A quick romp through Kelley Armstrong's latest No Humans Involved yet another good readable books in her genre; then onto Lee Child's Nothing to Lose which I read for far to long last night and am about to go and finish if I can stay awake! I also finished Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as a Stage .

My replacement copy of A Florentine Death by Michele Giuttari arrived today - so I can read read that next . . .

I am still working on my ER book, Best Girlfriends Getaways Worldwide and seriously, thoroughly enjoying it! It's taking a little longer than usual, not because of anything bad about the book, but because I have to Google everything Bond reccomends... it's like a virtual vacation, then... :-D

After... or at the same time... I just got Harlan Coben's Hold Tight in the mail today, and I'm dying to get into it (and my friend's dying to bum it off me.)

Also reading A Wrinkle in Time with my kids. This is my third time trying to read the book, and BY GOLLY! I am GOING to finish it this time.

#1: Ah, is Nothing to Lose out in Europe, then? I'll have to wait until June 3 (I think that's the date). And June 10 is Jeffery Deaver's new book. Good month for thrillers!

I'm reading John Fowles The Magus, and probably will be for another week. Here at the end of the semester, I'm short on reading time (pleasure reading, anyhow). Fowles is getting in my head, and I have to say, I've been in a pretty weird mood the last few days.

1,3: Another Jack Reacher fan here looking forward to June 3 too.

Still reading:
Oliver Twist
The Eye of Cybele
Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Didn't read much at all last week.. Still going with Life of Pi. When the hyena chewed off the leg of the zebra I think my desire to keep reading vanished.

#6: I quit even before that part, I guess. I almost never abandon a novel, but something about Life of Pi was like nails on a chalkboard for me. I know a lot of people love it--chalk it up to taste, I guess.

Two chalk references in one paragraph... Ah well, I'll leave it.

I'm looking for some suggestions. I'm very interested in visiting Italy but would like to learn more about it first. Has anyone read a good histories about Italy, or perhaps something written about the culture - just anything that will help me learn more before taking a trip? I appreciate any suggestions anyone can share. Thanks.

I've started reading Real Food by Nina Planck . Its yet another book about organic and local foods .

I'm still working on my impromptu Vlad Dracul theme read with Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, and The Historian.

imanivrn -- ask LT user aluvalibri, she'll tell you all about Italy! You can visit her profile page and leave her a message, I'm sure she wouldn't mind!

I just finished The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold yesterday, which I thought was thoroughly beautiful.

Haven't started anything new yet, but I think I'll go with Legends, a collection of short stories by Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Ursula K. Leguin, etc.

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 4:17am.

I'm reading The book of laughter and forgetting by Milan Kundera. it's a collection of stories and I've finished the first 2 of it and loved it ("Lost letters", and "Mama"). However I'm facing problems with the 3rd one "The Angels", every time I read the first 3 pages of it and I fall into sleep. maybe I should immediately jump to the forth story!

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 6:34am.

Still reading
Midnight's Children
Dr Mukti and other Tales of Woe
The Word of Pod
Boiling A Frog

and just started

Empire of the Sun

I'm about to start Time and Again by Jack Finney which has been on my list for over a year - finally I'm getting around to reading it!

*no touchstones*

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 10:47am.

Hi Vonini
The Lovely Bones is a wonderful book. I read it years ago. If you haven't read Lucky, you might want to consider also this one written by Alice Sebold.

Today I should finish Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote. I think I'll move on to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen next, although this could change depending on what I feel like reading on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

>2 koolaidmom: I absolutely loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was growing up. I bought it earlier this year and re-read it, and the ending still made me cry. I think it's because I so identified with Meg when I was about 11 or 12.

#2 - I've never read Wrinkle in Time, but always thought the premise was intriguing. However my kids, who were required to read the book in school, all agreed that it is "terrible". Why is it so hard to read? I'm afraid to try - imagine the shame of being beaten back by such a small book!

2 - I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was in elementary school. I still have my original copy of it. I hope you get to finish it this time!

Presently reading Immortals: The Calling by Jennifer Ashley.

2, 19 - I, too, absolutely loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was growing up. It's not at all hard to read! I think the reason I loved it so much as a kid is that (like Talbin) I really identified with the main character, Meg. Books with girls who are good at math were hard to find.

My reading this week is going to be Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. It's my first experience of Stegner, and I've heard good things about his writing, so I'm excited about it. I'm also listening to the librivox recording of Kim by Rudyard Kipling. I think I prefer Stegner.

#18-21 A Wrinkle in Time

#19 sjmccreary: I don't know exactly what makes it hard for me to read. It's not that I don't identify with the characters, because I think most young girls can. I know all three of my girls have clamped on tight to Meg (my youngest daughter is even named Margaret and I call her Meg as a nick sometimes.) Some of it is the writing style, I think; it puts me to sleep... at least the first three chapters, or so. There is a really good movie version with Alfrie Woodward(sp?)... she plays Mrs. Whatsit. I love her as an actress, so that was a selling point for me.

and it IS a bit embarrassing that a small children's book could vex me so!

Talbin, Jenson_AKA_DL, and jfetting:
We will finish the book, and maybe after the first few chapters it will go faster. It will definately be great to finish one of the "partially read"s in my life.

I finished The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi and I've started Red Skies Under Red Seas by Scott Lynch.

I've just finished Summer Knight by Butcher and Dead Over Heels by Davidson and am currently working on Beowulf which isn't all that shabby.

