I started Boven is het stil (The Twin) by Gerbrand Bakker last night. I'll probably read A Tale of Two Lions by Roberto Ransom and Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky after that, and then restart Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie.

Message edited by its author, Apr 18, 2009, 10:05am.

Finishing up The Namesake. Picking up Selected Poems by Mark Strand at the Library today. Will begin reading poems and maybe I'll get to restart How Do I Love Thee? A Novel Of Elizabeth Barrrett Browning's Life by Nancy Moser.

The early morning sky is a soft blue with a patchwork of saturated pink-orange clouds.

WH aka Ruth in Tallahassee

I should finish up Wordy Shipmates today. Luckily my earlier irritations with the book have lessened. It's still not my favorite but there were some pretty interest parts and points of view. I'm at that delicious point of having no idea what I'll read next so everything and anything is possible.

Just finished Hunted, the latest book of P.C. Cast's House of Night series and now I'm reading Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine. But I really hope that Amazon will speed up a little bit and I'll get my copies of Cassandra Clare's City of Glass and Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear within the next days...

I am still working on Flashforward by Robert Sawyer. Its not large, and it flows, but I have been spending so much time on-line that I have gotten almost no where with it.

My Amazon order with the new PsyCop novel, Camp Hell (no touchstone for this particular book), came in the mail yesterday so I put aside The Pirate Lord to start it.

I'm about 120 pages into The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett for my May bookclub read.

I'm also about 100 pages into Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

And, when both become overwhelming, I'll probably read a Regency romance or two by Mary Balogh.

I finished "In the United States of Africa" and am not sure what's coming next.

Did not see the new thread, do now (cut/pasting today's response here):

I'm an Atlas Shrugged fan Imanivrn ... it's been years since I read it (also listened to the audiobook with my Dad on a road trip), but its characters and core store stick with me many a day.

I put down Rick Bragg to finish for my categorical book club (I have biography/memoir for May). So far it seems pretty good. I guess I feel I've read about enough dysfunctional alcoholic families to last a lifetime, but his writing is pretty engaging. He writes of the deep, poor white South in a way I haven't quite read before ~ passionate and respectful, yet honest.

So "wandered into Barnes and Noble" and bought/started Someone Knows my Name by Lawrence Hill which has long been on the TBR list ... it's awesome and I cannot put it down. I'm thinking I have a think for Canadian writers. Very few do I not care for lately.

I just started reading The Vampyre: His Kith and Kin by Augustus Montague Summers, found it as an ebook.

Also still reading The Stand by Stephen King and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

The Kommandan'ts Girl Pam Jenoff

I just finished the wonderful Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon and will probably start The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman today.

I think the not finding the thread has to do with searching by accided under "your posts" instead of "your groups" at least, that did it for me this morning.. :P oooops!

I finished off The Wages of Destruction on Monday night. An excellent book, but I now know more about balance of payments and arms production than I ever expected to know. However, if you have any interest in World War II, then you should read this book. It sheds a bright light on the inner workings of the Nazi government revealing nuances of their policies which others have failed to note.

After that, I picked up John Gardner's Nickel Mountain. It was a beautiful pastoral novel about rural life in the Catskill Mountains of the 1950's. It's a shame that Gardner died in a motorcycle accident in 1982. He was probably one the finest American writers of the mid-20th century. Few people can set a scene as well as he. I'm not satisfied with the review that I wrote. It doesn't quite do justice to the book. I may take another shot at it later.

I haven't quite decided what I'm reading next. I'm nibbling around at a couple of books, looking for just the right one.

I started reading Love Child by Sue Elliot last night, and i already half way through. Sue tells her own story of being adopted as well as mini tales of others and educates her readers about how adoption has changed since the 1920s.
Really interesting so far, cannot put it down.

Burning my way through short stories by John Cheever on audio. I am getting ready to read Nothing Right, short stories by Antonya Nelson and then try The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I'm not usually a mystery reader but I keep hearing about this series at the library.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is great, it's a really lovely gentle read. There is the mystery element but I think it's the atmosphere of the book that makes it really.

I'm still reading Titus Groan which I love but it is taking a while to get through! I don't mind that though, I just don't think it's a book to race through.

I'm also reading Garden Spells which was a recommendation from here that I'm thoroughly enjoying - it reminds me a lot of Practical Magic so far but is different enough to still be a good read.

Still reading Magarece Godine by Branko Copic. Finished Love in the Time of Cholera and am starting The Pale Horse.

moomin.. I agree about The No. 1! I think that all of his boks have that certain.. atmosphere.. quality.. whatever it is. :)

I am halfway through The Book Thief

Finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, my first Gaiman. Loved the picture of London underground. Not sure I'd want to live there.

Starting Sanctuary by Faulkner, somehow I missed it when I was in my Faulkner period.

Participating in the Read-a-Thon, and have finished Empire Falls and How to Be a Villian by Neil Zawacki, and now I'm starting Marked by P. C. Cast.

Still the same books for me this week as last week: The Hour I First Believed, The Zookeeper's Wife and The Red Convertible although I may finish two of them this week. I don't know how some of you finish your books so quickly - I am jealous that you have so much time to read!

