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Here is a Thread for you to list the books you read in July 2013.


Please provide:
~ A GoodRead link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

Here is what I read July 2013

My Family and Other Animals~Gerald Durrell
Nonfiction
Rate: 4/5
This was one of our group reads. I really enjoyed this lighthearted memoir of the author's time growing up on the Greek island of Corfu.

The Spark Solution: A Complete Two-Week Diet Program to Fast-Track Weight Loss and Total Body Health~Meg Galvin
nonfiction
Rate: 3 minus/5
I love the SparkPeople.com website. Basic info that I already knew. Save yourself time skip the book and just go to their website.

Side Effect Skinny: Denise Austin's Fat Blast Diet~Denise Austin
nonfiction
Rate: 2/5
Diet book by the famous peppy exercise trainer. Nothing new here and repetitive. Get it from the library if you must.

My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes~Rip Esselstyn
Non fiction
Rate 3 plus/5
Rip was a fireman. He is a tri-athelete. Also he is the author of the bestselling The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds Additionally, he is the son of the famous cardiologist Caldwell Esselstyn who wrote
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure
It's basically a vegan diet.(no animal products) I liked the writing style. It was funny and light and not overly doom and gloom or pedantic as some vegan authors can be. Good book if you are new to this way of eating or just want some inspiration.

VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good~Mark Bittman
nonfiction
Rate: 4/5
The author is a columnist for the New York Times and has written many cookbooks. Bittman's doctor told him he was headed for trouble if he didn't change his eating habits. His blood numbers were bad and he was overweight. Bittman didn't want to begin taking drugs. Therefore, his doctor suggested he become a vegan. Since that wasn't something Bittman was open to, in part due to his work, he thought up VB6. (Vegan Before Six PM) Bittman saw his health numbers improve and he lost weight following the program he made up. Basically, it is eat vegan before dinner. It what you want for dinner- within reason-. Also cut the processed carbs, junk food, alcohol and sugar. This is just one way to follow the "diet". As Bittman notes, do what works for you. Maybe that is be vegan all week and relax some on the weekends. The book is a quick read and well done.

The Wisdom of Compassion: Stories of Remarkable Encounters and Timeless InsightsDalai Lama XIV
nonfiction
Rate: 3 minus/ 5
The book is actually written by Victor Chan. It's about Mr. Chan's time with the Dalai Lama as he travels with the Dalai Lama around the world and meets various people. The book had it's moments but overall it was uninspiring.

The Lottery~Shirley Jackson
Fiction
Rate: 4/5
This was a re-read for me. I read it in school many decades ago. It's about a small town that every year holds a lottery. You will be surprised to see what winner gets. A terrific short story that created a sensation when it was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker magazine as many called in to cancel their subscription. A classic must read.

The Pritikin Edge: 10 Essential Ingredients for a Long and Delicious Life~Robert A. Vogel
non fiction
Rate: 4/5
An excellent diet/exercise book that is not too dogmatic. Pritikin was the first health book I purchased years ago. If I won the lottery I would love to go to his center for a few weeks.

Living the Good Long Life: A Practical Guide to Caring for Yourself and Others~Martha Stewart
non fiction
Rate: 4/5
Sensible health info for baby boomers. As one would expect, the book is beautiful. It's printed on high quality paper and the photos of the food are great.

The Dash Diet Weight Loss Solution: 2 Weeks to Drop Pounds, Boost Metabolism, and Get Healthy~Marla Heller
non fiction
Rate: 2/5
I've read the other Dash Diet books and found them much better. This one had a gimmicky two week intro period where you don't eat fruit or carbs. But jello with artificial sweeteners and yogurt with artificial sweeteners is just fine...WTH ? Sorry, I don't want to lose weight at the price of my health. It's not a diet that I think most people can do for a lifetime.

My Reading Life~Pat Conroy
nonfiction
Rate: 4/5
Audio book
Reader: The author
I author wasn't the greatest as reader. However, I did get used to him. Conroy is a voracious reader and his love of books is clear. There were parts where I would literally laugh out loud. Which can get you odd looks if you listen to the book as you are doing your exercise walk outside as I was. If you love reading, you will probably love this book. I enjoyed it even though I've never read any of this authors novels.

All in all a good reading month. It was definitely heavy on the diet/health books. I'll see if I got it out of my system. :)

Although I've been trying to stay track with my Determination List books, I sort of meandered in July!

Time To Be In Earnest: A Fragment Of Autobiography - 4 stars
PD James kept a diary of sorts for a year she that highlighted various speeches and conversations had. It was really interesting and it was fun to hear more of her thoughts on writing, novels, mysteries and other stuff.

They Came to Baghdad - 4 star
Agatha Christie's foray into spy stories - it was a fun and fast read. Not terribly complicated to figure out the plot but the characters were her usual collection of interesting folks.

A Man Lay Dead - 4 star
Enter a Murderer - 3.5 star
The Nursing Home Murder - 3 star
Artists in Crime - 4 star
Four books by Ngaio Marsh - I hadn't read the Inspector Alleyn mysteries before, but saw a few episodes that are streaming on Netflix. They were light and fun. Alleyn is an interesting enough character, but it's very fun once he meets Agatha Troy, a famous artist who he starts to date - she appears in the 4th book listed (6th book in the series).

My Family and Other Animals - 5 star
Birds, Beasts, and Relatives - 3.5 star
Two books of The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell. The first is better than the second, but they are entertaining.

