Iron John Robert Bly
Happy holidays to everyone!

I finished Stark by Ben Elton but only with a bit of effort, some great ideas and wonderful moment of humour but somehow it never quite related to me; I think that I prefer his television writing like Blackadder. I also finished Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind after reading it in bits and pieces over several weeks. A great book if you haven't encountered the ideas before, for me much of it was at least a little familiar and the book felt light. Now I've moved on to my first Neil Gaiman (thank you LibraryThing) - going well so far.

Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2006, 5:59pm.

I was'nt reading any book last week .

A few days ago, I started reading a book, and as of 0000H GMT of Dec. 23, 2006, I have so far completed 9% of the book Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs .

.

Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2006, 7:05pm.

Having been intrigued by the diversity of opinions over at the Best Endings thread, I'm reading McEwen's Atonement and finding it engrossing.

Also finished a Calvin and Hobbes collection for the much needed laughs.

> Also finished a Calvin and Hobbes collection for the much needed
> laughs.

This time of year, I always have to look through the demented snow people series. I love those!

I read Beyond the Summerland by L.B. Graham

I am reading The Greek Historians currently I am on The Persian Wars by Herodotus

Yep, you can't go wrong with two-headed snowpersons :), so I bought a copy for my stressed out college freshman daughter.

Message edited by its author, Dec 22, 2006, 11:54pm.

My week has been high-jacked by pre-Christmas socialising, which unfortunately cuts into reading time but finished The accidental by Ali Smith and finally reached The great Fire by Shirley Hazzard which to date is proving to be spot on. I found "The Accidental" disappointing and predicatable. The unjustified text format just irritated me.
Am currently looking forward to Boxing Day when I intend to spend the entire day with a capacious glass of something in front of me, reading books as yet unknown as supplied by loving friends and family.

Mutant snowgoons! Yes!

I just started the new Matt Beaumont, Where There's A Will, and I've got The Devil Wears Prada in my suitcase for indulgent reading at the in-laws. (I do hope it's good; I don't want to pack too many books but they have very little fiction so I can't really borrow anything else if it's rubbish.)

I am finally getitng around to reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It is quite good so far.

Let's see... Read The Thirteenth Room by Siobahn Parkinson yesterday. I'm currently the only LT member with a copy, and after reading it, I can understand why. It's not bad, exactly, but just kind of bland and pointless.

I picked up Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak this morning (after loving I am the Messenger and The Book Thief) and am about halfway through it. So far, it's not quite as good as those other two, but that very well might be because I don't really connect to the subject (underground boxing clubs). Still really uniquely written.

Oh, yeah, still listening to The Thirteenth Tale when I get a few minutes here and there away from holiday activities.

Just finished The Echo Maker by Richard Powers. IT took me a while to get into it, and then I read it for the plot; I'm still not quite sure whether I liked it or what I think about it.

>131 avaland from last week's thread...I like "continuation novels" as a tag for "based on another person's novel" books. Wide Sargasso Sea was a delight...I liked Mrs. De Winter well enough...and Jasper Fforde's books are, I guess, the apotheosis of the genre.

And A Far Better Rest was excellent. Far better prose than Dickens, for my reading taste.

>132 booklifeozarks, from last week's thread, the novel's been dead since the advent of the incredible, sophisticated video games (my age shows) that I see my daughter's generation experiencing. But hey...poetry's been dead since The princess of Cleves was published in the 17th century, at least, so no coffin nails needed yet.

I'm embarking on Mister Posterior and the Genius Child by Emily Jenkins, which was a Christmas gift from my live-in. Sweet of him, I suppose, though I can't help but feel there is some message in that title....

Off to do family visiting.

I just finished Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (for the Read YA Lit January discussion), which I thought was okay but not great. Now I'm reading Specials by Scott Westerfeld. It's the last in a trilogy, but so far isn't quite as good as the first two.

STILL slowly reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the rate of one or so chapters a day. I'm determined to get through it.

Firestarter is the next book in my saga of reading Stephen King consecutively. This is a reread for me, so I know I will really enjoy this one. I can't say the same for the ones I've read up until this point. Don't get me wrong, they are good reads. However, unlike others I don't seem to care as much for his earlier works.

