What Are You Reading? (Part Three)

[jcat]

I finally got around to "The White Princess". All the plots against "poor" Henry VII got a bit tedious.

 

[stewball]

That sounds jolly interesting. I'll have to see if I can get it here. Probably can as it's about the golem.
At the moment I'm reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which is wonderful.
I actually read The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest first being quite sure udt read the first one already until I found it on my bookshelf.

 

[stewball]

I don't know if you looked golem up.
There are many stories about him down the ages in my religion the most famous being the Golem of Prague. It says that the rabbi created him for protection against the pogroms and other antisemitic acts. But there are plenty more stories if it interests you. You can Google it.

 

[nanner]

I don't know if you looked golem up.
There are many stories about him down the ages in my religion the most famous being the Golem of Prague. It says that the rabbi created him for protection against the pogroms and other antisemitic acts. But there are plenty more stories if it interests you. You can Google it.

Yeah, I actually did do some research on the golem. It's what made the novel so interesting to me, because I also did some research on the Jinn - the combining of the two fantastical beings in this story was wonderful

 

[jcat]

This has been a "productive" week. I read three "cat mysteries", The Girl Who Bit Back, The Girl With Nine Lives (The Adventures of Benedict and Blackwell - neither was very good), and The Litter of the Law: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery (pretty good), two true crime books written by former homicide detectives, 6 More Dead (humorous, despite the topic) and Cold Case Reopened: The Princes in the Tower (short, but with some interesting theories), and Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet, which I really enjoyed.

 

[laralove]

I just finished Mockingjay today. The flow of it wasn't as good as the first two. And it wasn't as engaging. I was disappointed. I expect the movies to actually be better than the book this time. A rare thing.

 

[happybird]

I agree, LaraLove. Although the games were interesting at the beginning of the book, the second half lost some steam.

I saw the first movie after I read the books (about 2 months ago) and was disappointed with it. That is usually the case when you read the book first, but I think the filmmakers didn't do a good job with telling the backstory. I wouldn't really have cared about the kids when they went to the games, had I not known some of their life history from reading the book. Haven't seen the new movie yet. I am thinking (and hoping) that Mockingjay, in particular, will be more interesting on screen.

Oops, forgot: I am still working my way through the Outlander books and enjoying the story very much. I haven't had much time to read lately, so I am just starting the third book. With wifi at my new house, I have been spending too much time online, instead of reading.

 

[laralove]

@happybird, I saw The Hunger Games before I read the book. I thought they didn't take it far enough, then I found out it was based on children's books, so that made sense. Can't have intense murder scenes or love scenes for children. But you're absolutely correct in that the movie lost a lot, though they did follow the book /very/ closely for the first one. 

I watched Catching Fire a few weeks ago, also before reading the books. I LOVED that movie. It was so well done. However, upon reading the book, I found they changed quite a bit. They took out a key character (the daughter of District 12's mayor) and completely changed how the mockingjay pin came about. That retroactively disappointed me.

The third book begins where the second Hunger Games end. They're breaking it into two movies. I really hope the emotions between Katniss and the other characters come across more powerfully than was accomplished in the Mockingjay novel.

 

[natalie_ca]

I'm reading the 3rd book in the Jason Bourne series.  I must say that the movies are easier to follow, though vastly different from the books and their plots; make that completely different!  Part of the problem is that the author loves imposter characters, and when these imposters meet up and interact with the original character, you have a hard time following who is who.

 

[stewball]

I finally got around to "The White Princess". All the plots against "poor" Henry VII got a bit tedious.

I love her books though. Henry VIII was lucky to have lived to be an old man.

 

[stewball]

The lake of dreams by Kim Edwards.
Not bad. No murders. No sex scenes thank goodness
I'm enjoying it.

 

[catman513]

I probably should have posted here instead of the Lounge. But, I just got Cat Sense for my Kindle and only on chapter 2 but it looks quite good. Very interesting so far.

 

[jcat]

I probably should have posted here instead of the Lounge. But, I just got Cat Sense for my Kindle and only on chapter 2 but it looks quite good. Very interesting so far.

I thought it was interesting, especially the history of the domestic cat. The author emphasizes how many answers we don't have about cat behavior and raises some intriguing questions about what cats will be like in a couple of generations given that neutering has become the norm and breeders concentrate mainly on physical attributes.

 

[catman513]

I skipped ahead a little and noted some discussion about the regressive (some would say progressive) breeding of domesticated cats with ferals. I wonder what % of cats are actually neutered?

 

[laralove]

I'm in the middle of Divergent now. Started it yesterday. Dystopian is my favorite genre, though I'm only recently getting into modern dystopian, mostly because of my daughter (11). This movie is coming out in March, so I wanted to read the book before then.

Of all the dystopian I've read, this is so far my least favorite. It's moving slowly and it's... just meh. And the author seems to have some preoccupation with people blushing. It's as if she can't conjure up any other way to describe emotions in the characters, whether anger, embarrassment, fear. Always red cheeks. Scene after scene. That bugs me and I find it distracting. I feel like it has to pick up soon, otherwise I'm going to be baffled as to how this got picked up for a major motion picture. 

 

[musickitty]

I'm reading a YA book by author Rainbow Rowell called "Fangirl". One of the things I LOVE about Rowell's writing is that because she's from my home town, two of the books I've ridden by her are set in Nebraska, so I recognize landmarks and settings in the books. It makes me really happy!

Her other books are "Attachments" (got for Xmas but haven't read yet) and "Eleanor&Park". 

 

[di and bob]

I get up at 4AM every morning so I can read, no time later in the day! Right now I'm reading Angels by Anne Rice, I love some of her books, this one is about an assassin who is getting a second chance, very good so far!

 

[jcat]

I've finished The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts they Played in History by Martin Hume, Friends Who Kill Friends by John Summit, reread the first two Harry Potter books, and am now reading Following Atticus (another non-fiction book) by Tom Ryan.

 

[laralove]

For my course on the Holocaust, I've just started reading Saul Friedlander's Nazi Germany and the Jews Volume I: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939. I'm told by my professor, who is a leading historian in the field, that it's a difficult read, not only in content but style. But a good read nonetheless. 

 

[stewball]

For my course on the Holocaust, I've just started reading Saul Friedlander's Nazi Germany and the Jews Volume I: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939. I'm told by my professor, who is a leading historian in the field, that it's a difficult read, not only in content but style. But a good read nonetheless. 

What a cheerful subject to be studying. What will you be reading besides this book? Any films? Anything ab Yad veShem in Jerusalem? The holocaust museum. I'm unable to go there anymore. Keep me posted.
My BiL was in a Russian concentration camp when he was a little boy. It wasn't like Poland though although there was starvation and beatings. No gas chamber which didn't stop people being murdered though I should imagine.