What are you reading this month (February, 2012)?

I'm reading What I Hate by Roz Chast

I'm finishing Half-assed by Jennette Fulda. I like the sincerity and humour in the book. Fulda succeeded in losing over 200 pounds, but she stays focussed, she doesn't preach and recognizes the on-going difficulty her weight loss. Easy to read and fun.

I'm reding A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres. It's about the mass suicide at Jonestown.

Still working on St. Urbain's Horseman, which is due back at the library soon (although I may renew it to be on the safe side). It's an at-home book that can double as a bus book if necessary.
My "read a few pages before bedtime" book is That is All, by John Hodgman.
And I've also started Agent Zigzag, by Ben Macintyre, which is an extremely fascinating read so far.

Lynn--is that a fictional account, or is it non-fiction?

I recently finished Hey Nostradamus!, which was my first CanLit for 2012. Douglas Coupland is simply fabulous at capturing Vancouver--can you think of anyone who does it as well? I can't. I'm sure I'll read at least one more novel by him this year.

Now I have several things going, but I'm trying to get to Oliver Twist--I read a Dickens a year, and this month is his 200th birthday.

I am halfway through Great Expectations, Louis Riel and Freeway and enjoying all of them.

Nickelini: How is Oliver Twist? Great Expectations is only my second Dickens but I can imagine reading more but I need to decide which ones. Do you have any favourites?

Fmgee - Oliver Twist is the Dickens I hear the worst comments about. I've seen the film version of Oliver! and I did find the ending terribly convenient, so my expectations aren't high. I adored Bleak House, and I also really enjoyed Nicholas Nickleby because it was pretty funny. Before I started reading Dickens a few years ago, I always thought his novels were very dire and tragic. They're a lot lighter and more fun than I expected.

Nickelini: Thanks for the tips. I thought Dickens would be very hard to read but I am not finding that. I have a copy of Bleak House so I might have to bump it up the pile.

I thought Dickens would be difficult too! I read A Christmas Carol back in the late '80s, and I was surprised by how much I loved it, so I bought A Tale of Two Cities, but I couldn't get into it then.....or when I tried it in the 90s....I finally read it in 2010. I find it the most different from the others of his that I've read. I definitely need to be in the mood to read him, but once I commit, he's really not difficult.

I'm reading this great South Korean espionage book L'Empire des lumières by Young-ha Kim. Pitting South and North, it's like a good old fashion Cold War espionage but with a modern twist. I was expecting a bigger culture shock, but it's easy to follow (although I had to figure out that last names always come first...)

On a bit of a mystery reading spree in between Canada Reads non-fiction. Just finished Peter Robinson's A Dedicated Man and starting The Princess of Burundi while starting The Game. The Game is still in the running so far on Canada Reads so hope I get into it before the end of the debates.

Starting in on a First Nations play The Rez Sisters.

#12 - I definitely want to hear what you think of it--I loved Thomson Highway's novel Kiss of the Fur Queen.

Thanks Joyce for pointing me in the right direction to this thread!

I've read The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar and really enjoyed it. She's an excellent writer and I plan to read more by her.

I've also read The Boy in the Suitcase. While it was not of the same calibre as was The Space Between Us , I still very much enjoyed it.

Now I'm in the middle of Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum. I'm loving it! She's such a master at psychological suspense.

Nickelini, A Thousand Lives is non-fiction. Like many others, I remember where I was when I first heard about the deaths at Jonestown. It was shocking and difficult to understand...and the book did provide a good history, but I'm still shocked and find it hard to understand.

I've moved on to fiction: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie which I'm really enjoying.

> I noticed my husband was reading A Thousand Lives and although the memory is still shocking, I am not tempted to read about it.

I've been alternately dipping into women's history with Dreamers of a new day as well as Steve Jobs and my nighttime book is The Private Patient by P. D. James.

I'm re-reading The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan for a book club.

I'm reading The Game which I didn't get to read before the Canada Reads debates. It's not holding my attention the way Something Fierce did, but maybe it will pick up when I'm more into it.

arcona, I had a hard time getting into The Game, even though I had been quite a Canadiens fan in the 1970s. However, it got better as I got into in. Mr. Dryden started talking more about the political and personal context surrounding the game and less about who put powder on whose suit.

I'm reading A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison so far I'm really enjoying it.