I'm more than halfway through Yule by Morrison and while the holiday is over, I'd like to finish it before the end of the year.

Lastly, Time Management from the Inside Out so I can squeeze more reading time in, of course.

lizzier, I had nearly the exact same reaction to The Accidental that you said you'd had, didn't much care for it finally, and was disappointed I'd picked it up. And though I really enjoyed and admired The Great Fire, have even read it twice, I don't by any means think it's as fine a novel as The Transit of Venus.

Finished reading Natasha and other stories by David Bezmozgis. It was definately a spendid read. I enjoyed the way he crafted each of his stories and presented it to the reader. The characters were no doubtly interesting. I particularly enjoyed the growth of the main character Mark from a first grader new to Canada to a somewhat responsible adult. The book also discusses a lot about the Jewish tradition and culture which, for me was also quite interesting to read about. Overall a good read.

Currently I am halfway through Me talk pretty one day by David Sedaris.

Message edited by its author, Dec 23, 2006, 5:14pm.

I'm reading The True History of the Kelly Gang and...well, I seem to have misplaced my Bill McKibben book BUT I lustily noticed a book on 20th century American poetry in the pile on the coffee table so I may pick up that over the next couple of days.

My kids, who are adults, are elsewhere for most of Christmas day, so my husband and I are quite happy to spend the day quietly reading... I left you all a poem on "Book Talk" under "If Clement Moore were a LibraryThinger..."

richardderus, you might consider starting a thread on Book Talk for these kind of novels...let me know if you do and I'll add my two cents. You could ask for suggestions on what to call them too!

*16 - Louis - I have decided to be sanguine about The accidental, taking heart from you that I am not alone and also because I try to take something from everything I read. My one positive thought from this book was along the lines of conducting book tours of Norfolk around literary sites I have read about e.g. Sheer Blue Bliss, A change of climate by Hilary Manteland of course, Never let me go, to mention but three. I wonder if I would have any takers?
I noted your enthusiasm for Transit of Venus in earlier postings and am working my way towards it with pleasurable anticipation. A good way to start the New Year, do you think?

Message edited by its author, Dec 23, 2006, 5:44pm.

Finished Marie Antoinette: The Journey

Now reading The Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Listening to Something Nasty in the Woodshed

I just finished Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein, found it quite a bore. Well written and certainly commenting on religion and society, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

Then I read Day of the False King by Brad Geagley which was very, very good. wonderful characters, interesting story, and the setting in ancient Babylon was meaty and full of detail without hitting you in the head with an info-dump.

Have started Raising the Past by Jeremy Robinson, but so far in the prolog, the writing is turgid, and the dialog silly, so I suspect it is self or vanity published. Not sure how much more I will read.

May start The Secundus Papyrus by Albert Noyer. It is another historical mystery set in 5th century Italy.

#19 lizzier, I too loved Transit of Venus and it got me started on reading everything Shirley Hazzard has written. I would rate The Great Fire as almost, but not equal to Transit, and everything else lesser. Both deserve slow and careful reading -- on discussing Transit with a friend, I realized there was much I had missed. I think I will read it again soon.

So many great recommendations! So little time! I am re-reading the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon. I am about 3/4 through with The Fiery Cross. I am reading them guiltily, however, since we just moved house over Thanksgiving, & being jobless, I am in charge of the basic putting away & arranging of the new place. This is, I believe, why I began reading a favorite series-familiarity! Not the most constructive way of dealing w/the unease of getting used to a new house, new town, new everything, but COMFORTING! And, because I should be getting A Breath of Snow and Ashes for Christmas! (But I probably should have just picked Clavell's Sho-gun and been done with it! O well!

Message edited by its author, Dec 23, 2006, 9:25pm.

re: message 5 >> horray for Herodotus! How are you finding him? I think he's a lot of fun. He's just like an old gossip. I need to get a personal copy of The Histories.

I think I'm going to start in on The Name of the Rose next, but I'm not too sure. I'm coming off of a really big fantasy kick, and I'm not sure that this book is quite what I feel like right now. Hmm.

This week I burned through "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl.

