Week 4

Week 4 Assignment 1
Goodreads

So, I know while I joined Goodreads a while ago (April 2011), I don't use it to its full potential.  Actually, it more like I barely scratch the surface.  Poking around on the site was good and I learned more about what was there, but from looking at how my Goodreads friends have organized their shelves and used tags I learned how I could better use Goodreads for RA and to maximize the effectiveness of an online reading journal. 

I commented on Julie McCann's Goodreads review of Ivan Doig's Whistling Season. 

Hi Julie,
Ivan Doig has a new book coming out in August.  Morrie Morgan, the teacher from The Whistling Season, is back this time in 1920's Butte, MT.  Where he is working for a newspaper and championing the cause for the miners as the struggle against the ruthless Anaconda Copper Mining Company. 

Week 3

Week 3 Assignment 3

Conversation 1
Sounds like that elements she enjoyed:  autobiographical - introspective but not self-indulgent, a strong woman character, travel, personal growth, humorous but overall not too light.  Also, likes to read popular books and Oprah's picks.  Should be good for a book group.

I would recommend:
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Strayed, Cheryl
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Gilman, Susan Jane
Under the Tuscan Sun by Mayes, Frances

Conversation 2
Sounds like this customer is looking for a more adult vampire story with less teen aged angst and a faster pace than Twilight.

I would recommend:
Dracula by Stoker, Bram
Passage by Cronin, Justin
Bloodshot by Priest, Cherie
There are several vampire series that also may be good - Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels, J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat, etc. 

Conversation 3
Sounds like this customer is looking for fast paced narrative nonfiction possibly with elements of adventure, survival, and mystery.

I would recommend:
Destiny of the Republic by Millard, Candice
Manhunt by Swanson, James
or anything by Erik Larson or Nathaniel Philbrick
possibly Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild or Into Thin Air) or Sebastian Junger's Perfect Storm.

 
  

Week 2

 

Week 2 Assignment 2

Amagansett by Mark Mills
Set on Long Island in the summer of 1947 with wonderful descriptions of changing nature of the waters off Long Island. The story begins with recently returned WWII veteran, Conrad Lebarde, netting a dead woman while fishing just offshore. The incident is investigated by Deputy Chief Tom Hollis of the local police who, having arrived in town only a year earlier, is somewhat of an outsider, identifying neither with the locals or the rich city folk who have recently made the place their summer playground. This is a beautiful, character-driven, stylistically complex book; it’s intricately plotted, and while there is an element of mystery, the story and the characters’ backstory are revealed slowly. A compelling read, the language is descriptive, lush, and lyrical.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
This is the gripping story of James Garfield's rise from poverty to president of the United States and the assasination attempt by a deranged job seeker, Charles Giteau, four months after his inauguration.  Alexander Graham Bell raced against the clock to try to develop a metal detector to search for the bullet lodged in the president. Meticulously researched and epic in scope this is a very accesible and fascinating read that brings to life the Gilded Age and its inhabitants. 






Week 2 Assignment 3

Posted on Zeke's blog -

Hi Zeke –

Just back from maternity leave and try to catch up on Be More Bookish.  Since you liked Hellhound on His Trail, I think that you would enjoy Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard or Manhunt by James Swanson.  Destiny of the Republic is a fascinating, detailed – yet accessible account of James Garfield’s rise from abject poverty to be president of the United States and then the assassination attempt by a deranged man who was seeking an appointment to office.  Garfield survived the assassination attempt but ultimately not the treatment of his wound by the incompetent Dr. Doctor Bliss (of “ignorance is Bliss” fame), even as Alexander Graham Bell raced to develop a metal detector to help locate and remove the bullet.  Manhunt is a thrill ride of narrative nonfiction of the search for Lincoln’s assassins and conspirators. 

Based on your liking The Cold Cold Ground, and liking flawed characters, an emphasis on character and setting, and learning new things I highly recommend the Billy Boyle series by James Benn.  Billy Boyle is a hothead, smartass, Boston detective - a second generation cop and second generation Irish immigrant.  He enlisted into the Army to avoid draft and similar to his rapid promotion in Boston he uses family connections to get onto the staff of one his mother’s distant relatives thinking it will keep him stateside.  Unfortunately the relative is General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Billy is off overseas.  Billy becomes an investigator for his Uncle Ike and each mystery also deals with an interesting element of World War II, like the importance of the newly developed drug penicillin to the war effort, or the role of the Vatican, or the effect and pressure of segregation.  Benn is a former librarian and must enjoy researching these books because he really brings the WWII setting to life and fills each book fascinating details yet it never feels out of place within the framework of the mystery.