**What Are You Reading Now? -- January 2011 - end your post with a question

(Posting early since my internet access will be limited for a few days)

This is the place to post what you are reading right now...but also other things such as what you have reviewed or posted recently.

We discussed a few ideas about things we wanted different in these posts in 2011. There was no consensus. One suggestion was to post more interesting info here, beyond just listing the books (but really, what do we need more than a list). So, for example, consider adding super short reviews to your posts (25 words or less).

Another idea was to make this thread more chatty. We have our own threads where we have personal conversations. But Club Read doesn't typically do many group conversations (We do some... some great ones like the memorizing poetry thread). Maybe that's OK...but still I'm going to try to make this WARYN thread more chatty.

SO - for one month - January only - try to end your post with a question. I know, this is not a particularly natural or normal thing to do. And, if you can't do it, or don't want do, don't. No arm twisting. But, if you can figure out a way - ask something about your book, or about what the book should do, or suggestions for other books, etc. Or ask something completely unrelated to your books.

... I guess I need a question too...

It's not January, but I just finished Book Lust To Go by Nancy Pearl. This is a book of recommended reading, themed by region, so that we can travel via books. My question - would you expect a book like this to have a thorough list of books for each region, or is just a seemingly random, very incomplete set of books that the author apparently just happened to have come across, and liked?

Definitely the former - a thorough list of books by region - or at least as thorough as one person can make it.
I have a question - so this thread is about books that we have finished reading, not what we are in the process of reading, right?

For both - especially what you're in the middle of reading.

>1 dchaikin:, Dan, should we infer from your question that the author had the latter, or am I reading too much snark into "just a seemingly random, very incomplete set of books that the author apparently just happened to have come across, and liked?..... ;)

Honestly, for me would really depend on who the author of the book was and what my expectations going into it were. Looking up this book and its author on Amazon, it appears she is a known quantity - a "famous librarian" who has previously written similar books - and that this enterprise is somewhat personality driven - like a celebrity chef cookbook or something. So I think that some readers want & expect a random list of books that Pearl liked because they are interested in her and what she recommends. But, if someone approached this book expecting it to be a wide-ranging, comprehensive list of books and didn't know/care one whit about Pearl herself, I think one could be disappointed.

In short, I think it's all about the connection/interest one has in the source of the recommendations, if said source is neither authoritative nor comprehensive. Now, if say Anne Fadiman or Elaine Showalter wrote a book that provided a random list of books each had happened to like, I would be all over that.

There is an intriguing list of books that one should read "right away" at the end of Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer, a book that I loved but that is currently packed up in a box so I can't find it to remind myself what's on her list. It is heavy on classics, as I recall, but includes contemporary works as well. I must confess that one of the biggest pieces of advice Prose gives for "reading like a writer" is to read slowly, something I have never been able to do.

But I too am not interested in lists of books to read made by people who I don't know or respect, i.e., people who aren't Prose, Fadiman, etc.

Edited for clarity.

>5 rebeccanyc:, Oh, but I would take Francine Prose's recommendations! :)

Yes, I would too. I guess my post wasn't clear and I'll go back and edit it. I was talking about other people in my last sentence.

>7 rebeccanyc:, Oops, sorry, no, your admiration for Prose WAS clear, it was my emphatic seconding of your comment that WASN'T clear. Must have more coffee.... :)

#4 Fanny, You "said" that really well, I think you're right on...and yes you read my snark-ness correctly. I have a mixed relationship with the book. I know what Pearl is doing, and yet I can't keep myself from thinking that I want a more thorough list...I can't seem to let that part go.

#5 Rebecca - I'd love Prose's list.

#9 Dan, the book is packed up and will be for several more months, and it is very long, so even if I had the book at hand I would probably be too lazy to type the whole thing into a post. The book itself is definitely worth reading though, if you can get hold of a copy.

Good question! I think I would like it more if the author also included lists provided by other people, who ideally would have a particular interest/expertise in books from that region. So you would have her (inevitably partial, in both senses of the word) lists, plus suggestions from other viewpoints too.

There are some good lists like this available online - Five Books and the Guardian top tens. Can anyone recommend any others?

>1 dchaikin:, 11: To answer Dan's question: I would expect a random list, it's how most of these books are arranged.

To answer wandering_star's question: I have found The Good Fiction Guide (edited by Jane Rogers) intriguing and a great reference . The book is arranged by theme, with a few pages of introduction by an author, followed by a list of the "top twelve" books. It covers some countries (i.e. Russia, Ireland, India), various genres (i.e. western, crime, fantasy), other subjects (i.e. childhood, family saga, the sea, war, film adaptations). While I might disagree with some of the book choices, they are a broad mix of older and contemporary books (the book was published in 2001, so contemporary is relative). The introductions tell us why that particular 12 books were chosen.

An example: Under the chapter "India" the books listed are:
Kanthapura (1938) by Raja Rao
Train to Pakistan (1956) by Khushwant Singh
The Guide (1958) by R. K. Narayan
Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) by Attia Hosain
A New Dominion (1973) by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Clear Light of Day (1980) by Anita Desai
Midnight's Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie
Rich Like Us (1983) by Nayantara Sahgal
That Long Silence (1988) by Shashi Deshpande
The Shadow Lines (1988) by Amitav Ghosh
The Middleman and Other Stories (1989) by Bharati Mukherjee
A Suitable Boy (1993) by Vikram Seth

The themed chapters are only a third of the book, the remainder of which is short bios on all the authors included. I thought this a really great book for exploring literature (mind you, I bought this in 2001 pre-LT)

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I've just started The Time: Night by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Russian, novel, 1992, T. 1994) and at this point I can only say that dysfunctional families are universal and somehow I find that comforting:-)
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For my question: Do we really think this thread will succeed as a WAYRN thread AND a discussion thread? Perhaps we should skip the former and just do the latter?