Still reading Keats, and have just started The Insulted and the Humiliated by Dostoevsky. Sounds like a nice, light, cheerful read.

Reading Nickel and Dimed, which I just started yesterday.

>mckait- We are having our own little group read on The Book Thief.There are at least 3 of us currently immersed. I didn't think there were too many left that haven't read it. I'm just under a 1/3 of the way and it's sooooo good!!

I had to put aside A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because of a heavy workload this week. I'm looking forward to picking it up again later today and finishing it this weekend.

Still reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger which is absolutely brilliant. I really didn't expect to like it quite as much as I do, but it has had some excellent reviews.

I just noticed someone entered a post for March!

Oh well, I am almost finished with Infinity's Prism. I have pulled Assignment in Space, The Starship and The Canoe, Power of Three: Long shadows and All of the Women of the Bible off my shelves to read next. It'll be another time where I will probably have at least two going at the same time - well, not THE same exact time, but, well, you know....

and there's a book sale at my library next week!

Message edited by its author, Apr 18, 2009, 6:04pm.

It is a little strange...I like it, but don't love it. Too much back and forth. :)

The Book Thief is absolutely awesome.

I'm reading Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey - The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World by Holley Bishop. I'm only a few pages in but already it is proving to be every bit as delicious as its title. It's a genuine love letter to bees and their honey, but also full of fascinating detail. I'll never look at a little honeybee the same way again!

Just finished The School of Essential Ingredients a fluffy meringue of a book. My review is here. I'm also reading The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz and will read a bit more of that before deciding what to pick up next.

Message edited by its author, Apr 18, 2009, 7:14pm.

Almost finished with my "Anna Karenina" re-read.
Have several recently aquired titles on my bookshelves to choose from next...or I may make a trip to the local library...then there's the Barnes & Noble gift-card from my son...so many possibilities!

finished Infinity's Prism

About a 1/3 of the way through my ER book.Annies Ghost by Steve Luxenberg. With the nice weather it is hard to pick up a book. I am in for night so I will read more tonight. A verrry interesting book.

I'm almost done with Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, which I like a lot. I'm not sure what I'm going to read after that--either World War Z by Max Brooks or Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel.

Still enthralled by The Thirteenth Tale. It's such a beautiful weekend here that not much reading is taking place, but it's supposed to be a rainy week going forward.

Buried Strangers by Leighton Gage
Out by Natsuo Kirino

I finished Flashforward by Robert Sawyer. It was OK, if a bit fluffy. Sawyer is often hit or miss for me. This one was more of a hit, but not hugely appealing or interesting.

I am now starting The Fugitive by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. It is set in east Java, Indonesia at the end of WWII. The main character is caught between the Dutch Colonials and the Japanese after he leads a failed revolt and must flee or be killed.

Waaay busy today, and tomorrow too, but plan to sandwich in some quality time with The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. So far...so far, it's so far.

#19 mckait ~ love your thumbs up!

#10 So, Tammiejx ~ How are you liking The Vampyre?

I have finally finished Embers by Sandor Marai this evening. I wasn't as captivated with this one as I was with Esther's Inheritance ... I found the dialogue rambled and meandered an awful lot during the conversation with his old friend and had a hard time maintaining any interest.

Next up is The Soul of All Great Designs by Neil Bissoondath. Just in case this one doesn't enthrail me, I have Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin ready in the wings.

I am reading Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong. It starts well but the dish out information so slowly that it is too easy to putdown. When I am finished I think I will read Playing with Fire by Katie MacAlister.

I would be starting with Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill and hoping to finish The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho till evening!

I'm currently reading Dreams from My Father for May book group and Sharpe's Company by Bernard Cornwell.

>36: ParadoxicalRae- My vote is for World War Z. I read it last summer and was a huge fan!

I've decided to read Color A Natural History of the Palette. I've just begun but am happy to find it's not dry or too technical. It seems quite fascinating, learning where they get ochre from and what it's meant to various peoples through history. I'm in Australia with the Aborigines right now.

I started The Life Room by Jill Bialosky last night. Part of the premise is the main character goes to Paris to present a paper she wrote on Anna Karenina, which I read last month. I figure now is a good time to read this one while Anna is still so fresh in my mind.

Still reading The Summer Garden, but despite the size, I'm loving it!

There are so many breath-taking passages in The Book Thief, I felt I had to share one.
Death as narrator. Here Death recalls a young German soldier dying on a battlefield:

***The Files of Recollection***

Oh, yes, I definitely remember him.

The sky was murky and deep like quicksand.

There was a young man parceled up in barbed wire,

like a giant crown of thorns. I untangled him and carried him out. em>

High above the earth, we sank together, to our knees. It was just another day,1918.

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:25pm.

#51, that was beautiful. I've been wanting to read "The book thief", I just might after the 2 I'm in the middle of:

North River- Pete Hamill

The Road- Cormac McCarthy~ This one reads like a poem. I haven't read any other books by McCarthy, but I did enjoy "no country for old men" at the theater. (I'm sure it's not at all the same)

Started an old one that my son found at a book sale and give to me when he was finished - Assignment in Space. He said it took him an afternoon. I have to find an afternoon first. I went to see "Pajama Game" yesterday afternoon and I just returned from a Tea where we got to watch demonstrations of popular dances in the Civil War era , the 1890s and the 1910s. Twas a lot of fun and I am still full from the food.

