**What Are You Reading Now? -- Fiction

Post about what fiction books you are reading now. At the moment we're not splitting this into genres. So the more-or-less literary contemporary, classic, mysteries, thrillers, prize winners, whatever all go here. When this thread gets too long, we'll start a part II.

This is for 2011...but feel free to start early.

Just finished Frankenstein. Although very dismal at times, it is beautifully written and not at all what I expected. The monster's descriptions of his life, how he came to understand his surroundings and his feeling about how others view him are really quite touching. I am still processing it. As a scientist, I sometimes wonder how it would feel if your inventions turn out to be destructive in ways you did not anticipate.

Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - part 3 of his Mars trilogy. Lots to think about, with memorable characters who carry through the books, but he is really, really wordy.
Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt - Algonquin Bay, Ontario - mystery, first in series
Ghosts of Onyx: Halo by Eric Nylund - 4th in the series based on the game Halo. Actually not bad, although game playing is not my thing.

Looking at that list, I think I need to find some serious fiction to add in.

Just finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. It's my first book by her and I very much enjoyed it, though the end seemed kind of rushed. The whole book, though, was beautifully evocative of both the time and place and I look forward to reading more by her.

ETA book image (haven't done it before and wanted to try it out!)

I'm in the middle of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Dubliners.

I have been confused at times by Uncle Tom's Cabin at times because even the most sympathetic characters will say something completely racist (how simple-minded the "negroes" are for example); yet, at other times, HBS seems to consider them her equal.

I'm reading Dubliners on my new ereader that I received as a Christmas gift. I am really enjoying the book, which is much more straight-forward than the other Joyce I have read, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I am particularly taken aback by how similar the middle class of early twentieth century Dublin is with people today. They have many of the same problems (stress at work or example) and vices (alcoholism and child abuse for example) as people today. Joyce's descriptions of these people are incredibly real without passing judgment upon them. He leaves that up to the reader.

>5 fuzzy_patters: Dubliners is one of my favorites. I am hoping to revisit it this year!

#5 Another thumbs-up for Dubliners.

I'm reading Great House by Nicole Krauss.

I read and wrote a paper on Dubliners a zillion years ago in college. Enjoyed it. Just finished Little Bee extraordinary! and now reading Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.

I read and wrote a paper on Dubliners a zillion years ago in college. Enjoyed it. Just finished Little Bee extraordinary! and now reading Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.

I've more or less wiped my plate clean for 2011... what a great feeling to be able to read anything I want! Yes yes I know there are at least a dozen books with bookmarks sticking out of them on my headboard... but nothing I feel urgent about!

I think I'll start with Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton (it's one of those with a bookmark so I can kill two birds yada yada)

and then I think I'll go with Paolo Bacigalupi's highly recommended Ship Breakers on my Kindle.

Just begun Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones. Can't put it down. All those thoughts, all that meaning behind the actual.... fascinating how the author manages to articulate this. Quite poetic. A few sentences seem a bit too cleverly contrived to me, but that's probably because I'm not nearly so clever.

I'm working my way through William Faulkner's Collected short stories - I was aiming for a story a day but interrupted myself after the first section and have restarted -- I'm finding them just wonderful, of course.
I'm also about a third of the way through Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint - also very enjoyable, though I've not gone back to it for a few days now. It's tone has somehow reminded me of Saleem's in Midnight's Children, but smuttier of course.

Still working through my reaction to The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It isn't a book that one can finish and forget about.

I've begun Angelology by Danielle Trussoni and the jury is still out on whether it'll be compelling fun (like The Historian) or something less than good (like the Dan Brown oeuvre).

I'm also reading Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucchi, which is not at all similar to anything by Dan Brown.

I've just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and am starting The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa.

I'm reading Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf for the Journeys theme on Reading Globally.

I'm interested to hear what you think of Angelology rg. I bought it last year on the strength of the NYT review, and based on my just having read A Time for Everything by Karl Knausgard, in which angels figure prominently.

I picked up my copy based on that very same review. I'm not convinced that it's as good as they said it is, but I'm only a quarter of the way in. The premise is good, though.

Still finishing up The Brothers Karamazov. Not sure what will be next.

14 - Will also be interested to see what you think about Angelology. I bought it last year also, though on the strength of the cover rather than the NYT review. :)

>12 Thrin: Isn't she wonderful! I have just her two collections to read and I'll have read her entire oeuvre.

