What You're Reading the Week of 23 August 2008

Continuing my Harlan Coben binge (actually just the Myron Bolitar series): BackSpin, One False Move, The Final Detail and Darkest Fear all finished, but I can't find Promise Me to complete the series, I know it's here somewhere. I've read it before so it's not the end of the world but it would be good to re-read it to get the back-story in sequence.

I'm also reading bits of the Rhino book - JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan in the gaps between Olympic events.

Just started my first Margaret Atwood title, The Handmaid's Tale. It sounded very intriguing to me when I first read about it as I am a fan of futuristic sci-fi stories and I'm so far liking it a lot.

I am reading Tales of The City by Armistead Maupin, but very slowly. My daughter is home for a visit, and I am spending ever moment with her... this doesn't happen often enough.

I am going to be plowing through The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. I've been working on it for a while--and enjoying it but it's dense and quite heavy to haul around. I'll break it up by finishing off The Sound of One Hand Clapping, a quasi-abandoned book.

I've been so busy with school starting back and a class I'm taking that I haven't been reading much lately. This week I'm reading Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. For class, I'm also reading Education of the Gifted and Talented by Gary A. Davis.

Okay, the German teens just left after a heartfelt, teary farewell...........Now I will try to return to some semblance of my usual level of chaos and reading!

I am mid-way through The Zahir by Paulo Coelho and I am also listening to The Ritual Bath by Tess Gerritsen.

I'm about halfway through the fantasy, Prophesy of the Flame by Lynn Hardy now and also started a paranormal/suspense romance novel, After Dark by Jayne Castle.

Reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Shaffer. Very pleasant. At times it reminds me of US.

framboise: I just read The Handmaid's Tale a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. My review is at The Book Lady's Blog . Enjoy!

I'm 2/3 through Stalking Irish Madness for Early Reviewers...it's OK.

I am attempting to finish Blood Brothers-Nora Roberts. I have less than 100 pages remaining, so I hope to finish it today.

I also started Origin-Diana Abu-Jaber.

I am bound and determine to finish The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon this weekend - it's an enjoyable-enough read, and stuff is happening, but I'm hard pressed to point to a defineable plot, so it's making it a little slow going.

After that I'll pick up one of my library books - either The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau or The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo.

At the moment I'm reading The Great Gatsby.

I am going to go on a huge reading marathon so I can finish Hearts in Atlantis before I move back to college on Tuesday...I might be able to pull it off, but then again, I'm also facing three days of laundry, packing, and dinners with the family, so it might be a little tight. But we'll see...

Started A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson yesterday, wonder why I waited 10 years after buying it to read a very good book. Will probably finish tomorrow or this evening. Going to grandsons soccer match this morning and for a walk after. May hit a few bookstores if I can talk my better half into it. Want to start The Girl with No Shadow Joanne Harris next.

Still working on A Monarchy Transformed. With the Olympics ending, I may get it finished in the next week or two.

I've been reading a book I found on my parent's bookshelf, Following the Frontier with F. Jay Haynes, Pioneer Photographer of the Old West by Freeman Tilden. The writing is a bit simplistic but it does create a picture of Montana, Dakotas, and Wyoming from 1870 to 1900 and the photos are superb. I'm almost finished and will follow it with one of the 1001 Books that caught my eye, Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Just started The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke, who knows maybe it will convince me to finally the copy of Jonathon Norrell and Mr Strange that has been sitting on my shelves for the last few years!

I'm reading Halldor Laxness' Independent People and, now that I've slowed myself down and gotten into the rhythm of it, I find I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

I'm finishing 2012 the return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck which I am very much enjoying. Since school is starting again (I teach high school) my reading for enjoyment will be slowing down again, but, as I now own a kindle it will be easier for me to carry a "fun" book around without the weight or fear of damaging it in transit so I may be reading more than I anticipate!

I just finished Nana by Emile Zola yesterday, which was an excellent story about a brazen courtisan's rise and fall in Parisien society.

At home I'm still reading Atonement, which I like so far and on-line I'm reading Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton, which is nice.

I just finished The Lace Reader, which surprised me by being quite enjoyable. Yesterday I started Restoration by Rose Tremain. Still reading North and South and picking at Midnight's Children, Excellent Women, and The Hindi-Bindi Club.

My mom just left to go back to Texas *sniff :`( I miss my mommy already!* so now I'm getting caught up on everything.

I din't crack a book while she was here because I wanted to enjoy her company, so I'm still reading Confessions of a Contractor as my ARC to review and reading Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism with Maggie. We'll probably pick up A Wrinkle In Time again (we haven't read any of it since May when the kids started going to dad's for summer vacation). And Gwen, my 14-year-old, wants me to start reading Into the Wild, the first book in the Warrior Cats series, with her again.

I'm currently reading:

World War Z (I'm reading this because my BFF told me I absolutely *had* to.)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (from my Banned Books reading list)
The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns (library book)
Confessor (my current audiobook)
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (what I'm currently reading aloud with The Husband at night)
Just So Stories (from the huge pile of children's books for the nursery)

The reading's been slow going lately, as The Husband and I are frantically trying to get the nursery ready before the baby comes!

framboise: I've recently read The Handmaid's Tale for the first time too and loved it!

I want to be reading To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck, but instead, I'll be watching a tortuous driving school video :(

I finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen last night, wasn't as impressed by it as many others were (posted a review here on LT). So today I'm back into the breach with Emily Post : Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners.

I just finished The Physician's Tale by Ann Benson and Mademoiselle Benoir by Christine Conrad. Enjoyed both. I plan to read The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry next and Adieu, Betty Crocker by Francois Gravel as my commute to work book.

I just started Quality of Care by Elizabeth Letts last night and I could hardly bring myself to turn out the light to go to sleep! What a great start to this book ~ looks like the beginning of a really good story. I should have some time to read today (finally) now that all the company has come and gone and I can settle down to relax. YAY!

Having finally finished The Shadow of the Wind this past week, I am starting my Dumas marathon with The Three Musketeers this weekend. I'm also working my way through Alias Grace, and I'm planning to start When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale this week.

I finished the The 19th Wife byDavid Ebershoff.
I am now reading Sympathy Between Humans by Jodi Compton.

I really enjoyed The 37th Hour by Jodi Compton.

I'm in the middle of The Second World War by John Keegan still, and loving it for the beautiful writing and for filling in lots of gaps in my knowledge (ok, gaping holes...). And I'm halfway through Nickled and Dimed in America by Barbara Ehrerenreich. It's very thought provoking.

Hello, i just started reading Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts and am listening to Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

I am still reading The Hunger Games which is taking me far longer than it should, but I have started school so my usual hours of reading each day have shrunk to anout 1. And I hope to actually start American Wife this week.

I am ridiculously, hopelessly addicted to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. It is a fantastic book to just lose yourself in. I was originally just curious to see what all the teenage girls were going crazy over. I work in a library, I see their anxious little faces when they put the book on the counter for check-out. I haven't been this engrossed in a book since Outlander! Makes me remember why I love reading so much.

I finished After Dark by Haruki Murakami. He's an excellent writer. Now I'm on a mission to pursue the rest of his catalog. (my tbr pile groans in protest!) I started Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. This is the first book I've read by this author. Anyone have any comments about this writer?

Finished The Adventures of Augie March -- a definate slog for me. Not a rewarding classic IMHO.

About to start Gods and Generals -- I am becoming more and more interested in works set around the Civil War, but I am still a neophyte as far as my knowledge goes. I heard alot about the Shaara's novels - so, here goes.

#35 - I have only read Midwives and was unimpressed. Reminded me of a male Jodi Piccoult -- novels written for the Hallmark or Oprah channel to make into cheesy TV movies.

I'm reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks at night and at work, The Medium by Noelle Sickells when I'm getting ready for work, and Irish Journal by Heinrich Boll in the kitchen when the other two aren't at hand.

I started Forest Mage by Robin Hobb yesterday. I'm not too sure how I feel about it.

