Books I've Read
Books Listed by Author
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
The House Of The Scorpion
Future tale of the clone of a drug lord. Very good!
Read:
10/2003
The Lord Of Opium
Follows The House Of The Scorpion. I enjoyed it, and it sums everything up nicely without having to go into a third volume. Or a fourth (I'm looking at YOU, Paolini!)
Read:
11/2013
The Sea Of Trolls
Apprentice bard Jack is kidnapped by berserkers and hauled off to Norway, along with his little sister Lucy. Good story.
Read:
9/2007
Fabulous riverboat
Ive been hearing about this series for years, found this in a free box at the library, so read it. Mark Twain builds a riverboat on Riverworld. Pretty good, guess Ill read the first book and the next, too.
Read:
5/2006
Dancing At The Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir
This is one of several books I bought about death while in a melancholy mood one day. It's pretty good, a thirty-ish woman tells about her mother dying of cancer ten years before, and how she has dealt with it. Some useful information, and I learned about Jewish customs too.
Read:
10/2020
Consider the evidence
Ten mystery stories by various authors. The Night Of The Twister, by James Michael Ullman, blew me away.
Read:
5/2007Read Again::
6/2016
So Big
Selina is the daughter of a gambler. When her father is killed she becomes a school teacher in rural Illinois and eventually marries a poor farmer. By dint of hard work, perseverance, and a bit of luck, she becomes successful. But her son, nicknamed "So Big", does not appreciate what she values about life. Won a Pulitzer prize and made into two movies. It took about a hundred pages to capture my interest, but I enjoyed reading it.
Some notes I made:
Various kinds of horse-drawn vehicles mentioned on page 195:
brougham A light, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage
surrey (with a fringe!) A horse-drawn, four-wheeled, two-seated pleasure carriage with an open spindle seat.
two-wheeled cart It's a two-wheeled cart, for cryin' out loud!
victoria The victoria was an elegant French carriage.
pony cart Seems to be a smaller cart. Can have two or four wheels.
tally-ho (coach and four) A four-in-hand (the Tally-ho was the name of a coach that once plied between London and Birmingham)
A Chronology And An Observation
Dirk was nine when his father died. see page 133. I figure this was 1900.
Selina and Dirk ride in a red automobile back to the farm after the trip to Chicago to sell vegetables after the father died. See page 162. Again, I figure this was 1900.
Dirk starts college in 1909. See page 179. He is eighteen or nineteen, by my figuring.
Dirk graduates college in 1913 when he is twenty-two years old. See page 199.
There were only 2,475 automobiles built in the United States during 1899-1901. It seems fortuitous that Selina and Dirk got to in that red automobile.<
Words I Had To Look Up:
matutinal bathing (pg. 36) -- Pertaining to or occurring in the morning.
none too knowledgeous herself (pg. 53) -- I think it means "knowledgeable".
always a dado of washing (pg. 118) -- Cannot find a suitible definition.
the Cinderellas and the Smikes of this temple (pg. 180) -- A charactor in Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby.
bosky paths (pg. 205) -- Covered with or consisting of bushes or thickets.
Do you suppose they will ever get rid of this terrible Rush Street bridge? (pg. 210) -- Yes, around 1920 they tore the sucker down!
Their eyes were wide apart, empty, knowledgeous.. (pg. 239) -- There is that word again! Still not much on the web!
their names were burbankian monstrosities...hence Loretta, Imogene, Nadine (pg. 241) -- I get the Luther Burbank reference, but not how it applies to these particular names. Marjon, from parents Mary and John, that I understand. I wonder what the author would think of the girl's name Howard Allen O'Brien?
with pompons on them (pg. 255) -- Yes, that IS how it is spelled.
meet the gamin of the rumpled smock (pg. 259) -- An often homeless boy who roams about the streets; an urchin.
Sairey Gamipish ladies smelling unpleasantly of peppermint and perspiration and poverty (pg. 267) -- Sairey Gamp is a charactor in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit.
