its been a while since I started one of these :)

just finished Die A Little, a 1950's "film noir" tale of femme fatales and good'n'bad guys in sharp suits. I still don't know good mysteries from bad ones but I enjoyed this one :)

next up I'm reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - I have the DVD sitting ready to watch and since I also have the book it wouldn't do not to read it first.

Reading The Women by T.C. Boyle (not 'Little Women' as the touchstone wants to believe). It's a bookring.

Message edited by its author, Nov 1, 2009, 9:16pm.

I'm still reading Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller. It's a bit slow for what I need right now (I could do with a fistful of Nodoze, but Coke & M&Ms are sufficing for now), so will pick up something fast paced tonight otherwise I'll be asleep before the kids are.

Hm, I wonder why that would be a problem...

could my teenage years finally be drawing to a close? "Nick and Norah's Infinite Teen Angst" is proving too much for me so I'm abandoning it for White Apples, owed via a book relay.

I have finished two books - both of which I started in October: Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson and A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber. The later is the first of my 'Christmas' theme which I read a lot of in November and December :)

Currently reading a non-Christmas mystery for an online discussion - A Certain Malice by Aussie Author Felicity Young

I've read three Jonathan Carroll books this year and enjoyed them all. I was aware going in that White Apples is different to anything else he's written - I've seen reviews which say it is his best work but people will say that about anything different. I'm finding it too full of unlikeable and unlikely characters in gratuitously weird circumstances to continue with so I'm sending it on to another reader. On the strength of the other three Carroll books I've read I'll give him at least one more chance, though I'll probably skip his forthcoming sequel to White Apples (it is the first of a planned trilogy)

having disposed of a bookring I can now read something for my office bookcrossing zone: Dexter in the Dark

I didn't finish White Apples either! Pretty much the same reasons, from vague memory.

Picked up The Last Camel Died at Noon (Amelia Peabody #6 or so) last night as a good fun read (which the Amelia Peabody mysteries always are). And then got distracted this afternoon by Peter Ackroyd's modern retelling of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It got a fabbo review somewhere recently, so I snaffled it when I saw it at the library the other week. I've never tried Chaucer before, and I'm not one for poetry, so I think this'll probably be the easy option for me - he's translated it into prose.

Without meaning to (?) I picked up and read Without Consent, my first book by this author. I'm sure the forensic detail was fine, but I think I should have been reading bookrings.
It's the first book by this novelist that I've read. The short chapters kept me going, but for me it plodded along, and I'd picked who was the real murderer the first time the person was introduced. I'm glad I've read it though, but I think the bar in Australia isn't very high for this sort of thing. However, it was a good consciousness-raising book about sexual assault units, and the idea of photographing victims' genitalia to be passed around to goodness' knows who made me shudder. Has this really happened? I must find out.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2009, 9:53am.

Yay, I did finish Life:A User's Manual, which I've put down as "an experience". Couldn't stand the detail and any of the literary references just went over my head, also, didn't feel one iota of empathy for any of the characters out of all 99 of them!
Started The Children's Book and I'm loving it, it's going to be another experience, but far better than the previous one. It's the first A.S. Byatt I've read, although, I have been eyeing a couple of her others on the bookshelf.

As an aside, if you ever need to use the touchstone for The Children's Book it is easier to find if you use the 's. Without the apostrophe it is impossible to find ie The Childrens Book.

KimB those are some interesting books you've got there. Titles I mean to read... one day...

I have been rushing about with work and the like (it is that time of year for me), but am able to enjoy a few minutes of an evening now as my reports are finished (what a relief!).

I've not really read anything of late. I did have a bookring for London Orbital, but just didn't have the stamina or the inclination. The idea of psycho-geographic faction intrigues me and I had Peter Ackroyd in mind when I joined up for this bookring (I bought a copy of Illustrated London by Peter Ackroyd after reading Affinity and Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, and loved reading all the intriguing stories of all those famous personalities and events linked by geography), but found after 50 pages that Iain Sinclair just irritated me!''

So, I passed that one onto the next reader - TQD. Good luck. I hope you fare better then I did. Must remember to go back and journal that too...

Without the guilt of work and housework weighing my down, I am even finding time to read threads! Yay. I don't think I've been here since July. Lovely to see you all (big wave to Livrecache).

But, not all is lost.
I am currently reading The road home by Rose Tremain and I may even finish this bookring.