12 - I think it has potential. Most things I read leave me with some questions, and I plan on posting those here. The issue is whether people have answers or thoughts on those questions. It will be interesting to see how it develops.

To answer your question, Lois, I like having a WAYRN thread because I don't routinely follow everyone's thread and this way if someone mentions a book that sounds interesting I can pop on over to his or her thread and see if it's one I want to start reading regularly. I think Dan was trying this question thing to see if it could generate more conversation, because some people thought more conversation would draw more people to a WAYRN thread. It is only January 1, and I think -- and you probably do too! -- that we should give this a little more time to see how it works.

So my question is: what are other ideas for making the WAYRN thread interesting enough to draw more people to it?

My question is, are we using this thread, the separate fiction/non-fiction/poetry threads, or all of them? I'll cope either way, I suppose, I just like the wonderful mix of everything that one gets from the single WAYRN thread.

My supplemental question is, are we expecting too much from the WAYRN thread? The chances that people will be reading something that will actually spark a large discussion amongst many people who have not also read the something in question seem small to me.

I am probably in the minority here, but I kind of enjoy just being able to say "I'm reading Book X by Author Y and it's a fascinating exploration of the place of cheese in British culture..." or whatever and see others do the same. It takes two seconds to catch up with people and if I am interested in more information, I can click through to individual threads, the work page on LT, amazon, etc. If I'm not, I just keep moving.

OK, I'm new to the group, but that's never kept me from expressing an opinion, so I'll just say I like the ability to quickly read through what everyone's reading--which gets more difficult when there's conversation interspersed between the titles. But then, I've enjoyed the conversation so far, so I'm fine either way. Though...it may get confusing, and I apologize ahead of time if I forget and end up saying the same thing on multiple threads.

I'd like it if on the WAYRN thread when someone notes what they are reading (with brief description) others would chime in with recommendations of similar books or books by the same author. For example, I liked that Lois gave of a great description of The Good Reading Guide to contrast with the Nancy Pearl book.

Well, I am now going to post about what I'm reading because I've finished and reviewed my first book of the year, Bait: Four Stories by Mahasweta Devi, a strange collection of stories about people caught in the criminal underworld of Calcutta in the second half of the 20th century.

I guess I could also post this in the What are You Reading -- Fiction thread, but I do like the idea of one thread that includes everything people are reading, be it fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc. And if you're in the minority, Kris, I'm in it too -- as I said earlier, I like just catching up.

So, if I have to have a question, I will ask what do you think about books in which you learn about an unfamiliar culture or time period but don't really get caught up in the story?

I'm about halfway through the first in an Icelandic mystery series, Jar City. One reading goal this year is for me to try to read more mysteries set outside of the U.S..

I like the idea of a WAYRN thread because there's no way I'll keep up with every single thread here and it would be nice to find others with similar reading interests.

Any other non U.S./UK mystery series you'd recommend?

>18 rebeccanyc: rebeccanyc
A book from which I learned a lot about an unfamiliar culture and time period was The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. This was beautifully written succinct prose but I simply did not get caught up in the story. I really don't know why, but I put the book aside about a third of the way through. I hear from other readers that it's the second part of the book that really becomes enthralling, so I might have another shot at it later on.

>19 lindapanzo: lindapanzo
Have you read any of Fred Vargas's Chief Inspector Adamsberg series?

In response to the WAYRN questions, I would say that I agree with Kris and Rebecca - I prefer a catch-all WAYRN thread, done by month. Fewer individual threads to read, more inspiration with different genres all jumbled together.

Yesterday I finished Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott. The premise had a lot of promise, but I thought the story was way too slow to get going, and Stott's writing was just a bit too something for me - it seemed as if she was trying too hard.

Today I'm starting Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which I am very much looking forward to reading.

Just to clarify, I like having a WAYRN thread (a single one) and I understand we are trying to find ways to get these kinds of threads to be less list-like. But in the first 11 messages only Dan posted what he was reading, so when I came along I hesitated inserting what I was reading into the middle of a discussion. I like the discussion, don't get me wrong, but I wonder if the two ideas are too much for one thread.

I think Dan's question idea might be worked into a sort of discussion question "tag" sort of thing on its own thread. One asks a question and when the discussion peters out in a few days, he/she "tags" another person to ask the next question...

>19 lindapanzo: I'll be interested in what you think of Jar City. I remember the prose of that first book being quite spare. Erlandur is a bit of a loser and not terribly social, but a decent detective and he does grow on you over the course of the books (and his psychology does have roots that get explained later on). I really have enjoyed them (be sure to watch the movie of Jar City also!). I also read Yrsa Sigurdardottir's Icelandic mysteries - they're very different from indridason's but a nice companion if you are interested in Iceland.

At 19 - have you read any of Henning Mankell's books? I am on my fourth in the Kurt Wallender Series, The Man Who Smiled . I have found all his books to be intriguing mysteries/ thrillers' and he is a Swedish writer. I hope to begin Jar City soon.

Don't remember what my last post mentioned in December. I've finished The Brother's Karamazov, Book Lust to Go, a 1994 issue of The Texas Review (from Sam Houston State University), and The Ash Spear - the third book in G. R. Grove's Storyteller series. Also a poetry chap book which I really enjoyed: Five Lavender Minutes of an Afternoon by Larry D. Thomas. Still processing BK. The Texas Review had some wonderful essays, and there are lots of bits I want to copy out of it, to remember.

