What are you reading the week of November 13, 2010?

New thread for the week.

J. G. Ballard (15th November 1930) – An English novelist and short story writer. Well known works include The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), The Crystal World (1966), Crash (1973) and Empire of the Sun (1984). In 2008, The Times included Ballard on its list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

José Saramago (16th November 1922) - Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. Some of his important works are O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis (The Year of the Death of Ricardo), Ensaio sobre a Cegueira (Blindness), A Jangada de Pedra (The Stone Raft), Ensaio sobre a Lucidez (Seeing), As Intermitências da Morte (Death with Interruptions). Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.



Margaret Atwood (18th November 1939) - Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist. She is arguably one of the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent times. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, for The Handmaid's Tale (1985), Cat's Eye (1988), Alias Grace (1996), The Blind Assassin (2000) and Oryx and Crake (2003). She won it in 2000 for The Blind Assassin. Her other notable works include, The Edible Woman (1969), The Robber Bride (1993), The Penelopiad (2005) and The Year of the Flood (2009). She has also won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award seven times, winning twice.

Welcome back, Porua! Thanks for another great job!

Ik lees op het ogenblik "De Buddenbrooks" van Thomas Mann. Ik zal er nog wel even mee bezig zijn, het is nogal dik. Het was oorspronkelijk een bibliotheekboek, maar het is door een overstroming van de rivier bij onze Camping Östrauer Mühle in de Sächsicher Schweiz ernstig doorweekt. Wel leesbaar, maar niet meer goed genoeg voor de bibliotheek.
Ik vind het zeer goed geschreven, het is een familiekroniek en beschrijft de gloriejaren en het verval van de familie.

I'm continuing with The Resurrectionist by Jack O'Connel. Although I haven't been reading as much as I would like, so far I'm very much intrigued by it. Loving it so far!

Great photo of Margaret Atwood! That'll be the one where she plays the lead in Day of the Triffids I'm guessing.

I'm still stuck into Jane Eyre as a set book for the course. Has to be at least the 10th time I've read this one and I'm still discovering things I never saw before. I eventually have to make comparisons with later rewrites of the same story and I've discovered quite a few I'd never heard of, which are gradually being added to the library - should be interesting.

I don't generally have two going, but do at the moment: 1) Dalva by Jim Harrison and; 2) Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck.

>6 CarolynSchroeder: - I've recently rediscovered the beauty of having a couple going at once: different books for different moods, or at least different attention spans.

Right now, it's The Magus by John Fowles and But n Ben A-Go-Go by Matthew Fitt. The latter is a Scots language near future sci fi. Fitt adamantly doesn't include a glossary, so it takes some getting used to for a non-Scot to read.

Ah, The Magus - such a brilliant book. Not sure I'd be capable of putting that one down to read something else. I do rather admire those who can do it (and elkiedee's continuing lists leave me speechless!) but I get too engrossed in the current book to abandon it for something else (in fact, I generally find that if I can abandon it temporarily I can probably do so permanently). I can manage it with non-fiction or with one fiction and one non, but I can't combine novels for the life of me - I think I'd get the plots mixed up. Don't you have that problem? Or, if you do, how do you deal with it?

I'm still reading Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster, and loving it! I'll be sorry when it ends. It's one of those books that I wish I would keep going forever. I'm sure I'll be adding it to my favorites when I've done. Forster did such a wonderful job of bringing a vibrant character to life.

#9 And that's another that is on Mount TBR - nice to hear good things about it!

I just completed That Mean Old Yesterday by Stacey Patton. I enjoyed every minute of it.

> #10 Booksloth

I'm definitely loving it! It's the kind of book that somehow suits me completely. I'm not that others feel the same way, though. I reeceived it from bookcrossing.com, and two people passed it along without commenting on it, or apparently even reading it. I did get a message from someone else who loves Margaret Forster, though. Perhaps the two who passed it along just never got in the mood to read it.

> #8 - I think when the 2 books are very different it helps with the plot confusion issue (like you say, 1 fiction, 1 non). I don't think I'd have 2 futuristic going at once. I usually have one that takes more concentration and requires setting aside a dedicated chunk of time to read (e.g., Scots language) vs. one that I can read a chapter or two at time more frequently.

That said, if I read 2 books for a long time each in the same day, I do find it leads to some quirky dreams that night. :-)

Porua, nice job on the thread! I love that photo of M.A. I'll be diving into The Robber Bride soon, I'm excited to read another of her books.

I set aside the short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders briefly and spent the day immersed in Silk, a really beautiful novella set in Japan and France in the 1860s. Spare and romantic (in the best way) - it was a great break. Now back to Other Rooms, which I'm enjoying more after the break from it.

#14 Oh teelgee - isn't Silk amazing! When I first read it I thought it was just going to be another self-pitying cheat banging on about how hard done by he is but the ending just blew me away. If anyone else is contemplating it, please don't apply your 50/75/100 (or whatever) page rule because it should not be abandoned at any point and is short enough that, even if you do end up hating it, you won't have wasted a big chunk of your life. Of all the books I have contemplated giving up on that is the one that stands out as the one above all others that I'm so glad I kept going with.

