What are you reading the week of January 2, 2010

Happy New Year! May 2010 bless you with good health and good books!

Here's a little tidbit about an author birthday for this week, taken from this website.

Zora Neale Hurston, African-American novelist, 7 Jan. 1903 - 28 Jan. 1960

Born in Eatonville, FL, Hurston became part of the Harlem Renaissance, the black literati in New York City. Besides being a writer of novels (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dust Tracks on a Road, Mules and Men, etc.) and short stories, she was also a folklorist who travelled to Latin American and the Caribbean to learn more about her roots, and she received degrees from Howard University and Barnard, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship. Yet, she spent most of her life in Florida and died there in a welfare home in 1960. The writer Alice Walker resurrected her works and interest in her in the 1970s.

Well, looks like I might be second, but who knows by the time I hit Submit, eh? lol

I'm almost halfway through Of Bees and Mist and it's really starting to pick up my interest. It's quite lovely and magical :-) I'm also about 1/3 the way through Fruits Basket, volume 5 by Natsuki Takaya. Kisa's just showed up and is biting everyone.

Happy New Year, all :-)

I am reading The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory. I am nearly finished, and love it! The author has a writing style that really holds your interest.

A good way thru barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. Now I see what all the fuss is about! I'm listening to it on CD and the narrator has a great southern and at times african accent.
I'm currently reading Blood Canticle By Anne Rice. I havent read anyone other books from the Vampire Chronicles, just start right in the middle, (well actually I dont know where Blood Canticle falls in the of the chronicles) but I'm sure I'll read others.

Happy New Year, Terri! I wanted to say I appreciate the fine job you do on starting the thread each week! Perfection!

Finished my first book for this year in the wee hours of the morning- The Two Towers which was excellent and I'm very much looking forward to finishing off the Trilogy before I go back to university.

I'm finally getting into Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley. I'm also just a few pages into The Drift Latitudes, a novel by Jamal Mahjoub that is set in Liverpool in the 1950s, where a German refugee has a doomed love affair with a West Indian hat-check girl, producing a daughter who struggles with her mixed-race identity years later in London.

After I finish the Mahjoub, I'll start Selected Prose of Heinrich von Kleist, the latest offering from Archipelago Books. von Kleist (1777-1811) was a noted "German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer", a leading writer of the Romantic movement, and an influential writer for Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka.

I've started the year off with The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, a selection of Tolstoy's shorter works translated by the noted translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I'm not in NYC at the moment, but when I get back I'll be selecting my first "subway read" of the year -- something easy to carry around and read in tight spots.

>5 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Happy New Year to you too.

I'm well into The Bone People this weekend. Need to finish by Monday night for my book group. It's slow going but I'm liking it lots.

I'm wrapping up "And Another Thing ... " by Eoin Colfer. He's extending the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and though I was fearful that he couldn't mimic the style of the late Douglas Adams, he's done quite well.

Hope the new year is starting out right for all. I am part way into East of Eden and I am really enjoying it, just a bit tired from a couple of late nights and a cat who insists on getting fed at 6:30 regardless of when I actually fell asleep.

My daughter heads back to GA tomorrow and down come the Christmas things, so I'll have a little more time to read.

I am still reading Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller. Non-fiction, traveling with an old white African soldier to confront his demons in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Will soon start on a re-read of the Lensman early SF series for a group read. Also have to read the first chapter of The Histories by Herodotus for another group read.

Just finished Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag. Very short. Guess it's a standard for grad school English majors. That's why my partner's had it for a hundred years. Here's her point made over and over and over... cancer and TB have had symbolic and thematic significance in literature for the past few thousand years. Got it? Good. Luckily it only takes her 80 pages for her to slam you over the head with it 10 times per page.

Just started Don Quixote. Picked it up last summer, had never read it in school, and made it a 2010 goal. Like to start the new year with a classic.

I wasn't making much progress on The Battle for Spain this week, so I decided to pick up Under the Dome. I don't know why I keep getting suckered into reading Stephen King. After a couple of hundred pages, I fled back to The Battle for Spain looking for a little content.

I just finished reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot, which was wonderful. I can't stop thinking about it, so to recover I'm reading something with a lot less depth - The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. This is for my real-life book group, and so far all I have to say is that you can't find someone less like Dostoevsky than Brown. Might also start reading An Academic Question by Barbara Pym, or Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope.

My first book of the new year is read and reviewed...A Passage to India by E. M. Forster. Loved it! I've started reading A Gate at the Stairs and The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel. I'm actually being drawn in more by the Kimmel book.

OOh, I loved A Passage to India. I thought that was such an epic story. Glad you managed to read it.

I've started Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy and I've just been reminded of an ER book that I received last September. Oops... I forgot all about that, so I'm going to try to get to Double Cross by James David Jordan and another ER book I received in October, The Information Officer by Mark Mills within the month.

#14> Fred, I just bought Beevor's The Battle for Spain (in the Amsterdam airport bookstore!) on my return home from my 2-week vacation in Andalusia and I've got it on my short TBR list. Let me know how it holds up!

I'm a little over halfway through The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes.

18> It's quite good, but a little frustrating for me. The scope of the story is too much to fit in the 400+ pages of the text. Everything seems too compressed. Beevor is at his best when he is doing straight narrative accounts of the action, then he interrupts the action for big overview chapters. It makes the text a little schizophrenic.

