I started a re-read of Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh. I love her books!

I've just started The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, which looks set to be a good one. I love Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's style!

I'm still reading Kristin Lavransdatter, going on the volume three today! I also started The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen this morning.

*screams silently and cover place where eyes used to be*

Fowl Weather a sequel to Enslaved by Ducks non-fiction about a couple who have lots of pets and how they create chaos in their lives... good reading for me :) or other pet lovers. I used to have the most marvelous duck, many years ago...

I would not recommend this to WholeHouseLibrary, but others might like it....

Just started World Without End and am 100 pages in....started it this morning........so far so good

I am lost in Russell Brand's autobiography My booky wook.
The reviews said that it's a good read, with comic reliefs..but honestly...the jokes make it even sadder.

His writing skills though are pretty eloquent.
You're on the edge to weep but yet you can't put the book aside.

Love it.

#6: You've just been responsible for a rather embarrassing fan-girl squee.

I'm one of Russell Brand's maybe 10 fans in the US, so with the exchange rate I've been on the fence about buying My Booky Wook. Obviously there aren't many reviews of it over here. Be sure to drop a note on my profile page to let me know your final verdict.

Still making my way through Devil's Brood, but now I'm past the half way point! I'm really hoping to finish it this weekend so I can review it on Monday, but we'll have to see.

I've finished The Sagan Diary by John Scalzi and I'm about to start Indigo Dying by Susan Wittig Albert.

One of the books I'm reading is The Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe with introduction and notes by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins. I picked it up for the banned/challenged books week because not many books receive calls for suppression in generation after generation for different reasons. UTC is up to about a hundred reasons as to why it should disappear. But as this edition notes it currently has in print around 150 editions. It has been analyzed and parsed thousands of ways both positively and negatively.

This edition makes some very interesting points. It also has a lot of illustrations related to UTC including some in color. Norton has put out several books in their annotated series of which several are pretty good. Like The Annotated Alice.

In the middle of The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman on audio, and LTER's Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer. Wowsers on both. Mailer's not easy to read ~ I've often had to stop, go back to the beginning of the sentence, and read it over again, thinking carefully as I do so, but he brings a whole new meaning to those times that I somehow missed (having lived through them) and, against all odds, I really like the book. I'm also in the middle of a chicklit novel that was sent to me for early review by the publisher. It's called Broad Street by Christine Weiser, and so far it's witty, intelligent stuff, and that's from someone who isn't really into the genre.

I am reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Actually just 10 pages from the end. I always thought it was a World War II story! Then I was browsing through the history threads and someone mentioned it was a Civil War story, so dug it out and starting reading it. What a fascinating take on the Civil War - bloody horrible, like all wars. The author takes you right into the battle, the feel, the smells, the sights, the confusion - enthralling and perturbing all at once.

P.S. Don't mention the Scottish Play, mkait might be lurking!

-TT

Message edited by its author, Oct 4, 2008, 2:30pm.

I am still listening to The Seasons of Beento Blackbird. The narrator has a lovely lilting voice, and the story is very intriguing. I also continue reading Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dagarembga.

Started Lighthousekeeping last night. I've never read Jeanette Winterson before, and I'm really enjoying her use of language. I just picked up from the library and will begin this evening The Lace Reader.

Dirt Music by Tim Winton - really enjoying this one

Since it's October I'm going heavy on the Gothics this month. I'm reading The Mysteries of Udolpho and Melmoth the Wanderer. I'm also continuing with 20 años con Inodoro Pereyra and, on audiobook, The Weather Makers.

I'm beginning The Longest Trip Home, a child-parent memoir by John Grogan, and The Gate House, a follow-up to Nelson DeMille's The Gold Coast (I'm reading one of my long -- 500+ page -- TBRs every month).

After weeks, was still just halfway through The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent, but it's just words swimming on the page, I can't get into it. So I'm going to respect LTer's high reviews of it and put it aside for awhile ... it's obviously better than I'm allowing right now and I don't want to miss the chance to love it!

I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield yesterday. It really was a good read and I will be passing the book on to others. I was disapointed last night that I had finsihed it and had to read something else!

Last night I read my first short story by Edgar Allan Poe: The pit and the pendulum woohoo! What a horror story that was!

This morning I have started The God of small things by Arundhati Roy.

Reading Michael Chabon's _Wonder Boys_. I'm on a Chabon kick, and so far all the books of his that I've read and loved have been genre books, so I'm curious about how I'll like this one. Also have the movie from the library.

Went to library. Found by chance "The End of the Alphabet" by C H Richardson (no periods used by author after c & s). This is a short and beautiful book. I sat down and read it straight thru/will reread before returning it. ~~~I was surprised to read the differing opinions from the 8 LTers who had reviewed it! (If you are interested please do NOT read their reviews, nor the blurb on jacket. Simply go to bookstore or library and read it. . . Tell me what YOU think!)

Wow, with all the comments about Pope Joan (in the previous thread) I really have to get stuck in it ... I'm now really curious whether or not I'll like it.

I started it last night, and it was a short read .... because I was really tired and fell asleep, so I haven't spent enough time with it to fully taste the book. But all your comments have really spiked my interest in it now, more so then when I first read the back cover and thought the topic interesting.

Any Jane Austen fans out there? If so, Pride and Prescience is recommended. Elizabeth Darcy nee Bennett continues to be the feisty intelligent woman we loved in Austen's book, but this time, her intelligence turns her inadvertently into a sleuth together with the thrilling but oh so stuffy Mr Darcy. I really liked it... and now am on a search for others in this series by Carrie Bebris.

Just finished Lace Reader, am listening to To Kill A Mockingbird (which is read so intelligently by Sissy Spacek) in the car with my daughter, and at bedtime, am reading At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman, and The Niagara River by new U.S. poet Laureate Kay Ryan. Oh and have just begun...the Norwegian book.

:D

I just finished Tomato Girl and I think it was one of the best books I have read so far in 2008. I am almost finished with Crime by Irving Welsh. I don't believe I would have read his previous works, but this one is good. I started yesterday and have 50 more pages, which I will finish if my husband doesn't bug me for reading too much. What exactly is, "reading too much?" I never understood how you could possibly read too much!!

I very much engrossed with No Country for Old Men. I saw the movie when it came out on DVD, and it's fun to remember the scenes from the big screen as I read his words.

>mrstreme, we've had the DVD from Netflix for ages. I'm not sure why we haven't watched it yet especially since we LOVE the Coen brothers. Need to get on with it.

I started The Idea of Perfection yesterday and am really enjoying it. It won the Orange Prize a few years back, which is usually a good sign for me.

#18- Just finished The Thirteenth Tale this afternoon and feel the exact same way about it. Best book I've read in a very long time. It was for an online book club and everyone loves it.
Just started Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. Thought it would be something light after The Thirteenth Tale, but now I'm not so sure that it's light...........

I've recently begun taking a course called "The Foundation of Buddhist Thought", and have quite a few books to read. What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula; The Four Noble Truths by Ven Lobsang Gyatso; The Four Noble Truths by the Dalai Lama; The Meaning of Life by the Dalai Lama; The Foundation of Buddhist Thought: The Four Noble Truths by Geshe Tashi Tsering. I also find myself referring to Handful of Leaves (Volume 1) quite a bit.

#27 I loved Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons!

#26 - lindsacl - not sure of your movie taste, but No Country for Old Men was an odd movie. Good, but odd.

#12 TheTortoise

I'm so glad to find someone else who really liked Red Badge of Courage! I read it this year for the first tiime and was astonished at how wonderful it was. The reader feels like he is in the middle of the battle with the boy. And the scenes with the wounded -- so well done. I can't believe I waited this long to read it.

Still working on The Fabric of the Cosmos.

I am just about to start an arc of The Vagrants by Yiyun Li. I loved A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

I think I may start Jar City. I feel the need for some northern gloom. I saw the movie Winter Guest again today, and it also has inspired my hunger.

Finished Olive Kitteridge which was one of the best books for me this year. A well crafted, well written, enjoyable story.