I started The Finkler Question yesterday on a plane. It hasn't turned me off, like it did other readers here and elsewhere, but it's not airplane reading. Jacobson is playing games with his narrator and his manner of approach, there's some philosophical ideas thrown about, and there is the sort of humor the main character doesn't get, but the reader is supposed to get. All-in-all, it's probably a book that needs to be read twice to capture...although I don't have plans to read it twice...

Also, I'm reading A Murder of Crows, a new poetry collection by Larry D. Thomas.

But, Jan 1 is almost over, and I haven't actually read a page yet this year...sigh.

My question - humor... the blurbs on the back of The Finkler Question tell me the book is "often awfully funny". When a book is not laugh-out-loud-funny, but instead is actually quite sad... where the humor is more sort of in a ridiculous way, and in a way that maybe only occurs to you, the reader, when you are not actively reading...does that really fit "awfully funny"? Is the reviewer forcing a description there that isn't really there?

>24 dchaikin:, Dan, this is not really a serious answer to your question, but perhaps the book is funny in an awful way?

#12 - that does sound like a very interesting book - I like the way that the list you posted has some books that are well-known and some which aren't.

I don't have an answer to the question about the WAYRN threads. I am definitely finding the discussion here very interesting, and it would be a pity to lose that. I don't know what the best way would be to maintain it, though.

>24 dchaikin:, Dan, that is what one calls dark or black comedy - when a subject that is not funny is made so. The Petrushevskaya novella I'm reading now is like this - it's about survival and poverty - but the protagonist tells her story with this ironic black humor.

From wikipedia: "The terms black comedy or dark comedy have been later derived as alternatives to Breton's term. In black humour, topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo, specifically those related to death, are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness; the intent of black comedy, therefore, is often for the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes simultaneously."

Does that fit what you are experiencing?

Lois - somewhat. I see that it is supposed to be funny, but I'm not sure I'm finding the funny aspects funny. Or, I'm not interested in that aspect of the book, if that makes sense. It's mixture of difficult (for me) reading and humor I'm having trouble with.

I posted in the wrong thread last night and then posted here without reading anything. So about the WAYRN discussion above. I really like lists and I'm hoping most of us will post out reading here (first, and elsewhere second). Mixing in discussion here is purely experimental. Discussion has been fun, and i think it's because no one owns this thread, because you don't know how others will respond to your question or if you will get any answer, because it's January and we are all more talkative in January. But, we seem to be scaring off other posts and losing our list.

I'm thinking february will be a regular WAYRN thread. But, perhaps I'll try out a thread simply titled questions. My idea is that when we are quiet, someone can go to that thread an answer/ask a question and just like that start an interesting 2-person discussion...maybe.

Dan, I was thinking somewhat the same thing. Maybe we could have some sort of free-flowing book discussion thread (i.e., different from the Message Board) in addition to a list-like WAYRN (like your Questions idea).

I do find the genre WAYRN threads a little confusing, because they are in addition to this one, but I guess people will just use the general one or the genre ones depending on their own personal tastes.

>28 dchaikin:: I really like that idea a lot. I admit that I find the "ask a question" thing in this thread just a little artificial and slightly, I don't know, intimidating, maybe. Whether I want it to or not, I fear it is likely to make me post less on this thread, especially when there are other WAYRN threads to post to instead.

On the other hand, a thread where you can just post questions whenever you actually have questions and see if anybody has anything to say in response to them sounds both useful and fun!

>28 dchaikin: that does sounds like a good idea.

>28 dchaikin: It sounds like a good idea to me, too.

I have finished Terry Practhett's Feet of Clay a Watch Series book of the ever imaginative Disc world.

I hate to give in-depth reviews/comments books that are humors in nature. For me it ruins the joke or punchline trying to summarize and explain all that goes into satire to make it great. It's just something you have to experience and either you get it or you don't.

Question: Are there books that can't be reviewed?

>33 stretch:, stretch asked "Are there books that can't be reviewed?

I definitely feel like there are books that have provoked such an intensely emotional and personal response that I have no idea how to explain to others why I liked them and summarizing the plot of such books seems to somehow diminish them because the book is not just about what it's ostensibly about - a good book is also about mood and where it takes you when you read it. And sometimes that is impossible to convey.

28 - I like this idea as well, but in the meantime I'll respond to a couple questions here.

18 - what do you think about books in which you learn about an unfamiliar culture or time period but don't really get caught up in the story? - I find I can enjoy a book if I like the setting or characters even if the plot is not the greatest. A lot of that for me is fantasy where there is great worldbuilding. Not sure how I would react to real life settings.

24 - awfully funny - I would think they mean it to be dark humor as Lois suggested; however, that's a hard to pull off.

33 - Are there books that can't be reviewed? - The ones I have the hardest time with are either large weighty tomes, big important things in the cannon, and really popular things. Most of those I just feel I have nothing to add.

#18 - what do you think about books in which you learn about an unfamiliar culture or time period but don't really get caught up in the story?

I'm actually okay with this, as long as the writing is still good. For example, I loved The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt, and one of the highlights was Byatt's enormous amount of research. I learned a lot about the time period, and this kept me going - some of the characters and plotlines were very engaging, but others weren't, and the historical details got me through the less interesting storylines. Of course, all of this would be irrelevant if Byatt wasn't such an amazing writer.

When it comes to setting, if a book can make me want to travel to a place, the plot and characters become less central - sometimes I remember a book more for the atmosphere it evoked than for the actual plot.

#28 - I like this idea, and whatever we decide to do, I think this thread has had some really great discussin on it....hmm, maybe I will aim to end my own reviews/comments with a question.

