I've started The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I'm likely to be at this one all week at least!

I just started Waking Up in Eden by Lucinda Fleeson after finishing A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy.

I guess I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to read, because I'm currently reading five books.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards ~ I picked it up Friday morning just on a whim, and haven't been able to put it down since. I'm so sucked into their lives, and I'm waiting for that proverbial "other shoe" to drop.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff ~ I'm reading this one as part of the TLC Blog Tour, my stop being June 19th. This, too, is a book you just can't put down, and it appeals to my voyeuristic nature.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch ~ My mom reco'd this to me as her latest great read. It's a profound question to answer, "If you knew you were dying and had an opportunity to stand before everyone you loved and worked with, what would you want your lasting message to be?"

still reading The Sandman : Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (though, I've kind of slowed on it)

I set Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan aside to make sure I got The 19th Wife done in time, but it's rather fanciful and my mind wanders back to Daniel and Merida and Eva in their first meeting.

Working my way through the J.D. Robb books. I finished Judgement in Death yesterday, started Betrayal in Death. I'm alternating those with romance novels. The next on one deck is a Mary Balogh.

I hope to finish Jane Eyre either today or tomorrow, and then I'll start Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Besides that, I should continue with either Jodi Picoult's Keeping Faith or Javier Sierra's The Lady in Blue.

The White Tiger ~ Aravind Adiga

5> Have you bought Cranford yet? If you haven't and are planning to, be aware that there's an edition titled The Cranford Chronicles that also includes "My Lady Ludlow" and "Mr. Harrison's Confession," which were two other shorter Gaskell pieces that were incorporated into the screenplay of the miniseries. (Personally, I thought the miniseries had great acting but that the screenplay was a mess, but then I'm a bit of a purist.)

Anyway, as for myself, I'm about midway through Nature's Engraver, Jenny Uglow's biography of Thomas Bewick. When I'm done that, I think I'm going to read Bewick's own autobiography, which I have in a Folio Society edition. (It was Bewick's History of British Birds that the ten-year-old Jane Eyre was reading on the window seat at her Aunt Reed's.)

I'm also trying to get through Meredith's The Egoist on my Kindle. My interest in that one is the way Antonia White used it in The Lost Traveller (and presumably in the remaining two books of her "Frost in May" Quartet, though I haven't gotten to them yet).

(I've also got Uglow's Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories somewhere in my TBR pile, but I don't know when I'm going to get to it.)

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 3:50am.

CurrerBell: I borrowed a copy of Cranford from a friend here in Hungary. I'll try to look for a copy of The Cranford Chronicles when I go back to the US later this month. I haven't seen the miniseries, but I might watch it this summer. I bet my sister has it.

I went on a bit of a reading jag last week and read four books which means I'm at a bit of a loss trying to choose what to read this week... I hadn't really thought beyond those books...

I think I will read The Outlander by Gil Adamson because it's a library book and then I will read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read it 9 years ago when I was about 15. My sister just recently mentioned how she liked that even the characters names in this book were meaningful and I hadn't the faintest idea what she was referring to so it's time for a re-read!

I am reading Asking for the Moon by Reginald Hill. Hill is a favourite author of my mother and sister-in-law but I was put off, on the very first page of the one I tried, by Dalziel's bigotry and attitude. This is a book of four short stories so I decided to give Dalziel and Pascoe another chance... Time will tell

I'm currently reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontê, after finishing reading Genesis by Bernard Beckett.

I'm reading Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. And re-reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo because the last time I read it was 10 years ago.

I'm reading and enjoying Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

I've read it before, but it's been a long while. I had jury duty so I brought it for the waiting and honestly think I'm enjoying it more this time than last.

This will be a weekend for French literature. I started reading The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre last night, a novella about a barman at a café outside of Paris. After that I'll read Ravel by Jean Echenoz, a novel about the French composer, which was shortlisted for this year's Impac Dublin Prize, and The Prospector by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, the most recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

I finished Of Love and Shadows last and now it's between Mary Chestnut and Mary Higgins Clark's On the Street Where You Live. I'm almost to 300 pages in of 800-something on the Chestnut book.

Now, I don't do this very often at all, and I'm rather ashamed of myself... but I'm giving up on Stiff by Mary Roach. It ticks all the right boxes - unusual, amusing, fascinating - but as the opening day for the shop approaches most of my reading is done over meals or last thing at night. In other words, not the best times to be reading about the putrefaction process of decaying bodies or the sawing off of heads for surgical practise. It means I'm only reading a couple of pages every few days, and there are so many other books I want to read!

I have about three weeks left until opening day, one of them being a holiday. So I'm thinking it would be better to cram in as much as I can in that time to make the most of it! Not sure what to start next but it's going to be something perfect for a warm summer day...

I'm reading Bleak House - which is good for the times we live in. Dickens shows the connections between a vast range of people and events; he deals with themes like poverty, greed, virtue and vice, relationships and urban life. I intend to read/re-read his entire cannon during the next few months.

>17 goodluckmojo*whammy*
And I agree, Stiff isn't to be read over meals. Ewww.

Reading Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber, which exactly suits my mood.

Still reading Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. Its fine, but I have been distracted by Collections :(. It is a RL book group book that needs to be done for next Wednesday.

I have a book log-jam because I have spent so much time on-line. I also have another RL book group due on Thursday and haven't started it yet. And 2 books that I owe reviews for.

Let's see, I was going to start The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey but decided to leave it for an Orange July read.

I just finished Grave Goods, the third book by Ariana Franklin in the Mistress of the Art of Death series - I thought all three books in that series were great, with Grave Goods ending with a nice possible fourth book lead in.

Today I am going to start The Disappeared by Kim Echlin which should be a quick read so that I can then dive into my next book, The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt. That should keep me happily entertained for the remainder of this week!

I just started P.D.James The Private Patient last night and as usual with her books had to force myself to turn off the lights and go to sleep so I'd be able to get up for work.

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 10:10am.

Terri, I really liked Woman in White!

I am reading fluffy fluff today.. The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes
and enjoying every fluffy page of it!

eta

Sheri

I just picked up a few PD James books... and I am looking forward to them :)

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 10:37am.

#22 and #23: Question about P.D. James. Is it important to read her books in order? I have read the first four in the Dalgliesh series and would like to continue. My dilemma is that I have heard her more recent books are better than the earlier ones. Should I continue reading "up" through the series or jump ahead? Any advice would be appreciated.

Still working through Nightmares and Dreamscapes, although I have also started Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - a book that I've been meaning to read for years, but never got around to it until now. And if that weren't enough, I'm planning on stopping by the library this afternoon to pick up a couple more books. I'm thinking something by Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles, perhaps?) and The Haunting of Hill House, which I've been meaning to reread for a while.

Donna, I haven't read even one. I just took a leap of faith :)

Sorry to report that I have abandoned Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky for the second time. I read the first 100 pages and just don't like her characters, nor even her writing style. However, I did go to the back of the book and read through the letters that detail some of what happened to the author and her family, which make a tragic story all on their own. There were many people trying to figure out what happened to Irene and to make sure that her children were cared for.

I've moved along to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout after a lucky trip to Border's where all kinds of good books just seemed to leap into my hands. I'm set for at least a month (at the rate I read, at least).

>24 I recommend that you read P.D. James in order if you can. This way you can see the character development of Dalgliesh. One book is not necessarily related to the next but characters do run through them. Enjoy!

i found a secondhand copy of White Teeth which i'm starting today, after just finishing The Inheritance of Loss

I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and liked it-think if George Romero wrote Regency romances.
I'm still reading Endless Night by Agatha Christie and I've also started I Am America (And So Can You) and Sell Your Specialty Food.

Didn't notice the new thread, so I'm copying this over from last week's.

This week I'm reading On The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and The Western Canon by the incredibly cranky Harold Bloom (how dare anyone make him read non-white, non-male authors!! gasp!! The horror!!). My fiction choice is Mary Barton, once I actually get started. I'm in more of a nonfiction place right now.

There are no rules - read P.D.James in amy order you want! The later ones are brilliant, although the first couple are certainly not bad. Theu are generally set in 'real' time, although Dalgiesh oesn't age as much as he would be expected to. P.D. James is a brilliant example of how writers can continue into old age.

#17 Good luck with your opening! Sorry if you've said and I missed it, but what kind of shop?

About Stiff, I must be inured to goriness, but I don't recall having difficulties reading it during meals or just before bed. It was awhile ago when I read it, though, so I may have forgotten.

Stiff was definitely one I couldn't read while eating! Brilliant book though.

Still working my way through Song For the Basilisk by McKillip.

