Book Nook Cafe discussion

I definitely want to read these books in 2025 (not a complete list):
1. Ducks, Newburyport
2. Tell Me Everything
3. Horse
4. How to Read a Book
5. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
6. Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles

Classics (not complete)
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Mansfield Park
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray
4. Anne of Avonlea
5. Walden, or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
6. War and Peace
7. My Ántonia
8. The Works of William Wordsworth
9. A Farewell to Arms
10. A Separate Peace
11. Pamela
12. The Drowned World
13. The Complete Poems
14. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings
15. Work: A Story of Experience
16. Heidi
17. And Then There Were None
18. The Razor’s Edge
19. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales

My book club:
1. Still Alice
2. Wandering Stars
3. Milkman
4. The Wangs vs. the World
5. America Fantastica
6. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

It looks like you have a nice plan for 2025. Happy reading !

I'm intrigued by the less familiar books, such as the last, by Jamie Ford. Best of luck in reading these...and really liking them, too, Denise.

Completed:
How to Read a Book
Still Alice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

You are off to a wonderful start, Denise !

How to Read a Book sounds interesting. I've added it to my TBR. Thanks for this.

And kudos for the great beginning of your reading year, Denise.

madrano wrote: "I'm intrigued by the less familiar books, such as the last, by Jamie Ford. Best of luck in reading these...and really liking them, too, Denise."

This one is also on my TRL I loved Jamie Fords hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet

Good to know, Sophie. It's the title i recognized immediately, so seems as though it would be a good start. Thanks for the post.

I can now take Horse, Milkman and The Picture of Dorian Gray off my list.

I gave my opinion of all in the Book Salon.

I really need finish these lists when I get a chance

You are doing very well, Denise. The group, i suppose, helps you meet those selections, but you've gone way beyond those, too. Congratulations.

You're doing really well with the challenge, Denise. Considering all you have on your plate, I think you are doing a great job.

updated my classics list. 📚= completed
🍮1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Mansfield Park
🍮3. The Picture of Dorian Gray
🍮4. Anne of Avonlea
🍮5. Walden, or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
6. War and Peace
7. My Ántonia
8. Knickerbocker's History of New York
9. A Farewell to Arms
🍮10. A Separate Peace
11. The Drowned World
🍮12.The Complete Poems
13. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
14. Work: A Story of Experience
15. Heidi
16. And Then There Were None
17. The Razor’s Edge
18. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales
19. The Secret Garden

Well done, Denise. You have some stellar reading ahead.

Alias Reader wrote: "Well done, Denise. You have some stellar reading ahead."

I stumbled on a decades challenge that starts in 1801...read one book from each decade from 1801-2025. That made me decide this is the year of the classics, nearly all of whichI own and can clear from my shelves, especially since so many are own the public domain

From you list that you haven't read yet, I very much enjoyed 7,9, 10.

I especially enjoyed A Separate Peace.

18, The Razor's Edge I gave a 3/5

Happy Reading !

I loved, loved, loved Peace when i read it as a teen. Adult Deb disliked it immensely! However, my love for Razor remains strong, after three readings.

Neat Challenge idea, Denise. For #13, whose poems? Just a US or World collection?

Enjoy!

Alias Reader wrote: "From you list that you haven't read yet, I very much enjoyed 7,9, 10.

I especially enjoyed A Separate Peace.

18, The Razor's Edge I gave a 3/5

Happy Reading !"

I read Farewell and Peace on high school and liked item. Interested in how they fare as a adult.

madrano wrote: "I loved, loved, loved Peace when i read it as a teen. Adult Deb disliked it immensely! However, my love for Razor remains strong, after three readings.

Neat Challenge idea, Denise. For #13, whose ..."

It's William Blake. I loved Peace in 12th grade and interested to see how it works as an adult.

Seems you and Alias are split on Razors Edge, I'm now intrigued to start it

Denise,my brother & i bonded over Razor, which may have eternally colored my pleasure in the book.

Blake is a fascinating writer. I hope it works again for you.

I could not stand Hemingway’s paper doll women! Those characters ruin any good the book offered me.

Here is my non-fiction list:
1. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
2. Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles
3. How Proust Can Change Your Life
4. Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
5. 60 Songs That Explain the '90s
6. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
7. Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
🍮8. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
9. A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf
10. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
11. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
12. Hitch 22: A Memoir
🍮13. Sandwich: A Global History
14. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
15. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
🍮16. Reasons to Stay Alive
17. You Are Not So Smart
🍮18. 100 Cats Who Changed Civilization: History's Most Influential Felines
19. Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World

I am intrigued with the goal of reading a biography of every president (except 44/46) and may begin that task next year. I freaking teach social studies for a living, I should probably dive into more biography and less event-oriented history

Somehow I left The Secret Garden off my classics list

Denise wrote: "I am intrigued with the goal of reading a biography of every president (except 44/46) and may begin that task next year. I freaking teach social studies for a living, I should probably dive into mo..."

We would love to have you join Deb and I in the presidential life long challenge.

You can find us in the Folder: Determination Lists & Challenges

Here is my thread.
/topic/show/...

Here is Debs
/topic/show/...

Denise wrote: "Here is my non-fiction list:
1. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
2. Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles
3. [book:How Proust Ca..."

Thanks for the list. Even you you are expanding my already crazy Mount TBR !! I know I will enjoy checking out the titles.

Denise wrote: "I am intrigued with the goal of reading a biography of every president (except 44/46) and may begin that task next year. I freaking teach social studies for a living, I should probably dive into mo..."

LOL! As we’ve noted previously, Prez bios put issues in perspective, as well as explain them better, due to debates & speeches about them.

And it helps me realize our nation has been messed up a long time. While what we are witnessing presently is the worst, due to its transactional nature, the rule of wealthy people isn’t.

