Charles de Lint
MoonheartI finished The Kite Runner and
Wintersmith this week, both completely delightful in very different ways. Seasons good wishes to both
Khaled Hosseini and Terry Pratchett particularly in view of Terry's illness, may he be permitted many more years of story telling.
Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2007, 3:59am.
I have started my Early Reviewer book, Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell (touchstone not working). About 20 pages in and I have fallen in love with the dachshund... =)
I finished
Range of Motion by
Elizabeth Berg last night, having read much of it while at the hairdressers! Started
Back Roads by
Tawni O'Dell - have had this book a couple of years and decided to get it read before the end of '07. So far is better than I thought it would be.
I started my Early Review book, Olive Kitteridge, and am almost finished with
The Small House at Allington. I am loving Trollope!
Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2007, 8:03am.
i'll be finishing
Orlando by
Virginia Woolf this weekend, and continuing with my audio book of
Far from the Madding crowd by
Thomas Hardy. I'll also be starting The Truth About Fairy Tales by K T Casha (which I've been sent for review). After that, I'll be dipping into the stash of books I get from Santa - I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!
I'm still working on
The Master and Margarita and am quite entranced. Find I have to take breaks from it every so often though, so I started my Early Reviewer book, The Story of Forgetting which is really wonderful. I have lots of reading time this weekend, so will probably finish both.
I am about to start
Quaker Summer by
Lisa Samson. It is a 2007 Women of Faith award winner - never read a book that won this award and don't believe I read a book in this genre before either. I will be interested in seeing if I enjoy it. I have a lot of Christmas baking and wrapping to do this weekend but hope to get some good reading time in.
I finished
Strivers Row and
The Bluest Eye and am happily reading my ER book,
The Winter Rose. It's been some time since I've read a novel of this sort--romance, crime, politics--and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Still trying to make my way through
Deception Point. I'm about halfway through it right now. Hope to finish it by the New Year so I can start fresh in 08.
Working on
Special Topics in Calamity Physics... if I were the sort that gave up on novels after 50 pages, it would have been booted, but I'm a chronic completer, and luckily it's (finally) starting to improve.
I've also started listening to
A Spot of Bother, but am not far in at all... I've got some present wrapping to do today, so that'll give me a chance to get a little further in.
I'm reading
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, by Mario Vargas Llosa. I was interested in reading some of his work as part of "reading globally", and came across this book in a used bookshop a couple of months ago. Enjoyable so far ... lots of characters and storylines with a twist of humor.
I have just started
Run by Ann Patchett, with
Into the Wild and
The God Delusion in the wings.
Why do all library books that you have on hold always seem to come in at the same time? I see lots of reading over the break or lots of fines at the library. I hope they are worth it.
>1 GreyHead -- just curious if there was a particular reason you mentioned Khaled Hosseini in the intro thread.
I finally finished
Vanity Fair, which I enjoyed. I am going to start my early reviewer book Olive Kitteridge by
Elizabeth strout.
Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2007, 12:02pm.
Started
Mister Pip as my carry read and I'm enjoying it, though it probably won't get much reading in the next few days because I'm pretty much going to be at home. That will allow me to finish, finally,
Team of Rivals, which I've loved but it's taken me a long time to complete.
#5 glad to hear you're liking
Back Roads because I've had one on my shelf for about the same amount of time. Perhaps I'll move it up the stacks.
#20 Yes, I agree ~
Team of Rivals is one of my top 5 nonfiction books of 2007.
Still listening to and loving
Jane Eyre and have also started
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay on the recommendation of a number of LTers and am so far really enjoying it.
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Just finished
Mudbound, my November ER extra batch book. What a well-done book! Still need to write my review. I'm in the middle of
Four Tenths of an Acre: Reflections on a Gardening Life (a SantaThing book) and trying to decide what to read next.
Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2007, 1:37pm.
