The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,986
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 5, 2016 13:48:31 GMT
See below. I couldn't bold on this post for some reason.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,986
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 5, 2016 13:51:09 GMT
The school year has officially ended for me, and I accomplished reading two books. One I started almost a year ago. I actually read the Quran.
It's a long review. I posted this on Facebook and had a great discussion with others.
Quran: I read it. It took me almost a year, but I read the entire translated Quran. (It's not long--just tedious)
I can now say, "why, yes, yes I have read it." However, I am no expert nor did I go into reading with a completely open mind. I am a nonbeliever, so I am an outsider looking in, and my perspective and world view are colored by those glasses.
Observations:
1. It is incredibly redundant. I understand it is meant to be memorized and expressed orally, but there are hundreds of different ways it says, to sum up, " woe and hell to nonbelievers. You are wrong. We are right. If we have Allah in our hearts, we go to heaven. You to hell." Ten different ways would be enough for me.
2. I only saw a few passages that really offered violence--man to man . I have read there are over "1000." ---by people with an agenda. I didn't find this to be true. There are perhaps a thousand that mention nonbelievers/infidels have hell awaiting them, but only a handful that say to personally "take out" the nonbelievers.
3. In those few---I get the gist that they are (mostly) stating that you don't seek out violence, but if you are attacked (and the definition may vary), you should fight to the death. It's easy to see how those on the fringes might take to this advice.
4. That said, there seems to be a lot of passages that contradict. On one hand, live and let live. On the other hand, annihilate them.
Overall? I don't get the warm fuzzies from the text but I wasn't overwhelmingly freaked out. I found it pretty mind numbing and contradictory, but I'm not its audience. It wasn't written for agnostic females of the 21st century.
For the most part for me, it felt like reading the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. It was written in a time and place that looks much different than today's world. The rules and stories reflect the needs of the historical time period. Modern literalists and apologists spend countless hours trying to resolve their cognitive dissonance to make it more palatable and/or to fit an agenda. Others just ignore the parts they don't like and choose faith. Fair enough.
The issue isn't the text or the religion. The issues lie in the individual heart and mind. Most people see the beauty or seek solace in the documents and find ways to choose the light but some will seek the dark and unstable path these texts provide and the sociopaths/evildoers will always find ways to manipulate those who stumble.
I also read : A Mother's Reckoning.
Incredibly enlightening and incredibly disturbing. I will be mulling this book over for years to come. Sue Klebold, Dylan Klebold's mother (Columbine shooter), wrote this memoir. She was a good mother. How could she not know? That is the question she sets out to explore.
As a teacher and a parent, this book frightens me more than any horror movie ever will. It doesn't answer all our questions because she doesn't have all the answers, but she tries with all her energy to give us as much as she can. Her pain in palpable and hard to read at times, and her insight valuable for us all.
The writing is good, but at times, redundant.
What did you read this week?
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Post by misadventurous on Jun 5, 2016 14:05:48 GMT
I read In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. It's a fast-paced psychological thriller and was an Amazon Best Book from August 2015 and is apparently being made into a movie. Really enjoyed it and tore through it in about a day and a half. 4/5 stars for me. The author has another book coming out July 19th: The Woman in Cabin 10, which also looks really good.
Now reading Intrusion by Mary McCluskey, which was my Kindle First selection for June. Seems ok so far.