I'm currently reading Mario Vargas Llosa's The Bad Girl. It's about a man who is in love with the same girl all his life. She reappears at different times, leading a very complex life herself, and disappears just as quickly. She leads him on, is, as the title says, a "bad girl", and yet he continues to love her. This is my first book by Vargas Llosa, and I'm not finding it to be the amazing piece of literature I expected it to be. I know it isn't one of MLV's better known works, so I'm not going to give up on him, but I'm not really engaged.

Question: How do you choose your first novel by a well-known author? I bought The Bad Girl because it was the only one I could find at my local bookstore. I could have ordered one of his better known, larger books, but I liked that The Bad Girl is short, the back blurb sounded good, etc. Yet it was one I had never heard of. So, did I make a mistake? Is it better to read the hyped books first, or try something less well known?

37 - I think it depends. Sometimes if you read the seminal work first, any others become disappointing. I tend to choose similarly to you - whatever I found on the sale shelf or was available easily.

>37 Cait86:, Cait, I might choose based on what was available on Kindle, honestly, because I could get the book instantaneously. Unfortunately, in the case of Mario Vargas Llosa, there was only recent-ish book on Kindle the last time I checked and that appeared to be non-fiction. Therefore, I thought I might go with the one I'd heard the most about, which is The Time of the Hero. (I've been thinking of joining in the group read...)

I have The Time of the Hero but haven't read it yet, although I will be reading it for the theme read. Of the many Vargas Llosa works I've read, my favorites are the really long and really complicated ones, The War of the End of the World and Conversation in the Cathedral, neither of which would be a good place to start, and the really fun and funny Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, which I just read last month. Lots of people also recommend The Feast of the Goat, which I also thought was good, and I also enjoyed Death in the Andes.

I've only read The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, which I thought was just ok, and The War of the End of the World, which was magnificent. Like Rebecca, I have The Time of the Hero on my shelf, and I will read it as part of the year-long author read. The next one will probably be what I find at one of my favorite used bookstores.

Aaaaaarghhhh,

I am always way behind on all these discussions and cannot possibly keep up with the reading of all good threads.

Thanks, Dan, for creating yet another one I will feel guilty about :-)

So, I am currently partway through at least ten books but the one I want to mention is Ursula Hegi's Floating in My Mother's Palm. I love many things about it, and will report on it, I hope, at greater length on my thread. But my interest in it, and my question to you, is a more selfish one. Hegi's book is an interconnected series of short stories with the same characters, being told by a child/young woman, set in central Europe. I am writing my own version of that, except it is being told by a male protagonist. Question: would you pick up a book like that? (Publishers Weekly calls Hegi "an exceptionally talented writer." I am still waiting to be called that by PW.)

I am reading the Norton Critical Edition of The Tempest. Last night I finished the text of the play itself. It took me too long because of massive battles with the buzzy gender of mosquitoes. I have still to read all of the commentary attached which I will do in hopes of finding out why this is likely my favorite play.

I am also reading The Federalist Papers or The Federalist (I have use links rather than touchstones to distinguish the editions, but when I have finished one I will have pretty much finished the other) for a group reading and discussion.

My attached question is not the one inherent in my reading of the commentary on The Tempest, however. It is, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" I may stick with that question so long as I am engaging with this thread.

Robert

>43 Mr.Durick: Robert,

you are no doubt familiar with the old chestnut about the philosophy professor who looks around his class on the first day and asks, "Has anybody here taken philosophy before?" One student answers, "What do you mean by 'here'?" And the prof says, "Anyone else?"

In that spirit, let me answer YOUR question with: "How do you know that there is in fact something, rather than just nothing?"

Cheers.

I swallowed it yesterday, and it is still with me. Cf. Samuel Johnson.

Robert

PS I am not convinced.

R

>43 Mr.Durick:: The first astrophysics class I ever took, the instructor opened with that question. I don't think anybody's found a truly satisfying answer to it yet.

I think it likely to be unanswerable, but I also think that an unanswerable question might still be interesting, especially so long as one is reasonably clear about what one is discussing about it.

Robert

#42 Andrew - Elizabeth Strout won a Pulitzer Prize with that concept (set in Maine, not Central Europe).

Sometimes I pick a fiction book up because of the plot, but usually because of something else. This description doesn't draw me to Hegi (your compliments, however, do). I might be more likely to pick up the book if the description were more specific then "Central Europe". A time period and specific places would get my attention.

#43/44 - There is something, but I don't know why. I wonder if some kind of math could work it out. If there is such a chance of something, and there is no time, then won't something be eventually, by certainty...if you can define "eventually" outside time?

Daniel, I think you're suggesting that all things happen in eternity. And I think that that can be shown not to be so, although I'm not sure that I trust human reasoning against infinity, a likely part of eternity. That demonstration is that a contradiction shouldn't be possible even with forever -- time or spacewise -- available; an immovable object will not meet an irresistible force. Then the question is, "Just what is allowed?" Max Tegmark thinks quite a lot is, but I don't know that that is an answer.

When eternity is not infinite time but is timelessness, then there is no change. So something rather than nothing would have to be in place, not from the beginning, but period, leaving the question unanswered.

To relate this to a book, Bede Rundle has written a dense little book called Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing. I believe that his conclusion was that we cannot conceive of there being nothing. That is not a satisfying answer to me. He might, however, respond to me that my lack of satisfaction doesn't matter.

He makes a case, as I understand it, for there never having been an infinite time in the past and that there never will be an infinite time in the future. He does it by showing that there has never been a day that did not come before another day and that that can be shown of each day until such time as we are smack up against today. There will never be a day in the future that will not come after a day before. Beyond the count doesn't exist nor can it in this case. I don't know whether a similar argument can be made about space, which is important to Tegmark, but physicists seem to think that a universe of infinite extent may be the case.