Finally finished Anansi Boys. Took me a while, not because I didn't enjoy it but because other stuff kept getting in the way. It's a quirky, imaginative and entertaining read . . . but then what else would you expect?

Next up is one for the book group, The Ghost Road by Pat Barker. I understand that this is the third novel of her Regeneration Trilogy.

Has anyone else here read any of the trilogy? I'm assuming that it will be readable as a stand alone book, but I'm wondering how much is lost by not having read the other two first?

I haven't read anything by Pat Barker, but have heard nothing but praise. My workmate got the Regeneration trilogy, and will pass it onto me when she's finished, but has rather stalled with the horror of WW1 in the first book. (She finished it, she admitted it was great, she doesn't want to go back to the others quite yet.)

And I'm going slowly on books too! Amelia Peabody #6 has hit a sluggish patch (unusual for these books!), Landscape of Farewell is a fast read, but I just can't seem to find the time, and then I will keep on dipping into other books.

Jubby, I have sort-of started London Orbital and am finding it rather fascinating. Very dense writing, lots of throwaway references to things I sometimes know, and I should possibly be reading it with Wikipedia/Google to hand. But then I'd never finish it! It's 500+ pages as it is, let alone throwing in countless Wiki pages!

Oh, I know exactly what you mean about Pat Barker. I read and LOVED the first book in the regeneration series, and snapped up the next two... and I've not even opened them. I just look at them guiltily. You read them, and then tell me how good they are.

I don't think it will matter if you don't read them in order, and from memory I think the second book actually won the Booker Prize (wouldn't that kind of mean it stands up as a stand alone book?).

And don't even get me started on the whole Wikipedia/Google thing TQD.

I started watching Darwin's brave new world last night, and started remembering a few things, which led me to the computer, and I got completely side tracked, but read a very interesting article on Wikipedia about Charles Darwin's health. Fascinating.

Anyway...
Back to The road home for me. It's not that I'm not enjoying it, but just getting distracted (dipped into Falling man this evening and read the first three chapters).

Think it might be an early night.
Happy reading everyone.

The Booker winner** (1995) is the third The Ghost Road, which is the one I'm reading. I agree that that alone would most likely make it OK as a stand alone book, and I have read somewhere that they all are; but nonetheless I'd have thought you must lose at least something of the experience by not having read the others? Anyway, sounds like no-one has read all three. I much prefer reading things in order, but in this case didn't get the chance.

** Of course that doesn't necessarily mean it is the 'best' of the three. I've read reviews where people say they preferred the first, or the second. So they must all be pretty good. :)

Currently reading The Christmas Thief by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark also The Boat by Nam Le. Two such totally different books - one light and fluffy, the other absolutely blowing me away

Finished The Last Camel Died at Noon - a slightly disappointing Amelia Peabody. Too much adventure, not enough whodunnit, and a seriously sluggish middle. She's still a heroine to love, however, I can forgive one slight dud in the series. :)

Started Ice for bookgroup - confusing timeline, but a very intriguing premise of towing an iceberg to Sydey. (This is coming around on a bookring, but I needed to read it for bookgroup this month - so I got a copy from the library.)

That could be me that has the bookring copy of Ice by Louis Nowra. I've just started it. (How did you get the touchstone to recognise this book?) I'm only a couple of chapters in, but I'm enjoying it thus far.

Sorry, livrecache, I can't illuminate you on touchstones, but I'd love to hear the answer.

Yay, I've finally finished a book! Kafka on the Shore - its surreality matched my mood perfectly as I took two sleep-deprived overnight flights within the space of a week, spending a night in the very Murakami-esque world of a transit hotel. I love how he skewers the mundane so precisely, and, with a deft flick, tips it over into the metaphysical. I think he should turn his hand to a novel set in an aeroplane next... or has he already?

I couldn't, however, help but be a tad disturbed by the age gap in a central relationship, though, not to give too much away...

Next up, a novel I've been wanting to read for ages, and which Mum kindly dropped off for me when she visited last week - The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. And wouldn't I love one of those myself!

I enjoyed both of those, Kafka on the Shore and The Big Sleep. Very different of course, but then no-one can ever say that us lot don't have eclectic reading tastes! :D

livrecache, when you enter a book with the touchstone brackets they come up on the right hand side of the message box. After the one that LT thinks is correct, there is a blue link that says (others). If you click on that it gives you options to choose from.

wrt Ice, 'Holidays on Ice' comes up as the default, but the Louis Nowra one is there, even if you do have to click on 'show all 100 possibilities' and scroll down to nearly the end. sheesh!! I guess LT does it based on the popularity of the book in its system, but even VC Andrews rates a mention above it . . .