I finished Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andrić, which I highly recommend, and started The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré'. Still, slowly, reading The Rest Is Noise.

Oh, in case anyone didn't see, I am starting The Host.

I picked American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges off the TBR pile and I'm glad I did. Although written during the Bush presidency so a few reference points are out-of-date, it is still very relevant and eye-opening. And frightening.

Several things: I just finished Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold and A Song for Arbonne for group reads here on LT, and am getting started on an Early Reviewer book, How Shall I Tell the Dog?, while also continuing with Bethesda: a social history, and getting ready to start The Maltese Falcon for my library reading group.

I'm just into the first chapter of Jazz on the Barbary Coast by Tom Stoddard. It's a history of jazz in San Francisco from 1900 to 1940, with the major emphasis on the period from 1900 to 1920. The beginning is very interesting, indeed, as there is a lot of first-person accounting in this book.

I just started Blackbird House this morning. I love Alice Hoffman so I know I'm in for a treat!

#24 Donna, all of P. D.James books are terrific in my estimation. The books can be read out of order, but why miss any of them? I have been enthralled with Susan Glaspell recently. As a native Iowan, I originally loved A Jury of Her Peers re: a murder in Iowa in 1900. Then on to Midnight Assassin written many years later about the same subject and using Glaspell`s story. Now, I am reading her biography (can`t remember the author. I highly recommend it.

I'm currently reading:

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- I'm almost finished with this book. Absolutely amazing!

2. To Kill a Mockingbird
- I'm still in the beginning, but I find it interesting. It's not something I would be able to read in one sitting, however.

3. Vittorio: The Vampire
- Fantastic! I'm a newborn Anne Rice fan because of this book.

I am reading (Regards From The Dead Princess) by Kenize Mourad. I have been very drawn to historical fiction as of late and decided I needed to get away from Henry VIII's england and try something different. So with that in mind I went for one that follows a sultana through the fall of the ottoman empire after WW1.

In addition to the books I mentioned above, I have also picked up part 1 of a trilogy called The Riddle-Master of Hed. I fund it amongst some books that were in a box of my daughter's things. She can't understand why they were there as fantasy is not her thing and has authorized me to "donate" them when I am done. These'll finish off my Fantasy category on my 999 challenge nicely.

> 38: sisaruus- I love the title of that book! Cuts right to the chase! Let me know how it is!
I finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. My esteemed peers on LT are rarely off and this is no exception to the rule. An excellent beautifully wriiten novel, which I hope is the start of a trilogy. Yes, one can pray!
I started Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower. Another great title and a riveting short story collection, that hits hard, wimps need not apply!

#3 koolmom..
I think that you and I are in the minority, liking Memory Keepers Daughter.
I loved it!

I may read Galileo's Daughter next, or maybe, The Ghost Orchid

I just finished Sarah Addison Allen's The Sugar Queen this morning -- I absolutely loved it! It was definitely like tucking into a giant, gooey dessert.

I'm working my way through Hyatt Bass's The Embers, my May ER book, but it's been a bit slow going. Despite my best efforts to concentrate, I keep picking it up and setting it back down. And on that note, I'm about to start Sarah Strohmeyer's The Penny Pinchers Club!

I absolutely love Bleak House. Dickens' best IMO

As to Bradbury, I highly recommend From The Dust Returned. Beautiful book.

>28: Thank you for your advice to read P. D. James in the order written. I usually try to do that in a series that retains the same character(s). There are sooo many written by her that I was tempted to leapfrog through them! But I'll be a good girl and start in again with No. 5 where I left off...right after I finish The Woman In White, Wives and Daughters, and two ARCs waiting for me.

#43 ghostxopera: I read Mockingbird with my oldest daughter a couple years ago and we both loved it. It has a special place in my heart not only as a great book, but as something that bonds us :-) Enjoy!

#47 mckait: I've noticed that a lot on here. I grant you, it feels like a Lifetime Movie, right from the beginning, but I do love the story. I'm about 2/3 the way through now, and it is starting to seem a little long and drawn out. The kids are 20, what more can the do? And I know David still has to come clean to Norah and Paul, otherwise it will seem an unjust tale... or morally wrong, or something. He still has to pay and 'fess up.

I'm currently 3/4 through James Monroe: the Quest for National Identity. It's nearly 600 pages and I can't read it for long stretches so I'm also about 1/2 way through Murder Uncorked for lighter fare. When I can't physically be holding a book, I'm listening to The Innocence of Father Brown a collection o short stories from the 30's- very amusing. I'd like to finish JM:TQFNI and Murder Uncorked because I received 2 ER books this week and I'd like to get them done.

There are more Fr. Brown collections on audio, for when you finish this one. The other one I have IIRC is The Wisdom of Father Brown.

> 46 msf59: If you liked the title, you'll love the book. It's been difficult to put down today.

This week I'm reading The Ascent of George Washington.

koolmom... I thought maybe I was more tuned into it because of the work I do.. and situation where kids are given up.. or put into residence..I does feel Lifetime-ish, but I loved it.

I have settled on Isaac's Storm to read.

Finished Mistress of the Art of Death last night, and can't wait for the next round of discussion questions to appear on the LT group read page. Today I started Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides a week in advance of a group read among a few 999 challengers. I figured I'd need a head start since so many of those folks (not surprisingly) are serious speed readers!

Also reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary with my daughter. Very much fun.

i'm about half way through glue. it took me too long to get into it, the writing's a little hard to get used to. i'm enjoying it, but i keep getting distracted. hopefully i'll finish it this week.

#21 - I'll be interested to see whether The Children's Book lives up to your expectations. I'm reading it now and it has been disappointing. I'm even considering *gasp* putting it aside.

I am also listening to Missing Mom and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

>59 judylou - Good to know. I will keep you posted as to how I fare with The Children's Book.

This week I'll finish Dark Desire by Christine Feehan and then go back to The Belgariad, Volume two: Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' End Game by David Eddings while I wait for the 3rd book in the Dark series to arrive.

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 11:17pm.

Just finished Jane Eyre. Its early days in my reading of the classics but I absolutely loved Jane Eyre & Mr Rochester. My favourite classic to date.

Now on to Catch 22

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 2:11am.

#10 pmarshall: Reginald Hill is a great author, but I don't think Asking for the Moon is a good place to start. It's just a fairly random collection of short stories/novellas, not very representative of his usual style.

Hill's earlier books are not as good as his later ones in my opinion. I would recommend starting with Under World which is somewhere near the middle of the series. They gradually get more 'literary' as the series progresses, although there is a fair bit of humour all the way through. On Beulah Height would be another good place to start if you prefer more literary type crime.

Just finished Atwood's The Penelopiad - what a terrific book! I didn't realize it was part of a series where famous authors retell a classic myth. I'll have to seek out the rest. I also just started Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. Also quite good.

I have just finished Black Seconds by Karin Fossum and am now reading Crystal by Katie Price and just started reading today The Memory Keeper's daughter by Kim Edwards

I just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the second time because of course the movie's coming out and I needed to refresh my memory on what happened! Now I'd like to start Speak Laurie Halse Anderson. But I have to borrow that from my sister. So I'll probably start that today.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 10:23am.

I'm reading two books right now. First is Mad Ship by Robin Hobb, the second in her Liveship Traders series. Friday I was given American Psycho by a friend and I told him I'd start it now since I wasn't that far into Mad Ship. I'd heard of American Psycho before but didn't know the details and I'm a bit apprehensive after reading reviews.

>67 You'll have to let us know what you think of American Psycho. I'm curious because it sounds pretty scary. I don't do well with really scary movies and books.

#67 & 68

American Psycho is incredibly graphic and gruesome, and quite an unusual book, but I'm glad I read it. Give it a try - I actually had to try reading it twice because it was too graphic for me the first time, but I'm glad I got all the way through.

>69 Eeeep!

I finished The Waitress Was New and Ravel yesterday, which were both very good. I think I'll put The Prospector back on the shelf, and start Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa. I'll also start Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne for my upcoming trip to Europe.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 12:51pm.

I finally finished Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. It is the first book in the Bryant & May or Peculiar Crimes Unit series. I say finally because it was a bit dense, and of course I have been distracted by collections.

It was very good, it is a mystery that alternates between WWII London and the modern day. Bryant and May are police detectives and partners. Bryant is very odd, and May is more grounded. The story is about a case from WWII in a theatre with a mysterious killer who picks off the cast in gruesome ways, reaching into the modern day, when Brant & May are elderly.

I read it for a RL book group, but will read more in the series.

