@Julia70286 The spreadsheet is definitely a good tool for tracking all the books that have been read by everyone. We could keep that so everyone could have it to keep track of the books and still do the Monday posts for our "reviews/thoughts".
@annabenannaMy historical fiction reading tends toward the young adult. Have you read Code Name Verity or The Book Thief? Both really good but sad. I also really like Connie Willis. It's kind of historical science fiction. Her most recent, Blackout and All Clear is really more like one gigantic book broken into two. And The Doomsday Book is really engaging.
Anyone have good recommendations for historical fiction? I love historical fiction and need a good book to accompany me to Greece end of this month!
If you don't mind giant and sprawling, Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is fantastic. Pretty dense and not for the faint of heart, but is really fascinating and has some great characters (and pirates!) A couple of the characters tie in with his Cryptonomicon, which is also incredible and takes place during WWII for about half of the story line. It's just one huge book, instead of three for his BC.
I heart this thread. I am almost done with (this round of) school and then I want to read all the books.
ETA: I know I'm early & I don't know the ratio of FTMs to STMs+, but I can't recommend audiobooks enough when you are a new mom. I would get so bored doing things like repeatedly trying (and failing) to put DS down to bed, or taking walks, or whatever and Audible plus a good set of wireless earphones saved my sanity the first year.
@annabenanna First of all, let me just say how insanely jealous I am that you're going to Greece!! I went there with my college the summer of 2007 and completely fell in love with the people and the places. Don't know if you've ever been before, but if you haven't: sunscreen all day, everyday!!!! We had a ton of fun, but most of us look miserable in a lot of our pictures because we were SO SO SO sunburned!
When I was in Greece on that trip, I actually read Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm not sure what genre that is supposed to belong in, but it goes back and forth between current time and pre-WWII times, so that might be a good one.
If you're looking for something about ancient Greece, Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield is one of my favorites. It's very similar to the 300 movie (Gerard Butler, comic book design) but a million times better. Also, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one of my favorites too.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is really good, about medieval England.
There are a bunch more I could name, because I am a huge history dork, but I'll leave it there. Let us know what you pick and how you like it!
@annabenanna First of all, let me just say how insanely jealous I am that you're going to Greece!! I went there with my college the summer of 2007 and completely fell in love with the people and the places. Don't know if you've ever been before, but if you haven't: sunscreen all day, everyday!!!! We had a ton of fun, but most of us look miserable in a lot of our pictures because we were SO SO SO sunburned!
When I was in Greece on that trip, I actually read Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm not sure what genre that is supposed to belong in, but it goes back and forth between current time and pre-WWII times, so that might be a good one.
If you're looking for something about ancient Greece, Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield is one of my favorites. It's very similar to the 300 movie (Gerard Butler, comic book design) but a million times better. Also, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one of my favorites too.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is really good, about medieval England.
There are a bunch more I could name, because I am a huge history dork, but I'll leave it there. Let us know what you pick and how you like it!
@bamacoop , oh I love all your recommendations! I'd probably not do Pillars.... because I tried it before and found it hard to get into... but maybe I was too young? Haha. I am curious about Everything is Illuminated and The Song of Achilles (i have that one wishlisted). Yes! We are super excited for Greece. We both have never been. We are doing the Cyclades: Santorini (of course) and skipping Mykonos and opting for a laid back island (only one road! with an ancient little Kastro....) called Folegandros. Then ending the trip in Athens. Any other tips besides sunscreen? Very interested in food tips. Also, how is their coffee? Any good?
SuperNerd42 said:
annabenanna said:
Anyone have good recommendations for historical fiction? I love historical fiction and need a good book to accompany me to Greece end of this month!
If you don't mind giant and sprawling, Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is fantastic. Pretty dense and not for the faint of heart, but is really fascinating and has some great characters (and pirates!) A couple of the characters tie in with his Cryptonomicon, which is also incredible and takes place during WWII for about half of the story line. It's just one huge book, instead of three for his BC.
@SuperNerd42 , you know come to think of if, I've NEVER read any historical fiction with pirates in them!!! I'm gonna have to look this one up.... but a huge book? It's gonna take me forever to finish!