The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty didn't survive my 50 page rule. I know, I know. She won everything except the Nobel Prize, but The Golden Apples was just too self-consciously literary for my taste.

Started volume one of Shelby Foote's The Civil War, a narrative. Don't know if I'll read all three volumes consecutively or slip some fiction in between.

#8 imanivm - where are you going? I've read two good books on Florence that I recommend - Stones of Florence by Mary McCarthy and Florence: The Golden Age by Gene Brucker. I've some books on Venice, too, but I've not read them yet.

Still reading through Herodotus. I want to have it finished by next week so I can return it to my brother. I'm enjoying it far more than I thought I would. It reads pretty well even though I'm just reading it for pleasure.

I've decided to take advantage of my local library (novel thought), and picked up the "Book on CD" version of Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende. I'm hoping this will make my long commute more enjoyable, and I've always heard good things about Allende.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

Still unsure about it 100 pages in.

I finished both The Monsters of Templeton and Melinda and the Wild West: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho and should have reviews up soon. I enjoyed them both, each totally different from the other.

I read the Melinda one because I got an advanced reader copy of the 2nd book Edith and the Mysterious Stranger: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, idaho by Linda Weaver Clarke. I can not read a book out of sequence!! So, I am reading it now.

The Monsters of Templeton (still not sure why the touchstones arent working on this one?) seemed to be a very popular book. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I enjoyed the geneology side of the story and finding out about her families past!

Sorry, I thought The Lovely Bones was stupid. I thought the end was stupid.
I am almost finished with Small World by Tabitha King (touchstone is wrong) and am getting still reading Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris and Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Finished How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish. I highly recommend it to any parents of young ones. It's the easiest to apply, and probably the most effective of any parenting books I've read.

I just started Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. I managed to get a copy from the library after about 2 months of waiting, I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm also reading New and Selected Poems by Larry Thomas

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 6:51pm.

I'm wondering about your household, dchaikin. First you read How to talk to kids and then you read Little Heathens?! :)

31: dchaikin, I read Little Heathens last year and couldn't have enjoyed it more, immensely charming all the way.

I am reading Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. I am enjoying it very much, but the sense of foreboding is making me crazy.

#26RcCarol - Yes, going to Florence, Venice and Positano. Thanks for the suggestions

* Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle
* Sweet And Low
* Four Past Midnight
* Swann's Way
* Neuromancer
* No Country For Old Men
* Food: A Culinary History

I swear, I read 9/10ths of a book, then wander off into another one. I've been trying to finish four books on this list for at least a month. And I like them! I just get easily distracted lately.

#32 cal8769 - I think they go nicely together ;) ...well, except for being totally different. I need a fun book after reading a "useful" one.

re post #30 - It's interesting how much criticism The Lovely Bones gets. I read it several years ago and thought it was such a nice a book. But it seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it type.

#33 LouisBrannig - thanks for the note, that's what I'm hoping for.

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 8:25pm.

#36 ellevee: One of my little brother's he's thirty-two now favorite books is Neuromancer. I've never read it, though.

Finished The Emperor's Children and have started Hotel du Lac. Have moved it up my pile based on several LTer recommendations - thanks! Am 5 pages in but loving it so far.

Battle Cry of Freedom is hidden under a chair...and might be there a while. so nice to read some fiction and finish a few books.

#21: jfetting - I found Angle a Repose excellent, but the introduction in my copy told too much and took a lot of the enjoyment out it for me.

I'm about seventy pages into The Road To Cana, Anne Rice's latest. So far, it just isn't grabbing me. Sigh. Maybe I just need some uninterrupted time with it.

I have vowed to finally finish reading The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery.

Last week I started Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection of short stories. I'm savoring it by reading it during my lunch break. I like having the stories percolating around in my mind afterwards. And it is a wonderful book!

At the same time, I also have two library books competing for my attention. I started The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, admittedly going into it with low expectations. I read the first two chapters and it was just OK. The third chapter is a long one ... and I wasn't sure I was up for it. So I've set it aside to read Links by Nuruddin Farah, a Somalian author.

Message edited by its author, May 10, 2008, 9:56pm.

Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser

I'm also reading Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, which I always meant to read but had a fire lit under me to read it now because the New York Times Reading Room discussion for the next 2 weeks is about this book. A sign to me to get going on it. So far it's beautiful in a cold and quiet way.

>44
I found Marie Antoinette an interesting read, mostly because I'd pretty much knew only the, uh, standard shtick.

I'm currently reading Peter Ackroyd's The Life of Thomas More, which will probably take a while. It's an interesting book, but boy is it dense.

I'm reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

I just received The Lotus and the Robot by Arthur Koester in the mail and started immediately.

Saturday by Ian McEwan. Really just started it on Friday night, on the bus. Quite enjoyable actually, from what I've read so far.

I'm currently reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

Dr. Bowdler's Legacy by Noel Perrin.

> 16, 30
I have to admit the first part grabbed me more than the ending, but that might also be because I read the first part when I had a few days off and could read chunks at a time. I read the rest after work at night and each time it took me a little effort to get back into it and to remember who was who. Still, very beautiful IMO and one I will be recommending.

Got three books going at this time;

Orphanage by Robert Buettner
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
"No Place On Earth" by Louis Charbonneau

Even though I'm a long-time fan of Steven Millhauser's brand of benign, hyper-real post-modernism, his new book of stories Dangerous Laughter has left me nearly speechless, a stunning collection of 13 little magical dioramas, each one better than the one before, and an instant addition to my Favorite Books of the year list as well.