>5 fuzzy_patters: Another thumbs up for Dubliners, also read in a lit class.

Currently I'm reading The Time: Night by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya and thus far I can say that there is some comfort in being reminded that dysfunctional families are universal.

I'm nearly halfway through A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, which I'm reading for Orange January. It's a novel set in a university town in the Midwest, narrated by a college student who becomes a nanny for a quirky (and so far dislikable) couple who adopt a biracial child. I'm not enjoying it, as I don't like any of the main characters, but it is well written.

I'm finishing up Brothers Karamazov for a Le Salon group read and I'm not sure what my next fiction read will be. So many choices...

I'm reading We Need to Talk About Kevin for my first Orange January, and it's killing me. I both love it and hate it; I had thought that - based on the "ripped from the headlines" premise, a school shooting - it would be kind of a saccharine, Jodi Picoult-like book....(I know it doesn't make sense to expect a book about a school shooting to be "light reading.") It's not.

22: I read that book (in one night--I couldn't stop reading) not long after reading Columbine. I think the mother takes too much responsibility for how Kevin turns out, but, as a mom, I can totally relate. It would be a good book-discussion, wouldn't it? There's a fascinating story on NPR's This American Life called "Unconditional Love" that you might want to listen to. It's a podcast, so you can listen to it on your iPhone. ;-)

Oops! I forgot to say that I'm going to read one of my new short story collections that I got for Christmas. Maybe The Best of American Short Stories 2010, introduced by Richard Russo. I get these every year and it's interesting to me how the choices are very much affected by who the guest author is.

I 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'm reading Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope which has been sitting on my couch, untouched, since some time in November. Shamefully, I abandoned it in favor of running up the numbers on my 2010 75 Book Challenge. I say shamefully, because I was well past the 75 book mark. But today seemed like a good day to get things rolling again.

>22 fannyprice: love it or hate it, when you finish you will need to talk about it. I read it years ago and am still talking about it! LOL! It isn't a perfect book but it brings up some interesting questions.

>26 avaland:, God, that's the problem with it, Lois, it's an emotional rollercoaster. I don't know whether to trust Eva's version of events at all anymore! Something outrageous has just happened and I'm thinking, "Kevin can't be that evil, can he?"

bleh - erased, moved to proper thread...sorry...

I am beginning Hattige; or, The Amours Of The King Of Tamaran by Gabriel de Brémond, first published in French in 1676 and translated into English by someone known only as "B.B." in 1680. It is a roman à clef about the sexual triangle of Charles II, Barbara Villiers, and Jack Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough. It is also my first pick for the Club Read "translation" challenge.

"Funny" is so subjective, isn't it? I thought Uncomplicated Kindness by Miriam Towes was funny, but most people I talked to thought it was depressing. (Darn, neither Touchstone is working so may have both title and author wrong.) I like RL funny, but not cynical/sarcastic funny.

Eta: Am I crazy or what? I thought I was responding to a comment about The Finkler Question and what's funny, but now I don't see the question. Oh well, somewhere someone is talking about "funny."

My touchstone didn't work a minute ago, either; it's not you.

>14 RidgewayGirl:: Count me among the number of people interested in hearing about Angelology. I keep looking at that book, and am somehow convinced that I'm likely to either love it or hate it, but I have no idea which. Which makes me slightly afraid of it.

As for my own reading, I did finish James Blish's Cities in Flight, Vol. 2 as my first book of the year. Next up will be The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist. I'm a little uncertain about this one. I just got it for Christmas, which I was happy about, and then a few days ago a friend of mine said on his blog that he found it disappointing. We'll see whether I agree with him or not.

Going to get started with Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins a little later on today. I don't ordinarily read the books in a series so quickly, but I don't think I can face Dorothy at work tomorrow without being able to tell her that I'm reading it.

#31 Bonnie - apologies, that was me! I moved my post to another WAYRN thread.

Just finished Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett and have started Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse and the graphic novel (possible Manga?) Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa, An atom bomb theme read of sorts. The first couple of chapters of Black Rain have been absolutely gripping and I expect the rest will be pretty good.

I love starting 2011 with excellent reading.

ETA: Finished Barefoot Gen, a powerful graphic telling of the events right before, during and immediately after the bombing of Hiroshima. Glad to have read it, but will need some time to digest the full impact before I comment on it.