I don't know what a multiverse does to either possibility. John Gribbin seems to be very tolerant of real world infinities.

Robert

I've just finished and reviewed Tun-Huang by Yasushi Inoue, an interesting look at warriors, scholars, traders, and more in western China and central Asia nearly 1000 years ago.

I have read The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa, and I would highly recommend that, The Conversation in the Cathedral, or The Feast of the Goat as the best novels I've read by MVL. BTW, I'll start reading The War of the End of the World today.

I finished the imaginative and intriguing novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago late last night, which I greatly enjoyed. Saramago took some liberties with Christ's story, and he portrays him as being a flawed, conflicted and morally troubled Everyman.

My question: Has anyone read this novel or any other fictionalized accounts of Christ or other major Biblical figures, such as The Secret Magdalene? If so, what did you think of it?

Probably not at all the same sort of thing, but I remember quite enjoying Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Surprisingly, it turned out to be perfectly appealing to atheistic me while still taking an approach that's unlikely to be offensive to believers. (Well, unless you find the whole concept offensive, in which case it'll probably be obvious from the title that it's something you're going to want to avoid.) Also, it was funny.

Were you thinking only new testament? The Red Tent does an interesting job with the story of Jacob.

If you want a tome, Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann is a fabulous book and a much easier read than I expected.

Thanks for those recommendations. BTW, I was thinking about Old and New Testament books.

51 - I've read King Jesus by Robert Graves which is similar in concept and enjoyed it a lot. Not sure if I would recommend it for the religious as it depicts Jesus as having a claim to the Judean throne and focuses on the political rather than the mystical.

Darryl, I read Last Temptation of Christ last year and found it gorgeous. I wrote in my comments-- inspirational take on God-man struggle, critics who say this is sacrilegious are so wrong

42--Yes. I've read several with that set up and they have, more often than not, been very good. It allows the immediacy of the short story within the larger arch of a novel. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley is the one that springs immediately to mind.

Why did you choose that format?

I recently finished Angelology, which was really not at all good. My question is, is it easier for you to write reviews of books you really loved or of books you hated?

The Secret Magdalene is not a religious book, it's a spiritual book, and the most rewarding I've ever read.

Finally, I feel like I posted something of significance of my thread...a review of Wolf Hall.

I am in the middle of too many books. My goal this weekend is to finish some of these, because I don't like having this many in progress at the same time.

Fiction - In attempt to read something light and totally out of my comfort range, I downloaded Hull Zero Three on Kindle last night. It's about a man on some sort of interstellar colony ship who wakes up prematurely with no memory of who he is or what anything is to discover that something has gone wrong with the ship. So far I am actually not really enjoying it - something about the way it's written is really tedious, but I feel like there is an intriguing mystery, if only the author didn't spend so much time describing everything. Also need to start Short Cut to Paradise, a mystery that I'm reading for an upcoming issue of Belletrista - also outside my comfort range!

Still picking my way through various short fiction collections - Beirut 39: New Writing from the Arab World, There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Joyce Carol Oates' High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories 1966-2006, Mary Gaitskill's Don't Cry: Stories, and E.M. Forster's The Celestial Omnibus.

Non-Fiction - Still reading Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August in conjunction with A Military Atlas of the First World War.

Re books based on Bible Stories--A Time for Everything by Karl Knausgaard (published by Archipelago), which I read last year, contains as parts of its whole 3 novella-length sections: The Expulsion From the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, and Noah and the Flood, all told through the filter of the 21st century. Excellent book.

I just remembered I have to read Invisible Man for my Tuesday real life book club, so I better get moving on that.

Question--if you've read both, how do you compare Invisible Man with Native Son (or The Autobiography of Malcom X or Go Tell It on the Mountain or similar books)?

>51 kidzdoc:, fiction based on the life of Christ: A prominent storyline in The Master and Margarita is a retelling of Christ's interactions with Pontius Pilate, and though I prefer the other storyline of the novel, it is very well done.

But I think my favourite such re-telling (which is only arguably a retelling) is Anatole France's fine short story "The Procurator of Judea", which some thoughtful person has placed online, in English translation, here:

http://members.multimania.co.uk/shortstories/francejudea.html

#63: Thanks for the info about A Time for Everything, Deborah. I have it, and I'll definitely read it this year.

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't finished either Invisible Man or Native Son, which are on my TBR list for 2011.

#64: Thanks, Tim. I'd like to read The Master and Margarita this year, but I'm not sure when. I'll check out France's short story later this week.

> 51 Barrabas by Pär Lagerkvist tells the story of Barabbas after he was released when the crowd chose Jesus to be crucified instead.

The Return, short stories by Roberto Bolaño which I'm reading for the 2011 Roberto Bolaño Reading Challenge (which I'm also hosting, everyone is invited).

I have just finished A spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore. Very well written for about 2/3 of the book, but I was very let down by the end. I have posted my review on LT now.

>42 polutropos:: polutropos
I'm also interested in linked short stories and am writing some. Quite a few have been published recently -- the tag page gives lots of examples (there are probably other similar tags in use) and here are some I’ve read and rated/reviewed. They're hard to classify -- to differentiate between a novel vs a collection of stories; between a chapter vs a short story; etc.

Are there books that can't be reviewed?

It's hardest when a book involves huge spoilers. I'm working on one right now and I pretty much have, "4 stars, Just read it."

I've just begun I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, the author of Out Stealing Horses which I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed. Trying not to compare the two.

Have I said this before? (Probably somewhere else - I'm finding the multitudinous threads around here confounding.)

#71 thrin Have I said this before? (Probably somewhere else - I'm finding the multitudinous threads around here confounding.)