Read The Diving Pool - hardly worth the time it took (imo).

Just finished The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing. This was a superb read. Lessing is definitely a great talent, and I will be sure to read many more of her works in the near future.

Next I will start The Photograph by Penelope Lively - recommended by a friend.

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 1:33am.

Reading Beckwood Brae and Memoirs of a Geisha (when I have time!)

>36 nitnat. Don't be a nit! Reading comes first, then if you have any time left over, you do other things!

Reading Ross Poldark. A Fascinating read. Might find time to go and buy food this morning - I suppose I better feed the wife and six kids! Then they will leave me alone to get on with the real business of life!

-TT

Finished The Sweet Forever by George Pelecanos which I enjoyed. Started Three to a see the King by Magnus Mills and should be finished this soon as it is very short. Loving it so far - so very different.

#35 The Photograph was an enjoyable read...a little odd.. but enjoyable.

TT so right! I structure my days around work and reading. I often wake early so that I can do things then instead of later, and then later I can read.

I am still working on The March by Doctorow. Unfortunately life has been getting in the way of reading and it has been going slowly for me. I think reading it in small chunks is doing it a disservice.

About halfway through Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - it is loooooong, and very little has actually happened yet, so I've been skimming. I might put it down and read something else today to give myself a break.

Doesn't feel like I got much reading in during the last week...right now, I'm reading:

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, starting Volume I.ii (and feeling behind in the groupread)
Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin
Ad Infinitum by Nicholas Ostler
The Hellenistic Age by Peter Green, reading for the bus ride to work
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As for the lack of reading in the last week, I blame it entirely on the fact the we finally bubbled to the top of the waiting list at the PL for both 'Cranford' and 'John Adams' on DVD.

Later in the week...after finishing Fleshmarket Close and The Hellenistic Age, starting and abandoning Byatt's Still Life...
Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
Indignation by Philip Roth
Mindf--kery by Colin McGinn

Message edited by its author, Oct 10, 2008, 9:11am.

>37 MISTER Tortoise, Ross Poldark? How interesting. A character in my current project is Cornish and inspired by (read: stolen from) that book.

ETA: SIX KIDS?!?! But I thought the Brits didn't Do It! Too reserved. Did you adopt a bunch of Romanian orphans or something? ;->

>42 cornerhouse, there is no "behind" in the group reads! Trust me when I tell you that people who've long since finished the book will trot right back to the threads when they see a new post in the sections they've finished. It's irresistable.

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 9:47am.

I just finished The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. It became a powerful statement about the lives of people in a terrible siege as I read more.
I am now reading Margaret Atwood's Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth and Stephen Miller's The Last Train to Kazan.

>42 cornerhouse. You are definately in trouble with mckait for mentioning the Scottish Play aka the Norwegian Brat!

>43 richard "dear" as your many fans call you - I thought you knew my humour by now - Of course I don't have six kids! Only three and all off my hands, I am delighted to say!

I have just started reading the Poldark series, of which I have the first 11. I was amazed to learn that a twelfth has been snuck in - even though my 11th, The Twisted Sword says in bold letters on the front: "concluding the Poldark series". If I get through the first eleven then I might go looking for the twelfth.

ETA? Estimated time of Arrival?

-TT

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 10:28am.

>45

ETA = Edited to add

#44 torontoc what do you think of Payback? How does Atwood do writing this kind of nonfiction?

This week, for me: Ulysses, still, and for awhile.
When I'm looking for something I don't have to work at, I'm reading Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips and A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, both of which are very, very funny.

#41 - just finished Brisingr and reviewed it here. I'm not sure if I used as many o's in long as you did, but I came close, I still liked the book and hope it concludes next time.

I also put The Thirteenth Tale on my TBR list and Lace Reader on hold at the library.

I have already finished Hot Mahogany, it only took a few hours, Woods reads fast and, I think I'll read Dawn of the Eagles next so I can send all three parts of that series to the Friends' next booksale in April together. And I really want to finish High Tide at Gettysburg this week. It's a good book, but I am tired of seeing it on my side table.

I'm almost finished with Terry Pratchett's Nation and I'm about a third of the way through Return of the Crimson Guard.

Cornerhouse: I will be anxious to hear how you feel about Ad Infinitum. I recently bought it and am wondering how high up my TBR pile it should be. Also--I recorded both John Adams and Cranford and spent about a week watching them instead of reading!

42

I will let you off this time, despite the addition of touchstones to ..the Norwegian thing.

eta

TT, I don't thing richardear is a morning person......he is sharper later in the day

just saying...

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 1:12pm.

Just finished Going Down South by Bonnie J. Glover, and am moving on to Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata.

Kingdom Come by J.G. Ballard

Have started Shakespeare's History Plays by E.M.W.Tillyard in preparation for reading all of Shakespeare's History plays, as it is time for this Tortoise to hibernate for the winter! No better time to read Shakespeare than on a cold, wet, dark wintery evening! Delicious prospect!

>51 mckait. The problem is I never know what time it is on the other side of the world!

-TT

Oops! Typo.

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 2:35pm.

Reading The Professor and the Madman,
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,
and listening to Anne of the Island

>1 Richard "Dear", Ngaio sounds like the word Tarzan used when talking to his pet lion: ENGAYOO!

I must look out for some of those Tarzan mysteries!

-TT

I Finished Jar City by Arnaldur Indrdason. It was very good, though a bit strange.

The relationships between Erlendur and his co-workers and with his daughter seem to be more talking at each other than actual communication. In fact now that I think about it, most of the character interactions started like that, and some never got passed it. Don't know if thats a function of the translation, a definite choice in characterization by the author, or an Icelandic characteristic.

I also agree with others who say there is very little of Iceland in the book, made worse by the fact that the translator filled the book with Britishisms. I felt like I was reading a UK mystery. I did appreciate the maps of the locales in the front, and I wonder since this is actually the 3rd book in the series, if more detail had been included in the 2 earlier books which have not been translated into English.

Not sure what I will read next,

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 3:24pm.

Started a new audiobook last night: Ines of my Soul. So far, brilliant!

Still reading Miami and the Siege of Chicago ~ got through with Miami and Nixon last night (in hindsight, reading about his comeback made me even more queasy than I remember feeling at the time) and am looking forward to the siege of Chicago half, especially since I was still living there at the time (1968). It's going to be interesting to see the city where I was born and grew to young adulthood through the eyes of Norman Mailer. Already he's thrown me for a loop, describing the horrifying butchery of the stock yards (which are thankfully no longer in use).

I am going to read Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston. It is book 4 in the Joe Pitt series. Set in modern day NYC it is a noirish mystery/detective series with vampires.

One of those books that you want to read right away, but also want to delay, because it will be about a year until the next one comes out.

Finished The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories by Pagan Kennedy this morning. I'll post my early review soon.

Jumped right into What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Good day for it. Didn't realize today was the Maine Marathon even though I heard the music from the starting line. Shin splints have kept me off the road for a long time now, but related to this book right away.

Also just pulled Two in the Far North be Margaret E. Murie off the shelf based on my partner's recommendation after his two week hiking trip above the Arctic Circle in Alaska.

And, finally, yes yes, I'm still on Rainbow on the Road by Esther Forbes.

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 4:04pm.

58 - I read the book - it was wonderful.

Finally finished Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. I enjoyed it quite a bit: very funny and light-hearted. The only reason it took me a long time to read was that I had to find tiny bits of reading time around packing up for the big move from San Francisco to Boonville, CA. And now I have to find tiny bits of reading time around unpacking from the big move (and moving bookcases around!) and watching the baseball playoffs. Unpacking is more fun than packing, by a long-shot, but still inhibits reading.

I've started the newest Philip Roth novel, Indignation, which so far I am enjoying much more than I feared I might. I am a HUGE Philip Roth fan and have been for 25 years, but his last two did not thrill me. So far I'm finding this one much better. Unfortunately, there is an important plot development that I already know due to the %$*($ New York Times, who put this development in the headline of their review and their reviewer, good old Michiko Kakutani, who chose to reveal this development in her review's first sentence.