#27 RcCarol: I have to admit to being totally prejudiced in Allende's favor. I think she is one of the best authors writing today and certainly among the top out of Latin America (even though she lives in the US). Her historical works are carefully researched, and you wind up learning a lot of history in a totally painless, absorbing way.

What I am especially fond of is that she writes about strong Latin American women who exist and have existed at all levels of society now and previously, but are usually ignored by history.

I'm so besotted that I even read one of her YA books, although I'm not a fan of that genre. And it was good! (surprise, surprise).

I just started Pride and Prejudice, it's my first attempt at reading any Austen, and so far it seems good.

Very new to this group, I'm afraid, but I often scan it for interesting tips. Thanks to one and all for them.
I like to keep several (types of) book on the go at any time. To-day (and to-morrow) I hope to get through
Yourgrau Godel A World Without Time as the author is the best guide I know to the subject
McCort Going Beyond the Pairs because it's largely inspired by Nick of Cusa, whom I tend to respect a lot
Pronzini Breakdown not as good as Chandleror Macdonald but better than most gumshoes
Connolly The book of Lost Things because it starts out "Once upon a time" and I appreciate that in a story.

Not far from the end of The Mayor of Casterbridge. I seem to like Thomas Hardy more every time I read another book of his. Probably time to reread Jude the Obscure, which I hated in high school - I suspect I'll enjoy it now.

After that, Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey is next, and I have high hopes for it.

Lord Jim
Einstein:His Life and Universe
The Sound and the Fury
A Land So Strange
Palaeoepidemiology:The Measure of Disease in the Human Past

Finished The Outcast by Sadie Jones, an excellent read. I left comments on the book's page here on LT if anyone has it in their TBR pile.

Have started The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, notable for his novel Mystic River. This is a departure for him, an historical fiction set during the first World War.

I've just started The Quincunx. It's been on my to-read pile for ages. I loved Palliser's The Unburied, so I think I'll enjoy this.

Still working on Middlemarch
Finishing up The Bookseller of Kabul
Beginning Peter Ackroyd's Life of Thomas More - much mentioned on various threads at LT so I'm looking forward to a bit of the sceptred isle.

Just finished William Gibson's Virtual Light. Fun, fast-paced. Running off now to start the next in the series, Idoru.

I just finished Samuel Beckett's Molloy, and started on Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood.

I'm also working on James Joyce's Ulysses, but that one is a long-haul read.

I'm still working on Middlemarch, I've started Meet Me In Venice by Elizabeth Adler and Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

I love Flannery O'Connor's works in general and Wise Blood in particular.

Hi

If you like historical novels: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant paints a vivid portrait of Renaissance Florence. If you are going to visit Venice, Salley Vickers brings it to life in Miss Garnet's Angel. I've read and enjoyed both.

#38 I keep picking it up and putting it back down. I like it, but if I read it too long I become convinced my computer is trying to kill me.

I am finishing up American Gods and although it took me some time to get into it, I have really enjoyed reading it. Next up either Regeneration or Extremely loud and Incredibly Close.

I am reading Spook and The Other Boleyn Girl right now.

#58 Paleoepidemiology The Measure of Disease in the Human Past - just the title sounds wonderful! I'm adding it to my wishlist.

#57 I read a blurb... or something... not a review.... about Jude The Obscure and it made we want to read it. It's probably a book I'll put on next year's 888 challenge equivalent - 889 challenge or a more challenging 999 challenge? Whatever.

Anyway, I'm flopping around right now, not reading anything particularly enthusiastically.

March ER book Pirkei Avos with a Twist of Humor by Joe Bobker
Beowulf
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - I just finished Agatha Christie An Autobiography and decided to re-read all her books in chronological order and this is #2. I don't particularly like Tuppence and Tommy - her not-Miss-Marple and not-Hercule-Poirot detectives - but I don't remember this one and so far it's not too bad. This one starts off with a government agent passing critical papers just before the Lusitania sinks and I think that I like her espionage/spy/government agent stories least; but I envision a pleasant year or two re-reading all her stuff.

Read The Chris Farley Show this weekend

Am now in the middle of:
Laughing Without an Accent author at our shop tonight
The Summer Book reviewing for our shop newsletter
Crunch timely - the author on Wisconsin Public Radio and will be visiting our shop in June
In the land of no right angles by Daphne Beal - coming out in August

I started Billy Bathgate on the plane yesterday and am thinking of starting World's Love Poetry as my in bed reading.

Well, I am having one of those weeks where I am not sure what I am reading. The one book I know for sure that I will be reading this week is Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters because it is due back at the library. I am also working my way through J.D. Robb's In Death series. I have a lot on my plate right now with the new house situation and I just cannot settle on books at the moment, so I will be reading whatever catches my fancy at any given time.

Am 3/4 of the way through The Secret Life of Lobsters for book club...it sometimes gets very heavily scientific, but the touching and sometimes humorous characterizations of the lobsters makes it a fun and interesting read.

I just finished Dating Big Bird yesterday, which was a nice light break from the heavier duty reading I'd been doing lately. I started Peace Like a River by Leif Enger last night, and I'm already hooked! His writing is gorgeous.

Finished Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle.
Now trying to finish Sweet and Low so I can start the cookbook I need to review, who's name escapes me at the moment.

jhedlund - I loved Peace Like a River! I agree with you, the way he writes is beautiful.

Just finished Through the Narrow Gate and The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong. They are both autobiographical, the first is a memoir of her career as a nun, the second is about her life after she left the convent. Both were fascinating. I'm going to have to read her The History of God now.