Just waking up here in L.A.--you Brits get up too early! With you, Booksloth, reading two novels at the same time is like eating lunch and dinner simultaneously for this reader (no problem with fiction and non). Though the amount of great recommendations here makes us all aspire to elkiedee's omnivorousity. The eye is definitely larger than the stomach. (Loved your comment about DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS BTW, my favorite read at 12. LOL)

I'm listening to The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson, and reading both Coop by Michael Perry and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore

The Eyre Affair and The Lost Cyclist here. . .

Finished Zweig's The Burning Secret, still working through A Call from Jersey.

#16 Lunch and dinner at the same time? What's the problem?

#20 That's what the Triffids said. Poor Margaret Atwood...

>21 sholofsky: lol

Yesterday I finished the wonderful final book of Ann Cleeves' fabulous Shetland Island series, Blue Lightning. Characters, setting and plot all work so well and I can't recommend this series more highly! (But start with the first, Raven Black.)

Up next is Susan Hill's The Man in the Picture.

For my in the car reading, I'm listening to Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower having just finished Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell, the story of her friendship with the late Carolyn Knapp.

Reading three at the moment, The Unfinished Presidency which I've been reading for at least a month. It's quite good, but I only read it in the morning before going to work because it's far too large to be carrying around with me. I'm about 2/3's finished. Another non-fiction The Places in Between, which I picked up yesterday and am enjoying. I love good travel tales. My fiction book at the moment is The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I know that many people have loved. I'm 70+ pages in and my review so far is "meh." So far it's not living up to the hype.

Plugging along listening to Half Broke Horses and reading Cecilia Valdes.

Re-reading Rebecca, and starting Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey.

I just finished reading Jane Gardam's The Queen of the Tambourine. My review is linked with my profile or on the book page. I enjoyed it immensely. It uses a very critical, tongue in cheek humor. And if you're looking for unreliable narrators, this one is sooooo unreliable that she is reliable about it. ... as for what you will think about it, it looks like this book is a different thing depending on who happens to be reading it.

Since I'm waiting for my copy of Merry-go-round by Maugham, not recipes from Jamaica as the 24th touchstone option suggests. Nothing against Jamaican food, but you can't just shake the book and have a meal. Anyway, since I'm waiting for my copy of The Merry-go-round, I'm going to Stories from a Dark and Evil World en Espanol. It's a bilingual book of short YA horror stories. Not very horrifying, but it will help my Spanish. Hopefully, I'll drop it once the mailman comes today.

Still reading The Blind Assassin which is very apropriate this week. I also got into the new project by Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear, The Mongoliad. Very nice!

I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for my book club. It's so good I can hardly put it down!

And no, it's not a vampire story.

I continue on in Black Lamb and Gray Falcon; I've read over 360 pages of it, so there're about 750 pages to go. I think it may be a lot more about Rebecca West than about Yugoslavia, but there's plenty about the latter in the former.

Robert

Was feeling in a bit of a rut reading all these modern lit books that were just sad, depressing, sad... so I am switching over to light and fun The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld. Book #1 of The Midnighters series. I am hoping it is good because my library had all three and I took them all on good faith.

Started and finished The Call of the Cthulhu and will start Great Expectations

Last night I finished Roddy Doyle's The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. We're off in a few minutes for a weekend in the big city--San Francisco--so I'll be writing more about the Doyle book on Monday. Short review: horrifying and amazingly good.

# 2 Thank you, sholofsky! You’re kind, as always. :-)

Read and loved Seize the Day by Saul Bellow. Why did I wait eight long years to get to this book? My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/65133630

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

Allen Gardens shout-out! (That's where Atwood is standing. I've lived in Toronto too long.)

I'm still reading What is Stephen Harper Reading? but it's light and quick, so I'll finish it soon. I keep looking at Swann's Way out of the corner of my eye too. I tried it a few months ago and got discouraged but I keep thinking "I will conquer you one day! I WILL!"

>#34, studio, My Swann's Way is lurking near me too. I was discouraged last year by it and haven't gotten around to trying to tackle it again. I keep telling myself "someday!"

Hopefully that day will come.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami really liking it so far.

Just getting into Little Bee and must finish for Wednesday book club. I don't want to read it too quickly...but I may have to!

studio1 and dancingstarfish, I suggest you not try to conquer Swann's Way or even tackle it, but set out to read it slowly and deliberately. Sometimes it takes awhile to get from the front end of one of Proust's sentences to the back end, but one always can; the path never gets lost in the forest. Read enough each time you sit down to it to get a meaningful lot but don't read on so far that you are just mouthing the words and demanding of yourself that you get through it. After awhile you will begin to notice that it has been rewarding you.

Have fun,

Robert

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber and In Triumph's Wake: Royal Mother, Tragic Daughters and the Price They Paid for Glory by Julia P.Gelardi. #28 I agree that the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was hard to put down . . . really enjoyed it.

Still on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in my quest to re-read the series before seeing Deathly Hallows 1. Merlin's beard but these books are long. Even if they are easy to read, it's still difficult to get enough uninterrupted time to make big progress. At this rate, the movie will probably be out for two weeks before I get to see it.

Loved both The Blind Assassin and Robber Bride. Keep meaning to read more Atwood this year, but must finish HP first!

mausergem> What did you think about Call of Cthulu. I haven't figured out the whole Lovecraft thing, but the stories of his I read weren't Cthulu. Is the Cthulu mythos interesting enough to make up for his writing style?