Since this is my first real exposure to the Spanish Civil War, I am frequently lost due to the over abundance of political organizations. Trying to keep the CNT, the POUM, the PSUC, the UGT and another dozen organizations straight is difficult. Make sure that you bookmark the list of organizations at the front of the book.

After suffering through a reading slump the last quarter of last year, when I couldn't seem to find any books I wanted to read (!), I'm a little over halfway through Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom and loving it.

One of my reading goals for 2010 is to reacquaint myself with some of the books I've abandoned over the years. In keeping with that I picked up Mark Twain, a Life by Ron Powers and read 50 pages of it yesterday. It's truly excellent and I'm sure to finish it this time.

Also reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth for a read-along and Someone Knows My Name a/k/a The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill is my carry book.

I started reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters this morning and am 100 pages in. Loving it so far.

I am reading The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson for my January Book Club meeting. Also reading Three weeks to say Goodbye by C.J. Box

I just finished Living Dead in Dallas and will now start on Nebra by Thomas Thiemeyer for more light reading while at home. I hardly read at home so it needs to be light....

Reading The Last Day by James Landis, which is a bit more obvious and not as good as I had hoped.

I'm starting off the year with Generosity by Richard Powers and am enjoying it greatly.

I'm reading Scandalmonger by William Safire and loving every minute of it. It's history written as a story (as opposed to historical fiction) and sheds some insight onto current day politics and journalism.

Just settled into The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

I'm reading Seeing (cannot find the right touchstone) by José Saramago. Read a third by now, and I like it. I totally loved Blindness. Until now Seeing doesn't meet that standard, but still very good.

Back on The Lacuna after being distracted by Hunger Games and Catching fire. This book has so many beautiful lines in it, I find myself wishing I had a notebook to mark them all down in all the time.

I am continuing The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. I thought for awhile that she was making too many assertions without justifying them. As I read on, though, I realized she was adequately summarizing, in line with her goals, complicated material in a short space, and don't fault her for it.

The book is very much congruent with my thinking about God. It remains to be seen whether she will teach me much that is new to me other than references. I like it though, because even if it is not new, the book gathers a lot of stuff that is in various, different orbits in my thinking.

Robert

Just finished The World Undone by G.J. Meyer, which was a great read, and am getting ready to tackle Under the Dome--although I would prefer something a bit more portable.

I've continuing this week with two good ones, The Tenderness of Wolves and The Frozen Thames.

>34 Copperskye: You ought to be good and cold by the time you finish those two! LOL!

I was returning books to the Rockville Centre liberry, when a book leapt off the shelf to land at my feet. Being a sensible lad, I picked it up and carried it with me to the check-out counter. I don't want to have the Powers That Be get ticked at me and cause a fender-bender to make me go back into the liberry or something. (This sort of thing has happened to me more than once.)

So, the book that fell...Time Travelers are Schizophrenic by one Dr. A. R. Davis. Self-published. Don't know as I would ever have bothered to pick it up, but now it's on the TBR pile with a 2-week time bomb attached (due date).

Weird.

> 35 You are absolutely right about that and it's pretty darn cold here in RL, too!

#36>

I kid you not . . .
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeechxq/

Time Travelers Are Schizophrenic

In a universe nine generations removed from the world of the Fifth Prophet and the founding of the Family of Man, a Martian genealogist develops a series of ancestral portrait simulations. Although he is obsessed with the past, the ever changing future intrudes on his simple artistic life and brings him an epic poetess to love, a mystic quest to follow, a cosmic battle to fight to the death, and salvation. Uniquely qualified by a mental mutation, he stands as Janus, a bridge between the past and the future of mankind. As he hunts for answers to unexplained temporal anomalies, he is pursued through this imaginative cosmology of static universes and infinite possibilities by an alien devil.

>38 rocketjk: Oh-oh...I think I'm in trouble....

Oh, no! I think I have to have that.

Robert

#34 coppers, I am looking forward to your review on The Tenderness of Wolves. It might be one to add to my tbr list.

I'm reading Chris Killen, The Bird Room through LT Early Reviewers - about an obsessive young man in a relationship, can't say I like it that much but it's short. More interesting, I'm reading quite slowly Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey, a non fiction book about a group of women writing to each other during the 20th century.

I'm continuing reading "The Bridge of Sighs" by Richard Russo...I'm past the halfway point, now.
I'm hoping to finish it and "The Cradle" by Patrick Somerville (both library books) before my Literature/Book discussion classes resume the week of Jan. 11, 2010.
Hopefully I'll find time to get a headstart on the reading for the three classes that begin in January (still looking for two of the required books; the third, "The Once and Future King", I found and cheked out from the library...should be able to renew it just enough times to finish reading it for the 6-session class.

#38: LOL....sounds like the makings of either a really funny read, or a major stink .... will be looking forward to your review, rdear! good luck.

I finished Love Begins in Winter and have to say it's a wonderful book. I've reviewed it here if anyone is interested: http://www.librarything.com/topic/78973&newpost=1#top

I've got to get started on my ER book Double Cross by James David Jordan later tonight

I'm reading Empire Falls by Richard Russo, my first of his, and enjoying it.

