Comment

Comment by Kathryn Magendie on April 12, 2009 at 11:25am

Reading Adriana Trigliani's "Very Valentine" - I had a coupon and thought I'd try it. It's a little bit on the "romance'y" side for me, and some of the writing seems as if she's "filling in" --as if she came up short on word count and had to put something in there, there are some mistakes in the first 100 pages that kept bumping me out of the story (but I do understand how these things can happen, having gone through galley proofs of my own recently--still.....). I'm enjoying the work as a "light read" until I move on to something else, but am still a little disappointed in this book of hers. It's been a while since I read her stories - the Big Cherry Holler ones, where mountain top removal is addressed (if not in that book, in the series it is addressed), and find this latest work doesn't shine up to my memory.

Trigliana is charming though, her characters are charming, so how can I not help but enjoy the book for that reason alone?

Comment by Kathryn Magendie on April 10, 2009 at 7:51am

Sounds interesting! And anyone someone wants more, that's a good sign.

Comment by nancy dillingham on April 9, 2009 at 8:28pm

And we are reading Julie Andrews' memoir Home for the West Asheville Library book discussion for May. I was just today reading the reviews--and they say "crisp prose, immaculate story telling.' Sounds good! The book is about her early life up to the time she made Mary Poppins. One reviewer says that he's hoping for Home II.

Comment by Kathryn Magendie on April 7, 2009 at 4:52pm

Hello Rob! I just finished Angela Dove's book (reviewed it for R&T). I'm reading a memoir - but an old one "Drinking: A Love Story...." I rarely read memoirs, but picked up this one while out of town and am curious. Just started it. Next I'm hoping to read Ron Rash's Serena.

Comment by Rob Neufeld on April 7, 2009 at 9:17am

Hey, Kathryn, welcome! Is there a book you'd like to discuss with people? You see that they get discussed in individual forums above. /Rob

Comment by Rob Neufeld on April 2, 2009 at 1:49pm

I'm ready to go with The Missing. See feature. Let's who'll join us in the forum above. /Rob

Comment by Rob Neufeld on March 21, 2009 at 10:11am

This is going to take a couple of weeks to start up, I think. Let's join in, say what books we've read or will be reading, and give others a chance to read the same if they wish. The individual books will go into forums within this group.

We don't need a lot of people in each forum. It'd be fun to talk with even just a few people about a book. But I think the advance notice is helpful--'cause how many people, for instance, are reading the same books as me right at this moment? Once we put forward a few titles, they can be advertised. Or you can read a book and invite a few others directly to join you.

Gary Carden wants to read The Missing, Tim Gautreaux's new novel, and so do I, so that's one. Allegra Huston, co-director with Jim Nave of The Writer's Salon (a creativity retreat in Black Mountain, May-4-8), and daughter of filmmaker John Huston, will be talking abut her new book, Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found, 7 p.m., May 4, at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. So Love Child is another top choice.