Such interesting thoughts on multiple book reading(s). I generally do not, not sure if I cannot keep them straight so much as cannot get as enmeshed in multiple as I can with one. I just love the journey of sinking deeply into one. This is kind of the exception as a friend wants to discuss Winter of our Discontent (which whoa, I don't even recognize this jokey, silly guy as Steinbeck, anyone read this one?) and I had already started Dalva by Jim Harrison and it was intriguiging. I've never read him before and I love his style of writing and character development.

#36 - Kafka on the Shore is a wild one, isn't it? I did a pretty thorough review and my feelings were kind of love/hate, however, the love parts were so incredibly high, I'd definitely check out more by him. I have Wind Up Bird Chronicles in the TBR piles. Did you read that one?

Also, picked up a very interesting book today at Border's whilst sitting on the floor (it caught my eye) - The World As I Found It by Bruce Duffy - not much on it but what there is, are raves. A fiction book from the late 1980s that sorta went out of circulation and then came back.

#42 Yes, Steinbeck is probably the most variable "great" writer out there. I listed BURNING BRIGHT as worst novel by a Nobel Prize winner, but books like GRAPES OF WRATH will live forever. I didn't have quite as negative a reaction to WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT as you did, though it's certainly far from his best.

I am currently reading The Reckoning, my October ER win. It is very good and a quick read so I may actually start The Year of the Flood this week which would be very appropriate I think.

I am currently reading I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg. Her characters just come alive. If you have read any of her other books,
i.e. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (which was made into a great movie) you know what I mean.

I finished Consorts of Heaven by Jaine Fenn and enjoyed it very much.

I am now reading The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson. Bills itself as non-fiction, but is a load of BS and truly putrid.

I'm listening to Emma by Jane Austen. Now I actually look forward to my commute. I finished Number the Stars by Lois Lowry this morning and loved it. STILL working on The Widow Clicquot (*sigh*).

#35, mU sympathies, DancingStarfish. I didn't get through Swann's way until my third try and felt like I should have been awarded the Nobel Prize for finishing it. Right now, I'm still working on Bill Veeck's Veeck, as in wreck (about baseball), Charles van Loan's Score by Innings (also about baseball) and Carl Van Vechten's Parties, which started really well.

I fiinished the thumping good read The Lost City of Z and reviewed it here.

Now I can give my full attention to Middlemarch.

Finshed W. Somerset Maugham's Collected Stories, Volume 2.

Started, and will finish tomorrow, Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King.

Finished A Complicated Kindness this evening, posted a review on the book page and recommend it. Next up is The Bells, and ER book by Richard Harvell.

#50 We're still reading Maugham over at the "friends of Maugham". Join us!

#49 Now there's one that really does deserve a good sinking into. Hats off to all who are even considering Swann's Way!

#3 gkist: I also have read Buddenbrooks very recently and liked it. I think it was interesting to see the different characters develop and interact and influence each other.

Personally still reading Bleak House. It's is still interesting but I have problems with reading a book too long because I tend to lose interest in it. But as this is for university I have to stick to it.

#42 This is the first Murakami book I've started on, but I'll definitely check out more of his work. I've been reading so many "whodunnit's" lately, that I was longing for something different. I sure got that! ; )

I've posted my review of Burning Secret in my thread...post #141. What an interesting, cynical meditation on love.

Hi all!

In case anyone would like to join today:

Sunday Readathon

Work has me in its cross hairs, so I haven't been able to do much reading. I'm reading a couple of technical books which I'll not trouble you with.

I'm half way through my ER book In the Shadow of the Red Banner, a history of Jewish contributions to the Soviet war effort during WWII. The first (long) chapter was an encyclopedic survey of Jewish soldiers who won various decorations during the war. The author tried to keep the subject from becoming too dry by weaving the individual accounts into a sort of thumbnail history of the war. He was somewhat successful, but it was still a trial to read. Once you make it past that first chapter, the book is much more interesting.

#41 This is the first HP Lovecraft book I have read. I was browsing through the Cthulhu mythos on wiki but could not make any sense of it. I would really like to read more on the same theme . Please let me know if you know any books.

#50 I have read all the 4 collected stories parts of W. Somerset Maugham. Simply brilliant.

Thanks, I don't know Margaret Atwood. She's interesting, I'll read one of her works. In this week I'm reading "The well and the mine", Gin Phillips is the author. Italian title is beautiful: "la notte ha occhi curiosi". A wonderful book!!! After I have a book of Thomas Dunne: "Loneliness as a Way of Life".

#57 Aw pphhhhsssshhht! If I'd known about that it would have been the perfect excuse to put off the assignment for yet another day!

#14 & #15

I read Silk years ago and still think about it. In fact I was so taken with it when I first read it that I purchased a couple of copies to give as gifts. It is so romantic but not sappy and so poignant. I heard it was going to be made into a movie, but never heard much about it so figure it was one of those Hollywood pipe dreams. I am not sure if a movie would be able to capture the atmosphere of the novel. This is a perfect book for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a hot cup of chocolate. Or tea.

I am still working on Mists of Avalon and will join in the readathon for a little while this afternoon with that book as the focus of my energy.

I finished and reviewed the fascinating but puzzling The Green House by Mario Vargas Llosa.