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Post by misadventurous on Jun 5, 2016 14:07:03 GMT
The school year has officially ended for me, and I accomplished reading two books. One I started almost a year ago. I actually read the Quran. It's a long review. I posted this on Facebook and had a great discussion with others. Quran: I read it. It took me almost a year, but I read the entire translated Quran. (It's not long--just tedious) I can now say, "why, yes, yes I have read it." However, I am no expert nor did I go into reading with a completely open mind. I am a nonbeliever, so I am an outsider looking in, and my perspective and world view are colored by those glasses. Observations: 1. It is incredibly redundant. I understand it is meant to be memorized and expressed orally, but there are hundreds of different ways it says, to sum up, " woe and hell to nonbelievers. You are wrong. We are right. If we have Allah in our hearts, we go to heaven. You to hell." Ten different ways would be enough for me. 2. I only saw a few passages that really offered violence--man to man . I have read there are over "1000." ---by people with an agenda. I didn't find this to be true. There are perhaps a thousand that mention nonbelievers/infidels have hell awaiting them, but only a handful that say to personally "take out" the nonbelievers. 3. In those few---I get the gist that they are (mostly) stating that you don't seek out violence, but if you are attacked (and the definition may vary), you should fight to the death. It's easy to see how those on the fringes might take to this advice. 4. That said, there seems to be a lot of passages that contradict. On one hand, live and let live. On the other hand, annihilate them. Overall? I don't get the warm fuzzies from the text but I wasn't overwhelmingly freaked out. I found it pretty mind numbing and contradictory, but I'm not its audience. It wasn't written for agnostic females of the 21st century. For the most part for me, it felt like reading the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. It was written in a time and place that looks much different than today's world. The rules and stories reflect the needs of the historical time period. Modern literalists and apologists spend countless hours trying to resolve their cognitive dissonance to make it more palatable and/or to fit an agenda. Others just ignore the parts they don't like and choose faith. Fair enough. The issue isn't the text or the religion. The issues lie in the individual heart and mind. Most people see the beauty or seek solace in the documents and find ways to choose the light but some will seek the dark and unstable path these texts provide and the sociopaths/evildoers will always find ways to manipulate those who stumble. I also read : A Mother's Reckoning. Incredibly enlightening and incredibly disturbing. I will be mulling this book over for years to come. Sue Klebold, Dylan Klebold's mother (Columbine shooter), wrote this memoir. She was a good mother. How could she not know? That is the question she sets out to explore. As a teacher and a parent, this book frightens me more than any horror movie ever will. It doesn't answer all our questions because she doesn't have all the answers, but she tries with all her energy to give us as much as she can. Her pain in palpable and hard to read at times, and her insight valuable for us all. The writing is good, but at times, redundant. What did you read this week? I'm impressed!!
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MsKnit
Pearl Clutcher
RefuPea #1406
Posts: 2,648
Jun 26, 2014 19:06:42 GMT
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Post by MsKnit on Jun 5, 2016 14:22:52 GMT
I'm not sure I want to read Sue Klebold's book. I kind of do, but don't. KWIM? I did end up getting the Columbine book that was recommended for my Kindle. I'm hoping it isn't waiting in the closet that many of my To-Be-Read pile is stored, also. Wouldn't be the first time I did this. I admire your tenacity in reading the Quran. It isn't something I could do, I don't think. Last week I started reading Genie: A Scientific Tragedy and finished it this week. It's about a girl who was horribly neglected. She had so little human interaction that her brain lost the ability to communicate normally. I cannot understand her mother allowing her husband, Genie's father, to shut the child away. She was an abused woman. I wonder where was mama bear all those years? The book did not paint the medical/scientific research community in the best light. Rather confirmed my thoughts of the Psychology, um, investigators from my Psych class. Cruelty in the name of science. Blech! My Anthropology prof recommended the book. But, it helped me understand some of what I learned in Psychology. Anyway, I found it interesting enough that I'm considering buying the dissertation by Susan Curtiss. It covers linguistics and Genie's inability to make sentences, having missed that critical period learning. What holds me back, other than the price tag, is wondering if I would understand the material. I'm started reading All the Light We Cannot See after Genie. It took a little to get into the story. What has interested me has been the boy's interest in math and radios and radio waves. LOL! It makes me long to discuss sine waves and radio waves with my pre-Calc prof. He taught me so much is so little time. It wasn't enough. These sidetracking of the brain episodes are interfering with the book. Not even thinking about what's next.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,986
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 5, 2016 14:29:43 GMT
I'm not sure I want to read Sue Klebold's book. I kind of do, but don't. KWIM? I did end up getting the Columbine book that was recommended for my Kindle. I'm hoping it isn't waiting in the closet that many of my To-Be-Read pile is stored, also. Wouldn't be the first time I did this. I admire your tenacity in reading the Quran. It isn't something I could do, I don't think. Last week I started reading Genie: A Scientific Tragedy and finished it this week. It's about a girl who was horribly neglected. She had so little human interaction that her brain lost the ability to communicate normally. I cannot understand her mother allowing her husband, Genie's father, to shut the child away. She was an abused woman. I wonder where was mama bear all those years? The book did not paint the medical/scientific research community in the best light. Rather confirmed my thoughts of the Psychology, um, investigators from my Psych class. Cruelty in the name of science. Blech! My Anthropology prof recommended the book. But, it helped me understand some of what I learned in Psychology. Anyway, I found it interesting enough that I'm considering buying the dissertation by Susan Curtiss. It covers linguistics and Genie's inability to make sentences, having missed that critical period learning. What holds me back, other than the price tag, is wondering if I would understand the material. I'm started reading All the Light We Cannot See after Genie. It took a little to get into the story. What has interested me has been the boy's interest in math and radios and radio waves. LOL! It makes me long to discuss sine waves and radio waves with my pre-Calc prof. He taught me so much is so little time. It wasn't enough. These sidetracking of the brain episodes are interfering with the book. Not even thinking about what's next. It was a worthwhile read, but it wasn't easy to read and no one is ever going to get perfect answers.