So far I'm on page 54 of the book (of 231 pages total), and this development has not been revealed yet, and that's far enough into the book that I should not have been told about it ahead of time.

That's the last Kakutani review I ever read. I generally don't read reviews before reading a book or seeing a movie anyway, so shame on me, I guess, but still, it's a bummer.

Anyhow, so far I'm finding Indignation to be quite good.

Finally, I read Pope Joan this year and found it to me quite mediocre. I finished it, because I usually finish what I start, for good or ill, but if I'd known beforehand what the book was going to be like, I'd have skipped it.

I have started Lying Awake and so far it reminds me of In This House of Brede. I liked Brede so I believe this one will interest me. It is very thin! I am pretty sure I will finish it quickly.

Just got done reading a bunch of political things, so I figured I'd pluck something a little lighter off the shelves. I'm about 84 pages into The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott which does fit the lighter qualification, that's for sure. Not enjoying the dialogue at all, even for YA fiction.

#58, Storeetllr, I'm interested in your thoughts about Miami and the Siege of Chicago which I read more or less when it came out, after having been glued to the TV screen during the Chicago convention (a formative event in my teenage years). I might even consider rereading it.

Still reading Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, absorbing but slow-going.

Finished and loved No Country for Old Men and now heading for something a little less bloody (I hope) with For One More Day by Mitch Albom.

Finished and genuinely enjoyed Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dagarembga. A lovely coming of age story which also addresses the impact of colonization and the role of women in 1960s Rhodesia. I am just about to start The Brief wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, my October book club selection.

>mrstreme, I'd like to see Mitch Albom try to right a book more bloody than Cormac McCarthy--or McCarthy try to write less "bloody" than Albom!

I finished Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia yesterday, which was short and forgettable. I'm reading Dawn, Dusk or Night: A Year with Nicolas Sarcozy by Yasmina Reza, which I'm enjoying so far, and The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco.

I finished Lying Awake. It was quite a read. It did remind me of Brede all the way through. I felt it could almost be the same convent. The compelling storyline about faith and lack of it was similar as well I thought. I liked the book. t seemed honest. I liked the characters, especially Sister John, and admire her for not letting go. Well done!

I finally finished What is the What by Dave Eggers last night. This was an amazing book that I am very glad I read. I am a bit ashamed that it took me over two months to read: I enjoyed reading it, but because the subject matter was difficult, there were days at a time when I could not face it. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend it.

I also finished The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie, which was a beautiful, lyrical fairytale that interwove fact and fiction to create an intellectually rich escape.

Next up is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.

#68 christiguc - Now a bloody Albom book - that would be something!

Message edited by its author, Oct 5, 2008, 9:23pm.

I'm currently listening to World Without End by Ken Follett and readingThe Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I haven't had much time to read lately; maybe I can catch up this week.

>71: grkmwk, I know what you mean about What is the What. I read it a while back, and I wish I'd had the good sense to read it over a period of time, as you did. It's a very moving book.

#65 Hi, Rebecca ~ Well, Mailer's not easy reading, but I am really glad I started Miami and the Siege of Chicago now, esp. with the election just weeks away and the country so divided about the wars and the economic situation so scary. What is that saying about being doomed to repeat history?

As I mentioned, I just started the second half and, after being away from Chicago for nearly 40 years, have been plunked right back down in the middle of it, as if I'd never left. What he wrote about the stockyards and the various neighborhoods, the characteristics of Chicagoans and Mayor Daley (the first, whom Mailer refers to as "The Governor of Chicago," which made me laugh) is completely true to what I remember.

My family was relatively apolitical at the time ~ any political discussion began and ended with unspirited Democratic Party rhetoric ~ but I had gotten involved with the anti-war movement, on the periphery at least. Even so, I never understood before what forces were at work to bring about such insane results. Oh, I remember the Bobby Kennedy and MLK assassinations and the refusal of the government to get out of Nam even though we were losing. But the behind-the-scenes political machinations ~ that I never knew about or, if I did, I hadn't processed the info. Nor had I put together how the fear, loathing, and distrust that seemed to be prevalent in every group in the country at that time caused the politicos to react.

Anyway, about the book ~ as I mentioned, I have had to go back and reread portions where he took literary flight, and, as someone else mentioned somewhere on LT, his use of "the reporter" to refer to himself gets a little tiresome, but it is overall a very good account of the craziness of those days.

If you do reread it, let me know what you think.

I'm about 50 pages in to It's All Right Now by Charles Chadwick and I'm enjoying it very much. This is the witty author's first novel and he has a delightfully dry sense of humor that I really adore. It's a long book, 600+ pages, but I think it's going to keep me entertained....I've been chuckling practically through each page since the beginning....who does he remind me of??.....he is an English gentleman with Anne Tyler's quirky humor, but a great wit that's all his own. I like.

I'm also listening to Against Medical Advice: One Family's Struggle With An Agonizing Medical Mystery by James Patterson.....a true story about a kid who grows up with Tourette Syndrome. Quite a devastatingly sad story of what this child went through every day of his life beginning at the age of 5. Puts things in perspective.....

I'm reading Kristin Lavransdatter and will for some three weeks.

Last week I finished The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2006: Nineteenth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant.

I read The Venetian's Wife by Nick Bantock over the weekend and started A Universal History of Iniquity by Jorge Luis Borges (takeout reading) and Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King (bedtime reading) as well.

I've just finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop cafe and the Immaculate Deception by Iain Pears. Great to read two quick books in a week after the endless (but good) Poisonwood Bible. I'm on a hunt for the other books in the Iain Pears series.

Now I'm in the middle of Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell and the Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville - hi #26 lindsacl! The Idea of Perfection has an amazing sense of place - it's set in a small Australian town and it feels like I'm there with the flies and the heat, and all the rest of it.

I seem to have abandoned Kristin Lavransdatter, for now at least. Oops. I liked what I'd read but it felt too much like Heidi...

*typing with eyes closed* on account of... you know..

I am totally book free and will be all day. I finished a book yesterday evening. I read three over the weekend..Walking Through Walls, Fowl Weather, and
Lying Awake. I decided not to choose a new one until after work today. I will have no time at work, I rarely do...and I have a MacWorld magazine. So...
I will think about what I want to read next. During the week I usually only manage to read one book, sometimes two..

Have started Mahfouz's The Day the Leader Was Killled. The title refers to the assassination of Anwar Sadat which happened twenty seven years ago today.

Reading a lot of nonfiction for research which is affecting my ability to pick up pleasure reading.

Last night I started Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Very good and very dark so far. It kind of reminds me of Tithe by Holly Black which is one of my favorite books.

#43: richardderus -- It's true, there's no behind. I suspect the feeling had more to do with the fact that I was missing KL, which I'm really enjoying. And, for some reason, I tend to feel behind -- even though there's really no schedule to be behind -- when I don't get enough book time in general. I suspect it's a remnant of graduate school.

#50: theaelizabet: I'm finding Ad Infinitum fascinating, though a bit slow going, though largely because it continually reminds me of other things and sends me off to the bookcases to look into them. This will diminish as I get farther along -- as I'm a classicist (among other things) and my collection of Latin literature gets pretty thin after Tacitus. It's certainly worth reading.

We finished watching 'John Adams' yesterday afternoon -- and now I feel compelled to add both the Adams-Jefferson letters and the John-Abigail letters to by TBR list.

Storeetllr, #75, Very interestesting reflections -- thanks. My TBR pile is so large, I'm not sure when I'll get to a reread of Miami and the Siege of Chicago but, as you mention, it is certainly timely.

I finished Kristin Lavransdatter this weekend and now feel unexpectedly free. This was one of those rare books (for me) where I really didn't like the main character but enjoyed the rest of the novel. I should finish The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs tonight or tomorrow - it's a good read.

After that, who knows? I'm at that delicious point of considering all the books on my TBR pile and anticipating what adventure might come next.

