Short & Sweet Treats discussion

Let's share some of the best books we are reading or have read in 2014. These are the books that you could not put down. These are the books where you said "just one more page," and before you know it, it's 3:00 in the morning. These are the books you want to tell everyone about!

DEFINITELY The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt for me. I saved it to start January 1st, and all my other books are just going to have to wait! Well worth the 11 year wait since her last book!

oh was that the one you and your daughter bought each other for Christmas, Julia?!

Thanks Julia. Marked it to-read.

it is early but if you are in the middle of reading it and you know it's a good one that you just can't put down, you may list it! (if u have the time to put it down to post on here) muhhahaa!

LOL!! Laura

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "oh was that the one you and your daughter bought each other for Christmas, Julia?!"

Yes, Laura--and even after just four chapters, I was totally hooked! Back to Tartt--she's such an interesting person, and only writes one book every 10 years! Great interview with her on BBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiL1d...

I just read Starry Night by Debbie MaComber in less than 2 days. I just could not put it down.

looks like a very sweet holiday read, Teresa!

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "looks like a very sweet holiday read, Teresa!"
It was. Shw has some of the most touching Christmas books.

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "looks like a very sweet holiday read, Teresa!"
It was. She has some of the most touching Christmas books.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Stayed up until 3:00 in the morning to finish this one...loved it!

Turns out I was sick for a month, so I DID have to put The Goldfinch down. It was a rollercoaster ride--some parts I'd have given 10 stars, and others (the Vegas section) just 2.

Overall I gave it a 4. Donna Tartt only puts out a book every 10 years, and she writes with great power. This book is 700+ pages, so we'd never read it in this group :-)

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also read and enjoyed . It was a short, cute, somewhat funny story. I would recommend this boy for anyone looking for a quick, good read.

My daughter is a big fan of The Secret History, but I've not read that one. However, it DOES sound a bit like Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which had this blurb on Amazon:

"Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages."

Both of these books seem to center on groups of young people from elitist backgrounds, so I'm not really drawn to them. However, they both have good reviews.

I've never seen a good review of Twilight from a critic I respected lol.

Still, Meyer was hardly attempting what Tartt and Pessl did--it's good that there are SO many books out there for different people to choose. I may have taught literature for my career, but I surely do enjoy Rick Riordan and his myth-based YA series.

Julia, I read the first of Percy Jackson In October and I enjoyed it as well!!

I like all his series--I try to read what my 13 year old granddaughter is reading, so I've read all 5 Percy Jacksons and all 3 of the The Kane Chronicles, which center on Egyptian mythology. I enjoy how the YA crowd is learning mythology as well as enjoying a good story.

But my really top "can't put it down" series still remains Harry Potter Boxset. I bought the last book and read it straight through in 4 hours! I'm 73, and my children all say I should have been a teacher at Hogwarts :-)

And I'm planning re-read of the whole series in 2014, since my grandson is now 9 and Nana needs to go through Harry's adventures again.

Lol Julia...I could definitely see you as a Hogwarts teacher!!

I plan to finish out the series. Alas.... so many books, so little time.

The Goldfinch is on my to read list this year. I really enjoyed The Secret History and The Little Friend. Just have to see when I feel like tackling a book that long...

One of the books I could not put down this year even though I had a ton of homework was After Dark byHaruki Murakami. I finished it in 5 days in-spite of school work. I loved it for it felt like I was in some strange dream state the entire time I was reading it. I love the characters and it even maybe me laugh at times, but in the end it had such a deeper meaning than what I was expecting it too. I highly recommend reading it, so I won't give to much more away other then Murakami's descriptions of the characters are highly detailed and beautiful.

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorites, Miriam. My favorite book of his is Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, which kept me mesmerized.

He's a fascinating person; I respect him for this choice: "In 2011, Murakami donated his €80,000 winnings from the International Catalunya Prize (from the Generalitat of Catalunya) to the victims of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami, and to those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_M...

Julia wrote: "Haruki Murakami is one of my favorites, Miriam. My favorite book of his is Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, which kept me mesmerized.

He's a fascinating..."

That is awesome! I didn't know he was such a charitable man! I also am mesmerized by his writing and look forward to reading more of it.

Alicia wrote: "I just posted about it again in another thread, but it needs to go down in this one.



Time travel novella, just 96 pages. I literally sat and couldn't put it do..."

Sounds like a really interesting book Alicia, I might have to find a copy. Is it in the thriller gene?

Jesus> Religion! Wonderful read. Finished it in one sitting.

I finished reading a captivating 131 page book Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luis Fernando Verissimo, translated by the award-winning Margaret Jull Costa. The goodreads blurb says:

"Vogelstein is a loner who has always lived among books. Suddenly, fate grabs hold of his insignificant life and carries him off to Buenos Aires, to a conference on Edgar Allan Poe, the inventor of the modern detective story. There Vogelstein meets his idol, Jorge Luis Borges, and for reasons that a mere passion for literature cannot explain, he finds himself at the center of a murder investigation that involves arcane demons, the mysteries of the Kaballah, the possible destruction of the world, and the Elizabethan magus John Dee's theory of the "Eternal Orangutan," which, given all the time in the world, would end up writing all the known books in the cosmos. Verissimo's small masterpiece is at once a literary tour de force and a brilliant mystery novel."