And I think that acknowledgment should go to wookiebender for the explanation, as it was she (I think) who first explained the 'touchstone mysteries' to me. ;)

Oh, I think I'm about to give up with the touchstone for Ice. It really is a pain, trying to find it!!

Halfway through now, and I'm still enjoying it. A good dollop of mysteriousness is helping, along with a touch of spookiness, and then it's also a fascinating story.

livrecache, I was tossing up if I should ask to jump the queue on the Ice bookring and then post it back to you when finished, but all of a sudden it was November, so I just rang the library instead. (Where does the year go??) Glad you're enjoying it as well (well, at least enjoying the beginning).

Still also going on Landscape of Farewell which is perfectly good but not as much fun as towing icebergs to Sydney, and still rather amused (if occasionally bewildered) by London Orbital.

After my taste of Dashiell Hammet the other week, I'm in the mood for some Raymond Chandler too! Wonder if I have any of his already on my shelves (I really must get around to cataloguing the rest of my books, I stalled badly in the living room!).

The Ghost Road is certainly a powerful book and I'll definitely be looking to read the other two.

Next up is Weight by Jeanette Winterson, a retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles. I can't find the touchstone for that one at all . . . too many b** diet books in the system above it in the list!

>22 *snortgiggle*
Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles, here you go crimson-tide, just call me the cut-an-paste kid ;-)
I've been trying to fix my reading log list, earlier today and had to give up on touchstones part way through the post. I'm never going to put 75 touchstones in the one post ever again!
*flexing my finger muscles*
And down with diet books, I say!

I'm still really enjoying The Children's Book, however, with only another 100 pages to go, I'm trying to decide what to read next.
I've got some really interesting bookrings in my hands at the moment, spoilt for choice. I think I'll either stay in England with Fingersmith or come back here to The Memory Room or The Slap!

Thanks wookiebender - riding to the rescue again. :)

Howdyadothat? Was it just an html link? If so, I'll have to remember that for later.

crimson-tide, I think that last helpful comment was KimB, I'm being obtuse and unhelpful this week. ;)

Also known as flat out busy at work and planning two upcoming parties for Mr Bear's birthday. (One for his school mates, one for family. Insanely enough, it was my idea.)

Roll on Xmas, I need a sleep.

But the reading continues (housework be damned), and I finished off Landscape of Farewell - people on the bookring, do not hold your breath waiting for the review. I thought it was good, but it didn't set my imagination on fire or anything, it was more of a pensive thoughtful read.

Still enjoying reading about ice and Scottish engineers in Ice. Will be finished soon, it's a quick read. And then onto Shantaram, for the Global Reads group (also because it's been highly recommended, not least by my sister). It's at the *bottom* of the taller peak of the TBR Mountain Ranges, so it's going to be interesting trying to extract it...

> 23,24 & 25: Yes, so it was . . . I knew that!! ;)
Thanks KimB, and my apologies for the identity confusion.

> 25: It's just as well that you have Shantaram at the *bottom* of the TBR Mountain, wb. If it's anything like the copy I have - also at the bottom of one of the piles - it's such a brick it would be positively dangerous to be anywhere *but* at the bottom! Which reminds me, I must get on and read that too. My next door neighbour loaned it to me an age ago . . . also very highly recommended, so I'd be really interested to know what you think of it.

finally finished Dexter In The Dark, not a long or difficult-to-read book, I just seem to be having trouble finding time to sit down with a book. still. This is apparently the least-liked book in the series but I thought it was as much fun as the first two.

our renovations will be essentially over this time next week, hopefully I'll find more time then...

next up for me, Hero, owed for a bookobsessed.com book relay

#26> Yep, Shantaram is a bit of a solid foundation stone down there. :) But halfway up that teetering pile is A Fraction of the Whole which is actually bigger... The whole pile lists somewhat to one side from all the times I've winkled out a book from the middle, so it'll be good to demolish it and rebuild it (and reshelve some books I won't be getting to in a hurry, sorry Henry James).

G'day there

Been busy reading up a storm - and have just finished adding my reviews to librarything.

Have finished The Christmas Thief by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark(not one of their best), also finished An Aussie Christmas Carol by Kel Richards - a wonderful retelling of Dickens' tale - but set in the Christmassy heat of outback Australia - I am a great fan of Kel's 'Word Watch' on ABC radio.