I've had a very good run with books recently so I am quite disappointed that Voices in Time, by Hugh MacLennan, is turning out to be such a dud. The story is very strange in content and in the telling, and it's frustrating because MacLennan also wrote one of my favourite books, Barometer Rising. This hasn't turned me off him though; I don't think I'm alone in considering this one substandard. So abandonné it shall be. Life's too short etc.

Instead, I'm reading The Ice Pilots (that was the only way the touchstone was going to show up) and am enthralled. I'm a sucker for books about aviation.

I finished Great Expectations and really enjoyed the third volume. I just picked up Return to Tibet which will be next.

>21 - rabbitprincess - Ice Pilots looks great! I am also a sucker for books about aviation. Have you read any of Richard Bach's books about flying his biplane? Biplane, Stranger to the Ground, Nothing by Chance? There's also one called Illusion that is a bit different, but still involves flying. Then there's Ernest K. Gann. Dated, but still great stories.

23: Haven't read Richard Bach or Ernest K. Gann, but am adding both those authors to my list! Actually I did watch The High and the Mighty and have the movie of Island in the Sky. Thanks so much for the recommendations!

>24 - you're welcome! I haven't seen either of the movies, but did enjoy Island in the Sky even if it is dated. I have The High and The Mighty waiting in the wings. Both are by Gann. I discovered Bach at the recommendation of a high school teacher. At that time in my life, I'd buy any book that had a plane on the cover! Didn't matter what the story was. I'm still leaning a bit that way, but at least now I also consider other covers! ;) LOL

@25: I hope you like The High and the Mighty! (Waiting in the wings! Love it. :D) I really liked it, but probably for the wrong reasons -- I can't take airplane disaster movies seriously thanks to Airplane! ;) But I also like John Wayne in general so was going to be happy either way.

Have you read Beyond the Black Box, by George Bibel? I borrowed it from the library for work purposes (I'm a technical translator and aviation is one of my subject fields) and am going to get my own copy. Very interesting stuff. It also has a plane on the cover! Of course the plane is kind of wrecked, but at least the crash in question did not result in any fatalities.

@26 LOL That was so totally unintentional that I'm glad you caught it! I hope to get to The High and The Mighty soon. I haven't read Beyond the Black Box. I'll put it on my wishlist! Thanks for the rec! Your job sounds really interesting!

27: It is indeed interesting! I learn something new every day. :)

To replace Voices in Time, I've started rereading The Watch that Ends the Night. Much better!

I just finished Harperland after LynnB recommended it last October. There are several good reviews of the book; so I'll just add that there's not a lot of good news within the pages.

No, there isn't a lot of good news, but I'm glad I read Harperland.

I'm having a lot of fun with a 1923 text British Columbia: Information for Emigrants by Gilbert Malcolm Sproat. Like this section on public debt: "The Province has to public debt, but the claims of a rapid industrial devleopment will probably soon remove this peculiarity."

I finished Quand souffle le vent du nord by Austrian writer Daniel Glattauer, a well-done modern epistolary romance and I've started a History of Reading by Manguel.

History of Reading sounds heavy???

I'm reading The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett for a book club.

#32 it rather is, but it has pictures ;-) Actually, it's not too long and Manguel has a very personal approach to it - it's as much about reading as it is about the love of reading - a connection created amongst readers.

In honour of Black history month, I am reading Les pieds sales by Togolese Edem Awumey, who now lives in Quebec. Later, I'll be reading La Belle Créole by Maryse Condé (from Guadeloupe). I also have Lovelie D'Haiti by Sylvain Meunier, born in Haiti, but now resides in Canada - we'll see if I have enough reading time!

31, 32, 33: I have History of Reading on the shelf and I am looking forward to reading it... whenever that is!

I finished Great Expectations and really enjoyed it. Louis Riel was good but left me wanting to know a little more. Another graphic novel Motel Art Improvement Service was well drawn but a little lacking in story. I am almost done Return to Tibet which I am enjoying even though it makes my blood boil about what was lost from a very interesting culture.

I have two personal days coming this weekend at the Yellow Point Lodge where the idea if a triathalon is Eat, Read, Sleep so I am stacking books up in every corner of the house trying to decide what to take!

#34 - that sounds fascinating!
I just finished The Game by Ken Dryden, left over from Canada Reads. It was okay, but made me happier still that Something Fierce won. Now I'm just starting Coventry which has been in my TBR pile for a while.

