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Tsjmom's Book List

What have you read in 2009? Post your list here and update it as you go along! (One thread per member, please.)
tsjmom
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Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Sat August 29th, 2009, 5:12 pm

Wow. I am speechless after reading 'Sarah's Key' in one nite (up until 1 am). Rarely have I ever been so engrossed with a book that I absolutely could not put it down. It's haunting, moving, sad, horrific, typically things that would not draw me to a novel. I try to escape reality, but SK is so powerful and touching that it captured me heart and soul.

Please RUN, do not walk, to get 'Sarah's Key'.

tsjmom
Reader
Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Tue September 15th, 2009, 7:28 pm

Try as I might, I just couldn't do it. I thought I was intelligent. Maybe it's all the bleach I've put on my hair over the years. I don't know, but I just couldn't read, much less understand, 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog'. Way too much psycho babble, depressing thoughts, negativity, and hoity toity language for me :rolleyes:

So I'll admit it now: I'm a light weight reader and proud of it :D . I like action, romance, mystery, and happy endings in my HF!

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Tue September 15th, 2009, 11:51 pm

[quote=""tsjmom""]Try as I might, I just couldn't do it. I thought I was intelligent. Maybe it's all the bleach I've put on my hair over the years. I don't know, but I just couldn't read, much less understand, 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog'. Way too much psycho babble, depressing thoughts, negativity, and hoity toity language for me :rolleyes:

So I'll admit it now: I'm a light weight reader and proud of it :D . I like action, romance, mystery, and happy endings in my HF![/quote]

Or maybe the Hedgehog just wasn't a very good book. Just because a book is pegged as literary fiction doesn't actually mean it is any good.

This one has been on my radar and I intend reading it sometime but I'm not expecting that much.

tsjmom
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Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Wed September 16th, 2009, 5:28 pm

MM, let me know what you think about it. It appears to have won some awards and been a bestseller in France. I just couldn't get into it or care about the characters.

tsjmom
Reader
Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Wed September 30th, 2009, 12:32 am

Well, another unfinished book added to my 'Can't Finish' pile - 'Loyalties', about spies during WW2. I read 180/450 pgs, but that was over almost 2 wks. I never got into it or the whiney @ss characters.

tsjmom
Reader
Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Wed October 28th, 2009, 12:30 am

I really liked 'By Honor Bound'. I mean, why wouldn't I? It has decadence, romance, history, tragedy, Chenonceau and Versailles, nobility - it just doesn't get much more perfect for me ;) It's a 5/5 for me!

tsjmom
Reader
Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Fri November 27th, 2009, 8:42 pm

I'm on a roll with the last 3 novels I've read - loved them!!

The Devil's Queen told Catherine de Medici's story thru her own perspective. It's an interesting take, but I'm not buying it.

Blame It On Paris, although not HF, was one of the most enjoyable books I've read. Not only does it tell the author's story of falling in love with a NICE Frenchman and the marrying of 2 cultures/families, but it does so with such great DRY humor. She has a gift for writing.

tsjmom
Reader
Posts: 227
Joined: August 2008

Post by tsjmom » Sat December 12th, 2009, 3:51 pm

'Where Eagle Dare' gets a 3/5. I really liked all the twists and turns, and there are a lot of them. However, the total implausibility of a few of these spies constantly able to defy the odds was just too ridiculous to tolerate. I mean, is a handful of agents really going to be able to break into the Gestapo's HQs? Can someone with a broken hand really hang on to the roof of an icy cable car at a 45 degree angle for hundreds of feet?

IMO this novel could have been so much better if it had been more realistic.

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