Finally finished High Tide at Gettysburg and I am now reading just one book - Dawn of Eagles, a Star Trek DS9 book.

I'm in the middle of Lesley Kagen's Land of A Hundred Wonders and am really, really enjoying it! It's a darker story disguised as a light one, with plenty of humor and a really fabulous narrator there to anchor it. I'm sad I have to sit at work and can't keep working my way through it!

I finished The March by Doctorow - very good Civil War historical fiction. Now I am on to Colleen McCullough's 5th installment in the Masters of Rome series Caesar.

I'm halfway through Pope Joan and ...... I like the story but I don't exactly like the way it's written. Does that make sense? The sentences are rather awkward at times. I also feel that Ms Cross could have done better with describing places, the horror of the Norsemen's attack, and develop the characters a little better. But i've got another half to go, so maybe things get better .... we'll see.

Also reading Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani .. about a third through and I don't get a sense that this book is going anywhere. A little disappointed because someone recommended this to me.

Milord du Tortoise, but of course I made the to jest back unto you with my little comment! Seeing did you not the "bad boy smirk" that to follow the jest? (above typed with very bad vaudevillean French accent) Oh, and it's easy to remember the time change for Eastern time...when you wake up, we're going to sleep. Minus six hours from Lunnon time.

jk, how you doin'?? Boonville must have some magic pheromone now that it had not in the 80s, the last time I was there...else why move from the end of the rainbow to there?!

*waves* at the now-blinded mckait
I must send you my copy of That Norwegian Bimbo so you can experience the full annoyance of having her "follow her heart" in your own living room.

cornerhouse, I see what you mean. Old habits of mind die hard, if at all.

cameling, how generous you are in your assessment of Plop Down. I mean, Pope Joan. blech

Hey, rd, thanks for asking. We're doing well, although weary from hauling bookshelves around all weekend. Soon comes the real fun: unpacking and shelving around 3,000 books and as many LPs (yes, you read that right; I said, "LPs!").

As to the reason for the move, we bought our house here a couple of years ago, after spending several long weekends at a local B&B, because we liked the town and the community. My wife and I have both been city kids almost our entire lives (between us we average right around 50 years old), and, well, we both just got to feeling that enough was enough.

San Francisco, though still a great place, is not the place it once was: the dot.com boom, among other things, saw to that. It's more crowded and more irritated and irritating even than it was in the late 80s when I moved there. It's more full of people who don't bother to move to the back of a crowded MUNI car despite the fact that they could make things easier for the people around them by doing so. Don't get me wrong: there is a lot to like about SF and I will miss it. I'm far (2 1/2-hour drive) from the grand bookstores of SF, for one thing.

But this small town we've moved to means a slower, simpler pace. It's a place where everyone can contribute in a very meaningful way to the success of all, and a lot of people take the opportunity to do so. Over the two years we've been coming here part time, we've really grown to care about the place and the people.

But the bottom line was probably that as we started to spend more time here, we found that by being in both places (city and town), we really weren't fully present in either. That started to be a drag. So we said, the heck with it. Time to close our eyes and jump off the cliff. Gotta do that once in awhile in life, you know?

Message edited by its author, Oct 6, 2008, 5:23pm.

waves blindly at richardear...wailing no thank you piteously

Hoping I can get someone to read Sarah's Key to me ... it arrived today.

I read way too many books at a time, a hangover of my college days. Right now, I'm reading Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters, Leap Over the Wall, and Battlefield of the Mind.

Also, because I have my new three month daughter to worry about, I'm still reading What to Expect: The First Year.

And I need a little relief, so I just finished A Spell for Chameleon and am reading Dead Girl's Dance. Everything goes a little slower with a newborn, though. :)

Finished Playing for Pizzaby John Grisham and have started Homme Invisible A La Fenetre by Quebec author Monique Proulx...

#58 and #65 I just finished reading Mailer's Miami and the Siege of Chicago recently. I am also a past Chicagoan and also an inveterate Mailer fan (just picked up a little known book of his titled Cannibals and Christians). I have a real penchant for irredeemable men authors. The pages devoted in Miami and the Siege of Chicago were kind of sad (this being Mailer's POV) and the protestors seemed unorganized and ineffectual, but again this may be Mailer's POV. I'd be interested in both of your opinions on the book. I am approaching a new book called Angler by Bart Gellman this week about the expandiong of the executive by Dick Cheney (a much more sophisticated and frightening power play than the protests that took place in Daley's Chicago (my POV).

Message edited by its author, Oct 6, 2008, 6:47pm.

Oooh! I FINALLY finished Devil's Brood (it was good, just LONG) today! Since then I started Descartes' Bones and The Green Beauty Guide.

aww richard, it's really not that bad ... at least it's an interesting story. perhaps you should try reading it again on a sunny day ... you might come to a different perspective ;-) dare you try it?

#74, lindsacl - I didn't start out reading What is the What with the intention of taking so long to read it, but it just became too real for me to stomach in great amounts. Several years ago in grad school I completed a massive project on the Rwandan genocide, and brought that perspective to this account. I also had the fortune of finding myself in Africa over the summer (Tanzania, so not close to Sudan but still closer than I've ever been before), so I could better envision the people and landscape. I also toured a former refugee camp and attended church in a half-built building that had blue UNHCR tarps strung up in lieu of a roof... You can imagine how that affected my ability to clearly picture Achak's life in the various camps.

mckait--I just took Sarah's Key out of the library. It's next up. Probably will start it on Thurs. once I finish The Space Between Before and After which has been quite an enjoyable read. Will be interested in your thoughts on Sarah's Key once you start it.

An hour ago, I have just finished reading the novel Blindness by Jose Saramago

.

I've finished Indigo Dying by Susan Wittig Albert and started Snake Agent by Liz Williams.

Wonder Boys was the first book I read of Michael Chabon's. I really enjoyed it. Have not seen the movie but the book was great. Enjoy

>102 Erick,

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Blindness. I find I have to read in small doses--human nature is just too real in this novel. I hope it'll end on an up note--but don't tell me. I'm reminded of a friend's comment that a REALLY good book is not the one you can't put down but rather the one you HAVE TO put down. Saramago has made it easy to see how people and circumstance can just get uglier and uglier.

Drat the blind touchstones.

Message edited by its author, Oct 7, 2008, 6:02am.

momom... I made it about 140 pages in last night. So far I am finding it impressive. I am liking it. Hopefully I can finish it tonight, after work... I will review it... have to ... but I will post it here. I would like to know your thoughts, too , when you read it.

:)

>100: grkmwk, how interesting. Have you read We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families? It probably covers territory you are already quite familiar with. I found it even harder to take in large doses than What is the What.

I started Don't Scream -Wendi Corsi yesterday. I was in the mood for another thriller. I finished The Liar's Diary on Sunday.

#102 Erick, what did you think of Blindness?

By day: Continuing in Good Wives by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and starting a volume on Anne Bradstreet's poetry today.

By night: Have started both The Day the Leader was Killed by Naguib Mahfouz and Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth.

105 CEP, 109 Hemlokgang,

The novel "Blindness" is quite good. It is like those "End of Humanity" stories that stirs your curiosity on how the human race struggles in a calamity. I could compare this novel to The Road and Children of Men.

The only bad part, "Blindness" is so difficult to read. It has no quotation marks, and you have to repeat reading the sentences to determine which character is speaking what. There are sentences with lots of comma in them, instead of quotation marks. You have difficulty distinguishing a narration, or a quotation.

.

I was actually coming here to post that I just started Blindness on my train ride this morning. So far I don't know what I think, but the lack of quotation marks hasn't been a hindrance.

I finished up Brisingr this morning as well.

#110 I, too, like to have a by day and by night book - it saves carrying a book up and down the stairs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! o:)

koalamom, I live in a ranch home which explains why I only read one book at a time.........no stairs!