I think #59 forgot to turn off the italics!

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:00pm.

Closing itals. That was close!

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:13pm.

Sorry guys! I had no idea that would happen!

The Book Thief is NOTHING like The Road
imho

One is filled with hidden beauty and hope, and the other with obvious and implied horror..

just imo remember... I hated The Road x 10

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 5:02pm.

Ok, how do I turn off the italics?

I finished two great books this week...The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Mr. Pip. Has anyone else enjoyed them as much as I did? Quick reads that I couldn't put down.

>52: Pete Hamill--One of my favorites! Have you read Forever and Snow in August? I love Forever for how it depicts New York City at different times throughout its history (not that I really know New York, other than through movies and books).

attempting to turn off italics, hope it worked...

ETA: Victory! It took a few tries to figure this out. It wasn't italics, but "emphasized text", where "em" is placed between the carrots.

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:52pm.

I think they are stuck again. I out in about a million close italics, as many open italics and them stop again. seriously. Nothing doing..

msf59, if you edit your original post and end your message with (but take out the space between the

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 4:50pm.

Thanks for the help! I try to be cool and see what happens!

>64 i did the same thing with bold type on that BBC 100 books meme - i thought i'd stopped the bold at the end but it carried on into the next 6 or so posts *blushes* im just completely useless with html coding (if thats what it is- im not even sure now)

Finished reading The Pact earlier and just munching on a re-read of Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac

I just started The Women by T.C. Boyle on Friday and then went out of town so have some catch up reading to do this evening.

I'm reading The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies.

I finished Don't Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs. Next book will be The Known World by Edward P. Jones for book club.

I started New Amsterdam and it is really good!

I finished The fugitive by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. It was a simple, quick, short read. Took me a bit to get into it, but it became riveting, and very sad.

I was confused before, the story doesn't involve the Dutch colonials, it was the author who imprisoned by them when he wrote the story.

The story takes place in east Java, Indonesia at the end of WWII. The main character has tried to rebel against the Japanese and is running for his life and hiding as a beggar. He comes to his home, but can't be seen with family or friends for fear of Japanese reprisals against them. The subtext is the nature of a hero, a coward, a traitor, and the use of justice, mercy and forgiveness. They are dealing with the Japanese but are also looking to their freedom from the Dutch after the war.

This was my last RL book group read for the month.

I am now going to start The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin. It is the 2nd book in the historical mystery series, Yashim Togalu the investigator and eunuch. after the Janissary Tree which I read recently. It is set in Istanbul in 1838, 2 years after the first book.

I just started reading TEMPLE by Matthew Reilly. The cover states 'Michael Crichton meets Indiana Jones', and I'm loving it. What a fantastic writer!

In addition to Atlas Shrugged I'm trying to finish some half-read stuff. So I've picked up The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips again an Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I'm promising myself to get through them this time - before I pick up anything else.

Message edited by its author, Apr 19, 2009, 10:11pm.

I'm halfway through Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It's about a Harvard linguistics professor who's diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease.

My hubby got me a couple books for Easter. I finished Mrs. Astor Regrets this morning and loved it!!!!! I than started The Secret of Lost Things and am thoroughly enjoying it. He did a great job at buying books!!!

I finished The Soul of All Great Designs (touchstone not working) by Neil Bissoondath, and I must say Bissoondath weaves a very enjoyable, intriguing story, and what an ending!

I am now quite happily time-warped back to 1171 Cambridge England with Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death, which so far is really good.

I read The Book Thief, The King's Confidante and Lucky Girl yesterday during the 24-Hour ReadAthon, as well as finishing the audio of The Uncommon Reader.

Currently I'm reading Uglies and listening to Cutting for Stone.

Hi everyone ~ hope all is well with you. :o)

I zipped through Mrs. Kimble (well, "zipped" through it at my speed, which would probably be dreadfully slow for most of you LOL). I enjoyed the book. It was better than I had expected.

I am now back in the groove and finishing the second half of In The Woods by Tana French and it is growing in suspense, page by page! I am really finding it hard to put down at this point. I had been right in the middle of reading it when my "eye crisis" happened.

Anyway, I'm happy to be back amongst the readers....I am so hungry for books now! I wish there weren't so many necessary things to do in daily life that unfortunately intrude into perfectly good reading time.

I just started reading Angel by Katie Price this morning.

Finnished my ER book Annie's Ghost by Steve Luxenberg. Besides being a personal story gives insight to mental health during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Still have too much to do to read more than a chapter or three - even an "easy" book! Oh, well, I think I needed to get past the idea that I had to finished a book a day! I did notice that my paperback shelf is a little smaller - but there's that book sale (having once run it, I still feel obligated to go).

#77, porchsitter55, Have you read Jennifer Haigh's The Condition? It is her latest book, and the first one I read, and it was one of my favorite books of last year. After I read it, I picked up her other books, including Mrs. Kimble and I thought they were good, but not up to The Condition.

