I've started Birds of a Feather, the second book in the Maisie Dobbs series (great recommendation from Maren!), and Go Jump in the Pool for a quick, fun read. Next up . . . who knows!

Still working on my ER, The Best of Creative Non Fiction, Vol. 3 which is very interesting, but as an anthology it's not the kind of thing I can read straight through.

I'm listening to the audiobook of Over Sea, Under Stone and I'm probably going to be trying to start The Eye of the World pretty soon. Lots of stuff to do today, but it's my day off, so that definitely helps.

I'm going to try A Confederacy of Dunces.

#4 - Is the protagonist of this book a man who is called Mr. Andrew?

i'm just one of many. Wanna join my federation?

It depends. Does joining your federation include a good dental plan?

no, but it has a mental plan.

#8:LOL

I am still reading Wicked Lovely and it's pretty good so far. I might finish it this weekend.

#8: Then I suppose the question we need to ask Espy is, "Are. You. Mental?"

I just finished the second Skulduggery book, Playing with Fire and I am about to start Always Looking Up.

I'm reading "I heard that Song Before" by mary higgins clark

#10: No I am not Chris Vance.

Still reading The Eye of the World and I probably will be until judgement day and trumpets sound. It's a huge book. Maybe not War and Peace... but still.

I'm about halfway through An Echo in the Bone and thoroughly enjoying it so far!

so i have decided to reread Twilight *expects shouts of outrage* to see why tweens and teens are obsessed. So far can see why it took me 6 months to pick up New Moon

Finished Paladin of Souls, really cool, and I'm now half way through the new Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked. It's fun.

I'm reading Gossamer, because if any kids show up for my book club meeting on Tuesday, that's what we're discussing.

Will begin The Lost Smybol tonight and am reading Cat Pay the Devil, too

I am reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I like it so far, but I can't remember how it got on my list. Did any of you recommend it? Maybe I read a review somewhere.

Beer & Philosophy, hoping to finish it this week before Brewfest.

1- Yay foggi I am glad you like the series

I finished The Riddle of the Sands which billed itself as the first spy novel and it was fairly good but you'd have to like long descriptions of sailing ships.

I started Muriel Barbery's next book (but actually written before The Elegance of the Hedgehog called Gourmet Rhapsody my ER book hasn't arrived yet.

Now I'm reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH -- somehow I missed this one as a kid.

I hope you like it Foggi! I remember my fourth grade teacher reading it to us and I loved it!

Foggi, I loved that movie! I hope you like the book. It's one I somehow missed as well.

You know, Foggi, I think I picked that up at a book sale recently. Haven't read it yet.

I've been making some real progress on Outlander. I'm already late for the discussion and will be VERY late by the time I finish reading, but I'll get there eventually! :)

#18 - Not sure if I said anything about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but I've read a lot of Lisa See's work and liked almost all of it!

#21 - I loved the movie as a kid but only recently read the book, it was very interesting to read it as an adult (...especially since I work in a research lab).

Meanwhile, I've been all over genres this month with Outliers, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Calder Game, and (my current read) The Monster of Florence.

I think the only theme to my picks has been "something totally different from what I just finished"!

I am rereading HP/HBP, because it is my month of comfort reads but after I am finished rereading the series (again) I am going to read Halloweenland since halloween is coming up!

I am also reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is charming so far, and a good companion to the Maisie Dobbs books I have been reading lately, somehow.

25- Tell me what you think of Calder Game, when you've read it, el. I liked Chasing Vermeer, but I haven't gotten round to reading the sequels yet.

I'm going to try to start The Faceless Ones today. I also have to finish The Reluctant Queen at some point, and read two books (Life as We Knew It, and The Last Book in the Universe) before the next book club meeting. Which I'm not going to freak out about. I hope. ;)

I liked that one too Foggi. IF you liked those you might like The Elegance of the Hedgehog or Gourmet Rhapsody the later of which I just finished and liked but not as much as the former.

I need to pick a new book but in the mean time I am doing more dramaturgical reading about Isadora Duncan.