#57 What are the rules? Just read all day without a break?

mausergem> There are short story collections in the Cthulu mythos written by modern authors. I haven't read them, but have heard they're quite good. I haven't read anything in the Cthulu mythos, but have read other stories of his that have been anthologized in mixed author collections. One was "Rats in the Walls" which was okay, but unremarkable, and the other one I read was painful. Obviously though, he has influenced several modern authors. For example, Caitlin Kiernan has set her stories in his locations as a tribute.

I will say, I love all the plush Cthulus I keep running into. I've even been offered Peeps Cthulus. So let me know if I have to give Lovecraft one more chance... or perhaps I should just skip to the anthologies based in his mythos.

Still reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

I finished and reviewed A Renegade History of the United States and will discuss some of the very interesting ideas it expresses on my history thread later. http://www.librarything.com/topic/101400 Russell's idea is that the Founding Fathers knew that in order for Americans to be good citizens they had to be willing (and able) to give up personal freedom in order to work for the common good. He said those people who insist on personal pleasure are renegades, African Americans chief among them, and it is only through their shiftlessness, malingering, sexual promiscuity, and desire for personal adornment and recreation that the rest of us have a measure of enjoyment in our lives. For some reason, he then has to take the ultimate step of saying that because of the African American's refusal to sacrifice personal freedom for the potential value of their rights as citizens, they were better off in slavery. I'm not sure why he thought he had to take that step unless it was just to show that he himself is a renegade.

Now, to get that sort of thing out of my mind I've started Gun's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making It Work by Tim Gun with Ada Calhoon in which Tim Gun is showing himself to be the lovely, repressed, get-it-done guy we've all grown to know and love.

I'm still listening to Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier and am loving it. I hadn't even know of the existence of Mary Anning or Elizabeth Philpot and thier fascinating discoveries.

touchstone is very, very bad today

Joining the discussion about the book Silk to comment that I also thought it was a great story when I read it earlier this year. I have seen the movie adaptation of the book - it came out in 2007 - and IMO, I don't think the movie captured the atmosphere of the novel. You know how when you read a book, you form your own visual impressions of the characters? For me, Keira Knightley, cast to play Hélène Joncour, came across as ... well, playing Keira Knightley, not the Hélène Joncour of the book. After coming to that conclusion, I found it difficult to sit back and enjoy the movie.

I finished The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove and don't think I loved it quite as much as most of my friends, but it was good. I'm now reading and really enjoying Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelly Rowley (plus Coop and the audiobook of The Dead Beat, still).

To those who had questions about the mini readathon- its very informal- but for myself I go from 12-9 est with an update posted at the top of the hour. Feel free to drop in!

Let's see I am reading

Cherie by Colette- For book club. A pretty decent novella about a May-December romance between and older courtesan and her younger lover. It's alright I definately like Lea, the courtesan much better than Cheri, her lover. She is a much better written stronger character and Cheri gets on my nerves.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- I am going through the Bronte novels. While I do like Wuthering Heights, I have found that I don't like it near as much as Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I guess I just don't get the allure of Heathcliff and while I find him an interesting anti-heroic character, I also find him too brutal and Catherine too cloying for me to really like them. I think the female protagonists of Jane Eyre and Tenant were much better stronger characters.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon- A very fun and at times moving story based on the creaters of Superman. I liked both the leads Joe and Sam, and enjoy this behind the scenes look on how superheroes were created during The Great Depression/WWII

The Mammoth Book of Roaring Twenties Whodunnits- I am finishing the Historical Whodunnits with this anthology. While I prefer the general historical whodunnits books, I do enjoy these stories and the milieau of the time with gangsters, flappers, and some of the stories portraying the historical figures of the time such as Fatty Arbuckle and Al Capone.

1,001 Crimes- Snippets of various crimes ranging from murders, to robberies, organized crime, assasinations, and everything else. The snippets are short, but they do present interesting looks at the events and aftermaths.

Celtic Wit and Wisdom- Brief descriptions of different poems, stories, and sayings from the Celtic countries. They are nice little stories and fun to end after the day.

The Big Book of Goodnight Stories by Vraistlav Stovicek- A book of fairy tales that I have had since I was seven. There is a story for each day of the year. Right now, I am on Baron Simple of Dothan.

Sacred Contracts by Carolyn Myss-A fascinating book about recognizing archetypes that help and hinder us such as The Child, The Hero, The Scapegoat and others.

I am reading The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent.

>72 jusaport:: jusaport: There is a sequel to Cheri called The Last of Cheri, also a novella. (They've recently been published in one volume.) It concentrates more on Cheri than on Lea and although Cheri is a weak character, Colette's character study is fascinating.

The volume that I am reading has The Last of Cheri, so I will read it after Cheri. I hope it makes me like him a little better because so far I am unimpressed. :D

#47 AMQS You'll have to let me know how you like Emma vs. Persuasion. I read the latter on your earlier recommendation and loved it. If I ever finish the Harry Potter series, I'll be ready for something different. :-)

Finished Brunelleschi's Dome. Excellent, with a few reservations. First, King has the annoying habit of referring to principals by their first names. A little too casual, even for a work directed toward the interested reader. Second, there are places where King deviates, not without interest, seemingly to provide filler for a slim 167 pages. The episode on Toscanelli comes to mind. As usual the subtitle is overblown. Brunelleschi did not reinvent architeture but raised it intellectually and socially.