>43 Catgwinn: How is The Bridge of Sighs? I think I'll want to read more of his.

>38 rocketjk: As a SF fan, I can't wait to hear about that one.

I am currently reading Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and am absolutely LOVING it. What a great way to start the new year!

#46 I am looking forward to your review. I want to read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt as well.

About 60 pages into a Christmas gift, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel. Excellent, but it's been a while since I've used the philosophy muscles. No cramps. Just a little sore.

Started Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone earlier this evening as my first 2010 read. I'm also hoping to finish some 2009 holdovers: Heat by Bill Buford and A Woman's Path.

Reading The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy and listening to Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon.

Started The Help two days ago - terrific so far! I think it would be excellent on audio with the unique voices of the women, but the wait at my library is much too long and I have to have it done by Book Club next week. If I like it enough, I may order it anyway!

I just finished Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin which is being released in about a week and 1/2 and it is fantastic. The beginning started a bit slow for me, but I was completely enraptured by the end.

Now I'm onto a reread of East of Eden, because any other book would likely suffer by comparison with Alice I Have Been.

I finished Sybille Bedford's "biographical novel", Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education, on New Year's Eve. Bedford takes us back to the 1920s -- to her very unconventional upbringing in Germany, Italy, France and England, and, particularly, to the life of her mother. It is also a fascinating look at the beginning of Sybille's career as a writer, the beginning of her friendship with Aldous and Maria Huxley, and, throughout, in the background, the political and social situation that would lead to WWII.

Now I'm reading Joseph O'Neill's Netherland.

Started reading Tempted by P. C. Cast but stopped after 20 pages and decided to read The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn first.

Still picking my way through Ghostwalk...and i wish the "ghost" would show up, already..this is one ODD book..

Time Travelers are Schizophrenic...eh? sounds about right...and the synopsis promises a bug-eyed read..if nothing else...What a hoot!...Beware of what you pick up, no??....definitely on my Wishlist (but i'm keeping my fingers crossed for good JuJu)..

;-}

I finished Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller. Strange book, still processing.

I am starting a re-read of Triplanetary by E.E. 'Doc" Smith. I am doing a Group Read of the Lensman series on the 75 book challenge.

I'm still reading Ake: the years of childhood by Wole Soyinka.

Finished reading The Innocence of Father Brown which I had begun last year. My review here,

http://www.librarything.com/work/34429/reviews/51714800

Or on my 50 Book Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/80925

I'm going to re-read The Great Gatsby next.

Beginning Light in August and continuing with Les Miserables.

The elegant universe by Brian Greene ,and alternating with The Innocence of father Brown .Next Armandale of Wilki Collins ,after that , Oliver Twist is waiting.....

I'm still reading Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. I'll be going on a couple trips this month and hope to catch up on some reading then.

I have SO not read enough during the festive break. Too many festive movies mixed with the lethargy from eating too much food, I guess.

I started Sunshine by Robin McKinley just before the New Year, and finished it just afterwards - it was pretty good, quite dark and easy to immerse yourself in. McKinley writes quite beautifully. My first book STARTED in 2010 was Persuasion, this morning. My sister bought me the DVD for Christmas and I didn't want to cheat by watching it first!

I know what you mean about not reading enough this break, # 62. I had planned on reading much much more. I started, A Tale of Two Cities, and Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I had to stop reading both of them because I just had to read Sherlock Holmes.

About a third of the way into Secret of the Sands. Enjoying the trip to ancient Egypt. :)

I started my first official book of 2010 this morning, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Although, I've been distracted today by the Atlanta Falcons winning, ending the season at 9-7, and finally having 2 winning seasons in a row.

Yea, between football and video games I've been a bit distracted lately, but I'll be back to my normal pace after the playoffs are finished! :)

We are in the playoffs, but lost the game today and lost Welker for the rest of the year it looks like (knee).

#45..KAzevdo,
I'm liking "Bridge of Sighs"...it's rather slow-paced, but interesting anyway.

Reading Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott. Decided to read it, after watching the Louisa May Alcott special on PBS last night.

I'm reading Ian Rankin's first Rebus mystery, Knots and Crosses, for my library mystery group, after which I need to get back to my November ER book.

Starting the year with something light: The Exile by Allan Folsom

(neither touchstone is working, for some reason)

Still working on Little Women. Some really great books mentioned in this thread. Some more books added to my tbr pile. :D

I'm currently reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's not really what I was expecting, but I am liking it so far -- even though it is depressing at parts.

I finished Double Cross by James David Jordan and thought it was just so-so.

I've started another ARC, The Information Officer by Mark Mills and it's looking promising so far.

Just finished Of Bees and Mist and found it quite magical. Good ending, and I couldn't believe how many facets to the story he wrote in, and he tied them all up and together. Impressive writing skills.

Now I'm going to start on Any Given Doomsday, which was an ER book I got a while back, but never got around to. Self-flagellation given for being a bad book-taker

Last night I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and got through 3 or 4 of the short stories. I should finish it tonight although I seriously hope I can get to sleep earlier than 4am as I'm getting sick of waking up at 11am and wasting half the day.

I finished Crossing to Safety last night. I really enjoyed it. It's one that I'll keep with me in my thoughts for a long time. The characters were so believable with all their faults. I have LT to thank for pointing it out to me.