I'm continuing my nonfiction trend and have started The Rest Is Noise by Alex Rose, which I've been meaning to read for almost a year, and Something Torn and New by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

I've been a bit overwhelmed with new book, courtesy of a local library book sale, but, I finished Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón which I really enjoyed and I started Beyond the Horizon by Colin Angus, an Early Reviewer book which so far is OK.

Allegra Goodman is one of my favorite authors. I am reading her first YA novel The Other Side of the Island. It presents a dystopia where the protagonist is relocated with her parents after the planet floods due to global warming. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the book and the jury is still out on how I will rate it.

I have dipped into Mark Strand's Selected Poems and tried again to get into How Do I Love Thee? A Novel of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Life by Nancy Moser.

Cheers.

WH

Message edited by its author, Apr 20, 2009, 10:26am.

Just finished Prelude to Revolution by Daniel Singer and Afterlives of '68 by Kristin Ross for a college history essay.

Starting 1968 by Mark Kurlanksy today.

Finished The Night Watch Saturday afternoon (on my new sofa! sorry been six weeks sitting on a beanbag a sofa is luxery) and now on Bill Bryson's Shakespeare. Got two days off work in a row so planning lots of reading on my sofa

#84 thibs53, Mark Kurlansky's 1968: The Year That Rocked the World is really a terrific book, hope you like it as much as I did.

I finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman last night. I thought it was really imaginative and touching.

This morning I read a couple of pages of Farthing by Jo Walton which I hope is a lot of fun. It is a mystery set in an alternative history in which Britain and Germany made peace.

While on vacation and without computer access, I read Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost and Sidetracked, One Step Behind, and Firewall by Henning Mankell.

I'm currently reading The Dogs of Riga by Mankell.

I started Death in Venice and Other Stories by Thomaas Mann this weekend

#87, nacnyewhite--I must say a few tears trickled down at the end of The Graveyard Book. I plan to read some more of Gaiman.

#81, rebeccanyc.....I have The Condition on my TBR pile here at home. I just bought it. Thanks for the recommendation!! I'll move it up closer to the top. :o)

Finished Androcles and the Lion. The play is definitely the thing. Was George Bernard Shaw really that full of himself? The play is 42 pages long, but Shaw's preface is 100 pages. He takes a very pedantic tone for those 100 pages of bombast. I couldn't make it all the way through the preface.

I liked the play, but not as well as his Saint Joan.

My next read will be nonfiction, but haven't decided what yet.

I am halfway through Assignment in Space and just got a call from the library telling me that Chocolate Chip Murder is in. I'll have to stop by there tomorrow and pick it up. It'll go on top of a four book stack - of which I have started two - the one mentioned above and All the Women of the Bible and this isn't a week where I'll get a lot of daytime reading in either!

I see that Elizabeth Strout's wonderful novel-in-stories Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer Prize today, and I couldn't be more pleased, one of my very favorites from last year.

I am reading The Associate by John Grisham.
After what I would call several "duds" I think he is back in the game.

I know I heard the ending! We'll see what I think.

I'm alternating between The Book Thief, A Clockwork Orange, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and some Sylvia Plath poetry.

rebeccanyc I am currently reading The Condition--I cannot put it down. Its one of the best I've read so far this year. I will now have to check out Mrs. Kimble and Bakers Towers by this author.

#94 LouisBranning - Thanks for that bit of good news today - I hadn't heard yet. Olive Kitteridge was one of my favorites from last year, too.

Wow, just finished Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill ... it was awesome. Highly recommended if you are okay with the subject matter (slavery - very brutal depictions as well). I gave it 5 stars (don't do that too often).

Will check out Olive Kitteridge ...

I just finished two books. The first was Luisa Valenzuela's The Lizard's Tail, which is based on Jose Lopez Rega, who was sort of like Juan Peron's Rasputin. It may be based on a nutso historical character, but the novel is seriously nuts. At first I thought it was going to be magical realism, but it really kind of surpassed that and twisted in on itself in some sort of weird horror and/or metafiction direction. Still, pretty haunting work.

The other book was Tanith Lee's Companions on the Road, which is made up of two very short works. They're both works of really well written fantasy. The first story involves three adventurers who team up to look for the treasure of a dead evil wizard. I was a bit disappointed to see such a hoary old trope turn up, though I was curious to see how Lee would explore it. It only takes a chapter to find the treasure, and then things really get interesting.

The second story was also quite good and felt like some latter-day fairy tale, with just the right degree of mythic and modern elements. This is my first reading of Ms. Lee outside of the pages of Weird Tales magazine, and her works is just as good in these somewhat longer formats.

I haven't picked up my next book yet, but it'll probably be Lamb, so I can depressurize my brain a bit.

Message edited by its author, Apr 21, 2009, 2:27am.

I just finished Uglies and couldn't help but pick up Pretties right away.

Decided to read the Folio Society edition of M.F.K. Fisher's Alphabet for Gourmets as my next, nonfiction, book.

I recomend Mississippi Bridge ......

#100 Tanith Lee is amazing! I've loved her fantasy novels since forever. I'll have to pick up Companions on the Road soon ~ it sounds really good!

Lamb is my favorite by Moore and also one of my top desert-island favorites of all time. I want to read it again!

I need some "fluff" this week, so I'm reading Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman.