#36: jhowell, thanks for the comment on Bohjalian. Glad you're starting on Gods and Generals. I've read them all and they're very good but I would start with The Killer Angels by Jeff's father Michael , who kicked-started them off, in the early 70s.

Have been in a literarily lazy mood lately, which I am finishing up by reading The Killing Dance, an Anita Blake book. Then, I am going to start (for the first time) reading Brideshead Revisited, which I got from LT's July Bonus ER group. Also started listening to Portrait in Sepia on my iPod.

#36: jhowell,I have to agree with #39 start with The Killer Angels. Excellent Book. I became interested in the Civil War after visiting Gettysburg.

31: cmt,

You might want to try John Keegan's The Face of Battle. I just ordered a copy from the Folio Society, but I read it about 20 years ago. I found his The Second World War to large and and broad a topic for even as fine a writer as Keegan.

By the way, I'm in the last 400 pages of the last of volume of Shelby Foote's massive three volume The Civil War: A Narrative. Should finish by Labor Day.

#39,42 - Well, rats -- somebody told me to start with Gods and Generals - I guess based on the fact it takes place before The Killer Angels -- so now I've gone and started it -- can't stop now.

I have just finished Dracula Dossier by James Reese which I really enjoyed. I love books with real people in fictional situation, I feel from page one I already know the character, it helps getting into the story quicker.

Now to start my July ER book, Dawning of the Day: A Jerusalem Tale. I'm still listening to In a Sunburned Country, which is fantastic. I've already laughed out loud in the car and I must have looked pretty silly laughing with no one else in the car with me!

35> I have read Midwives by Chris Bohjalian and really enjoyed it. I have Skeletons of the Feast on my TBR pile..........I'll be interested in your comments.

Just started Why We Hate Us. So far, it's quite delightful.

I just finished The Dark is Rising, which I enjoyed very much. Now instead of being good and slogging through The Mysterious Island, I am going to start reading Standard Hero Behavior, a new book in the young adult section whose cover called out to me when I had no business checking any more books out of the library. What can I say?

Oh, and for audiobooks this week, I'm listening to Captain Alatriste while doing housework and The Iliad before I go to bed (admittedly a poor choice, as the list of people on ships put me to sleep very quickly two nights in a row).

I finished The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and I've started Salamander by Thomas Wharton.

#42 - thanks for the recommendation! I'll have a look for it. I get about 20 pages read a day, so it's taking a while. Good for you for getting through the Shelby Foote works...Battle Cry of Freedom was long enough for me!

#13, I picked up The Great Gatsby last year after not having touched it in 20 years. I was amazed at what a beautiful book it is. Too bad I didn't appreciate it as much when I had to read it in high school.

Currently, I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I've been reading it for the last month and a half, and I expect I'll be reading it for another month and a half.

I finished The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith which I did not enjoy at all this afternoon. I think I'm going to accept the fact that her style of writing just does not thrill me and just move on.

I've started on Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee.

I heard Jim Marrs on Coast to Coast AM back on August 14th and bought his book The Rise of the Fourth Reich. I couldn't believe what I was hearing which is why I had to buy every Marrs book Borders had available tonight. Soon I'll be reading Alien Agenda and Rule By Secrecy. Then I'll truly be paranoid.

I am reading The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin.

Just started ER book The Queen of Sleepy Eye by Patti Hill. Also reading When Day Breaks by Mary Jane Clark - I picked this up at a hospital gift shop while waiting for my mother to be seen in the ER! The one time I did not have a book with me and not much to choose from, but it's an okay book so far.

#36 I agree with your comment regarding Midwives. I didn't like his The Double Bind either. Skeletons at the Feast is a departure for Bohjalian and I think he manages to tell that story very well and it is a worthwhile read.

#53 I loved The Pleasure of My Company! The Shopgirl was also a good little novella. I think Steve Martin is overlooked as an author which is unfortunate!

Finished a totally wacky little tome today
Spaceland by Rudy Rucker. it's an "update" of Edwin Abbott's classic Flatland, which i loved when i read it in college. This book, however, is very contemporary (well, up to the time of the OLde Y2K scare). i'm still processing the darn thing, trying to weed out the silliness so i can write a semi-literate Review. the book is good, however. What would it take to cause the end of the world as we know it? Super charged, hyper-channel cell phones?

Reading Hollywood Crows by Joe Wambaugh. I'm a big fan of Wambaugh, going all the way back to The New Centurions, his first book.
'Crows' is a great read, its subject, the Hollywood Police Department and the various people who work the beats around L.A. and its environs.
Lots of laugh out loud scenes also, but then when you have cop characters with names like Flotsam and Jetsam (two surfer dudes by day, cops by night} and other wonderful episodes, its often a wild and wacky read.
Easily one of the author's best.

I'm in between two books right now - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer and Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. A little disappointed in Breaking Dawn, certainly not as good as the first three. All the Sherrilyn Kenyon's have been great. She's got such a great imagination.

I just finished the enjoyable Extra large medium by Helen Slavin and am now reading Doris Lessing's The Cleft which is quite an interesting read.

#51 cameling - I'm not a fan of McCall Smith either, but I think we might be in the minority!

Just started The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri, who was one of the authors recommended to me when I posted about recommendations for crime writers on this site. Only 40 pages in, but I like it so far.

koolaidmom... My daughter was home for a few days from Charlotte NC. I too, spent every minute with her and didn't spend more than half an hour onine or with a book.

She left for home a few minutes ago and I can hardly stand how much I miss her.

Just before she came I began reading Tales of the City by Amistead Maupin. I am absolutely hooked on his writing. I read Night Listener about a week ago and looked online until I found the first and second omnibus editions his Tales. The one I am reading does not belong to me.

Porchy, I read that one. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped tp. I passed it on to a friend .

cameling, I read The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I would not say that his writing thrills me, but I enjoy his books. They are vanilla wafer books in many ways, but I sometimes prefer a vanilla wafer to a fudge brownie.. :)

msf59...Chris Bohjalian, never fails me. I have read all of his books except Skeletons so far. I will try to mooch that one or pick it up used, as I want to read it as well. I really enjoy him.

judylou I have the Extra large medium by Helen Slavin in my shopping cart at Amazon and am glad to know you found it enjoyable. I have been wanting to read it for a while now.. I just have been buying other books first.

:)

finished Travels With a Donkey, working my way through the Missouri School Librarians Gateway nominee list... see my blog for more information and reviews.. found here (since I'm still learning how to link):
http://kcsthisandthat.blogspot.com/

started an ARC of Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (and like it so far), and am savoring The Best American Short Stories, 2007 ed. by Stephen King. When I finish Liss, I'm picking up The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Just posted my review of Stalking Irish Madness over at The Book Lady's Blog , so now I can spend my afternoon with Dick Meyer and Why We Hate Us.

Finished The 23rd Psalm, a Holocaust Memoir, so will start The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, which was recommended here on LT.

>53 ejd0626:, 55 I loved the quirky narrator in The Pleasure of My Company, really grew to root for him!

After spending some time with the lovely Ann Patchett at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, I've just begun reading Run and I think I'm really going to enjoy it!

Last night I finished Garden Spells which I thought abysmal. Now reading Olive Kitteridge and Sweetsmoke, both quite good so far.

I like Chris Bohjalian too! I'll see about getting "Skeletons" to add to my TBR pile.

#66 ~ d1johnson......I have read Run by Ann Patchett and it was excellent. Enjoy!

I finished The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson today. I loved it. Perhaps not as much as I loved Crow Lake, but I love her writing, and love her characters, and deeply care about them.

Next up for me will be The Lace Reader, which I have out from the library, with another 109 people waiting for it. After that I'll read Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, which my book club will discuss in September.

Continuing with my Russian front education, I'm currently reading Year of Victory by Ivan Stepanovich Konev, Marshal of the Soviet Union. (It looks as though LibraryThing's automatic touchstone feature has the wrong book.)

I've finished Red Storm on the Reich and Stalin's Folly. I've written my review of Stalin's Folly, but I've only just begun writing my reviews for Red Storm on the Reich and In Hazard. Now that my car is finally fixed (after two weeks and $2400) I may actually have time to finish writing those reviews.