Also read Kerry Greenwood's latest release Forbidden Fruit this too (how strange) has a Christmas theme - LOL!!!

Currently reading Cat Deck the Halls by Shirley Rousseau Murphy and We Three Dragons both with (yep you guessed it) a Christmas theme.

Christmas reading...nooooooo...
I'm feeling very Grinchy about Christmas at the moment.

So rather than face any Christmas shopping or Christmas anything, I've had a lovely weekend of reading Fingersmith which I finally got my hot little fingers on. I think Waters out dickened Dickens, the plot twists are so much fun, and, as an aside, even a play of Oliver Twist is mentioned. I'm looking forward to reading more of hers particularly The Night Watch and Tipping the Velvet.
I've just started The Memory Room which is the first of Koch's that I've read - saw the movie of The Year of Living Dangerously but haven't read the book yet.

>26, No worries Crimson-tide, I was probably just channelling WB at the time, if she hadn't been so busy, she would have been helping out first ;-)

Message edited by its author, Nov 14, 2009, 9:00pm.

I read comics, not as often as I'd like but I enjoy them. I like superheroes. I'm a few hours into Hero and its OK, but I keep thinking I'd rather get my troubled-teen-superhero fix from Invincible or Runaways (both of which I have unread collections of sitting tempting me from a shelf in my library.) So I'm giving up on Hero and sending it on via book relay.

next up for me: Stephen King's Under The Dome

freelunch, that's a shame, Hero did sound great. I've got Runaways around here somewhere, must get around to reading it...

Back in the 1980s, Koch won the Miles Franklin with The Doubleman which I read and enjoyed at the time (although quibbles with the ending, from memory). I did enjoy The Memory Room too - philosophical espionage, quite interesting.

Because of the busy-ness of the weekend, I'm still going on Louis Nowra's Ice.

(The guests are gone, and Mr Bear has been left with a sugar rush and a HUGE pile of Lego. My feet are aching, I'm craving an icy cup of something cold to drink, but it was fun.)

I'm absolutely not offering any more TBRs in relays and the like, as soon as I must read a book I lose all interest in it, and if I owe it to someone I don't have the luxury of putting it aside to return to a year later.

In a different mindset I'm sure I'd enjoy Hero, maybe I'll come across another copy someday...

>33
I react the same way when I HAVE to read a book. I have some bookrings where I just didn't enjoy as the pressure is on not to hold it up. I may later get my hands on another copy and LOVED it because there was no pressure. Weird hey!?

Ack, you're making me feel worried about the bookrings in Mt TBR!

I did finish Ice last night, and I really enjoyed it. The last page in particular almost had me in tears (so I can't really talk about it, serious spoiler territory!). Livrecache, I hope you're still enjoying it as well.

One of those books where I have to stop and absorb it for a while before making proper comments.

I started Shantaram this morning on the bus, so am only a few pages into it.

Finished (the non diet) Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles (by Jeanette Winterson) over the weekend. Interesting book. It's one of the Cannongate Myth series. I have another of the series on my shelf - The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - so must dig that out sometime.

Now onto Man in the Dark by Paul Auster.

35> well I'm not going to be starting or joining any more 'rings - this will give me more good AVLs to give away, and should mean I get to read more books *when I feel like reading them* (sitting in my library surrounded by a couple of thousand TBRs there's always something in sight I want to read :D)

37> That's a shame, freelunch, I always enjoy seeing your comments on a Bookring/ray. But I can understand that the pressure of having to read a book, has lost the attraction.
I'm really enjoying having to be focused on Bookrings, at the moment :-)
Keep thinking about my comments to come on The Memory Room and I'm thinking about spending a little time trying to get some photos of Canberra streets mentioned ;-)

I no longer join bookrings/rays - except for the Miles Franklin & Booker winners (and even then I will skip some, due to lack of time or interest). But they still take up a *lot* of reading time, it's just that they'd mostly be on my wishlist regardless, so I may as well read them through bookcrossing.

Yay for bookcrossing and bookcrossers! And all forms of book sharing (bookmooch, the library, browsing a mate's shelves...).