Susan wrote: "Although I've been trying to stay track with my Determination List books, I sort of meandered in July!

Time To Be In Earnest: A Fragment Of Autobiography - 4 stars
PD James kept a diary of sorts ..."
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Looks like you had a lovely relaxing reading month, Susan. Nothing wrong with that in the summer.

I'm glad to see our group read got your highest rating. :)

Yes, it was a good month! And I did get to two on my DL list (Lolita and A Room with A View), both of which were good reads.

I'm impressed with the diet books - I really need to do something. Well, not "something" - I need to get off my tushy and stop eating junk food!

I'm also happy to see The Lottery - it's such an great story.

I miss having time to read everyone's comments and update on here! I guess I'll give my sad little list of books this month:

The Marvelous Land of Oz

Wow, that's sadly it! I'm nearly done with The Paris Wife though, so that should (hopefully) be in a couple of days.

Niki wrote: "I miss having time to read everyone's comments and update on here! I guess I'll give my sad little list of books this month:

The Marvelous Land of Oz

Wow, that's sadly it! I'm nearly done with Th..."

Don't feel that way, Niki. Even if you read just one book a month, that book when you tell us about it might just be THE book that speaks to someone else here.

I think I saw the OZ books on Amazon for sale this month and I thought about getting it. However, I have so many already that I can't find the time to read.

I bought the Kindle version of Oz: The Complete Collection for $.99! I also picked up Oz Reimagined. I haven't read them yet, though.

Earlier this year, I read Alice in Wonderland and decided to read at least one "children's" story every year.

MY 2013 JULY READS

1. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell -- 5/5
I am not one who would even look at snakes, scorpions, etc. but I after reading this book from Gerald's perspective, I have a new way of looking at his passion. The writing was excellent!! I look forward to reading the other two books in the trilogy.

2. Orlando by Virginia Woolf -- 4/5
CHAPTER ONE: Orlando is happiest among the "low company," Returns to court, considers three Court ladies for marriage. In comes The Great Frost. The river is solidly freezing over, people dying from the cold. Orlando falls in love with Sasha, denies that he saw her kissing another. He makes a signal for them to to run away together that night. The frozen river melting; people are stranded on icebergs floating down the river. Orlando sees Sasha on a Russian ship moving out to sea. LOVED IT. But the rest of the story was predictable, I know that the story covers 400 years when Orlando, changes gender from man to woman.

3. Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free by Joel Fuhrman--4/5
What a great book! I am amazed at the photo of the woman who lost 100 lbs. over a 2 year period. Her first photo, looked like she was an older woman, and the second photo was this vibrant, young woman. The recipes look great. I am making up a list so I can get what items I need at the grocery store.

4. Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss by Joel Fuhrman-- 5/5
(Published in 2003) It has all the information that you can possibly process. I brought it to my doctor and she had no problem with it as long as I did include yogurt every morning. I will tract everything in a dairy to see how it goes. It has been 3 1/2 weeks and I feel so much better. YA!

5. The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health by Dean Ornish -- 5/5
I'm grateful to Dr. Ornish's for writing his first book--Eat More, Weigh Less-- which I followed and changed my health (after being diagnosed with Lupus, Sjogrens, and an anticoagulation disorder which now is gone!) This is great follow up. How to deal with stress, exercise, diet, and FORGIVENESS. Many testimonials that are very encouraging. I especially liked how he was inspired by Nelson Mandela who forgave those who kept him in jail for 27 years! FYI -- a DVD is included.

6. The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser-- 3/5
What a terrible injustice. I have been a long time visitor of the ISG Museum and it was shocking to go into the museum and see the empty frames (and to think of the canvas by Vermeer and Rembrandt being slashed by the thieves.) I just wished it had a happy ending.

7. Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer -- 5/5
Our chosen book for “Senior Booktalk� this month. Everyone loved it, including me. Honestly, this book is about how this one man completely changed the horrific abuse that these wild animals endured. It is such beautiful story of a true loving relationship between man and lion. I read it in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down. (It is a tear jerker!) It was wonderful that Mae's daughter wrote to the author, Mr. Helfer (82 yrs, living in Africa) who wrote back the sweetest letter to Mae and our group.

8. The Heather Hills of Stonewycke by Michael Phillips-- 5/5
I have been trying to read authors from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and England (for our trip next year.) This "Christian Romance" book was recommended to me by a friend, and I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much. (It's not YA or adult fiction.) I read it in one sitting. There are 2 more books in the trilogy which I purchased online, since they are not in the libraries in my state.

9. Raw Challenge: The 30-Day Program to Help You Lose Weight and Improve Your Diet and Health with Raw Foods by Lisa Montgomery --4/5
I find that eating a raw food diet is best for my inflammation, it totally reduces is to almost nothing. This is a great book, with lots of recipes. It was a quick, easy read.

10. The Raw Transformation: Energizing Your Life with Living Foods by Wendy Rudell-- 4/5 I am a true RAW food person. Lots of great meals to make.

11. The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein -- 4/5
So many recipes, some common and others inspiring. Not all the recipes are RAW!

12. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson-- 5/5
Beautiful writing, such a unique story, many times I re-read parts that were just so amazing. I love Gilead and I also loved this book.