It´s supposed to be the New Hot Thing, but, although it was funny and readable, I was sort of dissapointed. She overwrites, throwing in too-clever figurative language where it´s not needed, and I get the feeling that the book is the product of a creative writing class high-achiever. Worse, though, her narrator, who´s a supertalented, supereducated sixteen year-old who often seems like an author stand-in, rattles on so much that she really removes any ambiguity from the text. There´s no real space between "author" and "narrator," and so much arch commentary the reader almost gets moved out of the text, too. This is clever, but it don´t seem deep; it´s a book withoutout a theme. There´s a lot of that around these days, I think, Eggers and Foster Wallace, and whatnot. Or maybe I´m just too much a damn modernist.

Not bad, but I can´t see why it ended up on the New York Times "Top Ten List."

TheAmpersand, you're not the only one here who didn't like Special Topics in Calamity Physics. See http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.ph...

Finished Long Way Down which I didn't find exceptional and in fact was quite annoyed by some of the characters.
Now onto The Ragbone man

I'm currently reading Trudi Canavan's The Black Magicians' Guild series. I finished the first book, The Magicians Guild, on Friday and am now halfway through the second, The Novice. They're wonderfully light reading I needed after that time of holiday-related stress. Once I'm finished with the third book I'm planning on finally reading The Crimson and the Petal White.

I have given up on Raising the Past (may return to it later) and am now reading The Secundus Papyrus by Albert Noyer. A mystery set in 5th century Italy in the Western Roman Empire, near the border with the Eastern Roman Empire. The series follows the adventures of a physician, Getorius Asterius and his wife as they try to deal with the emperor and the politics of the palace, the locals and their illnesses and fears, the lack of real knowledge about the human body and disease processes, and the politics of the Eastern Roman Empire, the threat of the barbarians, and the roiling of the church as acceptable catholic dogma is being formed. This book is the first in the Getorius Asterius series. I read the second book The Cybelene Conspiracy first by mistake.

Message edited by its author, Dec 24, 2006, 11:27am.

I am finishing up Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl and will hopefully then move on to either Mystic River by Dennis Lehane or Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden.

I am finishing Empire by Orson Scott Card. My son suggested I read The Known World by Edward P. Jones so that's the one I will begin tonight. I have a stack beside my bed just waiting to be started!

World War Z, by Max Brooks. Perfect Christmas reading.

I just started Cat in an Orange Twist by Carole Nelson Douglas, a Midnight Louie mystery.

I finished Every Book its Reader yesterday morning, read Murder On Monday in the afternoon and started The Man Who Was Thursday last night. Murder on Monday was okay but I had trouble sticking with it as it felt really slow. Thursday has been good so far and I'm looking forward to finishing it tonight or tomorrow.

Message edited by its author, Dec 24, 2006, 8:11pm.

I just gobbled up The curious incident of the dog in the night-time and really enjoyed it. I have read other books where autistic people featured before, but they were poorly written and not very interesting. This was a rich, interesting book. I really liked it.

Also just finished A Trouble of Fools, which was pretty darn good. It's hard to find a good mystery...

I am just starting to read Freud Along the Ganges, by Salman Akhtar. It was pretty expensive, but a Christmas gift from my husband. I got it because Akhtar's lecture on the "problems" that mental health poses and how fundamentalism solves those problems was utterly brilliant. Now let's see if I can get through this door-stop of a book!

Am also starting to read The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a joyous Kwanzaa to all my new friends at LT, and I look forward to more fun in the new year.

I finished reading Crossing California by Adam Langer in 1 day as it was my trapped the airport reading. I enjoyed it and thought it was hilarious.

Now I am reading Riding The Rails
by Errol Lincoln Uys, which I am sure will be less hilarious.

Finished A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark (author of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie") - recommended as a good place to start if you've never read any Spark. Currently in the midst of The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald (who also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series for kids). Interesting writer, but I have higher expectations for "The Plague and I" about her year in a TB sanitorium; I'm 5th on the library holds for the 1 copy of that book.
Most of the way through Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad, which isn't nearly as much fun as The Innocents Abroad.

Currently reading:

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

Recently finished:

The Arcanum by Thomas Wheeler
Caliban and Other Tales by Robert Devereaux

Thanks to the Inkwrights (my writing group), I am currently Tackling The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis for the first time in several years. It's proving an interesting experience ...

Reading Sixty Lights by Gail JOnes - lovely writing; and The Ballad of Lee Cotton by Christopher Wilson.