#28 - I finished Calder Game and I liked it, but perhaps not as much as the earlier books. The mystery seemed a little more contrived ...but actually I guess the whole series relies a little too heavily on coincidences ...that's just the adult reader in me talking though. The part of me that likes youth books really enjoyed all of them because the characters are fun and unique (not the typical grade school stereotypical heroes/heroines) and I like that they introduce kids to art and architecture. And I'm also biased towards liking them because they take place in Chicago and my husband actually met Blue Balliett and she's really nice... I'm really rambling, aren't I...

Umm... in short, if you liked the first one, definitely venture on to the sequels! ;)

Sounds nice! I liked the first one partially because it was an art mystery, and I was intrigued by the third because it had to do with Alexander Calder.

I am reading Cortos (or Shorts)by Alberto Fuguet and it's a series of short stories which somehow are connected between each other, so far I am only on the second story (college has kept me busy) but so far it's ok.

Mostly rereads so far even though I have a bunch of new books. I started the month with Anne of the Island, then Anne's House of Dreams, and currently Anne of Ingleside.

I'm really close to finishing The Eye of the World, though I keep getting distracted. It's probably because I'm going to have to wait for the next one.

ETA: I finished it and the fact that I can't start on the next one immediately is a little disconcerting.

Message edited by its author, Oct 8, 2009, 5:44pm.

I haven't been feeling well and today have enjoyed just lying and reading a light-demanding book, Melissa de la Cruz's Van Alen Legacy. I'll be finished with it before today is over and still get to go to bed early, making me doubly happy.

yes I enjoy light reading books when I am not feeling good or even magazines since they don't demand your attention every second

Over the weekend I read Pardonable Lies (the Maisie Dobbs series is one that seems to get better as it goes along) and Elsewhere (which made me cry, but probably only because I was reading it late at night when I was tired and should have been asleep). We also listened to 4.50 from Paddington in the car (one I hadn't read, and I guessed the entirely wrong person as usual). I also started City of Glass, but am only a few pages in.

Read all of the Bleach manga my library had and I'm still waiting for the second book in the Wheel of Time series to come in. I finished Born to Rock while at the grandparents this weekend. I've kind of started Endymion Spring, but I'm just not getting into it.

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan over the weekend and enjoyed it. Now I am already over half way through The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and really enjoying it. I think it was Espy's recommendation at the meet-up, but seconded by others.

I finished ATDPTI and absolutely, truly, loved it! Thanks meet-up buddies!

Oh yes isn't Sherman Alexie grand. You might like Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven compski. It is one of his classics for adults and there was a great movie made of it as well called Smoke Signals.

I recently finished Cheerful Weather for the Wedding which was very funny but also sort of sad in the way that the British seem to do best of combining lack of communication with missed opportunities and hiding them under a veneer of wit.

I also just read Rock Crystal which was lovely. Almost a (Christmas) parable more than a novel. It is very short and simple but I liked it nonetheless.

for my English 12 AP class we're reading Beowulf, i found the history of the poem rather interesting, to think that if no one had saved it from the fire, we would have no record of it.

Which version did you read Veta? I think Seamus Heaney's version keeps the best sound of the anglo saxon in translation. It also gives the sense of the aliteration and the kennings but then I actually really like Beowulf.

I finished reading Shorts by Alberto Fuguet and I don't know why a friend gave it as a present to me (I mean I know she thought I would like it but it was just ok imho), and now I am reading Holes which I bought last year but hadn't had a chance to read it, so far it's really good.

I don't think I mentioned to you guys that I'm rereading the whole Aegypt cycle by John Crowley. I'm now on volume 2 Love and Sleep.

oh Marensr we are reading the Seamus Heany edition, for those exact reasons :)

Message edited by its author, Oct 14, 2009, 4:49pm.

Now I'm reading The King's Rose, a book about Henry VIII's 5th wife. It seems like there have been a lot of YA books lately about that general time period, but I haven't read one specifically about Catherine Howard before. So far, it's interesting enough, but not particularly distinguished from other historical fiction set in that era.

