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AuthorTopic: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading? (Read 2,609 times)
Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #180 on Jun 18, 2009, 12:14pm »
In the last couple weeks I've read "The Body Broken" by Lynne Greenberg. Her neck was broken as a teenager and they thought it had healed. Then in her thirties, after months of health issues, a scan determined that her vertebrae had never healed properly. The story details two years in her life of physical pain, depression, drug addiction, and slow recovery to a new "normal." The book was ok.

Much better was "The House at Riverton," a detailed murder-mystery set in Edwardian England, by Kate Morton. The protagonist is a servant girl who grows up along with the children in the house, and only the three know how and why a visiting author was killed.

Also, I've read "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro, as I'd recently seen the movie. It's another well-done Edwardian period piece, set in the 1930s--gorgeous English country house, men in tux, horses, Daimlers and Bentlys, silver tea sets. It's a love story between a repressed butler and the warmer housekeeper.

Also, I unpacked a box of children's books last weekend, and have spent several hours re-reading some of them.
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Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #181 on Jun 21, 2009, 9:19am »
Currently re-reading some soothing novels--the Fairacre series by Miss Read. On the nightstand today is "No Holly for Miss Quinn," a title some might recognize.
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Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #182 on Jun 30, 2009, 1:58pm »

Wow. Just finished John Hart's murder-mystery novel "The Last Child." I couldn't put it down. No gore, little violence, just finely crafted plot. The story is told from the POV of a 13 year old boy, and centers around his obsession to learn what happened to his vanished sister.
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Although my neighbors are all barbarians,
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There are always two cups on my table.
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Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #183 on Jul 25, 2009, 11:04am »
The Laughter of Dead Kings, Night Train to Memphis--Elizabeth Peters

Set in Egypt, both are murder/supsense/romance

Prayers for Sale--Sandra Dallas

It's set in a Colorado mining town in the late 1930s, I think. The two central characters are a woman of 87 and a newly married teenager who strike up a friendship and learn each other's stories over a quilting frame.

I Shall Not Want--Julia Spencer-Fleming

Murder, gang wars, and drug cartel problems invade the quiet rural town of Miller's Kill, New York, complicating the relationship between the protagonists.

My Sister's Keeper--Jodi Picoult

Anna is conceived solely to save her sister's life, the novel behind the movie.

An Irish Country Doctor--Patrick Taylor

Written in the style of All Creatures Great and Small, these are the memoires of a physician in rural Ulster in the 1950s.

The Dancing Floor--Barbara Michaels
and
Be Buried in the Rain--Barbara Michaels

Suspence, mystery
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There are always two cups on my table.
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Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #184 on Nov 8, 2009, 10:45am »
Let's see...have recently read four books in the Thrush Green series, by Miss Read, and a few others:

The Time Traveler's Wife--didn't get to see the movie this summer and was told the book was much better. I wish it had ended happily-ever-afte!

Good in Bed--comedy--a "plus-sized" woman's boyfriend writes and expose on what it's like to love a larger woman. This is, of course, humiliating for her. The story is about how she takes charge of her life and relationships afterwards.

Dragonflight--Anne McCaffrey's introductory novel to the Pern series. Fantasy.

My Thirteenth Summer--autobiography about a girl with severe dyscalculia (numbers dyslexia), and how she deal with her severe depression, attempted suicide, and struggles.
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #185 on Nov 8, 2009, 12:45pm »

Nov 8, 2009, 10:45am, Riene wrote:


Dragonflight--Anne McCaffrey's introductory novel to the Pern series. Fantasy.


Ah interesting, someone else who reads Anne McCaffrey... I know several people who love her books and have told me I should try given my general taste in reading material. Could suggest a good place to start Riene? I've looked at her books on Amazon and the like, and she has such a vast catalogue it's too daunting to choose!
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Riene
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #186 on Nov 8, 2009, 1:21pm »

Nov 8, 2009, 12:45pm, witherwings wrote:

Nov 8, 2009, 10:45am, Riene wrote:


Dragonflight--Anne McCaffrey's introductory novel to the Pern series. Fantasy.


Ah interesting, someone else who reads Anne McCaffrey... I know several people who love her books and have told me I should try given my general taste in reading material. Could suggest a good place to start Riene? I've looked at her books on Amazon and the like, and she has such a vast catalogue it's too daunting to choose!


I love her Pern series the best. She must have 20 novels in it by now. The world she creates is very vivid, well-thought out and consistent. It's set on an Earth-like world where dragons exist and are intelligent partners for the people. They work together to destroy a nemesis from the sky--falling "threads" that will burrow into the ground and destroy everything they touch.

Dragonflight is the first of the novels, I think. There's little introduction to it; she simply plunges the reader into the midst of the storyline. I'd start with this one. In this book, it's been some 400 years since Threadfall and the people have grown tired of supporting the dragonriders against a fairytale menace they no longer believe exists. But the Red Star looms in the sky, and F'lar and Lessa must somehow save Pern.

Another good introduction to the world of Pern is Dragonsong. In this one, a gifted musician named Menolly is forbidden to play or sing, and leaves her home, eventually becoming a valued member of the Harper Hall.
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Although my neighbors are all barbarians,
And you, you are a thousand miles away,
There are always two cups on my table.
--Tang Dynasty
witherwings
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Re: Modern Authors I Enjoy--What are you reading?
« Reply #187 on Nov 8, 2009, 2:27pm »

Nov 8, 2009, 1:21pm, Riene wrote:

Nov 8, 2009, 12:45pm, witherwings wrote:


Ah interesting, someone else who reads Anne McCaffrey... I know several people who love her books and have told me I should try given my general taste in reading material. Could suggest a good place to start Riene? I've looked at her books on Amazon and the like, and she has such a vast catalogue it's too daunting to choose!


I love her Pern series the best. She must have 20 novels in it by now. The world she creates is very vivid, well-thought out and consistent. It's set on an Earth-like world where dragons exist and are intelligent partners for the people. They work together to destroy a nemesis from the sky--falling "threads" that will burrow into the ground and destroy everything they touch.

Dragonflight is the first of the novels, I think. There's little introduction to it; she simply plunges the reader into the midst of the storyline. I'd start with this one. In this book, it's been some 400 years since Threadfall and the people have grown tired of supporting the dragonriders against a fairytale menace they no longer believe exists. But the Red Star looms in the sky, and F'lar and Lessa must somehow save Pern.

Another good introduction to the world of Pern is Dragonsong. In this one, a gifted musician named Menolly is forbidden to play or sing, and leaves her home, eventually becoming a valued member of the Harper Hall.


Thanks for the speedy reply Riene, that's really useful to know where to begin. In fact, Skippy is writing them down right now for "surprise"gifts at Christmas time!

I'll look forward to opening and feigning surprise later in the year! Lol

:D
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