But, I wanted something a bit more light-hearted in the mean time, so I'm currently reading Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner, the sequel to Good in Bed.

I'm reading The World Without Us at work and Portnoy's Complaint at home.

Don DeLillo's Mao II and listening to The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

#78 DeAnnW

I didn't realize The World Without Us was a book. I love the series on cable...forget which channe, History Channel, I think... Yet another addition to the ever growing BM wishlist. 329 people want it there... :-D

oops, lost track of the date and posted this in the wrong thread..

I'm currently working through Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. Overall I'm having a lot of laughs, but there are a few chapters I could do without.

I started The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde this morning. So far so good.

#81 The chapter on Sims cracked me up, especially since I'm addicted to the Sims 2. And he's right about Saved By The Bell.

>83 Ah yes, Sims 2... Spent many many pointless hours on that. You gotta love it!

I'm currently reading Legends, which is a collection of short stories by Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card, Robert Silverberg, Tad Williams, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan.

Each writer came up with a short story which is linked to the series they wrote and are famous for. The series are: The Dark Tower, Discworld, The Sword of Truth, Tales of Alvin Maker, Majipoor, Earthsea, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, A Song of Ice and Fire, Pern, The Riftwar Saga and The Wheel of Time. It's not an excerpt, it's a new story, but has some of the same characters. A novel concept, I like it. You can use it as a sample to see if you think their series will appeal to you.

I've read 5 stories so far and even though I liked them all, I think it is time for something else before I read the rest.

#79. I enjoy American Literature and Hawthorne is one of my favorites. There is a short story called The Artist of the Beautiful. It is worth the read. In addition, I've visited Salem, MA and The House of the Seven Gables.

I'm finished The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander and started The Fall of the Romanovs.

I am currently reading Platform by Michael Houellebecq - can anyone pronounce that mans name? and am finding it a little slow.

#86: It sounds basically like "WELL-beck." But Frenchier. :)

I am reading lots again this week, and I may finish more than one book...haha..

I am reading:

*The Host by Stephenie Meyer
*Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey
*The Prestige by Christopher Priest
and I'm going to reread Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien for last minute school purposes

I'm pretty sure that's my list for the week, but who knows? Maybe I life up another 1 or...6 books before the week is out.

Aside from papers and exams (semester grades are due Thursday), I just started two books, Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rossi and Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson. Both have caught my interest and are tempting me away from work.

I'm also listening to a good audio version of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Message edited by its author, May 12, 2008, 6:07pm.

#60 Shariwalter

Hi!!

Just started The Quincunx too - have also had it in my TBR pile for ages (along with The Unburied - how are you finding it? I'd loaned it to my best friend whose reading taste i share for the most part - she got halfway and quit... I'm on page 80 and I don't know if it's that I'm getting old but I'm finding it really hard to follow and keep everything straight...

Happy reading!!

Kathy

#87

Thank you - so the Houe combination makes a wh sound - I dont know any French.

#54 Joycepa - I started this morning and am loving Ines of My Soul. I didn't want to get out of the car when I got home!

I just finished What the Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy and really loved it. I'm not really a Maguire fan, but I really enjoyed this one. It was a funny and entertaining read.

Not sure what is up next. I've been buying a lot of books lately, so I have a lot to choose from.

I'm reading Blindness by José Saramago and the Host by Stephenie Meyer.

I'm halfway through Jhumpa Lahiri's wonderful Unaccustomed Earth

#96- I really love Lahiri and finished Unaccustomed Earth last month. I usually am not a fan of short stories, but I make an exception for her.

I just finished The known world by Edward P.Jones and I've become quite attached to some of the characters - gonna miss them. This book tells the story of black slaves owned by free blacks - a great read.

I also tend to avoid short stories but I enjoyed The Namesake so much I had to try her new book. So now I'm looking forward to reading Interpretation of Maladies.

FInished American Gods and have picked up Regeneration. I also have the other two of the trilogy, so will get into those soon.

Just finished Sweet and Low (yay insomnia), and since all the other books I'm currently reading are at my apartment, I'm starting Essential Avengers, Vol. 1 (I'm visiting my parents).

#90 kmbooklover - I'm enjoying The Quincunx thanks, but I'm not very far in due to my 1-year-old climbing up and biting my leg every time I sit down to read! I think it will take me a while to get through this one!

The Unburied is absolutely brilliant - it's one of my top historical novels ever.

This past weekend I finished Pride and Prejudice and The Pillars of the Earth. Yesterday I started Death in a White Tie and I'm 600 pages in on And Ladies of the Club.

Recieved an ARC of Barbara Ehrenreich's book due out in July - This Land is Their Land so add that to the four other books I am already reading this week...

#85 keren7: OO-YE-BECK

Recently read The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean - poignant and interesting. Gave up on Middlemarch by George Eliot - the writing is very clever but the pace is too slow for me. Now reading Theft by Peter Carey - so far so good.

Message edited by its author, May 13, 2008, 8:33am.

>92: RcCarol, great to hear a positive report on Ines of my Soul; it's working its way up to the top of my TBR pile and I'll probably get to it in June.

>96, 97: I'm also reading Unaccustomed Earth and heartily agree with your comments. It's delightful!

>Shariwalter and kmbooklover I envy you just starting The Quincunx. I read it twice many years ago (I suppose when it was first published) and absolutely loved it! The funny thing is I've never gone on to read anything else by Palliser...these reminders have pushed me to search out The Unburied...a visit to the library this afternoon I think.