I finished up The Zahir by Paulo Coelho and have just started Felicia's Journey by William Trevor.

In the middle of In Memory of Running by Ron McLarty. It's very cute; the main character is very sweet.

I have just finished reading "Murder in my Backyard" by Ann Cleeves {Very Good}and am starting another book by Harlan Coben "Gone for Good" - which is very interesting so far...

I just finished The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, which was excellent, probably the best of the eight 2008 Booker Prize longlisted novels I've read so far. Later this week I'll start A Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. I've started How Fiction Works by James Wood, and I'm sporadically reading The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland.

I just finished Sweetsmoke by David Fuller and will be starting Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks next.

Bleak House - I'm now halfway through, and am going to concentrate on this book and this book alone (except for the ride to work) and hopefully finish by the end of the week. On the ride to work I'll be reading The Executor: A Comedy of Letters which isn't very funny so far.

#75 Kidzdoc - I have just started The Secret Scripture and was glad to learn you found it to be excellent. I have only read the first two chapters so far and can see this being a sleepless night while I plow through the book!

#72 hemlokgang I read Felicia's Journey a couple of years ago and remember it being really good but really disturbing. I hope you enjoy it!

Edited to fix misspelling.

I met someone from Iceland a few years ago and when I asked him for a reading recommendation, he suggested Independent People. I too enjoyed it once I got into the swing of it. It describes a very different world, but people are people anywhere

#s 19, 80 -- I read Independent People last summer and really liked it. I thought the writing and descriptions of Iceland were beautiful. It was a bit slow-going at first, but before I realized it I was completely hooked.

>80 snash:, 81: Thanks for your comments! It was a bit slow-going at first, but before I realized it I was completely hooked. -- yes that's it. It really snuck up on me. Good stuff, so far.

We read Independent People in our book club a few years ago and ended up with some longlasting jokes about barren land, snow, and sheep! Great novel!

longlasting jokes about barren land, snow, and sheep!
* snort *

>61 mckait: mckait, I like your comparison of Alexander McCall Smith's books as vanilla wafer to a chocolate fudge brownie.

Just read Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee. Not the best that she's written I thought, but still gives me an interesting insight into what it may be like for someone fleeing a past of pain, only to be constantly living in fear of exposure and who has the strength to remake herself into the person she must be for the moment in order to survive.

I've started reading Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

I'm 2/3 finished with Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. I needed an easy one this week with school starting and all. Absolutely no surprises, but it is an easy read. However, I think she's just about exhausted the theme of 'fat girl with mean father and crazy sister finds love but still can't help using her family as whipping posts for her neuroses until finally coming to her senses.' I liked Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, but the rest of her books have left me pretty flat, and I abandoned Little Earthquakes altogether.

I finished Away by Jane Urquhart and am just starting the play Elizabeth Rex by Timothy Findley. I also am still reading Cultural Amnesia by Clive James.

Started 7th Son: Destruction tonight.

I finished Joan Makes History on audio today and next up is Two Caravans.

hehe, thanks cameling . I am now reading The Woman in White and loving it.

Work slows me down, so I imagine I will be reading it for the next few days....

O, torontoc.........we read Away in book club years ago and were mesmerized by it. What did you think?

I finished Felicia's Journey yesterday afternoon. Such a gripping, intense novel, about lonliness, desperation, and hope.

I read The American Dream and The Zoo Story, two dramas by Edward Albee. Incredible!

I am just about to start The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.

#20 (and sorry for getting into this thread late) if you like Quetzalcoatl, try Twilight of the Fifth Sun.

I'm reading a campy fantasy right now having just read a realy good non-fiction biography/auto-biography - Prince of Frogtown.

I'm reading Pet Peeve by Anthony and will be going to the library soon to get a copy of Maltese Falcon. Our library system is doing an area wide "read" and this is the book they are doing this year. (I am sure some of you have already heard this.)

Finished The Great Gatsby last night, and started My Invented Country by Isabel Allende.

Right this minute I'm reading Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka, one of the books I found waiting for me when I got here to New York. Thingamabrarian P_T Mack got me interested in the series and I have to say it's living up to expectations of good beach-read-hood!

Plane reading was CPR for Dummies by my friend Mickey Z....very fun, a novel and a commentary on the nature of novels and also on the nature of credulity in the media age. I had a blast reading it. I laughed out loud on the plane three times, waking up the goofball whose head was barbershop close to my lap the whole way from Austin to Baltimore. I should've asked for a tip after shaving him.

#70 > Wow! Captain Blood! I read that one long ago. Like, maybe 35 years ago! What a terrific book. I have it around here somewhere and might have to give it another go. And has there ever been an author's name that rolls off the tongue like Rafael Sabatini?

I just got back from a long weekend in Seattle. My wife and I and three other couples. So I didn't get a chance to do much reading and, because we were with so many other people, our bookstore browsing was somewhat curtailed.

But on the plane ride back to SF yesterday, I started My Dreams Out in the Street, the most recent novel by Kim Addonizio. It's pretty rough stuff in places, not in terms of physical violence but in terms of the relentless depressive quality of being on the street in a big U.S. city (in this case San Francisco) and the difficulty in trying to get yourself righted and on a better path, especially for a young woman, both physically and emotionally vulnerable from so many dangers. The book is full of terrific writing, and the descriptions of the neighborhoods and the conditions therein are dead on.

Finished The Terminal Spy by Alan S. Cowell, a somewhat too-detailed exploration of the killing of Alexander Litvinenko by polonium poisoning. It's by a NY Times reporter, so the style can be a little journalistic and breezy, but it gives a lot of insight into Putin's Russia, and in particular the preeminence of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.

Just finished Cold Mountain which I loved as much as all the hype promised I would. Way, way, better than the movie. Also have to promote my own book Angel of Brooklyn by Janette Jenkins I know this is not advertising space but I would be crazy not to mention it. Of course I like it hmm... I'm now reading Wives and Daughters for my reading group. A long, slow, soap opera of times gone by.

The last few weeks I've really fallen behind on my reading. I've been trying to get myself back on track, having recently started The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So far I'm enjoying it although I'm about halfway through and still waiting for something to really happen.

>98 Stallworthy: Stallworthy - -check out Library Thing Authors - you can get an author page, etc. http://www.librarything.com/librarything_author.php

Welcome back, richard dear! We missed you...well, at least I did :)

I'm almost halfway through Why We Hate Us, and I currently *heart* Dick Meyer. This is a very smart, insightful social analysis that gives me hope for American culture after all.

Thanks, booklady! I am back and just posted my latest finds on the other threads. Check your email.

>99 heatherlynn85: heatherlynn85: With The Road, you need to just let the language roll over you. Nothing "really happens" in most of the book - for me it was mostly about the relationship between the man and his son, and about the beautiful poetic language used to describe such a horrific landscape and life.

Finished White Nights by Ann Cleeves on Saturday. I love, love, loved it and promptly ordered another of hers from PBS.

Right now I'm reading Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children by Sarah Napthali and an ARC of The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. I am still dragging around Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. I read a page or two periodically, but I can't say I'm enjoying it or that I'll make it till the end.

I'm reading Animal Dreams and I'm just loving it.

I've lost alot of reading time because of the Olympics but now that it's over, and the US Open is less demanding on my viewing time, I can get back into the rhythm of reading. But I'm also bummed ... my book club has decided to disband because 3 of our members moved away and another has just had twins. So that left one other woman, who really came just for the coffee and cakes and never really contributed to the discussions, and myself. I'm now at a loss as to how to find another book club in my town to join. :-(

Oh well.. back to Animal Dreams .. it'll make me feel better in no time.

I finished Hearts in Atlantis this morning, which brings my summer reading total up to 37 books! I was extremely surprised by HiA, particularly because the first story revisited some of the same ideas as Insomnia, which scared me a little bit. But I breezed through the entire book, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It's quite a departure from King's normal writing, but it was immensely powerful, even for someone who didn't live through the 60's and the Vietnam War.

103 Talbin -- that's a really good take on The Road - I agree, it was the language and the relationship. I thought it was spectacular for a really depressing book!