Oops, forgot to mention that I'm still reading The Hand of Isis and am also listening to Vicious Circle. Both are very good, though the reader of the Carey novel is taking a bit of getting used to.

#97, momom248, That's what I did after I read The Condition; Mrs. Kimble and Baker Towers are good, but Jennifer Haigh really took a big step forward in psychological complexity with The Condition.

I feel I needed a "nice" story this week, so I'm reading Back on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber.

I needed some humor/lightness after the intensity of my last one ... so had an old ARC of Work Shirts for Madmen by George Singleton in my library and am already 60 pages in. It is hilarious so far. I've never heard of Singleton, but he has a bunch of quirky Southern novels out there. It's a wild ride so far.

As soon as I got on the El train this morning I started Nobody Move by Denis Johnson. Talk about immediately engrossing---before I knew it I was about 40 pages in. . .but alas that realization also came with the harsh reality that I was at my stop and sadly had to pack it away until later. What a GREAT little jewel of American crime/hard-boiled/noir novel it's turning out to be!

Message edited by its author, Apr 22, 2009, 12:13am.

I'm a little surprised about Olive Kitteridge. I'm having a hard time with it. I'm finding it depressing and slow. I am about half way through and have read 2 other books since I started it. It just isn't calling me. I have heard a lot of praise for it, I will finish it, eventually. Though it might be my mood at the moment.

I'm about to start The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks. The first 2 books were great, I'm eager to finish the series off.

On my second story of David Golder,The Ball,Snow in Autumn, The Courlifor Affair by Irene Nemirovsky.
When I finnish this, I will be ready for some lite reading. Probably a cozy mystery.

bookjones

Just curious; how were you able to get Dennis Johnson's newest so quickly? Hasn't even been released here in Canada, to my knowledge.

Finished Assignment in Space, a book from 1958. It's always interesting to go back and read a sci-fi novel from fifty or more years ago and see where they thought we would be today. We never are where they thought we would be as technology grows in ways different from the times the book was written in - or TV or movie. I wonder what people will think of our thoughts on the future when that future arrives?

It was a good story about a newly minted Lieutenant on his first space assignment where he has to take his crew to an asteroid and "drive" it back to Earth so that we can cut it up for the important minerals therein. While doing this he has to fight off the bad guys, called the Connies (I have to admit I hit the wrong key on that name - guess which one, which should be obvious).

> 114

morfam:

I'm reading an Advance Copy of the novel.

Message edited by its author, Apr 21, 2009, 3:15pm.

I am about 80% of the way through Graceland by Chris Abani. I couldn't get the touchstone to connect to the right book, but the work is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/17921/b...

Anyway, this is a novel about the poor people of Lagos, Nigeria, and takes place during the 1980s. As such, it is essentially the polar opposite in setting of the last novel I read, The Line of Beauty, which was about rich people in England during the 1980s. What the books have in common is that they are both extremely well written.

I am reading Storm Over Burracombe by Lilian Harry and also I have started Heaven's Net Is Wide by Lean Hearn. The Harry book is about an English villiage in the early 1950's, and Hearn's book is the prequel to her Tales of the Otori series, a fantasy based on feudal Japan.

At the halfway point of the week I've finished three books: The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (4-1/2 stars), Cambridge by Caryl Phillips (4 stars) and Afternoon Raag by Amit Chaudhuri (3 stars). Not a good trend. However, I'm already loving my current book, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo, a humorous account of a young Chinese woman with limited English who travels to London on a student visa and falls in love with an Englishman.

Later this week I'll probably read Breath by Tim Winton, Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky, and Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʾo.

Edited to correct information about my current book, as I was clearly in a postprandial stupor when I wrote the original message.

Message edited by its author, Apr 22, 2009, 12:42am.

I finished Under the Banner of Heaven this evening, and started Uncle Tom's Cabin.

I finished This Present Darkness on Monday. I liked the story, but found the writing a bit annoying. I was getting a bit sick of the word "sulphur" and it's various versions. I thought the book would be aimed at a predominantly Christian audience, and have been surprised to find people of other religions & beliefs who like it.

I started The Riders by Tim Winton. Am 5 chapters in. So far so good.

Wow, I'm looking forward to reading The Condition after so many recommendations!! I just finished Mrs. Kimble and thought it was very good, but I'm hearing that The Condition is even better yet.... will move it up closer to the top of the stack! Thanks folks!

p.s. Still reading "In The Woods" but approaching the end.......suspenseful!!

This week I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Already love it, and am only a little way through.

Paperback Pirate, You are going to love Uncle Tom's Cabin. I can't believe I waited so many years to read it. I thorougly enjoyed it. If you want to talk about it please feel free.

Bookgirl 271 I have This Present Darkness on my TBR pile. Thanks for the heads up about the sulphur.

Started and am almost done with The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. I figure anything with an ornery cat and chocolate can't be all bad.

I also got my ER copy of Wife of the Gods today.

The pile is getting bigger.

Message edited by its author, Apr 22, 2009, 4:59pm.

>porchsitter, you are going to love "The Condition" if you liked Mrs. Kimble.

I am still reading Shanghai Girls and the library called with my reserved copy of Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly so I am reading both of them.

I am reading Black: The Birth of Evil by Ted Dekker. This is really different for me. I found it very confusing at the beginning, but I am really enjoying it now.

