Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

I hope you get some input from our members, Amy.

You might also look at the reviews found at the book's website.
Below is the cover-link to that webpage: ====>

I read it Amy-it was a very moving & emotional book-I could not put it down either. I was surprised about this time in history, I don't recall ever learning about that part of WWII at all in school.....I would suggest The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as a similar book, very moving, very shocking & through the eyes of a child....

Amy wrote: "Becky wrote: "I read it Amy-it was a very moving & emotional book-I could not put it down either. I was surprised about this time in history, I don't recall ever learning about that part of WWII at..."

I finished The Outlander last night, the longest 300 page book I ever read LOL.....I started Secret Life of Bees...

Amy-I love SK but I can't watch his movies-I am a chicken!!! I use my imagination & don't feel the need to see things!!!
I'll tell you a little bit about Luanne someday, but I will send you a message....
I went to Barnes & Noble the other night with my husband & I walked around with my little "to read" book & wrote down some titles & authors.....not that I need any books!!

I saw the movie The Kite Runner...it was very good but I have no interest in reading the books....

I don't like scary books either. :)

I loved reading _The Kite Runner_ ! It's a great read. Haven't seen the movie.

I tried reading _A Thousand Splendid Suns_ but couldn't get into it.

Below are the cover-links to Khaled Hosseini's two books mentioned above:
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Amy wrote: "I enjoy going to the bookstores too, but check out www.half.com......sometimes you get great deals on books...it's always $3.75 shipping for each book, but sometimes you can find a book for $1, so ..."

Amy-not only do I buy books on half.com-I have been selling some recently!!

Below is a link to www.half.com: ====>
http://www.half.ebay.com/

BookMooch & PaperBackSwap are excellent, too. You need to have some patience, but you'd be surprised at some of the books I've gotten. It's a lot cheaper when it works, too. Just the cost of shipping a book - less than $3.

I wrote up a review about both sites in this group here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...
Read through it & see if you think it will fit you. I'm tickled to death with it.

Just now I got Twilight #2, 3 & 4. The person I'm getting them from will likely pay under $5 in shipping & get 3 book credits which she can use toward any books she wants. I got these 3 book credits for sending 1 book to Japan for about $5. So, instead of $10/book, all 3 cost me $5. Wow!

I have read the first 3 Twilight books & I am holding on to the last one, knowing it will be over. I have enjoyed them-like I said on another thread-Vampire-lite!!

Jackie (a group member) and I saw the movie, "Twilight" together. You can read our conversation about it at the following topic: ====>
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Amy wrote: "That's so great when you find a book that good. I am excited for you. But how can you hold on to the last one? You are good. I wouldn't have the self-control haha."

Amy-my kids think I am nuts!! I do the same thing with new clothes!!!

I thought the first Twilight was OK, but the POV, that of a teenage girl, didn't really cut it for me. My wife & daughter liked it though. They didn't like the movie much.

Me getting the books is part of my job as family librarian. We have several thousand around the place & most of them we all like. We share fairly well, although on a good series, a lot of heckling can develop if someone isn't reading a book fast enough. I'll give them first shot & read the other 3 Twilights, if they think it is worth my time. We all know each others tastes pretty well.

I manage the budget, acquisitions & storage, so I am the Librarian. I also read the most & the fastest. Plus, I read most everything all of them do including stuff they won't touch. They don't like SF too much, for some reason. We all read Discover magazine & love SF movies, but they're not much into reading it. Odd people.

They're always coming to me asking for 'a book to read'. Such precise requests! Marg, my wife, doesn't like too much blood, horror or sex & likes mostly fantasy. She'll read books that bore me to tears, like the Robert Jordan series.

Erin, my teenage daughter, likes paranormal romances almost exclusively now, although she likes some other fantasy, too. Blood, horror & sex are just 'spice'. She says it's my fault since I watched 'Aliens' with her when she was 2. I think her favorite is the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton.