>106 coloradogirl14: ColoradoGirl: I too really liked Hearts in Atlantis, rating it as one of my top 2-3 favorites by Stephen King. I actually enjoyed the movie as well...

Have you read Duma Key yet?

Not yet, but it's on my list! Is it good?

well, I read it after not reading any King for 5+ years... but yes, I really liked it. I don't care for some of his books that are written in a more "gory" style... Bag of Bones, Dreamcatcher et.al.

So Duma Key was a pleasant surprise...

Hmmm...looks like I'll have to bump up Bag of Bones on my list too! (I enjoy King's gorier stories as well!)

#96 I tried recently to read Captain Blood but just could not seem to get into the story and am not sure quite why, because I really really wanted to. I just loved the picture on the cover ~ so swashbucklingly romantic! (And, yes, I adore the sound of the author's name too.) I was wondering if it's more of a guy's book or if I was just not in the mood for it at the time.

I've only just started The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. So far so good.

>85 cameling: cameling - I hope you like Animal Dreams! Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors, and I think that one is underrated.... it certainly doesn't get mentioned nearly as often as her other books, but I really enjoyed it.

After three weeks of work, I *finally* finished The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (review here), and while it was still an enjoyable read, it's the weakest in the series so far.

I've also torn through The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (review here) and The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (review here), both of which were excellent, and I can't believe I haven't read them before now.

Next up: The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy

Just started The Maltese Falcon, the "stuff that dreams are made of".

#96 rocketkj: thanks for the endorsement of Captain Blood. It has been in my TBR pile for years, and I'm really looking forward to it. Rafael Sabatini is a great name. Sounds like a pro tennis player, or a celebrity chef... perfect for the author of a classic swashbuckler!

I just finished Like Water for Chocolate last night...absolutely loved it, finished in one day. So now I'm working on Quickie by James Patterson and The Infidelity Pact by Karasyov.

I have fallen behind on my reading. In fact I have lost track of the weeks and so my book group reads were all due and I didn't finish them.

I am still mostly reading Leopold's Ghost, I started it first, am within 70 pages of the end, and completing it will make me feel like I accomplished something. I started Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn and it seems like it will be a good , quick, fun Space Opera type SF.

I never did get to Perfume by Patrick Suskind, so that will be after the SF book. And tomorrow I am supposed to have completed Cork Boat by John Pollack. Hopefully I will catch up over the holiday, though right after I have to have two Deborah Crombie books read : A Share in Death and Dreaming the Bones.

My Amazon order came in --yeah ! MY Book Closeouts books are still in transit, and the book I ordered from th UK through Alibris on July 30th, has just left Nevada on its way to me in NH (ha ha ha ha ,,,,, no seriously).

From the other thread, I read The Name of the Rose and mostly enjoyed it, though I could have done without the 80 page description of the doorway. Really liked the movie, I think they complimented each other. You got more background from the book, and the movie was very evocative of the tough, isolated, and dangerous time to live.

My book group read the first McCall Smith, and we all panned it. Just too little there, there. We read it with Erica Jong's Fear of Flying so the month wasn't a total loss. Sometimes we read 2 books a month.

I am also a fan of Murakami. My favorite is Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I am probably one of the few who didn't like Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

Starting The Girls by Lori Lansens.

I finished Angela Carter's Shadow Dance over the weekend and started Stephen King's Skeleton Crew.

Finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - a very pleasant, light read. Now reading The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.

The week started off with finishing a lot of stuff I had going simultaneously.

Then I did a re-read of A Separate Peace by John Knowles (better than I found it in high school) and tried The Plutonium Blonde by Zakour/Ganem (thumbs down).

Read Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose for Early Reviewers (OK) and now reading Peter Wicked by Broos Campbell, also for ER (touchstones not working right on either of those). I also have H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian going as an audio book during the work commute.

Edited to get rid of wrong touchstones on two.

I finished Standard Hero Behavior last night. It was a funny, light read.

Now I'm starting From Doon with Death in order to read a genre I normally wouldn't.

#103 Talbin: Thanks, I had a feeling that nothing groundbreaking was going to happen in The Road. I am enjoying the language and finding it a nice change of pace from some of the books I've read recently.

I've started In Hazard by Richard Hughes and The Cave Painters by Gregory Curtis. I seem to be in a phase of reading my most recently acquired books.

Just finished my very first LT Early Reviewer book, The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische. Really enjoyed it. It is a novel but reads like a memoir, and the narrator is too funny. "Politically correct" is not a term she is familiar with :)

Next up is something from my stack of library books that are probably due soon. I was so excited when I got my first ER book that I pushed them all aside.

Inspired by moving, I am now starting Fast Forward by Eric Spitznagel. I need something to make me laugh.

Finished John Steinbeck's To a God Unknown last night and then started Cormac McCarthy's The Road this morning. If anyone is familiar with both books, it's a little bit of an eerie transition. To a God Unknown was my first John Steinbeck. I'm still processing it. It was formal and slow, leaning towards being dark, but nice to read, definitely not for everyone. It's an interesting character study of some sort of pagan-like worship of the land in 1903 California. The early pages of The Road are also very spiritual and dark...and in my mind the two books seem kind of consistent.

Just finished my ARC of Sarah's Key and also read Anybody out there? which made me cry 'cause I'm a sap as well as Happiness Sold seperately. Now I'm into Fangland and Kafka on the shore and I suspect I will like the second the most. I picked up After Dark by Haruki Murakami in the train station the other day and was hooked. The Host also lingers on the bedside table but will probably remain ignored.

I just finished My Dreams Out in the Street by Kim Addonizio.

I'm working on some of my "between books" right now. Today I'm reading the piece on Butte, Montana from My Fair City (the touchstone never works for this one), a collection of articles about the cultural and political history and conditions in 18 different American cities, each written by a journalist from that city. What's fascinating about the book is that it was written in 1948, so it's really a time capsule on the American experience just after World War Two.

Then it will be on to:

the essay "Tour de France 2000" from Julian Barnes' essay collection Something to Declare: Essays on France and French Culture

the chapter on James Madison from U.S. Presidents Factbook by Elizabeth Jewell

and the short story "Carbon Paper Poet" from the collection A Tale of Pierrot by George Dennison

After those, it will be time for my next novel, Pravda by Edward Docx. I picked this one up at the bookstore yesterday, because I only have about 1,700 books at home waiting to be read. It looks really good and I'm looking forward to digging in!

I'm STILL working on Resistance (and feel like I will be forever - it is good but slow), but last night I also started Adventures in Borneo. It was sent to me for review and it isn't bad, but it certainly isn't good. The sentence complexity and sophistication of writing seems to point to an 8th grader's "What I Did Over My Summer Vacation" essay. At least this 8th grader knows basic grammar and spelling rules, though.

DoB: I'm also on the "good but slow" boat right now, as I've been reading Why We Hate Us for several days and haven't made the kind of progress I wanted to....but I think that has more to do with how busy I've been than with the book. It's quite good, and I'm hoping for at least an hour of quality time with it this evening....maybe I'll get to finish it before the end of the day tomorrow.

Really want to get started on American Wife or The Gone-Away World, but I can't decide which.

I just got my Early Reviewer book in the mail today. I'll be reading Guilty by Reason of Stupidity. I told my husband he'll probably like it too.

But first I have to read The Maltese Falcon and then he gets that and then I have to decide if I want to read the other four Hammett books in the volume that I borrowed from the library.

Completed the 2d Ian Rankin book, Hyde and Seek, fast paced and I read it quickly. Some of my favorite books I read more slowly, but his are page turners.

Finished Three Cups of Tea this morning over breakfast, and am contemplating moving What is the What by Dave Eggers from my lunchtime read to the breakfast slot, although honestly I have some concerns about being able to read it so early in my day. Still reading and enjoying Elizabeth Berg's The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris. Not quite sure what I'll pick up next; probably Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen as it's out from the library.

I'm currently 3/4 of the way through shipwrecks Australia's greatest maritime disasters. I'm just reading a chapter every now & then so I can keep the different stories separate in my mind.