13. Naked in the Marketplace: The Lives of George Sand by Benita Eisler --3/5
Honestly, I felt as though I just ran a race to finish this book. It desperately moves too fast. You have no time to really know the characters and their story. George Sand, Amantine Lucile Aurora Dupin, (1804�1876) was a best-selling novelist. But not only that, she was able to financially support herself to earn both money and her freedom. Her lifestyle of scandalous affairs with many men, women and cross dressing which made her a controversial Parisian literary star. She was definitely a workaholic; throughout her life she wrote 90 novels, 20,000 letters, and thousands of pages of autobiographical writings and political commentary (she was "there at the revolution," those of 1831 and 1848, reporting, analyzing, denouncing, exhorting.)

After reading this book, I believe that Sand was always trying to fill the void deep inside. Her mother had emotionally wounded her with her unrequited attachment. As a young girl, her mother mentally abused and neglected by her. Tragically, Sand would act out her insecurities of her childhood onto her daughter Solange. Sand would always put her son first. But repeatedly, she would abuse Solange and excluded her from her life. It was an ugly, punitive relationship for both mother and daughter. I would also say that she was a woman who lived multiple lives -- literary, political, amorous, and domestic. The list of lovers is long -- de Musset, Chopin, Balzac, and Flaubert are just a few. And an epistolary friendship with Flaubert. I also wished that the author would have put Sand's quotes or excerpts from any of her writings in this book. Also after reading this book, I think I will check out Sand's â€Àá²Ô»å¾±²¹²Ô²¹,â€� and “L±ð±ô¾±²¹.â€� As well as Eisler's O'Keeffe and Stieglitz, Chopin's Funeral and Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame.

14. It's Not about Me: Rescue from the Life We Thought Would Make Us Happy by Max Lucado
As a Christian, periodically I need to re-read this book because I lose my perspective. So today, I am back into this wonderful book. As a human being, at times, my thoughts are focused on being "Number 1." I'm blinded by my self-centerness which comes out in what I think and say. Lucado's "It's Not About Me" book is a great wake up call, and helps to me to focus on God and His Will. Lucado's writing is easy to read and his stories reveal where you are and also plants, inside your heart, little reminders of who this is all about. The words below we're written by Max Lucado in this book.

15. The Lighthouse Stevensons The extraordinary story of the building of the Scottish lighthouses by the ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson by Bella Bathurst
The Lighthouse Stevensons in the story of the many generations of Stevensons whose priority was with the Scottish lighthouse building. In the 18th century Thomas Smith married Robert Stevenson’s widowed mother which merged their two families, and thus began from scratch the building of the lighthouses in Scotland. Of the hundred thousand or so people employed on the sea in the 1750s, between 30% to 40% would not have survived to see old age. Those who escaped death through disease, ill treatments, or hardship had little hope of surviving shipwrecks. There had been lighthouses in England for awhile, but Scotland had other challenges such as atrocious weather, “wreckers� (those who lured ships to claim their possessions), and most felt that shipwrecks were Providence (God’s will).

The patriarch was the determined Robert Stevenson (1772-1850). He, and his four generations, served the lighthouse-building industry for many years. In 1786 the Northern Lighthouse Trust (NLT) was established and Robert Stevenson was the chief engineer. He and his eight sons (excluding Robert Louis) designed and built the 97 manned lighthouses on the Scottish coast. His discovery to use interlocking granite blocks (to hold up to forceful winds), and the use of new lamps and lenses over their predecessor- candles, was a huge move forward. Anyone who was involved in the buildings of these lighthouse must have not only great patience, but great strength. Many times “would-be solutions� ended up in catastrophes. For all Robert Stevenson’s philanthropy, he was also remembered as a domineering man who took credit for some advances even though he was a small piece of the puzzle. I can’t imagine how Robert Louis Stevenson’s father allowed him not work for him as his other siblings did (even his daughter was his secretary.) Robert Stevenson's finest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Overall a great read!

Bell Rock Lighthouse today ---

Cover of the Lighthouses that Stevenson asked Turner to provide --


16. Kathleen Kennedy, Her Life and Times -- 4/5
Heard of Kick on a PBS show on Chatsworth. Joe Kennedy became the American Ambassador to England & brought the family (wife Rose, Joe Jr., Jack, Rosemary, Kathleen, Pat, Eunice, Jean & Teddy) to London. Kathleen, known as "Kick," everybody's favorite. Popular in all of English society, volunteered for The Red Cross during the War. She married Billy Hartington, & left her Catholic faith. I month later Joe Jr. and Billy died in combat. She died in plane crash & is buried at Chatsworth.

Awesome reading month, Carol ! Sixteen books! I'm glad to see that health books I've been talking about here on BBC for ages are on your list. (# 3,4,5, and 11).

I wonder if The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health has been updated. It's been awhile since I read it, however, I don't recall a DVD. I think I'll get it again from the library. It can never hurt to re-read Dr. Ornish. I frequently re-read his book Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease.

I've heard of Max Lucado. However, I've not read any of his books. Have you read others? If so, what one would recommend? Thanks!

Congratulations on a great reading month and continued success with your new eating program!

Susan wrote: "I bought the Kindle version of Oz: The Complete Collection for $.99! I also picked up Oz Reimagined. I haven't read them yet, though.

------------

My memory isn't that bad after all. :) I knew I saw it on sale at Amazon.

Alias Reader wrote: "I've heard of Max Lucado. However, I've not read any of his books. Have you read others? If so, what one would recommend? Thanks!..."

Max Lucado is one of the most popular Christian writers. IMO his writing style appeals to everyone. I've read:
He Chose the Nails,
Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear,
Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear,
He Still Moves Stones,
A Love Worth Giving: Living in the Overflow of God's Love
Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot - this one was really interesting as you answer questions to what your strengths are, etc.