@annabenannaMy historical fiction reading tends toward the young adult. Have you read Code Name Verity or The Book Thief? Both really good but sad. I also really like Connie Willis. It's kind of historical science fiction. Her most recent, Blackout and All Clear is really more like one gigantic book broken into two. And The Doomsday Book is really engaging.
Connie Willis is fantastic. You have some great recommendations!
@annabenanna Since it was a school trip we were on, we went all over the place, but only to one island: Santorini! They were actually filming the second Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie while were there. Don't know what city on the island you're staying at, but we stayed in Fira and took the bus to Oia.
Oia has an amazing view and one of the best sunsets in the world! There's also a cool bookstore there to check out: https://atlantisbooks.org/
As far as food, I can't remember too much about the specific places we went... and most of their restaurants are individually owned and could have changed by now. Most of them have outside seating, which is nice. Make sure to drink the bottled water! And most places had regular spring water and sparkling water, and the bottles look exactly the same except for the color of the tops or something, so watch out for that.
One of my favorite dishes there is called youvetsi. It's orzo pasta and tomato sauce on the bottom, with lamb on the top, that they put in a dish and bake. Really good. Also, gyro stands everywhere! (Just make sure NOT to call them "jyros!" In Greek, it's pronounced "yi-roh") Oh, and crepe stands! I didn't realize how many crepe stands there would be... I obviously assumed they were just a French thing, but we had crepes in nearly every city we went to.
They obviously have a lot of fish, and they have a lot of pasta as well. Lots of what we would consider Italian dishes, but with Greek twists. I never really had the coffee when I was there, unfortunately. I wasn't a big coffee drinker then, so I had a lot of hot tea. I had a cold Nescafe once and that was about it. Other people had the coffee and loved it, but it's pretty strong. It's coffee grounds and sugar in water, no milk, and you drink the little cup and leave the grounds in the bottom.
@annabenanna My historical fiction reading tends toward the young adult. Have you read Code Name Verity or The Book Thief? Both really good but sad. I also really like Connie Willis. It's kind of historical science fiction. Her most recent, Blackout and All Clear is really more like one gigantic book broken into two. And The Doomsday Book is really engaging.
Connie Willis is fantastic. You have some great recommendations!
@ignoscemihi , I've read the Book Thief! I will look up Connie Willis! I am not a historical science fiction fan....but then that's not completely true because I loved the Hunger Games series. I'll try out Connie Willis!
@bamacoop, coffee without cream?!?!?! Waaaah, I"m gonna have to learn how to say "may I have some milk in my coffee? and please make sure it's pasteurized." LOL. That lamb dish though, sounds fantastic!
Will definitely have to check out the crepes, because I love crepes! I feel like I'll be downloading Google Translate and have a screenshot of "is this feta pasteurized?" handy at all times. They'll think I'm a crazy American!
@annabenanna That house looks amazing!! That's literally how all your pictures and views will look- like they came straight out of National Geographic! It's so pretty there! Since you'll have a kitchen, you can grab some stuff to make yourself at the store, like milk and coffee, if you want. Sometimes that's what we did for lunch, or when we went exploring- just took water, wine, bread, fruit, nuts, olives, etc. with us.
If you want any help with some Greek words, let me know! I'm no expert by any means, and most of the Greek people speak English, but I took some Greek in college. Basics that they will love you for knowing: Kal-ee-MER-a (Good morning), Kal-ee-SPER-a (Good afternoon), Kal-ee-NEECHT-a (Good night/evening), Ef-char-ee-STO (thank you), and Par-a-ka-LO (please)
(the "ch" in Good night and thank you are guttural... think Hebrew, not "ch" as in "choo choo train")
You could also try Youtube to see if you can find a real person saying those things.
Also good to know: Bread = Pso-MEE (say the P and S together!); Water = Neh-ROH; One = Ena; Two= theo
So a good phrase to know is: Ena nairo, parakalo. (One water, please.)
I don't like cheese (I know, I know!) so I can't remember the word for cheese.... but when we went it was a billion degrees, and we got bottles of water nearly every time we passed somewhere that sold it, so knowing how to say water comes in handy!