>18 teelgee, I think Greyhead mentioned Hosseini (and Pratchett) because they are the authors of the two books he mentioned ...
Oh duh. I was looking for a touchstone. Silly me. Thanks lindsacl!
I just finished reading
City of Glass and plan to continue with more of
The New York Trilogy this evening. I'm definitely enjoying it so far, but I have my SantaThing presents calling out to me as well as some other stuff I have bought myself in the last few days.
I'm reading Dreamers of the Day by
Mary Doria Russell from the Early Reviewer November issue and
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell. I should finish these by the first of the week. I'm not sure what I'll go with next.
I finished my wrapping, so I'm reading one of the books from my SantaThing,
His Majesty's Dragon which I am really enjoying a lot.
I'm flying home for the holidays tomorrow. Is it wrong that I always manage to turn choosing a book for the plane ride into an event of monumental proportions? It's four hours of captive reading time! The book I choose can't be too short or too boring lest I give up on it and be forced to actually converse with the stranger next to me! The reading material pressure!
Anyway, I finally picked
Runaway by Alice Munro for the trip. I don't think I'll be disappointed.
#33 - caroline, I LOVED
The Time Traveler's Wife. It's one of my all time favorite books. (In fact, I think it's time for a re-read. It's been a while. After I read my SantaThing books.)
>31 studio1
I go through an painstaking process to choose books for plane travel, too. And yes, it takes on monumental proportions. I've been thinking about what to take on a 19 hour flight in about a month. Do I want one giant tome or several smaller ones? Do I want to bring them back with me? How many books will be enough? I think this merits a thread of its own....so look for "How do you decide which books to take on trips?" in this group.
> 18 : telgee : The Kite Runner (still no touchstone) was one of the books I read this week - just offering seasonal greetings to the authors.
Later: I see that lindsacl got there before me, thanks.
Message edited by its author, Dec 23, 2007, 5:56am.
I finished reading
PS I love You which I really enjoyed and have started to read
Blink of an Eye* by
Ted Dekker*Originally published as Blink. Touchstone not working for new title.
I am still reading
Women of Algiers in their Apartment by Assia Dejbar but I was looking for some lighter 'holiday' reading so I picked up
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes. I was given the arc by one of my former bosses at the bookstore and it's been languishing here for months. I see it was the single-most desired 'early reader' here on LT so... It's fairly entertaining with a narrator similar to Crimson Petal (of course, he's trying to emulate 19th century lit) and a mix of gothic, horror & detective novel. At the moment it is reminiscent of the recent movies "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist" with just a dash of darkness and Conan Doyle (sorry to compare to movies instead of books but it's definitely what comes to mind).
I'm also reading (I read a chapter from time to time) Why We Read What We Read by Lisa Adams and John Health which examines the bestsellers over the last ten years or so. While making some astute observations about American reading trends, the authors can be quite irreverent.
Despite
the prediction I made last week, I made almost no progress on
1491. So I guess I'll still be working on it a while.
Among the
offline activities that filled my week off, Mom and I went and pulled some wall decoration -- and a (small) box of my books -- out of the storage unit.
I just finished
A Christmas Carol last night - a Christmas tradition with me. Now I'm reading The Knights of Christmas - an anthology of Christmas historical romances.
I just finished Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. What a remarkable book. It's been a long, long time since I felt compelled to underline so many passages.
I think I'll start
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin next. I'm on something of a short fiction kick.
#31 + 36: Speaking of picking books for travelling, we went out of town for 2 days and I took 7 library books with me. My husband just looked at me weird - I ended up reading 4 of them over those 2 days.
Read Greg Iles' Third Degree last week and just started The Gathering by Anne Enright (for book group) and Trashed by Alison Gaylin (for fun.)
Message edited by its author, Dec 24, 2007, 8:17am.