I'm nearly finished with The Talented Mr. Ripley, but, needing a change of pace, I picked up The Liar by Stephen Fry over lunch today (because, um, a book about a dishonest, mostly gay, sort of con artist is so different from the first), and am enjoying it a lot.

I also started Daisy Miller by Henry James in a collection of his short stories the other day, but had to put it down -- it did make me itch to read some more Henry James, though.

I think I am Cursed - oh, wait that the title of the book I just got from on hold at the library, and that makes two this week that have come in and I have a new ER (see above) and three books from my own shelves (see further above) out to read. The little end table next to my comfy recliner is about to fall over! So when these crazy April weeks are over (if they don't spill into May), maybe I'll catch up again.

Storeetllr, I'm really enjoying Lamb. I'd already heard many good things about Christopher Moore on LT before running across the book on sale. I think it may be somewhat blasphemous to say so, but as Jesus narratives go, it's even better than A Prayer for Owen Meany.

I finished The Blue Star by Tony Earley which I just had to read after finishing Jim the Boy. I'm just sorry that I'll probably have to wait a few years to read the next one which I'm hoping is in the works but I'm really not sure. I loved the uncles and their teasing banter.

So now I'm into my March ER book The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley. I never thought Iceland would be so interesting but wow, I'm really enjoying it!

I just started reading The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis last night.

I finished Nickel and Dimed last night, and am starting a Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations.

I finished Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher a couple of days ago, and am waiting impatiently to borrow the rest of the Codex Alera series from my cousin who recommended them to me in the first place. It's pretty solidly fantasy, fast-paced and great characters.

Now I'm reading Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults, a collection of essays edited by Naomi J. Miller about rewriting and teaching Shakespeare to students. And I'm also slowly but surely making my way through Krakatoa.

After these, I think I'll try reading a couple of books off my bookshelves instead of library books, maybe David Copperfield or Till We Have Faces.

I just finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and will be in its thrall for a while. I can't imagine what I could pluck from my TBR pile that could begin to engage my attention today. The story is perfectly paced and I especially like the writing when the author is writing as Vida Winter. I want to read it again for the first time...

Reading The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales.

Currently working my way through two Early Review Books, because I don't know about the rest of you, but Early Reviews tend to find themselves in the bottom of my pile until I feel guilty and pull them out.

The first one is The Red Siren, a slow read so far with flat characters that are trying so hard to be well rounded, I'm not done with it so maybe it'll get better towards the end.

The Tory Widow by Christine Belvins is the second one, a wonderful historical book set in the American revolution which is just a joy to read. You can tell Blevins has done her homework when it comes to the time period. The characters are wonderful and unlike the book mentioned above, well rounded, with their own flaws and stengths.

Also currently listening to The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau and I have The Shack waiting in the wings because a coworker swore that it was a great book and wants me to read it.

Everything came in from the library at once:
Finished The Spellman Files which was an okay mystery, but not quite as screwball family (i.e. Stephanie Plum) as I was expecting.

And picked up 3 Willows, Wintergirls , and Spook
to start next.. And of course, I've been looking forward to them all for awhile, especially 3 Willows since it is set in the same town as Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and has references to that series.

Also in the car, I've got Tale of Hill Top Farm that I finished this morning and not sure what's next for my audiobook fix. Tale of Hill Top Farm made me want to go out and re-read everything Beatrix Potter.

Message edited by its author, Apr 23, 2009, 1:12pm.

I agree jbleil the Thirteenth Tale was one of my favorite books ever.

Finished off with Sugar Rush mere minutes ago! And I abso-bloody-lutely loved it!! All teenage stuff, friends, lezzie thing, vodkas, fags et al..gosh! thats so like my life now! No, not the lezzie part though! :P

Hmm..so, would be starting with Love, Suburban Style by Wendy Markham and try to finish off Anything for You, Ma'am by Raheja Tushar.

#137 cindyp: I have forever thought Rue Morgue was a Sherlock Holmes book, lol.. I decided to click on your link and was surprised to see it was written by Poe. I'll have to give that one another read.

I finished Marked: A House of Night Novel by P. C. Cast and Kristen Cast today. (my review is In the Shadow of Mt. TBR). I rather enjoyed it. It's not a high-thinker or anything, but it's a fun little book. I'm looking forward to getting a hold of the next book in the series, Betrayed.

I picked up Dune the other day and got sucked in :-) Can't put it down! I would've finished Marked so much faster, but I kept sneeking off to read Dune instead. ;-)

Just started I am Legend for my monthly book club meeting. So far I'm enjoying it. It's nothing like the movie--and that's a good thing.

I finished TEMPLE by Matthew Reilly in short order as it is a fast-paced, action book. I loved it. I'm currently reading THE LAST TEMPLAR by Raymond Khoury, which is another great book. I'm also reading THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood, and I find this one progressing much slower.

I finished Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and now that I have gained a couple of pounds reading all the recipes, I shall have to look into the rest of the series.

It made 40 on my 100 and filled a category on my 999.

Now I am down to five books lurking on my table.

Message edited by its author, Apr 23, 2009, 6:30pm.

I am reading The Outcast by Sadie Jones and Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg. I like both so far.