46 Oh good VetaTorres!

I picked back up The Library at Night great essays on libraries and books and such

But at lunch I picked up Adventures in the Rocky Mountains (by Isabella Bird who travelled there in the 1870s

The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime an anthology of the Sherlock Holmes era crime short stories

and Paris, France by Gertrude Stein

So I am not sure what I will be reading/finishing next.

Yesterday I walked into the library because I didn't think my Inter-Library Loans would be available just yet and so I needed something to keep my attention until they did come in. So I picked up Nation and the first volume of Ruroni Kenshin to give me something to be going on. When I got into work later in the day, however, I found that The Great Hunt was waiting for me. So even though I'd already started Nation I started it too because you cannot renew ILL books. Today when I got into work (fascinating story, BTW; Might share elsewhere) I found the other ILL book had also come in. On top of this I'm trying to finish a video game that I need to review and some movies I picked up to watch that will also soon be overdue. Just one of those weeks, I guess.

Message edited by its author, Oct 14, 2009, 7:00pm.

You have a Kindle? It's mentioned a lot on Amazon.

I haven't had time to read as much as I'd have liked. I'm only just now reading Gwen Cooper's cat book called Homer's Odyssey. I'm only in the beginning of it but it's really touching and I've had watery eyes from it.

I'm reading a trilogy that's also an ER, yesterday I finished the first, A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street and today I'll start on Ociee on Her Own. The one I'm supposed to review is the third, The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash. They were ebooks, so I'm reading them at work. (They sent them in Word format, that seem weird to anyone else? All the other ebooks I've read have been pdf.)

I finished The Faceless Ones, which was really good.
I also read The Last Book In The Universe today. It was pretty good too, I couldn't put it down, but I have a lot of trouble reading books that make me cry. Especially when I know from the start that they are going to make me cry. The very end was nice, and it probably couldn't have ended any other way, but I still would never have read this book if it had not been for a book club. I'm just not sure how I'm going to be able to get through the meeting without crying. ;)

I finished City of Glass and The King's Rose today. Both had their good points and their bad points. I haven't decided what to read next.

I am reading Pet Sematary and afterwords I am going to read The Dark Elf Trilogy. It is a reread but I haven't read it in sometime...

I just bought The Lost Symbol and The Greatest Show on Earth at Target this afternoon. I'll start The Lost Symbol tonight.

I decided to go with The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate as my next read. I like it so far. Here's a fun quote from 11-year-old Callie:

"One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live my life in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches. And if any young knights in armor dared to come calling on their white chargers and plead with me to let down my hair, I would pelt them with peach pits until they went home."

Just finished reading Holes and I absolutely loved it! It was a very light but very well written book. I am now going to start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo since I have heard so much about this book.

Reading The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab which I heartily recommend for anyone who likes snarky, disrespectful, humorous, pirate fiction.

I am now rereading The Devil in the White City. I thought it would be good with Halloween coming up: sinister mixed in with architecture so I don't get too freaked out.

Now I'm reading Marcelo in the Real World -- an interesting take on a character with Asperger's Syndrome (at the high-functioning end of the spectrum).

#60 I had a friend in college who read that book and did a report on it for a Creative Nonfiction class. He really liked it.

Still working on The Great Hunt and I do expect to be doing so for some time yet.

#57 foggi:
I love that quote! The book has a really interesting cover. It makes me think of The Book of Lost Things.

I finished reading Gwen Cooper's Homer's Odyssey last night.

Still reading... a bunch of stuff.

Started reading The Van Alen Legacy last night. I'm having trouble getting through the first part of it because of lots of editing mistakes.

#59 All the Pirates! books are hilarious.

This weekend's weather put me in the mood for Twilight (there's just something about cold and rain that makes me want to put on emo rock and read angsty YA fiction). I finished through New Moon yesterday but it's sunny out now, so I'm not sure if I'll pick up Eclipse just yet...

I finished Carpe Demon, which was really funny! I love that the city where the book is set is called San Diablo. ;)

I am currently reading That Takes Ovaries. It is a great collection of short stories about women who decide to stand up for themselves.

