What are you reading this week of November 20, 2016?

[hermetic]

I just got The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles. Brutal tale of life in 1800's Texas. Women and children kidnapped and hauled off to camps. But they survived. Interesting how they did that. Which reminded me of this...

A few weeks back I finished A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George. SPOILER ALERT!! I did some research and amine azide is real and you can buy it online. Just FYI... .

Listened to a couple of John Grishams. The Broker and now The Summons. Good stories.

Also been watching the Longmire TV series on DVDs, based on Craig Johnson's writings. Wasn't too thrilled with Season One but Two and Four have some pretty good episodes. I've become fond of the actors but the one thing that gripes me is that it's filmed in New Mexico. I love NM, grew up there. But the books take place in Wyoming which looks entirely different. Otherwise, I'd say they're worth a watch.

Plus, I just got Season 2 of Outlander. I'm saving that for my Thanksgiving treat this week, to escape from reality.

So, any books you've been reading/hearing/watching to help you deal with our new reality?

[shenmue]

1. Splinter the Silence, by Val McDermid

[hermetic]

2. Wow, sounds great!

...an adrenaline-fueled roller coaster guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Internet trolls and bullies.

Definitely going to have to read this one. Thanks.

[shenmue]

15. Very timely

[hermetic]

17. Xactly!

[CurtEastPoint]

3. My Name is Lucy Barton, by author of Olive Kitteridge

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/books/review/elizabeth-strouts-my-name-is-lucy-barton.html

[hermetic]

4. Here is my favorite place

to do a quick read on what a book is about.

https://www.fictiondb.com/author/elizabeth-strout~my-name-is-lucy-barton~1322315~b.htm

This sounds very touching and emotional. Thanks for telling us about it.

[CurtEastPoint]

10. I've just started. It's a very thought-full book so far.

[LWolf]

5. The Princess Bride.

Re-reading it in preparation for assigning it to some of my students.

[hermetic]

6. Is that the same

as the movie? I love that so much. It never occurred to me it might also be a book. Lucky students! We never got cool stuff like that in school when I was a kid. Good on ya!

[TexasProgresive]

7. Of course there's a book-Grandpa read it to the boy. Just teasing.

I had a copy of it but I don't know what happened to it.

[hermetic]

8. Oh you!

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[TexasProgresive]

13. "The Princess Bride" is one of our all time fav flicks.

The funny thing is I don't much care for the "leading" male and female characters, Westley and Buttercup. Wesley is kind of strange and Buttercup is the stereotype damsel in distress. I would've liked a Westley that was more likable and a Buttercup that had a bit of backbone. All the other characters are great. You can love hating the bad ones and the good ones are just wonderful.

I remember us having a lot of fun during the dark days of the bUsh years casting members of his misadministration. The Albino was Rove, Cheney was Count Tyrone Rugen, and of course, bUsh was Prince Humperdinck

[hermetic]

18. Talked me into it

Next visit to the library I will get both the movie and the book. Fun way to while away a few hours as the snow flies by the windows.

[LWolf]

11. Yes.

The book (and the movie) have an interesting backstory; I know that my students, when reading the introduction to the 30th anniversary edition, will be horrified to learn that the author considered a different ending for Inigo...because they won't realize (yet) that the author's introduction is also fictional.

We're going to have a great time.

[hermetic]

19. I'm going to read the book

You all have convinced me it will be fun.

[LWolf]

21. I'm having fun, anyway.

I'm one who almost always likes the book better than the movie; in this case, the movie holding such a place in my heart, they are tied.

[TexasProgresive]

9. Thanks for the thread, hermetic. Starting "Cold is the Grave" by Peter Robinson

I'm leaving behind the strange world of bicycle racing for now for the easier to believe world of fiction. I forget who mentioned Peter Robinson"s DCI Alan Banks novels but you know who you are,thank you.

[hermetic]

12. I don't remember either

but it got me to listen to Robinson's Gallows View. And put more on my list. Good writer.

[TexasProgresive]

14. I found him/her. It was raccoon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11939005

[petronius]

16. I just grabbed "The Complete Works of Isaac Babel" from the e-library

And I've been revisiting with Nero Wolfe Archie Goodwin (i.e., Rex Stout) for the past couple of weeks...

[hermetic]

20. Sounds quite impressive

And really big at 1000+ pages. Thanks for sharing.

[pscot]

27. The Red Cavalry stories and Tales of Odessa

are the best. Read The story of my Dovecot and My First Goose side by side. They're brilliant stories that point in completely opposite directions. Babel must have been a deeply conflicted man. He was a committed revolutionary when he was younger, but he disappeared into the gulags some time in the late 1930's. He was one of the very greatest short story writers

[japple]

22. Thanks so much for the thread, hermetic. I couldn't get into the

The Girl from Krakow. For some reason the characters seemed very flat. It might have just been the sour mood I was in post-election, and no doubt I will pick it up again at a later date and wonder why I didn't get it the first go round.

I don't remember when I downloaded Kate Grenville's book, The Secret River, but there it was on my Kindle, so I started on it last week. Haven't made too much headway due to a Friends of the Library book sale that I worked on all last week, but I did get some great books for friends and family. From what I have read, I am hooked on the story and the characters.

This synopsis of The Secret River is from amazon.

In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a magnificent, transporting work of historical fiction

This author also wrote a book called Searching for The Secret River, which just might be the next book on my list.

Kate Grenville's The Secret River was one of the most loved novels of 2006. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and awarded the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the story of William Thornhill and his journey from London to the other side of the world has moved and exhilarated hundreds of thousands of readers. Searching for the Secret River tells the story of how Grenville came to write this wonderful book. It is in itself an amazing story, beginning with Grenville's great-great-great grandfather. Grenville starts to investigate her ancestor, hoping to understand his life. She pursues him from Sydney to London and back, and slowly she begins to realise she must write about him. Searching for the Secret River maps this creative journey into fiction, and illuminates the importance of family in all our lives.

[hermetic]

24. Hi

Those sound lovely. I've always been so intrigued by Australia and many years ago gave serious thought to moving there.

Have a happy Thanksgiving! I have green beans from the farmers' market that I froze and I will use them to make the traditional gb casserole. I suspect it will be much tastier than with canned beans. Did you see the video I posted for you in Cooking & Baking?

[japple]

25. I saw that and laughed my ass off. That little dog was so cute.

Thanks for posting it. I put it up on my FB wall.

Your green beans sound great to me and you better believe it will be a huge improvement over DelMonte canned green beans!

I am off to transport 2 adult cats whose owners surrendered them to our County (high-kill) shelter just 2 days before a holiday. They are going to be in foster care for a couple of weeks and will then go up for adoption at one of the rescues I work with. It's always sad when someone dumps adults and especially right before a holiday. One would think that the proper thing to do would be to find a home for pets that have been good companions, but people seem to do it without much thought or remorse.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who gather in the Fiction Group.

[womanofthehills]

23. I just finished Paulette Jiles "The News of the World"

Texas after the Civil War. About a 10 yr old kidnapped girl raised by the Kiowa tribe. A old man, who travels from town to town in Texas reading the news, is delivering her to relatives over 400 miles away in San Antonio. Kind of a road trip Western novel with a happy ending. I enjoyed it - I'll check out The Color of Lightning.

[japple]

26. Yes, I just finished that as well. It is a sequel to The Color of Lightning. It

is the story of Britt Johnson, whom you encountered in News of the World. Excellent book! I bet you will like it a lot.