>135 bell7 - How are you finding Krakatoa? I just found a copy in one of the local charity shops and I'm quite looking forward to it.

>138 selkie_girl - I know how you feel about ER books - I just got my first one and already it's sinking under the weight of other stuff. I mean, I know how the system works and I WILL read it and review it, but it does have that slight feeling of set reading for school about it until you actually start reading...

>141 Kimaya - I've not read Sugar Rush but I highly recommend the TV series if you haven't already seen it - Lenora Critchlow and Olivia Hallinan as Sugar and Kim, VERY funny and quirkily made!

Still reading Robbing the Bees, which is absolutely scrumptious and makes me want to eat honey with everything...

With full and devout courage, making a pilgrimage through Baudolino by Umberto Eco.

I put A Prayer for Owen Meany aside for now--I just couldn't seem to get into it at this time. I am currently reading and enjoying The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.

Glad you liked that one. I thoroughly enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale.

Just finished Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg, an early reader book. I recommend it. Am on volume 11 of my 12 volume complete Shakespeare, part of my project to read his complete works this year (on the play Cymbeline right now). Just started A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White, still slogging through Postwar and Thames: The Biography. Do I have too many books open?

Just finished A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert. I continue reading Scoop by Evelyn Waugh and I am going to start listening to Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier.

Wow, I just finished The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons, amazing final book of The Bronze Horseman trilogy. Very intense, but I loved it!

#142 - I was reading the introduction to the Rue Morgue and found out that Poe is considered the forerunner to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries! I had no idea that Poe was considered by some to be the father of the modern detective novel.

I just finished Work Shirts for Madmen which ended up being pretty funny ... you have to like quirky Southern characters and such. But I laughed a few times, it was a nice change of pace.

I am starting The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama which has gotten really good reviews here on LT ~ I picked it up at a used book sale recently and it looks to be a beautiful book.

I realized last night that I had checked out 84, Charing Cross Road from the library three weeks ago but I had forgotten about it until I was gathering up books to return. So I started it at lunch today and finished it tonight. What a marvelous little book! Anyone who enjoys books about books will love this charming book and I know I had heard about it here on LT so thanks to anyone who has mentioned it!

Reading The March by E.L. Doctorow. This book is hard to put down. I've been taking it with me for my emergency book. I am not sure what will happen to Pearl but I like her character.

I'm still reading Robbing the Bees and don't often read two books at once, but last night while I was cataloguing books I came across our old copy of The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole and started that as well. Last time I read it I was only about 12, not even a teenager, so I'm picking up lots more of the subtle humour and pitying all the angst this time round!

I finished The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin. It is 2nd book in the Yashim Toglu mystery series. It was great and I loved it.

Will be starting The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato today. It is an Early Review book from LT.

I'm reading The Neverending Story by Michael Ende at the moment, will be my last book of this week.

>147 Ellie, I'm enjoying Krakatoa a lot, and have been reading it off and on for the last few months (only because it's not a library book). There's a lot of history and science at the beginning, but it's pretty amazing stuff about plate tectonics and such. I've only got about 80 pages left, and I'm hoping to finish it over the weekend.

I needed a completely different kind of book after reading The Thirteenth Tale, so I picked up Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer. It's the true story of Carolyn's escape with her eight children from a polygamous marriage in the radical polygamist cult, Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. The story of her escape is gripping and of her early childhood is like reading about a foreign country

I finished off Colin's Conquest last night which turned out to be better than I expected. Although it was a bit of a cheesy vampire story it was still interesting. Today I started the book I picked up from the library last week, Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About The Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman. It is very cute and has already had me chuckling in parts.

>147 Ellie, thank you for the suggestion. But I stay in India and they don't showcase that telly series here. I would catch up a few glimpses on YouTube though! :P

Hugs! :)

I am ashamed to confess I am devouring Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

At first I was horrified to find out about the title, wouldn't touch it with a stick. Someone had soiled my precious Austen! My husband bought it to tease me and curiosity (the one that got the cat) beat me: I flipped through the pages to spot the "new" inserts and soon I was laughing beyond propriety. I guess the sentence that got me was "Elizabeth Bennett sheathed her katana" :)

I figure good ole Jane and her wry sense of humour would appreciate it too.

Even though there are other books I should be reading to have reviewed in a timely manner, I couldn't help but pick up Specials. The only book I read between this and Pretties was The Story of a Marriage (which was lovely) and only because it HAD to be read by today for Twitter bookclub. This has just been a Scott Westerfeld week, because my book immediately before Pretties was Uglies. This series is such great YA. I'm glad I wasn't deterred by my not-so-positive experience with Twilight.

#166 DevourerOfBooks wrote: Even though there are other books I should be reading to have reviewed in a timely manner, I couldn't help but pick up...

Ahh... you and me both, DoB. I've got a few books to read for blog tours, meaning specific dates to post their reviews, and yet I'm sucked into the world of Arrakis... Dune... Desert Planet. :-D

I have all of that Westerfield series on Mt. TBR, and I'll get to it... someday. :-)

>167
Make sure you have time to read them all when you do get to it, because they all end sort of cliff-hanger-y.