Last night I started the handmaid's tale. I'm only a few pages in, so not really sure what's going on, although I think I will like it. I like Margaret Atwood, so I have high expectations. I'll be interested to hear the the others also reading it think.

129: Jacey25, I absolutely loved Kafka on the Shore. That book got me hooked to read more Murakami novels.

I'm enjoying Animal Dreams and but I've discovered that I should really move my reading chair back to the living room because where I have it positioned now in my little upstairs library has me occasionally looking up from the book and staring at my teetering TBR pile .. and being enticed by some of the other titles that I see there.

I think Murakami is a phenomenal writer, one of my favorites!

>135 grkmwk: grkmwk: It's interesting how you're reading different books in different time slots. I read (and liked) What is the What but am not sure it's a good way to start your day. Not gruesome -- for the most part -- but still difficult in spots.

I'm in the middle of The Memory of Water by Karen White. I have some ideas of how it will end and can't wait to finish it to see if I'm right

My book club and I are reading The Enchantress of Florence by Salmon Rushdie. I like it so far!

At the suggestion of my daughter, I'm reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Just finished a spellbinder of a book The Genius by Jesse Kellerman.
Highly recommended, this crime novel turns out to be anything but. It is a deeply dramatic story of about an art collector who gets himself involved with a serial murderer. The plot is intricate and maintains a superb pace throughout the book.
This is Jesse Kellerman's third novel, his previous two being critically praised as well. He is the son of both Fay and Jonathan Kellerman and has obviously inherited the right genes.
Read it, you won't be disappointed.

I just finished City of Thieves by David Benioff. What a great read! Now I'm ready for something lighter -I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. It looks promising.

#136 bookgirl271 - I felt the same way when I read The Handmaid's Tale for the first time. Stick with it - you'll figure it out and it is well worth it! It is the only book I've ever read four times and wouldn't mind picking up again. It is that good.

#136: bookgirl271

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is an excellent book! Atwood is one of my favorite writers and this is one of her works that I liked best. I even wrote a paper on this for my World Masterpieces post-grad course. =)

#103 Talbin

The Road sounds like the 21st century version of the style of Virginia Woolf! Mostly description and interior musings rather than actual plot? I love Virgina Woolf--(I'm rereading To the Lighthouse right now). Should I try this?

Although all the convention commentary is competing for my attention, I am enjoying The Reserve by Russell Banks.

I'm reading America unchained as light relief - it's very good - Dave Gorman, a British comedian, attempts to go across America only using 'mom and pop' (i.e. independent) stores, gas stations and hotels. Very interesting.

I have put the name of the rose back on the tbr pile for now, but will come back to it at some point. There's just so many great books crying out to be read!

I'm reading Four to Score by Janet Evanovich and have the next two books in the wings. Also finishing Truman by David McCullough but it's hard to tote around.

#146 MusicMom: Cormac McCarthy's writing style is nothing like that of Virginia Woolf. I you love Woolf, you certainly won't rate McCarthy as highly. IMHO

Just finished The English Patient. Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club has been relegated to the back-burner for a bit, and I'm tempted to start The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (no touchstones). I've been itching to read it for a while and I'm more than ready for something really good!

136: I read The Handmaid's Tale a couple weeks ago and was floored by it. You'll figure out pretty quickly how amazing it is. My review can be found at The Book Lady's Blog .

I'm almost finished with Why We Hate Us and think more people should be reading it.

ETA: If you've ever wondered about a day in the life of the booklady, I've posted a few of my weirded work stories here for your reading pleasure.

>146 MusicMom41: MusicMom41 - As amandameale says in #150, McCarthy's style in The Road isn't much like To the Lighthouse. But, I would respectfully disagree that if you like Woolf you wouldn't like The Road - I love both books, they're just very different. Actually, I would think if you like Woolf's style that you'll like The Road. I've found that the people who don't like The Road are generally those who like more plot-driven novels (which The Road is not). Not saying either is better - heck, I love a good thriller or mystery, and they're usually all plot. For me, reading The Road was like reading poetry, and I found the ending very moving and strangely uplifting.

Edited to remove several touchstones - all that blue looked a little wacky.

#151 akeela - I read The Sheltering Sky earlier in the summer, and I really enjoyed it. IMO, much much much better than The English Patient!

I am reading Daughter's Keeper. I just started it this morning so I have not yet formed an opinion.

I returned Origin to the library. I read a little over 100 pages and just wasn't enjoying the story.

I started Ethan Frome and I don't think it will take me too long to finish it, probably by the end of the day.

I'm also still working on Friday Night Knitting Club. I haven't had a lot of chances to read this week at home, so hopefully I will get in a lot during the long weekend. Maybe even get a chance to start Breaking Dawn to finish out the Twilight series.

#154 Thanks for the nudge, Jennifer! I'm just going to have to jump right in then, won't I?!

we are finally getting some rain in my neck of the woods, and since i'm feeling a bit on the crappy side this is a lie-on-the-couch,read /watch movies day..am trying to decide betweenThe Birth of Venus or a Re-read of Vanity Fair-i just watched That One on DVD this a m...
whichever one moves the quickest will be my next victim (i mean read :) )

I was very interested in all the posts about The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I just started it about 30 minutes ago at the end of my lunch hour at work. I'm encouraged. It's for my September bookclub meeting.

My RL book circle (still meeting after 15 years, I did good work starting this one!) is reading The Razor's Edge so I am putting aside, without tears, Fast Forward. I am slowly wending my way through Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka, which is amusing and engaging but also forgiving of periods of inattention. I appreciate this quality, being the complete polybibliovore that I am. A novel that I can dip in and out of is a lovely find.

Finding Serenity, one of my Armadillocon purchases, was a lot of fun to read. I've been a Browncoat (a fan of the TV show Firefly) since 2002 and I still miss the weekly doses of Mal, Zoe and Inara. (Side note: I tried HARD to convince my daughter to name my granddaughter Inara, in honor of the space geisha; somehow it didn't work. Darn.)

Yoicks! 30 minutes left on the meter! Time to book-shop!

So much to comment on, yet I can only think about what "RL" mean, richardderus! Some hypotheses................

Real Life
Really Local
Ridiculously Lovable
Rotating Libraries


Well.......

Finished In Hazard by Richard Hughes and I highly recommend it -- suspenseful and insightful.

>161 hemlokgang: hemlokgang, you failed to consider "revolting lowlife" and "rowdy loser"...but "RL" in net slang is pretty much always going to be "real life."

Um, spent the day desperatley struggling to finish The gargoyle. Hoping to move on now with I am a cat then maybe get a few more of these books finished so I don't have to cart them across England with me if I want to read them. Not this week though, if I can have I am a cat done by the end of the week then that's good for me XD

Catching up--

#149 mamalaz

I just bought Truman--I'd love to know what you thought of it.

#150 amandameale &
#153 Talbin

Thanks for the input. It was the idea of "not plot driven" that brought Woolf to mind for me. I'm sure Cormac McCarthy is much grittier and that The Road is much darker than the luminous To the Lighthouse. I guess I will have to check it out and make up my own mind if I would enjoy it. Unless...

#159 karenmarie

If you plan to read the Road soon could you let me know what you think and break the tie! :-)

#156 blondierocket

I loved The Age of Innocence and The Buccaneers but I'm wondering about Ethan Frome because that is so different from her other works. I'd love to have your opinion on it when you finish. I own it but haven't read it. It's nice to have a quick read once in awhile if it's also a "good read."

#163 richardderus

Obviously you are the one to ask--I keep seeing ETA. What does that mean?

(Edited for spelling and typos)

ReadingThe Girl with No Shadow I'm having a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters. I went and looked at some reviews. I will stick with it.

>165 MusicMom41: If you look closely, ETA is almost always at the bottom of the post above the "message edited by its author"... and means "Edited to Add".

#139 lindsacl - I know what you mean about What is the What. I'm really enjoying it, but it just isn't how I want to start my day. In fact, I picked up the short story collection by Elizabeth Berg this morning instead, and am thinking that since I'm close to finishing it, I might make it my morning book.