Denise wrote: "Here is my non-fiction list:
1. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
2. Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles
3. [book:How Proust Ca..."

Eclectic list, Denise. And some fun- looking ones, too. Enjoy.

6. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

This was a 5/5 star read for me.

11. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

I gave this one 3/5. I think it would be very good for parents or teachers.

14. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

This was only a 2/5 for me. I just didn't connect with the author at all. I couldn't muster any sympathy for her. I'm in the minority on this one.

Fiction list:📚= completed
🍮1. Death of the Author
2. Ariadne
🍮3.The Wangs vs. the World
🍮4. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
5. Ducks, Newburyport
🍮6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
🍮7. Wandering Stars
8. Black Candle Women
9. Marmee
🍮10. Tehrangeles
🍮11. The Frozen River
🍮12. The Book of Lost Names
🍮13. How to Age Disgracefully
🍮14. The Wedding People
15. James
16. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
17. Mostly Harmless
18. Before We Forget Kindness
19. We'll Prescribe You a Cat
20. To Paradise
21. Sandwich
22. The Incendiaries
23. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
24. Me Before You
25. City of Girls
🍮26. Five Winters
27. Snowdrops in Spring: A Tale of the Sleeping Beauty
28. March
29. Impulse
30. Tell Me Everything
31. Lucy by the Sea
32. Fiona and Jane
🍮33. Daughter of Fire
34. The Measure
🍮35. Table for Two
🍮36. Still Alice
🍮37. Milkman
🍮38. Horse

From you list I read and enjoyed the following.

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
I enjoyed and gave it 4/5

13. How to Age Disgracefully
I enjoyed and gave it 4/5
I also enjoy her other books very much. They were 5/5 for me
The Authenticity Project
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting

15. James
5/5 stars

24. Me Before You
5/5 stars

Alias Reader wrote: "From you list I read and enjoyed the following.

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
I enjoyed and gave it 4/5

13. How to Age Disgracefully
I enjoyed and gave it 4/5
I also enjoy her other books ..."

I sort of wish "Disgracefully" didn't have the prologue. On page 70ish I feel I already know where the story is going and I'm not sure I want to read it to see how it gets there. Without the prologue I would have been more interested in seeing how the story plays out. I will still read it, though, I'm not a DNF person. Also it's for a book club and I want to be able to discuss it.

Denise wrote: " Also it's for a book club and I want to be able to discuss it..."

I think it would provide a good discussion. Especially, how older people are pretty much invisible and looked at like they are incompetent and a burden.

Alias Reader wrote: "Denise wrote: " Also it's for a book club and I want to be able to discuss it..."

I think it would provide a good discussion. Especially, how older people are pretty much invisible and looked at l..."

That I am definitely looking forward to. One of the club members totally redid her life past 60..new job, mutual breakup of long term relationship, house remodel....and she works at an "adult" day care. Can't wait to hear what she has to say!

Like Alias, i read Wallflower, on the recommendation of my son. Who can say no to that? Particularly as he isn’t much of a reader? I liked it.

Of course, in my eyes, the only thing Douglas Adams did wrong was dying too young. How i miss his writing. I believe you mentioned you’ve read the entire Hitchhiker series. Enjoy, again!

Possibly, i read Me without You but i’m not positive. If that is the first, then i did. It was a pleasant book.

Good luck on completing all your lists, Denise!

Denise wrote: That I am definitely looking forward to. One of the club members totally redid her life past 60..new job, mutual breakup of long term relationship, house remodel....and she works at an "adult" day care. Can't wait to hear what she has to say..."

Wow ! Good for her ! Change is not easy. It's even more difficult as one gets older.

madrano wrote: "Like Alias, i read Wallflower, on the recommendation of my son. Who can say no to that? Particularly as he isn’t much of a reader? I liked it.

Of course, in my eyes, the only thing [author:Douglas..."

I haven’t read So Long in a long time. I reread the first 3 last year. I don’t think I read Mostly Harmless all the way through because the book got lost so this will sort of be the first time

I show the Perks movie to my AP psych classes after the test in May when we are done with the curriculum and are using our class time to “analyze the cinematic treatment of psychological problems and concepts” (AKA watching movies that happen to have psychology in them) and they really enjoy it. I found a copy in the $1 bookstore and thought it was time I read the original source

Denise wrote: "I show the Perks movie to my AP psych classes after the test in May when we are done with the curriculum and are using our class time to “analyze the cinematic treatment of psychological problems a..."

I wish I had a teachers like you, Denise. Your students are very fortunate.

Denise wrote: "I show the Perks movie to my AP psych classes after the test in May when we are done with the curriculum and are using our class time to “analyze the cinematic treatment of psychological problems a..."

Terrific, Denise.

I echo Alias Reader’s comment— i wish i had even ONE teacher like you.

completed:
from non-fiction:
Reasons to Stay Alive

from fiction:
How to Age Disgracefully

Both 4 stars. But I give almost everything 4 stars unless its truly awful

I hadn’t noticed your 4-star tendency, Denise. Thanks for making note of it.

You’ve been having a productive reading year.

madrano wrote: "I hadn’t noticed your 4-star tendency, Denise. Thanks for making note of it.

You’ve been having a productive reading year."

It's good to know how people grade.

For me, most of my books I rate them a 3. That is good 4 exceeds expectation and 5 stars I really enjoyed on all levels..

Two stars didn't meet expectations. 1 is terrible. Zero, not fit for man nor beast.

Lol, any specific beast in mind, Alias?

Completed:
Wandering Stars Tommy Orange

Denise wrote: "Completed:
Wandering Stars Tommy Orange"

Well done on the prompt, Denise !

Finished
The Complete Poems from the classics list

Great work, Denise!