On a very undickensian note however, finishing Doting by Henry Green.

I started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen last night and am enjoying it quite a bit so far. Gruen's writing is excellent.

#96 coppers, #97 blissfulwitch, I just finished Unaccustomed Earth last night and loved it. I am half way through The Namesake and loving it. I also am not usually a short stories kinda person but I will run to get Interpretation of Maladies.

I'm still reading Middlemarch, I believe I will finish The Road today (also loving), and I just picked up The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell to start when The Road is done. I have had a couple of weeks of really good books, no clunkers yet in May.

I have read The Namesake and Interpretation of Maladies and really loved them both. I am a big fan of her writing. Again, I'm not really a short story reader, but there is something about her writing that just sucks you in!

#108- I also really loved Water for Elephants. It was a very beautifully written book.

#88- You'll have to let us know what you think of The Host. I really love the Twilight series, but am unsure about this one. Maybe when I can finally get it at the library or a paperback edition.

Last night I started Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I'm about 40 pages in and not really loving it so far. Just a lot of painful talk about foot binding. I'm not giving up on it yet. And if it turns about to be terrible, I'll just re-give it to the library book sale which is where I picked it up in the first place!

I just finished Big Fish which was great because I couldn't predict it and it had some great messages mixed into the story.
I just started Sam's letters to Jennifer by James Patterson, so far it seems pretty good, not what I expected which is always nice.

>110 I really liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - keep going and see what you think. For some reason, the foot binding parts didn't bother me, but I know some people disliked those parts so much they quit reading the book.

#92 RcCarol I think Allende could write a book of randomly-scrambled alphabet sets and I'd believe it was Nobel laureate material! :-) I'm very prejudiced.

I've just started The Fox in the Attic by English author Richard Hughes. I had never heard of Hughes before I found this book on the shelves of the Argonaut Bookstore in San Francisco (because I don't have enough books on my own shelves to choose from). The novel is a description of English (actually, so far, Welsh) life between the World Wars. The novel is the first in what Hughes meant to be a trilogy called "The Human Predicament," but he never finished the third volume.

An LT member in the Anglophiles group told me that Hughes was a huge admirer of Conrad, which makes him aces in my book. Through the first 40 pages of the narrative, I can see the influence, although Hughes clearly does have his own style.

Anyone else know of this writer?

Message edited by its author, May 13, 2008, 1:23pm.

I am reading "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova and am now within sight of the end. I am sure many of you have read this book, but if not I thoroughly recommend it. Its a long book covering 641 pages, but well worth the effort. It covers the quest of several historians to find the tomb of Vlad Tepes/Drakula and provides an interesting and intense coverage of the history of Eastern Europe. It is the author's first novel and I am very impressed with her writing ability.

I have "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova...have not read it yet. It keeps slipping to the bottom of my tbr pile..

I'm reading Sea Music by Sara MacDonald...it is a slow and lovely story so far...sometimes a little too slow, but I will read on. I am in love with some of the characters...

I also enjoyed The Historian quite a bit.

114: rocketjk, British writer Richard Hughes wrote the 1929 classic A High Wind in Jamaica, one of my favorite books ever. Originally published in the US as The Innocent Voyage, it was retitled for its English publication, and there was an outstanding movie of it made in 1965 that featured a very young Martin Amis as one of the children.

>115,

I'm working on The Historian now too. It is probably the 3rd time I've read it and this time I'm doing it with Dracula and Vlad the Impaler(nonfiction). This theme read has been increasing my appreciation of The Historian even more!

Based on all the glowing on this list (#99, 109, 110 etc, etc), I have ordered The Namesake from PBS today. Now I'm all excited about it.

#120- The Namesake is a beautiful book. It also made a wonderful movie. Usually when I love the book, I'm disappointed in the movie, but not in this case.

Chapter 5 of Speaks the Nightbird.

#120 nancyewhite You will love The Namesake. Lahiri writes so beautifully.

# 118 - Thanks, LB! The folks over on the Anglophiles group told me about High Wind in Jamaica, too. I already picked up a cheap copy at a local bookstore. It goes on my "short" list.

I am reading Sleeping Beauty byPhilip Margolin. A good mystery.

The House of Spirits by Allende ~ about halfway in. Loving it! On the strength of the first half of this novel alone, I am now a dedicated fan of hers.

The Book on the Bookshelf for my Dewey Decimal challenge. I'm not sure how much I'm going to like it. So far it's all about shelving. Uh... okay. It sounds about as interesting as a book about the history of the cabinet, but we'll see.

Message edited by its author, May 13, 2008, 10:08pm.

110 -- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was so good - try to stick with it a little longer!

>126 Storeetllr, welcome to the Allende fan club! She is an amazing writer. House...was probably my favorite of hers -but it was the first one I read. Sort of like your first kiss, you just never forget it.

Today I'm starting Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro.

I just finished The Lovely Bones and I really liked it. Beautifully written. Now I'm reading The Secret Life of Bees and so far I'm loving it! I love Sue Monk Kidd's writing style.

#110- I read Snowflower and the Secret Fan a few months ago. Keep going, it is a good story. The footbinding bothered me because I had broken 2 of my toes right when I started reading it! I had to skip over some of it - too painful for me! lol

I started the fiction portion of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, volume 20 this morning, having finished the summations a while back. So far so good. I'm definitely in a short fiction kind of mood right now.