"Mini" books -- Give It All to Him and He Did This Just For You

Studies on books in the bible -- Life Lessons: Book of John, etc.

There are so many to chose from. Just look at something in your life that you want to check out or change or whatever.

A Love Worth Giving: Living in the Overflow of God's Love has a really great true story in it.

Congrats! It looks like you read A LOT of books this month, great job! Of the health/ food books, which was your favorite?

Carol wrote: Max Lucado is one of the most popular Christian writers. IMO his writing style appeals to everyone. I've read:
----------------
Thanks so much, Carol. I appreciate all the links.
I'm going to check them out.

Have you read The Cloister Walk? I enjoyed it. I don't read many books that are Christian or religious, but I thought this was interesting.

On my shelf, I have The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist, but I haven't read it yet.

I'm trying to recall a few others I read - about 20 years ago, I volunteered with a community of friars/nuns/volunteers who ran the soup kitchen, thrift shop, women's drop-in center, etc. I read a few bios of people who were instrumental in getting some of the social justice programs up and running. Very interesting and inspirational.

I finished 3 this month and consider it a very good month with all 4 star books.

I had started a trilogy in June and finished the trilogy in July. It is known as the Passing Bells Trilogy. The last 2 that I read in July were:

Circles of Time & A Future Arrived. As I said they are both given a 4 star rating. I found the author's books by taking a stroll down the aisle of Barnes & Noble. I rarely find a good book in such a random fashion but this time it worked. The last time I picked up a random book at B&N I was hugely disappointed and didn't finish the book. It was a novel about Churchill's secretary during WWII. It didn't mesh with me although others here on GoodReads seem to like it.

The 3rd book of the month was an odd 1 -- Tigers in Red Weather. The title was a mystery until the final pages of the book. It is taken from a famous poem but since I'm a little illiterate when it comes to poetry, it didn't ring a bell with me. The book itself was really interesting with it's stunning setting on Martha's Vineyard in the summer. A big family house used by the same family members year after year. I especially enjoyed the writing style where the main characters are given the chance to tell the story from their own points of view. Readable with my 4 star rating.

My reads for July:

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson: How often have you thought that if you could just alter ONE moment of your life, everything would change? This book explores the "what ifs" and alternate lives of Ursula Todd, who is born and dies. And then is born again, and lives again. And again. And again. But she's not living other lives--she's living her own, over and over again. Each time she resets back to the day she was born. I enjoyed this book and the questions it prompted about fate, destiny, and the choices we make. 4/5 stars.

Hope in a Jar by Beth Harbison: Picked this up for $1 on the clearance rack at the local bookstore. For $1, it was fine. Predictable "chick lit" read about friendships and the insecurities you carry with you from high school into adulthood. 2/5 stars.

Ben, In the World: The Sequel to the Fifth Child by Doris Lessing: I was intrigued by "The Fifth Child" and wanted to know what happened to Ben after he left home. I wouldn't recommend this sequel. It doesn't explain what Ben is. And there are no chapters--it's literally 180 straight pages of rambling text with hardly any breaks. I would have quit reading it after a short time, but I thought it would finally explain everything. It did not. And now I feel cheated, and I want those two days back that I spent reading it. 1/5 star

Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin: A nonfiction account of the decades-long industrial pollution in Toms River, NJ, that culminated in 2001 with a legal settlement of $35 million and an unprecedented government study confirming the existence of a long-suspected cluster of childhood cancer linked to polluted water and air. If you enjoyed A Civil Action or "Erin Brockovich," you will like this book. I did. 4/5 stars

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper: I enjoyed this book, although I liked the author's "This is How I Leave You" better. A solid 3.5/5 stars

The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne: At the beginning of this book, a British couple are traveling to visit friends who have a villa in the desert in Morocco. Along the way, the husband--who had been drinking--hits and kills a Moroccan man on the road. The book explores the reverberations of that random accident on the lives of the Moroccan Muslims who work and live in the area and the Western visitors who converge on the luxurious villa for a decadent weekend-long party. A fascinating take on the differences between the cultures--made more interesting by the fact that none of the characters are very likeable, and you have no sympathy for any of them. 3.5/5 stars

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan: The memoir of a young man who volunteered in an orphanage in Nepal and discovered that the children weren’t orphans � they had been taken by child traffickers and dumped in Kathmandu. So he makes it his mission to find the families of the lost children. This is the 2013 selection for the One book, One Region program in my area, which comes with accompanying workshops and discussions about child trafficking. I thought the book was well written and it spurred me to find out more about the subject. 4/5 stars

Lori, I have "Tigers in Red Weather" on my to-read list, so I'm glad to see that you enjoyed it as much as you did. Thanks for your review!

Carol wrote: Max Lucado is one of the most popular Christian writers. IMO his writing style appeals to everyone. I've read:
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FYI - They have a few of his books on sale this month for the Kindle. It's Amazon's 100 books under $3.99 sale.

My library has a few of his books so I think I will try there first.

Susan wrote: "Have you read The Cloister Walk? I enjoyed it. I don't read many books that are Christian or religious, but I thought this was interesting.

On my shelf, I have The Long Loneliness: The Autobiogra..."
-------------------

I own but have not read The Cloister Walk.

I haven't read The Long Loneliness, however, I have read a short bio on Dorothy Day. Thanks for this title.

Carol wrote:A Love Worth Giving: Living in the Overflow of God's Love has a really great true story in it.