Started Stone's Fall by Iain Pears. This will take a while, but I enjoyed his An Instance of the Fingerpost very much so I have high hopes.

I took a short break from Jane Eyre last night (having read that one at least half a dozen times there's no danger of getting plots confused and study books don't count anyway!) to read The Small Hand. This is a lovely little book in an A5 edition with one of those covers that just makes you buy it whether you planned to or not. This is the time of year (though I've never been sure why) for ghost stories and although it's been a long time since any story really freaked me out, this one has some deliciously creepy bits and I spent a cozy evening with a single malt and the occasional genuine shiver. At a mere 167 small pages it's the perfect one-night read.

I finished The Reckoning last evening and found it to be a very good book. I started The Year of the Flood last evening as well and am enjoying it so far even though my feeble memory has absolutely no recollection of Oryx and Crake even though I just read it over the summer.

I am reading gideon by Russell Andrews. A thriller, so far pretty good.

I'm persevering with One Hundred Years of Solitude, although I'm not particularly enjoying it yet. I liked the very beginning but at the half way mark I'm becoming increasingly annoyed with the way that things happen but nothing ever seems to change, making the book feel rather stagnant. It may well be the effect that the author was going for, but it's not working for me.

Ended up loving Life After Yes so much that I stayed up over an hour later than I planned to finish it. I'm going to limit myself to Coop by Michael Perry today, before starting something new to intersperse with it tomorrow.

I finished Room which was fantastic and have begun Feed by M. T. Anderson. I meant to read a page or two and found myself engrossed.

I'm sure that Feed is fun to read; I listened to the audiobook which was one of the best I've ever heard.

I did not finish Half-Broke Horses.....just plain found it too boring. So, I am starting to listen to Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci and continue reading Cecilia Valdes.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I just finished The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle. You may now (lucky you) read my review of same on the book's work page or on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I'm now about halfway through Seth Jones or the Captives of the Frontier by Edward S. Ellis. This is a short, fun adventure story. It is one of the "Dime Novels" that were furiously popular during the 1860s. This story was published in a volume along with another such novel, Deadwood Dick on Deck by Edward L. Wheeler in 1966, with an historical forward about the Dime Novel phenomenon by UCLA scholar Philip Durham. I'm sure I'll read that second novel sometime soon as well. But right now, I'm having fun saving captives from Indians in the post-Revolutionary War New York State wilderness.

I'm half way through Cellist of Sarajevo which I am loving.

nancyewhite> I've read descriptions of Room which makes it sound terribly depressing. Is it? Or does she somehow bring it above that level of gruesomely awful?

Just finished The Grimm Legacy last night - didn't care much for it....I thought it fell a bit flat on the promise of a great concept. Then again, maybe the age group it was written for would like it better than I did!

Now I'm really starting in on A Small Furry Prayer so I can review it - got an Early Reviewer's copy a while back. It's a busy week, so I'm not sure I'll get it done, but I have a looming stack of others waiting to be read, so I have to keep pushing through!

cammykitty, parts of Room are gruesome, parts are awful, parts are depressing, but definitely not all. It's quite inventive. You can take it.

Finished "Letters From an Age of Reason" (a novel) by Nora Hague, third & final book "Victorian Facts & Fiction" class.

Still reading "The French Lieutenant's Woman".

Reading "The Last Lion Winston S. Churchill" by William Manchester and "Fatherland" by Robert Harris

I finished the lovely Tim Gunn's latest book Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making It Work, and it was a pleasure to spend the time with him. Now I'm starting Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky which, I'm sure, won't be pleasurable in the same way but will give me the pleasure of a good in depth read nevertheless.

Just finished Parties by Carl Van Vechten and am coming into the homestretch on Veeck as in wreck I think I need something light and fluffy. Probably Full moon by P. G. Wodehouse.

Finished Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stayed up all night to finish it.

Now reading Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

citizenjoyce> Thanks! It will go on my TBR pile. I actually am glad that there are books that talk about tough subjects like that, but they have to be handled just right. Sounds like this one succeeded.

I had to be encouraged to read it myself, cammykitty; however, be aware that some people have called it manipulative. I'm not one of those people, I found it to cover psychological subjects in complex ways.

>76 jhedlund: jhedlund, I'm finding that whichever Austen I happen to be listening to at the moment is my favorite. I absolutely love Emma, and it helps that I'm listening to a stellar narration. I feel that she is the most flawed -- and certainly the most interesting -- of the Austen heroines I've met so far, and Mr. Knightly is running neck-and-neck with Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility) for favorite hero. Many of the peripheral characters positively crack me up. I will be very sorry when it's over. I think you'd like it!

I'll have to bump it up the list then. But first, I'm on to The Half Blood Prince.

I finished The Blind Assassin yesterday while stuck in a broken down train. It took me some time to be grabbed by the story, but by the end I couldn't put it down. I think I love Margaret Atwood.
My new read is The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie. I read some this morning, but I am not quite into it yet.

I am reading Great House by Nicole Krauss.