Yes, you mentioned this somewhere else (the fiction thread) and yes the redundant threads are a bit confusing. I'm mixed because we seem to be getting a large number of posts, but we are losing whatever clarity we had before. Not sure how important that clarity is, though. Personally, my own brain can latch on to titles, reviews and poetry and, but the most of rest goes right on through without leaving much a mark. Anyway, my fault in regards to the confusion. These redundant threads were a bit a an experiment. In February there will be only one WAYRN thread...but, of course, that doesn't mean the other threads will go away...

I'm reading Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks, and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout by Jon Canvar. My question - if a non-fiction, newsy book that is read for curiosity (and not to gain life-pertinent training or information) is informative, sincere (i.e. not biased, IMO), timely, but perhaps not all that well written...is it still worth reading?

Since last posting, I've read and reviewed two books by hilary Mantel, Every Day Is Mother's Day and its much funnier and creepier sequel, Vacant Possession, the very disappointing The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman, The Maias by Eça de Queirós, a fascinating look at Portuguese upper class life in the 1880s, and the thrilling and complex She Drove without Stopping by Jaimy Gordon who won last year's National Book Award for the wonderful Lord of Misrule.

I too am confused by all the threads, but I may wander over to the fiction thread and post this there too.

I'm just generally overwhelmed these days and am failing to remember (or to have time to) post anywhere.

I'm reading From Sleep Unbound by Andrée Chedid, a Lebanonese-Egyptian-French author.

I have just finished and reviewed Patti Smith's memoir about Robert Mapplethorpe and herself, Just Kids. It is a poetic and moving book.

I'm cozying up with some delicious new teas, trying to ignore the hideous sounds of cars stuck in the snow outside, and reading Seth Mnookin's The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear, about the vaccine-autism "link," the corresponding decline in immunization rates and the resulting rise in once-eradicated diseases. It seems like there is also a theme running through the book about the rise of an anti-science mentality and the ease with which people believe in false things despite evidence, which are two issues that very much interest me. I'm very excited for this book.

I just posted a review of The Brothers Karamazov on my thread and on the work page. This is something of an accomplishment, a very difficult book for me to review.

I'm reading Towers of Midnight, book...um...13 of The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson. Also, I've started Florida in Poetry: A History of the Imagination, edited by Club Reads Jane A. Jones and Maurice O'Sullivan and The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and originally published in 1947.

After finishing the Chedid mentioned in #74 above, I read a lovely short novel where the relatively contemporary story felt folklorish. It's Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst.

Now I've switched gears and am reading another police procedural, this time set in Melbourne, The Dragon Man by Gary Disher.

Question: Do you find that you sometimes need something lighter (in some way or another) or different at certain times, perhaps to take a break from heavier reading, or because you are just looking for a comfort read? If so, what do you turn to?

I certainly have had to pick lighter reads to break up darker subject matter in the past. I've been on a bombing of Hiroshima/Nagaski theme read this month. A subject I found rather depressing. I've tried to lighten the end of month with The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which I'm finding kinda of dull. Before I try to tackle Out Stealing Horses.

Lois - I've begun reading lighter books while I'm reader heavier reading because I've found there are times and places where I can read, but not with the concentration the heavier book demands. But, that's not really related to your question because that becomes all one experience. I do seem to be going through phases where I want the heavier reading or where I can't bear looking at the heavier books - which is my state of the moment (where heavier means Proust). I am taking a break, but it might be a break of several months to a year.

>76 fannyprice:: I may have to check The Panic Virus out, although at this point I've read enough about that particular subject that it's starting to depress me.

(And, huh, trying to touchstone that goes to something bizarrely unrelated, apparently.)

>78 avaland:: I make a deliberate effort, really, to vary the kind of writing I read, mixing lighter stuff with heavier stuff, fiction with non-fiction, various different genres, etc. Fortunately, with nearly 400 books on the TBR pile, I always have something appropriate.

As many know, I'm big on reading grim books. But every now and then one is just too grim even for me, and I need to break it up with a lighter book, or sometimes I've just been reading too many grim books and I need something lighter. The problem is that I don't tend to buy a lot of lighter books, so I don't always have something around.

When I really need a comfort read, I tend to go back to The Straight and Narrow Path or Cold Comfort Farm.

I've been putting off continuing my "evils of the 20th century" project because the next book up just seems to heavy for right now, Gulag by Anne Applebaum.

78 - Absolutely. I tend to go to fantasy novels to break with some of my heavier reading. But I also find the opposite holds true. If I've read several 'easy' reads in a row I get anxious to read something with more teeth.

This brings up a side question of what qualifies as an 'easy' or 'hard' read. For me it can be both style or content.

>82 rebeccanyc: hey, I read 11 JCO books last year, that puts me next to you in the grim room:-)

>80 dchaikin: Yes, I would say that my ability to concentrate heavily affects what I pick up to read. And I like a wide variety of books to begin with. Sometimes, when I'm stressed, I'm reduced to fabric catalogs which I consider the adult equivalent of thumb-sucking.

>83 janemarieprice: I have those limits also. My husband and I were talking the other evening about how most popular literature is fantasy of one kind or another. I read mysteries with an emphasis in police procedurals, and they are certainly—for the most part—fantasy. I know from coming from the field that 1. dead bodies do not show up in small town annually. 2. most cops never draw their guns much less fire them. 3. many cases are not solved 4. justice is not always served 5. good does not always triumph over evil. But I certainly enjoy the fantasy where cases are solved rationally, justice is served, and good does indeed reliably triumph over evil.

What started that conversation was the Larsson books and the included revenge fantasy or "woman warrior" fantasy.