#129 teelgee, last night I stayed up waaay past my bedtime because I just couldn't put the darn book down! I'm getting toward the last few chapters now, and the tension is rising. I'll probably finish it tonight, and then will doubtless want to reread it right away. This hardly ever happens to me anymore, but reading that book is almost like being on a really good high. :)

>133 Ah, so you've gone beyond the first kiss, its seems! Lucky you, there are a lot more Allende books to devour. My least favorites were The Stories of Eva Luna - though Eva Luna was spectacular - and The Infinite Plan. All the others are fantastic.

I finished Mao II........what a wonderful piece of fiction. I read The Mountain Wreath, an epic poem from a famed Montenegrin bard. I just started Medicus: a novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie.

I’m reading Alabama native and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Rick Bragg’s last book of his memoir trilogy, The Prince of Frogtown. I’m an unabashed fan of Bragg’s work, mostly because he’s such a great storyteller that he always makes me feel like I know his family as well as he does. Like the earlier books that celebrated his Mother and Grandmother, All Over But The Shoutin' and Ava’s Man, The Prince of Frogtown is evocative, has some great phrasing and is full of such great stories that I don’t want this book to end. Up till now Bragg was either unwilling or unable to write extensively about his father, the villain of the first two books, and although it’s no apologia, it seems, so far, to be an older and wiser son’s attempt to understand him.

Message edited by its author, May 15, 2008, 10:54am.

I finished The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie and was right - still basically don't like Tuppence and Tommy and Christie's spy novels.

Still working on Pirkei Avos With a Twist of Humor.

Just for the heck of it, I'll report that my 14 1/2 year old daughter started Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg last night. She's absolutely loving it.

I finally finished Our Mutual Friend. I souldn't really say "finally" because I enjoyed it so much. Yes all the strings were nicely tied up for a happy, happy ending, but, the first 700 pages were just great. I'll continue Dickens with Little Dorrit, but not for a while. A good fall read.

Unemcumbered, I'm flying through Fight Club. Really like Chuck Palahnuik. I'll finish tonight and start on something else. Too much to choose from. Maybe nonfiction.

138: Out Mutual Friend is my favorite of all Dickens' novels.

My favorite has to be Great Expectations, but followed closely by Our Mutual Friend and then Little Dorrit.

>Really like Chuck Palahnuik.

Just goes to show that there's something for everyone. The only book of his I managed to finish was Diary and I hated it. Everything else has gone on the abandoned pile.

Just finished up 20th Century Ghosts and The Bloody Chamber. I'm still listening to Duma Key (I should finish it up on my 3-hour drive home tomorrow) and I started The Monkey's Raincoat - it was recommended in one of the Mystery threads.

Wow. Seems like there's a theme going on here! I too am reading The Historian, it's my second time reading it.
I'm also about a chapter away from the ending of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy which I didn't like too much at the beginning, but has definitely grown on me and I am quite fond of it now.
Once those two are finished, I'm on to Ubik by Philip K. Dick and something else as yet undecided.

#135 Hey, Hemlockgang ~ Please let me know what you think of Medicus when you are finished with it. It sounds like something I'd go for.

#141 LisaLynne ~ You're in for a treat, I think. Loved The Monkey's Raincoat, as well as the entire series by Crais. Enjoy!

I can't remember if it was this thread or another that had posts relating to whether or not you read the novels of a series straight through or whether you interspersed them with otther authors. I am one of those compulsive read-from-#1-in-order AND I like to read straight through--when I can--without reading other authors. Recently, I started on my latest batch (6) of Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series about the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars, and read them straight through.

I happen to like military historical fiction, and I think Cornwell is the best living author in the genre. for those who enjoyed Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series--the Master and Commander series--about the naval war at that time, I think you will like this series as well.

The parallels between the two authors are really close. Both were/are excellent writers, both series have been meticulously researched and both have superb battle scenes. Neither spares the reader from the horrors of war.

I'd have to give the nod to O'Brian for a more interesting set of recurring characters who are more complex than Richard Sharpe, his sidekick Sgt Harper and others. But the stories are page-turners, and I dropped all other reading to read them. I've just ordered the next 4.

Finally free of that obsession, I returned to a book I had just started, Rosario Castellanos's The Book of Lamentations. She was Mexico's premier female author, and this book is an excellent example of why she is held in such high regard. It's the story of a fictional Mayan uprising in the state of Chiapas, which as seen plenty of real-life ones, including recently. Right now, I'm in the run-up to that outbreak. The characters are well-drawn, the writing is superb (at least through the translation--another one I'm going to try to get in Spanish) and the story which depicts the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the times in Chiapas, both of the indigenous people and the Spanish descendants, is absorbing.

For Allende fans: Daughter of Fortune is a splendid book which will give you quite a different look at the California gold rush. Also, if you read Spanish (I'm painfully slow at it), I recommend it in the original language. If you think Allende's writing is great in the English translation--and she shares translators with Arturo Perez-Reverte, an outstanding Spanish author (Club Dumas, Seville Communion, Queen of the South, Painter of Battles which is not for the faint-hearted)--try the Spanish Hija de la Fortuna. It's even better. I'm only pages into it and even I, who am not fluent in the language, can tell that it has sections that read like poetry.

#143> Will do.

I'm reading Beautiful Children by Charles Bock. I'm really liking it.