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I had asked Laura to add this to our bookshelf--but you'd need to be fascinated by Poe, Lovecraft, Borges himself, and magical realism to love this book tiny gem.

Julia wrote: "DEFINITELY The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt for me. I saved it to start January 1st, and all my other books are just going to have to wait! Well worth the 11 year wait sin..."

This is my next f2f book club read, I am hoping that with all the accolades that I've seen from our fellow readers is true. I've read so many disappointing f2f book club reads the past 6 months.

My friend was very put off by The Goldfinch at first, since she's used to zipping through books rapidly. This book takes work--and she ended up being so glad she stayed with it. Another friend got 1/3 of the way in and dropped it.

It's not an easy read, and I found myself googling many of the art references--but that was part of the joy for me:-)

Julia wrote: "My friend was very put off by The Goldfinch at first, since she's used to zipping through books rapidly. This book takes work--and she ended up being so glad she stayed with it. Ano..."

Oh bother! Sounds like I won't have time to read it.
I also enjoy looking up items, Julia. When I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I had my tablet set to the annotations for the Spanish interwoven throughout the story. My Spanish is very limited as I took German in college.

Good for you, Jen--and I have to say that my trek through The Goldfinch was a very personal one. The more the book grew on me, the less I was inclined to "discuss" it. My daughter was the only one with whom I shared my reactions, since I can't imagine my library book group tackling something this complicated.

So maybe hold off for a bit--but I think the first four chapters are simply incredible, as are the last pages of the book. In between is a rollercoaster, which is challenging but worth it, imho.

I take notes on books like this one, along with quotations--so if you'd like to take a look at my review, it's here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This quote alone made the whole journey worth it for me:

p. 771:
"Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time....For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time--so has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next."

Have to admit those words made me cry.

What a marvelous quote! And, I love visual art, I relate to it so well. I will definitely read it, hope I can finish in enough time for the book club. Another book I read that I thought was a very personal journey was A Tale for the Time Being, I would recommend the read.

I enjoyed Ozeki's book as well; my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just completed by Mitch Albom. It was a quick read that I just could not put down. It was very thought provoking.

oh I loved that book, Teresa! very touching.

Julia wrote: "I enjoyed Ozeki's book as well; my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I agree Julia, the bullying was very difficult to swallow. Having been a teacher in the recent past, I saw similar behavior; fortunately, I also witnessed wonderfully kind relationships between the kids.

Teresa wrote: "I just completed by Mitch Albom. It was a quick read that I just could not put down. It was very thought provoking."

Thanks for sharing. Added to by TBR shelf:)

Teresa wrote: "I just completed by Mitch Albom. It was a quick read that I just could not put down. It was very thought provoking."

Added to my list. :)

I smell a possible side read brewing.

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been very active lately this term in college has been super time consuming. I have been reading in between all the home work though. I am currently reading byMichael Cunningham. It is a great book and way better than the movie. I decided to read it after I read for my British Literature class and so far they have both been great reads.

I loved All the Light We Cannot See .

Miriam wrote: "Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been very active lately this term in college has been super time consuming. I have been reading in between all the home work though. I am currently reading [bookcover:The H..."

that's OK Miriam! glad all is well :)

adding The Time Keeper to the log of TBRs. I guess I have been put off by him/his work ever since Tuesdays With Morrie which I found peppered everywhere. Wasn't it even featured on the Today Show, etc etc? Can good works make appearances on banal TV shows like The Today Show? I had no desire for it.

If I had one book to recommend to everyone so far this year it would be

The Girl with All the Gifts

A refreshing take on a genre that has been explored immensely in the last few years and I was hooked from start to finish. Took me two days to read with about 6 hours of sleep in between because the girlfriend was getting mad at me for not closing the light :)

I'm going to add The Red Queen

I'm adding The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery--really enjoying this one! The Amazon blurb says:

"Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building, home to members of the great and the good. Over the years she has maintained her carefully constructed persona as someone reliable but totally uncultivated, in keeping, she feels, with society's expectations of what a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Renee: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Renee lives resigned to her lonely lot with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever. By turn moving and hilarious, this unusual novel became the top-selling book in France in 2007 with sales of over 900,000 copies to-date."

your recommendations are creeping into my TBR list, Julia ! and I like it !

:-) Thanks, Laura--the book was made into a film called THE HEDGEHOG ("Le hérisson" original French title): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442519/



It won best film at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2010, and a trailer can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bLq4...

Looks like a film that I'd love! :)

Me, too, Jen--I was able to order it through my library!

Julia wrote: "Me, too, Jen--I was able to order it through my library!"

I'm going to see if I can stream via Netflix :)