I am now starting Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen. It is also for a RL book group. It is about the 1918 Flu pandemic during WWI and a small Pacific Northwest town that quarantines itself for their own safety. A cold, hungry, and ill soldier comes to the guard post asking for help and admittance. The book is the story of the confrontation and the struggles of the townspeople with their values.

I've just finished The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. It was bliss. I haven't read a book this good in ages.
Not sure what to read next, I'm still completely wrapped up in the book.

I read part of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay on the plane, transit lounge and plane from Seoul to Boston, got home in the evening, had dinner with friends, and ended up staying up till 4am to finish reading the book. I loved it, loved it, loved it. So I ended up sleep deprived the next day, having to prepare for a bunch of friends to descend on us for a cook out in the afternoon, but what the hey - it was well worth it.

So after that wonderful fantasy read, I decided to switch genres so that I won't be tempted to make comparisons, and I'm going to read The Rafael Affair by Iain Pears.

Just finished No One You Know by Michelle Richmond my May ARC.

I am reading 8th Confession by James Patterson and Chasing Vermeer byBlue Balliett my kids book discussion that goes with our Summer Reading Club.

On deck T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton for my TBR challenge for June.

#74 Oh, Tigana is one of my all-time desert-island favorites! So glad you enjoyed it so much!

Have you read anything else by Kay? If not, and you like his style, try The Lions of al-Rassan, another all-time desert-island favorite. Not about wizards like Tigana, very little if any magic, but magical nonetheless.

I'm headed for a tough week at work, so my current book is Firefly Lane, and if I can get to it Neverland, but Neverland seems pretty dense so far.

From the little I have read of both, I like them.

#77 - Bridget770, hope you enjoy Firefly Lane, I really enjoyed that book.

I am still working on Crime and Punishment and The Host, also plan to add in The Madonnas of Leningrad this week.

And when not reading, I will be working on my new book blog Bailey's and Books (http://baileysandbooks.wordpress.com/), hope you will go check it out and subscribe.

Happy Reading!

57: Very few books have stuck with me since early childhood. The Mouse and the Motorcycle is one that definitely has. I know you and your daughter will enjoy it.

Well a little while ago i finished City of Bones which was better that i'd expected although the ending did irk me somewhat (partly because i already knew what the twist was) because now i really want to read the other two books in the hopes that it will be proven to be false.
Not too sure what i'm going to start next as i've got two library books to read and a bunch of new purchases. *gah decisions, decisions...*

I am currently starting Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton. I am only just beginning but I already like it a lot! :) Happy reading! :)

>33 Storeetllr - It's a second-hand bookshop. We're drowning in books right now - three weeks to opening, a week in the Cotswolds in the middle of THAT, and thousands of books still to sort and shelve, eeek!

To be honest, I wasn't so bad with Stiff - I did what Roach says is necessary for people working with bodies and kind of switched into scientific mode. It didn't make me sick or anything. I just wasn't reading it enough and I have so little time left for reading before we open and all hell breaks loose! Does anyone else ever do this, where they feel they have to read a library book before other books even when they don't really fancy it? Bad timing, perhaps.

I've switched to another library book - The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde - but I've really been looking forward to this one so it should be easier to get stuck into. It's my first by him and I've heard such good things! I'm also flying through Bookworm Droppings by Shaun Tyas. It's a collection of really stupid things customers have said in second-hand bookshops; call it research, if you will, but it's really funny too!

Some of my favourites so far:

- "Err, second-hand books! I bought one once but I didn't like it."
- "I had a book myself once. Never read it. It was blue. I don't suppose you have a copy?"
- "This book was rather a waste of tree, wasn't it?"
- "I can tell this is a knowledgeable place. Some of my friends, you know, they don't even know what a shakespeare is!"

And my absolute laugh-out-loud 'must tell everyone about this' classic:

"Have you got Anne of Clark Gables?"

Great lines elliepotten!!!

Just Ellie'll do - and aren't they! :-D

>#77 Bridget770
Firefly Lane is a good one for a difficult week at work. A good read, a little fluffy, but not too. No big mysteries or puzzles. I read it not too long ago for the same reason.

#82 Too funny! I wonder what they'd make of LT...

My warmest wishes for your success! We need more used bookstores (which is what they call them here in L.A.; I like second-hand bookshop better). It's always been a fantasy of mine to retire and open one. In my fantasy, though, there's not a lot of work but only a lot of reading. Which is why I call it a fantasy and not a plan. :)

I'm enjoying The Cellist of Sarajevo so much that I've slowed down my reading - I don't want it to end.

I've been occupied with lots of real world stuff, so I haven't posted my reading here lately. Finished The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a week or two ago. It was a long, depressing slog, but worth it. As a single volume history of Nazi Germany, it has its weaknesses, but it is amazing comprehensive. The cost of being so comprehensive is that many things are given short shrift.

I followed this up with The Winter War: Russia's Invasion of Finland. This turned out to be a terribly mediocre book...to be kind. The author is a stock broker turned journalist. He has very definite views about politics, and he tends to let those views get in the way of his story. The first sixty pages are a vitriolic screed against liberals. The middle portion of the book is a fairly well written history of the diplomatic prelude and the first phase of the war. The book falls apart again at the end when the author seems to lose interest in the subject. The recounting of the final phase of the invasion and negotiation feels rushed.

As a work of history, the book is abysmal. The author drops names into the book without telling you anything about the individual. An example is when he quotes Daladier, the leader of France at the time, as saying "Leon Blum hates me." There is no hint of Blum's identity or significance to the events. He's never mentioned again. He's not in the index. I just had to shrug my shoulders and continue. Of course, I know how he felt. Rosemary Detore hates me, too.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 10:38pm.

I haven't posted here in a long time...I'm enjoying seeing what others are reading!

I just finished The English American by Alison Larkin---a very light and entertaining story. I enjoyed it very much. And now I'm reading The School of Essential Ingrediants by Erica Bauermeister. I've just started, but so far it's terrific. If you enjoy food and the process of cooking, I think you'll enjoy this book.

>76: Storeetllr, I haven't yet read The Lions of Al-Rassan so thanks for the recommendation. I've added this to my wishlist.

>82: ellie, I read Stiff some years ago, and yes, she does get into the scientific but I really enjoyed the book. It made me aware of the part that cadavers can play in scientific research beyond medical science. It was after reading her book that I decided that in addition to being an organ donor, I now want to leave my body to science when I pass.

I'm really enjoying The Woman in White - more than I expected to. I am supplementing this one a little bit with One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food by Michael Schaffer - an enlightening and humorous read - plus The Frozen Thames, which came highly recommended.

I'm about halfway through John Adams by David McCullough. It's a wonderful book.

I'm also reading the second in the Justin/Cuddy series by Michael Malone called Time's Witness and really enjoying it. What I really like about this series so far is that the first, Uncivil Seasons, was told in the first person by Justin Savile, and the second is told in the first person by Cuddy Mangum. I'm sure there are series out there that have used that conceit, but I can't think of any that I've read, so it intrigues me.

I finished On The Street Where You Live last night. Definitely a good Clark tale. She can send out red herrings but you don't see them and I never catch who the real killer is until just before she reveals who it is!

I am also halfway through Mary Chestnut's Civil War and it's due back next Monday. After reading a bit more in this book, I will start The Riddle-Master of Hed, which is part 1 of a three parter, which I may actually read in quick succession, maybe. At least they'll be every other book.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters on audiobook. Wonderfully atmospheric Victorian novel pastiche.

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. Mindlessly active space opera.

Essays by George Orwell. Still my nominee for the greatest British writer of the 20th century.

Anyone but England by Mike Marqusee. A unique persepctive on English cricket by an ex-pat American socialist.

Black Coffee Blues by Henry Rollins. Only a few pages into this. I've seen Hank do his spellbinding spoken word thing several times, but this is the first book of his I've tackled.

Visited Borders and came home with Mistress of the Art of Death and The Graveyard Book. Both LT suggestions... Am loving The Graveyard Book-Thanks for the many great suggestions!!!

I'm well into Small Island by Andrea Levy and absolutely loving it. Her descriptions of London during the blitz are stunning. I will be looking for more from her.

Finished Collapse yesterday. Wonderful book with lots of fascinating information, but a bit dry at some points. Still highly recommended.

Now reading Mistress of the Art of Death and enjoying it so far. Also plan to start reading Doubt: a history.

I finished and adored Zoe Heller's The Believers and have begun A Jury of Her Peers by Elaine Showalter which I'll probably be reading fo the rest of this year and Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin.

I started Birth Marks by Sarah Dunant last night. I'm already halfway through it--I love a good mystery!