I finished the year with a lot of light stuff and now I am a ways into East of Eden - which is good so far, but you have to read it - it can't be scanned!

I'm just about finished with Carol Sklenicka’s biography of Raymond Carver, Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life. At 592 pages this is the definitive life story of one of the greatest short story writers who ever lived. However, it does help a great deal to be familar with Carver's work before tackling this exhaustively researched tome.

(Sorry, have no idea why those touchstones are not loading).

I'm reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, which is very good so far. Also, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Scott Pilgrim Volume 4.

I finished Under The Dome and The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games was a much more satisfying read, but that may be because I'm not comfortable with the fact that aliens may be in control of our destiny. Anyhow, there is nothing to be done about that except stick my head in the sand. I still am glad I read both books but my vote goes with The Hunger Games. These books count for 2009 because my LT year does not start until the ninth of January. I am reading Catching Fire and Thornyhold for the beginning of 2010.

I finished The White Rhino Hotel. You can check out my review. Short version: a rip-snortin' good time! I've started a short story collection by Ha Jin called A Good Fall and it's been very good. Also been listening to All Over But the Shoutin', which has been outstanding, will easily be one of the best memoirs I've ever read or heard.
We will be doing a Group Read of World Without End by Ken Follett. It is the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth. We launch Jan 15th. Come join us! The general thread can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/81163

I finished The White Rhino Hotel. You can check out my review. Short version: a rip-snortin' good time! I've started a short story collection by Ha Jin called A Good Fall and it's been very good. Also been listening to All Over But the Shoutin', which has been outstanding, will easily be one of the best memoirs I've ever read or heard.
We will be doing a Group Read of World Without End by Ken Follett. It is the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth. We launch Jan 15th. Come join us! The general thread can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/81163

>Hey mark..is there an echo here......echo here???

;-\

J

I'm reading The Civil War: Fort Sumpter to Perryville by Shelby Foote.

I FINALLY finished Anna Karenina on a long train ride yesterday, and started my first book of 2010, The Poisonwood Bible, last night.

The Battle at the Moons of Hell (Helfort's War: Book I) by Graham Sharp Paul. Not a bad read . A little above the standard military Sci-Fi stuff. Have the Second book to read also.

Started Germinal by Emile Zola

On the danger to bore everyone to death (including me) I have to admit I'm still on with the Canterbury Tales but I just have 220 pages to go (Yeah!) and I try hard to finish it off this week. That does not mean I wouldn't enjoy them, in fact I like the book and the tales very much.
Furthermore I'm still into Soll und Haben. When I do a really exhausting reading week I could finish this one in this week as well, but for it's not that important I will keep it for another week.
Then there is my Mecklenburgs Volkssagen on the hand, where I'm doing poorly. Okay, I sat priority to Chaucer, so no more complaining.

I just finished Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune. Tonight I start A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar -- I really need the refresher. And I continue to plod through The Dark Tower.

Reading a 1949 book: The Purple Shamrock by Joseph Dinneen about James Michael Curley, notorious Boston mayor and thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and wondering why I waited so long.

#91 - I think I said something similar when I finally read Sarah Waters' Night Watch. Now I have Fingersmith lanquishing on my shelves and I may make it my next "Books Off the Shelf" Challenge book.

>90 AnneH: AnneH
I just got The Purple Shamrock and haven't started it yet. I can't wait te read your review and see what you thought of it.

>93 LA12Hernandez: LA12Hernandez
I'm so surprised to find someone else reading this out of print book. Is it because of the Boston connection or are you interested in notorious politicians?

I finished Midnight in Death, the 8th book in the In Death series and a 90 page novella on Saturday. My first book finished in the new year but not my first book started in it. Despite being so short, this book had plenty of plot packed into it and read more like a full-length In Death book, in terms of quality, than an elongated short story.

The first book I started this year was Desperate Duchesses, romance #3 of 89. Not bad so far. The heroine doesn't quite seem to be the protagonist as far as depth of character so far.

I'm not quite sure what it means for 2010 that I've started the year with two quick, light reads.

I finished my first book of the year, Blood Music by Greg Bear and have read Book 1 of Herodotus's Histories for the 1010 group read and am currently reading

The Prehistory of the Mind by Steven Mithen
Twelve Caesars by Suetonius (I've set myself a _target of one Caesar a month!)
and Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes around 1am this morning but now unsure what to read next.... hmmm

I'm reading The Historian. I took this to read on a seven hour bus trip, but instead read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The bus had problems with its brakes so we were stranded then diverted and, all up, three hours late. This allowed me to finish the book in one go, so I wasn't too upset. Just really sick of sitting on a bus.

I finished Saving CeeCee Honeycutt last night and absolutely loved it! I have now started A Child Called It which is a very drastic change in subject matter but am enjoying it so far.

I am currently reading American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

bookaholicgirl I love A Child Called It I have read that a few times over the years.

I'm in between books at this moment. Just finished The Hound of the Baskervilles and I'll hold off until tomorrow to start Mulengro by Charles de Lint

I'm about 50 pages from finishing The Quest of the Holy Grail (I'm in the 230's). I started it right before Christmas, and had a few intervening 4-day weekends where I spent too long on the black hole computer, so I should finish it this week.

#102 AnnaClaire, lol... I too spent a lot of time on the black hole, only mine was connected to facebook games.