My youngest boy, Brandon, likes Sword & Sorcery as well as most any fantasy & some light SF. He's the one who shares my love of Robert E. Howard & Roger Zelazny. On his latest visit, he took all my Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust & he better return them! They're based on Hungarian mythology & revolve around an assassin.

At least we all like to read even if my grandfather is probably hexing me from his grave at our choice of books. He never liked mine. He was owner & publisher of "The Long Islander" a newspaper started by Walt Whitman. He had a love of reading that was awesome, but he was a snob about it. Still, even with the teasing I got, I remember fondly our hours combing through the used book stores in Huntington. He was the only person that would ever do that with me. Now the two younger kids will on occasion.

Amy wrote: "What a nice memory of your grandfather. I am sure he is proud that you are reading, regardless of what type of book. ..."

No, he was definitely a book snob. We had long, sometimes heated discussions about it. I remember one time he made fun of a book I was reading, something by Mickey Spillane, an unabashed pulp writer & the creator of Mike Hammer. I was ready for him, though.

Grandpa loved Ernest Hemingway & I knew Spillane & Hemingway had a running feud. To needle him, I told him Spillane said the measure of good writing is what sells & Spillane was out selling Hemingway by quite a bit. He told me that just showed I had plebeian tastes.

I asked what was wrong with that - he didn't drink Glenlevit (a pricey, single malt scotch) all the time, either. It was something to be savored on occasion or familiarity would ruin it. (I was actually cribbing Spillane on that. Spillane's comment was peanuts & caviar, though.) That actually ended the argument for the rest of the day while he mulled it over. It was the first time I'd ever done that to him - a day I'll treasure!

But yes, books & Grandpa are many good memories. I used to love his books & he obviously passed it on to me. He had an entire wall of his bedroom filled with them. It wasn't until after I built & filled in the bookshelves in my bedroom that the resemblance hit me. He was lucky enough to also have a big attic with another huge bookcase. I have to make do with a dozen around the house & some boxes under the bed.

We may have disagreed on what constituted 'good' reading, but we never disagreed that we loved it. Anyway, the argument between us ran for a lot of years & was a good way for us to share about our books. He'd tell me why I should read one of his boring ones & I'd tell him why he should read one of mine. Weird, but it worked for us.

How great to come home from the doctor's office and read such an interesting conversation! Medicine for the soul!

Jim, how impressive about "The Long Islander", Walt Whitman, and your grandfather! Looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I liked your sentence:
"It was something to be savored on occasion or familiarity would ruin it."
...something like being wary of "too much of a good thing".

Amy, I feel the same way as you. You said:
"That's what I love, when people get excited about reading and certain books."

Enthusiam is contagious. They should bottle it and sell it.

I was lucky to know all 4 of my grandparents - 6 if you count 2 step grandmothers married to my maternal grandfather, Carl, the last of whom passed away a week ago. Carl passed first, when I was 23, just 3 weeks after my son, his first grandchild was born. Mac, my paternal grandfather died almost exactly 3 years later. All outlasted my father, the man who really got me hooked on reading, by a long time. He died back in 1969.

Pop used to leave his books around & the covers were luridly fascinating. He loved Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars) & Robert E. Howard (Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn). The latter had a series of books, the Lancer paperback editions, with cover art by Frank Frazetta who painted barbaric scenes with mightily muscled warriors, horrible monsters & scantily clad, curvy women. Guaranteed to interest any red blooded boy! One of my first books was The Hobbit, because Mom didn't think Conan was appropriate reading for me, for some unknown reason. I managed to smuggle them past her more than a few times though. After Pop died, many of his books were lost, but I still have a few - mostly in tatters.

I'm sorry you didn't get to know your grandparents, Amy. Mine were much better at spoiling me than my parents were.

Hope all went well at the doctor's, Joy.

Yes, all went well, Jim. It was a routine checkup.

