Our book group was initiated by the church but also encompasses people who don't often attend church!
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Our book group was initiated by the church but also encompasses people who don't often attend church!
You just never know
Blip, blip, blip....
The Days Of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Anna is such a wonderful literary character that I have been enjoying since the 1980's when she was introduced in the Tales of the City novels. As she is 92 in the current read, I'm pretty sure it will be the last time I enjoy her amazing character.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
From my recent vacation:
Murther and Walking Spirits (Robertson Davies) - I recently realized that I never finished this or Davies' final novel The Cunning Man, so I am working to rectify that. Almost done Murther ... . It's a bit different from his earlier stuff (like Deptford) but is still incontrovertibly Davies. Like it, but it has an odd structure (the main character is dead, murdered inadvertently by his wife's lover, and his afterlife consists of viewing a film festival about his various ancestors, who kind of represent various branches of Anglo-Canada), so I'm not sure I would rank too high among his works. I certainly wouldn't rank it above the Deptford or Cornish trilogies. There is a passing connection to the Salterton trilogy in that the narrator hails from that town. It does have a resonance with my own family in that his narrator has Loyalists on his mother's side and Welsh Methodists on his father's side, which pretty much describes Dad's family tree as well.
Time and the Gods, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories (both by Lord Dunsany). A seminal writer of the fantasy genre, Lord Dunsany (who was a hereditary Earl and had about five given names but published simply as Lord Dunsany) wrote strange and often beautiful tales in the early twentieth century, influencing later writers like H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith who in turn influenced many contemporary fantasy writers. Like a lot of early fantasy writers, much of the Earl's output was short fiction so these are both collections of short stories. His major sequence, which includes Time and the Gods (and begins with the collection Gods of Pegana), are the Pegana stories that give us the myths of a fictional land and its rather strange bunch of deities. The language is a bit odd at times, mostly due to Dunsany being Edwardian rather than modern, but often beautifully poetic. He's been dead long enough that all his stuff is PD and available for free from Project Gutenberg.
Wonders of the Invisible World (Patricia Mckillip). Another collection of fantasy shorts, this one by a more modern writer. Mckillip has been writing since the seventies and is now a bit of a grande dame of fantasy fiction. She is best known for novels such as the Riddle-Master Trilogy (Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind), but has produced a fair amount of short fiction. This is fairly quiet, evocative fantasy rather than epic quests and battles. You are as likely to meet artists or musicians as warriors and wizards. At times, she reminds me of Dunsany. Strangely, while my late friend Mike was a fan and had all of her books in his massive collection of fantasy and sf, I didn't read her much myself back in the day and now realize I should rectify that.
Murther and Walking Spirits (Robertson Davies) - I recently realized that I never finished this or Davies' final novel The Cunning Man, so I am working to rectify that. Almost done Murther ... . It's a bit different from his earlier stuff (like Deptford) but is still incontrovertibly Davies. Like it, but it has an odd structure (the main character is dead, murdered inadvertently by his wife's lover, and his afterlife consists of viewing a film festival about his various ancestors, who kind of represent various branches of Anglo-Canada), so I'm not sure I would rank too high among his works. I certainly wouldn't rank it above the Deptford or Cornish trilogies. There is a passing connection to the Salterton trilogy in that the narrator hails from that town. It does have a resonance with my own family in that his narrator has Loyalists on his mother's side and Welsh Methodists on his father's side, which pretty much describes Dad's family tree as well.
Time and the Gods, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories (both by Lord Dunsany). A seminal writer of the fantasy genre, Lord Dunsany (who was a hereditary Earl and had about five given names but published simply as Lord Dunsany) wrote strange and often beautiful tales in the early twentieth century, influencing later writers like H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith who in turn influenced many contemporary fantasy writers. Like a lot of early fantasy writers, much of the Earl's output was short fiction so these are both collections of short stories. His major sequence, which includes Time and the Gods (and begins with the collection Gods of Pegana), are the Pegana stories that give us the myths of a fictional land and its rather strange bunch of deities. The language is a bit odd at times, mostly due to Dunsany being Edwardian rather than modern, but often beautifully poetic. He's been dead long enough that all his stuff is PD and available for free from Project Gutenberg.