Although I now do live in a two story (three, actually) house, I lived in a ranch for a while and I still would often have one in the living room and one in the bedroom. I think I would leave the more "intellectual" one in the living room and the easy read in the bedroom - more suitable for bedtime reading!

Last night I stayed up late and finished Indignation, the new short novel by Philip Roth. I was very pleasantly surprised by how good I found this book. I love Philip Roth and have for 30 years, but his last few haven't impressed me all that much.

Indignation, though, is a spare and focused tale that I found a very effective and moving allegory for how life and expectations can come quickly unraveled when the times become scary and confusing. For me, anyway, this was Roth's most powerful book in quite a while.

Even though I'm in the middle of two other books, I read half of A is for Atticus at lunch after it showed up with UPS this morning. It doesn't even have a story, it is just a book of names, but the author's personality really shines through in her descriptions.

Re: Blindness - I want to read this, but the punctuation thing would drive me crazy, and our local library doesn't have it on audiobook. *grumps*

I finished Brisingr last night and started in on The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones - I've only read the first chapter, but so far, so good. :)

I just finished Brisingr. What a great book and every time I think about it I'm just in awe at how young he is. I can't wait until book 4. I look forward to him entertaining me for a long time

I'm still reading The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks and Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

Message edited by its author, Oct 8, 2008, 2:46pm.

I'm just starting Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian. I enjoy his books.

#166: rocketjk -- I'm glad to finally see a positive review of Indignation...and also glad that it's sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to read it in short order.

As for his recent output, it's been uneven. Exit Ghost was, one might say, flaccid. I did, however, find Everyman to be an affecting meditation on aging; not his greatest work by any stretch, but not his worst either.

#114: our ranch house has stairs...into the basement.

I don't seem to have day/night books or upstairs/downstairs books but I do have a book (or books) for:

a) reading on the bus, commuting (history, biography)
b) reading before bed, in bed (detective fiction, biography, history)
c) reading in the kitchen, while cooking (poetry or magazines)
d) reading while the DVD player is paused and I wait for my wife to return from wherever (poetry, the dictionary, the thesaurus)
e) reading first thing in the morning, with coffee (lighter non-fiction)
f) reading on the seat of ease (book catalogs, poetry, old encyclopedia volumes)

and everything else (lots of novels, histories, philosophy, classics)

I just started reading Hidden by Shelley Shepard Gray and Bufflehead Sisters by Patricia J. Delois.

I'm almost finished with Dawn of Eagles.

I was just notified that Hounded to Death is waiting for me at the library and I'll pick that up tomorrow.

I decided to try a non-fiction book that has been on my shelf for a while called The Ancient Mariners. Not sure how this'll work for me, but I'll give it a try. It may turn out to be one of those that goes into the Friends box almost unread.

>118 fyrefly

RE: Blindness Don't be put off by the lack of punctuation. I didn't even notice it--I find that it reads like internal dialog and adds to the feeling. It's almost as if it forces the reader to be short a sense--well, like being blind.

Message edited by its author, Oct 7, 2008, 7:19pm.

I'm soooooo bored reading Big Stone Gap ... this story seems to go nowhere and the characters are insipid. Arrggghhh..... I'm not even half way through .. I don't know if I can continue. Hubby suggests I use it as a trivet or coaster and my mother suggests I persevere because it could get better.

I finished The Known World by Edward P. Jones. This is a tragic tale of slavery in the years just before the Civil War. It is a potent blend of Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy. Simply incredible and worthy of the Pulitzer.
I also wrapped up After the Quake by Haruki Murakami. It's a collection of stories about people dealing (more psychological) with the after-effects, of a major earthquake. It's a good solid read.
Just cracked open: A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin. I love this series!

#102, 111, 118

I happen to work with the blind. I have friends, who happen to be blind, who hated the book Blindness. The movie was even picketed by the NFB in my area.

Having to wear sleep shades for 8 hours a day for six weeks to get an understanding of what it was like to be blind, cross streets, use power tools, cook etc, I never had trouble finding the bathroom.

#107, lindsacl: Yes, I have read We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families. It was one of the books I read for my project, and unlike What is the What, I did read it in a short amount of time. I realize this sounds rather callous, but because I was in the midst of a research project, I was able to blunt the emotional impact of Gourevitch's book by remaining at a scholarly, professional distance. However, I was unable to maintain that buffer throughout the entire project (Gourevitch's book was one of the first I read): by the end, I was having nightmares, and I actually cried during my presentation (thank goodness my prof was gracious). There are several books I only read parts of for my research that I have intended to go back and read in full, but I simply haven't had the nerve - yet. I WILL read them. In fact, in an odd way, being able to read What is the What over a long period has made me realize that, as long as I give myself time, I should be able to read the others without too much emotional trauma.

Still reading The Photograph. Halfway through the book, I just want to reach in and slap every single one of the characters!

However, listening to The Lollipop Shoes in the car is making me happy. It is a fun story and making me wish I had to drive further to get to work each day!

But I am not having as much luck with my dog walking and houseworking audio book - The Shifting Fog, which I am finding dull and uninteresting.

130- It is helpful to read your input about Blindness. I think the story is purely metaphorical anyway and is not meant to be realistic. I would be interested to know what your thoughts would be if you read it yourself.

I finished Kristin Lavransdatter today. It was very good and I'm glad the Group Reads - Literature decided to read it! I'm still working on The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, and I now have started The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese.

I just finished Brisingr as well. It was really good, though I was terribly sad at the end.

>131: grkmwk ... thanks. Very interesting.

I finished An Infantryman in Stalingrad last night and I'm starting Stopped at Stalingrad this evening. Given the stack of books that I've purchased recently, I'll be reading books on the Russian front at least through the new year. I'm probably boring everyone to tears with my endless stream of history books. It seems as if everyone else in this group leans more towards contemporary fiction.

I just finished Terry Pratchett's The Bromeliad Trilogy Book 3: Wings over lunch break. And last night I scared myself reading from Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes before going to bed.

Have just begun Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser.

Got four books going at the moment:

In print: Once Were Cops by Ken Bruen (ARC for review for Amazon Vine)
Storm Track by Margaret Maron which is #7 in the Judge Deborah Knott mystery series
Till the Cows Come Home by Judy Clemens, #1 Stella Crown mystery

In audio: The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau #2 in the City of Ember fantasy series

I'm enjoying everything!

Cheryl

I missed out on a lot yesterday! The Thing being down for a good while, I wasn't able to check in.

Catching up: jk, I know what you mean about not beieng present in the different places you commute between. I am, though, confused about the choice of BOONVILLE. I mean, why not Manteca or Turlock? Well, chacun a son gout, of course, and I haven't set a toe in that area since the late 80s, so I readily acknowledge my lack of current information.

Still, unpacking the LPs and the books has to be a little bit fun! Like saying hi to old friends you haven't seen in a while. When I got to Hempstead, I found a lot of old friends of that sort, plus Auntie's zillions and zillions of opera and folksong recordings. That's been fun.

*speaking in loud voice to blinded mckait* DID YOU FIND SOMEONE TO READ TO YOU, DEAR, OR SHALL I CALL YOU AND SHOUT THE BOOKS INTO THE PHONE?

cameling, the idea of TOUCHING Plop Down...I mean, Pope Joan...fills me with disgust. Nuh uh.

hemlok and company, I live in a three-story house and have distributed the books I have going (down from the all-time high of 19, to a manageable 12) among the floors. I find that bedtime/bedroom reads are best left for fiction because I don't usually have to track facts as closely. Living room/sun porch reads tend towards history and biogrpahy, plus the novels I want to focus on for book circle/group reads/reviews. The lower floor gets science and weighty non-fiction. No windows to stare out of, and I am generally down there doing laundry or something similar so I have reason to get up and think about what I've just read before going on.

#16 CarlosMcRey - I hope to hear your thoughts on The Weather Makers. It still has me thinking ... and frustrated with lack of response in the US.