Yes, I'm just joining the Miles Franklin and Booker shortlist bookrings/rays, as they're books I'd read anyway, and I like to read other people's comments about them. The only other exception I've made is to join 2 Books Plus rings, as they've both been books I've wanted to read, and whoppers at that. I was really keen on 1001 books, and I'm still reading them, but I'm not pursuing them the way I was.
I too feel pressured by having rings/rays waiting when I feel like reading something else (I have 4 at the moment – gulp). One of the reasons I like the Oz VBB so much is that there is no pressure about reading the books you request. However, I'm finding that very little is being put in the box that I'm interested in lately. (Sorry freelunch: that's not your fault. You run it so well.) Back to the point: I'm not putting myself down for individual rings/rays any more. It is a pressure, and that's not what reading is about.

Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2009, 8:01pm.

PS: I'm still reading Nowra's 'Ice'. I'm enjoying it, but life has been really hectic lately, and I've found very little time for recreational reading. But The White Queen turned up yesterday, and I am keen to read that, notwithstanding the three bookrings that I have in front of it, if I count 'Ice'.

I'm just going along the 'pick and choose' route when it comes to rings and rays. Only the ones I *really, really* want to read, considering that when they arrive they'll be queue jumping others that I also *really, really* want to read. That limits the number signed up for, if you do it properly. At the moment I have my name down for only about six or so. Most books that I bypass that I may only possibly want to read will always turn up later somewhere methinks. Anyway, realistically I can't read all the books I want to in my lifetime. Doesn't matter where they come from. So when they arrive, it's not a problem. Only one at a time usually, though not always, with long gaps in between, and as it's a book I do *really, really* want to read . . . I read it. No pressure really. Now how many more times can I fit the word really into this paragraph, do you think? Really! ;-)

Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2009, 3:43am.

My mother-in-law just snaffled The Household Guide to Dying which I was going to put in the Oz VBB when it was my turn. But her needs are greater - she does a lot of support for breast cancer patients, and she thought some of the book was fabulous for sharing with her friends in that group.

I'm going to have to scramble to get some more books ready in time for my round!

I'm back to re-reading my Pratchett collection while I am waiting for some books to arrive from Amazon. However, I splurged on a Wilkie Collins book today. It is called The Haunted Hotel.

Finished The Memory Room, I had to hold back in my entry because I was enjoying dissing it a bit TOO much. Koch tried to make it a "realistic" fiction and it just didn't do it for me. It was well written to a point in that what was written flowed really well, didn't find myself bogged down in it at all and was able to finish it quickly.
I did really appreciate the opportunity to read it.
I'm interested in reading about books set in Canberra and I've found that West Block (a book that livrecache sent me) and Smoke and Mirrors: A Brad Chen Novel were much better than The Memory Room.
Now on to The Slap, well written, love the multicultural cross-section of characters. But boy are these character's flawed! I think it will be a quick read, I'm enjoying it far more then I thought I would.

Found an ultra-cheap copy of Revolutionary Road yesterday, and couldn't resist starting it. I'd been wanting to read it for some time.

(Then back to bookrings . . .)

I've just started reading The Haunted Hotel and so far it is a bit over the top but, of course most books of that generation are.

For light relief I have The Playboy Cartoons which are very funny but a bit rude. Um ... very rude actually.

Edited to get the correct author in the touchstones

Message edited by its author, Nov 20, 2009, 3:25am.

Oooh, I'd be tempted by a cheap copy of Revolutionary Road too, I've heard great things.

I needed a smaller book (than Shantaram) yesterday as Mum was taking me out for a Nice Lunch so I couldn't turn up in jeans/t-shirt/backpack. The book that fit best into my (admittedly fairly large) nice bag was: Eric Ambler's The Mask of Dimitrios. It's a thriller written pre-WW2, the author got raves somewhere else in LT (I think it was the Reading Globally group), and Penguin's just reissued five of his best titles for his centenary. I do have to say I'm enjoying it immensely - witty, clever, serious. It's not a "boys own" adventure, which is what I'm used to from this era (hello, John Buchan).

How are you going with Shantaram, wookiebender?

This morning I finished the most excellent Man in the Dark. Next up will probably be A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Oh, A Thousand Splendid Suns (Just confused LT with a typo: I spelt 'suns' as 'sons'. Goodness, what a duffer I am!) has been on my TBR for SUCH a long time. But I MUST read my bookrings. (BTW, Revolutionary Road was really fascinating, and strange. I've not journalled my thoughts yet, but I will.)
I'll have to read your thoughts on Man in the Dark, crimson-tide. I really liked it, but I didn't say anything profound.