Finished Brick Lane last week, which I never did really get into.

kiwiflowa & ghostxopera - I'm now also reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which apparently I've never read before. I actually thought I had read it when I was younger. I know the story, which is somehow vividly imprinted in my mind, but that must be from the movie! The writing seems new to me. An incredible book, by the way.

I haven't read any feminist philosophy in several years ( I was a philosophy undergrad and a women's studies minor in college.. went on to become a librarian).

Currently reading The Purity Myth: how America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women. I picked up this book because I saw a review for it on Powell's Review A Day a few months ago. Intersting points about how even as we teach women that their sexuality is their own and to respect that we are also teaching them that sex is bad / dirty / and has to be guarded by a father before it is given to a husband (i.e. purity balls / purity promise rings, etc..).

Also interesting look at abstinence only education and some of the faulty information that is being passed on to young people. Also, good points about how the idea of purity (and abstinence only education in general) leaves out homosexuals. If you can't get married, how do you wait until marriage to have sex?

Valenti's philosophy is the first I've really come across that brings in examples from popular feminist websites and blogs in proving its point. The best part is that it is readable, it is not a lot of high sounding philosophy.

#101- Shannon - The Purity Myth sounds fascinating. (The cover is quite interesting as well - it took me a minute to realize quite what I was looking at!) As the mother of two young daughters, it's a topic that's going to hit home soon.

#100 - ShannonMDE

I agree with callen610: The Purity Myth sounds fascinating! I'm bumping that up to the top of my TBR list!

I've just finished The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which I enjoyed very much - I'll miss Toad, Rat and Mole, it was lovely and funny to read about their adventures and I loved their friendship. I'd be interested in reading more of Grahame's books, like Dream Days and The Golden Age.
I'm not sure what to read next, we'll see what I'm in the mood for tomorrow. Either a play by Shakespeare or a novel by Evelyn Waugh or March by Geraldine Brooks. I'll report back.

I am struggling through The Last Temptation of Christ, but fortunately almost at the end. Quite tedious, and overly . . well, Biblical. Not sure why I expected otherwise. I will take a mind break and read some mysteries or something next.

#104 - Sibylle.Night - Not that I would ever discourage reading Shakespeare, but March is a wonderful read.

Looking forward to hearing what you decide.

Just finished Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier - great, and am about to finish The Last Colony by John Scalzi, third in a sci-fi series that was a bit disappointing after the first two. Just picked up The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, both largely based on positive LT comments.

Back in the days, when (gasp) I was experiencing the first signs of puberty, I came across a paperback by Mickey Spillane. Where it came from or how I got hold of it, I cannot remember, but a particular line from the novel has stayed with me ever since, and we're talking almost sixty years ago...

The storyline involves cops and criminals and lawyers, and 'luscious dames', and at one point a lawyer is questioning a female witness. Spillane writes: ...she leant forward, and her breasts, only half enclosed by a tiny wisp of brassiere, hung temptingly....

For a myriad of obscure reasons that phrase has stuck with me through the years, and I bring it up now, not only to get your attention, but because I have just finished reading Nobody Move by Denis Johnson. (Where's Freud when you need him?)

Such a good read, I finished it in one sitting, though I was up most of the night. This novel is as good as anything Spillane or Elroy or Cain, or even Hammett would write. It has a load of tasty ingredients mixed in a scrumptious bowl of a story.

A gambler on the run from the mob, manages to shoot one of the bad guys, meets up with a killer dame, who is chasing after $2 million she figures is owed her. They hideout in a rundown motel, and despite their stress and fear, still take time out for the obligatory love play(how sweet). Always impressed that the guy is ever ready no matter what.

Both characters are divorced by partners with murder on their mind. There's chase scenes and gunplay a plenty, and the character conversations are exactly right. A believable climax is achieved by the last page, and the book contains all the usual platitudes and morals on what's wrong and right, and is it time to go straight and buy a house in the 'burbs. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Almost 200 pages of midnight fun reading for me, and with memories of puberty and teenage angst to boot, what more could this old fart ask for...

105 - I read Last Temptation of Christ when the movie came out and I was wondering what all the fuss was about - I was still wondering after I read it.

>Morfam- You certainly got my attention! "Hung temptingly...". Nice description of Nobody Move. I've heard very good things about it. I have still not read Denis Johnson's1st novel either,Tree of Smoke,have you?
I finished Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower. If you like short stories and are interested in hearing a strong new literary voice, this is the ticket! An excellent read!
I started Have Mercy On Us All by Fred Vargas. I've been sitting on this one for awhile and was in the mood for a crime novel. Based on reading just a few pages, this is going to be a keeper!

I am being slightly creeped out (in a good way) with A Sight for Sore Eyes.

I finished Song for the Basilisk by McKillip and I've started The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante.

Still going with An arsonist's guide to writer's homes in New England which I'm enjoying. I also started War and Peace, which so far is enjoyable. I have owned it for probably 15 years, but always been too intimidated by it's status and legend. I bought it second hand, a lovely dark brown hardback for $5.00.

I just finished The Blue Notebook and have started Censoring an Iranian Love Story. I'm very excited about this one, it sounds fascinating and I really haven't heard much about it.

I finished The Cellist of Sarajevo - what a great read!

Started The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz. A total impulse buy as I've never read Koontz but couldn't resist the golden. Hoping to save most of it as one of my four vacation books but it seems like a pretty fast read.

>#115 coppers - I keep hearing great things about The Cellist of Sarjevo - need to move that up the TBR pile!

I finished The Disappeared by Kim Echlin and all I can say is Wow! What an amazing book. I posted a review on the book site. I will now curl up tonight and start The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt.

Edited for happy fingers that hit the wrong keys AND touchstones that have a mind of their own!

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 10:35pm.

#116 lkernagh, Yes do!!

Just finished Eduardo Galeano's Voices of Time: A Life in Stories and enchanted by his style and humour, which is often black and political. Also just finished Carmel Bird's Writing the Story of Your Life: the ultimate guide which is one of those fabulous writing books that is inspiring and practical, full of quotations, and gives you excellent references for further reading. She also has a sense of the wondrous and a great eye for detail. Now I'm reading one of her recommendations, Hal Porter's Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony, and I can see why people nod and smile when you mention this title!

I finished Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris and am now halfway through Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
I am loving Olive Kitteridge! I can't put it down! What is it about some authors' writing that grabs you and won't let you go? Wow! Good choice for the Pulitzer Prize.

Just finished Legacy by Greg Bear, which was the prequel in The Way series (finished Eon earlier) and moved on now to the sequel, Eternity. In a bit of an SF mood these past weeks...

Turns out I was in the mood for Breakfast at Tiffany's so I read that. I didn't like it at all so I'm glad I hadn't bought it.
I am now starting March by Geraldine Brooks because I'm frankly tired of seeing it in my TBR pile.

>119: JolieLouise- What did you think of Then We Came to the End? It was one of my favorite reads from last year. I'm also looking forward to Olive Kitteridge.
>coppers- I've heard mixed things about this Koontz but the book by him you should have selected, featuring a golden, is Watchers, it's a horror classic!

#116 - lkernagh - I loved the Cellist of Sarajevo and think it should definitely move up on the TBR pile.

#119 - JolieLouise - So happy to hear that you are enjoying Olive Kitteridge, I just ordered it and can't wait to get in to it.

I finished up The Host last night, so back to Crime and Punishment and plan to start The Madonnas of Leningrad tonight - it's only 220+ pages, so might need to add another one to the mix, just not sure what yet.

Last week I finished 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. It's a brilliant book. But it was a very depressing story.
So now I'm reading 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K. Jerome to get in balance again.

Just a little while ago i finished The Demon's Lexicon which was surprisingly good for a first novel. More action and barely a smattering of romance which i found highly refreshing, that and the fact it's set in England so it reminded me off the Alex Rider books or Charlie Higson's Young James Bond series. Oh i do like reading books that are set in somewhat familiar places lol.

>119 I am loving Olive Kitteridge too! But unfortunately I have to work today so I won't get back to it for 8 more hours. Maybe I could go home sick?

I've started Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend by Larry Tye.

I'm reading several books at the same time (as usual), at the time being these are: The Lion's Game, a terrorist thriller written before 9/11, but with some eerie foresight, also I'm reading Heavier than Heaven, a biography of Kurt Cobain and The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir, as I am a fan of the Tudor era.

#110, msf59, I've read both Nobody Move and Tree of Smoke (which is not Denis Johnson's first novel but which received so much publicity it might seem that way). I really enjoyed both of them but they are very different. Tree of Smoke is a very complex novel, in terms of character, plot, and philosophical/political issues. Nobody Move is a fast-paced fun read. What they share is Johnson's wonderful way with language.