Just finished The Road Home by Rose Tremain. It's a good story, but the book just captured my mind and took me far away. I'm not sure I've come back yet. Unintentionally I've read a handful of Orange Prize winners and shortlist books and really enjoyed them (Bel Canto, Half of a Yellow Sun). This was the first time I picked up a book only because it was an Orange Prize winner.

Next up I plan to give Terry Pratchett another try with Sourcery. It's the oldest discworld I haven't read. I have very fond memories of discworld books, but it's been awhile since I've read one, and that is partly because I haven't loved the last few I've read.

#55 bell7 - I loved The Professor and the Madman! It was an amazing character study.

#93 rocketjk - we've got about 600 or so LPs tucked nicely into a room off the media room. I must admit I haven't looked at them in years, but would be very upset if we had to get rid of them. My husband doesn't have a turntable hooked up right now, but we really need one. Many happy memories are tied up with my records.

I am about 3/4 of the way through The Quiet American by Graham Greene and am enthralled with the story and the language and images. Beautiful, beautiful book. It's for bookclub in November and I'll have to remember to thank Sarah for picking it. An oldie but a goodie.

I'll probably read another 888 book after this - Darcy and Elizabeth, Naked Lunch, or Lucky Jim.

I'm in the middle of an ARC that I just can't seem to want to pick up The Power Makers by Maury Klein and I'm supposed to read Njal's Saga for Penguin Group. I'm almost glad I didn't get a September book - no, I AM glad. Enough obligations. I need something fun.

I'm reading World without End by Ken Follett and The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Sadly, I finished Excellent Women by Barbara Pym which I found captivating with its gentle but sly humor. I'm looking forward to more of the lovely Ms. Pym in my future.

On a business trip, I began The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield figuring that a gothic would be good for October. So far, I figured right, and I'm completely engrossed.

>138: thioviolight, I loved The Bromeliad Trilogy. it's one of my 'to be re-read' books.

Just finishing up on Pope Joan and despite richard's scathing putdowns .. i still like the story but dislike the writing style.
I think my distaste of Big Stone Gap could possibly equal richard's distaste for Pope Joan and it is a book that I'd be willing to consign to the coming Halloween bonfire. I wonder if it's polite to allow someone to mooch this book from me knowing that they are likely to be disappointed reading it.

Took my mom who is visiting to the Louisa May Alcott home in Concord, MA this morning, and I'm digging out my old and much worn Little Women to read again. hmm...touchstones not working for Alcott?

Need something else too and will have to pick a number from my TBR hat (yes, I have one now where I've numbered all the books on my TBR pile, and thrown their numbers into a hat, so I pick from random what i'm going to read next)

Message edited by its author, Oct 8, 2008, 2:22pm.

I finished reading Dawn of the Eagles and I picked up two books at two different libraries - Hounded to Death at my local library - it had been on hold for me, and Reminiscences of My Life and I started another one about the history of seafaring, The Ancient Mariners.

Message edited by its author, Oct 8, 2008, 2:25pm.

>146 cameling, when it comes to books that make one angry to have spent those heartbeats reading, the bonfire is the only satisfying option. Someone else might enjoy the book, true, but c'mon now! Why should thee and me contribute to the bad-taste tidal wave by allowing these ghastlies free range?

Good lord what a goof I am today. That's what a toothache will do to me.

I finished Scales of Justice earlier today and it was as much fun this time as it was the first time I read it. I liked this piece very much.

#122> cornerhouse, Yes, I do recommend Indignation, certainly more than Exit Ghost. I did think Everyman was good, but not as much as some others did. If you go to the Indignation main page and click on "Conversations," you'll find several other positive comments.

#141> Richard, why Boonville instead of Turlock? I admit to knowing very little about Turlock, but as to Boonville, let's start with this photo gallery of Anderson Valley within which Boonville is nestled: http://www.4mules.com/gallery.php

Boonville is a small town of around 1,400. In addition to the physical beauty of the place, we got drawn into the wonderful community in the town. It's a wonderful mix of people: rednecks, farmers, loggers, ranchers, winery owners and workers, old hippies, young hippies, retirees, you name it, and everyone with a live and let live attitude, as long as you are pitching in and helping the community in some way. There's even a small community radio station which I'm looking forward to volunteering with and maybe sometime soon getting back on the air with (I was a jazz radio producer for 7 years in the 80s). Because it's such a small place, there are lots of volunteer opportunities, too. We're looking forward to really digging in in this town where we've already made a ton of friends during our two years as "weekenders" there.

And, yes, I'm looking forward to unpacking the books and records. I'm saving them for last, though, after all the other stuff is set up (offices, kitchen, etc.) because I see the books and records as a treat and a reward at the end of the work.

And karenmarie, you've got to get a turntable set up. In addition to the sentimental value, you'll be amazed at how good those records will sound on a good sound system, assuming they're in decent shape, after you've been listening to CDs for years.

I recently finished The Shape of Mercy by Karen Meissner. My review (and a giveaway) is up at The Book Lady's Blog.

I picked up Holidays on Ice at a David Sedaris event I attended on Monday, and I'm totally loving it.

Work is crazy this month, so I'm not getting to read as much as I want.

I am currently reading 3 books. Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank, Marley & Me by John Grogan and Carrie by Stephen King. I'm going to try out King and Koontz since I tend to like horror/thriller type movies. I cried reading the preface of Marley & Me so I have a feeling it will be a great book.

#150 ~ rocketjk......OMG, I want to move there RIGHT NOW!!! Now that's my kinda lifestyle. I wish so badly that we could take our old house here and move it somewhere just like that. We live in a medium sized city and I hate, hate, hate it. (although I am used to being close to restaurants, shopping and of course, B&N and Borders) But our house will be paid off in less than a year and with the economy as it is, I don't see us moving any time soon. And we are getting older, and less inclined to want to pack up a 27 year accumulation of "stuff" and haul it somewhere else. I don't blame you a bit though, for wanting to spend your life in a glorious and beautiful spot like that. Enjoy your new life. I envy you so.

Now, so I don't get yelled at for chatting too much without mentioning my current book of the day......

I am still reading It's All Right Now by Charles Chadwick........LOVING IT.......but I'm moving at a snail's pace only because I am so busy with work right now. This one is going to take awhile, it's over 650 pages long!! It's really good though!

richard--hope the toothache is better--nothing worse than that. As for Pope Joan I really enjoyed it as did my book club. I get the impression from previous posts you didn't like it (LOL). I agree not the best writing but I enjoyed the story--doesn't that count for something?

Finished Reminiscences of My Life in Camp in just a couple hours. A good book - see my review.

richardear. You are a madman. A sweet and generous madman, but none the less. 19 books going... down to twelve? ?!?!?!?

I am hoping to regain my ability to read as soon as the Norwegian thing is over and a nice new group read begins....

Its almost november........ * wanders off to locate Mists of Avalon)*

Thank the goddess !!!

I finished Sarah's Key yesterday. It was a good read. I liked it. richardear, no.. camel probably yes as far as recommending it.

love y'all

Finished Homme Invisible a la Fenetre by Monique Proulx and since I screwed up royally with what i brought with me to work (part 3 of a series instead of part 2), i had to settle with what was lying in a box under my desk... so started The Kiss by Danielle Steel (I know - but I'll be really busy until next week and won't have time for heavier reading anyway) :(

#153> porchsitter . . . well, I checked out your profile page and my wife and I are just about the same age as you, so if we can do it . . . .

Just kidding. And just so you don't feel too jealous, as cool as it is here, it is far from Shangrila. There are real, if mostly below the surface, societal problems around.

At any rate . . . books, yes. I will spend some time with my "between books" and then, as I've had a hankerin' for a classic, I'm going to dig into Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott.

>154 momom, Plop Down is a stale rehash of a silly myth that, by itself, makes an amusing cocktail anecdote at a gathering of Catholic orthodoxy-mongers, whether laity or clergy. So the story idea, I suppose since I have heard it since I was a child (a favorite retelling of my mother's since she knew it offended her Catholic in-laws and amused the Jewish in-laws), isn't anything I am unaccustomed to. *yawn*

I'm trying to ignore the toothache.