I thought Black Rain was an amazing book, and it continues to haunt me several years after I read it. I've heard of, but not read, Barefoot Gen, and I'll be interested to see how the two books compare.

I am currently reading The Federalist Papers by lots of people and Mediæval Latin Lyrics by Helen Waddell. If you do not eschew ebooks, the later is available from Open Library as a parallel text--although you can't exactly read it in parallel form on an ebook . . . yet. Still, I wouldn't have started reading it at all had I not run across it in search of something else. The poetry is gorgeous and most of the poets are completely unknown to me.

I've finished The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire. I have mixed feelings, which I will put on my 2010 thread, cuz that's when I finished it.

I am currently reading an ER, The Devotion of Suspect X, a Japanese literary thriller, and Hamlet. I just got to the part where Claudius stops the play that Hamlet tricked up.

I will next pick up The Slap, so Ridgeway, I'll be checking in with you in the next week or two.

I'm looking forward to that! The Slap is a book that begs to be discussed.

I'm getting ready to start The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago.

40: I know! There were so many unlikable characters in that book--including the mom--but still wanted to keep reading.

> 41 darryl, maybe i'll join you on this one. i've not read Saramago for some time.

Having a crime-fiction break with Inspector John Rebus in Edinburgh just now. In The Falls by Ian Rankin, as in the other Rebus books, the city of Edinburgh itself shares centre stage with the good (and satisfyingly rebellious) Inspector.

Ah, Thrin, I've only recently discovered the pleasures of Rebus. I've read the first four, I think. Must get back to him soon.

Just about to start Midnight's Children - a book that I've been dreading for a long, long time. But I cannot put it off any longer. It's time.

#43; I'm almost 2/3 of the way through "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ", deebee, and it's excellent so far. I'll finish it no later than tomorrow.

Reading the Finkler Question, which is a bit distressing as it seems to be turning women and Jews into objects instead of people, but through an unexpected manner. For lighter reading, I've also started Towers of Midnight, book 12 of the Wheel of Time fantasy series. I started the series 20 years ago this month.

I just started Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe after over a year of it sitting right at the top of my "to read" pile.

>3 auntmarge64:, auntmarge64: I dearly love Kim Stanley Robinson - he is one of my favourite authors - but even I would say that Blue Mars is very wordy (though I think the preceding two volumes flow a lot better). Can there ever have been a novel that devotes so much attention to the process, and indeed the results, of drafting a constitution? (Perhaps there is a fictionalised version of the US Constitutional Convention I don't know about?)

I've just finished speculative fiction anthology A Foreign Country: New Zealand Speculative Fiction, edited by Anna Caro and Juliet Buchanan. As I have a story in this anthology, I won't review it, but I will post some comments on my blog & link to that from here. In brief, I enjoyed it, and the final story, by Juliet Marillier, is a real stunner.

Next, I'm planning to read Grendel by John Gardner and "Island" by New Zealand author Penelope Todd - her first adult novel after seven well-received YA novels.

I finished The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago late last night, which was an intriguing account of Christ's life. I'll review it tomorrow.

Next up will be The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Tenant and The Motive, two "darkly humorous" novellas by Javier Cercas.

I tentatively started Girls of Riyadh by Raja Alsanea because I wanted something light after the concentrated reading (and enjoyment) of To Mervas by Elisabeth Rynell.

I finished The Song is You by Megan Abbott yesterday and it was excellent--one of Abbott's best and a new take on the hardboiled genre set in glamorous post-war Hollywood.

I finished Angelology by Danielle Trussoni today and it was not the worst book I have ever read.

I'm beginning The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which I have attempted at least twice before. And Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane is around here somewhere.

Completed light detective read 1222 by Anne Holt. Set in Norway but could have been anywhere cold.
Now reading The Siege by Helen Dunmore - beautiful prose juxtaposed with horrendous content.

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.

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.

I started All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy yesterday evening. His writing style, with the sparse puntuation, is very appealing to me.

Authors who write brilliantly can get away, in my eyes, with incongruities like setting a blizzard in San Antonio, Texas. (Here's proof that there was never a half-foot of snow there in the 1940s: http://drtlibrary.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/snow-in-san-antonio/)

I'm glad you're enjoying All the Pretty Horses. McCarthy is one of my favorite authors. Is this the first novel of his that you have read?