>103 thekoolaidmom:
I do quite a lot of that, too, but mostly from work. I don't usually have much to do: stupid apps keep me sane. (Granted, the pay isn't wonderful, either.)

At home, it's mostly The Sims 2.

I'm currently enjoying Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which is seems to be unique among fantasy novels (at least in my experience). It's like a Victorian classic, but with dragons (what if the rules of Victorian society were applied to dragons?). Wonderful details, though it takes some getting used to when table manners are side-by-side with dragon cannibalism. I do like the unexpected. :)

Got my latest ER - Back on Murder and will start that after I finish East of Eden in a couple of days.

I finished Wonder Boys and I am about to start listening to The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III, while I continue reading The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

>94 NarratorLady:
Actually my friend has a used bookstore and when she came across this book she gave it to me just because it had purple in the title. As you can figure purple is my favorite color.

Hey guys, I'm reading -and enjoying- Susan King's The Swan Maiden

I just finished reading Push by Sapphire. It was an amazing book. I recommend it.

First book finished Finch by Jeff VanderMeer. Loved this book, plus it's two Ambergris predecessors CIty of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword, but I'll never look at mushrooms the same...
Currently reading An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe - 1/2 way through and still undecided...

madphill, go see the movie!

Robert

I have just finished reading the book Crash Proof 2.0 by Peter Schiff.

.

I haven't posted here in a while because I haven't gotten much reading done for two reasons. The first is that we got a dog a week ago. Talk about a time sucker! Very welcome one though. I'm totally and thoroughly in love.

It also took me four days to write my blog post on the books I read in 2009. You can find it at http://writeupmylife.com/2010/01/05/to-all-the-books-i-read-last-year/ if you're interested.

I did start The Help a couple of days ago, and I am thoroughly loving it! I love starting off the New Year with a great book. I'm also reading Ruined by Reading by Lynne Sharon Schwartz - a memoir of a life of reading. Excellent.

Happy New Year everyone!

Just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zickus. Starting The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Got a Sony Reader for Christmas -woot!

The other day, I launched my post-Christmas offensive against William L. Shirer's excellent The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and am now eight hundred pages into it. Still a long way to go, though.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to have another go at Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. I've read a few chapters, which is better progress than last time, but even now the resolution has turned into a chore. Does anybody still read Sterne for pleasure?

Better by far is the Ray Bradbury collection Quicker Than the Eye.

I reviewed a first novel for the 75-Books Challenge group's "Take It Or Leave It" Challenge (first month, first novel), called Shooting An Albatross. It's in my thread, post ...#147.

Short version: sgtbigg, usnmm, please go get one and enjoy! The story's really, really good.

@ #30:
I really enjoyed Blindness, too. Unfortunately I have just not been able to get into Seeing yet. I plan on giving it another go later in the year. I'm hoping it's just a case of not being in the right mood.

I'm reading The White Tiger, The Time Machine and The Afflicted Girls. I realized it had been a long time since I sat down and read an entire book of poetry cover to cover.

Started yesterday, Someone At A Distance by Dorothy Whipple.

>114 jhedlund:: J, a dog is a perfect reason to slow down on reading. :)

On the other hand, your dog might enjoy being read aloud to. Mine was a fan of Dr. Seuss for many years. :)

Congrats on the new addition to your family.

Finished Daughter of the Blood the day before yesterday, and started Sunshine right after, which I'm halfway through and enjoying.

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: The Director's Cut came today, so I've started that as well.

I can't keep up! I can't keep up!

Finished my second book of 2010, Still Life by Louise Penny and found it very entertaining. (Touchstone not working - Go here instead.

Now I'm reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I started the New Year with The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie and now I am reading Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong and Lights Out Liverpool by Maureen Lee.

#82 msf - glad you liked The White Rhino Hotel, Mark. All three books are wonderful.

#125 DeltaQueen50 - I adore Hercule Poirot and hope you liked the first book of his many adventures.

I'm reading The City and The City by China Mieville. I'm on page 130 and have just really started understanding it. The beginning reminded me of my frustration with A Clockwork Orange - here it's the phrases and rules of a different world, there it was language, but either way the author sets up barriers you have to cross over to enjoy the book. I didn't make it with ACO, but have high hopes of loving The City squared.

I read Mommy Knows Worst in one go yesterday and I've left a review. I love Lileks snarky humor and I was really looking forward to the arrival of this one in the mail. It's part of my 1010 Challenge.
I'm still working on What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew and I'm expecting arrivals every day from my after-Christmas orders.

I finished and reviewed Empire Falls yesterday, and started One Hundred Years of Solitude.

http://www.librarything.com/review/54040809

Reading The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. So far, I'm not really thrilled by it, but it's a short read so I'll probably stick with it.

Also just starting The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears. This one seems promising. I tried his Stone's Fall last year, but put it aside - mainly because it was such a chunkster! Hope to get back to that one this year, too.

I'm on Book 3 Blood of the Fold of the seeker series by Terry Goodkind. Definitely grown-up fantasy--not books for kids.

>125 karenmarie: karenmarie

I almost picked up The City & The City last night. I had the same problem with A Clockwork Orange, so now I'm wondering if I should go back for the Mieville or not.

#125 - Karenmarie - I loved The Mysterious Affair At Styles and am looking forward to reading lots more of Agatha Christie this year.

Reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk and finishing up The Greatest Show on Earth by my hero, Richard Dawkins I, too, am planning reading plenty more Agatha Christie this year.

twogerbils what do you think of Snow. We read it for book club and it was unfortunately not a popular choice.

I may have to take back my "excellent" for Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?. (See message #48)

Sandel's chapter on Libertarianism was half hearted at best and maybe the critique was soft because Sandel is a true believer? Does he really think that society consists of 350+ million unfettered individuals making free choices, with no collective responsibility? Why should I pay for a fire truck or a hospital? or roads I don't drive on?

The preceeding chapter, on utilitarianism, was good but I'll have to hold judgement until I finish the book but I know the Jesuit and lay professors that taught the undergrad philosophy I was required to take would give Mr. Sandel a C+, or at best a B- so far. I'm just glad I didn't have to find this out at Harvard prices in his class. Is America's civil discourse so poor that this book and, the PBS series it spawned, pass for greatness?

Still reading Hospital Sketches for my bedside read. Picked Native Son by Richard Wright off my shelves for another read.

I don't think of starting off the New Year with reading, since I'm always reading. Most people here probably are too. I just found this Library Thing--can't believe I didn't hear about it sooner. I'm reading William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism by Robert D. Richardson for a writing project. I love the James family, find them endlessly fascinating. I just got The House of Wits by Paul Fisher that I will start when I'm done with the William biog. Although first I may read the Julia Child biog, Appetite for Life, The Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley Fitch. I bought it after seeing the movie--Julie/Julia or whatever it was called.

labwriter, Welcome to LT. I didn't see the movie Julie/Julia. I read the book My Life in France By Julia Child. I really enjoyed it.

Finished "Bridge of Sighs"...satisfactory & positve ending.
Started, & and am at the halfway point, "The Cradle" by Patrick Somerville (his first novel, BTW)

Has anyone else tried The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova? I feel like a jerk because I was halfway through the book, put it away because I went out of town for a couple of weeks, didn't get back to it for a month, and now I'm lost. It got pretty good reviews. I had trouble remembering where I was with it sometimes even when I was reading it because I would read it at night and fall asleep. I guess I'll put it away for awhile and start over--this time maybe keeping a cheat-sheet of characters or something. Is it worth finishing?

#137. Hi. Well, I think the movie was panned by the reviewers, but I really liked it. I read the book that the Julie person wrote and was disappointed in it because it didn't go into Julia Child all that much. I'll have to put My Life in France on my wishlist. Thanks.

Welcome labwriter! I loved The Historian. However, I did read it over about 3 days when I didn't have to do much else (pure heaven). There is so much to keep track of. I hope you do start again, but if you read all the reviews, you'll find many who absolutely HATED it. Same as with most books, I guess.

No need to feel jerkish, no rules on LT for how, what, where, when, who to read. :)

>Karen- I've wanted to read The City and The City since reading a glowing review. I've not read Mieville before, he sounds like a very interesting writer!
Cindy- Along with Grapes of Wrath, Native Son is my favorite all-time book! I've read it at least twice and I'm due a re-read in the future. Enjoy!
I finished listening to All Over But the Shoutin' and if you haven't read or heard this incredible memoir, do yourself a big favor and check it out!
Also well-entrenched into Child 44! An amazing thriller!

>140 labwriter: labwriter, welcome to LT and I hope your time here brings you lots of bookish pleasure.

I think The Historian is 2/3 wonderful, last third not so much. Not so much at all. In fact, boo hiss. IMO, not worth finishing in a life that has a finite number of eyeblinks.

And now about ME!

I've posted my second review for "Books off the Shelf"...The Trapp Family on Wheels...in post #15.

What a difference half a century makes!

>143 msf59: msf59, I decided to add All Over But the Shoutin' to my 1010 challenge. It sounds great, thanks for the recommendation.

What a fun place this is. I've been on facebook for the past 6 months with my "friends" and feel like I've been shouting down a well. What a treat to find a place where people actually read.

Thanks for the comments re: The Historian, #142 & #144. I will keep both in mind, maybe try it again, but if things don't go well I won't push it.

I loved The Historian its one of those books that you can like for so many reasons: the traveling and descriptions of places in Europe that were lost forever in war and fanaticism; the terror and the myth of dracula adn of course the intrigue and love stories in the book (between father and daughter, husband and wife).

-->141 labwriter:
Hola Becky
Welcome to LT! My Life in France was so good. I recommend it highly.

I finished Joseph O'Neill's Netherland which I liked very much. Next up: A. Manette Ansay's Good Things I Wish You.

I finished two books on Wednesday: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley, which was one of the best and most thoroughly researched biographies I've ever read (4-1/2 stars), and Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño, which was pretty bad (2 stars, at best). I'll start reading Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon, which examines the relationship between mind and body through the lives of nine famous hypochondriacs; The Word Book, a newly translated collection of stories by the Japanese writer Kanai Mieko; and The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, which contains all of her published poems written between 1968 and 1998.

I finished A Child Called It last night. It was a very quick read but also extremely difficult to read. I cannot say that I "enjoyed" this book because I really don't think that word can be used to describe the experience of reading this book. I have also decided that I hate the guy who wrote A Million Little Pieces because I can no longer read a book like this without thinking "Is this all true?" I also found the book very unsatisfying because there is absolutely no explanation for the mother's behavior and no reason given for why the father would allow it to happen.

