What We Are Reading: Contemporary Fiction

Bright, shiny, relatively new? Doesn't fit into any of the other What We Are Reading categories?

An official (well sorta, it's from Answers.com), yet absurd definition:
A fictional book (events, settings, characters etc. described are not real) set in contemporary times (modern times)

So there you go. Let's talk about it here!

After reading a great deal of praise here on LT, I began Major Pettigrew's Last Stand yesterday. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far I'm completely enamored. Major Pettigrew is a very charming character.

My local bookstore was having a 25% off sale today, and I came home with that one too. I probably won't start it for a while though. I have way too many books jostling for top of the TBR pile already! I'll definitely be watching to see what you think of it.

Nancy

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is on my tbr pile. I vow to read it soon. I can obtain in from the library.

Thanks for starting this thread.

I am currently reading The White King by Gyorgy Dragoman.

#2: I read Major Pettigrew last year and loved it, so I am hoping you like it too, Nancy.

I'm reading Bernice Rubens' The Elected Member which won the Booker Prize in 1970. It's very good so far. I have Major Pettigrew on my tbr pile and hope to read it soon.

I decided to go ahead and push Pettigrew to the top of the reading list. I agree with Nancy. I was drawn in by Major Pettigrew and Ms. Ali from the very beginning. I can't wait to get home from work today and read more!

>>>6 avatiakh:. I just read the reviews of The Elected Member, and it looks good. I'll be interested to see what you think of it.

I am so enjoying Pettigrew. In a way, emotionally it reminds me of Olive Kitteredge which I adored.

Adding Major Pettigrew's Last Stand to my wishlist! It wasn't on my radar before, but on reading the synopsis it does indeed sound charming.

I just finished Alice Sebold's The Almost Moon and can't say I loved it, though if one is a Sebold fan s/he might enjoy it. I'm planning to start Cloud Atlas soon, in order to knock it off my TBR pile and join in on the discussion thread this year.

I'm so glad you're all enjoying Major Pettigrew! I really loved it last year, great story, fun, poignant, well told.

I'm reading Caramelo, a Latina coming of age novel by Sandra Cisneros. Not very far into it, but I'm enjoying it. I love an adolescent female narrator when done well.

I'm reading The Slap and about to start The Ravine because its this month's book for my RL book club (and we're meeting on Monday). The Slap has been a bit of a controversial book in Australia, and he certainly pushes buttons, but I'm liking it.

I have heard good and bad things about The Slap. I know at least one person named it as one of their top books of 2010.

I finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand which I really, really enjoyed. Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali are compelling characters that have you rooting for them through the book. I was surprised at the sly observations and wittiness in this novel.

So maybe this is a dumb question, but if we're defining "Classic" fiction elsewhere as anything before 1960, then would "Contemporary" fiction, as discussed here, be anything after 1960?

I just put The Slap on my wishlist--thanks.

if we're defining "Classic" fiction elsewhere as anything before 1960, then would "Contemporary" fiction, as discussed here, be anything after 1960?

I say that sounds like a good plan. I'd add that it shouldn't fit into the other "What We Are Reading" genres. Like Fantasy/Sci Fi, YA etc.

I'm halfway through Super Sad True Love Story. It's a dystopia set in the very near future (as in: next week?) about a late 30something man who wants to become immortal and falls in love with a beautiful, major biaaaatch (no other way to describe her). It's set in a USA that has become a police state in which the economy has completely collapsed, with the dollar indexed to the yuan. Really different. Very entertaining. And... yeah, different. Which is not a bad thing, but a bit... well, different.

I received Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer today. I totally bought it for the gimmicky experimental nature of the book. It is so odd I don't know how to read it. Literally half of each page is cut away in segments here and there and I just know I'm going to end up ripping a page since the cutouts are already tangling up as I try to turn the pages. Very interesting, but I can already tell I'm going to need to sit with this book for a while before it makes sense. Anyone else get this one yet?

Well, I couldn't decide what impression it had left on me exactly, but I just posted my review here for the novel Super Sad True Love Story.

Great review of Super Sad True Love Story. It intrigues me, but I haven't read too many great reviews of it. I thumbed up your review.

