etherwork.net

[CAM]

It's been awfully quiet here lately except for the brief flurry over spaghetti frittata.

Is it time for Mrs. Brown's summer reading list to be posted?

[MrsBrown]

[Guy]

Mrs. B:

I am not know for being well read - unless we are speaking of Victor di Castri (Torrens Land Registration) or John Grisham ( -well you know who I did read Painted House and enjoyed it)

Are these books you suggest,
- good literature
- chick books
- bodice rippers
- action adventures
?
?
?

[MrsBrown]

[David]

I daren't look at a list of recommended books. Everytime a friend or family member tells me about a book they've just finished I ask to borrow it. I now have a pile of books next to my bed which is taller than I am. This has been my worst year ever for reading books as I've read only one a month.

_________________
http://davidstwistedmind.blogspot.com/

[Mats]

I do keep all my library slips, but, with just a title, not all of them ring a bell. Maybe I'll check Amazon for details.

Just off the top, for now, here's a list of recommendations:

Wild Dogs by Helen Humphries - an amazing novel.

Bethlehem Road Murder by Batya Gur - this woman who is a literary crtitic for Ha'aretz and a former professor of lit at University of Jerusalem is at the top of the mystery genre. Read her previous 4 Michael Oheyan books.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon - this American expat teaching in Italy is a close second in the mystery genre.

Drink the Sky by Lesley Kreuger - Toronto author of several great reads. This one set in Rio and the Amazon jungle.

Haweswater by Sarah Hall - complex novel about the flooding of a town in England behind a dam to supply water for Manchester.

The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller - master chef describes ultimate restaurant venture in calif - sumptuous ~p~or~n~.

Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell - superb mystery writer. This is one of the series featuring Kurt Wallender. All should be read.

War Trash by Ha Jin - novel tells the story of a Chinese soldier forced to fight in the pointless struggle over Korea. Ha Jin is a literary master despite his ESL.

All Times Have Been Modern by Elisabeth Harvour - really good novel.

Hey, I'll be back!

[MrsBrown]

What, no other readers here?

[Mats]

I just finished a novel by Amitav Ghosh called The Hungry Tide; I highly recommend it. The novel is set in an amazing area called the Sundarbans; these are the thousands of islands in the archipelego of the Ganges as enters the Bay of Bengal. This is the first book I've read by Ghosh (oops, pun!) but not the last.

[MrsBrown]

I just finished Wild Dogs by Helen Humphreys about an hour before you posted that it was an excellent book. I didn't like it as much as I liked The Lost Garden but agree that it was an amazing book which kind of says a lot about The Lost Garden. I'll certainly look for more books by her.

I just finished Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua. The following isn't really a spoiler but there is more information that the title and author. I won't say anything about the plot.

Spoiler (highlight to read):

It's rather an unsavoury story yet quite compelling. I don't know if I recommend it or not. There are things that I admire in it yet the story line is such that I find it distasteful. I read it for my book club which meets this Friday night. It has already caused some dissension among the members of the book club and we haven't even started discussing it yet!