The Dome's Book Club Thread

[ohva]

We've enjoyed having our monthly book discussion for quite a few months now. We're past due to have a thread to post updates and comments about what we've been reading.

So, post away. You don't have to be joining in our book chats to make a post about a book you like and recommend. We're not the 'cool kids' in our reading. We run the gamut, everything is worthwhile--mysteries (cozy and otherwise), young adult, scifi, thrillers, sexy romps. We'll like to hear about your latest favorite.

Also, however you 'read' is fine--audiobooks are as good as reading.

[ohva]

The book chats are always informal, just talking about what we've been reading.

But we decided it would be interesting to do an 'official' book club type thing. We're going to read 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' and discuss after each of its three sections. The first section is 250 pages. We haven't set a date for discussion, but probably in 2-3 weeks.

This book was a best seller and is readily available, it should be at the library. Please consider joining in!



The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very opposite of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms the one between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

[ohva]

Serenity, CD and I are MAJOR fans of Jana DeLeon's 'Miss Fortune' series. These cozy mysteries are hysterically funny.

janadeleon.com/books/



We were discussing her new series last night. There was a Facebook post on them today. But seriously, read the Miss Fortune series first.

[ohva]

Note to CD--

Regarding the orchard series. I was watching 'Stone House Revival' on DIY tonight. It really reminded me of restoration of those late 1700's homes.

[davischristinem]

Thanks Ohva!  I'll have to see if I can catch that.  

[ohva]

Status report--

1. I'm close to finishing part 1 of Jonathan Strange. I sort-of cheated and switched to audible.com to listen to it. My reading was going slow!

2. Charlaine Harris' new Aurora Teagarden book 'Sleep Like a Baby' is out. I'm listening to it too. It's a fun listen. She always does a good mystery.

3. I finished the first book of the museum mystery series by Sheila Connolly. Pretty good, a good look at the behind-the-scenes of museums and archives. Her books are always easy.

[ohva]

[ohva]

Our favorite cozy mystery writer is also a fan.

[ohva]

Sorry I missed book chat tonight! I have family in from out-of-state, and they arrived back at the house about the time book chat was to start.

I read through the chat, here are some book notes, please add what I missed. Looks like our Jonathan Strange talk will have to wait.

Authors discussed--

Sheila Connolly
Orchard mystery series
Museum series

Lynsay Sands
The Argeneau Series, vampire series with lots of humor (Christine: One of my faves is 'Under a Vampire Moon')
Scottish Highlander series

Always our favorite, Jana DeLeon
Serenity: The 4 book series that Jana De Leon was writing the first book for is not available. I wonder if it will have here humor in it. www.amazon.com/Dead-Man-Talking-Paranormal-Everlasting-ebook/dp/B075783VM5/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1507858025&sr=8-2&keywords=jana+de+leon

[ohva]

OK, my report. Note I do a lot of my 'reading' via audiobooks.

I finished the first section of 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell'. Serenity, I agree with your assessment. I like reading it, the writing style is good, but it does not have sympathetic characters for me. Mostly I'm thinking this is a VERY British book. The history, legends, use of language and humor, all of it. In some ways I think of it as a Potter-style book for the seriously literary set.

The mini-series from BBC captures this book well. The book has lots more background, but I'm surprised at how much I remember as I read, and how well done the series was.


Sheila Connolly
I've read all of the orchard series and enjoyed it. It's nice switch to have a series that's small town and farm/orchard-focused, instead of city, with a main guy who's non-police/detective/FBI agent. I'm very fond of Meg and Seth. Sometimes I need to skim through several paragraphs of insect ID, but that's minor, the books are short and easy to read. New England, history, apples, old house restoration.

I've started Connolly's museum series. Those are good too. These are based around Philadelphia's historic archives. So it's really not a 'museum' series in terms of exhibits and kids running around. I can relate to lots in this series. I worked in an archives in college, and have dealt a lot with non-profits and fund-raising. The author is on target with that world. Also I did some post-college work in Philadelphia, so it's a fun walk down memory lane. I don't think the two lead characters are as endearing as Meg and Seth. The main guy is a straight arrow cozy mystery series FBI agent. The female, president of the society, can be pretentious and a little annoying to me. But I really like the books.

Per Serenity's suggestion, I've also been reading the magical dressmaking series by Melissa Bourbon. I'm just on book 2, but this is a funny and fun series. I love the Texas setting and the main character, and who I presume her love interest will be. I don't want to give away much, but the family history and cause of magic is pretty funny.

[ohva]

Some ideas for future reads.

"14 Books You’ll Want to Read in One Sitting"

media.bookbub.com/blog/2016/09/06/books-to-read-in-one-sitting/

[ohva]

Are we going to discuss 'It' (the book) sometime?

[ohva]

For our group read, we have switched now to "The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America"

www.crownpublishing.com/sites/erik-larson-devil-white-city/

www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Changed-America-ebook/dp/B000FC0ZIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508279137&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil+in+the+white+city



This book originally came out in 2004. It is now being made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It is nonfiction, by award-winning author Erik Larson.

Both the Kindle version and the paper version have pictures. These are necessary for reference, so you might like having the paper version where you can flip back and forth to the map of the Chicago Exposition.

Although one aspect of the book is about America's first psychopath, the book is equally about Chicago, the Gilded Age, architecture, and how amazing it was that The Chicago Exposition ever happened. Larson is a great writer. It will have you hooked before you even get to Part 1.

Amazon description:

"In The Devil in the White City, the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.

Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson’s gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both."

To find out more about this book, go to www.DevilInTheWhiteCity.com

[wanderingstar78]

Do we have a deadline to finish? Or a checkpoint scheduled?

[ohva]

Nov 1, 2017 16:18:45 GMT -5 wanderingstar78 said:

Do we have a deadline to finish? Or a checkpoint scheduled?

Not at this stage. I'm about 100 pages in and Serenity might be a bit further than me.

Maybe we can discuss at a chat. I don't think we need to push ourselves with holidays coming up and all.

This is a really good book!