Search results

Alexander McCall Smith, Blue Shoes and Happiness. All in one television-free evening. I know the characters in this series and the reading goes very fast.

Plagiarism can be quite unconscious and published writers who are accused of it have made that defense. We all have a lot of the poetry we have read lodged somewhere in our subconscious. While reaching for the words to express a feeling or idea, the words which come to mind may be your own words...

38! And I never looked back. That was 39 years ago - you figure it out! Question: Bicycle or tricycle?

I have read Paula, a memoir about her daughter by Allende. Very moving. I have not read Into the Wild, although I saw the movie, but have read In Thin Air, the one about the Everest expedition. Both books would prompt lots of discussion. The World without Us is an interesting concept...

Speak, Memory I can recommend (have read it). A Long Way Gone has had good reviews and I'm interested in the situation. The other two I don't know anything about. Can someone give us a brief statement.

I read it. While I admired the skill of the author as she built up the characters and the setting, I was never able to relate to them emotionally. Too detached, somehow. Was I detached or were they? Both, I think.

In the Smiley books you find a range of characters. For some, spying is a business, while others have more complex motives. I liked A Perfect Spy because the author focused on the character of one spy. The man is living a double life until it is not clear which life is his. Much of the book...

For psychology, I recommend the novels of John LeCarre, especially the Smiley series and A Perfect Spy. Going back aways, there is Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, based in part on some real happenings in London.

The book centers on the stories of the Chinese ancestors as understood by an American-born Chinese girl. I liked it, but not everyone did.

We watched Lust for Life the other night. This is a Hollywood biopic of the artist Vincent van Gogh, played by a very young Kirk Douglas. Somehow we missed it the first time around, 50 years ago. It was better than expected. Douglas seemed to be overacting at times but how do I know? Van Gogh...

How about The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon. It was the basis for the movie by the same name.

I have read My Cousin Rachel and Frenchman's Creek. Both were good, but I think My Cousin Rachel was the more interesting book. It was dramatized on Public Television some years ago and perhaps the video is available.

No earlier than that. The author was Edwin O'Connor (1956) and it is based on the career of James Curley, the Boston mayor. There was another political novel of about that time, a best seller, and it related to skulduggery in the House of Representatives. Does anyone remember the title?

I remember a book called The Last Hurrah (author?) which was about politics in Boston.

We have talked a lot about the psychology of the characters. I would like to comment on Lawrence's use of language. I find it uneven. Even though he overdoes it with the flowers sometimes, he is skillful in showing us the natural world. (Chapter 7) "There was a yellow glow over the...

I found the ending a bit of a cop out. Paul couldn't resolve his difficulties and the author had run out ideas, so he just abandoned Paul with a faint hope for the future. I did not care for the structure of the book. Part 1 was a family story and struck me as very authentic in its details...

I'm not familiar with for 14-year old boys, but if he has any interest in sports (or a particular sport) or music, you could look for something in those areas. Science fiction is also a possibility. The Jules Verne books or Asimov or Bradbury.

Another way to spare the environment is to recycle the books we already have. Millions of them out there needing someone to read them and love them.

This was one of Updike's books that I couldn't get into at all. I did enjoy his Rabbit series, Rabbit Run and the sequels. They give a rich social portrait of American life, decade by decade.

Thank you, Sybarite, for your review. I have read the book several times. Each time I find more layers in it. I agree with your statement that this a view of maturity from maturity. Clarissa and Sally and Peter Walsh made their choices. They may not have been ideal, but here they are. Life goes...