Read:
9/2009Quotes:
Sped by one of those over-dramatic ladies who, armed with horsewhip or pistol in tardy defence of their honour, ... it had been meant for a well-known newspaper publisher usually mentioned ... as a bonvivant. The lady's leaden remonstrance was to have been proof of the fact that he had been more vivacious than bon. (pg. 19)
and a cubby-hole for the Jap. (pg. 242) -- nice.
Love Among The Walnuts
Charming story of Sandy, a young man raised on a country estate isolated from the world. He and his parents are subject to a plot by relatives to steal their wealth. I enjoyed this story very much.
Quote:
"You know, I'm suddenly feeling much better" -- pg. 216
Read:
11/2012
Much Ado About Grubstake
Arly lives in a mined-out little town that some rich guy wants to buy. And who is that dark stranger, really? Sounds like one of those penny-dreadfuls she is so found of reading.
Read:
3/2013
Of Sound Mind
Theo is the only hearing member of his family so he has to do a lot of the interaction between his parents and the hearing world. Very good story.
Read:
9/2014
Once Upon A Marigold
Princess is beset by unwanted suitors her rather evil mother is foisting on her. Poor boy from across the river is besotted with her, though. Guess what happens?
Words I Had To Look Up:
Abigail (pg. 197)-- A lady's personal maid.Read::
4/2013
Twice Upon A Marigold
The former queen (once a queen, always a queen?) regains her memory and returns to the kingdom to torment her husband the king. And everyone else.
Words I Had To Look Up:
bête noire (pg. 78)-- A person or thing strongly detested or avoided
Read:
4/2013
Lost In A Good Book
SpecOp agent Thursday Next saves the world from pink goo. Interesting story, and a book with a character named Brik Schitt-Hawse can't be Too bad! Good think I read "Great Expectations" in Junior High.
Read:
4/2004Read:
9/2013
The Big Over Easy
Jack Spratt investigates the death of Humpty Dumpty. Very humourous. Read the Thorndike Press Large Print edition.
Words I Had To Look Up:
brazen (pg. 293) -- definition #3. Made of brass.
runcible (pg. 519) -- a fork-like spoon with a cutting edge.
molto prestissimo (pg. 520) -- very as fast as possible.Quote:
The last two paragraphs of chapter 36, page 465 in the Thorndike Press Large Print edition. Plus the preceding page of build-up.Read:
11/2007
Bridget Jone's Diary
A year of Englishwoman's diary. Pretty good in parts, can't imagine a movie of it, though.
Read:
5/2001
The Sorcerer Of Sainte Felice
Michael is condemned to be burned for sorcery, but the boy is rescued from the pyre by the mysterious abbot Francis of Sainte Felice. Good story, interesting combination of sorcery and Christianity.
Read:
6/2011
Nature Noir
A park ranger recounts his experiences in the Auburn State Recreational Area.
Read:
2/2005
The Great Gatsby
I only read this because of a referential quote in Painted Ladies by Robert B. Parker. I missed have missed the quote when I read it, though. The story is ok, but I keep picturing Robert Redford speaking as Gatsby. I found The Text Of The Great Gatsby section, by Matthew J. Bruccoli, very informative about textual errors and the editing and un-editing of them.
Read:
1/2011
The Long Secret
I'm sure I read Harriet the Spy, but it is not listed here. Perhaps it was before 1998. This was rather long and boring (to me), a "people" book rather than an action story (with spaceships!). Secrets are discovered, realizations are realized. Harriet is oblivious. I wanted to use "rather" in there, but I already used in once. That would be repetitive.
Read:
10/2013
Erak's Ransom
Ranger's Apprentice, book seven. Takes place between books four and five. Will and the gang head to a distant land of desert to deliver a ransom for the captured Erak.
Read:
5/2011
20 books displayed
[Fadiman - Farmer] [Farmer - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Flint] [Flint - Foster] [Foster - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Funke] [Funke - Fussell]