SusieQ
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Posts posted by SusieQ
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On 3/17/2024 at 8:47 AM, Haleth said:
Stayed up way too late to finish The Covenant of Water (Abraham Verghese). The writing is exquisite and the story moved me profoundly. This was the best thing I’ve read in ages. Highly recommend.
I absolutely loved it. If you haven't already done so, you should read his first novel "Cutting for Stone". Another wonderful story.
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He could have washed his hair! The Bear guy, that is.
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Hell, no!!!! I want my Rhea!!!
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2 hours ago, juno said:
Thanks for the explanation. Smart on Cecily 's part.
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7 hours ago, Pete Martell said:
especially Cecily
Can you tell me what happened last week re Cecily? Thanks
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4 hours ago, ebk57 said:
Penzey's has it. I always try to shop there first because they're so wonderful. They do ship if there isn't a store in your area.
FYI Penzey is running their $50 gift card for $35 promotion. Great deal!
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18 minutes ago, Rickster said:
I ended up thinking this season was constructed to make a number of socio-political points, somewhat heavy handedly, rather than being focused on delivering an intriguing/satisfying mystery.
I totally agree. Very disappointing.
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On 9/27/2023 at 4:07 PM, EtheltoTillie said:
I'm definitely wanting to see Merrily We Roll Along. My friend went to the off-Broadway show last year. It seems largely sold out for the new run, but I have a connection to house seats. In the meantime I recommend watching the documentary about the original production. I rented it the other day. So interesting! It's called The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened. Produced by Lonny Price, one of the original cast members. Interviews with Jason Alexander and many of the other cast members. Lots of original era footage of rehearsals and so on.
I've got tickets for the end of November and I'm super excited.
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57 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:
As promised here is my review. BORING! I am returning to library after reading first three chapters. I read a summary and that's enough. She's just a boring writer. I don't know how a writer like Ann Patchett can do such a better job with similar material.
Thanks for your report. Still don't get why people seem to love it.
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2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:
Yikes, I just downloaded from the library after a short wait. I'll give it a try.
Please let me know what you think about it. I couldn't get over all the glowing reviews. What the heck was I missing.
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On 9/10/2023 at 10:03 PM, BlackberryJam said:
I rage quit Yellowface. I just couldn’t take the main character.
Hello Beautiful. I don’t get it. Maybe because I don’t revere Little Women, but it just wasn’t good.
For funsies, I read Helen Tursten’s An Elderly Woman Is Up to No Good and the sequel. Nothing earth-shattering, but they made me laugh.
The House of Eve was great, but also, I’m tired of books about motherhood. I feel like I’m not reading enough books where women aren’t defined by their relationships with children or men.
Yikes! I just finished "Hello Beautiful" and I don't get the glowing reviews. It just repeated itself, over and over. Boring, and characters actions didn't ring true. And I loved Little Women when I was a kid. What a waste of time.
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32 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:
I read that Burnett appeared in one too many episodes to qualify for guest actress.
That makes sense. Too bad. She was fabulous and maybe then BCS would finally win an Emmy.
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And yet every actor on Succession is nominated. Ugh!
Bob, Rhea, Jonathan, Giancarlo, Michael, and Patrick are all winners in my heart.
i really miss this show!
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Emmy award nominations out. No surprise the show, Bob, and Rhea nominated (but I hold out little hope for a win ). Big surprise for me was no Carol Burnett for guest actress.
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And the folks here have given me some good recommendations. I hope I have returned the favor.
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On 6/27/2023 at 11:43 AM, blackwing said:
Ugh. Why do I do this to myself? About two years ago, I read a really terrible book called "Falling" by a former flight attendant turned writer named TJ Newman. It was about a pilot who received a message mid-flight telling him to crash the plane otherwise his family would be killed. It was completely predictable, filled with airplane cliches and character stereotypes and utter dreck.
Somehow I ended up looking for the audiobook for her second book, called Drowning, on Libby. This time around, a plane takes off from Honolulu but encounters engine trouble. Most passengers escape the plane but there are 12 passengers and crew who remain on the plane, which then sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Take one guess as to what they are in danger of.