Congrats! It looks like you read A LOT of books this month, great job! Of the health/ food books, which was your favorite?
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Thanks for the title !

As to which I liked best of the health books this month, I guess it is a toss up between

VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good
and
The Pritikin Edge: 10 Essential Ingredients for a Long and Delicious Life

Both are super quick reads that you can read in a few hours.

Lori wrote: I finished 3 this month and consider it a very good month with all 4 star books.

As I said they are both given a 4 star rating. I found the author's books by taking a stroll down the aisle of Barnes & Noble.
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Thanks for sharing with us, Lori !

Congratulations on the excellent reading month. All 4 star books, awesome. I need a month like that!

Isn't it great when a book crosses your path unexpectedly and it turns out to be really good. Serendipity !

Amy wrote: "The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne: At the beginning of this book, a British couple are traveling to visit friends who have a villa in the desert in Morocco. Along the way, the husband--who had been drinking--hits and kills a Morrocan man on the road. The book explores the reverberations of that random accident on the lives of the Moroccan Muslims who work and live in the area and the Western visitors who converge on the luxurious villa for a decadent weekend-long party. A fascinating take on the differences between the cultures--made more interesting by the fact that none of the characters are very likeable, and you have no sympathy for any of them. 3.5/4 stars
-------------

Sounds similar to the premise in
The Tortilla Curtain~~T.C. Boyle

I love Tortilla so much I recommended it to a f2f group I used to attend. It provided a great deal for discussion.

I'll put The Forgiven on my list.

Bummer to hear about the Lessing book. She usually is such a terrific writer. I guess they all can't be good. However, this one sounds awful. No chapters...Ugh.

Congratulations on a very good reading month. I enjoyed reading your reviews.

I've also added The Forgiven to my list. Thanks Amy.

Carol wrote:
3. Super Immunity The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free by Joel Fuhrman--4/5
What a great book! I am amazed at the photo of the woman who lost 100 lbs. over a 2 year period. Her first photo, looked like she was an older woman, and the second photo was this vibrant, young woman. The recipes look great. I am making up a list so I can get what items I need at the grocery store.

4. Eat to Live The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss by Joel Fuhrman-- 5/5
(Published in 2003) It has all the information that you can possibly process. I brought it to my doctor and she had no problem with it as long as I did include yogurt every morning. I will tract everything in a dairy to see how it goes. It has been 3 1/2 weeks and I feel so much better. YA!

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Carol, and anyone else interested in Dr. Fuhrman, his PBS show is running on WLIW 8/2 @ 4:30 and on 8/3 @ 8:30 AM
It might be running on other PBS stations so check your listings. I've seen it numerous times and find it very helpful.

I saw him on PBS a couple of weeks ago. Would this be the same show?

It might be. I think I've seen maybe two that are different. It's the same general info, but I like it drummed into my head. It makes me make better choices. :)

I love seeing what everyone is reading! I'm new this month to this group so here goes!

The Light Between Oceans-loved it even though it left me conflicted for days. 5 stars

The Lost Wife-5 stars, couldn't put it down.

The End of Your Life Book Club-5 stars and one of my favorite books of all time. Loved the relationship between the mother and son. It wasn't as sad reading it as I thought it would have been. LOVE!!!!!

The World of Downton Abbey-really good and fun read. For what it was and meant to be, I gave it 5 stars but that is how I rate, I guess. ;)

Wow, Gjscollins! All 5-star reads for the month! What a great reading month you had. I can't even remember having a month like that. You obviously made some good reading choices! :)

Welcome!

Gjscollins wrote: The End of Your Life Book Club-5 stars and one of my favorite books of all time. Loved the relationship between the mother and son. It wasn't as sad reading it as I thought it would have been. LOVE!!!!!

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Welcome to Book Nook Cafe, Gjscollins ! Thanks for joining our group and posting.

I agree with you 100% on The End of Your Life Book Club~Will Schwalbe
I first listened to the audio and loved it so much I now am going to read the paper version of the book. The author recently did a GoodRead talk. You can read the Q&A at this link.
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

Once again welcome and we look forward to chatting about books and other things with you.

Sounds like some of you are searching and/or improving yourselves. Good for you. I hope your reading has been profitable. Here is my list for July.

The Golem and the Jinni Two mythical creatures, one Jewish, one Muslim; one built by its master to serve and made of clay; one self-invented, fiery and devoted to pleasing himself, meet in New York City. Each has been torn from its customary existence and forced to live among humans. Neither is entirely successful, and their stories make interesting reading. I gave it 3 stars. It was a great idea, but maybe not fully realized.

The Illusion of Separateness 4+ stars. This is a very short book by a short-story writer who takes an incident - an airplane crash in France, circa 1944 - and surrounds it with detail, moving backward and forward in time. The point being that everything is connected to everything else. I loved it.

All She Was Worth Another police procedural, this one a classic from Japan. The detail regarding Japanese paperwork and identity records was excessive, in my opinion, but it's always fascinating to read about other cultures.

A Man Without Breath I've read about Gunther before - he is a former police detective who has been forced to join the SS, and has participated in unspecified actions for which he feels he must atone. In this book, he is assigned to investigate a massacre of Polish officers in the forest near Smolensk. Murders, etc. I gave it 3+ stars, but I am reconsidering from a distance of a few weeks. Maybe just three.