Sometimes, when I'm stressed, I'm reduced to fabric catalogs which I consider the adult equivalent of thumb-sucking.

too funny, Lois...pacifier books...mine could NOT be a fabric catalogs!

Seed catalogs and art supply lists are my brain candy, probably in the same way. All the pretty things I could, theoretically, make.

I'm finishing up Colm Toibin's book of short stories, The Empty Family, but the last story is taking days to read.

Do you ever find that you put a book down, even when it's very good and you're enjoying it, in favor of anything else?

My reading is so scattershot, and I often put a book down for awhile, but if I'm really enjoying a book, I stick to it and with it like glue. My comfort reads are any travel guides/literature/brochures and really good mysteries.

>86 RidgewayGirl: I have The Empty Family from the library, but it's a "seven day loan" and I don't know if I'll get to it in time. I'll be interested in your take on it.

Right now I'm reading Chateau d' Argol and a collection of poems by Bertolt Brecht. From the library I also picked up Charles Baxter's Gryphon: New and Selected Stories. I love Baxter's short stories, but the one novel I tried didn't grab me. On the other hand, I've read novels by writers whose short stories come up short for me.

I guess my question would be: Has anyone else found this to be true? How do short stories or short story collections fit in with your reading?

>86 RidgewayGirl: I've had to stop the seed catalogs. The knee can't handle the gardening much any more. I've taken the pictures from the catalogs though and decoupaged at least one tabletop:-)

>87 theaelizabet: I read a fair amount of short fiction these days. Certainly, some authors are better at short fiction than novels, and vice versa. And some are masters of all the various forms.

Thea - I like to make a project of a book, regardless of it's content. For a novel, I just read through it. For poetry, I've been trying to read at least one poem each night, and, if I get it, if it's sinking in and it's not making stop to think too much, I'll keep reading several more. Short stories fall into between. If they're linked, I'd prefer to read them as a novel. If they aren't—I haven't had much experience here—then I think I'd like to be able to read one per sitting (or less). And, once I finish one story, pick up something else to read. But, the next time I sit down to read, my first choice would be the short story collection. This would take some patience and planning for me, I think. Having said that, the last two short story collections I started were left unfinished.

Will no one else admit to reading fashion magazines for brain fluff? Fine, then I'll just have to come out first: *stands up dramatically* I read InStyle, and Vogue, and Lucky, and even Marie Claire on occasion. Who's with me? *slumps back in chair*

Mysteries (of the literary variety I must qualify), kids' books and a bit of chick lit are my mac & cheese and chocolate.

But I am trying to make myself read some of the more challenging items on my bookshelf, b/c they are often the most rewarding. But like you, dan, I surreptitiously eye the Proust on my shelf with fear and suspicion.

btw, my question was 'Who's with me?"

Crime fiction is my light reading, but I must say I'm not enjoying the trend toward the depiction of particularly gruesome torture.

>89 dchaikin: dchaikin

I share your reactions to short story collections, but 'Planning and patience' are not my strongest points. I do enjoy short stories though and am looking forward to Toibin's The Empty Family.

>86 RidgewayGirl: RidgewayGirl
Do you ever find that you put a book down, even when it's very good and you're enjoying it, in favour of anything else?

Yes, I do, and it's usually non-fiction that gets put aside. I don't understand why this is the case, but I suspect it's laziness on my part. Someone suggested that the problem might be that most non-fiction lacks the 'What happens next?' factor, but why would I put some biographies aside (in which, surely, 'what happens next' is fundamental) - even when written by someone like Peter Ackroyd whose writing I enjoy?

Edited to add: >90 citygirl: citygirl Magazines... Yes, gardening mags, and Craft Arts International for me.

My question's in the penultimate para.

#90 citygirl Will no one else admit to reading fashion magazines for brain fluff?

I confess I read/flip through these, but only when I'm getting my hair cut or colored. I will not pay for these! To the extent I am interested in these, it is less for the fashion and more for the "tips" of various kinds, although I have to say that they mostly seem oriented to sending readers out to buy things!

#87, theelizabet, I read Chateau d'Argol a year or so ago, and it mystified me, although I thought the use of language was remarkable. I knew LOTS was going right by me.

#90 citygirl Will no one else admit to reading fashion magazines for brain fluff?

I confess I read/flip through these, but only when I'm getting my hair cut or colored. I will not pay for these! To the extent I am interested in these, it is less for the fashion and more for the "tips" of various kinds, although I have to say that they mostly seem oriented to sending readers out to buy things!

#87, theelizabet, I read Chateau d'Argol a year or so ago, and it mystified me, although I thought the use of language was remarkable. I knew LOTS was going right by me.

I schedule my reading according to the time of the day. I am at my most attentive in the morning and so for example my mornings reading is piers Plowman the Btext in middle English. I can still keep it together enough in the afternoon when I usually read non fiction. At the moment its The autumn of the middle ages. When darkness falls I'm into mystery thrillers sci-fi or fantasy. Its Carrion comfort by Dan Simmons tonight. Therefore in answer to your question my reading is set up so I get light relief most evenings.

I also tend to plan my reading a couple of weeks in advance and so I can look forward to what I will be reading in the near future. Do other people do this?

>92 rebeccanyc: rebeccanyc, I read your review and found it very interesting and helpful in that I've read little of Hegel, but have decided not to care!

>94 baswood: baswood, I sometimes plan my reading, but rarely follow through. I'm like a child that gets distracted by a shiny object. Another book or subject matter will come my way and my plans disappear.

94: Sometimes I plan my reading, but mostly I do not. Normally I wait until I'm (mostly) finished the book I'm currently reading then hunt around for something to read next.

I'm currently reading the last few pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and I'm still trying to decide what to read next.