Message edited by its author, Jun 16, 2009, 9:31am.

My mood suddenly switched to "fiction", so now I'm reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. It's really good so far. I like these books starring academics or PhD students. The second chapter is set during the main character's oral qualifying exam, which sounds like it is every bit as torturous for historians as it is for biologists.

I'm starting White Night today. I've really been enjoying my Harry Dresden kick, he's such a great character!

Have started By Permission of Heaven the story of the great fire of London.

Could not stop reading Mistress of the Art of Death I will now have to get her book City of Shadows. Was doing this book for the group read just couldn't help myself from finishing it. Started Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen last evening and finished it this morning such a fun and quick read. Have no idea what I am going to next.

Second read of the week (which seems to be happening far less frequently lately) is Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent by cast member Anthony Rapp who is currently touring again in the role of Mark. Only on page 40, so far so good.

Finished Embers by Sandor Marai today. As a conversation (mostly one sided) between two estranged friends late in their lives, the book uses a plot and suspense to explore many philosophical questions, most importantly, the meaning of life. Perhaps because I'm old enough to spend more time pondering than living, I found the book thought provoking and one I will continue to enjoy as I mull its points over. It was slow (as the topic would dictate) and there were dated attitudes, ie. the way men are, the way women are.

I'm reading "Dear Husband", by Joyce Carol Oates. I've read maybe four stories, all of them excellent and disturbing. I just joined the Y, so my son can swim this summer and I've been trying to get my money's worth by going to all the fitness classes, so this week was the perfect time to read "Suicide by Fitness Center".

>123 BaileysAndBooks: How did you like The Host? Everyone seems to be reading it, but noone comments on it.

# 116 -Ikernaugh - I read your review and was enthralled. The Disappeared is SO going on my Wish List!

#133 - Cindy - I see that you have We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates in your library and I don't see that you've indicated that it has been read. I thought that was a pretty good book. How about that one? Not that you asked for a suggestion, but . . . :)
I also saw that you have The Kite Runner and, also, haven't indicated that that one has been read. I was GOING to suggest that we read it together because I have it and haven't read it. But your post suggests that you read 60 millions times faster than I do, so reading a book together would be frustrating for you. Not that you were asking for someone to read a book with, but . . . :) LOL!
Anyway, I'm still reading Olive Kitteridge. What a book!

#135 - Snash - I love books that ponder the meaning of life. I love it when two people get together and talk about what has happened in their lives and how it has affected them, what they have learned, etc . . . I really don't need much plot (like my husband does - he also likes lots of action) - I'm fine with two people talking. I like the psychological aspect of it and comparing my own life to theirs.

#122 - Msf - You know, I really liked Then We Came to the End. Sometimes I wavered in my feelings about the book and then I would read something and think - "Geez, this author is a genius!". Near the end I was starting to think that it had gone on too long and then I read something and thought, "Geez, this author is a genius!" LOL! It wouldn't have been as good if he hadn't kept going. I think I might have stopped writing after Benny was let go from the agency. But then we go on and find that Jim has become Benny's boss which is funny and that one of their co-workers has finally published a book and as he reads the book aloud at his first reading, we are reading lines exactly from the book we've just read. And there was the narrator who was never named - and that bothered me most of the time. But then at the end - I think the last line said something like, "And then there was only me and you". The narrator and the reader. That made me think of what I had heard about If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino - how that one was supposed to make the reader feel like a character in the book (a book that I couldn't get into, by the way, which is a shame since the premise of being a character in it sounded appealing to me).
Anyway, I really liked it.

>JolieLouise- A very nice explanation of Then We Came to the End. I, to felt that the format the author used might end up being limiting but he always came through with something fresh. I loved those characters! I'm also a big fan of the "The Office" and saw many similarities.
>129: rebeccanyc- Thanks for the Denis Johnson comments. I need to get off my duff and read this guy!
>128: DieterBoehm- I read Heavier than Heaven a few years ago and thought it was an excellent biography on Kurt Cobain. Man, what a talent and what a self-inflicted tragedy!

A first post here - thrilled to have come across this site. I'm reading Far North by Marcel Theroux and have been surprised several times! It will be interesting to read reviews when I'm through -- I don't see how one can talk about the character without revealing twists that have been a pleasure to discover. A dystopian novel but quite different from The Road.

My first post too!!! I am in the 'Twilight' zone at the moment and just started the final book in the series, 'Breaking Dawn' I have loved the other three and I know already I will be heartbroken when I finish this one!

One the audiobook front, I finished The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot, which was pretty intriguing, and started Breakfast of Champions, which I'm finding to be pretty brilliant. It reminds me of other authors (in a good way) but has its own unique demented sense of style.

Book-wise, I just finished Nightmare Abbey, which is sort of a satire of a Gothic novel, though also has a heavy dose of humor based on the literary and intellectual trends of its time. A sort of odd duck, but enjoyable overall.

And I just started Heart of Darkness. It's intriguing so far. Conrad's prose can be a little difficult sometimes, but other times it carries you along in a certain virtuosity.

Welcome to LT, Kjartan and zuchabar! (Your names together sound like they could be characters in a scifi book! LOL!). Hope you enjoy it here. You will hear about lots of good books to read, that's for sure.

Finished Fast Food Nation this afternoon. It wasn't quite what I was expecting in that there was a fairly large emphasis on economic and business issues inside the fast food industry (ie. ranching, global expansion, historical implications, etc.) as opposed to the industry's sociological and health issues. Yet there were some truly frightening chapters that documented the lack of training, experience, and benefits associated with fast food employment as well as the disgusting conditions inside modern slaughterhouses. The book focuses mainly on McDonald's, although most of the other major fast food chains are discussed as well. I don't eat much fast food to begin with, but the chapter entitled "What's In the Meat" will really make me think twice about stopping off at Burger King any time soon. Yikes.

Now that I'm finished with Fast Food Nation, I've started on Hannibal by Thomas Harris, and I'm about halfway through I Am America (And So Can You) - I've read this one before, but it's so stinking funny I had to read it again! In my TBR pile: Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic.

And I'll be the second person to say: Welcome to LT Kjartan and zuchabar!

I finished my ER book Brain Surgeon by Keith Black, and then for the patient's viewpoint I read A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy.

I'm now half way through Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, as I relive the 60's.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson was a great read. I'm still working on Collapse, and Wesley the Owl somehow came home with me from the library, so I'm reading it, too(-who).

Finished The Wager by Machado de Assis the other night, a story abpout obsession and love. Machado de Assis is considered Brazil's greatest writer and not having read any other Brazilian writers so far I'm happy to go along with that. I'm still reading Midnight's children but couldn't resist picking up the latest Anita Brookner, Strangers which I started last night. Brookner never lets me down.

Message edited by its author, Jun 16, 2009, 9:04pm.

Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Freaking hysterical! I love reading Christ as an actual protagonist, like... almost a comic book character. And Biff rules! Moore strikes again!

#59 - The Children's Book is not living up to my expectations... not by a long shot. I have given it one more night of reading to redeem itself and, if not, onto the abandoned pile it goes.

#137 - Catreona: The Host was a fun book to read. Was it the greatest thing I have even read, no; and did I enjoy it better than The Twilight series, definitely not. It was a nice break from all the E. European fare I have found myself in over the past few weeks, and it did raise a few interesting questions about humanity too. So if you need a fast, light read (even with the 600+pages) I'd say give it a go.

#122 msf59, Thanks for the heads up! I'll look for Watchers at the library but so far so good with the one I have.

Message edited by its author, Jun 16, 2009, 10:36pm.

As an addendum to my earlier post where I raved about Denis Johnson's Nobody Move. I am a great fan of his and loved Tree of Smoke. Possibly one of the best war novels I have ever read.

Right now I'm really in a reading mood, and like so many other things, these moods occur less and less as we get older. Hint, hint...to the wife.. So, before the parade passes by, I am taking advantage of this literary exuberance, and the pages are just flying.

Today, I finished Valeria's Last Stand, a simply gorgeous read by Marc Fitten, a debut author, and someone to look out for. The novel takes place in a little village in Hungary, which, during two world wars, was largely ignored by invading countries, due to its obscure location in the mountains.

The novel's two protaganists, both ladies in their sixties, and both single, are still on the hunt for a man to look after their needs, whilst they still have itches to scratch and passions to be taken care of. The lead character, Valeria, is so well written that I found myself connecting with her from the start. At times hilarious, and other times heart warming, the supporting cast compliment the book, and I can already sniff a movie in the works.