Now I'm reading The Magicians, which was described to me as "Harry Potter Goes to College." Well, it is, and it isn't. I am enjoying it (though I don't know that I'd ever reread it) but I'm still waiting to see what the point of it is.

#69 I really enjoyed that book. I think it does have a point, especially for those of us who read a lot of books!

#70 -- Oh, I'm sure it will get there eventually. I'm enjoying the story right now, I'm just not sure where it's going. But I'm not quite halfway in, so plenty of time for things to start coming together.

I finished An Echo in the Bone yesterday, and although I enjoyed it - I always do when I'm reading about Jamie and Claire - I'm not yet sure how I feel about the various endings...or, rather, stopping points. Diana Gabaldon sure knows how to leave her stories on the edge, although I'm debating if this one was just too far off the mark...

I am currently reading The Haunting of Hill House for book club. I scare very easily, so it'll be a challenge to get through, but hopefully I'll be OK. I might end up only reading it during daylight hours, which will leave me looking for another read soon...

I finished The Magicians -- LG was right, of course; it does have a point. :-)

Next up, I will probably read Fortune and Fate.

#73 Did you enjoy the book, foggi?

#74 -- Yes! I will post you a private comment with my thoughts, as I'd hate to spoil it for anybody who might be thinking of reading it.

#75 Indeed, if you haven't read it, don't let yourself get spoiled!

#64 kirby:
Those got to me, too.

I read Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series this week. I finished book one and two on Tuesday, book three yesterday, and book four a little while ago. Now I have to wait until April to find out what happens next. I knew there was a reason why I wanted to wait before picking up this series. ;)

ETA: What terrible grammar!

Message edited by its author, Oct 22, 2009, 11:43pm.

I have moved on to The Hunt for Atlantis

I'm taking Graceling with me to work to read today. (Not to read while working, of course. ;)

I'm reading Fire by Kristen Cashore (the companion to Graceling, K!). So far, I don't like it as much as I liked Graceling, but it's still good. It took me a little longer to get sucked into the story, possibly because the main character feels so "other" to me.

(Edited to fix touchstone and typo -- then again, because the touchstone appears unfixable.)

Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 4:46pm.

Still reading The Lost Smybol, just picked up at the library : Harry Potter and Philosophy, and gregory Macquire's A lion amoung men and also his "lost"

smybol, lol.

Don't laugh at me! Like you never spelled anything wrong!

no, i like it, it's a perfectly franjublous word.

Just don't ask JP about that time i misspelled "coconut".

*carefully goes back and fixes typos before he posts*

Reading Trickster's Queen and this book about a vampire in french. I think it's Vampire Diaries??? Not sure. And To Kill a Mockingbird in English class.

*giggling uncontrollably at #84*

I finished the third Skulduggery Pleasant book, The Faceless Ones and I am very upset to have yet another book with a cliffhanger ending. I need all of the authors that left their books on a cliffhanger to get cracking and finish the sequels. I will probably start California Demon next. But first I need to think up some comic strips for next week.

I've finished From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler and am almost done with The Hunger Games for Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon; have also read 45 pages of Hood before ditching it for something lighter, and 95 pages of The Time Travelers, which I'll pick up again after finishing The Hunger Games. If anyone wants to come cheer me on for the last 7 hours, I'd love to have you... It's getting late, and between last night's "sleep" and today's nap, I've only had 5 hours in the last 36 - could use more cheerleading! :)

FolioFiles

#80 foggi:
I saw that in Borders! My mom looked at the cover and suggested it to me the day I went there for Graceling. It made me laugh. :) Those covers really make me think of Cinda Williams Chima's The Heir series. I seem to remember that either you, espy, or both of you are fans of the series. Do you think either of you will be trying to read her new book, The Demon King soon?

#88 laia:
I'll head over! It'll be perfect 'cause of our shared time zone. :)

Thanks, K; having you along was a great help :) From midnight to 3am was the hardest stretch, I think!