Also, Santorini got pretty windy, which made it cooler at night than the mainland. So take lots of shorts/skirts/short sleeved shirts, but also take a least one or two cardigans or something.
Ah! I'm so excited for you! (Not that you can tell or anything.....)
@bamacoop thank you SOOOOOO much for these recommendations and for the words/phrases! I saved them onto my Greece folder in gmail! We are gonna be there when it's not that hot yet (end of May, beginning of June), so I'm kinda bummed that the ocean will probably be freezing and I won't get to swim... (SO will still swim since he's crazy like that), but I'm kinda relieved that I won't have to deal with sweltering heat too!
But how can you not love cheese!?!!?!?!?! Hehehehe.
@annabenanna I've read "The Nightingale" (actually listened to it on tape). It was interesting, but not my favorite. I liked Sarah's Key, too, if you like historical fiction.
@annabenanna I've read "The Nightingale" (actually listened to it on tape). It was interesting, but not my favorite. I liked Sarah's Key, too, if you like historical fiction.
I read Sarah's Key and loved it. It was so sad though!
@annabenanna If you're still looking for historic fiction ideas (you've gotten a ton of great suggestions) I would recommend Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, for something different and not Eurocentric. Dreams of Joy is the sequel to Shanghai Girls, together they span the time period of ~1920's to 1960s, taking place in China then the US, and then back to China during Mao's period for the second book. Learned so much that I never learned in school, and it made me read even more books about China during the Communist Era and Cultural Revolution. Fascinating stuff.
@annabenanna If you're still looking for historic fiction ideas (you've gotten a ton of great suggestions) I would recommend Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, for something different and not Eurocentric. Dreams of Joy is the sequel to Shanghai Girls, together they span the time period of ~1920's to 1960s, taking place in China then the US, and then back to China during Mao's period for the second book. Learned so much that I never learned in school, and it made me read even more books about China during the Communist Era and Cultural Revolution. Fascinating stuff.
@JaJuanY OMG I love those two books!!! SO SO Much! Sadly, I've recommended this so many times to other people, who didn't bother to read them! I have to admit I loved Shanghai Girls more than Dreams of Joy...but I'm just so glad to have "met" someone who read them too! Ha!
Just to update everyone, I am going to start the weekly post next week on Monday and it will be titled "Book Challenge week of..". I figure we can just use this thread for general book discussions and keep the other thread just for the challenge itself. I was going to start the new thread yesterday but we had a lot of people join on so I will give it another week. As stated before, read at your own pace and I will have a new thread each week but you only need to post when you have read something. (Or of course if you want to comment on what others have read)
Re: Book Club?
A couple of the characters tie in with his Cryptonomicon, which is also incredible and takes place during WWII for about half of the story line. It's just one huge book, instead of three for his BC.
ETA: I know I'm early & I don't know the ratio of FTMs to STMs+, but I can't recommend audiobooks enough when you are a new mom. I would get so bored doing things like repeatedly trying (and failing) to put DS down to bed, or taking walks, or whatever and Audible plus a good set of wireless earphones saved my sanity the first year.
@annabenanna First of all, let me just say how insanely jealous I am that you're going to Greece!! I went there with my college the summer of 2007 and completely fell in love with the people and the places. Don't know if you've ever been before, but if you haven't: sunscreen all day, everyday!!!! We had a ton of fun, but most of us look miserable in a lot of our pictures because we were SO SO SO sunburned!
When I was in Greece on that trip, I actually read Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm not sure what genre that is supposed to belong in, but it goes back and forth between current time and pre-WWII times, so that might be a good one.
If you're looking for something about ancient Greece, Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield is one of my favorites. It's very similar to the 300 movie (Gerard Butler, comic book design) but a million times better. Also, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one of my favorites too.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is really good, about medieval England.
There are a bunch more I could name, because I am a huge history dork, but I'll leave it there. Let us know what you pick and how you like it!
SuperNerd42 said: annabenanna said: Anyone have good recommendations for historical fiction? I love historical fiction and need a good book to accompany me to Greece end of this month! If you don't mind giant and sprawling, Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is fantastic. Pretty dense and not for the faint of heart, but is really fascinating and has some great characters (and pirates!)