As for my reading, I finished Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe on Thursday and started Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy last night for my downstairs reading. When I am upstairs, I am about 98 pages into Ulysses by James Joyce. I found Dedalus's stream of consciousness to be maddening, but I am thoroughly enjoying the book now that I have passed that section of the book. In particular, I am most enjoying the puns, dark humor, and witty repartee. Joyce could be hilarious when he wanted to be.

Just finished Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye's Coming to Birth which is the story of a young woman's coming of age set during the last days of the "Emergency" in Kenya. A quiet book, powerful in its way as it convinces in portraying the "coming of birth" of women in a nation that was itself going through birth pains. It's definitely worth a look not only by those interested in feminist writing, and vy those who like Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.

>58 fuzzy_patters:: Yes, this is the first McCarthy I've read beyond a page or two. I attempted Suttree but the font in the edition I had was too small. It's going to be one of the first Kindle books I purchase when the time comes!

I'm still reading the Petrushevskaya novel, but this week, with all of its numerous distractions, I picked up a Håkan Nesser police procedural and read and enjoyed that (3 more on the pile). Although he is Swedish, his police procedural is set in a fictional town in an unnamed city which, judging from other Swedish procedurals I've read resembles a Swedish city, but the names tend towards the Dutch.

I am reading The Slap which I couldn't put down, until I had overloaded.

I started Bleak House last night and had to make myself put it down or else I'd've been up all night.

Finished Hamlet and The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino.

I am currently reading The Help and A spell of Winter both are part of my Orange January challenge

Started The Grapes of Wrath a couple of days ago. Am still reading Midnight's Children, but TGoW is more interesting, so MC is sitting on the couch cooling its heels for now.

I'm reading Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Journey to the End of the Night and José Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, both very good and much easier reads than I expected.

I just finished Wolf Hall. I think next on my Orange January reading list will either be A Mercy by Toni Morrison or Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I'll what my hand gravitates towards tonight after dinner.

Starting three books this week; The visions of piers plowman, William Langland The perfect king life of Edward III, Ian Mortimer and 2001 a space odyssey, Arthur C Clarke. Guess which one I'll finish first?

I just finished Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy, which I liked but was also a bit disappointed. It was my first Tolstoy, and I was expecting it to be as good as the three Dostoevsky novels that I have read, but it didn't measure up for me. Hopefully, The Death of Ivan Ilych will be better as I will be starting it in a few minutes.

I am also about 125 pages into Ulysses, now, and I am still enjoying it. The dark humor about corpses and religious jokes about Lazarus had me laughing heartily.

I just finished Grendel by John Gardner - here's my short review:

Having read Beowulf a few years ago, I was keen to read Grendel, the story retold from the monster's point of view - though, in fact, Beowulf appears very late in this story.

All the same, it's a prodigious piece of writing. Modernism as a literary movement has not aged well, but at its best modernist literature has the kind of confidence and exuberance John Gardner shows as he takes the monstrous Grendel, a mixture of brute and philosopher, for a spin. (4.5/5)

Next, I'm off to visit The Baron In The Trees by Italo Calvino.

Started Room last night and am now halfway through. It is quite astonishing, the way Donoghue is telling this story. I am glad to find it is not as dismal as I'd thought it would be.

I just read Room last week and loved it. I'm astonished, too, by how well she makes the whole thing work.

Me, I've just started Blackout by Connie Willis, the first in a two-part novel about time travel and the London Blitz. It's interesting... After noting that I read (for me) surprisingly little science fiction last year, it now seems to be making up the bulk of my January reading.

I've just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, a story of a man's life in 1930s Mexico and 1940s America. I started off hating and ended up loving it.

Next up: The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing for my book group. I've read two others by her (The Golden Notebook and A Ripple from the Storm) which I really didn't enjoy, so I'm not looking forward to this one!

I'm reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and I am unable to put it down. We're having people over for dinner tonight and I'm wondering if I can make aioli while reading. Should be possible, right? The slicing and dicing part of things may be more challenging...

So annoying when real life gets the way of the most important thing! Husband & I are in a hotel this wknd and I left my copy of TLS at home b/c it's in hardback. Brought paperbacks of Bleak House and The Master and Margarita instead.

I am reading The Clothes On Their Backs by one of my favourite writers, Linda Grant. So far (I'm only a few chapters in) it's excellent, potentially shaping up to be her best book.

After finishing Family Happiness and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, I am now reading The Kreutzer Sonata, which is also by Tolstoy. Of the three, I think I like this one the best so far, although each of the latter two have been very good. I am also reading Ulysses on my ereader, which has been hilarious at times.