I really have no idea where I got the idea to read this book, I find that happens a lot on this site. You make a note of the book"s title after reading recommended posts, then later you discover why you had it pegged TBR. It's happening again with my next book, April @ Oliver by Tess Callaghan, which, after 100 or so pages, is proving to be another good read...

About to start The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay (translated by Sheila Fischman)

Heard about it on http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/

Michel Tremblay is well known in Quebec... Not sure how well it will translate to english though

Message edited by its author, Jun 16, 2009, 10:46pm.

#124 I love Three Men In a Boat! I first read it outloud to my Dad when I was a kid and we were living in Scotland. My Mom was in hospital and Dad had picked me up at school to take me to visit her. After he had explained why she was there I quit being terrified and we started reading - we were laughing so hard at one point (the pineapple tin) Dad had to pull OVER :)

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 12:40am.

I just started Price of His Desire by Leda Swann, an Avon Book. So far, so good, A "talk dity to me" book with lots of sex scenes. Truly erotic. The woman must save her siblings from the workhouse by agreeing to be the man's love slave (in every way and willingly).

I'll keep you posted.

Keta Diablo
http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com

Just finished Catch-22 and now for something completely different The Great Gatsby.

As an aside I'm also slowly reading both Stephen Fry's The Ode less Travelled and also The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry.

To be honest, most of my poetry books I tend to dip into for the odd 9 minutes or so of contemplation and then flit off again, back in this case to The Great Gatsby

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 5:57am.

Finished March by Geraldine Brooks. It was really good - I loved her take on the character and completely fell for him.
I am now starting Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.

I'm reading Street Gang by Michael Davis. It's a history of Sesame Street and has wonderful mini-biographies of the many people who created it, as well as fascinating anecdotes of the early days of children's television (after reading this, I'm wondering if there's a book about Bob Keeshan of Captain Kangaroo fame). I'm about halfway through this. I'm not sure what's next for me this week. I could use another good mystery.

#150 You are the first person I have seen here who has read Machado de Assis - I am sure there are others. I have read most of his books and stories because my daughter is using him as one of her authors for her dissertation. She was in Rio last summer trying to do research but his area was closed due to renovations for a big celebration for him. She enjoyed Rio anyway.

I liked what I read and fortunately the University of Scranton here had all his stuff or I wouldn't have been able to read any of it easily.

well I'm about to read Lucky by Rachel Vail. It's about a girl who has a reputation as a lucky girl; named Phoebe.

>155 morfam...I simply ignore your idle chitter-chatter about growing older because you, of all people, know that growing older doesn't mean growing old, which I associate with being bored and depressed. Piffle-poff! YOU becoming bored! And with READING! I laugh scornfully.

Denis Johnson, now. Perhaps I was hasty in my judgment above. Only those reaching for some sort of mystical "coolth" factor could "like" this nekkid emperor. Narratively unoriginal, I think...Jesus's Son was the first and Tree of Smoke the second of his books I read and made it to 75pp in the second. Returned to the youthful enthusiast who insisted I read them, with thanks and still uncommented upon...when pressed, I said he was this generation's John Updike and she was satisfied that I loved him.

*snort*

Valeria's Last Stand sounds really enjoyable, and my library has ordered it for me. Looking forward!

ETA: Good lord! I went on a Kerry Greenwood jag and forgot to mention it. Phryne Fisher, her sleuthess, got to me. The real reviews are on my 75-Books Challenge thread.

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 12:17pm.

Three books are getting my attention right now. I am reading Mistress of the Art of Death, historical fiction, by Ariana Franklin for a group read ... Mistress of the Art of Death ~ Early Summer 2009 Reading Group. Finally received it from my library reserve list.

Another is an ER edition (ARC) that I snagged and am totally loving to read. It is The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage by Ellen Graf. A very well written and truly funny memoir of her marriage to a man from China whom she meets and marries there (in China) before he is able to get a visa and come to the United States to live with her. Let the cultural clashes begin!

The View from Castle Rock: Stories rounds out the three, and is proving to be a wonderful reminder of how her writing, Alice Munro, brings characters and places to life.

These all follow on the heels (or should I say spine) of Twilight which I finished last week for my RL book club. See my thread for the 75/2009 Challenge here for more info:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/55208

Check out the DVD, Black Books (three seasons available). I predict you will LOVE it, or NOT. I haven't laughed so much in a long time.

Cheers - WH

WH - did you know Alice Munro recently won the Man Booker International prize?

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 1:29pm.

#149 AMQS I really enjoyed Wesley the Owl. It's not the kind of book I generally read, but they were a remarkable pair and it had the added charm of describing places I'm very familiar with.

Finished Annie's Ghosts last night, and must say that PhoenixTerran's review, which got me to buy and immediately read the book, was right on. Started John Adams, which I am absolutely loving. I very seriously considered staying home from work today in order to read it.

>166 - Terri -

I did actually, and that is why I'm reading The View from Castle Rock:Stories. Perhaps you, or another LTer suggested reading it. Thank you so much. She's lovely.

womansheart

#128, DieterBoehm: I loved Heavier than Heaven. Such a tearjerker though; keep your tissues close by! :)

I finished Jane Eyre, and am now reading Lolita.

I picked up and started The Last Child from the library. I am about a quarter of the way through it. I like it but sometimes wish they would just find Alyssa and finish the story. Has anyone else read this? Opinions?
:)

#162 Koalamom--I read The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis . What else do you recommend?

I am reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and thoroughly enjoying it. I am listening to All Over Creation by Ruth L. Ozeki. It is a lovely story.

I bought Quincas Borba by de Assis a few years ago, but haven't read it yet. How did you like The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, arubabookwoman? How was The Wager, errata? I'm also curious about other recommended books by him.

>167, thanks, whymaggiemay. I do love owls, and I'm even more smitten after the introduction.

144, zuchabar> Don't worry.. The end of Breaking Dawn will leave you smiling.

hemlok: I have All Over Creation on my TBR shelf - glad to hear you're liking it (since we're both enjoying Woman in White so much, we probably have similar tastes!)

Thanks, BaileysAndBooks. I'll probably wait till Perkins (Talking Book Library) has The Host, which looks like a few more months. But, it's definitely going on the TBR list. 8)

Hi all! First post for me-love this site. What a treasure! So let's see...just finished a re-read of Bram Stoker's Dracula and last night started The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I was up LATE with it & so far, it's great! I am looking forward to finding a ton of new great reads from all of you!

You can't go wrong with Dracula. 8) For a suave vampire, try Chelsea Quin Yarbro's Saint-Germain novels, and of course for a romantic vampire, Stepheni Meyer's Twilight books. I also hear the Southern Vampire series is good, but haven't read them yet myself, so can't actually recommend them.

The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears is rather draggy ... but I think I'm going to try and finish it .. it is, after all, a rather skinny book. buttt............ if I can't get through it all tonight, I think I'm going to chuck it and move on.

I'm reading The Woman in the Dunes just now - it's quite different than I thought it would be, less character depth and more structure. Not the kind of thing I really enjoy usually - but this one I like.

I'm still reading The Obesity Myth and The Season - I confess I'm only reading the last one because I promised a friend I would.

I don't know what I want to read next!

I'm about to finish Far North and sad to see it end. Truly have no idea what's in store for this character -- guess I'll find out tonight.
Considering 3 for my next read - Fool by Christopher Moore, Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones, or a mystery, Killer Keepsakes by Jane Cleland. Leaning toward the mystery. . .takes place in NH and I get very homesick this time of year, plus antiques, rare books, murder -- a cheery palate cleanser!

Still working on The Host, hope to finish it tomorrow. Debating on what to pick up next, but I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

Oh, for a non fiction selection, I am working on Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe by Robert Piccioni, a book a received through early reviewers. It is nicely laid out, and conversational style. I hope to pick up more books about physics and such, this is a nice introduction.

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 5:58pm.

The lat few days, I read a few quick books - The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, The Pearl, and Hatter M.

I'm still working on David Copperfield. It will be some time before I'm finished (only about 1/3 of the way in), but I'm enjoying the story so far and the characters are fabulous.

I've decided to stop listening to A Short History of Nearly Everything because I've completely lost track of its thread, but I've started reading it instead, so I'll have to select a new audiobook tonight.

#178 cineaton Welcome to Library Thing. As you will soon find out, you will have a never ending wishlist & TBR list from all the excellent recommendations on this website. I love it here and I'm sure you will be right at home!

I have Angel's Game waiting in the wings for me--cannot wait to read it. Shadow of the Wind was one of my all time favorites.

Message edited by its author, Jun 17, 2009, 8:57pm.