A couple of the characters tie in with his Cryptonomicon, which is also incredible and takes place during WWII for about half of the story line. It's just one huge book, instead of three for his BC.
@SuperNerd42 , you know come to think of if, I've NEVER read any historical fiction with pirates in them!!! I'm gonna have to look this one up.... but a huge book? It's gonna take me forever to finish!
@annabenanna Since it was a school trip we were on, we went all over the place, but only to one island: Santorini! They were actually filming the second Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie while were there. Don't know what city on the island you're staying at, but we stayed in Fira and took the bus to Oia.
Oia has an amazing view and one of the best sunsets in the world! There's also a cool bookstore there to check out: https://atlantisbooks.org/
As far as food, I can't remember too much about the specific places we went... and most of their restaurants are individually owned and could have changed by now. Most of them have outside seating, which is nice. Make sure to drink the bottled water! And most places had regular spring water and sparkling water, and the bottles look exactly the same except for the color of the tops or something, so watch out for that.
One of my favorite dishes there is called youvetsi. It's orzo pasta and tomato sauce on the bottom, with lamb on the top, that they put in a dish and bake. Really good. Also, gyro stands everywhere! (Just make sure NOT to call them "jyros!" In Greek, it's pronounced "yi-roh") Oh, and crepe stands! I didn't realize how many crepe stands there would be... I obviously assumed they were just a French thing, but we had crepes in nearly every city we went to.
They obviously have a lot of fish, and they have a lot of pasta as well. Lots of what we would consider Italian dishes, but with Greek twists. I never really had the coffee when I was there, unfortunately. I wasn't a big coffee drinker then, so I had a lot of hot tea. I had a cold Nescafe once and that was about it. Other people had the coffee and loved it, but it's pretty strong. It's coffee grounds and sugar in water, no milk, and you drink the little cup and leave the grounds in the bottom.
@bamacoop, coffee without cream?!?!?! Waaaah, I"m gonna have to learn how to say "may I have some milk in my coffee? and please make sure it's pasteurized." LOL. That lamb dish though, sounds fantastic!
We are staying at an airbnb in Oia: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/970170 I'm SO EXCITED!
Will definitely have to check out the crepes, because I love crepes! I feel like I'll be downloading Google Translate and have a screenshot of "is this feta pasteurized?" handy at all times. They'll think I'm a crazy American!
@annabenanna That house looks amazing!! That's literally how all your pictures and views will look- like they came straight out of National Geographic! It's so pretty there! Since you'll have a kitchen, you can grab some stuff to make yourself at the store, like milk and coffee, if you want. Sometimes that's what we did for lunch, or when we went exploring- just took water, wine, bread, fruit, nuts, olives, etc. with us.
If you want any help with some Greek words, let me know! I'm no expert by any means, and most of the Greek people speak English, but I took some Greek in college. Basics that they will love you for knowing: Kal-ee-MER-a (Good morning), Kal-ee-SPER-a (Good afternoon), Kal-ee-NEECHT-a (Good night/evening), Ef-char-ee-STO (thank you), and Par-a-ka-LO (please)
(the "ch" in Good night and thank you are guttural... think Hebrew, not "ch" as in "choo choo train")
You could also try Youtube to see if you can find a real person saying those things.
Also good to know: Bread = Pso-MEE (say the P and S together!); Water = Neh-ROH; One = Ena; Two= theo
So a good phrase to know is: Ena nairo, parakalo. (One water, please.)
I don't like cheese (I know, I know!) so I can't remember the word for cheese.... but when we went it was a billion degrees, and we got bottles of water nearly every time we passed somewhere that sold it, so knowing how to say water comes in handy!
Also, Santorini got pretty windy, which made it cooler at night than the mainland. So take lots of shorts/skirts/short sleeved shirts, but also take a least one or two cardigans or something.
Ah! I'm so excited for you! (Not that you can tell or anything.....)
But how can you not love cheese!?!!?!?!?! Hehehehe.
Married: 10/11/15
Baby girl Addie born 10/12/16
BFP #1: 7/15/15, SB: 11/14/15
Rainbow baby DS born 9/29/16!!
BFP #3 3/26/18 | Due 12/3/18