#47 alcottacre - I always tend to bring more books with me then I need on vacation too. Sometimes I bring more books then clothes! But you never know how fast you'll read when away....or what you might be in the mood for. And isn't is best to bring a bunch from your own library then to risk getting caught without a book to read and having to go to the bookstore? For if you are anything like me its almost impossible to walk out of a bookstore with only buying one book.
I have a couple of Stephen King books lying around that have needed to be read for sometime. This week I am reading
Dolores Clairborne.
49: Better to have too many than too few.
I'm finishing up my unfinished reads of the year. Right now I'm reading
Ringworld.
In the middle of
The Discovery of France. I was hoping for something fun, but it's more difficult to read than I expected. For example, a very long confusing section on the the complicated linguistics of France could have been cleared up and made a lot nicer to read if the author had chosen to summarize up front. But, don't get me wrong, overall the book is quite interesting.
#49 Irisheyz77 - Since buying books are not in my budget at the moment, I am satisfying myself with the library, but I cannot go in there without checking out at least 7 books at a time (last week I got 15!). I always have at least 45 library books checked out at any given time.
#53 Shortride - You can never have too much money or too many books is my motto.
I just finished
Marley and Me, which I love, especially since I have a big golden retriever who almost died exactly a year ago from the same thing! I laughed and sobbed over that book! I am now reading
The Pilot's Wife and it's hard to put down - I love it so far!
During the holiday visit to my family, I finished
The Liar by
Stephen Fry and
Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone by Immanuel Kant. I find Kant difficult to get into, but I forced myself to finish it anyway.
The Liar was fantastic, although
Stephen Fry makes me feel like an idiot, since his writing style makes it clear that he's infinitely smarter than me. Sigh. I highly recommend it, though - wonderfully funny and witty and clever, and just a little naughty too.
I'm still working through a collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays,
The Blood of the Fold by
Terry Goodkind, and
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams. This week I'll start
The Age of Reason by
Thomas Paine and
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by
Michael Chabon.
Message edited by its author, Dec 25, 2007, 9:20am.
I finally got around to reading
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. Can't believe I let it sit so long - if for nothing else, to go from reading about the AVNs to why
Franz Kafka is actually a humorist in one evening...
--> 58
I, too, found
Marley and Me a wonderful, heartwarming read this year...and I only have three feral cats. :-) I love well-written animal stories, though, and found John Grogan's story simply delightful!
I'm sort of reading
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin, but I haven't made it very far yet. I keep getting distracted.
Finished
The Somnambulist which had a wonderfully entertaining and absorbing first 220 pages or so but was ultimately disappointing. Even the title of the book is a misnomer, I think. Can't say more without spoilers.
I will return to
Women of Algiers in their Apartment.
Three-quarters through
Counter-Clock World by Phillip K Dick. Odd and flawed in initial conception, but a thoughtful book -so far one of the more focused narratives of his third tier novels. Not exactly holiday reading though. ;) I might even be able to squeeze one more read in before the end of the year. We'll see.
Message edited by its author, Dec 25, 2007, 3:34pm.
#67 -- that's called the "just unwrapped Christmas book challenge" and why the holiday is placed to give you
just enough time to squeeze in that final book of the year... mine will be
Johnny U, story of the greatest QB until Tom Brady...
Finished
The Muse Asylum and was underwhelmed. Now a quick read of
The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Getting those eleventh hour numbers up for my book challenge!
Thanks to the holidays, I finished
The Swamp,
Krakatoa,
The Storm: Louisiana,
Ambushed and
Mendeleyev's Dream. I highly recommend all them, except for Mendeleyev's Dream (not terrible, but it not that great as well). The Swamp and The Storm are particularly poignant to reader one after another, considering they revolve around the same basic subject -- the conquest of nature in the Southern USA and its consequences.
I am trying to tackle
Canada Rocks,
Venus Revealed,
Wonderful Life,
A New Green History of the World and
Theodore Rex.
I finished
Le Grand Meaulnes and think I'm going to start
The Handmaid's Tale next, which will be a re-read, but from so long ago that I can't remember much at all.