Thanks Nancy! It's one of those novels that I'm sure people have a hard time agreeing about. But then I suppose it was intended to be controversial to begin with.

On the plane home last weekend I finished Julia Glass's The Widower's Tale. I'd definitely recommend it. I haven't posted my review yet, as I'm still digesting. I just started Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City for the TIOLI first in a series challenge. It's a light, fun read. It sort of reminds me of a TV sitcom, (maybe Three's Company?) and apparently it has been made into several miniseries.

I started Andre Brink's A Dry White Season and it has really pulled me in.

>>20 lahochstetler:. It is a bit like a sitcom although I don't think that was as true when they first came out. Or maybe it was but there were no sitcoms speaking to the same people that the Tales books did.

>>21 alcottacre:. Is there a movie version of A Dry White Season starring Donald Sutherland? If so, I loved it when I was a teenager.

I'm reading Cloud Atlas with the GR. After reading the beginning of the first section, I was very skeptical, but by the second section I was sold and absorbed.

Regarding Cloud Atlas, that was exactly my experience too. I hope you enjoy the further transformations.

#22: I had to check with IMDB, but you are correct, Nancy.

Reading Eva Hornung’s novel Tot de honden komen (Dog Boy) about a very young Moscow orphan, who gets himself adopted by a pack of dogs. Becoming a dog, he also stays human; I am halfway now, and it goes terribly wrong.

I just started Finn by Jon Clinch. I finished re-reading Huckleberry Finn last week, so I decided this would be a good time to read Clinch's book. So far it brings Faulkner to mind for me more than Twain. It's amazing to think that this is Clinch's first novel. What has he been doing all his life? Although stylistically brilliant, this book is not for the squeamish.

Still reading Cloud Atlas and bogged down in the one with the extremely challenging dialect.

I began The White Family today, and it is good. An Orange Prize contender that examines racism in a family-setting, this one promises to be tough but worth it.

Hi everyone. I am still finding my way round the 75 group and have just found this thread. I read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Slap last year and this year I have read Dogboy. So this feels like a good thread. I read Cloud Atlas some years ago. I have just finished One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson and it was ok but none of her recent books seem to live up to Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Now it's back to the bookshelves to decide what next. I love that feeling of anticipation...

I am starting The History of Love tonight.

#26 I tried to read Finn a couple of years ago and just could not make it through it at the time. I will have to try again someday! I think I might have better success if I read a little Twain first. I remember it being very, very dark (at least for my tastes).

>30 _debbie_:. I did a re-read of Huckleberry Finn right before reading Finn. Clinch references a lot of things in Twain's book, so to have Twain in your head before reading Clinch definitely enhances the experience. I finished Finn and loved it. Yes, it's dark, but I loved Clinch's writing and what he did with the backstory of Pap Finn, especially the family he created for him. I gave it 5 stars.

I just finished reading Eleanor Catton's The Rehearsal which was longlisted for the Orange Prize last year. It's by a young New Zealander and is about drama students and schoolgirls. I enjoyed reading it but found the shifting narratives a little confusing. At one point when something shocking was reported, I assumed I'd missed it and started flicking back, but then the event was described a few pages later.

I'm still reading The House of the Mosque.

>29 alcottacre: I'll be interested to know what you think of Krauss's book, Stasia.

>>29 alcottacre: & 33. Me too. A RL friend just reported loving the new one, but hadn't read The History of Love yet.

>28 HelenBaker:. I love Major Pettigrew kind and compassionate without being cloying. I'm interested in your opinion of The Slap. It was a little controversial around here.

I'm still reading both Cloud Atlas and The White Family but have allowed myself to be sidetracked by some nonfiction...

> 30. I have wanted to read The Rehearsal for sometime. It is good to see you gave it 4 stars. I must seek out a copy soon. The House of Mosque is also on my wishlist. I will be watching to see what you think of it too.

I wasn't very enamoured of The Slap. I didn't like the characters, nor the continual bad language. It was an easy read and definitely not literature nor Booker material in my opinion. There is much better Aussie fiction than this.

I've been enjoying Mr Wakefield's Crusade by Bernice Rubens and today I started Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room, not sure how I feel about this one yet.

#33/34: I liked Krauss's book very much. I really want to get to her Great House now.