I've started reading Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland, Tim Pat Coogan's critically acclaimed biography of The Big Fella, arguably one of the most ruthless, powerful and calculating figures in modern Irish history. A grand read so far.

I recently read The Amateur Marriage, krin5292, and while I was not blown away by it, I did find it utterly engrossing. The characters were so fully formed that I found myself thinking about them for weeks afterwards, as if they were neighbors I had known for a long time. I would be interested to hear what you think of it.

I just finished Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem last night, and found it surprisingly mannered and slight. I was hoping for something more substantial and complex from my first encounter with Lethem. Now I am turning my full attention to The New York Trilogy, which (although it is excellent) I have been reading off and on for about a month and a half. After that it will be Le Grand Meaulnes for an online reading group.

I finished reading Beloved by Toni Morrison and found it incredibly touching. It was a very different book than I thought it would be, but this is probably my absence of the book world coming through. I knew it was a story of slavery, but I was impressed with how the book used inner thoughts and emotions to show the true horror of slavery (the mothers who don't look at their new borns too closely because they won't see them grow up, Paul D who won't love too intensely so that when you lose your love you have some room to love again). These made the book very sad and touching. The supernatural element too me was very surprising - a good read

I am now reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and am finding it well written and interesting. I am now preparing my reading list for 2007 over at the list of bests

I started Paula Fox's memoir Borrowed Finery (a little in reverse order since I read The Coldest Winter first) and also The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Victor Serge (touchstones not loading for this book). But since I've recently been given Alice Munro's The View from Castle Rock, The Best American Short Stories 2006, and The Best American Essays 2006, I will probably be dipping into these as well.

I'm done with Beasts of Eden and I'm now currently starting the long slog through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, though that I'm going to read in daily increments while actually carrying around other books.

Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn was brilliant! I bought a copy as a gift shortly after I read it, and the recipient was as taken with Lionel's story as I was. Please give it a try.

The Ragbone Man was a bit meh, readable but not impressive, much more impressive was Petty Treason, and now onto Visions of Murder

Finishing up Max Hasting's Armageddon, excellent book about the brutal last nine months of WWII in Europe. Hasting's deftly mixes descriptions of the strategic decisions of the Allied, German, and Soviet high commands with accounts of how the war affected individuals soldiers and civilians.

I'm also still working my way through T.C. Boyle Stories. I'm about half way through his "love" part of the collection. Boyle is an amazing writer and he excels at the short story; he has great hooks and a gift for creating memorable characters in just a few pages.

rebbecanyc: You had mixed feelings about The Echo Maker. Care to elaborate? Powers is one of those authors that I have always meant to read. Does he fully integrate the scientific aspects of the novel with the plot?

Message edited by its author, Dec 26, 2006, 9:04pm.

I certainly will give Motherless Brooklyn a try, Seajack! Thanks for letting me know about it. Have you read Men and Cartoons? I would be interested to hear how you think it compares....

I really felt like reading something funny, entertaining, epic, deep and fun, so I've started rereading Jeff Smith's Bone. Thus far I'm having a great time with it, though I find it a little irritating that my omnibus is so big and heavy! I normally shy away from omnbi, since I like to carry my current book around with me, but the one-volume edition was too good a deal to resist.

I just finished The Rug Merchant (I'm a little disappointed with it, though) and will start The Geographer's Library in a few minutes ;)

I decided to pass on "Men and Cartoons" after reading reviews/descriptions of it.

sycoraxpine, Men and Cartoons is such an unfortunate entry point for Lethem, as he does no more than re-sketch several themes from his prior books, but Seajack got it right, Motherless Brooklyn truly is a brilliant book, and so is Gun, With Occasional Music, and my personal favorite The Fortress of Solitude.

I finished The Promise of a Lie by Howard Roughan yesterday. It was quite a good thriller/mystery with very little gore and a half decent court piece.

Now I've just started The Mercy Seat by Martyn Waites which really needs concentration as there are a lot of charaters and each chapter flits back and forth between them all.

With the holidays and family here, I haven't had much time for reading. I've been working my way through a library copy (now overdue) of The Thirteenth Tale, which I really love. I'm at about page 130. I had my doubts about it, but so far, it's the perfect book for me.