I found
Le Grand Meaulnes ...unsatisfying.
*spoiler
The word 'romantic' was used in the blurb, in that case why did he leave when he finally found what he was looking for i.e. Yvonne ? I guess I wanted a nice-neat-modern happy ending with everything wrapped up~ the prince & princess getting married and living happily ever after.
I've been reading a lot this month; I just started book #7:
We Need to Talk About Kevin. Not exactly light-hearted holiday fare, but I've been wanting to read it for some time, and received it from a Secret Santa.
Finished
The Bone Lady and was dissapointed (I did not find it to be "a rare, effective blend of entertainment and education," nor was it "subtly creepy") and am starting
Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R Maples later today.
Message edited by its author, Dec 26, 2007, 11:46am.
As far as packing books for trips goes, I think I'm one of the worst. I start thinking about what I should take months before the trip.
I'm always terrified I'll run out of reading material. Especially when I'm traveling in a country where I don't speak the language. You can usually find a few books in English, but they are often best sellers I've already read.
You have to find the perfect books that captivate your interest, but are easy to pick up or put down as travel allows.
This message has been deleted by its author.
After finishing
The New York Trilogy I have started on
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers, which was one of my SantaThing gifts. This is my first by Sayers and I'm only about 40 pages in but I think I'm going to enjoy it.
It's been years since I've read
Busman's Honeymoon. I think I thought it a good book (but don't go quoting me this long after reading it). But I also think I preferred
Gaudy Night.
Then again, I don't really read a lot of mysteries. I've only read a few of the
Sayers books, and Mom had them on her bookshelf for
years.
Just finished Home to Holly Springs by
Jan Karon I've enjoyed her Mitford Series and this book moved quite quickly. 1 book read from the Christmas stash, quite a few to go:)
83: I was just talking to my boyfriend and, as I know his mom rereads a lot of Dorothy Sayers, I mentioned I was reading Busman's Honeymoon tonight. He corrected me--"It's Bushman's Honeymoon." I managed to convince him he was wrong, but he was very disappointed it wasn't the colonial mystery he had imagined. "I've been misreading that title for years!!" (Lord knows I've done the same thing with books of my parents that have been around the house for ages.)
In any case, I am pretty sure this will be a gateway to a new mystery series for me. I've never considered myself really a reader of mysteries but it turns out I do read a ton, all of my light reading these days it seems. The Sayers seems like it will be a good addition.
> 86: digifish_books, I just read that recently myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my first Pym but I'm definitely up for more!
I just started
The Good Earth and have picked up my early reviewer's copy of Olive Kitteridge.
Oh, Nicole, I'm so glad you've discovered Sayers. Definitely a gem of the mystery world. Don't forget the short stories.
I know this is the right place to ask this, but someone on this thread show know.
I like that LT pulls the titles out of a thread and lists them down the right hand side, but I recall it once marked the ones that were in my library. That feature was really nice, and doesn't seem to be happening any longer.
Did I shut if off somehow, or did it go away for everyone?
Thanks
alphaorder
92: Hey, you're right. I hadn't noticed that. It's off for me too and I definitely didn't turn it off. I assume there was a performance issue.
alphaorder -- it was nothing you did, that's been gone for some time, unfortunately. I don't know if it will return. You might post your request for its return in the Site Recommendations group, lots of us really miss it.
ETA yes, I believe it was a performance issue nperrin. A little wrench in the system.
Message edited by its author, Dec 27, 2007, 11:16am.
I'm currently reading: Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller, The Blood of the Walsungs by Thomas Mann and
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. Last night I finally finished
You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers, which was well-written, but I still am not quite sure what it was about.
Message edited by its author, Dec 27, 2007, 2:03pm.
About halfway into The Innocent Man by Grisham.
What scares me the most is it is non-fiction.