Wow, we all knew James Frey was maybe a little bit ethically challenged, but it seems he's decided not to be a writer after all but just a CEO of his own stable of writers. He has supposedly signed 28 to work for him now with this excellent contract:

This is the essence of the terms being offered by Frey’s company Full Fathom Five: In exchange for delivering a finished book within a set number of months, the writer would receive $250 (some contracts allowed for another $250 upon completion), along with a percentage of all revenue generated by the project, including television, film, and merchandise rights—30 percent if the idea was originally Frey’s, 40 percent if it was originally the writer’s. The writer would be financially responsible for any legal action brought against the book but would not own its copyright. Full Fathom Five could use the writer’s name or a pseudonym without his or her permission, even if the writer was no longer involved with the series, and the company could substitute the writer’s full name for a pseudonym at any point in the future. The writer was forbidden from signing contracts that would “conflict” with the project; what that might be wasn’t specified. The writer would not have approval over his or her publicity, pictures, or biographical materials. There was a $50,000 penalty if the writer publicly admitted to working with Full Fathom Five without permission.

Full story from the New York Magazine here, is seems the only creative part of his writing is financial:
http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/69474/

Citizenjoyce - that is hysterical (I'm an attorney though, but seriously, that is one funny "contract" - good luck to him on his venture and getting anyone to actually sign it - I'm getting chills of contractual-interpretation horror re: "essence of terms").

I'm still sloughing through Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck. I'm not feeling this one, but it's small and I'll finish it. My friend wants to discuss it and I do find it so odd among Steinbeck's works, that I do want to see how it all turns out.

Have finished this week

Studs Terkel, The Good War
American social historian's oral history collection about various American experiences of WWII.

Olivia Manning, The Great Fortune
The first of Manning's Fortunes of War books, part of The Balkan Trilogy - I want to reread all of these (last time was about 20 years ago) - an English couple in Romania in the early days of WWII.

Polly Samson, Perfect Lives
A short story collection, for review for the Bookbag

Dorothy Whipple, High Wages Persephone
A girl starts work in a department store in a Lancashire town. Excellent until the end which was quite a letdown.

Now reading:

ed Julie Smith, New Orleans Noir

Roald Dahl, The BFG

Cathy Marie Buchanan, The Day the Falls Stood Still

Antonio Tabucchi Pereira Maintainsl an early review book

Julie Highmore, The Birthday for review at the Bookbag

I've finished Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster, which I loved so much that I was sad to leave it.

Luckily, I was able to start right in on The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, which seems like it will be a full-throttle read. It's going to be as good and fast-paced as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I think.

ETA:
> #104, Elikiedee: I read The BFG to my son, when he was six, and although he's now grown, it brings back such fond memories! We had so much fun with that book! There were lots of giggles at the frobscottle and whizpopping, if I remember correctly.

Finished The Resurrectionist by Jack O'Connell. Wonky and weird and enjoyable, I say. Will start an ER book, The Mullah's Storm, today if I feel up to it.

I'm not sure whether it took me half the book to get into the rhythm of the writing or it suddenly improved after 200 pages, but One Hundred Years of Solitude turned out being better than I thought. Although it didn't entirely redeem itself and there were still a lot of WTF? moments, I definitely enjoyed the latter half more than the former.

I'm now moving on to The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. As it was recommended by the same friend who enthused about the godawful Pillars of the Earth I'm hoping it turns out to be less of a disappointment than that one did.

Started The Sherlockian by Graham Moore, because I will be interviewing him in a couple of weeks on my book podcast. Need to read some more Sherlock Holmes before then, too.

88/90/96/97 Camkitty/CitizenJoyce - For me, Room, while harrowing, was ultimately about love and sacrifice. It was extraordinarily non-exploitative given the subject matter. Like CitizenJoyce, I also did not find it manipulative. I thought it was dead on. As the mother of a young, inquisitive boy who easily annoys (and charms), I admired Ma and her ability to entertain and educate Jack in an 11 x 11 room. I'll be eager to hear your response Camkitty. I hope you like it.

I am currently reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

I have started Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris. Just enjoyed the gruesome True Blood series.

nancyewhite> It's sounding like a must read. :)

Finished re-reading an old comfort read, Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie. Good as always. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/63925466

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

Chin Music Press is offering an extra copy of their recent ER offering, Where We Know: New Orleans as Home, by David Rutledge! Free!! I'd say run over and enter the giveaway ASAP!

I finished listening to Notes on a Scandal What a depressing book. And started listening to All Over Creation which I am really liking. this is a very interesting look at the world of Idaho potatoes and GMO's. After the first hundred pages I have fallen in love with the quirky characters and the oddball topic. This one is like a breath of fresh air after Notes on a Scandal.

#115, Looks like a good potato novel. Let us know what you think.

Never heard of All Over Creation, Benita, but I now live in Idaho so I'll check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!

I finished the audio of The Wordy Shipmates. I liked Vowell's narration and quirky sense of humor but overall is was just okay. I started the audio of Life: Keith Richards, read by Johnny Depp and it begins very well. I'm a huge Stones fan!
I also started True Grit. A classic western I have never read.

Almost finished with The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore. Nice to know about authors I have read and ones that I will be looking for their books.

#115 - benitastrnad, have you read My Year of Meats by the same author? It's also very good and takes on the cattle industry, also with quirky, funny, touching characters.

Jhedlund, I had never heard of Ozeki before. She looks fascinating.