Wonders of the Invisible World (Patricia Mckillip). Another collection of fantasy shorts, this one by a more modern writer. Mckillip has been writing since the seventies and is now a bit of a grande dame of fantasy fiction. She is best known for novels such as the Riddle-Master Trilogy (Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind), but has produced a fair amount of short fiction. This is fairly quiet, evocative fantasy rather than epic quests and battles. You are as likely to meet artists or musicians as warriors and wizards. At times, she reminds me of Dunsany. Strangely, while my late friend Mike was a fan and had all of her books in his massive collection of fantasy and sf, I didn't read her much myself back in the day and now realize I should rectify that.
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks .. the author of The People of the Book with a certain bent towards haggadai Sophia ... that bewitching wisdom!
Alas many wouldn't make this connection as a psychic string ... as they'd rather not know when in the emotional state! We do bow to the passions .. is that knot rite?
Alas many wouldn't make this connection as a psychic string ... as they'd rather not know when in the emotional state! We do bow to the passions .. is that knot rite?
Hilary
Member at Large
I'm just starting a new book club book - The Bear by Claire Cameron. It's written from the perspective of a child who is left to survive in the wilderness when her parents are killed by a bear during a camping trip.
I hate to make a pun about the subject matter being gristly/grizzly... so I won't.
I hate to make a pun about the subject matter being gristly/grizzly... so I won't.
paradox3
Peanuts Fan
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Her
That's a great book! I loved it.
BetteTheRed
Resident Heretic
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Her
I'm reading "The Trouble with Islam Today" by Irshad Manii. Directed to her co-religionists, a very good read thus far, and a fascinating insight into immigrant families, Islam as actually practiced in culture, etc.
Pinga
Room for All
Reading "do not say we have nothing'.
http://themanbookerprize.com/books/do-not-say-we-have-nothing-by-madeleine-thien
http://themanbookerprize.com/books/do-not-say-we-have-nothing-by-madeleine-thien
It is a superb and filmy connection of Cathy and parts west ... particularly in the pictographs ...
crazyheart
Rest In Peace: tomorrow,tomorrow
I have just finished two books about spousal abuse.
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris - good story but a very weak ending, I thought.
I Let You Go. by Clare Mackintosh- again the ending didn't impress me.
Thanks Pinga.
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris - good story but a very weak ending, I thought.
I Let You Go. by Clare Mackintosh- again the ending didn't impress me.
Thanks Pinga.
crazyheart
Rest In Peace: tomorrow,tomorrow
Exactly. I think that the control was the scariest part of the book but I guess it really happens.
Carolla
wondering & wandering
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Her
just starting a book I got for Xmas - In the Footsteps of the Group of Seven - written by Jim & Sue Waddington who spent 36 years seeking out the vantage points from which the Group of Seven drew & painted ... they have photographed many of these scenes & shown beside the paintings & sketches it is pretty amazing. Back in 2010 there was an exhibit of some of their work at the McMichael, which I had the pleasure of seeing at that time.
Girl on the Train ... a great illustration of the unseen workings of a train of mind contrary to Tom's doubts about having his own way with several women whether they appreciated it or not!
Angels abound ... and one honky tonk version jumped on him about his Brutus simuli! Some of his victims were otherwise a bit extreme ... weird polity?
Angels abound ... and one honky tonk version jumped on him about his Brutus simuli! Some of his victims were otherwise a bit extreme ... weird polity?
Now into Cutting for Stone ... an extremely good metaphor, or satyr on international religious dis order of one line thought leaves us with ... if you don't look into the environment beyond us ... across time as space ... another ofde light? The straight line vision is thus shaken ...
Few grasp the concept of variance ... especially the limits of standard variance and oude liars (da Videa'n) in conflict with inner myths about what we know little ... thus post morde-M examination ... the great test when you're gone ... an Isle 've Morte?
Mind that rests ... semi dead sol? Still glowing at the core with hidden values ... I would compare it with Lord Jinn ... in English a' Jim with relish? One Jirn with a queue of archaic contemplation in the pilgrimage across the yeoman ...
Few grasp the concept of variance ... especially the limits of standard variance and oude liars (da Videa'n) in conflict with inner myths about what we know little ... thus post morde-M examination ... the great test when you're gone ... an Isle 've Morte?
Mind that rests ... semi dead sol? Still glowing at the core with hidden values ... I would compare it with Lord Jinn ... in English a' Jim with relish? One Jirn with a queue of archaic contemplation in the pilgrimage across the yeoman ...
Inukshuk
Well-Known Member
I love touring the McMichael gallery. Especially the cemetery where the McMichaels and 6 of the group of 7 are buried. Beautiful place.