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Post by hollymolly on Jun 5, 2016 14:45:45 GMT
Finished The Shadow if the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and really enjoyed it. It was a hard-to-put-down book for me. It was originally written in Spanish, and I wondered about the translator's choices a time or two, but nothing major or distracting. It's about a young boy after the Spanish Civil War, the son of bookseller, who falls in love with a book and goes searching for more by the same author. He finds that someone has been systematically destroying everything that was ever printed by this author. When he is a teenager/young man, he goes searching for any information he can find about the author, and finds himself caught up in the mystery and danger that still surround him. He also finds that the author's life parallels is own in many ways.
Just started The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer. Not sure if this is going to be too emotionally difficult for me. I may end up putting it to the side for a while. The book deals with the aftermath of a diving accident from the perspective of the comatose victim's fiance. I'm 3 chapters in and I can't decide how I feel about her.
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Post by shescrafty on Jun 5, 2016 14:51:11 GMT
I just finished Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and found it incredibly boring. There was no real story to it. It bounces around from topic to topic but nothing was gone into in detail so it read like a book of unfinished short stories. It was for my book club and I was irritated the whole time I read it.
Two days ago I finished Luckiest Girl Alive which held my interest much better. I was surprised by the events in the book and appreciated that. Final ending left me a little blah. overall I enjoyed it.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,408
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on Jun 5, 2016 14:52:23 GMT
I finished Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline. I really enjoyed it. The plot kept me guessing until the end which is what I want in a thriller type books.
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
Jun 26, 2014 18:26:03 GMT
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Jun 5, 2016 16:03:08 GMT
I finished The Sparrow. It was my second reading of this book and I took away a lot from it. Over the weekend I read Inheritor's Powder a non fiction book about the history of arsenic and specially how people used arsenic to poison others. It focuses on a case in England from 1833. Due in part to this case and the ensuing trial, the science of detecting arsenic was studied and tests were developed to measure the level of arsenic in a dead body. It was interesting. I've just began a much discussed book here, The Last Painting of Sara De Vos. I'm going to read it before I go back and look at comments from the last couple weeks.
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Post by peano on Jun 5, 2016 16:16:51 GMT
Finished The Girl on the Train and found it just meh after all the hype.
I'm on chapter 10 of The Nest and it's just OK so far. For some reason, I was getting the female characters' names mixed up which is just stupid on my part, but it was annoying to have to go back and reread.
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Post by sugarmama on Jun 5, 2016 16:29:12 GMT
hollymolly-- There are 2 sequels to THE SHADOW OF THE WIND. THE ANGELS GAME is the 2nd and PRISONER OF HEAVEN is the 3rd. I haven't read them yet, but have them on my list. My list may out-live me!
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Post by hollymolly on Jun 5, 2016 16:34:09 GMT
hollymolly-- There are 2 sequels to THE SHADOW OF THE WIND. THE ANGELS GAME is the 2nd and PRISONER OF HEAVEN is the 3rd. I haven't read them yet, but have them on my list. My list may out-live me! I saw that on Goodreads! They're on my Want to Read list, but it's about a mile long, so I'll just wait until I run across them in a used bookstore somewhere.
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Post by digirlwiz on Jun 5, 2016 18:11:55 GMT
I finished listening to Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. It really held my interest, liked the story and Will Patton was the reader- he did a fabulous job. I really liked 11/23/63 by SK- and was not disappointed in this story. I am going to start The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,300
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Jun 5, 2016 18:19:42 GMT
I was busy at the start of the week and sick at the end, so not much reading has gotten done. Right now I'm working on How To Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman. She wrote How To Be A Tudor, which I read and greatly enjoyed a few weeks ago.
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Post by cadoodlebug on Jun 5, 2016 21:38:11 GMT
I finished What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan last night. Overall I really enjoyed the book but felt sad about some of the characters/events. I started Bad Signs by R.J. Ellory about 2 brothers who are held hostage. Only got a chapter into it last night so at this point I'm not sure what will unfold.
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Post by RobbyKay on Jun 5, 2016 22:28:39 GMT
Hey readers!