I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie but it wasn't my cup of tea. Too much of a detective mystery for me.
I am also reading The Alexandria Link and also some more Scott Pilgrim books (I am on the fourth now).

#120: I read My Year of Meats years ago and still vividly remember some of the scenes and lessons I learned about the meat industry. Ozeki is a marvelous storyteller. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I am almost done with The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck, thank goodness, because I dreading picking this one back up each time. I'm really curious as to what my friend was so thrilled about with this one.

#124 WINTER has a sort of a twist ending which validates it somewhat.

Finished A Baker's Apprentice last night, and am still working on my ER book, Flourish. My lunchtime read today will be A Homemade Life, which I leave at work for those days when I find myself between reads. Tonight I'll start The Hunger Games, which I've heard great things about!

Just finished I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg and have startedWhen We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro.

One of the interesting aspects of Cecilia Valdes is the emphasis on shades of skin and social structure in the early 1800s in Cuba. My daughter spent a semester studying in Cuba and when I asked her about this issue, this is what she wrote. I know it's lengthy, but I found it very interesting.

Well...I guess it depends on when the story takes place. The sugar industry, as I'm sure you know, involved African slavery as many of the indigenous Tainos (I think that's their name) died upon European arrival. In the early and mid-1900s, there was still institutionalized segregation, so blacks could not go to certain beaches, schools, etc. and they were limited to certain jobs because of racism in general. One of the main goals of the Revolution was to create one Cuba, where the 'Revolution' was everything, from economics to religion. This included an attempt at providing equal education to all and erasing racial barriers to consider all Cubans just Cubans, not white or black Cubans. This was successful to some extent, much quicker that de-segregaiton in the U.S., as income and education levels evened out relative to what they were before. However, I remember going to the national ballet in Havana and not seeing a single black dancer on stage, seeing mostly lighter skinned people working in hotels and tourism, etc. I also remember seeing a lot more destitute looking people with darker skin than with lighter skin. There is definitely more racial integration there, but there is still prejudice that people have based on skin color. I heard a speaker talk about this at Sarah Lawrence and absolutely agreed when he said that, although they tried to do away with racism, you can't immediately erase the social prejudices that people have picked up in their upbringing or that still existed in a society. He said that although things equalled out after the Revolution, socioeconomic status did not stay that even in the long run. One thing that he cited was that tourism is such a big industry there and that, whether they would admit it or not, less darker-skinned people were hired to work in that industry because of 'appearance'. In addition, since those who fled Cuba in the 50s and 60s tended to be those with the financial means to do so, or usually of European background, the remittances from abroad that help Cubans today survive on their meager incomes go mostly to Cubans with lighter skin. This all helps to reinforce the idea that people with lighter skin do better financially than those with darker skin. There is more mixture culturally, I would say, because there is more of a Cuban identity and mixed religion, music, dance, living space (many poorer Cubans moved into previously upscale housing after the Revolution), and interaction in school and many other jobs. If you are curious about more of this, I would check out some Cuban films (which I haven't seen but know are big names in Cuban film), like Fresas y Chocolate, Memorias del Subdesarrollo, Lucia, and...my favorite-Viva Cuba.

#128 Thanks for posting that, hemlokgang. Very interesting information on Cuba. I can't remember if you posted about what you thought of the book, Cecelia Valdes. Would you recommend it?

I am barely into it....I'll post again when I finish it.

The Track of Sand was another entertaining entry in the Inspector Montalbano series.

I'm now about 550 pages into the mammoth Towers of Midnight, book 13 out of the projected 14. It's well done, thanks again to Brandon Sanderson, who has successfully taken up the reins after series author Robert Jordan passed away.

Just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest which was, in my opinion, the best of all three in the series.

I've finished and reviewed Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves. It was wonderful. It's in my thread...post #208.

hemlokgang> Interesting. Thanks for posting that. Tainos is correct. Fresas y Chocolate is my favorite Cuban film. It isn't on racism though. It's about prejudice based on sexual orientation, among other things.

> hemlokgamg,

Add my voice to the chorus of thanks! That was so interesting! It makes me want to read something about Cuba now!

I finished The Black Chalice last night, which was one of the best books I have read all year. The characterizations were great, it was well researched, and I hated for it to end. And I don't really read much fantasy, so there you go!

This leaves me wanting another great book with strong characters who are fully realized and packed with action.

But to bridge the gap between Great Books, I am going to read Travels in Siberia, and hope the reviews are all true!

Just finished and reviewed Kasey to the Rescue which was an Early Reviewer I received. Not my usual cup of tea but I really enjoyed it. It was written in a very easy, conversational tone which made it fly by. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a light, easy read.

Now on to Southern Fried Plus 6, of which I am one of only 4 members who have it in their catalog. I read about it in a local newspaper when I lived in Columbia, SC and Fox was described as a brilliant southern humorist. The author said the book changed his life, so I have high expectations.

#117, 120, 121, 123

I have not read My Year of Meats. It has been on my TBR wish list for a long long time. I saw it and thought it looked intriguing, sort of the fictionalized version of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or the Omnivore's Dilemma. All Over Creation is more like the fiction version of botany of Desire. Ozeki's work is very good. I don't know why this author doesn't have a wider readership. For me it is just the right mixture of quirky and straight.