Coming Clean: A Memoir Coming Clean is the story of Kimberly, who was raised by a pair of hoarders. It's not a bad book, really, but for me, it didn't go into as much depth as I would have liked about the impact of living with this mental illness on family. Kim describes her parents as loving people; apparently they were not level five hoarders, or at least did not abandon her completely for their hoard. I don't know. I had the feeling that Kimberly was putting the best face on it. She is not in touch with her anger, and may wake up one day and realize that she has idealized her Mom and Dad. Just a guess on my part. 3 stars

Southern Cross the Dog This is a book about the South in the 20's and 30's which was written by an Asian man from Brooklyn who never saw the south. Still, it evokes a time and an era and seems authentic. A magic trick for sure. It's hard to read - hard to understand - There's some magical stuff and dialect, Cajun trappers and black laborers in the swamps of Mississippi. I was amazed at the world Cheng created, but the overwhelming feeling I had was gratitude that I was not born then and there. The title, I discovered, was a reference to the place where two railroads cross, and is a famous blues line. Did I forget to mention that one of the characters was a blues singer who thought he had magical powers?? Oy. 3 stars

For my July book club, I read Maniac Magee. The topic was Newberry Award winners. I was underwhelmed. I don't enjoy literature for ten-year-olds, though I do enjoy much YA lit.

Thanks to everyone for their info on the books read this month. I always find one or two I like.

Michele wrote: Coming Clean: A Memoir Coming Clean is the story of Kimberly, who was raised by a pair of hoarders. It's not a bad book, really, but for me, it didn't go into as much depth as I would have liked about the impact of living with this mental illness on family. Kim describes her parents as loving people; apparently they were not level five hoarders, or at least did not abandon her completely for their hoard. I don't know. I had the feeling that Kimberly was putting the best face on it. She is not in touch with her anger, and may wake up one day and realize that she has idealized her Mom and Dad. Just a guess on my part. 3 stars

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Congratulations on a very nice reading month. Thanks so much for sharing with the group.

The hoarding book sounds interesting. I am going to check it out.

I am behind, of course, so will delay responding to the books others read last month until a different time. Here is my list from July.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf was a pleasant, if discombobulating jaunt of a book. I found myself peeved with the author when she used real poetry by minor poets to illustrate how poorly Orlando's poetry was. Still, glad i read it.

The Shepherd of Guadaloupe by Zane Grey, was one of several westerns i inherited from my great-grandfather, via my dad. A romance, certainly, but i liked the way Grey illustrated how the land itself served as spiritual nourishment and renewal for two characters. One, in particular, was well served by the land, as he was recovering from grave injuries from WWI. This was my second Grey western & in each the female character is a strong woman, able to make a show at defending herself. I like that.

Hatchepsut: The Female Pharoah by Joyce A. Tyldesley. Frankly, this was the first of two biographies which really offered little in the way of facts about the subject. Granted, there isn't much to tell, but it annoyed me, nonetheless.
In this case, i learned plenty about the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt. The most enlightening aspect of the woman is that dedicated efforts were made to erase her time as Pharaoh from their history, including chiseling away artwork from temples.

Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp by Ann Kirschner is the second unsatisfactory biography of the month. The author was vague on where she attained some of her notions, such as how/whether Josephine tried to protect the image of Wyatt Earp, her common-law husband of over 40 years. She was even unclear on the shoot out at the O.K. Corral and, as i wasn't certain what happened, i resented her lack of material. Still, JME was an adventurous woman, who was part of the migratory population of the West--from Tombstone, to Nome, to Nevada silver mines to Hollywood. She went!

The Unit is a science fiction work from Swedish author Ninni Holmqvist. At age 50, childless women (age 60 for men), must enter a Reserve Bank Unit, where all their needs are attended to--free housing, meals, activities--until they are completely harvested for parts. There were some exceptions, being the sole caregiver for family, part of a "necessary" career field, etc., but for the most part, this is where people without children or grandchildren must go, by law.

The author considered a number of details, including the fact cameras are everywhere, lest residents attempt suicide. One can delay being harvested for specific parts by being part of scientific studies, which helped the main character, Dorrit Weger. In all, i liked the book, chilling as it was. The ideas of democracy, winter & autumn, capitalism, and life purpose were recurring themes.

Madrano wrote: Here is my list from July.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf was a pleasant, if discombobulating jaunt of a book. I found myself peeved with the author when she used real poetry by minor poets to illustrate how poorly Orlando's poetry was. Still, glad i read it.
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Enjoyed reading your reviews, Deb. How can I not love a review that uses the word "discombobulating" :)

What an eclectic reading month you had, Deb! I love it. Sometimes I feel like I get into a rut and read the same sort of books. I get inspired when I see others who read "outside the box." Thanks!

Indeed, Alias, how can you not?

Amy, the eclectic nature is due to the fact i was editing my TBR & decided to get the first 5 my library had and READ THEM. If i didn't read them, off the list they went. The end. ;-)

Deb, The Unit sounds interesting. I enjoy occasionally reading dytopian fiction. I'll add that to my list.

Connie, i hope you will give it a try. I actually got the title from someone in this group, but cannot recall who that person was. Maybe they left the board but i'm glad i took notes about it.

COMMENTS on the books of others.

Alias, you did read quite a bit about health last month. You are always seeking the latest in health info, which is admirable.

Susan, i didn't realize Agatha Christie dabbled in spy novels. I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

Niki, are you working your way through the Oz books or did you randomly pick up that one? My daughter loved those books as a child. Even today she finds Ozma one of the most interesting characters she remembers from her childhood books. Enjoy!