>156 mckait, since I am unemployed again thanks to Herr von Busch and his gang of idiots, 12 books isn't that big a stretch. One of them, Happy Birthday, Turk!, is a real pleasure, I am pleased to report.

>159: richard, I hadn't heard this myth so it was an interesting story. But I'm done with PJ now, and will lay her to rest. My verdict is that I like the story, I am inspired that the Joan in this book is a strong character, enjoys challenging herself, is curious and has the initiative to find ways to live the type of life she feels she deserves. I agree with momom that the writing was not the best, but it didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the story.

now, the random pick of a number out of the hat has brought forth Wild Rose as my next read tonight. It's supposed to be the true story of a civil war spy and is written by Ann Blackman.

And a little bit of Little Women before I sleep .... and all will be well in my world. :-)

Finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society last night and it was absolutely delightful! I've never read a novel where the entire story is told in letters, but I really connected with the format. I was also pleased to learn as much historical information as I did: always a plus when I select a book purely as a fun read!

I started The Sugar Queen over breakfast, and will be picking up Run as soon as I'm off LT. Then I think I'll have to go back to nonfiction for one or two reads, as I feel a little guilty that I have been ignoring my many nonfiction TBR titles...

>161 grkmwk, glad you liked Guernsey. I recently read it and thought it was wonderful.

And for once, I am impressed with the touchstones -- they got it right with only one word!

I'm reading Book 2 of the Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones. I am a great fan of hers, but I am not enjoying this quartet and fighting my way through to be honest. But I don't like giving up on books (unless they really suck) so I'll keep going!

Currently reading

Earthsea Trilogy which I am enjoying......its also weird reading it because I've owned it since I was quite little but never able to get into it.......now I can see how much of the 'standard' fantasy of now comes from books like Earthsea and I'm loving it.

>164 lunacat, I am a huge Ursula K. LeGuin fan, and Earthsea was the first thing of hers I read. I am always pleased, in a weird proprietary way, to hear people coming to love that series of books. I feel that, since they were so formative for me, I have a kind of stake in their reception by others.

If you feel inclined to venture further into her work, assuming you haven't already, may I suggest Rocannon's World if you like the tone of Earthsea, and the Left Hand of Darkness if you like the political/ideological landscape of them?

Somewhere upthread someone mentioned Cesare Pavese's great novel The Moon and the Bonfires...I was moved to run to the house bookshelves and search it up. A long time ago, when I was first invited into the house I now call home as a guest, I stood at the living-room window for a good half-hour. John, the Divine Miss's father, said, "I know the garden's beautiful, but what the hell are you staring at?" I turned away from the window long enough to ask, "What garden?" and went back to gazing enrapt at the collection of books from every era and in every language in the bookcases flanking those windows.

I picked up The Moon and the Bonfires and entered a delightful world, one I'd never imagined before, where the saddest things could happen, the most painful personal conflicts could come to a head, and the sheer elegance of the words used to enact the drama before my eyes could make me feel even more exalted than the action alone. John and I spent 45 minutes discussing the delights of Pavese and he pointed me to several other books, a few in Italian, that he felt I would like if I liked that one. He was right. It was a wonderful first (of many) visit, and he was a wonderful friend.

So I ran downstairs and, sure enough, there was John's copy of the book! I sit with it in my lap now, appreciating its history in this house where it has been since the 1950s, and its personal history to me, and its beauty as an object (the book design was done by Marshall Lee himself, a legend in the book design field and author of the definive text on the subject of book production), and marveling anew at how much power a book has over my life...so many associations, so much enrichment, such a glorious gift in each book....

>143 karenmarie, I haven't gotten very far in The Professor and the Madman because I was working on those darned library books with due dates. I hope this weekend to get further into it, as it was highly recommended to me by several people here after I said I'd read The Meaning of Everything by the same author.

I finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (heart-wrenching, but very good) and Anne of the Island. I've finally started Airframe which was assigned me for Go Review That Book some time ago, and I'm also slowly rereading Fruits Basket in preparation for buying Vol. 21 in November.

Meanwhile all the other books I have right now are calling out "Hurry up and finish so you can read me!"

I'm all over the board right at the moment.

Just started reading Company of Liars by Karen Maitland...

... but then "Billy and the Birdfrogs" came in the mail. It's a book for kids, but it totally sucked me in. (about 1/2 through)

Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2008, 2:09pm.

Started reading Mists of Avalon a while back, but have been feeling poorly the past couple of days. started The Song is You by the exquisite Ms Abbott which is helping to lighten my mood..ironic, that, since this book is a stagger/crawl through 1950s Hollywood-where the tinsel is very rusty and the Leading Men are far from golden boys (more like perverts, but hey!)

>Richard..i live in a two story farmhouse and have books in every room except my downstairs lavatory...and i am eying that small bit of wall space with glee. sadly, though i can only read one book at a time...me brain is old and slow and i tend to mix up my storylines...good for insane laughter...bad for reviewing..boo hoo, noo?

>mckait..i took dow my copy of The Norwegian Book last evening in your honor...started laughing so hard i dropped the darn thing...luckily, or not, the binding did NOT break...but i don't know if i could do a re-read of this puppy...not anytime soon, i do know that

:-0

Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2008, 5:20pm.

Five minutes ago, I finished reading the novel Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride.

.

Reading Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk. It's about how Lincoln's lifetime of depression shaped him and his presidency. Picked it up because Josh was a teacher of mine once. I like the insight, and how he is very critical of assumption about history w/o proof.

Also just began this week Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Bucknell. Sci-fi - lots of space travel and aliens. Too soon to tell if I like it, though.

Message edited by its author, Oct 9, 2008, 2:32pm.

I've been feeling all warm and fuzzy re-reading Little Women. It's like having a big bowl of homemade mac & cheese on a chilly Fall evening. :-)

Has anyone read The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra? I'm considering getting the book, but thought I'd check in with my dear LT family if this is worth a read. I heard it's an interesting story and less controversial compared with The Da Vinci Code.

I finished Hounded to Death by Rita Mae Brown. Took less than 24 hours - I just got it from the library yesterday and yesterday I also got Reminiscences of My Life from a different library and finished that in only a couple of hours.

Two in two days while it took me over 5 days to finish Brisingr.

Guess I've been in more of a reading mood or the books are just easier to read - I like those after a long one.

Now I'll stick to The ancient Mariners and a fantasy novella that my son wrote. H likes to write, but this is the first time in years that I have actually been "allowed" to read one. So far - not bad. I don't think he plans to publish and it is so hard to get into that field.

I finally finished Time and Chance which I really loved. It took me a long time to read it, for I savored it over the past few weeks, as I do with all of Sharon Kay Penman's books. Now, I'm primed to read Devil's Brood when I can get my hands on it!

About 175 pages into A Clash of Kings. Finished A Game of Thrones about six weeks ago and needed a break from this epic. To me it's so inconsistent; I'll read one chapter and think it's the best story I've ever read, then struggle to get through the next chapter because it's sooo boring! But the reviews and ratings are so high for this series that I figure it must be worth it, so I keep pluggin along.

I finished The Photograph but I never did fall in love with it as my friend promised me I would. Started Nam Le's The Boat and after one and a half stories, I'm still wondering why all the hype? Am I just being difficult to please at the moment????

> 174: 5hrdrive- Sorry to hear about your struggle through this series. Yes, the books are big and dense at times but I feel they are consistently rewarding. I just started the 4th book A Feast For Crows and I'm really enjoying it. Good luck!

#174: 5hrdrive -- I found something similar when I read the Song of Ice and Fire. It's something I ascribe not so much to the writing, but which character POV the chapter in question was from. One grows tired, very quickly, of Caitlyn Stark.

>177 Heh... I'm okay with Caitlyn, but I grow tired, very quickly, of Cersei Lannister.

Actually I grew tired of pretty much all of the POVs in A Feast For Crows, since the way Martin decided to break it up, all of my favorite characters don't get their say until A Dance with Dragons.

