Maria’s Comments (group member since May 14, 2012)

Maria’s comments from the DC Public Library group.

Thanks for doing this and for letting us know! It was a great idea!

I'll have to listen to that segment. I'm thinking that I probably won't read the book, at least not right away, but I'm very interested in the story surrounding it.

I'll start. I'm not a To Kill a Mockingbird fanatic. I think it is a beautiful, perfect work of literature, but it's not in my top ten books or anything. So I'm not anxious to read about the continuing adventures of Scout & the gang.
Also, I think TKAM stands alone as a complete work very well, and I don't really want to tarnish its perfection by adding in this extra material. Even though it is written by the same author, Go Set a Watchman gives me a fanfictionish feeling. Like, great for you if you want to keep the story going, but I like it the way it is and don't need any sequels or prequels or alternate versions.
I also feel like if Harper Lee had wanted to publish it, she could have done so anytime in the last half century, so the publication of this work feels kinda icky to me.
What does everyone else think?

In the biggest book news EVER, a second Harper Lee manuscript has been found and will be published this summer.
You can read more about it here or Google "Go Set a Watchman."

What do you think about this news? Do you care? Are you excited to read the book? Outraged and think that the elderly Harper Lee is being taken advantage of by her estate?

Congrats, Tonya! Using the randomizer at random.org, you have won this collection of memoirs. I'll send you a message about pickup.

To everyone else, thanks for the recs!

Remember to reply to this thread by midnight tonight for a chance to win this set of four memoirs!

I'm making a new resolution right now not to read anything that is compared to the Hunger Games in a blurb or by the publisher. Every single time it has led to wasted time and disappointment!

Here's a little more info about the books themselves:

We'll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Adventure
Jennifer Coburn has always been terrified of dying young. It's the reason she drops everything during the summers on a quest to travel through Europe with her daughter, Katie, before it's too late. Even though her husband can't join them, even though she's nervous about the journey, and even though she's perfectly healthy, she spends three to four weeks per trip jamming Katie's mental photo album with memories. In this heartwarming generational love story, Jennifer reveals how their adventures helped relinquish her fear of dying...for the sake of living.

Paris Letters
“How much money does it take to change your life?”
Unfulfilled at her job and unsuccessful in the dating department, Janice MacLeod doodled this question at her desk. Then she decided to make it a challenge.
Over the next few months, with a little math and a lot of determination, she saved up enough to buy two years of freedom in Europe.
But she had only been in Paris for a few days when she met a handsome butcher (with a striking resemblance to Daniel Craig)—and never went home again.

Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart's Desire
A foot-stamping, full-on firecracker of a travel memoir, crackling with energy, dance, gypsies, love, food and the occasional donkey. Nellie Bennett fell in love with flamenco one hot summer day in a Sydney dance studio. Longing to get closer to the authentic experience, she packed her suede dance shoes and a set of castanets and travelled to the other side of the world, to Seville, to learn flamenco. What she didn't realise is that flamenco is not a dance, it's a way of life. In Spain, she fell in love three times - the first time with a smokey-eyed flamenco dance teacher, the second time, with a wild and tempestuous gypsy; and the third with a tall, dark handsome Basque chef - not realising that, all along, it's really Spain she's fallen in love with. A witty, passionate story of romance and discovery.

Shooting Stars: My Life as a Paparazza
As a young woman struggling to make ends meet in LA photographer Jennifer Buhl bumped into the paparazzi and soon found herself chasing down celebrities in her station wagon, earning thousands a day. Shooting Stars is the hilarious, whip-smart chronicle of her wild ride through this testosterone-driven business and shows how achieving glamour is not always so glamorous.
Balancing juicy celebrity anecdotes with a poignant story of heartache, love, and the ticktock of a biological clock, this irresistible book will leave you with an entirely new perspective on what life is like among the stars and on the men-and women-behind the money shots.

We have a collection of four up-and-coming women's memoirs to give away to a lucky reader and DCPL member! These books are perfect for someone who enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love, travelogues, or memoir in general.

1. We'll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Adventure by Jennifer Coburn.
Release date: April 2014

2. Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod.
Release date: February 2014

3. Only in Spain: In Search of My Heart's Desire by Nellie Bennett.
Release date: July 2014

4. Shooting Stars: My Life as a Paparazza by Jennifer Buhl.
Release date: March 2014

Reply to this thread by midnight on Saturday, March 1 with a book recommendation to enter the drawing for these books.

We will randomly draw a name from those who reply to the thread, and the winner can pick up their books at any DCPL location.

Happy New Year!

Last year a bunch of us made reading resolutions for 2013 and, while most of us, on reflection, didn't quite meet all of our goals, we all got a lot read.

So what are your reading plans and goals for 2014? Do you want to read a book in your second language? Discover a new genre? Read 100 books? Learn to appreciate poetry? Let us know and we'll support each other on the journey.