I just finished John Hart's newest, Redemption Road. I loved it! it's a dark and twisty Southern Gothic novel with lots of flawed characters who hit rock bottom and then start to dig. Hart consistently uses the theme of truthfulness, honesty and trustworthiness in his books, and this one was no exception.
This morning, I picked up Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens. It tells the stories of two women who meet in the labor and delivery ward in a NYC hospital. One woman is in labor and preparing to give birth to her first child. The other is a nurse who has lost several pregnancies, and is just past twelve weeks with a new one. We get insights into their lives, their choices, and the journey we all take to motherhood. It's good so far, but it's very short.
Happy Reading!
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Post by tampascrapper on Jun 5, 2016 22:56:19 GMT
I read In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. It's a fast-paced psychological thriller and was an Amazon Best Book from August 2015 and is apparently being made into a movie. Really enjoyed it and tore through it in about a day and a half. 4/5 stars for me. The author has another book coming out July 19th: The Woman in Cabin 10, which also looks really good. Now reading Intrusion by Mary McCluskey, which was my Kindle First selection for June. Seems ok so far. Thanks for the heads up on Ruth Ware's new book coming out. I really enjoyed In a Dark Dark Wood so I'm sure I'll read the new one as well
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edie3
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,631
Jun 26, 2014 1:03:18 GMT
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Post by edie3 on Jun 5, 2016 23:02:00 GMT
I am reading Some Way outa here. It is really good. As the 1960s end, the country is torn by war and dissent. A shy teenage boy and two remarkable girls set out to change the world - and each other. Their triumphs and frustrations mirror those of a generation that dared to dream. They discover that sometimes you have to get lost before you can be found. This joyful and inspiring coming-of-age odyssey captures the color and romance of a tumultuous year that shaped modern America. If you were there, this story will rekindle long-forgotten memories. If you weren't, you'll be amazed at the passion and chaos of a time when young people challenged their parents, their schools and their country.
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Post by tampascrapper on Jun 5, 2016 23:06:45 GMT
I don't post often, but read the thread each week for great suggestions! In the last couple of weeks I've read: The Two Family House - it was alright but "the spoiler" was evident the whole time. Maybe it wasn't meant to be a spoiler but instead a story about how a snap decision affected different lives. Be Frank with Me - I enjoyed this story about a quirky 9 year old named Frank. Look Again - I enjoyed the first half but was bored and skimming by 3/4 through it.
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Post by Karene on Jun 5, 2016 23:31:54 GMT
Over the last few weeks I read all 15 books in the Cooper & Fry detective series by Stephen Booth. They are set in the Peak District in England. I like them but they are not fast paced if that is what you are looking for. I like Ben Cooper but didn't like Diane Fry. She is always belittling her coworkers. Then this weekend I read a couple of Hamish MacBeth books. Now I am on Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly.
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Post by KelleeM on Jun 5, 2016 23:48:08 GMT
I am going to start The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I just finished listening to this today. I really enjoyed it. It was my first Kate Morton book. I'm going to start listening to Gone With The Wind tomorrow. It's Forty nine hours long! I've never read the book or seen the whole movie. I listen during my commute so this may take me the whole summer to get through.
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Post by tara595 on Jun 6, 2016 12:56:23 GMT
I haven't posted in awhile - here are the last three books I've read:
Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter which was fascinating and so sad. What that poor woman went through from her birth until the lobotomy was hard to read. We read this book for book club and one of the final points that was made was that if she hadn't endured what she did we wouldn't have the American for Disabilities Act nor the Special Olympics.
Next I read The Nest which I really enjoyed. The characters were definitely flawed but I liked them and really like the story.
Last night I finished Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews. I really like this one. It was such a summery book with great characters and a great plot. I've never read any of her other books before but I've already downloaded Savannah Blues!
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Post by GamGam on Jun 6, 2016 13:48:36 GMT
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan was my book of the week(weeks, actually since I've been busy in my sewing room). I was captured from the first chapter. This book is so well written, and the characters are as well developed as any book I've read lately. Classified as historical fiction, I felt like the author did an amazing job of creating events and conversations that let me know the thoughts and personality traits of the two main people in the novel. The ending was a surprise as I did not Google Mamah or Frank until I finished the book. I still ache for Edwin Cheney. If you haven't read this book, I highly recomment it.
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brandy327
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,353
Jun 26, 2014 16:09:34 GMT
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Post by brandy327 on Jun 6, 2016 13:55:13 GMT
I don't think I've ever posted in here before but I figured why not. I asked for reading suggestions at the end of last year and someone recommended the Alex Delaware Series by Jonathan Kellerman. Whoever recommended that, THANK YOU!! I've read 28 of the 31 books since January. I just finished Guilt and while all of his books have the feel good ending, I love the story lines of each of the books.