I have just finished reading The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis, which is an excellent first novel set in Uruguay. I'm also reading (going a bit slowly, though) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell, and for late night reading Borderline by Nevada Barr. I want to get to The Year of the Flood and Just Kids soon, though. A student recommended that I read Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, so I'm adding that one to my list as well. These should keep me busy through next week.

I started on Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters this morning, and am also reading (in the graphic novel/comic genre) Bone and The Walking Dead.

Tonight I started Labrador by Choice, the memoirs of Benjamin Powell, who was born in Newfoundland in 1921 and moved to Labrador at the age of 15 and spent his life as a trapper. He published this autobiography in 1974.

Finished and reviewed Chess Story by Stefan Zweig in my thread...post #155.

I finished The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck and reviewed it. It won't go on the "best of" list for the year.

Now on to The World As I Found It by Bruce Duffy ...

I've read six books so far this week; in reverse order:

My Kind of Girl by Buddhadeva Bose (4 stars; reviewed)
Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (4 stars; review forthcoming)
False Friends, Faux Amis: Book 1 by Ellie Malet Spradbery (4 stars; reviewed)
The Salt Smugglers by Gérard de Nerval (2-1/2 stars; review forthcoming)
We Are a Muslim, Please by Zaiba Malik (4-1/2 stars; to be reviewed for Belletrista)
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat (4 stars; review forthcoming)

I'll review these remaining books in the next few days.

I'm currently reading Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa, and later today I'll start Lighthead by Terrance Hayes, which was awarded the National Book Award for Poetry last night.

CarolynSchroeder: My review of I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita is available here.

I finished City of Thieves by David Benioff, giving it 3.5 stars, for my local RL book club, which meets tonight. Then started Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls for my daughter's RL book club in central Pennsylvania, which I'll be visiting on my way back from Washington DC following Thanksgiving. I love her book club and wish it were closer so I could attend more regularly.

Took a detour, went to Costco and before I knew it, I'm 40 pages into The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ... just have to see what all the hoopla is about.

Great review on I Hotel kidzdoc! Thank you for pointed me to it! It was just shortlisted for the National Book Award too. I will give that a go here in the near future.

I just finished listening to Remarkable Creatures and think Tracy Chevalier is a remarkable creature for finding these women and this pre-Darwinian evolution topic to write a novel about. Truly remarkable creatures, remarkable times, remarkable characters.

Now I start on Great House by Nicole Krauss. This is the first book of hers I've read (or listened to).

I was proctoring a test today and was stuck reading Stories from a dark and evil world. Great for my Spanish, but the stories are a bit on the lame side. I did a happy dance when I found a proper copy of Maugham's The Merry-go-round waiting for me at home. Yeah!!! I can put aside the dark & evil world for awhile!

I picked up The Wake of Forgiveness from the new book table at the library. I couldn't resist the cover and now I'm being pulled along by the beautiful writing.

#147 So glad I'm not alone in my appreciation of this fascinating book. I often find Chevalier's work a bit hit and miss but this one is bang on target.

Just starting on Broken Angels by Richard Montanari

Just started Firmin by Sam Savage.

It's about a rat's eye view of literature; view gained by living in the basement of a bookshop.

I just started Paris '97 by Eric Hamilton, a Canadian author. For some reason I can't link to it in librarything (you can search for it though, it's in the library) so here's its main website: www.paris97.com

It's about Princess Diana's death and the weird circumstances surrounding it. It's a bit of a conspiracy/love/mystery novel and what's best about it is that it's fiction, but the author obviously did a ton of research (all the facts are there).

btw, Eric Hamilton is the pen name of Eric Wilson, the author wrote wrote all those awesome children's mysteries that I obsessed over as a kid.

Has anyone else read it? I wouldn't mind discussing a few things!

Finally finished Sergei Eisentein, a Biography informative, yet disappointing! Lacks passion by the author Oksana Bulgakowa. Just finished The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason. Sailed right through it. Will be posting review. Almost finished War and Peace and it's back to The Path Between the Seas the story of the building of the Panama Canal...fascinating, by David McCullough.

I just finished A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again which is a series of essays, with the ones about TV, the Ill. state fair, and the Caribbean cruise being my favorites. They're full of insightful observations about the mundaneness of life, its pathetic, miserable attempts to entertain itself. They're extremely funny but as the essay about TV points out, criticism and irony alone is hallow and so with time one thinks, is that all there is (just as his essays wonder).

I finished All Clear by Connie Willis and began Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The burning by Kathryn Lasky.

I haven't read it, Kelly, but the touchstone is Paris '97. You're the only owner, and the page doesn't say very much.

Robert

Edward VI by Chris Skidmore and A Royal Passion by Kate Whitaker

Two reviews:

one for Guilty Pleasures

the other for The Gendarme

have at it.........

;-}

ljbwell,

i agree that it's a good idea to read a few books at a go. I usually do. An academic book, a general book and a motivational book. I have not realized until you brought it up. Thanks for the idea!

Relishing every word of Any Human Heart by William Boyd.

I finished the new restored edition of A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, his memoir of his years in Paris in the 1920s, which was excellent. Later tonight I'll finish Ignatz, the collection of poems by Monica Youn that was a finalist for this year's National Book Award for Poetry.

The new thread is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/102851