>24 Herodotus is good if you are expecting history. I find him very interesting but I suspect that is because I like history.

I finished The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing last night. I really enjoyed it--the writing was very good, and the characters were well drawn. I have Bank's follow-up, The Wonder Spot on audio, and will probably listen to it after I finish with The Hungry Tide.

Today I started reading Mooncranker's Gift, which I had planned on reading before Christmas but decided it needed more concentration. I'm hoping to get in some quality reading time during this week off!

I am about finished with Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing.

I am glad to see my favorite author, Jonathan Lethem is being mentioned.

#43 sycoraxpine: I believe that no-one writes as well as Anne Tyler about people. The Amateur Marriage was the first book of hers I read. Since then I've enjoyed very much The Accidental Tourist and Digging to America.

Shortride (message 32): How was World War z? I'm kind of a "zombie" fan and that one really has my interest piqued ... I can't decide between that and the next volume of "The Walking Dead" series for my next purchase ... I've read 1-4 so far.

I'm currently reading David Brin's Sundiver as a "mind candy" kind of read.

Hey Kromes, I thought World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War was dynamite, and have even been recommending it to my non-zombie-loving friends.

Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter Carey. It's great!

Currently reading Got Fangs? by Katie Maxwell. This is a young adult book by romance writer, Katie MacAlister. It's definately interesting because she has taken the theme of her vampire series and carried it into this young adult novel.

I'm curently reading The pursuit of Happyness and I'm liking it so far. I'm more than half way done.

I'm also reading The historian but put it aside to read the Gardner book.

Once again I keep seeing The thirteenth tale and once again I want to drive up to the bookstore and get it. I might crash under pressure and get it soon... :-)

Annie :-)

mensheviklibrarian, #49 My feelings about The Echo Maker were mixed for a variety of reasons. First of all, I had looked at the book when it first came out and was glowingly reviewed, and it didn't seem to interest me that much, but when it won the National Book Award I thought maybe I should give it a try. This was my first experience with Richard Powers.

It started slowly, and I almost gave up, but after about the first third it really held my interest -- the mystery aspect of it was compelling and so was the picture of life -- both human and natural -- on the Great Plains and the Platte River. Mark (the guy who has the mysterious car accident) is a great character, the others less so.

I could see that Richard Powers was trying to bring a lot of different ideas into the novel. You specifically mentioned the scientific aspects, but these didn't totally work for me. I've tried to think about why since (1) I know something about science, including contemporary neuroscience and (2) I can think of other books in which authors go into detail about various topics and I've enjoyed it (e.g., Tolstoy about farming in Anna Karenina, Philip Roth about glove-making in American Pastoral) and I guess I just felt there was more than there needed to be and that it seemed didactic rather than an organic part of the story.

Additionally, the 9/11 allusions seemed a little forced to me, but that could just be me.

I don't know if I've really answered your question. All in all, the book gave me a lot to think about, but certain aspects of it annoyed me. I probably should reread it, but there are so many other books to read . . .

Last Friday I bought:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Have just started reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

rebeccanyc 66#: Thanks so much for that review. I have heard that Powers interest in science overtakes plot and characterization at times. And since I don't have a strong background in neuroscience, I would probably be lost too.

I'll give Powers a shot later.

RhiGirl 67#: Possession is supposed to be a very good novel. I've also meant to read Byatt.

LouisBranning (message 62): Okay, enough people have recommended World War Z that I just spent some of my Christmas $$ on a copy from Amazon ...

This morning I finished London by Rutherfurd, a historical novel that was really long (1,126 pages) and absolutely wonderful! Am now embarking on My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale, a shorter, lighter historical romance. After that, I plan to read A Taste of Darkness and How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire (both vampire romances) in between sightseeing (am visiting my daughter in Tennessee for the holidays) and apres-Christmas sale shopping.

I'm almost halfway through Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey, and so far I'm not finding it as bad as some reviews claim. I really liked her Kushiel trilogy, so I'm glad this is turning out well.

I also read Darkspell by Katharine Kerr earlier this week and really enjoyed that as well - will be reading the next in the series as soon as I can find it.

For my Christmas present to myself I bought The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits, and The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro, so I'd have something to read over the holidays. Both have been slow going, but the Munro, especially, has been rewarding. What an amazing writer she is!