I have Damon Galgut's The Quarry in my TBR pile so I will be interested in your thoughts on In a Strange Room. I am currently enjoying Ian McEwan's Solar.
He's a pathetic sod, Michael Beard, but quite entertaining. Has anyone else read it.

#38 I loved Great House but it is inexpressibly sad and full of suffering people, so you have to be in the right mood for it.

#40: Thanks for the heads up, Rebecca. It is probably going to be a while before I get to the book anyway, but it is nice to know what I am getting into when I do.

I just downloaded True Grit by Charles Portis onto my Kindle. This was a 1968 novel, and it was overlooked, I guess because of the John Wayne movie. The new movie by the Coen Brothers is supposedly based on this book rather than being a remake of the first movie. Sorry if I'm telling everyone something they already know--this is news to me. I'm frequently behind the curve on such things--heh.

I've just started Five Bells by Gail Jones, a review book from the Bookbag - it's her 6th novel and 8th book but I've never heard of her before! It's set in Sydney.

I've had a run of bad contemporary fiction lately. I read Kevin Brockmeier's The Illumination, which was meh, and James Villas's Hungry for Happiness which was awful and downright offensive.

#43> Lucy - avaland in Club Reads read several by Gail Jones last year and raved about them. I've got one to read on my tbr.

#39> Helen - I just finished In a strange room, I almost gave up on it a couple of days ago, but as it is a relatively short book I kept going. The last 50 pages were riveting and overall I have to say I liked it, though the 'plot' is very loose; three glimpses into three journeys he takes, they were originally published separately in the Paris Review.

I've been listening to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle all month. I like it very much, just don't have enough time to listen. So many people told me that if I liked dogs I'd love this book, and they were right. I have no idea what took me so long to get around to it. I'm still hoping the dogs don't die, as they always seem to do in dog books.

> 46. I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle last year and despite not being a dog lover, I enjoyed this. Perhaps it could have been a little shorter though.
Another very different dog oriented story is Dog boy by Eva Hornung. Not for the feint-hearted but a gripping tale nonetheless.

Feral children and dogs, you can't beat that combination. I downloaded it to Nook, thanks Helen.

I've just started Mama Day by Gloria Naylor which was published in 1988 but set in 1999 with flashbacks to 1823 and back. The contemporary stuff is quite contemporary. As a character says, "Only the present has potential, sir."

I finished and reviewed the 2010 National Book Award winner Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon. I guess it wasn't the book for me.

Speaking of books not for me, The Slap was easily one of the worst books I've ever read. But that's just me:)

I've heard enough about The Slap to think I won't even try it. I listened to Edgar Sawtelle as an audiobook. 17 or the 18 CD's were great. The ending was so bad I won't recommend it to anyone else.

I read and reviewed Bogeywoman, the third novel by Jaimy Gordon that I've read.

>50 brenzi:. No not just you. The book is not a pleasant read and certainly isn't a very good promotion of the Aussie bloke. I don't see how it qualified as literary fiction either.

I'm a little over 1/4 of the way through Cloud Atlas, audiobooks take me a long time. I'm liking it but however annoying readers find the obnoxious characters, so far the musician and the publisher, imagine how much worse they are when performed. Then just when I get interested enough in their stories to ignore their personae, whoosh, they're gone. Quite a book.

I just got a free download of Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans by Rosalyn Story so have started it. She's a musician and novelist, and the book is about pre and post Katrina New Orleans. She describes it as a love story between a father and son, a man and a woman, a family and a piece of land, and a people and their city. The download is free here until the end of February: http://blog.agatepublishing.com/blog/2011/2/16/free-wading-home.html

I just read and reviewed the puzzling but compelling Open City by Teju Cole.

I'm soooo behind on this thread. All because I had forgotten to star it! That's fixed now.

I posted my review for The Help, which I really loved right here.

It's been a little while now, but I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in February and absolutely loved it too. That review is here.

I finished Cloud Atlas and liked it very much but thought the ending was weak. Then this afternoon I finished Olive Kitteridge and loved it. What a complex, prickly woman that Olive is.

Olive Kitteridge has an unusual format, quite different. I have just started John Banviile's The Infinities and I am already reaching for the dictionary. Great stuff. I love absorbing new words.