I finished Isaac's Storm . It is a very good book about the hurricane that hit Galveston, Tx in 1900.

recommended read~

I started one that I found at half price books the other day. It is a bit of fluff called Snow Island. I bought it because it was signed by the author...
( yes, I know that is silly) but it was signed to Marjorie, and so I want to read it, then pass it on to my friend Marjorie :)

On a whim and to cleanse my palate, I reread Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and zipped through Are You There, Vodka, Its Me, Chelsea and am settling back into Red Mutiny which I always type as Red Menace, for some reason.

re: Machado de Assis

Kidzdoc, The Wager is written in the form of a diary and the style is deceptively simple, the plot almost incidental. It's about the characters. I found I had a real affection for all the characters, there was something very deep going on there...

Koalamom, you were very fortunate to have access to an academic library. I'm finding it difficult to get my hands on de Assis books. I'll have to look into inter-library loans with some of the university libraries. Good to hear your daughter enjoyed Rio, I wish her all the best with her dissertation.

Have been listening to Eclipse again. Actually started with the last third of New Moon, starting from Bella's cliff dive. As wonderful as Breaking Dawn is, I think my favorite part of the tetrology is the last third of New Moon.

Anyway, not feeling up to anything new or difficult this week. I think the Twilight Saga may, like The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, prove to be something I return to for comfort reading. It's nice to find such a book/series.

I have now abandoned The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt.... it just wasn't "my cup of tea". Oh well... no great loss... there is always another unread book looking for a happy reader!

I have now picked up The Secret Lives of Litterbugs by author M.A.C. Farrant, and I have to say this is a gem! Farrant's writing style and humor reminds me of one of my favorite female humorist writers, Erma Bombeck. Farrant provides the added charm that so far the book has focused on her teen years (the early 1960's) growing up on Vancouver Island... my backyard. In one word: Entertaining!

I have finished Olive Kitteridge which was wonderful! I am now, finally, going to read The Kite Runner.

#171 - I liked all of his (Machado de Asiss) works - the one was you mentioned is probably one of the best. You are welcome to check out my library if you wish for titles. Sorry I didn't review them, but there was a time lag between when I read these books and joined LT.

Last night I finished The Riddle-Master of Hed, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I thought it would be a fast read, but it wasn't and I am looking forward to the next two in the trilogy.

I am within 100 pages of finishing Mary Chestnut's Civil War, which I find interesting in parts and boring in others but I am compelled to finish it.

Message edited by its author, Jun 18, 2009, 8:39am.

ive just started reading "buried" by mark billingham. i enjoyed "in the dark" so much i decided to investigate his other stuff.

will probably finish American Rust today...then i have to start Mistress of the Art of Death for the Group read...then The Robber Bride for another LT group read...this one won't be so bad....copious Marginalia in my copy..if i can decode it *snort* .....somehow i'll have to sneak another ARC in this mix as well...

I received A Conspiracy of Paper from a lovely fellow LTer...

K-mom, The Riddle-Master of Hed was one of the very few fantasy novels I enjoyed without reservation. Something about McKillip's writing made me suspend disbelief in a way that other fantasists did not manage to elicit in me. After reading the rest of the trilogy, I hope to hear you say they are as good. Then I might venture to dip a toe into the fantasy pond again.

Hiya Jude!

mckait, I am so Liss-envy-riddden. I would love to be encountering the Lion of Judah for the first time. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm reading Bound by Sally Gunning and enjoying it thoroughly. Also reading Practicing Catholic and having my eyes opened wide. I wasn't paying too much attention to the Vatican 2 at the time in the sixties because I was young.

still reading the fluffy book.. Snow Island

Message edited by its author, Jun 18, 2009, 2:54pm.

I have just started Wolves of the Calla which is Stephen Kings 5th book in the Dark Tower Series. I am going to be reading this one for a while its pretty thick plus I am reading another book called Black Powder War by Naomi Novik so I am reading two books at once!

I'm about to start Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd. Bought it because the rumours about it on LT somewhere last year. Actuallly, I think it's the first book I bought because of LT (or: where it all went wrong).

Next to that I'm reading De kleur van het duister by Frank Thilliez, a thin thriller about two man stuck in a hole below a gletcher, having no idea why and how they came there. A nice train read :)

>201 boekenwijs, I may not speak Dutch but I know a good idea for a thriller when I hear one! Two guys under a glacier with no idea how they got there is a darn fine idea. Wish I was a plagiarist, I'd steal it. It appears Franck's books aren't available in English translation, drat the luck.

I continue my Phryne Fisher series-fest. I'm up to book four, Death at Victoria Dock.

>202 I like Phryne Fisher, but I didn't particularly like that book (Death at Victoria Dock). I hope you like it more than I did! :)

Finished Hannibal by Thomas Harris, and I must say that I MUCH prefer the first two books in the Hannibal Lecter series, with their focus on the FBI and the serial killers instead of Lecter's back story. And I found Harris' writing style to be distracting, with his awkward syntax and numerous changes in the verb tense. Probably going to start on Practical Magic next - I loved the movie and I heard that the book was awesome!

#173 kidzdoc--I liked it well enough that I wanted to read more by de Assis, but I read it so long ago I don't remember more than that.

koalamom--I'll be checking your library. Thanks.

Josh Weil's The New Valley arrived today, and shortly after it arrived I read the first novella, and it was simply stunning. This is Weil's first book, and the guy seems like the real deal. We'll see. There are three more stories to read and hopefully they'll be as good as the first. Note - for some reason, the author touchstone links the book and the book touchstone links something completely different.

Message edited by its author, Jun 18, 2009, 8:02pm.

I finished Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa, which was an absolutely brilliant and devastating read. My head is still spinning, so I think I'll read something lighthearted and entertaining, and Harry Pearson's A Tall Man in a Low Land: Some Time Among the Belgians should fit the bill.

re: Assis

Assis has always been a part of my imaginary. I really love him, but Dom Casmurro has to be Assis' greatest work

Relating to the dificulty in finding assis's works I think it has to do with it being a translated author. English speaking nations just don't translate as many works and have a very closed market to foreign speaking authors. As it is I hope you get to read Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis' great prose.

I'm done with The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears - ho hum... not impressed and glad to be done with it.

I'm wondering what to read next ... i have to drive down to Madison, NJ tomorrow to attend a wedding and then there's Father's Day on Long Island on Sunday, so I don't think I'll have alot of time to read. so I may pick something light, perhaps the book I received in the mail today -- Hare Today, Dead Tomorrow by Cynthia Baxter - the cover is delightful and it's about a vet turned sleuth.

Finished Snow Island .. Sad fluffy sadness.

Started Schuyler's Monster

This looks promising.

I just finished reading Where is Here? a collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. I know that someone else on this thread mentioned reading a different collection of stories by her and they loved it. Unfortunately, I do not have the same opinion of this collection. I just don't think she is for me - I keep wondering to myself "What the heck happened to this woman that her stories are so dark, depressing, distrubing and violent?" I started Nickel and Dimed this afternoon which seems ok so far - not great but at least it is an easy read.

I finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, a great read! I read Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott in one sitting, and enjoyed it. Very sweet. I also finished listening to All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki, a thought provoking, well-written novel. I am about to start reading Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe, and will be starting to listen to The Boat by Nam Le. I am on vacation, can you tell?

Finally finished Mary Chestnut's Civil War. It was interesting and long. I though it better as a book that one read in sections and put down and picked up something else, which is what I did. I read three other books at the same time. It took me about a week and a half. It might have been better if I had taken more time, but it is a library book.

It was interesting to hear the story from a Southern woman's point of view. Her life was interesting and she moved around a lot and grew to know poverty after her moderately rich life and she bore it well.

Started the Kite Runner this evening.

>203 christiguc, I fiinshed Death at Victoria Dock and wasn't impressed. Reviewed it, too, follow touchstone if interested.

I finished The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante and I'm about to start Regenesis by C. J. Cherryh.

I am finishing Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi. I read her Reading Lolita in Tehran a year or so ago. She writes about her life in Iran as a child, and as an adult. Although much of the book is personal, many of the political issues from the '80s and '90s that she describes, seem to be the same issues bringing Iranians into the streets this week.

I loved Blackbird House, and now I'm lazing my way through A Year in Provence.

I loved reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians, it's great! But it's not that good if you don't like adventure. Though probably everyone does. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about a modern-day demigod called Percy Jackson.

Currently reading lock and key which is only the second Sarah dessen book i've read but i am really enjoying her style of writing- hopefully i will have finished it soon and then i get to catch up on the ridiculous number of reviews i'm behind on for my challenge thread, joy.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my all time favorite reads. Enjoy.