I'm reading the Julavits book with some trepidation, because the initial setup is so exquisite and provocative, I am frankly worried she's going to mess it up. Oh well, I'll plow through it, and keep my fingers crossed.

Message edited by its author, Dec 27, 2006, 2:56pm.

re: 67 & 69:

Possession was excellent. The only thing that put me off was the long stretches of faux-early-19th-century epic poetry. I'm sure they were as well-done as the rest of the book, but I have a long-standing and unrelenting dislike for early 19th century epic poetry. The rest of the book made up for it, though.

The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan

mensheviklibrarian & xicanti: I was reading that Bookmark magazine and came across a huge section on A.S. Byatt, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try out her stuff.

I also forgot to say that since I'm trying to finish up Freedom's Challenge right now, I won't be reading Possession anytime soon. That's the problem when you've got a long ole reading list that probably extends to 2009...

Finished my son's Christmas gift, Rule #4 The Dog is Not a Toy by Darby Conley. It's like reading a diary of our Siamese cat's thoughts. Now on to Fox Trot the Works by Bill Amend, that's my gift. Of course I'm still working through the three other books which I've been working on forever...and then I have to take a break today and read A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck. I think it is a one day thing, my sister-in-law is making me read it. A YA book, so OK for a change.

Today I finished The Amateur Marriage and Enduring Love. I liked the characters in both books - in Amateur Marriage, Michael and Pauline have both good and bad traits, just like everyone.

Enduring Love was an interesting and sometimes scary look at obsession. I didn't always like the narrator, but I could understand his growing unease regarding the other man's constant presence.

I am now reading The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst.

Message edited by its author, Dec 27, 2006, 7:07pm.

>78 re: The Amateur Marriage, I am so glad you liked the book! It's a favorite of mine, and I'm pleased when others see the balanced, nuanced characters that Tyler excels at creating with my own appreciative eyes.

I've finished The Family Trade by Charles Stross, and have embarked on The Hidden Family. Excellent stuff, "hard fantasy" for the most discerning sci fi reader.The Clan is a group of families linked by a genetic mutation...they are able to walk between worlds. The earth's not one planet on one historical time line, but one of at least two. The characters are all drawn into desperate conflict because their family trade is...ummm, outed, shall we say, and the results are unpretty. I look forward to the next book.

New bus reading: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin, a mystery set in 1836 Istanbul. It features a "lala" or eunuch guardian of the Sultan's harem, among other things. I am looking forward to it, since I so enjoy Turkish history.

Which reminds me that I finally clawed back Lords of the Horizons, also by Jason Goodwin. It's a history of the Ottoman Empire that I've had for several years, and that my brother borrowed to read in 1999. It was finding that book at his house over Christmas that led me to the new mystery!

I also read A Wayne In A Manger and A Plum In Your Mouth this week, and half of The Historian which I'm really enjoying (although puzzling out a couple of the (local to me) geographical descriptions at one point was quite frustrating, because they just didn't quite make sense).

Finished Imaginary Numbers this week. It won't be to everyone's taste, but if the following makes you chuckle, look it up in your local library:

"’Lines that are parallel meet at Infinity!’
Euclid repeatedly, heatedly, urged.
Until he died, and so reached that vicinity:
in it he found that the damned things diverged."
-- Piet Hein

New from the public library: The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English, a much more word-centric amusement; Epidemic! (don't blame me--the publisher put the exclamation point in the title); and another which, I find, may be too private to disclose. Had not considered that possibility before.

Still have Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet, which I will get into now that I've finished off a couple of other things.... Oh, there's always more on the list!

61: I enjoyed it, and I'm not a huge zombie fan, so it seems to be right up your alley.

I'm currently reading The Areas of My Expertise, by John Hodgman

Finished A Long Way from Chicago. I really enjoyed it. Good use of local dialect and idioms without being tedious. The revelations of the boy regarding his grandmother over the years is a treat. Also several LOL moments, which doesn't hurt. Glad my sister-in-law made me read it.

I was reading 109 East Palace last week, I've seemed to misplace it with 20 pages left to go. Great look at the people behind the science and the building of the town.
Currently reading Water for Elephants, I have a thing for stories that take place in depression era circuses. Whats that about?