I personally want to try to read better books this year. I read a LOT of books in 2013, but a lot of them were mediocre and forgettable. This is a subjective thing, of course, but I really want to try to read a higher quality of fiction and nonfiction in 2014. More classics, better prose, fewer derivative young adult titles. I'm starting 2014 by going to a Moby-Dick; or, The Whale Marathon, so that will be a step in the right direction!

Also, Jim, I keep hearing great things about the Claire Dewitt books - I guess it is time to read them!

Lots of great recommendations here - I'm going to make a list.

Megan, I just started The Goldfinch, and so far I am in LOVE with it! If it stays as good throughout, I think it will be my favorite book of 2013. I hope it doesn't take a dramatic turn for the worse like Night Film did.

I also loved Tenth of December, but I have a mental block against giving a short story collection as much credit as a novel. Don't know why, since I've loved many, many short story collections.

Instead of a year-end best-of list, NPR made a Best Books of 2013 interactive tool: http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/#/_

I discovered a few books that I hadn't heard of that sound great!

Yikes - it is already December! How have everyone's 2013 reading resolutions gone? I only made it about 60 pages into Infinite Jest, but I really do plan on reading it one day!

It's the time of year when best-of lists start popping up!

Have you voted in the Goodreads Choice awards? I just did and it made me realize how many books came out this year that I had meant to read and haven't gotten around to.

So, what was your personal favorite book that came out in 2013? I think I've been reading the wrong stuff, because everything new I've read has been somewhat disappointing.

I just finished Fangirl, and while I loved it, I wouldn't say it is "best of" material.

For the first 200 pages of Night Film, I thought it would be my new favorite book, but then it just fell apart.

What about you? 2013 hits or misses?

Erin, I like the poetry idea! I feel like memorizing poetry and reciting it would be a good & fun use of desert island time. And then you could show off upon your return to civilization. So I guess I'd go with a Norton Anthology of poetry or something along those lines.

How about a Gothic romantic mystery just in time for Halloween?

We are giving away an advanced copy of Susanna Kearsley's The Splendour Falls to a group member to pick up at any DCPL location. This book comes out in the US in January 2014, but you can get it early from us!

Kearsley is an award winning, bestselling author, and in this novel, "Emily Braden joins her cousin, Harry, on a visit to Chinon, where Queen Isabelle hid her jewels in the 13th century. But when Harry vanishes, Emily uncovers the mystery of a different Isabelle - one that dates back to the German occupation of World War II..."

I haven't read this author before, but I've long meant to, and from what I've heard, there will be some magic, some romance, and lots of historical details.

Reply to this thread by noon on Monday, October 28 with a book recommendation to enter the drawing for this novel.

Thanks for the recommendations! They all sound like titles I'd enjoy reading.

Using the list randomizer at random.org, I held a drawing for The Lion Seeker, and Natalya, the book is yours! Congratulations!! I'll email you about pickup, and thanks again to both of you for your interest.

We are giving away an advanced copy of The Lion Seeker by South African author Kenneth Bonert. This debut novel comes out on October 15 and has gotten rave reviews and so far has over a 4 star rating on goodreads from advanced reviewers.

A historical epic that covers topics of immigration, racism, and Judaism, this is what the publisher has to say: "A brawny, brilliant debut novel about the epic struggles of an immigrant son in a darkening world.
Johannesburg, South Africa. The Great Depression. In this harsh new country, young Isaac Helger burns with fiery determination— to break out of the inner city, to buy his scarred mother the home she longs for, to find a way to realize her dream of reuniting a family torn apart. But there are terrible, unspoken secrets of the past that will haunt him as he makes his way through a society brutalized by racism, as he loses his heart to an unattainable girl from the city’s wealthiest heights and his every exit route from poverty dead-ends. When the threat of the Second World War insinuates itself with brutal force into Isaac’s reality, he will face the most important choice of his life . . . and will have to learn to live with the consequences.

In this extraordinarily powerful novel, Kenneth Bonert brings alive the world of South African Jewry in all its raw energy and ribald vernacular. Comedic, searing, lyrical and with a snap-perfect ear for dialogue, The Lion Seeker is a profoundly moral exploration of how wider social forces shape us and shatter us, echoing through history with lessons that are no less relevant today than in the crucible of its time."

If you are interested in an advance copy of this book, please reply to this thread with a book recommendation of any sort by noon on Monday, September 23, and you will be entered in a drawing to win it. You can then pick it up at any DCPL neighborhood library.

Hello and I hope everyone had a great labor day!

Now that summer is unofficially over, and the school year is beginning, let's talk about back to school novels, or campus novels.

Why is it that so many great (and not so great) and popular novels take place on campuses, especially boarding schools? Is it because many writers are academics, or because they felt most at home in places of knowledge? Let's discuss it, and the enduring popularity of the campus novel.

Here are some suggestions for reading:

Mystery / Thriller
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell

Humor
Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Moo by Jane Smiley
Straight Man by Richard Russo

Other
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What campus novels do you love? Hate? Why do you think so many writers are drawn to this setting, and so many readers as well? Choose one of the above books to read, or pick a title from our Campus Novels bookshelf.