#166 cindysprocket - I just picked up The Girl With No Shadow at the library this afternoon. It's been so long since I read Chocolat that I'm wondering if I need to reread that before starting this new one. What do you think?

just finished Maltese Falcon

It was good, but I am not sure I want to go on and read the other four of his books in this volume I borrowed - at least not right now.

I think tomorrow I'll see what else is in my home library and there are a few! Besides the public library is closed for renovations/Labor Day starting tomorrow.

I'm on to The Laughing Policeman after finishing Sacred by Dennis Lehane which was decent though a little over the top at times.

I plan on reading A Drink Before the War, the first of his Kenzie/Gennaro series, to get a better glimpse of his characters and depiction of Boston.

#167 fyrefly98

Thanks for the information. My husband is always telling me I often don't notice the obvious. :-)

MusicMom41

I think you will enjoy Truman. It's very thorough and readable. I especially liked the way McCullough handles the Pottsdam Conference and the decision to use the atom bomb. I have not yet gotten to the Korean War.

I'n now reading American ghosts and old world wonders - I read some of the short stories before but not all, and it sits on my bookshelf taunting me. I enjoy her work but it is challenging.

My friend gave me a load of chicklit novels that I have piled up by the bookshelves - perhaps chicklit is a bit unfair, more like boy meets girl but at an art gallery or something like that so it's all ok! Not really my thing but thought I give a couple of them a go.

I saw a novel recently in a charity shop and wanted to buy it - Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress - has anyone read it?

Just finished The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - sad but beautifully written.

Started The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell this morning - my first venture into Swedish crime writing. It seems good so far.

So The Road is freaking me out. Last night I worked late and drove home on empty dark roads with nothing to keep me from thinking about the book and its implications.

I'm now reading Where Angels fear to tread and so far it's so-so. Nothing spectacular, but not too annoying either.

At home, I'm still reading Atonement, which I think is excellent. The middle does sag a bit, as I've seen mentioned here a lot of times, but still, it's very good.

Greatly enjoying Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.

173-mrsradcliffe--re: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamtress, bascially agree with 178 LizT response below. Slight, but charming and poignant. Worth the time it takes to read it, although there are many better stories about the cultural revolution. There was a movie made of it, but I didn't see it.

173> mrsradcliffe, a bunch of us over in Reading Globally read it last year and it was fairly favourably received! I found it a little bit too slight in some ways, but I still enjoyed it and it was an interesting viewpoint on China's cultural revolution.

This week, however, in between trying to get the dreaded thesis done, I have been reading Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, which is hilarous (The Waste Land in haiku form?! Genius!) and finishing off Creation or Evolution: Do we have to choose?, the answer being a resounding no. In my case it's kinda preaching to the choir but I'm enjoying reading a well-written and considered book on the topic.

I'm about 50 pages into American Wife and haven't yet figured out what all the hype is about. I hope it gets better....I wouldn't want to Nancy Pearl it.

Don't Nancy Pearl it, at least not until page 100 or so. It probably took me that long to really get into it, although I loved it by the end. Remember, not all the reviews were favorable, though. Thinking it is going to be amazing might make it not live up to your expectations. I read it right after a bunch of people said it was boring or dragged in the middle, which is an experience I didn't have, and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it.

I'm going to stick with it for a while. I really want to finish it because I know our customers are going to be asking about it, and it would be nice for me to know what I'm talking about.

I'm reading the beautifully written Blood-Dark Track by Joseph O'Neill, the author of Netherland -- a memoir of his Turkish and Irish grandfathers. And I'm also reading The Cave Painters by Gregory Curtis.

MusicMom, what fyrefly said...it's a failing of mine that I use and expect others to "get" the net slang I've picked up over the years. I figure I'm about as unhip as a person can be, so if I know it so does everyone else in the world. One of my favorites, and one I see less often than I used to, is "YMMV" which literally means "Your Mileage May Vary" and was once The Way to say, "you don't have to agree with my obviously well-informed and clearly correct opinion."

>175 dchaikin: dchaikin, I tend to enjoy post-Apocalyptic novels, and was favorably inclined towards The Road. Likewise I enjoy Cormac McCarthy books. In the end, I preferred Earth Abides and A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road. I can't preecisely put my finger on why. I wasn't about to chuck the darn thing, and I wasn't about to leave it at my table at the coffee shop, but I really wasn't as blown away as others reported being. I wonder if it's simply that I have a very broad field of experience in the genre.

When you're done, please share some details of your impressions. I want to know what it is that I'm not seeing, or see if you end up in my camp.

>181 bnbooklady: booklady, in your posititon I can see this particular completion being a necessity. I Pearl-ruled the dadburned thing at page 37 (making me 63). Just couldn't get into this one. I feel for you, having to read all those books in the line of duty. Poor, poor lassie.

Okay, I tried to get into Fast Forward and was unsuccessful. Not awful but the Democratic convention coverage on PBS caught and held my attention instead of this book. That should tell you something...Joe Biden was moree riveting than this one. I have some hopes that it's a mood issue, so I am sidelining the book instead of sending it to live with Jesus.

The Razor's Edge is proving to be a delight. I am, I guess, old-fashioned. It's very soothing to me to read some traditional, linear, plot-driven novels by the masters of the craft.

edited/typo...and of course all the changed touchstones reverted to the incorrect ones, and they're still loading so to heck with 'em

#183 RD - I've read other books with the same kind of foreboding hypnotic feel...the books of hopelessness, I guess. There does seems to be a consistency to them. Usually I like them and feel very impressed afterwards, which probably reflects more about me than about whether the books are any good. Maybe The Road is just another one of those books - same stuff, different details. Not sure, but at the moment I'm finding it very hard to put down and even harder to stop thinking about. I'm a little under half-way through.

My review of Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium is now posted at The Book Lady's Blog . I LOVED it and think we should all read it.

>184 dchaikin: dchaikin, that's a pretty good sign you're enjoying the book. I can't wait to hear what you think of the ending.

>185 bnbooklady: booklady, remember to _target=new your hyperlinks, please! And I'll have you know that your review has inspired me to break with common sense and responsible adulthood and order a copy of Why We Hate Us. Which would explain why I now hate you.

richard: my apologies for forgetting the _target=new...it's rainy here in bookladyland today, and that makes me a tad slothful....but yes, go order Why We Hate Us and tell your friends. It's good! I swear.

You'll thank me in the long run.

Started The Maytrees last night. My sister wants to borrow it and has been pestering me to read it since she gave it to me as a gift in early July.

>186 richardderus:
I'd rather thinks I click on not be opened in a new tab unless I want them to. Thanks!

maybe I'll go half-and-half so everyone's happy. :)

I was fairly surprised at lunch today when I suddenly finished Resistance (I decided not to read the translator's notes). I had four books with me here at work, all things I received this week that I hadn't taken home - good thing too, or I'd have had a bibliomergency. Two were ARCs so I figured either was safe, but I decided to start on Something Wickedly Weird: The Icy Hand because it is super short and a super fast read, so I can get back to my next scheduled books tonight. In fact, I already finished 80 pages of it in my last 25 minutes or so of lunch.

>183 richardderus: Richard..as for Post-Apocalyptics..let us not forget On the Beach by Nevil Shute..i am OLD and remember this well..more comtemporary..Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem...The Four-Gated City by Doris Lessing..and Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis..okay?

>187 bnbooklady: bnbooklady..as if you could ever be slothful...you rock, lady :)

>192 jdthloue: jd, so true...I was mentioning two that are on my all-time-top-of-the-pops list. I also enjoyed Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up, but they aren't on my desert island emergency reads list.

From other thread, oh well, the pain of being broke is mitigated by the scary number of books as yet uncataloged at Auntie's place. >eep

>193 richardderus: Richard
i had to run to my Living Room Shelf..i actually own Stand on Zanzibar..CLULESS ME...add to TBR

one person's Boredom is another person's Call To Action, no? more books..greater potential for enjoyment/pleasure and possibly some Education/Suggestions to The Curious..

hey, am i wrong or wot???

hope all is going well with you..my thoughts hover somewhere, there :)

As Mark Twain said, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them".