On the recommendation from a friend, I just started Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It's a little odd and not usually the type of book that I'd read (I prefer who-done-it forensic/police type books) but I figure I'll give it a shot.
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sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,420
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
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Post by sueg on Jun 6, 2016 14:15:42 GMT
Finished The Shadow if the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and really enjoyed it. It was a hard-to-put-down book for me. It was originally written in Spanish, and I wondered about the translator's choices a time or two, but nothing major or distracting. It's about a young boy after the Spanish Civil War, the son of bookseller, who falls in love with a book and goes searching for more by the same author. He finds that someone has been systematically destroying everything that was ever printed by this author. When he is a teenager/young man, he goes searching for any information he can find about the author, and finds himself caught up in the mystery and danger that still surround him. He also finds that the author's life parallels is own in many ways. I read this for a book club last year and also found it enthralling. I have the second book on my kindle, but am waiting for our beach vacation in August to read that. I have just finished Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I saw this as a TV series on the BBC a few years back, and decided to read it when I found out it was based on a book. It was very interesting, as I could only remember parts of it as I read, and I am sure that some things were changed a bit. It it the story of a retired policeman in England, who now works as a private detective. He has 3 clients, and as he starts looking into the cases, the stories all become entwined in some way. My new read is Gone but not Forgotten by Philip Margolin. I only started last night, and have read the first 2 chapters, so not really into it at all yet. I'm hoping for more reading time tonight.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 19:25:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2016 14:24:48 GMT
Super busy this past week, so the only book I finished was Diary of a Wimpy Kid; The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney...I love those books...we started buying them when our son was younger and I enjoyed them as much as he did...laugh out loud funny!
I'm half way through another Michael Koryta book The Prophet. This one is about a couple of brothers (one the high school football coach and the other a bail bondsman) who's sister was murdered when they were teenagers and whose relationship has been volatile since. Now another teenager has been murdered in their small town and details are connecting both brothers to the crime.
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Post by craftsbycarolyn on Jun 6, 2016 14:26:34 GMT
I finished listening to Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. It really held my interest, liked the story and Will Patton was the reader- he did a fabulous job. I really liked 11/23/63 by SK- and was not disappointed in this story. I am going to start The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I read Mr. Mercedes at the end of last year and really, really like it. Did you know that it is a trilogy? I can't wait to read the next 2 books. They are Finders Keepers and End of Watch.
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Post by pjaye on Jun 6, 2016 15:11:35 GMT
Last week I was reading Patricia Highsmith and I had just started The Price Of Salt (which became the movie Carol out last year). First published in 1952 & known as "a lesbian cult classic" it's the story of a 19yo Therese who works in a department store and one day she meets the older (married) Carol who comes in to buy a present for her daughter. Gradually they start a relationship while her husband sends a private investigator after them so he can get custody of their daughter. I can see how it reached 'cult' status back then when there were very few books on this topic, but reading it through modern day eyes, I was just bored. Therese is so immature and they barely speak to each other, there isn't anything joyful about them, they are just silent and grim most of the time. I also really disliked Highsmith's style of writing and won't be reading any more by her. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I gave it 2 starts, but I should probably go back and change it to 1.
I rarely read 'series' books, but I make an exception for The Chronicles of St Mary's - about time travelling historians that go back in time to real events to observe what really happened. Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor is book #7 in the series. They can be a bit hit and miss, but this was a definite hit for me. Really enjoyed it and it kept me guessing and had some twists I wasn't expecting. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars.
I've just finished An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James. I previously read "The Other Side Of Midnight" by the same author and loved it. Unfortunately there was nothing to love about this earlier book of hers. Set in the 1920s Jillian's uncle has been killed and she is sent to collect his belongings. Her uncle was a "ghost hunter" and all sorts of weird things start happening, there's "ghosts" and all sorts of strange village people plus she starts an affair with the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating the death. Sounds like it should be good, but it wasn't. It was dull and one dimensional and there was way too much kissing. I gave it 2 stars. skip this one.
I'm about to start The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty.
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
Jun 26, 2014 0:30:34 GMT
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Post by finaledition on Jun 6, 2016 15:44:43 GMT
I listened to The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. I had watched the short series a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, but for some reason this book has been in my audible account for over a year. Anyway, I was really surprised as I read it how closely the adaptation was to the book. Needless to say it was a great story and I have no idea why I waited so long to read a book for this author. Definitely will be listening to more in the future.
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