We really didn't have a version of this thread for Books? Alrighty then, let's liven things up here and start one! One dumb book character moment that comes to mind is in Maeve Binchy's The Glass Lake: Lena is shocked and angry when she finds out that her daughter Kit assumed she drowned herself all those years ago and thus burned her Dear John letter to Martin so that nobody would find out. Except Kit's assumption that it was a suicide letter doesn't seem that unreasonable when you consider that Lena left all her clothes and belongings behind when she ran off with Louis. Lena's excuse wa ..read more

A thread where we can go into detail on Nora and her books ..read more

With Sir Terry Pratchett's passing today, I think it's high time we have a thread for his most famous work.   I've been working my way through Discworld for years, and have currently read 29 of the 40 books. And right now I'm seriously considering slowing down even more, because dammit, I don't want there to be none left! It's such a monumental achievement, producing such a long-running series completely by himself and mostly keeping it to a very high quality all that time. We won't see its like again any time soon ..read more

Who are some of the worst friend characters in literary fiction?  Janie and Sport in Harriet the Spy were actually pretty awful. While it was mean girl Marion who stole and read Harriet's journal, in the original novel it was JANIE who did it. You could argue that they were hurt about what she wrote about them, but let's not forget that YOU DON'T READ SOMEONE'S JOURNAL. So Janie had no right to be upset when she knew that reading the journal out loud to their classmates was horrible to begin with. And then they proceed to make Harriet's life miserable for most of the b ..read more

Here is the topic in which to discuss the 2023 autobiography of the Duke of Sussex, as well as its promotion (interviews, etc.) and reception. Please keep the discussion focused on these three topics. Posts that focus elsewhere will be removed as off-topic and may be sanctioned ..read more

Anybody read this? It's my go to this time of year. And every year I get angrier on behalf of Luther and Nora. Their neighbors are messed up ..read more

My local library has only !% digitalized books available, so I'm always looking for bargains.  Amazon will often have great sales but you have to be quick - prices can change overnight without warning.  Here are a few that I've found while browsing, but haven't necessarily read yet.  Will update.  Personally my tastes run to history, historical fiction, non-fiction, Old Hollywood and some true crime, but feel free to post any deals you know of in whatever genre you enjoy, to share.  Thanks. Antony and Cleopatra, by Adrian Goldsworthy   pages 612  &n ..read more

The Golden Age of Detective Fiction is roughly the period of of 1918-1939 in Great Britain, although the style was used as early as 1911 and can be used to describe modern novels written in the same style.  Notable Golden Age authors include: Agatha Christie Dorothy L. Sayers G.K. Chesterton Josephine Tey (Wikipedia ..read more

Anyone else doing this? The About Page states: Quote Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an epistolary novel - it’s made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper clippings - and every part of it has a date. The whole story happens between May 3 and November 10. So: Dracula Daily will post a newsletter each day that something happens to the characters, in the same timeline that it happens to them. Now you can read the book via email, in small digestible chunks - as it happens to the characters. As someone on Tumblr pointed out: Quote I just want everyone new to Dracula and re ..read more

Agatha Christie of course is the ultimate in cozy, but so many cozy series lately have the similar theme of a woman in her late 20s / early 30s moving home after some romantic disaster in the big city at her big time job.  Now she is stuck running a shop or the family business, runs across her ex who seems to still be interested, and bodies start piling up. I don't mind these so much as long as they have an interesting theme or a more unique setting other than small Hallmark Channel hometown. What are your favourite cozy mystery series?  What's your favourite setting/theme? I'll ..read more