Richard, I think this goes with what you said in your 193 side note. Not everybody likes all books or all types of books, but there are so many books and types of books that, yeah, everyone should be able to find something to stop being bored with - and if you find one book, then how about two, then three, then more. They just have to try and a whole world will open up and with a public library it won't cost them anything either.

A person who can't read may know what they are missing and a person who does know how to read may not.

I hope my random ramblings made sense?

>195 koalamom:
you make so much sense it is scary!

richard and DoB: having now read more of American Wife, I'm still a bit dubious, but I can tell from what I've read that there's going to be A LOT of scandalous talk when it comes out, so now I have to know.

# 173 mrsradcliffe: I loved Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. I think it has a cover blurb that says it's a little gem of a story or something like that, and that's exactly what I thought it was. I don't think it is meant to be the definitive story of the Cultural Revolution. My husband and I each read it in one sitting.

Finished the books I mentioned earlier, and decided I was in the mood for some history, so I grabbed Chaucer's Knight from my TBR list. So far, about 10 pages in and I am finding it very interesting.

I read The Road, hated it.

bleh

I just finished Wicked; thoroughly enjoyed the beginning, felt that it dragged in the middle and that the last section summarized too much. I saw the musical last night and thought that it was fun.

The Road was one of the books that I received through the library this week - I am going to start it next. I am intrigued by all of the talk about it on this thread.

#168 grkmwk; You may be right about rereading Chocolat. It has been quite awhile since I've read it.The Girl with no Shadow may make some sense.

Nowhere Man by Aleksandar Hemon.

Anything I can get my hands on about Poland. I just got back from there; I'm now completely in love with this country and the people there...

Fiction: The Rook, by Steven James. Not quite as good as The Pawn (the first in this series).

And every night before beddy-bye: The Best American Travel Writing 2007.

# 193:richardderus and #194:jdthloue, I work with some people who have proudly proclaimed that while they read magazines and articles for pleasure, (tech manuals don't count since it's part of work), they haven't picked up an actual book to read since they left high school/college! How scary is that? And THEY think I'm the weird one?!!

Started Genghis Khan by Jack Weatherford

173: mrsradcliffe,

A novelized fable, a painfully obvious riff on Madame Bovary, could not have lived up to all the praise heaped on it by the chattering classes and it doesn't. Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress does have one overarching virtue-it's short.

I'm reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens (group read), and after six chapters I think I know a little about the main characters and their behaviour (and thoughts i.e Esther's), and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the story.

OOh I want to read it now to judge for myself!
Just started On beauty - thought it was a bit pretentious, then realised that's the point for the plot etc., and liking it now - although still only about 30 pages in.

I'm about 200 pages into American Wife, and I'm really looking forward to watching the controversy it's going to cause when nice Republican ladies who just want to read a book inspired by Laura Bush get to the numerous disturbing and/or sexually explicit scenes.

Scandalicious!

Also, back by popular demand, my stories about Adventures in Bookselling continue today at The Book Lady's Blog .

Finished My Invented Country by Isabel Allende while waiting for the bus, luckily (and truly by chance) I had Forrest Gump lying in my purse so I started that one. So far it seems like a good read, Forrest Gump is one of my very favourite movies so I'm very excited about reading the book!

I had only two or three pages left of A Monarchy Transformed last night, which is way less than I read during a normal lunch. So I stuck The Fabric of the Cosmos in my bag today instead.

I finished Gods and Generals - an easy read of the early Civil War, good -- but maybe not quite as good as I was expecting.

Just started Of Mice and Men -- for the first time (!), believe it or not.

I have just finished reading the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd an hour ago. The story is very nice, I read this book because it is going to be released as a movie on 2008-Oct-17 in the U.S.

Now I am thinking of reading a new one. But Im still waiting for the books that I have purchased online which has not arrived yet. Maybe while waiting , I might start reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

.

#212 - You need to remember that Gods was his first book. He had written *nothing* before that - he wanted to see if he could do any justice to his dad's legacy. I'd say he's doing a pretty good job, given the amount of research he has to do, the size of the books he writes, and the sheer volume with which he's produced them. The guy is a machine, basically.

I finished The Road on break this morning and found it stunning - strong, terse, compelling. I wasn't looking forward to it particularly, but it was for bookclub and on my 888 list for Prize Winners (The Pulitzer in this case), and am very glad I read it. I will definitely search out some more of his books.

#160 richardderus - she's not a blood relative, but we just named our new kitty Inara Starbuck. She's about 15 months old, a dilute calico who is trying to rule the roost over 4 other kitties aged 8,10, 12, and 12. I think she's winning.

I've just started The Fire by Katherine Neville - ER book. I just finished re-reading The Eight to refresh my memory before starting. I'm so glad I did, because I had forgotten how much I liked The Eight.

blasted touchstones

>194 jdthloue: jdt, *sends smooch*

>195 koalamom:, koalamom, amen sister-woman, can I get another witness?! Herr Clemens/Twain had it exactly right.

>197 bnbooklady: booklady, oh oh oh. The kerfuffle will be epic. It won't be based on anything real, just on froth and foam. And it will last about as long as the head on an undrunk cup of cappucino, and be about as lasting in impact. Sell the HELL out of this puppy in the first three weeks and then watch the drop-off.

>200 mckait: mckait, WHAT?! You hated a book?!? Shocked! I am shocked, I tell you! ;-)

>205 cameling: cameling, I know what you mean. I was married to a woman once who hadn't picked up a book since high school. Since she was 44 when we married, this should tell you something. (It lasted two years, which I must say shocks me in retrospect...I put it down to the fact that I was drinking HEAVILY at the time...I just didn't notice that she never read anything.)

>215 karenmarie: karenmarie, Inara Starbuck! The two hottest women in sci-fi history! If Mr. Man should ever persuade me to do the inSANE thing of adopting a kid, that's the name, not "Brunonia" *ickshudder*. Frankly though, I think he'd have to use Rohypnol to get me to say yes. That time in my life is done, blessed be.

Re: The Road...no one can fault Mr. McCarthy on his signature style. It suits some sorts of storytelling down to the ground. It's terse, powerful, economical and either to one's taste or inimical to it. My reservations are not in any way related to the story (I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic stories) or his style. I would like to hear from dchaikin about his ideas of the way the book ends before I really weigh in...I know he's in the midst of the book and I really dislike spoilers left in emails one is highly likely to read (he's a regular around here).

Hugs all around, Thingamabrarians!

I finished Something Wickedly Weird in no time flat and started on Henry VI Part II. I needed something to intersperse that with, so I added the graphic memoir The Shiniest Jewel, but that was such a quick read that I'm already done with it. Now I'm probably going to start The Necklace to help break up Shakespeare a bit.

#212 jhowell

I brought Of Mice and Men with me for our family Labor Day weekend get-away because I haven't read my classic for this month yet and I hope I can get it read this weekend. It's my first time, too. Let me know what you think about it. We can compare notes.

#216 - perhaps it's time to start a discussion on The Road, to avoid any spoilers in these threads. Just a thought.

richard: I can't wait to watch the pink tweed Chanel suits go flying when all those nice conservative ladies get their hands on. I'm sure it will be a flash in the pan, but it's going to be a lucrative one for Ms. Sittenfeld.

to #'s 196 and 216 - I got that quote off a t-shirt that I got at one of the Twain museums, maybe in Connecticut, but I believe it. Funny, though, I like Twain but I have trouble with some of his books - I think I have classics-phobia!

I just finished reading and reviewing my first Early Reviewer - Guilty by Reason of Stupidity. The review is here.

I was planing on going to a Dick Francis - Break In next. Not sure if this is one of those I have already read or not - I get to Francis so seldom.

>219 dchaikin: dchaikin, okay! New thread is here. Warning: Opens in new window.

>220 bnbooklady:, them suits're gonna melt right off. *blech* What an UUUUUGLY image that is!