I read almost all of Still Alice in one sitting last night. This is a novel written in the first person. about a Harvard professor's decent into early onset Alzheimers. The book has a lot of strengths--it's kind, intelligent, eye-opening, and a quick read too! A little sad, but really quite important, I think. I was afraid it was going to be saccharine and manipulative, but I didn't find it so. I encourage anyone who is on the fence about this book to track down a copy.

I echo Nickelini. I also enjoyed Lisa Genova's second novel, Left Neglected which is about a condition where the sufferer can't perceive anything on the left side.

I have read a couple books recently dealing with memory, both mystery/thriller types. One was Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante and the other was Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson. Both were great reads!

Just finished Helen Humphreys' litttle book Coventry which I pretty much devoured in one sitting. Loved it. Next I'm starting Remarkable Creatures which I am looking forward to.

39: I read Remarkable Creatures and The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World back in 2010. Both were good but I wished for more information and facts. Still the real story behind it all is remarkable and exciting to ponder.

I'm reading The Winter Palace, mostly enjoying, but getting a bit bogged down with the second half. Also lots and lots of books on Parkinson's disease which my husband is just starting to deal with.

>41 My husband has also been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and has been reading everything he can find. Fortunately our local library has loads of books on the topic.

I'm just starting The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg and looking forward to it.

I'm reading The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama.

Lynn, that sounds like a breezy read for a windy Saturday afternoon :-)

I'm chipping away at Oliver Twist and Writing With Intent, by Margaret Atwood, and also reading short stories from Sugar Bush, by Canadian author Jenn Farrell. She is a fabulous writer, but some of her stories just make me want to take a shower.

I'm now reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and The Last War: Detective Ferrets and the Case of the Golden Deed by Richard Bach. both moving right alone so I'm in hopes of finishing them before the end of the month.

I'm hunkering down indoors after a very windy trip to the library used book sale. I'll probably spend some time with the lads of the 87th Precinct in Tricks, by Ed McBain, and try to make more progress in All Art is Propaganda, an essay collection by George Orwell.

Nickelini, I read Jenn Farrell's The Devil You Know late last year and was really touched -- in various ways -- by her stories.

I finished Wide Sargasso Sea which I loved. Now, I'm starting Testament of Youth for a group read.

I read Jenn Farrell's The Devil You Know late last year and was really touched -- in various ways -- by her stories.

Excellent! She's such an under-recognized writer, in my opinion. I think if more people knew about her, she'd develop a huge following. I wrote about her for an issue of Belletrista last year: http://www.belletrista.com/2011/Issue11%20/features_3.php

I'm hunkering down indoors after a very windy trip to the library used book sale.

It's windy here on the west coast too! I spent a lovely afternoon in the garden trimming my shrubs. But then the sun went behind a cloud and the temps dropped and I headed inside.

Nichkelini: Is Sugar Bush in the same league as The devil you know? I have it on hold at the library but have not made time for it yet?

I am in for some super light reading with The Templar Salvation, still plodding on Don Quixote and also just started Kim for which I have mixed feelings after one chapter. I whipped through The Mysterious Affair at Styles and must add a few more Agatha Christie's to my soon to read pile because it was fun.

Fmgee - I've read about a third of the stories, and I'd say yes, so far.

I'm reading Jodi Picoult's Second Glance. I've been reading a lot of non-fiction and need something easy to read while I'm home with pneumonia.

#53 doesn't sound like fun... thank goodness books always make things a little better!

I was hoping to get Oliver Twist finished in February, but alas, I won't. I'm also part way through Writing with Intent by Margaret Atwood.

I'm having a hard time concentrating. The Water Rat of Wanchai is only your average crime drama read, but I like the parts in Guyana because of a personal connection.

I'm re-reading Atwood's The Tent. That's about my attention span lately. Perfect for short intense shots of altered reality.

I'm way behind in posting here. I've read Karin Fossum's Bad Intentions and the Caller, as well as House of Orphans by Helen Dunmore. All were excellent! I also read a book by Louise Doughty which was quite a disappointment - Honey-Dew. I'm currently just about 2/3 of the way through Harperland. It's depressing but I'm glad to gain more knowledge about crooked Harper!!!! Thanks to Lynn B for her encouragement to read the book!

Oh yes, I also read Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. An interesting foray into the Shetland Islands. And I read The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar, an excellent read! Also read The Boy in the Suitcase , an enjoyable Scandicrime!;)