My next book is Eyes at the Window which is an historical novel set in Pennsylvania-Ohio from 1810-1861 and concerns the murder of an Amish baby. I haven't started it yet so don't have an opinion on it. I hope to start it this afternoon.

#147, labwriter, My Life in France is really fun, and the basis for most of the Meryl Streep scenes in the movie. In my opinion, the whole movie could have focused on the Julia story, with Streep and Stanley Tucci et al, who were wonderful, and left out the insipid and self-indulgent Julie person altogether.

bookaholicgirl: There are two more books after A Child Called It, they delve into after he is put in to foster care. I liked the books but also unsatisfied with not knowing why the mother did what she did and the father letting it happen.

I am still reading American Wife (about halfway done) and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Once I finish American Wife I will concentrate on Dorian Gray.

#150 Kidzdoc I was pleased to hear that the Thelonious Monk biography was good. The book is now on my TBR list. Thanks for the info

I finished Catching Fire. Sixty pages into Thornyhold. Not sure what else to match it up with. Catching Fire was okay but nothing compared to The Hunger Games. I am definitely going to read the sequel though because now I am thoroughly emeshed in the story.

#140 labwriter - I'm currently reading The Historian (see my post #98). Unfortunately it's difficult finding a chunk of time to really get into it, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Last night I finished Carol Sklenicka’s superb biography of Raymond Carver, Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, and it’s a biography of the highest level -- objective, compassionate, riveting, a page turner, fluent prose and meticulously researched. The book leaves no stoned unturned, and is particulary interesting when Sklenicka documents the whole Lish/Carver editing controversy. However, I’d recommend becoming familiar with Carver’s short stories before tackling the biography. Nonetheless, highly recommended.

Finished The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, an excellent novel/memoir of the Vietnam War, and am reading Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie.

Well, I've succumbed to pop culture and my nagging conscience about missing some of the classics. After seeing "Sherlock Holmes" over the holidays, I am reading my first (of I hope many) Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. Up next will be Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Girls. I do my best reading in this cold weather!

Read 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins, and was pleasantly surprised. Did not see that coming! It was good, I enjoyed it.
Just finished Den of Thieves by Julia Golding, and am now on Walden- Henry David Thoreau
It's been quite thought provoking so far, and I'm enjoying it at a nice steady pace.

#150> kidzdoc I'm with snash (#154). Monk is in the top three of my jazz pantheon. I loved the documentary "Straight No Chaser" that came about about 5-20 years ago. I'm going to put this bio on my TBR list, too.

btw, a reminder (or notice) to all that I am still hosting my weekly radio show, The Jazz Odyssey, each Monday afternoon from 2 to 4 Pacific time (US). You can hear me streaming live online at www.kzyx.org (select "Listen Live).

I have just started reading An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison. And The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorder. So far so good. And Mr. Durick, I plan on it. Thanks.

I just finished William James In the Maelstrom of American Modernism by Robert D. Richardson. That was quite a heavy read, although Richardson made it as enjoyable as possible.

I'm continuing on with the James family, but this one is a more "gossipy" book and should be a much easier read: House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family, by Paul Fisher.

I think Library Thing is going to be a good thing for me, pushing me to read more, which is my goal for this year, and also keeping track of what I read.

Well, I have finally completed my first book of the year and it only took seven days to do it (well, eight actually since I started it before the first).

East of Eden - thought I'd start the year with a classic.

My next book is an ER that I just received from December - Back on Murder.

Mark, Thanks for recommending All But the Shoutin.
Read some reviews sounds really good and you have never steered me wrong .Native Son is good. I have 2 other of Richard Wright's book's.

Sorry, LTers, but Shadow of the Wind just isn't for me. Too overblown or something. Maybe I'm just not in the right frame of mind at the moment. I'm moving on to Murder with Peacocks to clear my mind and give me some chuckles.

Ach! Writers' second books. I'm a third of the way through thirteen moons by Charles Frazier for the second time, and I may bail on it again. I loved Cold Mountain--read it twice within a couple of months, something I almost never do--so maybe that's the problem with "moons." I guess I was hoping for something I would like the way I did that one, and this ain't it. Anybody else read this one?

#167 labwriter: That's the same thing that makes me wonder if that's why Harper Lee never completed a second book. After To Kill a Mockingbird, no matter how good the next book would be, it could never match the first.

I started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora last night which so far very interesting.

165 - anything by Rick Bragg is good - check my library for titles and some reviews

>166 jbleil: I only got through it because I was on an airplane. Overblown is a good word.

I'm doing a reread of Raymond Carver's superb collection of short stories, Where I'm Calling From. To create something magical and lasting out of the merely pedestrian, out of fragments of the everyday and the throwaway is a challenge, and Carver's ability to do so (with the help of editor Gordon Lish, of course), is a testament to just how great a writer Carver was.

The Bone People is GREAT-- as is East of Eden-- I just finished Mary Karrs Lit-- this women has written more memoirs then most presidents-- I am still not sure how I feel about this book--did anybody else finish it???

The Bone People is GREAT-- as is East of Eden-- I just finished Mary Karrs Lit-- this women has written more memoirs then most presidents-- I am still not sure how I feel about this book--did anybody else finish it???