I'm reading The Double by Jose Saramago. It's excellent so far.

Just about to begin Sourland by Joyce Carol Oates. So far I haven't much enjoyed the little I've read by this author, but she's so highly regarded by many here on LT that I feel I should persevere with her oeuvre (at least with some of it).

>75 wandering_star: wandering star... Hope you enjoy Linda Grant's The Clothes On their Backs: I like her stories too.

I'm reading Molloy by Samuel Beckett and The adventures of augie march by saul bellow - have got further with Augie, excellent. I'm just a few pages in to the Beckett - still getting a grip of its tone, I'm wondering if I am getting this right but it seems almost vague, dreamy, yet very precise, am wondering where it is going (and where C is going, or is it A) and may have to reread to check this sense.
Haven't contineud with another Faulkner short story yet - but still loving these.

Have finished 3 mysteries by Swedish author Håkan Nesser, didn't bother with the fourth. They are less the kind of police procedural I enjoy and, in fact, the 3rd I read, the most recent to be translated I think, is a psychological thriller.

And I've finished The Time: Night by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, a short novel full of black humor told in the voice of the main character, a older middle-aged woman trying to control her out-of-control family while keeping everyone fed and clothed.

I've also finished a poetry collection, Lovers of the Lost by US poet Wesley McNair which I enjoyed. His poetry is similar to Billy Collins, particularly in its accessibility, and some of its themes and subject matter (they were both born in 1941).

Finally, I've started From Sleep Unbound, a novel by Egyptian-Lebanese author Andrée Chedid (who wrote it in French).

Having given up on Sourland by Joyce Carol Oates I am about to begin I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson whose Out Stealing Horses I enjoyed very much last year.

I just finished Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving. I wouldn't have normally picked this one up, but it was my book club's selection for January, and I actually had a lot of fun reading it. Now I can get back to the Blind Assassin, which I'd had to put aside. I'm also listening to Lullabies for Little Criminals, by Heather O'Neill on my iPod and absolutely loving it.

I've been slowly enjoying One More Year, a collection of stories about immigrants in the US by Sana Krasikov (born in Ukraine, raised in Georgia, now lives in US). Also liking Faïza Guène's Du reve pour les oufs. However, I'm distracted from both by today's surprise purchase, the French translation of a South Korean graphic novel, Le Visiteur du sud (which might actually be non-fiction; it's based on the author's experiences in North Korea but I don't know to what extent).

Finally, I finished a book....I finished The Finkler Question yesterday, but can't construct a coherent response yet, if that makes sense. Now, for some reason, I'm reading Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks, and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout by Bob Cavnar...which is essentially a long newspaper report. Writing quality is not great, but Canvar, who has worked on drilling rigs, is knowledgeable and sincere. I've just been mindlessly taking in information.

ETA ...oops, that last one is nonfiction...

Having finished Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw, I've started Seven Lies by James Lasdun.

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.

Finished Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse, hopefully some comments will be forthcoming later this week. It was a rough read, but in good way.

After two books in a row about the horrible atrocity that was the bombing of Hiroshima, I think i need something a bit lighter. I think I'll start The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde next.

I'm on a classics kick because I recently got a Kobo eReader, and it came preloaded with 100 classics. I just finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and have moved on to Great Expectations because Oprah told me to. Next up will be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I've been meaning to get to forever so I can join in on the conversations when everyone else I know is discussing Stieg Larsson.

I've just finished The Gentle Axe by R.N. Morris and, due to mention here, have begun Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill.

I finished a reread of Wuthering Heights, am still struggling with The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa, and need to start on Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck. Oh, and if I can make it to the library today, I'll pick up an audiobook version of The Count of Monte Cristo to listen to while driving to work.

Finally gave up on The Russian Debutante's Handbook and started Incendiary by Chris Cleave. Can't put it down!

I finished the Chedid mentioned in #80 and have started Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Belgian author Dimitri Verhulst.

The Chedid reminded me of el-Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero in its format and the common theme of oppressed or abused women driven to the point of despair. Each book begins with a desperate act and then the narrative shifts back in time to tell the women's back story.

