individual readers send in a recommendation
After I posted an entry about the history of ‘summer reading’, a friend suggested that I ask blog readers to share the names of some of the books they especially enjoyed this summer. All it took was an e-mail to Sandcastle Book Club members and my ‘You’ve Got Mail’ light lit up!! Thanks to all who shared. Below are their responses in their own words–
The Code Breaker, Walter Isaacson—book review by Frances Boyd Do you remember what you were doing on March 13, 2020? It was a Friday!! I had a friend visiting from Atlanta, and we were trying to decide if it was safe enough for us to go to the Gaillard Auditorium to see Ranky Tanky. News was spreading fast about Covid-19 cases, particularly in the northwest.
Three things about Kristen Harmel– She is one of five bestselling authors that, at the beginning of the pandemic, founded Friends and Fiction, an online community and Facbook Live show for booklovers. FriendsandFiction.com 2. She writes stories about World War II, many of which are set in Paris. WHY? Harmel began writing at age 16 and was for many years a writer for People Magazine.
Now that you can visit friends this summer, are you? If so, you might want to read this book, which is featured in paperback, to get a good laugh at how the protaganist reacts when she visits four old friends. Featured below are some brief reviews of the book–hopefully enough to pique your interest. You won’t be sorry!! “When 40-year-old gardener May receives a surprise
The Classics Revisited First, there was Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles followed by her Circe (currently on the NY Times bestseller list). Both books look back to the Homerian sagas, The Iliad and The Odyssey and expand on those tales to imagine a deeper story about the action and characters we know from the classic tales. Natalie Haynes’ new book, A Thousand Ships, follows that
From Diane Flaherty: You can find Amanda’s interview with Anderson Cooper on YouTube. It’s delightful. We’ve been reading and re-watching her recite “The Hill We Climb” and the words are so powerful. The Scripture she quotes “everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” comes from the Old Testament book of Micah. From Cindy Perry: Listening
Professor Paula Feldman has made me aware of an opportunity to download a free book. Go to bibliovault.org for details on the book and how to download it to your devise. The name of the book is They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer. The current edition was published in 2017, but the initial publish date was 1956. Well received by critics, the book
Submitted by member Madeleine Kaye on January 13, 2021 I recently watched an interview with Dr. Gupta about his new book, which he found time to write while doing his day jobs — performing brain surgeries and acting as chief medical correspondent for CNN. A couple of things stood out: he said we should think of sitting as the new smoking … that sitting is
Thanks to blog member Margaret Boone for her comments on Hurston’s work. My Atlanta book club read Their Eyes Were Watching God soon after it came out in the late 70’s and it was very interesting and well written. I still remember some of Hurston’s images and turns of phrase. Barracoon is a compilation of her interviews with Cudjo and does not read like a
From Madeleine Kaye Barack Obama’s new memoir, A Promised Land, is being released November 17. I just left my pre-order with Indigo Books. Others may want to do the same. An excerpt from the “New Yorker Magazine” pre-release review: “… a painfully candid diagnosis of how racist hatred of Obama — encouraged by Tea Party politicians — metastasized through the American body politic. But perhaps most important,