ETA window warning

I'm reading Beatriz en de hemellichamen, by Lycia Etxebarria. It's a book that's part of a series of European prize winners from 10 different countries. Normally I would never have thought about buying this book, but everytime I pick a book from series like these (the newspaper I used to read brings out such kind of serie every year) the book is magnificent. Well-written and not the story as usual. Like this one as well.

Just finished Off the Menu by Christine Son. It's a book about three Asian American girls, I really enjoyed it! In case you're interested, here's my review: http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/off-menu-christine-son.html

Finished An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears and have started Dead Run by P.J. Tracy...

#225 kmbooklover

I've had that book on my shelf for years but haven't ever got to it. Should I add it to my TBR pile for this year?

Started my new ARC Kissing Games of the World by Sandi Kahn Shelton and so far it's excellent. A smooth, easy read ~ I am hoping it doesn't turn stupid. I love the way this lady writes. As long as the plot doesn't deteriorate. **crossing fingers**

I recently finished Cannery Row by Steinbeck and am now reading Son of the Morning by Linda Howard which I am really enjoying!

Cannery Row is on TBR list, right now I'm into Break In

I'm reading two books right now:

The Killing Floor by Lee Child, recommended to me by the friend who also got me started on the Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear series (LOVE this series!) and a series by Julia Spencer Fleming featuring The Reverend Clare Ferguson which I'm also enjoying. Killing Floor is the first book in a series about a former military policeman (homicide) roaming the country after discharge. The writing is good and I'm enjoying the story but there is quite a bit of violence and gore. It isn't so bad that I can't handle it in a book but I'll never go see the movie--if it ever gets made. (Darn Touchstones--one person--with 2 books in her library--listed this book with the author as Jack Child and none of the other hundreds who listed it correctly were able to change it. There are other books called Killing Floor on the list but not with Lee Child as the author. The one without an author might not be right book either--sorry)

I'm also reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This needs to be finished by Sunday night. I'm supposed to read a classic every month from July to January and I got so involved in learning about LT groups this month I got behind. This one is short enough that I think even being on vacation with my family I can read it by then. Of course, tomorrow I may have to ignore LT until I finish it. :-)

Yesterday I got a nice long time at B&N while Hubby and son went on a tour of the Jelly Belly factory which is in the same "neighborhood"-- about 2 miles away. I had several things I planned to look for and one of them was a new book of poems by Mary Oliver--the B&N closest to where I live (it's 40 miles from me--in the Central Valley that counts as close) never has any. This B&N had so many I had trouble narrowing it down to two: Red Bird, her most recent, and What Do We Know. At least one of those will get read this week. Mary Oliver doesn't sit long at my house unread.

A friend asked me to pick her up a copy of Truman when she saw the copy I bought the last time I was up here. This time I found it on a 3 for 2 table so I had to find two more books for me. There wasn't much that I was interested in on than table but I have been wanting to try something by Michael Chabon and they had a short novel by him called The Final Solution: A Story of Detection that I decided to try. They also had The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks which long ago I "loved and lost" and I decided I'd like to have it again--it's a great "dipping into" book when I can't settle on any one thing to read--especially at bed time when I'm between books.

My impulse buy was How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. I just picked it up on a whim to look over while I waited for my family to come get me but the Preface and the Introduction convinced me it was definitely a keeper. When my son came and convinced me to cut my "buying pile" in half, all the novels went back but this book about novels stayed. (Have I ever mentioned I love 'books about books?')

am trailing along in the wake of Miss Rebecca Sharp..a tour of Vanity Fair Mr Thackeray calls it..he's spot on..she is a bit of a hussy!
:)

I finally finished one of my book log jam ! It was the non-fiction King Leopold's Ghost about the start of the Belgian Congo. It was very good. Lots of details, about the atrocities and the fight to remove Leopold. Unfortunately it was a change in name only. There was only a small bit about the actual African testimony. Their culture did not keep written records, and many of the documents that were created during investigations, had been destroyed. The oral traditions were muted because so many died, and the price for complaining vocally was often fatal.

It also talked about how the damage done in the past has been carried into the current day. A lot of history has been swept under the carpet and can't really be healed until its dealt with.

I just haven't been spending enough time reading, and lost track of the weeks, so my book group reads piled up.

I am now going to be pro-active and read the books that are due next, and then go back to my other books on my current reading list : The Icarus Hunt, Perfume , The Cork Boat .

So I started A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie. The first in the Kincaid and James series for my Mystery group. Haven't gotten enough done to tell yet if I like it or not.

Just finished Break In and am now heading into Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves, a Star trek novel.

I'm really enjoying The Madonnas of Leningrad Lately I seem to be stuck in Russia and Germany circa 1941.

My son is insisting I read Watchmen by Allan Moore. Anybody have any thoughts?

I finished Of Mice and Men yesterday afternoon--which I really loved (5 stars) and which I will review either tonight or tomorrow. However I needed something to give me a "lift" after the Steinbeck so I got out the Georgette Heyer I had brought with me in case of emergency, Black Sheep and I finished that today.

I'll get back to The Killing Floor either tonight or tomorrow--have to finish that fast because as soon as we get home tomorrow night I have to start Poisonwood Bible for the group read. I'm also reading What do We Know by Mary Oliver which I will probably finish before I go to bed.

I got to go back to B&N today because some friends called and wanted to get together there and then go out to lunch. I was very good--only bought one book: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. I love her books of essays I have. This book is about a clash of cultures between the Hmong and American doctors which took place about a decade ago very near where I live. It was highly recommended by a couple of LT readers. The area in the Central Valley of California around Fresno was one of the main resettlement areas for the Hmong that came from Laos--needing to come here to avoid being slaughtered because of the aid they gave Americans during the war. I've met many Hmongs and from from 1998 to 2001 our church had as pastor the first Hmong to be ordained in the United Methodist Church.

After lunch Hubby dropped me off at Borders while he did some shopping at the outlets. I had a 30% off coupon and I wanted to get Brain Rules by John Medina. My other son (in Chicago) called me this morning to tell me about it. While I was waiting I also found The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang which is a memoir of a Hmong who was relocated to St. Paul. I also saw this recommended on LT and Anne Fadiman had recommended it. Then I stumbled across a paperback volume that had the first 2 Nero Wolfe novels: Fer-de-Lance and The League of Frightened Men. I don't own the first one and my copy of the second one is a ratty used paperback. I'm starting a project to read the Nero Wolfe novels in order over the next couple of years so I grabbed it. I'm surely glad when I went to B&N on Friday I only bought 5 books then instead of the 10 I had selected! Wow--I'd better be careful this month! I still have an Amazon order I'm waiting for.

(edited to add missing word)

#235 MusicMom41 A friend of mine highly recommended Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down several years ago. Now that I've read and enjoyed Ex Libris, I'm moving it high up on my TBR list.

Also, let me know how you like Mary Oliver. I'm in awe of her work. She's one of my favorite poets and I enjoy her essays, too. I have Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems by my bed right now and have been reading a little every night.

I, too, love Mary Oliver and hope one day to own everything she has published. My first trip to B&N over Labor Day weekend (on Friday) I bought two more--The one I'm reading and Red Bird which I believe is her latest. My favorite book of poems by her so far is Why I Wake Early which I've read several times. But picking a favorite Mary Oliver is like picking a favorite chocolate--I've never read a Mary Oliver--poem or prose--I didn't like.

I like to look at things--Mary Oliver teaches me how to "see" and "feel" --here's the opening of "Lion's Mane" in What Do We Know. (I hope when I submit it will keep the spacing!)

It is
the largest sea jelly in the world.
Rosy as sunset, blurry as spilled blood,

it lives
in the cold, clear, deep water,
its slick, five-foot-wide body purse

like a drifting temple bell, decorated
with long streamers
flickering and searching

downward.

Sorry--it didn't keep the spacing so some of the impact is lost. The "shape" of her poems often add much to the experience.

# 236-238 Mary Oliver is wonderful - I think that "The Journey" is one of my favorite poems ever. Now you've both inspired me to go read some poetry.

>236 theaelizabet: I'm currently reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. It's a quick read and I'm enjoying it.