You were lucky with your grandparents, Jim. Most of mine died when I was young, but my mom's mom lived until she was 96. So I knew her, but she spoke mostly Italian. So we didn't communicate much except with smiles. I have great memories of Christmases at her house in Brooklyn, playing her player piano, the pianola, and singing. She passed on her love or music to us all.

Hello from kS,

Someone mentioned reading a life changing book and although I commented in one of my earlier messages I feel it's worth repeating; an asst. priest friend of mine(I should call him a book friend as we exchange thoughts) said when he read the last page of THE KITE RUNNER, it changed his life. It didn't do that for me but I did think it was one of the best books I've read and I also felt that way about, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS,' and although THREE CUPS OF TEA could have used some editing, it,too was simply marvelous and I would have hated to have not read these three in my lifetime.. And, Ilyn your book is another gem, nina

Thank you, Nina. Happy New Year.

Dear Ilyn,

It's almost a New Year back where you are and I wish you success with your newest book in the year to come. I wish I could give you a review worthy of your Reason Reigns. I remember turning each page and wondering, "What next," and then you would come up with another crisis. Your characters were not cardboard. They seemed real and I wanted them to get out of all their difficulties. I thiought you wove a moralthroughout the book without being preachy. Not easy to do. I usually don't like science fiction which I think your story bordered on to the extent that you had to sustain disblief, but Ray Bradbury would be proud to welcome you to his side. I am afraid I can't go into specifics with the turning of the plot and the individual characters and their names as I gave my book to my grandson for Christmas as he was visiting me from CA and he was thrilled to get it. I gave it to him because he is the one who signed me up for goodreads so he was familiar with the book.. I will ask him to give a review when he finishes it..He is Tim Halling and he has written some good reviews in the past..In the meantime have a Happy New Year and so happy to have "met" you...nina ps I am also Happy to have met all of you goodread friends..Have a wonderful new Year.

Dear Nina,

Thank you so much. As 2009 approaches, I am working on my second novel. When you have the time, please add Reason Reigns in your list of books so that it would appear in the Goodreads book data - thanks a lot.

I wish you and your loved ones everything good for 2009. Warmest regards.

I'm happy to have met all of you too!
Best wishes for the New Year.
Joy

Amy wrote: "I just read, Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. It's about the Holocaust. I can't stop thinking about this book. I couldn't put it down. So if anyone has read it, please let me know. I would like yo..."

Hi Amy,

I also read Sarah's Key. Such a moving book. I couldn't forget about the little boy being left in the closet, and all he must have gone through.

Hi. I went to Amazon.com to read some of the reviews of _Sarah's Key_.

One customer review said: "I read this book in two days--devoured Sarah's storytelling and mired through Julia's voice. Julia's part of this story is laborious and boring."

Do you agree with that comment?

See the review at: ====>
http://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Key-Tati...
(Scroll down to the review written by J. Johnston.)

Another interesting customer review at Amazon.com (by customer Roger Brunyate) said:
==================================================
"Any novel dealing with the Holocaust is full of echoes of other books. De Rosnay's portrayal of Parisians under occupation chimes perfectly with the picture in SUITE FRANCAISE by Irène Nemirovsky, who herself suffered the same fate as Sarah's family. The transit camps and deportation of French Jews feature in Sebastian Faulks' CHARLOTTE GRAY. And the story of an American in France looking into an earlier time somewhat resembles THE VIRGIN BLUE by Tracy Chevalier, an author whom De Rosnay apparently admires. Readers who enjoyed any one of these would probably appreciate SARAH'S KEY, a book that stands up well to all but the first of them."
===================================================
Good book recommendations.

Amy wrote: "I know what you mean, I have so many books on my shelves, yet to read, but I have an addiction problem with buying them!! ha ha....I know they will all get read, but someone is always suggesting gr..."Everyone should read,"A Thousand Splendid Suns." Read it and you will understand why I say that. nina