At long last I finished The Wasp Factory on Boxing Day, and started Dining on Stones last night. I think I might have liked TWF more if I had read it first time round while in high school- it would have made a good compare & contrast w/ Lord of the Flies

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 6:38am.

richardderus (message 80): have you read Turkish Delights by David R. Slavitt? It might appeal to you ... it's a novel in three sections, one of which deals with on a sultan's son trying to escape from his father's court ... this is then tied into two other episodes further into the future (the 1900s and modern day, if I remember right) ... anyway, I read it a long time ago, but the part set in Turkey really stuck w/me.

Just started Lisey's Story last night. My first impression is that it's almost like another person is writing it and not King. The prose is very dense - there are no 'throw-away' words - every word carries meaning. This is fine, but the convoluted sentence structure has made me read the same sentence multiple times in order to figure out what the hell he's trying to say. That and the cryptic style makes for slow going. Not sure if it suits him. Sure it's one thing when Barbara Vine does it or Lovecraft, but King's prose has always been very much as if he were talking to you and I can't picture anyone talking like this. If it weren't for some old standby 'Kingisms', I'd think it was someone else.

Just finished Borrowed Finery, Paula Fox's memoir of her childhood being shuttled around to all sorts of care-takers while being mostly abandoned by her parents. Unlike most memoirs of unhappy childhoods, this one is, like all of Fox's work that I've read, stark and unsentimental, and very powerful because of that.

I'm currently reading Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, as well as Books of Blood by Clive Barker.

I also pick up Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin when I need a break from the fantastical reading.

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 10:17am.

I'm currently reading The Great Stink by Clare Clark. Quite an excellent descriptive writing style.

I am currently reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith -- really enjoying.

Just finished Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - started strong but then the wheels came off. I was dissapointed.

Also read a couple Grafton mysteries "K" and "L" -- mediocre.

Ten days later I’m only about half way through The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. So far it’s a coherent history how al-Qaida came to be what it is, including an exploration of Bin Laden’s strange history. What really gets me is the wild philosophical path that led al-Qaida to justify killing about everyone. It’s fascinating and disturbing how deeply, fervently, intelligent people can hold to these beliefs.

Just finished The Attack and Something Nasty in the Woodshed.

Now reading The Taking.

Hey Everyone:

Let me add my two pence into the conversation. Here are my reading selections for this week:

The Sky Changes by Gilbert Sorrentino--Formally and stylistically, the novel works brilliantly; thematically, however, it could be flushed out just a tad bit more. All in all, it's worth checking out. (Think of On The Road coupled with cynicism and and truculent wit)

Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories by Raymond Carver--Maybe it's the time of the season, but--and forgive me for saying it-- I simply don't find Carver's stories very interesting. I'll add more to my argument later on.

Message edited by its author, Dec 29, 2006, 2:16pm.

The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin
State of Denial by Bob Woodward

I've just begun my seventh reading of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. While I always enjoy this book, I have no idea why I've read it six times; it's nowhere near one of my favourites, and I usually don't read books more than two or three times unless they're quite important to me. Hmm. The last time I read it was eleven or twelve years ago, so I'm looking forward to going back over it as an older reader. I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope it doesn't disappoint me.

Just started Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard ...

Currently reading Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Noula O'Faolain and planning to read Open Secrets next, by Alice Munro. If it topples, the reading backlog on my nightstand could smother me, but I've been so lucky to get several books during the holidays!

Open Secrets is my favorite of the three Alice Munro books I have read so far, peryodista, and I have enjoyed them all immensely.

I finished Mooncranker's Gift--Barry Unsworth is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't like this book as much as others of his I've read. It was a an interesting structure and I was interested in some of the side stories, but it felt incomplete.

I started Dreams from my Father, by Barack Obama, this morning. It was a surprising and touching Christmas gift from my 11-year-old daughter.

seemingmeaning, #95, for what it's worth, I've never been a big Raymond Carver fan either.

rebeccanyc, #102: And I thought I was the lone rider in not enjoying Carver's oeuvre! Thank goodness.

I just started Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, book 2 of his Mars Trilogy ...

to #85..I loved Water for Elephants and also love stories set during the depression. The Grapes of Wrath is on my favorite list.