Speaking of great reads, I just finished Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, which to my mind is the archetypal hardboiled detective novel. I wish there were more out there as well written. I seem to remember being told a while back that the mystery was so convoluted that even Chandler said he couldn't unravel it, but having actually read it now, I don't think it was a reference to The Big Sleep. The Maltese Falcon, perhaps? I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm currently reading The Life and Times of Michael K, which is an incredibly depressing book. Which brings me to ask - what do you think is the difference between a sad book, and a depressing one? Or is it just my mood right now?

If anyone wants to be similarly depressed, let me know! I'm the last one on the ray. (If it's any incentive, it's on the 1001 list.)

crimson-tide - I'm a bit late, but I loved The Penelopiad, though possibly more in concept than in execution. And I also have A Short History of Myth in that series, which I actually really enjoyed, despite not being a great reader of non-fiction.

wookiebender - I love that you match your books to your handbags :)

Oh, Miss-Owl, that last comment made me laugh out loud. (I don't lol.)

I do so agree with your comment about The Penelopiad. Although, (and it's some years since I read it), I did like it. But then I had to go back and re-visit The Odyssey, which I hadn't read since university, and that took up such a lot of my head space, that I started to resent it.

(Thanks for the general offer, but I really don't to read depressing stuff right now. Although, I do want to read it as it's on the 1001 list. Maybe, please, I would like to read it.)

I need to think about the difference between a sad book and a depressing book. Off the top of my head, I'd think a depressing book is one that re-enforces a state of mind, whereas a sad book . . . you empathise with, may even shed a tear, but it doesn't resonate at a deeper level.

>49 A Thousand Splendid Suns - I couldn't put that one down!

Just finished reading The Slap, it would be a great one for a bookgroup read. I was very surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Well written. Could have been a bit of a soap opera but it didn't come away like it for me.

I'm about to start House of The Spirits, one from the 1001 list, haven't read any Allende for a while and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be comparing it against the 2 of hers I have read, Daughter of Fortune and A Portrait in Sepia. Neither one of those are on the 1001 list.

51> I love that you match your books to your handbagsMiss Owl too funny - I think in that case size matters!

52> Depressing vs sad books. Well said livrecache, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

ETA -pesky touchstones.

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2009, 3:38am.

livrecache, I said very little on BC about Man in the Dark. Certainly nothing profound, and even less that you said. I just don't seem to have time (or space in my head) right now to concoct anything *in depth*. ;-)

Re depressing vs sad: I agree with livrecache, in that the depressing ones do reach into us at a deeper and more personal level, and therefore are definitely also related to our mood as you say, Miss-Owl. Some books are depressing for some people and not for others, or more so at different points in our own journey. A book doesn't have to have any outright sad elements in it to make it depressing.

Sad, on the other hand, I see more related to the plot line of the book and what is happening to the characters. But often a book like that has other elements which make it far from depressing. Such as a strong character who overcomes the bad and sad things happening to them, or a general ray (or glimmer) of hope that shines through at the end for some reason.

One example of that - actually it's more tragic than sad - is Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. But I didn't feel depressed at the end of reading it.

Am I making sense?

btw, if anyone here has not read Half of a Yellow Sun, then do yourself a favour and just go find a copy and read it!

A Sunday pre-breakfast thought (so you know it's going to be vague and woolly):

SAD = you may shed a tear, you may sob like a pathetic baby, but it's not a permanent state. At the end of the book, you feel that life for the characters will eventually return to whatever passes for normal, and that that is a good thing.

Example: The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. I cried pathetically, but I did feel that the ending was almost uplifting. Quite a lot of "women's fiction" probably fits in here - you get a nice cathartic cry, but it's only temporary.

DEPRESSING = you may not cry, but at the end of the book you'll just feel like it's not worthwhile going on anymore. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. The depressing state the characters are in will continue, they will never get out of their dismal situations.

Example: Blindness by Jose Saramago; The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

crimson-tide, I'm finding Shantaram rather annoying on a niggly level. The plot's good, but there's too much philosophising.

Gotta go, pancakes are ready...

I have finished reading The haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins. It was a very indifferent ghost story and not patch on The Moonstone.

Now I am about halfway through Equinox by Michael White. It is about ritual murders in Oxford with rather nasty and graphic descriptions of throat-cutting. The heroine is a dreadful, pushy female and I disliked her from the beginning. I am not sure exactly why I continue to read it but having passed the halfway mark I'll probably finish it.