--> 158

I, too, loved the experience of reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. If you want to read another book of his novels that is just as good, take time to read Going After Cacciato.

I had the good fortune to hear Tim O'Brien do a live reading at The National Book Festival in DC this past year. His reading (podcast) brought me to tears and formally jumped his name onto my list of favorite authors.

# 167> I read Thirteen Moons a year or so ago and actually liked it better than Cold Mountain. I just thought the story was more compelling overall. Also, much as I enjoyed reading Cold Mountain, I hated the ending, so that colors my memory of that book and my comparison of the two Frazier works.

At any rate, whether Thirteen Moons is or isn't better than Cold Mountain is certainly a matter of taste. Bottom line is that I found Thirteen Moons a very strong and enjoyable novel. That's a matter of taste too, of course.

I did wonder why Thirteen Moons didn't get the attention Cold Mountain did and, for that matter, hardly got any attention at all. I guess the ballyhoo over the first book made it something that somehow just couldn't be topped in many peoples' minds. Or maybe a lot of people simply don't agree with me about the quality of Thirteen Moons.

Gotta get me a copy of The Moonstone. It keeps popping up favorably. I would also like to get my hands on a copy of A Reliable Wife which just came out in paperback according to Shelf Awareness. My list is neverending!

SqueakyChu, thanks for the tip on Going After Cacciato, and I'm glad to hear about his reading of his work. I'll keep an eye out for an author appearance in Chicago.

>176 rocketjk: Frazier waited ten years to publish the second novel, which makes it a complete re-sell in marketing terms. The carryover audience just wasn't in the buyin' mood after that long a gap.

Well, I started off with two Books That Shall Not Be Named that I ended up giving up on - just not in the right frame of mind or something. So now I'm reading Wolf Hall and it's going much smoother than the first two (thank goodness!). I'm also reading The collected letters of C.S. Lewis Vol. 1, a book I received for Christmas and is so long I'm sure I will be reading it for a few months...

I finished and loved The Monster Club by R. Chetwynd-Hayes and now I've started Wide Sargasso Sea.

>SeanLong- I'm very interested in the Carver bio! The only short story collection of his, that I own and have read is Short Cuts, which was also a tie-in to Robert Altman's film of the same name. Both were outstanding! I'm due for another collection!

>185 msf59:-Mark-the Carver bio is a page turner. If you only read one Carver story, read Cathedral. One of the few stories that has brought a tear to my eye.

Finished "The Cradle" by Patrick Somerville...a pleasant quick read.

Started "Once and Future King" by T. H. White...in preparation for a book discussion group/class that begins next week...hopefully it will be more interesting once discussions & comments from the instructor begin.

I finished Emily Barr, The Life You Want last night and Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey this morning.

I started reading two books which I am reviewing for www.thebookbag.co.uk on Thursday

Angelica Garnett, The Unspoken Truth
and
Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child

The Unspoken Truth seems to be 4 autobiographical novellas - I like the second more than the first. The writing is beautiful but I found the first story unconvincing because it's meant to be about an 8 year old's thoughts and I didn't believe even the most precocious 8 year old would have those thoughts. In the second, the main character is 16 and it's more plausible, and there are more other characters.

Chinua Achebe's book is billed as a collection of essays. The intriguing title is taken from a description of the author himself during his schooldays, and in this first essay he is talking about the tendency of imperialist countries to claim that they are protecting those they colonise - quite topical, really. I'm quite excited at getting a chance to read this. I've read all 3 of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's books and this man is probably one of Nigeria's best known writers, who Adichie has acknowledged as her inspiration.

I finished Tooth and Claw, which was wonderful all the way through, and moved on to House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, a pleasant YA fantasy, which was a quick read.

>176 rocketjk:: I also enjoyed and was impressed by Thirteen Moons when I read it last year. It doesn't have as much of the emotional focus, in some ways, as Cold Mountain, so I can see how some readers might not have felt as pulled in.

New thread is here.

#122 jbleil ROFLOL I feel your pain! ;D

I'm reading The White Tiger this week.

I am halfway through the Help by Kathryn Stockett. This book is terrific.

Love to find a great debut novel and discover an author that I want to read again and again.

After a couple of chapters I decided this was the book I want as my choice for my Bookclub to read. When that happens, I usually stop reading and save the book to read shortly before the meeting

But in this case, I can't stop myself.

Thread for this week is here.

I posted this here because it's mildly spoilery, and no one is likely to run across it accidentally:

"Gosh, I'm sorry," she gasped, pulling away from me in confusion. "You must think I'm awful. I don't even know why I did that."

"An instinctive reaction to danger escaped?" I suggested. "A kind of inherited reflex. The male rescues the female from danger, and saves the woolly mammoth cutlets, and the female repays him with a sexual display." I added, after a pause, "I'm sure it was nothing personal," hoping just the opposite. She just stared at me. I opened the door to the building. "Are you all right? You're not hurt?"

The Book of Air and Shadows, beginning of chapter 9 (p169 hardcover).

I stopped reading at this point, completely repelled that this was the level of the best work in the book. I kept hoping I would get to the "a-ha!" moment, and instead got to the "aaah! aaah!" moment.

lol That's awful! Geez...Now what do I do with this book?!