And my question: What do the illustrious members of this group do when they aren't reading? If I'm not reading or working, I'm probably baking something.

eta - or trying to learn Latin

Re short stories: I've read, or am in the process of reading, several short story anthologies. Instead of my usual approach of dipping in and reading a story here, a story there, I am trying to read through these in the order the stories are presented - but I give myself permission to skip a story if it's not grabbing me after a couple of pages. This approach worked well with A Foreign Country: New Zealand Speculative Fiction, and it's now working well for The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories as well.

#91 - I definitely have the no-'what-happens-next' problem when it comes to non-fiction, although I seem to have been doing a bit better recently - or perhaps I've been picking really good NF.

#90 - yep, another fan of the glossy magazines here too, although I actually prefer the dumber ones. If I am picking one up it's because I want to think about nail polish and heel heights, not read some psuedo-deep article about mistreated women or celebrity causes....

#95, theelizabet, I was actually hoping that when you read it, I might understand more!

#94, baswood, I often have an idea in my head of what I might like to read next, but usually I just pick what seems intriguing at the time. This is especially true of fiction. With nonfiction, I sometimes have projects and know what I'm going to read next for the project, but not necessarily when I'm going to read it.

#98, wandering star, I'm with you on no celebrities or sob stories, and also no pages of just clothes.

#96, TineOliver, If I'm not reading, I'm probably working, spending time on LT, doing household chores, or sleeping.

>90 citygirl: "mac and cheese" ha ha, I like that analogy!

>91 Thrin: Thrin, that's one of the reasons I dropped Elizabeth George. Her crimes seemed to be more and more sexually bizarre (well, and for the fact that she turned her attention away from Barbara Havers).

>96 TineOliver: Do you mean something we might call a "hobby"? I might be found baking (hate to cook, love to bake..), sewing, quilting, knitting, painting walls or furniture...etc.

For me also, easy/comfortable means pulling out something visual. But it's more likely a coffee-table book or a home&garden glossy like Martha Stewart Living.

>96 TineOliver:: Wait, there are times when I'm not reading?

No, just kidding. Generally, when not reading, I'm either surfing the internet or watching DVDs. (Thanks to Neflix, I'm working on getting caught up on every movie and TV series that I missed in the last 20 or 30 years. And right now, I'm working on a very slow re-watch of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, since I actually bought the DVDs and have to get my money's worth out of them.)

Also, never mind fashion magazines or seed catalogs. I often find myself browsing book catalogs when I want to relax, except that it usually tends not to be all that relaxing, because they're full of books I want to buy and shouldn't.

I've been away, work is horrid!

>78 avaland:, Yes, definitely on comfort/light reading. Oddly enough, I turn to kind of "fluffy" non-fiction, which is why I've read so much of it recently. (Which I basically define as anything that's NOT non-fiction about the Middle East, which always feels too much like work, no matter how interesting or well-written it is.) I find it so much easier to get interested in and to focus on than fiction. I also used to read a lot of young adult urban fantasy as a comfort read, but I kinda burned out on that after last year. I also particularly love Gothic-y fiction reads as a comfort read - The Little Stranger, the House at Riverton, White is For Witching, all fantastic gothic comforts.

But honestly, recently I've been turning to stupid iPhone games. I am obsessed with matching three or more gems of the same color....I also find comfort in watching Top Chef on Bravo. :D

>79 stretch:, stretch, I thought The Eyre Affair was one of the most creative books I'd ever read, but I got really bored with the plot itself. I've struggled to read the other books in the series.

>Fannyprice, I actually just finished The Eyre Affair and know what you mean. I think the idea really us clever and I felt Fford was better at mixing Nursery rhymes into the plots of his nursery crimes series. For me even with the clever use of other literature The Eyre Affair left with a distinct Meh feeling. I honestly don't think I'll be trudging through anymore of the Thursday Next novels.

103/104 - I quite enjoyed The Eyre Affair but see where ya'll are coming from. Premise was great, execution not the best, but what made it for me was the character of Thursday.

I thought the Eyre Affair was quite clever, but it worked best for me as a one-off. I never could will myself to read the next one.

I am reading Room, Emma Donoghue and a play; Translations, Brian Friel, both of these have been selected by a book club which I am going to visit for the first time.

Question. I have never been to a book club before, but I am sure some of you belong to them, What have been your experiences.

>103 fannyprice:-106 I also thought The Eyre Affair clever and funny, and enjoyed that first book immensely. However, I didn't find the 2nd book all that funny, so that's where it ended for me.

I was in a book club for several years, baswood, but despite it bringing some very interesting books to my attention, it was really more a social club.

I've just finished Stephen King's collection of four novellas, Full Dark, No Stars and I will admit that I thought it was very good.

Is anyone else willing to confess to liking a "mainstream" author?

I like Stephen King, if the book's not scary, and in fact I would like to read Full Dark, No Stars. I bought it for my niece and then read the flap. I'll have to ask her if I can borrow it.

>109 RidgewayGirl: Within a genre world, "mainstream" refers to a writer who doesn't write genre. So, if you were at a horror convention, you would not refer to King as mainstream:-) Perhaps you are thinking more of terms like: 'popular', 'bestselling', or 'genre'? (depending on what you intended with 'mainstream')

Yes, that term was confusing me, too! I'm willing to confess to liking all kinds of authors, popular and otherwise, but I'm not at all sure what "mainstream" means in this context.

(And I do like King, by the way. I think he's actually quite a good writer, although he does have a couple of flaws, namely his tendency to write books that are longer than they really ought to be and his frequent difficulty with endings.)

A new month, time to close this thread.

Go to the February thread, no questions this time, here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/108862

An, if you like the questions, go here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/108866