Two of the passengers are a man and his 11 year old daughter. Fortunately (or prreposterously), his estranged wife just happens to be some kind of underwater ship repair expert and she happens to be right in the area. The other 10 are a collection of stereotypes. The asshole guy who blames anyone he can and thinks only of himself, the nurse who helps tremendously, the lady afraid of water who can't swim, the mild mannered Asian guy who just lost his wife, the elderly Jewish couple who complain and kvetch about everything, the unaccompanied girl who latches on to the 11 year old, and three crew including the pilot who will do anything for her passengers.
There was a bit of action at the beginning, but after that, just as with the last book, I found the book incredibly boring and predictable. The characters are thinly developed. Once you get past their walking stereotype, we actually don't learn much about them except for the estranged husband and his estranged wife. If the book jacket had told me how many people were going to die, I could easily pick out which ones wouldn't make it (and I was right).
The family drama of the estranged wife trying to save the daughter (and the estranged husband) and the constant lamentation and regret of both about how they got to where they were was a bit unnecessary. Is this an action book or a melodrama?
There's too much technical jargon in this book. I feel like the author wanted to show off her knowledge of planes, but I really didn't care why there are wires behind the overhead compartments or what they do. The undersea rescue was also replete with too much technical language, it's obvious she had some consultant feed her all of this information and felt compelled to insert all of it into the book.
I gave this book a chance thinking that the author had improved. But just as with the first book, it's obvious that she's just going for a movie treatment.
I will kick myself if I get suckered into reading her third book, whether it's "Choking" about a plane whose air compressor has failed, "Dehydrated" about a plane that has run out of water and crashed in the desert, or "Hungry" about a plane that crashes in the mountains and the survivors debate about eating each other. I'm sure whatever it will be will read like a bad movie script, be filled with stereotypical characters, and be entirely boring and predictable.
I read that Falling book, too. The hype on it was wild so I gave it a whirl. Yikes, it was lousy. Glad it was a quick read and that I didn't waste too much time.
beware of hype. It's bitten me in the a few times.
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Super happy to see Abraham Verghese has a new book. Covenant of Water.
Cutting for Stone is one of my all time favorite books.
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Hope this works. Here's a gift link to the New York Times article about Julie Garwood. I am unfamiliar with her work, but many of you loved her so I thought you might like to read this.
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I saw Some Like It Hot as my girlfriends Christmas outing. Ton of fun.
Saw Camelot, mostly because I love the music and really love going to Vivian Beaumont theater ( full orchestra, great seating, cheap ticket). It was only ok, I was yawning at some parts. I'd skip.
Saw Into the Woods. wonderful, of course. But it's closed.
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What I found when I used Google:
https://internetpoem.com/robert-louis-stevenson/wedding-prayer-poem/
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Just finished John Boyne's newest book, "All the Broken Places". Compelling book, compelling premise, difficult subject. Protagonist is the daughter of a high ranking Nazi. It's a companion to his young adult novel "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas". I would highly recommend if you can stand the subject.
He is a wonderful writer. I might have mentioned his book "The Hearts Invisible Furies". One of my all time favorites. And his book "A Ladder to the Sky" is wild. It has the most evil character that I've ever read. But it was like a train wreck, you couldn't stop reading!
All this to say John Boyne has become one of my favorites.
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In the novel, the mom is not that bad. But the father is horrible. He doesn't have dementia and his only regret in life is that he was too hard on Dickens!!!!!! What a POS!
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1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:
Has anyone read Trust by Hernan Diaz? Someone recommended it to me, but it seems tiresome.
I read it and enjoyed it. Don't want to say too much about it or I will spoil it.
The first part is written the way it is for a reason. It will make sense in the later parts.
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Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals
in Everything Else TV
Lou Gossett also co wrote with Richie Havens a great anti war song "Handsome Johnny". It's on Richie's first album Mixed Bag.
Rest in peace, sweet Lou.