have A Family by a writer I'd never heard of, Bill Clegg. I noticed it on the shelf at the library and the title piqued my interest since I have not had a family since my mother died in 1989 (and she was the only relative I've ever known). I have my in-laws now, but -- as you know -- it's not quite the same thing.
Anyway, the story is quite captivating and is written in a somewhat complex (but arresting) narrative. The focus is on how various individuals react to a tragedy that happens the night before a wedding ceremony that was to have brought together two very different families. It's hard to explain how everyone interacts with each other, but it's beautifully written and though the underlying story is brimming with sadness, it also forces the reader to wonder "how would I have handled that situation?" (while at the same time being grateful that we haven't had to face that kind of test).
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, July 01, 2016 - 8:21 pm
I am STILL not reading so much but moving forward in Frank Deford's book, which I am enjoying when I get to read it.
Too much TV, too much volunteering, too much life.. not bad things, but.. not enough reading.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, July 02, 2016 - 10:40 am
I echo Uncle Ricky's sentiments - A Little Life wallops you good! I just finished the second of four parts on Audible this morning as I rode bike, and I was actually swearing as I rode along the trail! (Caleb section!)
I just finished The Nightingale today. Of all the sadness in the book, the end with Daniel/Ari was what made me cry. Beautiful book!
And now I need recommendations; I've got three new book options: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, Pierced by the Sun by Laura Esquivel or The Drop a Harry Bosch novel. Which would you start with?
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Saturday, July 02, 2016 - 2:51 pm
I vote for The Drop!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Sunday, July 03, 2016 - 9:38 pm
Just minutes ago I finished an immensely fascinating little book, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. And though it's small in size, it's huge in its scope of influence. Mr. Frankl was a distinguished psychiatrist in pre-WWII Vienna. In 1942, he was sent to the first of four Nazi concentration camps (including Auschwitz) and remained a camp inmate until the Allies liberated the camps in 1945. The book's centerpiece is his description of how he and his fellow inmates survived. While there, Dr. Frankl developed a unique brand of psychotherapy known as logotherapy, which has as its core belief that man's primary motivational force is his search for meaning. The book explains how Dr. Frankl found meaning in life inside the camps to help him survive the horrors he endured.
I knew absolutely nothing about the book prior to reading a blurb about how it is being adapted into a film. In researching its background, I was astounded to learn it has sold over 15 million copies and is cited as one of the most influential books of the 20th century. I'm glad I read it because I really learned a lot. It's not overly complex (but complex nonetheless, especially for a layperson), but it's written in a clear enough style that you "get" the messages he tries to get across. It's amazing it's still making a great impact 70 years after publication!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2016 - 8:04 am
I have this book as some of my students had to read it for an online class they took. I've not read it, but it is now on my read next pile, especially as I hope to teach a Holocaust Lit. class this coming year. We have a new schedule with a special 6-week term at the end of the year where teachers can basically create and teach any class they want.
I'd already planned this class with Maus: A Survivor's Tale (graphic novel), Terrible Things (kids' book), and either Night or The Shawl. Man's Search for Meaning might be a the last piece I need. In 6 weeks, I won't have time for 2 novels, but I've used just the first part of The Shawl before with excellent responses, then I could use excerpts from either Night or MSFM and then read completely the other one. I'm also showing Elie Wiesel's video with Oprah when they return to Auschwitz and Wiesel's essay on Hitler.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Monday, July 04, 2016 - 8:21 am
Thanks Ricky and Teach for your suggestions! I love this Library page!
I am 25% through with A Little Life and am engrossed
In it! I would like to stay home all day and read it, but I am expected at my daughter's 4th of July party!!!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Tuesday, July 05, 2016 - 11:22 am
Reenie, keeping my fingers/toes crossed that you like the other 75%.
At the other end of the spectrum, I was tempted to "hate-finish" the book I began yesterday, Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, similar to the way I recently hate-finished It's All Your Fault and Girl Waits with Gun.
Alas, when I reached page 134 (of the book's 390 pages), I finally cried "uncle" (yes, people who refers to themselves as "uncle" are allowed to cry "uncle" when the situation calls for it).
Oh, my goodness, the book was just spectacularly bad, bad, bad (takes-your-breath-away bad). How it was a National Book Award finalist is beyond my comprehension. I suspect Ms. Groff poured her life's savings into the pockets of the dolts who nominated her book (nothing else makes sense).
Anyway, I am so, so grateful for the library, especially when a monstrosity like this makes you weep with relief that you did not spend a hard-earned dollar (or penny!) to buy it.
Okay, rant over.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, July 05, 2016 - 6:30 pm
Uncle_Ricky - just sent you an e-mail (janieglerum) about A Little Life. No one else I know has read it, and I NEED to talk about it!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 9:30 am
I just finished Live Fast Die Hot by Jenny Mollen. Hilarious! It may not be everyone's cup of tea because her humor can be a bit raunchy at times but I laughed out loud a lot reading this one.
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Scout
Member
01-19-2005
| Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 11:46 am
I just finished a memoir called, "The Nazi Officer's Wife - How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust". It was an interesting and different perspective with the first half as Edith - a Jewish woman first relocated to the ghetto and then sent to work in farm labor camps. Then later, after finding out she was to be deported to a concentration camp, going undercover with false papers as Grete, and marrying a Nazi soldier who actually knew her true identity.
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Tresbien
Member
08-26-2002
| Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 4:37 pm
I thought some of you would find this summer reading article useful: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/entertainment/summer-reading-list-2016/
Teachmichigan, I just began Pierced By The Sun today and am finding it fascinating if intense.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 7:29 am
I have read four on that list and The Nest was one of my favorites.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 10:52 am
Thanks, Tresbien. I've started What Alice Forgot, but Moriarty is always a quick read, so I'll head for Pierced next.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Friday, July 08, 2016 - 5:42 pm
Finished "So Faux, So Good", by Tamar Myers. A fun, light read.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 11:52 am
Ricky ~ I am more than half done with A Little Life and still engrossed!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, July 11, 2016 - 10:49 am
Reenie, I'm on nins and peedles with anticipation because I really hope you like the entire book (there are so many upsetting passages, I worry that that might affect your overall opinion!).
Last night I finished Clare Mackintosh's I Let You Go, which has been previously praised by Mamie, Rieann and Reenie (and I think Rvon read it, too). I thoroughly enjoyed the story and its whirlwind action. It was a teensy bit long, caused mostly by the (very insignificant) sub-plot of the troubled teenage son of the lead detective. She could have cut all of that out and it would not have affected the story one bit. Anyway, it's worth your time as I'm sure Mamie, Rieann, Reenie and Rvon will agree!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Monday, July 11, 2016 - 11:02 am
I agree about the teen son. That could have been deleted but the two twists made up for it.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Monday, July 11, 2016 - 8:21 pm
Ricky - step away from your mins and peedles!! I believe I have finished with the most upsetting passages. Whew!!!
Tough stuff for sure.
Still engrossed. What a book!
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