I finished Eric Ambler's The Mask of Dimitrios. I'm highly recommending it - it was a very well crafted spy thriller. Good touches of humour, as well, and captured the paranoid atmosphere leading up to WW2 very nicely. I'm now on the prowl for more of his books!

Will be returning to the slums of Bombay with Shantaram...

...only I'm taking a detour because goodthinkingmax dropped (oof!) Wolf Hall in my lap at lunchtime today, and because it won the Booker Prize and everyone's been raving and it is a bookring, I felt I simply had to pick it up next!

(Edited for clarity.)

Message edited by its author, Nov 24, 2009, 5:02am.

I've also taken a detour, my detour was away from The House of the Spirits, for some reason it hasn't been holding my interest as I thought it would, so I picked up The Wasp Factory and couldn't put it down, very twisted characters and dark Scottish humor. Over the weekend I'll try to read Passing which just arrived in the post. Might even try to get onto Silas Marner after that or maybe head back to The House of Spirits.

On Wednesday I received, from Amazon.co.uk, the most beautiful book which I pre-ordered. It is Caravaggio, the Complete Paintings by Sebastian Schütze with commentary and details of parts of some pictures. It is huge, and very heavy, and was apparently caught in the floods in England because it arrived in Australia "wet" according to Aust Post. But it had been shrink wrapped in a heavy cardboard case and is in perfect condition. I have been browsing through it ever since. It is stunning.

*sigh* the touchstones have the wrong author but so far there are only two of us at LT who have the book so perhaps they just haven't caught up yet.

Message edited by its author, Nov 27, 2009, 4:06am.

Slightly off topic - but does anyone know why do our friends in the USA call yesterday (Friday 27th) Black Friday?

Google and Wikipedia to the rescue!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Frida...

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. ... The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day (see Origin of the name "Black Friday" below). More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

You learn something new every day, don't you? :)

I keep forgetting about Wikki :) Always use to search for other people's queries but not my own - LOL!!!!!

I haven't been able to get much computer or reading time lately, but I have managed to get a little reading done.

I have just finished reading My Brother's Keeper: The official Bra Boys story by Sean Doherty. Like most people, all I knew about the Bra Boys is what I read about in the papers or saw on TV. My Brother's Keeper opened my eyes to just how much the Bra Boys in general, and the Abberton brothers in particular, have been misrepresented in the media. Told in their own words, this is a no-holds-barred account of life on the streets and beaches of Maroubra. Sunny, Jai, Koby, Dakota and a few of their friends each give their own point of view on growing up in Maroubra. They each tell key points in their lives from the their earliest memories through to present times, including their side of events that were covered in the media.

Written in an easy to read down-to-earth style that generously treats the reader as a mate, the Abberton brothers tell the good, the bad and the ugly of life as a Bra Boy. They do not try to paint themselves as angels or victims, but simply as ordinary, everyday blokes, doing the best they could to survive the harsh, exacting yet loving embrace of Sydney's beaches.

I am still reading Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer and I have just begun reading Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer.

Well, I finished reading The Life and Times of Michael K and agreed with wookiebender - it depressed me because... well, I was going to write something but then realised it'd be a spoiler. Suffice it to say that... nope, can't say that either. Oh well. Anyway, crossed off another 1001 book.

Livrecache - or anyone else - if you'd like the book, please PM me your address through BX... thanks! You'd be doing me a favour by taking it off my hands - I don't want to wild-release it here in Thailand, & I don't want to travel back with it in seven months' time.

I've picked up The Princess Bride, even though I'm supposed to be diligently reading two more 1001 books by the end of the quarter. I'll see if The Moonstone entices me tonight.

Miss-Owl, not me who read The Life and Times of Michael K. I don't think I'm terribly interested either, given the general reaction!

Apparently there's a new "1001 books" book out, in AU only (?). Will have to check out the bookshop...

Got up to a good break in Wolf Hall last night (it is a very good read, a worthy Booker winner!), and am having a mini-break with Elizabeth and her German Garden which is super short, and I'm going to be passing it onto mum when I finish it. The first few pages are super charming. (I was hoping to read it all last night, but got caught up watching my recording of "Lost in Austen". I do like that show.)

Elizabeth and her German Garden was recommended to me and I read it with some annoyance by the end. She read the catalogues and instructed the gardeners but, as far as I could see, she did very little else.

I, too, could have a fabulous garden under those circumstances but perhaps I was 'identifying' too much.