#145 - Joycepa - It’s been years since I’ve read from O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series, but at the time I remember being completely absorbed and tried to sequentially read as many as I could after Richard Snow in the NYTBR characterized the series as the greatest historical novels ever written. I made it up to The Nutmeg of Consolation before I needed a break. Being a landlubber I was baffled by all the naval lexicon until I found Dean King’s excellent companion to O’Brian’s world, A Sea Of Words. I'd really like to revisit those books someday.

I finally finished Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel yesterday - I know a lot of people rave about it, but I never got absorbed in it at all.

I picked up The Well of Ascension, the second Mistborn novel by Brandon Sanderson, and tore through the first few chapters before I could convince myself to put it down and get some sleep. Part of me thinks I should have waited, spaced them out a little better, since the third one isn't coming out until this fall, but that part got overruled by the much larger part that needed to get my hands on the second one immediately!

I'm also about 3/4 of the way through the audiobook of The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - my background in classic sci-fi is pretty spotty, but I'm enjoying this one, and finding it surprisingly not that dated.

I just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was good, but not great. It had an interesting story and interesting characters, but somehow didn't completely gel for me. Ah well, on to the next book - I'll have to decide what I'm in the mood for tonight.

#148 SeanLong: I have the entire Aubrey/Maturin set and reread them from time to time. All of them. Sequentially. Probably 6 times by now. I'm hopeless but the books are so good.

Completely agree about the naval terms. Normally, I'm such a nit-picker that I want to know the meaning of every last term, but I either hazarded a guess (for better or worse) or just brushed it aside and went on. Then, like you, I found the companion volumes. A Sea of Words is superb, but I found that stopping the story and reading up on all the rigging, rigging handling, etc., really slowed down the story for me (even the 3rd time), so I just resolved to learn one or two terms at a time and leave the rest for later readings.

What I especially loved about Sea of Words was the background essays on the Royal Navy and naval medicine of the time. Outstanding.

Another good companion book by the same authors is Harbors and High Seas, with great maps and reproductions of original drawings and maps from various editions of that time from The Naval Chronicle.

What I find fascinating about the Sharpe series is the weaponry and tactics. The rifled musket--which Cornwell calls simply a rifle--just started to come into use in the early 1800s during this war, and only in the British Army. Napoleon despised the weapon because it took too long to reload. Yet the rifle was accurate at 3 times the distance. It was to prove the major reason why casualties in the American Civil War were so high; by that time, reloading wasn't an issue because of the invention by the Frenchman Minié of a new type of ball that expanded after the powder ignited, and thus did away with the need of leather patches to grip the ball in the older rifled musket.

You can read about Napoleonic battle tactics in the Sharpe series. Generals on both sides of the American Civil War used those tactics--but the Union forces in particular were equipped with the far more accurate (at a distance of 200 yards) rifled musket using the new Minié balls. In the Napoleonic Wars, such limited accuracy meant that there was a lot of hand to hand fighting. There was relatively little in the American Civil War, due to the rifled musket and improved ammunition.

I just finished The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I'd always been interested in knowing more about that book and decided to read it when I learned (can't remember where) that it was the favorite book of middle-schoolers.

I enjoyed the story (which I listened to on CD) greatly and was very impressed with the knowledge that the story itself had been written by a teenager in 1967. Hinton wrote the book when she was between the ages of 15 and 18.

I also thought the book was done well in that it presented a believable and sensitive 14-year-old male narrator, but was in fact written by a girl.

To message #8 --Stones of Florence and Venice Observed by Mary McCarthy, The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. The "A Travellers History of....." series is very good to take with you. I don't have the one on Italy but the France and Germany ones are good. Also, for fun, the Donna Leon mysteries take place in Venice and there is another mystery series which take place in Rome. You will love Italy. Enjoy!

Message edited by its author, May 16, 2008, 9:35am.

147: careyi, Beautiful Children is one of my favorite novels this year, hope you like it as much as I did.

I'm about to begin The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai - my current BookCrossing bookray.

I FINALLY finished The Historian last night and Dracula this morning. On the train on the way to the airport I started a book sent to me by the Literary Ventures Fund Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway. It is extremely interesting and very well written so far (I'm almost 1/2 way through already).

I know I'll finish this on my 4-hour flight (if not before, I won't be boarding for another 2 hours...), so I have the following books with me:
Storm Over Morocco by Frank Romano - to review for ReaderViews,
The Handmaid's Tale - my first Margaret Atwood!! - for the Atwoodian's group read,
and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides for my book club.

I'm off to go and buy some sudoko to do while listening to The Three Musketeers or one of my other audio books on my Ipod in case I finish my books!

#145, Joycepa:

You might be interested in the ancient military novels of Steven Pressfield: Gates of Fire, Tides of War, The Afghan Campaign, The Virtues of War, Last of the Amazons. He has a new novel out set among the long range desert patrols, "Desert Rats" of WWII, Killing Rommel. The novels set in the ancient world are all very readable and about as historically accurate as one can be with that time period. The characters are well drawn and the action realistic.

Message edited by its author, May 16, 2008, 12:22pm.

I finished I am a jane austen addict and am on to readingIn the Woods by Tana French. Touchstones - not working!

I edited out the brackets because it drives me crazy to be talking about one book and the touchstones reference some totally other book. Its not like these books are not in my library, so the data is available.

Boo.

Message edited by its author, May 16, 2008, 12:19pm.

#157, Smiley: Many thanks! I have The Virtues of War, which I really liked, but didn't realize he had written these others. I really enjoy the genre, and am always looking for good, new (to me) books to read in it.

I'm still working on the twentieth Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology, but I've also started Mrs Dalloway as my e-book. So far I'm quite enjoying it.