I put down The Known World for the time being and picked up The Nothing Man

I had a hankering last night to re-read some of my Tamora Pierce books so i read First Test before bed yesterday and i'm currently speeding through Page The Protector of the Small is my favourite quartet but it is a shame that the books aren't all that long (at least the first three aren't) so it only takes me an hour or two to read them.

I'm sorely tempted to find myself a copy of The Thirteenth Tale because i keep seeing it mentioned on LT and it sounds pretty good. gosh darn it - seriously not helping my TBR pile!!

>170: For some reason, I kept holding off on getting The Thirteenth Tale and when I finally got a copy it sat on my TBR pile for a couple of weeks. Wasted time, wasted time... Read the reviews and if it sounds like you will like it, go for it. You won't be disappointed. I can tell you this: my copy won't be lent out, even to my daughter. I would rather buy her her own copy than let mine out of my house. (Is that a tad obsessive?)

>171 nah i don't think that sounds too obsessive haha i rarely lend out books as it is and i certainly wouldn't lend out my favourites - i'd just tell people to get their own bleeding copies!

Well, Scarpettajunkie is reading The Shack. It's not a particularly long book but deals with some heavy issues. I'll be lucky if I don't have nightmares about not being able to help my son tonight. I am on page 64 and just started it an hour and a half ago.

I asked Daniel if we step away from you and you are in a place that is far from home do you go somplace and not tell mom and dad. He said, Well, I'd go get my fishing pole. I said no. The answer is no. Do you walk away ever? The answer is never. He is 10 but autistic. He is handsome. You'd never know he was not "normal". So, I worry because he just simply is gullible. No wonder my sister gave me this book rather than read it. It's upsetting.

I'm reading A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick. I'm just not digging it the way I anticipated. I'm getting ready to travel this weekend, so it may be more me than the book itself. It could be a whole different story once I get where I'm going!

Finished - in one afternoon- Cursed, which isn't surprising and the ending wasn't what I was expecting, i.e., I didn't get who the murderer was - at all, never suspected who did it!

Now it's back to the pile and tomorrow is the Friends' booksale.

I'm currently reading Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.
OK so... I like it but I'm on, I believe chapter 13 and the main character's name has never been mentioned. If u thought it was Rebecca, it's not!
I like the story line but the main character has yet to develop a backbone so I'm eager to see it.

#174 enaid: I thought the first hundred pages or so of Goolrick's A Reliable Wife were pretty terrific, but it sort of fizzled out soon after that, and had to slog my way through to the end, a total disappointment.

I'm reading Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave. I am "supposed" to be reading some other books, but, what can I say ... the reserve came through at the library and when I got it home I just couldn't resist it. Probably a case of Spring fever. Book lust. I'm about seven-eights of the way through and am eager to see what these characters do and how their lives turn out. Really superb writing by Mr. Cleave.

WH aka Ruth in Tallahassee

Message edited by its author, Apr 24, 2009, 9:56pm.

Read The Black Cat and The Pit and the Pendulum as part of my horror selection for the genre challenge. Am just starting The Fall of the House of Usher. Am 2/3 of the way through Eat, Pray, Love and am absolutely loving it.

for this week, only 2... busy week....

50. New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear
as I mentioned in my thread, I liked this one, didn't love it

51. The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill~very enjoyable and a send in a series. I will read more of her books, I think. Good solid and relaxing reads.

LadyViolet ~ Too bad you are not in the U.S., I'm one of the few people who did not care for The Thirteenth Tale; found it incredibly overrated ... I rushed out to get it the date it came out, so have a nice hardcover copy. I'm certainly willing to swap it for something, it's not staying in the "permanent cabinet" as it were. I've lent it out a few times, but no one else much cared for it either, so it always comes back. It needs a new home where it will be well loved :)

Carolyn

Yesterday afternoon I started both Death Masks by Jim Butcher and Raised by Wolves by W.A. Hoffman. I haven't figured out which one I plan to stick with yet.

Book sale over - for me. Got a few Grishams and Francises and Frankenstein, Dracula and Emma and a copy of Lord Jim to broaden by reading. Also picked up some M.H. Clark that I had missed along the line and a few others, but since I already put them away, they are indistinguishable from the others, but suffice it to say I spent $31.50 of which $1 or $2 was my husband's.

Now back to the pile I have out to read right now. Of course, my son has already mentioned he needs to get to Border's this afternoon, so I'll have a couple more later this week and still no time - arrrgh!

Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler for Oregon Reads 2009. Anyone else reading it? I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it. It's interesting but slow. I thought it would be more like a historical fiction but it's all history, and I can't really get into it.

I am finishing Heaven's Net Is Wide by Lean Hearn, and about to start The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. The Hearn book is wonderful, and I am looking forward to the Fforde book as well.

>164 Kimaya - both series are out on DVD - it just depends whether it's available in different region settings, I guess. Online is a good idea though!

>176 VetaTorres - You never find out the new Mrs De Winter's name; it's one of the quirks of the book. She's just the nameless woman overshadowed by her predecessor...

Message edited by its author, Apr 25, 2009, 8:10pm.

I just finished Back on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber. I enjoyed it a great deal.

Last night I started reading In an Instant, by Lee and Bob Woodruff (the ABC news anchorman).