#84- *giggle giggle LOL giggle*

#80- Ooh, I didn't realize she wrote a companion to Graceling already. Hm... I just got a gift card...

Tell me what you think of it when you're done!

Yay, K's reading Graceling!

I finished my reread of Devil in the White City and still liked it a lot. Now I am reading another meet-up book: The Mysterious Benedict Society. Interesting first chapter.

Oh! I just got The Mysterious Benedict Society! How did you know? But I need to read California Demon first. It's a library book.

I picked up Catching Fire after re-reading The Hunger Games for the read-a-thon; have started it tonight since my school book for Tuesday hasn't arrived in the mail yet... Whoops. Guess who'll be using one of her excused absences?

I'm reading The five people you meet in heaven for a church group. Haven't had much time to read stuff other than textbooks.

#90 laia:
You're welcome. I'll bet it was! I don't know that I would have been able to do what you did. (Not without a new HP book, at least.) That was fantastic!

#93 jp:
Who in the world would write a book called that? I must pound down their front door. ;)

#94 laia:
I can't say I've never done that.

Tumble's reading with me today! I haven't had a cat read with me in so long. It's nice.

#84: Good times!

#81: Let me know how Lost goes for you. I have strong opinions about it which I will not share until you've read it.

Since I've finished my "challenge" for the year, I'm feeling less stressed about my reading choices. I'm rereading A Game of Thrones now, I've been following the making of the pilot (they're finally filming...like as I'm typing this!) and it's made me want to reread them. Of course, I'll also be starting Harry Potter and Philosophy tonight.

I just finished Dragon Flight. It was delightful -- it's rare for the second book in a trilogy to be as good as the first, but I think this one was. (I think that the secret is that the author didn't realize she was writing a trilogy at the time.) This series is like a cross between Temeraire and Dealing with Dragons. (Maybe I just say that because those are two of my favorite dragon series.)

Catching Fire is great so far; going to have to set an alarm if I want to go to sleep at a reasonable hour instead of staying up to finish it, I think :)

I finished The Lost Symbol, which I enjoyed. I started The Greatest Show on Earth Sunday night.

Oh gosh - way too much to catch up on! I've been mucho busy lately so my LT time has been drastically diminished but I miss you all and promise to catch up on threads when I do have time.

Meanwhile -
MsBella- I love love love the Dark Elf Trilogy!
bib, I'm overdue for a reread of ASoIaF but I decided I want to wait (forever?) for a release date of Dance with Dragons before I tackle it. Can't wait for the series though - too too cool!!
Compski & Jp - I also just got a copy of Mysterious Benedict Society! How weird is that??

And as for my current pursuits I just finished Julie & Julia which was pretty cute. I haven't seen the movie, but the book was well written. And now I'm reading *drumroll* The Lightning Thief! I'm probably near the last person around here to get to it, but I'm very much enjoying it and will be sure to devour the whole series ASAP! (Which might not be that soon since I'll again be embarking on the chaos of NaNoWriMo in Nov.)

*overdue hellos, hugs, and handshakes all around*

I finished Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House over lunch today, and I didn't find it all that engaging or scary. I usually don't handle horror/scary stuff well, but this didn't creep me out. Of course, I didn't read it at night, so that might've helped, but I honestly think it was more to do with the nature of the work. People doing horrible stuff to themselves or others really frightens me, but ghosts and haunted houses that drive people mad I'm better able to handle. Go figure!

I'm now restarting Pat Conroy's Beach Music, which I'd started in September but put aside in favor of An Echo in the Bone.

Finally finished the second Aegypt novel and I'm on to the third Daemonomania. Lots of werewolves and witches in this one. Very seasonal.

what's with touchstones? so touchy.

Message edited by its author, Oct 27, 2009, 9:20pm.

I just read Among the Hidden. It was good, but didn't feel like a whole book -- more like an episode, if that makes sense. I'll be reading at least the next book in the series, and probably the whole series, to see what happens with the main character.

I'm this close ( &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp  ) to being finished with The Luxe. I'm really trying to focus on the two books I need to review, Rusty by Ellen F. Feld and Silverstein and Me by Marv Gold.

Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 9:13am.

I should be reading whatever's next for school, but I picked up The Lightning Thief instead last night... So naughty.

I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I thought it was pretty good, I am starting The Girl who played with fire and I hope it's as good as the first one :P....Happy reading everyone!

ETA: #106: LOL I should have been studying while reading TGwtDT, I know how you feel laia, and I loved The Lightning Thief hope you will enjoy it too!

Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 12:17pm.

What makes it worse, Ron, is that it's a re-read - I really, REALLY shouldn't be reading it again instead of doing schoolwork!!!

I'm still working on The Great Hunt. I need to finish it soon because it's an Inter-Library Loan so I can't renew it.

I started reading The Lost Symbol last night but I'm probably not going to have time to read it again until this weekend since I have a midterm on Friday.

When Demons Walk by Patricia Briggs . I've read it before but it's just one of those books you can re-read
(I can't get the touchstones to work)

Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 2:20pm.

#111 ashleyckrr:
Thank you! I forgot the name of the author who my sister wants books from for her birthday. You've just given me the author's name. :)

Cat, I absolutely loved Graceling! If enough of us have read it perhaps we can start a discussion thread. I don't want to spoil it.

Show of hands who has read it?

I'm probably going to read Tempted, the new House of Night book, tomorrow since it very well will take just that day. Immediate plans after are for No Plot? No Problem.

Finished The Luxe last night. The ending was stupid. Not a very good ending. If I didn't know what the next 2 books were about (from already owning them and reading the blurbs), I wouldn't even try another of the series. I've got to get my ER book read and reviewed, then I'll decide which other book to read.

K: I was thinking about taking up the House of Night series, what do you think?

I finished The Lightning Thief and started Sea of Monsters - really fun books. I suppose they're a little predictable if you know mythology well, but I'm really enjoying the series so far!

I read The Penguin book of Gaslight Crime which was short stories focusing on criminals all from the Sherklock Holmes era, fantastic. I am now reading A House and its Head my ER book that just came No Tomorrow (funny touchstones) and I just got Nightingale Wood in the mail.

I am about to start the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- finally! I (re-)listened to the rest of the series over the summer, but had to wait a while for this one to come in. I've also been flying through the Shadow Children series, finishing Among the Imposters and Among the Betrayed in pretty short order.

112- Yay! I'm so glad you liked it!

Just read The Homeschool Liberation League, which was okay, but not nearly as cool as I wanted it to be. I gave it 3.5 stars and my "angst! angst! angst!" tag.

LOL! Yes, it was a tad angsty, wasn't it!

#120 -- Yes! It certainly did a good job of conveying the middle school experience as I remember it, with everybody being mean to each other without any particular reason.

I just read Among the Barons -- those books are amazingly fast reads; I almost feel like I should count the series as one book read, rather than seven. I've read the first four, and I imagine I'll finish the last three before the weekend is over.

Just finished Sea of Monsters; will probably move on to The Titan's Curse in the morning, though I should catch up on school reading... i missed Girls, Visions, and Everything entirely, and Angels in America is due a week from Tues...

#114 kirby:
I think lefty described the first book well. It reminded her of a Harry Potter/Twilight combination. I really liked part of this series and was sometimes really excited to see the next book out with new releases. However, with the latest book, book six, I've gotten a little tired of the series. I'm not entirely sure I'll keep reading future books in the series. When I recently read the Vampire Academy series, something I think you've read, I found that I enjoyed those books more than the House of Night books. However, if you'd like to give the House of Night series a shot, there are surely several people who must be huge fans of the series still.

#119 foggi:
I love your angst tag. It's very unique. My mind has wondered to if you have OotP tagged as such. :)

OotP was soooooooo angsty! I vote yes :)

Same here! I have to check foggi's tag now if she doesn't mind. It always feels so terrible checking out LTer libraries!

Yes, OotP has the angst tag -- and feel free to check out my library! If I didn't want people looking at it, I would make it private. :-)