I made it through The Green Beauty Guide this morning and am ready to get back to Descartes' Bones. I sort of wish I'd brought some fiction to work with me to balance it all out, though.

#177: fyrefly98: Agreed...Feast for Crows is likely to be the last volume of the Song that I read, and definitely the last that I buy.

It's irritating enough that I'm also considering the sale of my twice-read hardcover editions of the first 4 volumes.

There are better things to do than wait (and wait and wait and wait) for Martin to come out with the next volume, only to find that it's half a story.

I'm going to stop working, grab my book and go sit outside on the porch and read RIGHT NOW!! It's too glorious of a day to be stuck inside. There won't be many days like this left. The work can wait awhile. I need to make some headway on this thing anyway (It's All Right Now).....it keeps getting shoved aside, but not today!! :o)

#170 muzikanka ~ I've added Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk to my wishlist. It sounds my kind of history by my kind of historian. Thanks for sharing about it here.

I started Lori Handeland's Any Given Doomsday last night. It's not as bad as most of the LT reviews have made it sound, but it's sure not Laurell K. Hamilton calibre (which is what I think it's trying to be like). I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, so it may improve, or it may disintegrate ~ I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow and post my ER review soon after, I hope.

Am also still listening to Ines of My Soul on audio and reading Broad Street, another ER book.

Finished Little Women and starting A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander in a few minutes.

I'm enjoying Wild Rose despite the slow start ... slow because I'm babysitting my 2 year old niece for a week while her parents go on a much needed vacation. Not an ideal companion when trying to read books that require concentration to detail, even though she's so cute and delightful

Oh, cameling ~ two year old nieces are so wonderful! I can't wait until my now grown nieces (and daughter) start having babies so I can start babysitting. Since none of them are even serious yet, much less married, I may have a long wait. (They range in age now from 18 to 26.) If we lived near each other, I'd spell you for a couple of hours a day so you could get your reading in. :)

I just started reading White Horses by Alice Hoffman. I love reading Alice Hoffman in October!

>137 fredbacon, I hope you'll keep posting your books anyways. I like seeing a variety of titles, I never know what's going to jump out and sound interesting.

As for me, still reading The Professor and the Madman and Airframe. I'll start The Dragon Heir soon, probably as soon as I finish one of the others.

Started Nightshade Susan Witing Albert this afternoon after getting some
gardening done. It was a very quick and enjoyable read. Finished it early this evenng.

#137 fredbacon I love nonfiction too and have added you to my interesting libraries. But I've noticed that since I joined this group I'm reading a lot more fiction!

Argh, I finished Dreamers of the Day last night and really didn't enjoy the last half. Am I the only one here to feel like that? I loved a Thread of Grace so much that it might be my favourite book this year, but this one just fell flat. By halfway through the book I felt like I was reading a rather boring travelogue by a rather boring person. Rosie the dog was the only redeeming feature. It's not often that I race to the end out of boredom. Still, it's made me want to read more about the Middle East in the 1920s, so it wasn't all bad.

FInished The Boat but wouldn't recommend it. Just didn't get beyond the ordinary for me.

Started The Gravedigger's Daughter which sounds promising so far.

I finished The Last Train to Kazan by Stephen Miller. #137 fredbacon -if you are interested in reading a historical fiction mystery about the early Soviet Union, I would highly recommend this author's two books-the first being The Field of Mars. I do think that Last Train is better.
I also finished My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar. Excellent story of a son's search for his father's past and understanding.
I am now starting Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson and some mysteries.

I'm now beginning The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

Finished The Alchemyst last night and started Anna Karenina this morning.

From the Friends' book sale today:

I purchased
Can This Be Christmas
The Baron's Gloves
The Bridges of Madison County
The Christmas Box
Jane Eyre
Of Mice and Men
Wuthering Heights
Mexico by Michener
The Testament by Grisham
Risk by Francis
Comeback
A Gift to Last
The Notebook
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Clowns of God
The Cider House rules
Angela's Ashes
Mystic River
Bleachers
Reflex
Under Orders
Metro Girl
Billy Bathgate
Crisis by Robin Cook
Aggressor by Nick Cook - didn't really mean to get this one; I read Cook and thought Robin, but I'll see what it's like anyway

This has got to be my most eclectic buy of all times. I seem to have gotten a bit of everything - but non-fiction. My husband got three of that kind, including On Many a Bloody Field.

Sorry if this is a repeat for some of you. Just thought I'd put it in two places as it fits in two places.

I started reading Bride island byAlexandra Enders last evening. So far, I am really enjoying this one. It is less than 300 pages and I hope to find the time to finish it today.

I loved this book!!!

I have read a couple of books since I last posted.

Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston. Book 4 in the Joe Pitt series. Just didn't do it for me. Very sad. Its a repeat of book 1 as far as I am concerned. Doing the same things, for the same people, dealing with the same issues, with the same results. I am also tired of Joe's tough guy act, of mouthing off, and refusing help, but being miraculously saved none-the-less.

I hope the next book is fresher, but if there are only going to be 5 books, perhaps Huston has run out of steam.

Then I read Mahu Fire by Neil Plakcy, and it did live up to expectations, in fact it exceeded them. The story continues to follow gay cop Kimo in Hawaii and this time he is dealing with arson, murders, and a bombing. The arson and the bombing are targeted at gays, and the political fight over gay marriage. The suspects are obvious, but the story is about tying everything together and gathering enough evidence to bust them.

The last book dealt with Kimo's past, and this one has him thinking about his future and what kind of life he wants. He comes from a very, very strong and loving family, and they are also added to the mix. It was a very positive, uplifting read, and I hope there are more published. Oh yeah, Kimo gets a boyfriend, who isn't out, so Kimo becomes the big secret.

The good people are probably too nice, and everything turns out well, so those who like gritty may be unsatisfied, but I loved it.

Now I am reading The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas LLosa, about the end of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. I am almost half-way through and am enjoying it so far. It was rough going at first, but now I am into it.

It mentions a lot of new-world Spanish leaders, and poets, and writers, and I am unfamiliar with most of them. It also names events taking place in their world, and doesn't always explain them. Then there are all the names (3-5 each) and its hard to keep track. The writer also jumps from a current situation to a memory, with no warning. Not sure if its him, or the translator. But once I got further in they started explaining events, and I am just ignoring most of the names.

The story is told in 3 threads. An grown woman coming home from the USA to see her stroke-paralyzed father. He was a crony of the dictator and something terrible happened to her when she was 14, and she has had no contact with her family there for 35 years. She is slowly reminiscing about life at the time, and what she thought before and after the event.

The other thread is Trujillo himself, and that is fascinating, and the final thread is the group who is going to assassinate him. Its quite gripping.

I am reading it as a companion to one of my books groups reads: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez., about the Mirabel sisters. The current book talks about the events around the Mirabel sisters, so it is providing depth that will be helpful when I start the next book.

Message edited by its author, Oct 11, 2008, 4:10pm.

Jude..... stick that sucker under the couch!!!! ( the Norwegian book ..)

save yourself!

or.. at least read it quietly without telling me *tiptoes away*

I really have to find my copy of "Mists"

tis a good book - Mists...

I finished The Ancient Mariners and was actually pleased with it. Sometimes history books like this get bogged down in minute details, but this actually read like a good novel at times.

I am now going on vacation to New England and will hit all six states on my voyage. I am taking along several short books to read in the evening should I still have the energy to do so or when there isn't a TV program I want to watch - which also takes less energy.

I'll let you know how I do when I get back and it'll probably take me a couple of days to get through all the notes on my threads.

Later that same evening I also finished I Didn't Know That: From "Ants in the Pants ... by Karlen Evins and I didn't know that this author has several more of the same vein.

Message edited by its author, Oct 12, 2008, 10:31pm.

# 146: cameling > I have to agree with you, the Bromeliad trilogy are books to be re-read. I wish it didn't have to end or that there are more Bromeliad books!