What books do you recommend for summer reading? I am reading "My Life So Far" by Jane Fonda, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Just today a newspaper article reminded me of a book that I haven't ever read, "84, Charing Cross Road" by Helen Hanff. Since it is about a friendship between pen pals in America and England, it sounds intriguing. I am going to try to find it.

By the way, you sure don't hear much about "pen pals" anymore. I think the Internet, with its forums, chat rooms, blogs, etc., has taken over for pen pals. Too bad because I used to have pen pals when I was a girl, and I loved to write them and receive their letters.

I highly recommend _84 Charing Cross Road_. It's a lovely book, and not a bad movie, either!

I just finished _The Glass Castle_ by Jeannette Walls. It's a memoir of her early life in poverty. Very poignant, sometimes hard to read about their difficulties, once in a while hard to believe it happened so recently in the US, but very well written.

I know what you mean about pen pals. I think the internet can and does take the place of that now. When I was a kid I used to correspond with several different folks on a regular basis - my grandmother being one of them during the winter months.

I used to exchange audio tapes with my uncle who always lived far away in either NYC or California. We'd take turns recording stories and ramblings on the tape and send it back and forth. We always taped over the most recent tape, unfortunately, so I have nothing saved. A few years ago I made and sent him a video, telling him to get off his duff and make one to send back. He responded with a hand-written note explaining that he wasn't technologically advanced enough to make a video. Hmph!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
What books do you recommend for summer reading? I am reading "My Life So Far" by Jane Fonda, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

The BBC Radio Four Arts and Drama Department broadcast several books every day throughout the day in 15 minute chunks and one of the books last week was Jane Fonda herself reading "My Life so Far".

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Just today a newspaper article reminded me of a book that I haven't ever read, "84, Charing Cross Road" by Helen Hanff. Since it is about a friendship between pen pals in America and England, it sounds intriguing. I am going to try to find it.

That shouldn't be too difficult, it's a popular book and should be in most bookshops. Another thing I heard on Radio Four was a unique project to celebrate the anniversary of "84 Charing Cross Road" by leaving 84 copies of it in public places such as airports, pubs, hospitals and similar. The books all had a label pasted inside bearing the number of the book (from 1 - 84) and a message giving a contact phone number, an email address and an address to write to and asking whoever had found it to contact the organisers of the project saying where they'd found it and what they thought of it and then leave it for someone else. They got messages from all over the world from people who'd found these books. Unfortunately, I've forgotten who was behind the project and I can't find any information about it even in Google .

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By the way, you sure don't hear much about "pen pals" anymore. I think the Internet, with its forums, chat rooms, blogs, etc., has taken over for pen pals. Too bad because I used to have pen pals when I was a girl, and I loved to write them and receive their letters.

I used to have a pen pal when I was about 14. His name was Jasvinder Singh and he lived in India. Both our fathers were servicemen, so we lost touch after a year or so .

Each year the Brandeis Book Sale comes to Chicago, and it is here now. There are tents of books, and we have found some great books there over the years. I looked for "84 Charing Cross Road," but couldn't find it. I imagine I can find it on Amazon, though.

I just began reading David McCullough's "1776," about the Revolutionary War. So far, it is excellent. I love books about wars that have people stories, and not just battles, which this seems to have.

I have a very well-read paperback copy of "84 Charing Cross Road"... excellent reading! One of those books which make one love England..

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David McCullough's "1776," about the Revolutionary War

Just an aside: What do you Brits call the war which we in the U.S. refer to as the "Revolutionary War"?

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Originally posted by shufitz:

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David McCullough's "1776," about the Revolutionary War

Just an aside: What do you Brits call the war which we in the U.S. refer to as the "Revolutionary War"?

Usually, either The War of Independence or The American Revolution.

Anyone else awaiting tomorrow's mail for their copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

I'll wait till it comes out in the cinema like I did with the previous ones .

Although I read avidly, I rarely buy modern fiction books - I borrow them from the library. I've got literally hundreds of reference books and classics though, even though I live in a very small apartment. I've made a few exceptions to this rule, notably with Susan Howatch, Janny Wurts and Anne McCaffrey but, on the whole, I almost never reread novels, so I prefer to borrow rather than buy them.

Here's a book I think Wordcrafters will enjoy. It's called THe Professor and the Madmanand it's by Simon Winchester. It's a novel about how the OED was compiled. It's fascinating!

I loved the Jane Fonda book & want to read The Glass Castle..even though it's nearly winter LOL!
84 Charing Cross Road is a really nice film- I've never read the book... xx

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It's a novel about how the OED was compiled.

It isn't really a novel. It's more of a short history. While it does discuss some of the hisotry of the OED, a much better book would be James Murray's granddaughter's book, Caught in the Web of Words.

I just finished (well, recently) _The Kite Runner_ by Khaled Hosseini. It is a very intense, remarkably well-written first novel.

It's about Afghanistan, coming of age boys, realizing what choices can mean for your life, regret, maturing, everything else you can think of. Excellent book.

For more reviews, you may wish to check amazon.com.

I loved the Simon Winchester book, and in fact, I wrote a double dactyl about it.

Zmj, I will have to read your recommendation. You also recommended a book on the last chat...do you recall what the name of it was? I wanted to read that, too.

I liked Barbara Ehrenreich's "Bait and Switch," about finding a job in middle management. As she did in "Nickle and Dimed," she posed as someone in middle management trying to get a job. It isn't quite as good as "Nickle and Dimed," but it is quite elucidating.

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..even though it's nearly winter LOL!

Well, this can be our holiday list now!

My holiday list includes a wonderful book on Creativity by Nita Leland; I Remember Momma by Karey Bresenhan; a good edition of E.A. Poe short stories; and anything new from my list of about 15 favorite authors.