Carol, Marilynne Robinson is one of my favorite contemporary authors. Gilead was an outstanding piece of fiction. I was sorry that the companion novel, Home, was not nearly as interesting. I wanted another Gilead. LAS!

And i remember that you shared about the lighthouse Stevensons book earlier. The photos were great. I added that one to my TBR immediately. I'm surprised that you used the word "predictable" for the Woolf book. I may not have been thrilled with it, but the only reason part of it was predictable was because i'd seen the film.

Lori, i was intrigued by the poem aspect of the book you read, that i looked up the poem. I've shared it on the poetry thread. It's by Wallace Stevens & titled "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock". Thanks for sharing.

Amy, i've not read any Kate Atkinson novels but i have several on my TBR, mentioned by others here. The one you described, Life After Life, sounds like a good starting place.

Gjscollins, welcome to the group. The End of Your Life Book Club sounds good. I recall Alias liked it, too. On my list...

Michele, thanks for the comments on the books you've read. The Wecker book sounds like such a good premise, i have added it, despite your mild disappointment. I am unfamiliar with the Jinni. The Japanese procedural intrigues, too, despite the paperwork. Thanks again.

Great month, all things considered, eh? I am grateful folks took the time to share.

deb

It's not too late to join in. Share with us what you read in July. :)

I'm a bit slow to listing my July reads.

The Catcher in the Rye The ramblings of a young man expelled from college as he wanders around NYC. I can see why it appeals to teenagers, but lost on me. 1 star.

A Thousand Acres An Iowan farmer will his family farm to two of his three daughters, which sparks deep-rooted conflict. As a female descendant of generations of farmers of the same land, I have experienced some of the issues covered in this novels. 4 stars.

Light in August 30s rural Mississippi, many characters with much going on, revolving loosely around a young pregnant woman. Lots of flashback and side stories, but a page turner. 3 stars.

Rasputin's Daughter Based on events leading to the murder of Rasputin in St Petersburg in 1916, from the POV of daughter Maria. Interesting details and setting. 3 stars.

The Ghost Rider A ghost story/mystery set in old Albania. Some interesting detail. 2 stars.

Beloved Tragic, hard to read and hard to understand story of Sethe who was born into slavery abut escaped to Ohio, although her past always haunts her. 3 stars.

The Harp In The South A coming of age story of Roie Darcy in the poor Sydney suburb of Surrey Hills in the 30s/40s. I happened to be visiting Sydney whilst reading it. I went to this inner Sydney suburb for a look around for a few hours, and found that it certainly enhanced my reading of this Aus. classic. The reading enhanced my tourist experience too. Great all round. 4 stars.

Lesley! Thanks for your review on Catcher in the Rye. That is exactly how I felt and tried to read it in June and just couldn't finish it with all the negativity. :)

Love reading everyone's lists!

I never liked "The Catcher in the Rye" even when I was a teenager. I thought Holden Caulfield was a whiny pain-in-the-butt. Yuck.

Apparently today's teenagers don't like him any more than I did back in the early '80s. I found this article on The New York Times site. It's an interesting commentary on how times change, and with it our interest in/attraction to certain books and literary themes:

"Get a Life, Holden Caulfield"
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Published: June 20, 2009

On Wednesday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order forbidding publication in the United States of �60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,� a takeoff on � J. D. Salinger’s lawyers say rip-off of � “The Catcher in the Rye,� written by a young Swedish writer styling himself J. D. California.

Until the judge makes her final ruling, Mr. Salinger’s fans will be spared the prospect of encountering Holden Caulfield, the ultimate alienated teenager, as a lonely old codger who escapes from a retirement home and his beloved younger sister, Phoebe, as a drug addict sinking into dementia.

But Holden may have bigger problems than the insults of irreverent parodists and other “phonies,� as Holden would put it. Even as Mr. Salinger, who is 90 and in ailing health, seeks to keep control of his most famous creation, there are signs that Holden may be losing his grip on the kids.

“The Catcher in the Rye,� published in 1951, is still a staple of the high school curriculum, beloved by many teachers who read and reread it in their own youth. The trouble is today’s teenagers. Teachers say young readers just don’t like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as “weird,� “whiny� and “immature.�

The alienated teenager has lost much of his novelty, said Ariel Levenson, an English teacher at the Dalton School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Holden’s home turf. She added that even the students who liked the book tend to find the language � “phony,� “her hands were lousy with rocks,� the relentless “goddams� � grating and dated.

“Holden Caulfield is supposed to be this paradigmatic teenager we can all relate to, but we don’t really speak this way or talk about these things,� Ms. Levenson said, summarizing a typical response. At the public charter school where she used to teach, she said, “I had a lot of students comment, ‘I can’t really feel bad for this rich kid with a weekend free in New York City.� �

Julie Johnson, who taught Mr. Salinger’s novel over three decades at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., cited similar reactions. “Holden’s passivity is especially galling and perplexing to many present-day students,� she wrote in an e-mail message. “In general, they do not have much sympathy for alienated antiheroes; they are more focused on distinguishing themselves in society as it is presently constituted than in trying to change it.�

Of course, Holden has always had his detractors. Harcourt Brace, the publishing house that originally solicited “The Catcher in the Rye,� turned it down, saying it wasn’t clear whether Holden was supposed to be crazy. Later, highbrow critics like Joan Didion and George Steiner mocked his moral shallowness and “relatability.�

But Holden won over the young, especially the 1960s generation who saw themselves in the disaffected preppy, according to the cultural critic Morris Dickstein. “The skepticism, the belief in the purity of the soul against the tawdry, trashy culture plays very well in the counterculture and post-counterculture generation,� said Mr. Dickstein, who teaches at the Graduate Center of the University of the City of New York. Today, “I wouldn’t say we have a more gullible youth culture, but it may be more of a joining or togetherness culture.�

The culture is also more competitive. These days, teenagers seem more interested in getting into Harvard than in flunking out of Pencey Prep. Young people, with their compulsive text-messaging and hyperactive pop culture metabolism, are more enchanted by wide-eyed, quidditch-playing Harry Potter of Hogwarts than by the smirking manager of Pencey’s fencing team (who was lame enough to lose the team’s equipment on the subway, after all). Today’s pop culture heroes, it seems, are the nerds who conquer the world � like Harry � not the beautiful losers who reject it.

Perhaps Holden would not have felt quite so alone if he were growing up today. After all, Mr. Salinger was writing long before the rise of a multibillion-dollar cultural-entertainment complex largely catering to the taste of teenage boys. These days, adults may lament the slasher movies and dumb sex comedies that have taken over the multiplex, but back then teenagers found themselves stranded between adult things and childish pleasures.

As Stephanie Savage, an executive producer of the “Gossip Girl� television series, told National Public Radio last year, in Holden’s world “you can either go to the carousel in Central Park, or you can choose the Wicker Bar. You can have a skating date, or you can have a prostitute come up to your hotel room. There’s really not that sense of teen culture that there is now.�

Some critics say that if Holden is less popular these days, the fault lies with our own impatience with the idea of a lifelong quest for identity and meaning that Holden represents.

Barbara Feinberg, an expert on children’s literature who has observed numerous class discussions of “Catcher,� pointed to a story about a Holden-loving loser in the Onion headlined “Search for Self Called Off After 38 Years.�

“Holden is somewhat a victim of the current trend in applying ever more mechanistic approaches to understanding human behavior,� Ms. Feinberg wrote in an e-mail message. “Compared to the early 1950s, there is not as much room for the adolescent search, for intuition, for empathy, for the mystery of the unconscious and the deliverance made possible through talking to another person.�

Ms. Feinberg recalled one 15-year-old boy from Long Island who told her: “Oh, we all hated Holden in my class. We just wanted to tell him, ‘Shut up and take your Prozac.� �

My son absolutely loved the Salinger novel. I tried to get him to ask himself if it was the character or the free use of expletives but he felt it was all one. Okay, i guess he's correct but i doubt as many kids would like it if there were no "cuss words".

Lesley, i like that you made a visit to the area the Ruth Park book was set. Were you comfortable there? I have to admit i'd have qualms about walking around in some iffy neighborhoods i've read about. Good for you!

Lesley, I'm glad to know that you liked A Thousand Acres because I borrowed it from the library last week. I heard it's based on Shakespeare's King Lear where the aging father is deciding how to divide his property.

Connie wrote: "Lesley, I'm glad to know that you liked A Thousand Acres because I borrowed it from the library last week. I heard it's based on Shakespeare's King Lear where the aging father is deciding how to d..."

I have this on my shelf; maybe I need to pull it out and read it! Having just watched King Lear, it would be interesting. On the other had, I am trying to get through my rather daunting list, so maybe next year.

I'm not a big fan of The Catcher in the Rye, but frankly I found the NYT article a sad commentary on "teen culture". Bad movies, competing to get into Harvard and not being able to get past dated slang in a book are not what I would want to represent me, but we are all different, I guess. And maybe I'm just a cranky "old" person now!

I disagree that there was not a teen culture when I was a teenager 30 years ago - it was just related to school and community activities. It was not flashy and packaged like it is today. There were always kids who were outside of the mainstream and who were disaffected - and there certainly are today; probably always will be. Just as there will always be the hyper-joiners who are "involved" in everything.

It's not that there weren't things for teenagers to do back then. Holden Caulfield chose not to join in the activities of the day - he would probably make the same decision today. And do those quoted in the piece really think there is less phoniness today? Have they ever seen reality TV? I think Holden would have a full-time job calling out phoniness - with updated slang, of course.

“Oh, we all hated Holden in my class. We just wanted to tell him, ‘Shut up and take your Prozac.�" Wow, that is just sad. As irritating as teenagers can be, there is a reason why this period is difficult - it is a transition from childhood to adulthood.

Madrano wrote: "Connie, i hope you will give it a try. I actually got the title from someone in this group, but cannot recall who that person was. Maybe they left the board but i'm glad i took notes about it."

I read The Unit 2 or 3 years ago, so I might be the one whose recommendation you took. If so, I'm glad you liked it. A customer of mine who I hadn't seen in years showed up recently and, out of the blue, thanked me for recommending The Unit to her! She said that the older she gets, the more it troubles her to think about it. As it should!!

Lesley wrote: "I'm a bit slow to listing my July reads.

The Catcher in the Rye The ramblings of a young man expelled from college as he wanders around NYC. I can see why it appeals to teenagers, but lost on me...."

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I enjoyed reading your reviews, Lesley. You had a very nice reading month. I, too, re-read Catcher as an adult and thought it was okay. It appeals more to teens or maybe not anymore if the article is correct.

Susan wrote: "I'm not a big fan of The Catcher in the Rye, but frankly I found the NYT article a sad commentary on "teen culture". Bad movies, competing to get into Harvard and not being able to get past dated s..."

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Good post, Susan.