wilkes

how do i join the book club

Finished!

What now? Eat, Love, Pray? Something else? I'll try to keep up this time, I promise :) Someone pick a book...

Read Michael's room. Eh. Didn't like it, didn't hate it. Much like Fetching Raymond. I was bored with Fetching Raymond, so I read the end and ruined it for myself.

I saved Quiet Haven for last, because from the little blurbs in the front of the book, I thought I would like it the least. I have a few pages left, but it's my favorite story in the book, by far. I'd like a whole book about Gill's adventures, scams and schemes!!

I wasnt so crazy about Fish Files myself. Lets see, that means you have Michael's Room and Quiet Haven left, right? I liked Quiet Haven a bit better than Michael's Room but both are good.

I finished Casino today, and I liked it. In order for me to enjoy a book (novel, short story, biography, fiction, nonfiction), I have to be able to emotionally invest in one or more of the characters. I don't necessarily have to like them, but I have to care what happens to them. This is hard for an author to do in a short story, because you don't really get to know the characters.

I didn't enjoy Fish Files (save for the brief appearance of Harry Rex Vonner, who was a great character in one of my favorite books, A Time to Kill) because I didn't really care what happened to Mack. I didn't like him enough to be happy that he escaped his mundane life, but I didn't dislike him enough to want him to get caught. I understood why Mack was the way he was, but I found him more selfish and unsympathetic than put-upon and wronged. The opposite was true of Sidney in Casino. Grisham did a good enough job of making Bobby Carl look like scum that you want to root against, and most everyone can relate to poor Sidney's heartbreak when his wife left him. The wife was almost an after thought for me, just a reason for the conflict between Bobby Carl and Sidney. In the end, I sort of liked that the wife came back...simply because Sidney was a man of "routine" and she was part of his routine. He needed a "happily ever after".

I liked Funny Boy for the same reasons I like Casino. I cared about Adrian and Emporia. I'm not sure that I knew enough about Adrian to root for him, but the way his family and the town treated him was enough to make me sympathetic toward him. The quick bond that he and Emporia formed was unlikely enough that I was hoping the reason for it would be revealed, as it was. Funny Boy is still my favorite so far. There were "layers" to the story that usually can't be found in a short story. Heck, sometimes even in a whole novel.

Now, I have what...two stories left? Can Lucien Wilbanks PLEASE make an appearance in one of them??

Casino will get better, stick with it. And I can see how you saw Wilkes County in Blood Drive, youre right about everyone getting involved. When people can stick their nose somewhere it doesnt belong, you tend to have a lot more friends and family than you had ever known before.

I'm not far along enough in Casino to have met Sidney yet. He needs to arrive on the scene soon before I give up on this one...I'm bored with it.

In Blood Drive, what really reminded me of WIlkes County was the story that kept growing and changing...being added to each time to make it more interesting, since no one had any REAL details, lol. And that no one really knew the kid that was hurt, but suddenly the kid and his mama had tons of friends wanting to "help" (or just be involved int he drama). I love that the only one of the three that left the situation unscathed was Roger...the one with the least to lose. Usually happens that way in real life.

As far as Funny Boy, I didn't see that coming either, really. I knew there had to be some reason (besides the promise of the house, free and clear) that Emporia could so easily accept and defend Adrian.

I'll read Fetching Raymond next.

Casino was my favorite of the stories until Sidney took his wife back. The woman did him wrong and he took her back. Even though she needed to see that he was capable of doing something as big as breaking the bank at a casino, it left me with the feeling that she came back because he had a pile of money now. Blood Drive could have very well been what happened when a few of our good ole Wilkes County boys got down to a big city. Aggie got caught up in the mess for just trying to help his friends. Funny Boy was interesting. I did not see the revelation that Emporia makes at all. If you havent read Fetching Raymond yet, I recommend it for your next story.

CCCombs...cool! I've read the first story (which I swear could have been set in Wilkes Co), Funny Boy and Fish Files. Now I'm reading Casino. I'm skipping around to the stories that I think sound most interesting. So far, I enjoyed Funny Boy the most. I loved the whole layered theme of being an outcast and being discriminated against...among one's family, community, in the church...and showing the ways in which these two people deal with it. Great story.

hope75, if you want to discuss Ford County, I would be more than happy to share a discussion with you. I think you will enjoy this book. I had never ready anything by John Grisham before but I really liked this book.

What about Eat,Pray Love or Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Ummm... I just now started Ford County, a little bit late, huh?

anyone have any steve gilliland books

I would also love to join a book club but would prefer it be in person rather than on-line. It's easier, I think.

I think his wife did love him, she just needed something extra that he was capable of providing...but didn't.

They both needed excitement...she needed to feel young and wanted, and he was pretty darn smart and liked gambling after all....I liked the ending.

Sorry, I havent posted in a while. Been busy with work and everything else. I read through Casino and I really liked that Bobby Carl Leach got what he deserved. But I cant believe that Sidney had the money and the means to start a brand new life but preferred to take back a wife who didnt love him anymore.

I read Casino last night and really liked it.

Too be honest, I thought Fetching Raymond was very depressing, The ride to the prison, in the heat and smoke. Their lying brother constantly begging for money, and their mother always taking up for him. When he was finally executed I felt nothing but relief.

Opinons on the second story?

I guess Roger was the moral of the story..he couldn't be depended on for anything.