Picked up Death of the Party and Penultimate Peril at the library. Shouldn't take to long to read them.

Last night I finished After Dark by Haruki Murakami. It was much simpler than some of his books, but very nice as his always are. He has become one of my favorite authors and I'm going for another, Kafka on the Shore, next.

I finished The Woman in White last night - thoroughly enjoyed that book! And hemlokgang, I'm copying you -- pulled All Over Creation off the shelf last night and began to read it; I'm liking it so far.

Also reading Something Beyond Greatness for a book blog tour; and a few books on raising a puppy, since ours will be coming home in a couple of weeks. Eeek.

>223: emaestra- I also enjoyed After Dark and I loved Kafka on the Shore. I need to get back to this amazing author. I do have The Wind-up Bird Chronicle beckoning from the Mount!

I've started The Stories of John Cheever. I'm reading one or two a day, as it's such a thick book. I like how he leaves loose ends to his stories instead of resolutions.
I'm almost done with Agatha Christie's Endless Night which has really taken me some time to get through. I'm enjoying it, and it's very different from her usual writing, but I just don't know why I'm moving so slowly.

Finally finished The Annotated Pride and Prejudice last night and began College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now by Lynn Peril. Interesting read.

223 emaestra and 225 msf59: I enjoyed After Dark and like msf59 loved Kafka on the Shore. Many people rate Wind-Up Bird Chronicle above Kafka; I thought it was terrific but Kafka is still number one for me. I still think about both and the images and characters Murakami gives us, e.g. Kafka in the library, Nagata talking to cats. After Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, you'll probably never think about wells the same way.

I've read all his books now except the non-fiction Underground and the new one on running. Out of those, I particularly also like the short story collection After the Quake, set in the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

Finished The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K.Hamilton yesterday and am halfway through The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant.

Finished The Host last night. It was interesting. I'm not much of a science fiction reader so I really have no perspective.

I am going to start American Gods by Neil Gaiman today. I may then move on to Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart.

I agree with those of you who said that we readers in the USA don't have enough of a selection of translated books. This is not only true of adult books but of young adult books as well. Many many countries have rich literature traditions and we just don't tap into them. I have spoken to several publishers about this and most say it is because the cost of translating makes the profit margin to slim. I was amazed to find out that the Harry Potter books have to be translated because the use of English English would put off American readers!

I too love Murakami and in reading about him discovered that even though he lived and taught in the US for years he wrote all of his books in Japanese. His work sells well and it has to be translated. I also liked Shadow of the Wind (and will probably like the new one of his) and even though that author also lives in the US he writes in Spanish. Another favorite translated book is Night Train to Lisbon. How rich my reading life is because of these translations. It would be nice to have more translated books. I hope some publisher is reading these posts and will be brave enough to tap into some of those marvelous books just waiting out there for the American reader.

#231: Amen! In addition, these books need to be aggressively marketed and displayed in the major bookstore chains and other stores that sell books, such as WalMart. I just returned from my local Borders, and was heartened to see that The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's new book, was displayed in the very front of the store, and was discounted 30% off of the list price. Between the Assassinations, the new book by Aravind Adiga, was also displayed prominently among the new hardcover fiction offerings. His novel The White Tiger won the Booker Prize last year. And, yes, I bought both novels.

I want to chime in with my agreement on the foreign books. Even the foreign books that I did not like (Wetlands being the one that I liked the least), I found them to be thought-provoking.

I agree with you, Bridget770; I also find these books to be more interesting and thought-provoking than the vast majority of the US novels I've read recently.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I finished Conversation in the Cathedral by the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa last night, which I reviewed here. I agree with LT member lriley that it is the best novel about Latin America that I've read, and it is the best book I've read this year.

I'm now reading Hoppla! 1 2 3 by the French author Gerard Gavarry, a new novel about a troubled immigrant youth in a Parisian suburb. I'll also start Metro Stop Paris: An Underground History of the City of Light by Gregor Dallas.

Message edited by its author, Jun 19, 2009, 7:56pm.

> 202, richard, it indeed is good, I will finish it tomorrow morning (I shouldn't read books like this in the evening, it will become a night mare).

I'm amazed none of his works is translated in English, as he original writes in French and I saw some German translations around on the net.

>235 boekenwijs, American publishers don't like translations...see discussion above...and American audiences aren't really supportive of them either.

Most hugely successful translations in this country are of "status symbol" books like The Name of the Rose and Perfume. The mass market of readers, a disheartening 1% of the country's population (about 3 million people), will buy those books because they like to look smart. I doubt most people who own them have so much as cracked them open.

It has ever been thus. As far back as I know about, which is the 19th century, the majority of American readers don't want to read translations.

Tangent to topic: Margriet de Moor has two English translations I liked a lot: First Grey, Then White, Then Blue and The Virtuoso. I touchstoned the Dutch language editions so it would be clear which ones I'm talking about. Her work is so beautifully crafted and well-imagined that I wish heartily I had enough money and a Dutch-speaking American writer to translate the rest of her books!

I agree with Richard. Most of the translated literature available in the US comes from smaller publishing houses, and most of these books are not available in the major chain bookstores or general stores. So, average US readers wouldn't know about most of these books unless they receive some additional recognition, such as a book review or a major literary award.

Here are some US publishing houses that focus on international literature:
Archipelago Books
Open Letter Books at the University of Rochester
David R. Godine, Publisher
Dalkey Archive Press at the University of Illinois
Seven Stories Press
New Directions Publishing

You can sign up for e-mail newsletters for these publishers to get information about current and forthcoming books.

Here are some helpful web sites about literature in translation:
Words Without Borders
Rainmaker Translations
Three Percent
World Literature Today
World Literature Forum

Wow I'm so happy I originated this discussion about translations, and the lack there of.

In my country (Portugal) there are a lot of translated authors available. However books are universally expensive (even from Portuguese speaking authors...) We are just starting to introduce the pocket paperback format.

I'm tantalizingly close to finishing The White Tiger I'm really loving it, it really surpasses my expectations. Perhaps I'll join the masses and read The Woman in White?

Finished "Pride and Prejudice" yesterday...started "Tumbling Blocks' by Earlene Fowler today.

I started reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which has been on Mt. TBR since before I joined LT, I think. I'm not sure if I like it or not... right now, Jacob's just had a fight with the lawyer about him carrying water for the elephants, and Jacobs been put in time-out by Nurse Rosemary. So, just a few pages in.

I'm about 1/2 through The 19th Wife and The Last Lecture, too.

koolaid - hang in there, it will get better.

Finally!! Finished The Little Friend

I don't even want to say how long it took me to plough through it. :0
Starting Stiff by Mary Roach
Hoping this will be a more successful read. :)

Reading the Kite Runner and Have Mercy on all of Us by Fred Vargas who has her books translated from French. A real captivating book. Found her books at the library.

Still slogging through Man and his Symbols. Feeling slightly better about it, but still not entirely sold on the whole Deep Psychology thing.

Also still re-listening to Eclipse. Will probably finish tonight and, if I can't sleep, will probably then start Breaking Dawn.

Going to put The Woman in White on my TBR list. In fact, may set aside the Jung in favor of it... We'll see.

Just finished Heart of Darkness and found it quite captivating. Actually, I've been thinking about it quite a bit for the last few days.

I've still got Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions on audiobook going. Really digging that. There's something about the way he's telling the story that is really unique. The strange historical perspective almost seems like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and allows Vonnegut to seem almost innocent yet still highly satirical.

> 236, richard, it's really a shame they don't translate more, as a lot of the books I'm reading are not original from Holland. Of course, the Dutch language region is not so large, so only those books might give a poor selection of books, but all those cultures add so much.

And of course I'm one of the still growing group of people that read in English as well. While it's so easy (and even cheaper than buying books here) to order books in Britain, half of the books on my shelves are English.

Btw, I have First Grey, Then White, Then Blue standing on the shelf. I should move it up in my pile TBR.

I finished Lock and Key the other day and i'm having a nosy at the first chapter of The magician's Apprentice before going to have a nap lol

In addition to the library books (Snicket and Hart) that I brought home yesterday (and Snicket is almost read), I took Jane Eyre and Christianity and Evolution off my personal shelves to read after the library books are done. These two will go toward my 999 and the other two don't.

I also recently discovered from Recommendations that I never included all the "Little House" books, including the three series spawned off them (her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother) and also the books her daughter wrote. I read them years a go but forgot tom add them here - and I am sure others will come up as well. Recommendations is a good thing - it sparks one's memory.

Finished the Snicket Penultimate Peril.

Message edited by its author, Jun 20, 2009, 10:54am.