Edited to correct a typo

Message edited by its author, Nov 28, 2009, 9:40pm.

>66 "1001 books" book out, in AU only (?)
Hmm, I've checked the 1001 site but no sign of a new edition. I guess, I'll keep looking.

I'm taking detour after detour with my reading at the moment. I've detoured away from Passing, which is a bit too serious for my current mood and picked up The Lost Book of Salem which is called "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" State side. Quite a bit of fun, Salem witch trials, real witches, Harvard Graduate students. It's another bookring so I don't feel guilty about reading it before others ;-)

I am re-reading Carnage on the Committee by Ruth Dudley Edwards. It is a very funny book about someone murdering a committee set up to choose a book for a book prize.

Reading it has made me very cynical about book prize selections and reinforces my determination to never read any book which has won a prize.

Finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns yesterday. He is a wonderful storyteller, no question, weaving the story (covering the last 30 years or so) around the country's recent history. Two great female protagonists this time round and a look in to just how hard life is for women in Afghanistan. Hard for everyone actually with all the wars going on, but particularly difficult for women. Great read.

Next up is Restless by William Boyd - our last book group read for the year.

pinkozcat, the narrator of Elizabeth and her German Garden won me over by dancing in her garden, but behind a tree so as not to flaunt decency (or something, the book's upstairs and it's Sunday and I'm lazy). I understand the need for some "ME" time, so I have sympathy for her need for solitude as well.

KimB: the "1001 books" AU edition was mentioned over on the 1001 Yahoo Groups er, group. To quote davemurray101:

Hi Guys
I just picked up the new Australian edition and it looks like there is yet more new books. While I will need a couple of days to cross reference I can confirm that the following books have been added towards the end.

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG - MURIEL BARBERY 2006
THE ROAD HOME - ROSE TREMAIN 2007
THE BRIEF WONDEROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - JUNOT DIAZ 2007
THE DARK SIDE OF THE HEART - JULIA FRANK - 2007
THE GATHERING - ANNE ENRIGHT - 2007
KIERON SMITH, BOY - JAMES KELMAN - 2008
WETLANDS - CHARLOTTE ROCHE -2008
COST - ROXANA ROBINSON - 2008
THE WHITE TIGER - ARAVIND ADIGA - 2008

Just when you thought that you were getting ahead of the game, they add another few.

This could be the 2008 edition that just never bothered coming out here in 2008 due to all sorts of annoying copyright issues. So now it's a 2009 AU edition. (Makes your head hurt, doesn't it?)

And there's a 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Die in the shops (but not the touchstones) now too. I'm drooling.

crimson-tide: Oh, I liked A Thousand Splendid Suns too. It wasn't as depressing as one thought it would be. Although hardly happy stuff.

ETA: it's actually 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, which is a much more cheerful title, thinking about it!

Message edited by its author, Nov 29, 2009, 2:52am.

>69 Carnage on the Committee sounds like a fun read and I agree winners of book prizes are often not my favourites but boy some of the shortlisted/longlisted ones are great! I'm thinking of Sea of Poppies, Sorry and a few others. Also, I'm expecting this years booker winner Wolf Hall to be a good read and I really liked Small Island an Orange prize winner.

Just finished The Lost Book of Salem and I really enjoyed it.
Might have to get back to some slightly more serious reading again now. Maybe back to Passing

ETA
71>Elizabeth and her German Garden is one I've promised myself I'm going to read next year!
Yep, I responded to Daves message on the Yahoo group, and I saw your message there today, I'll be interested to know where he got his hand on it too. Seems to be a few prize winners and shortlisted books that he noted.

Message edited by its author, Nov 29, 2009, 4:12am.

I finished The White Queen, a bookring, which I managed to slop white wine over while I was falling up the stairs, in the dark, of an amazing gothic house we were staying in (don't ask!) in Hobart, so I've bought a replacement. Lucky that it's a good historical novel, and it's around the period of English history in which my interest lies, having done a thesis in it.

I'm now two-thirds through The Slap which I have mixed feelings about.

I have finished reading Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. Eclipse is the third book in the Twilight Saga and it is the best so far. The rivalry between Edward and Jacob, and between vampires and werewolves, is explored more fully. The characters fill out more and Meyer's writing has improved since Twilight. This is definitely worth reading.

I am now reading Black Juice by Margo Lanagan.

I really enjoyed Black Juice. Very powerful stories that I read a couple of years ago.