Well, I just started the first of a three volume set of the collected short stories of
Julio Cortazar. Pretty good stuff! I'm also finishing up my round of Lovecraft-related reading with Peter Cannon's H.P. Lovecraft. I've also started on
House of Leaves, which I'm enjoying so far.
>92, 93, 94 Those little green ticks (check-marks) seem to working again! Hopefully they're here to stay :)
I finished
The Notebook. Basically book candy...sweet but not fulfilling.
I picked up
The Alchemist which I've been meaning to read for awhile. I was reorganizing my bookshelves last night and decided that would be next.
Started reading Fault Lines today by
Anna Salter. So far it is pretty interesting.
Am revisiting my battered old copy of The Mystery of the Italian Ruins by Derek Long.
I may have to buy a new copy soon.
I just finished reading the emperor's children by claire messud and will begin reading a new book nervous system by jan lars jensen
I'm still reading The Memory Room, but also dipping into Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks and The Times Book of English Verse. All very lovely.
I started Christopher de Bellaigue's The Struggle for Iran this morning.
Just finished Kite Runner. What a story! This is one of the best books I've ever read. Very emotional and heart wrenching. Also, the writing is just beautiful. I'm starting on Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver now. Also very well written.
This week I have been mostly reading The Grotesque by Patrick McGrath. Recommended to those who like their Christmas reading to contain a little gothic creepiness.
Just starting The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, a novel about Pakistan. Also, like amandameale, dipping into Musicophilia.
Reluctant touchstones this morning. Sigh. We did get our little green checkmarks back though. Is it a tradeoff I wonder?
A nice collection of short stories, Above the Houses, by Milwaukee author Susan Engberg. Due to be published in May by Delphnium Books. It has been a while since I have seen anything by Susan, so this is a welcome find.
I just finished "A Wish For Noel" by Deborah Simmons. Now I'm reading
A Singular Lady by Megan Frampton. I just finished chapter 1 & it's pretty good.
Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2007, 4:03pm.
I started Looking for Alaska by John Green last night. I'm very much enjoying the story. It's one of those unsettling prep school novels. (I also loved Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.)
Thanks, fyrefly98, for making this one of my two well-chosen Secret Santa gifts!
Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2007, 2:37pm.
This morning I finished The Twyborn Affair, a lovely, disturbing, beautifully written book by Patrick White, and then read How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen. Later, I'll be starting Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell.
I am reading an interesting new Biography called, Going Gray by Anne Kreamer. Subtitle: What I learned about beauty, sex, work, motherhood, authenticity and everything else that really matters.
Interesting read since I am wanting to stop dying my hair and go gray at 53 years young.
Just finished the newest Vince Flynn thriller Protect and Defend and started the newest J.D. Robb book Creation in Death.
Almost finished with Revolution is not a Dinner Party by Ving Chang Compestine and listening to A Street of a Thousand Blossoms.
jujo, how did you like
The Emperor's Children? I read it about 3 months ago. I liked how the characters were drawn.
I just finished
Quaker Summer which was pretty good, not great but enjoyable still. I am now reading
Cataloochee which I am enjoying so far.
edited because I cannot seem to be able to type this evening
Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2007, 8:54pm.
I'm reading
Billiards at Half-past Nine by Heinrich Boll and hope to finish it tomorrow at the latest. It is a stunning piece of anti-violence/anti-war literature. I'm also trying to get through
Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe, but I'm struggling with it.
@ #85: I love Dorothy Sayers. Another comparable mystery writer is Josephine Tey. Both excellent.
I'm reading Dodie Smith's
I Capture the Castle and hugely enjoying it.
Finished
As I Lay Dying and now started
The Talented Mr. Ripley. in between these two I read the first volume of
Akira probably one of if not the most amazing graphic novel ever, and I also read the screenplay The Gardeners son which was written by Cormac McCarthy.
Ripley is a unique book, very dark and well written.
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Charles de Lint Moonheart