#159:

Your welcome. I am a lapsed classics nut and I enjoy Pressfield's novels. (I also added Last of the Amazons to the list above.)

I'm breaking my rule of no more than two books at a time this week:

Mythology by Edith Hamilton
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Strategies: A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Journey by Tami Brady for Early Reviewers
Border Princes by Dan Abnett

I just finished Time and Again by Jack Finney. I really liked it. I thought it was unique and kept my interest. I think I'll read the sequel that was written by the author 25 years later.

Message edited by its author, May 16, 2008, 7:11pm.

I am currently reading Stay by Nicola Griffith

Moving ahead in Young Adult literature (I just finished The Outsiders), I decided to now read Feed by M.T. Anderson.

Last night, I finished The Bromeliad Trilogy Book 1: Truckers by Terry Pratchett and started the second book, Diggers. I'm totally enjoying the series! =D

#162: Ta-ra for Gaskelly goodness. Truly, I think North and South is the one book I'd have to choose as my favorite, if I had to choose one book out of all of them.

I am reading Dear Laughing Motorbyke: Letters from Women Welders of the Second World War. So far I very much like the introduction, but think that the letters section may bog me down because of the limited writing skills of said women welders. We shall see.

I finished The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
Truly, I could not recommend this book.

I finished Hotel du Lac and loved it - I felt like I was there in Switzerland and find myself still thinking about the main character days later. That was the first Anita Brookner novel I've read - any recommendations on her next best one?

And I'm 600 pages into Battle Cry of Freedom, and halfway through Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry.

>145 Joycepa, I read this thread before I went to the local book fair and came home with a Bernard Cornwell book thanks to you! - Redcoat. I just posted on the "books that came into your home thread" so won't repeat myself.

>157 Smiley - I like the sound of those books too. Thanks. (Not that I *need* more recommendations, but...)

> 126 and 129 - Storeetllr and teelgee, House of the sPirits was one of the books I bought today - based on your ravings I might put it up high up in the pile!

#169 cmt: Good grief! Redcoat! Don't know that one and may have to put it on my impressive to-be-bought/Cornwell list. I may have to have a separate bookcase just for his works alone!
:-)

I almost forgot: laytonwoman3rd passed along a link to a Cornwell site that has entirely too many wonderful-looking books on the era, including what appear to be great bios of Wellington. Definitely one to check out.

Message edited by its author, May 17, 2008, 6:32am.

#149 fyrefly98 If you like nonfiction you might want to read Dava Sobel's Longitude. I found it fascinating.

I finished Pirkei Avos With a Twist of Humor, my March ER book (that I only received on 5/5), am reading a fluff romance and starting Shades of Glory, my April ER book.

I'll probably start Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, the 3rd book she published and continue my plan to read everything she published in the US in order of publication. A one or two year project, for sure.

I just finished This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female President of Harvard. I'm sure regular participants of this thread know perfectly well my fascination with the American Civil War. But this book is different. Faust looked at the war from the perspective of what the massive numbers (650,000) of casualties did to the fabric of American society, both North and South.

While there may be plenty of Americans, not to say others, who don't care much for understanding the American conflict, it is a flat-out fact that there is no understanding the US today without understanding its Civil War. It's like saying, for example, that it's perfectly possible to understand the Ireland of today (both parts) without knowing anything of its history of rebellion against the English. Good luck.

Faust shows that not only is that true politically, but it is also true socially.

It's definitely not an easy read but her style is wonderful, perfectly suited to the subject. The best description I can come up with is "quiet regard".

It's an impressive book.

#169 cmt ~ I hope you enjoy The House of the Spirits as much as I did. I finished it two days ago and haven't picked up another book to read yet because I am still dwelling on that one. I wish I could start reading it all over again right away! :)

ETA I also loved Hotel du Lac and am planning to read another Brookner soon.

Message edited by its author, May 17, 2008, 1:58pm.

Had a good day for finishing books today: next to my e-book Far from the madding crowd (which I loved), I also finished Help wanted, desperately. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking when I was in that chick-lit frenzy. I just don't have the patience for these annoying characters anymore! This book's about a girl who is on a job hunt. If she can't find a job in 9 months (honestly, 9 MONTHS!), she'll go and teach as a volunteer on a far off island instead. Every chapter is basically an attempt at getting a job, but every time she's getting close, she decides it's not what she really wants and blows it. For someone who is apparently desperate, she applies very sparingly (only once every two weeks or month) and doesn't even go for the lowly jobs anyone could get. Thank god, actually, or the book would be even longer...

Having said that, I do have to admit that some parts were pretty good. The audition for a play, the poetry night and the very first interview were pretty funny and did have me laughing out loud. Also, the main character's relation with her boyfriend is somehow very 'real' and just plain cute.

Still, I'm glad to be getting back to Legends, which I might interrupt for another book after a few short stories. We'll see.

Just finished Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. Very, very good. Starting Skeletons at the Feast in a little bit.

#153 - Thanks for the great suggestions! I'll look them up.

#167: This is my first time reading Gaskell, but it most certainly will not be the last! I've fallen in love with her writing style.

I'm reading a delightful book by Peter Allison called
Whatever You Do, Don't Run, The Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide.

I'm reading the Golden Notebook by D. Lessing. It is my first impression of her work and I'm not disappointed.

I could not agree with you more. I read this in middle school and have been meaning to pick up again to see if it packs the same punch for a 30 year old. This is for message 152, about The Outsiders.

Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2008, 10:35pm.