I am way behind on comments on my thread:-(

I'm currently reading The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin, featuring Sherlock Holmes investigating Jack the Ripper. So far it's not bad, but not terribly exciting, either. Dibdin isn't the writer Conan Doyle was, and I think I may have discovered the point at which I actually start getting tired of reading about Jack the Ripper. But the characterization is good. And I understand that eventually it gets interestingly controversial. It's a short book, so I should finish it tonight.

stretch - I look forward to seeing your thoughts on Black Rain. I read it a while ago and really "enjoyed" it.

I'm reading one of the nominations for this year's Canada Reads competition, The Birth House by Ami McKay. It's preachy and one-dimensional. I had high hopes given the excellence of the 2007 winner, Lullabies for Little Criminals.

lilisin - I have been meant to get something together this weekend but ran short on time. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to actually put something coherent on paper. I to really "enjoyed" it.

ETA - The above is a self imposed deadline. I hate to getting behind. And now it's done! Well kinda not my best.

I finished The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens earlier today, a novel about the flawed but sympathetic members of a Jewish family in 1960s London that won the Booker Prize in 1970.

>97 kidzdoc: - Sounds interesting. Was it?

#98: Yes, The Elected Member was very good. I'll review it later this week.

I finished The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut today, a novel about two doctors in a decrepit hospital in post-apartheid South Africa, which was pretty good, and later today I'll finish Blind Man with a Pistol, a crime novel by Chester Himes that is set in Harlem in the late 1960s.

Reading The Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair to celebrate Virago Reading Week. Enjoying the writing and am musing upon the thought provoking content.

Oh, Juliette07, I read that awhile back. It's quite interesting, isn't it?

I've finished the very lovely short novel, Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Belgian author Dimitri Verhulst. Lovely writing and the story, though modern, has a folklorish feel. We get the back story of Madame Verona and her husband, yet there are little forays into the quirky, isolated village. It's one of those books that have so much in so few pages.

I've now started The Dragon Man by Garry Disher, a police procedural set in Melbourne.

I finished The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo by Cape Verdean author Germano Almeida which chronicles the "hidden" life of the venerable gentleman -- overall a disappointing read. Also finished Christopher Hope's The Love Songs of Nathan J. Swirsky about the slowly developing atmosphere of intolerance and prejudice in a small suburban community in Johannesburg presaging apartheid. Told with his characteristic satirical swipe, Hope however is not at his best here.

Now reading Graham Greene's The Comedians set in Papa Doc's Haiti. Greene has yet to disappoint. Also now more than halfway through Riders in the Chariot by Patrick White. A heavy read on themes of atonement, rejection, and belief. But, oh, the scale and the depth of his writing! The effort is more than worth it.

Also dipping in and out of an excellent collection of short stories by Marcel Schwob (1867-1905), The King in the Golden Mask and Other Short Stories. Schwob's exquisite stories in this volume are derived from Greco-Latin culture during the romantic period, legends from the Orient and from the far North, as well as from the early Medieval period -- stories to take you far and away. This book is unfortunately out of print.

I finished my McCarthy book last night, so this afternoon I started Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. I'm finally understanding why people (people such as Bill Bryson) admire Greene. He writes very much like Robert B. Parker in this "entertainment".

Finished Sense and Sensibility which I quite enjoyed and am about to finish Blindness by Jose Saramago.

re-posting from the question thread - I just posted a review of The Brothers Karamazov on my thread and on the work page.

>106 dchaikin: Great review, Dan.

Just finished The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I didn't like it as much as I expected. I have liked some of Fforde's nursery crimes books better. I think the borrowed snippets from other works were better integrated in those stories. Oh, well always good to mix in a bit mediocrity, that way you never lose sight of what really is good.

I'm currently at an impasse as to which book should be next... Should I start or Out Stealing Horses with what could be our largest winter storm (a whole 6 inches) coming next week or should I read one of the Sagan books I've been tempted by all month. I would normally start both but I have been trying really hard not to break my one book at a time this year rule, which I think has helped in my productivity. Oh, well I'm almost made it a month.

Kevin - Just my 2 cents - Out Stealing Horses has the potential to make you forget about the mediocre Fforde. It happens to be one of my favorite books.

Yeah I've already been taken in by the first 14 pages of Out Stealing Horses, I have a feeling that I'm going love this one.

Just fyi - There is a February non-themed "What are reading now" thread. You don't need to ask questions this time: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=108862

I've just posted reviews of a couple of books I've read recently - see

http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/02/recent-new-zealand-speculative-fiction...

I am currently reading Carry on, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - good light reading for a busy couple of days at work.