I've only just found this thread!

I'm finishing off Nadifa Mohamed's Black Mamba Boy and it is grim but quite good. It's set in Yemen, Eritrea Somaliland and Sudan (and more places that I haven't got to yet) in the 1930s and 40s and is based on the author's father's life. A bit too much happens to him and most of it is terrible.

It would be much better if I could get over her use of commas - it has been driving me nuts since the first few pages. Where I would use a semicolon or a full stop she has a comma...it must be deliberate.

#58 Helen, I haven't read The Infinities but I loved Banville's The Untouchable a few years ago. It's a fictionalised life of Anthony Blunt, the British spy.

I just finished and reviewed Louise Erdrich's latest novel, Shadow Tag, the story of a failed marriage and its impact on the children.

I am reading The Paris Wife and I am disappointed. I love historic fiction but this seems more soap opera

Well, Hemingway was pretty soap opera wasn't he?

I finished Lisa Moore's February and loved it. It's based on a Canadian disaster, the sinking of the Ocean Ranger oil rig in New Foundland in 1982, and is the story of Helen, the wife of one of the men who died. I'll be looking out for her other books.

Hi Cushla, February sounds promising, and it was longlisted last year for the Man Booker prize last year. I must add it to my wishlist.

I really liked February - I was surprised when a review copy came up for the Bookbag that it seemed to have been overlooked in hardback but I nabbed it and it was great.

I have an Amazon Vine review copy of The Paris Wife which I heard on the radio.

Luci, is that the Curtis Sittenfeld book or a different one? (If it is, that would be weird, because it's been out for a few years - , I loved it.) The touchstone's going to a Jean Plaidy book.

No, I meant The Paris Wife but I keep typing in the title wrongly! Then my computer/browser wouldn't let me in to edit and I just had to close and reopen the browser to try again. Grrr.

I've just started In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, set in Libya. I'm also reading some short stories by Janice Galloway, in her first collection, Blood (I've given up on the touchstone as it just lists vampire stories and crime novels!)

OK, that makes much more sense! Hope they're both good.

Thanks to arubabookwoman's recommendation, I've now read and reviewed the remarkable (but not for everyone) Red Riding Quartet by David Peace: Nineteen Seventy-Four, Nineteen Seventy-Seven, Nineteen Eighty, and Nineteen Eighty-Three.

After reading arubabookwoman's review, and your comment, these will have to go on my wishlist. I hope they don't provoke nightmares.

Thanks to the Author Theme Reads group, I've just read and reviewed the wonderful The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago.

I'm about halfway through The Shadow of the Wind. Interesting but a bit slow.

It's interesting our different reactions to a book. I loved The Shadow of the Wind, one of my favourites, so atmospheric. I waited two years for his next book and wasn't impressed at all.
I am currently reading a New Zealand author I hadn't come across before, Beryl Fletcher. This is her first book, The Word Burners, set during the rise in feminism i.e. awareness of rights to equality in education and employment, I'm thinking the sixties. Really enjoying it.

I'm reading You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon. These are linked short stories about the wives on a military base. This side of war seems unrepresented in the War Fiction canon. I've finished the first story and liked it very much.

I've finished and reviewed the disappointing Ice Road by Gillian Slovo, which is mostly not about the ice road across Lake Ladoga that relieved the siege of Leningrad.

Finished and reviewed You Know When the Men are Gone. I liked it but think it could be 'more'.

I'm now reading Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez which I think I learned about from you rebeccanyc. I like this dystopic story of pandemic very much, but I'm having the odd sensation of not being sure whether it is YA or not. It doesn't matter really, but it is odd.

I made the right decision then not to buy a second hand copy of Ice Road today then Rebecca. But I was very bad and came home with 14 other books, all bargains and 8 of them new books. The book shelves are a shambles again...

14 books sounds great!

I just started The Lovely Bones and I'm only a chapter into the story, but already my stomach is feeling rather queasy.

I'm now reading Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh (also the author of Trainspotting), and fnding it brilliant. Has anyone here read any other book fo Welsh's they'd recommend.?

#79 I was talking about The Lovely Bones to a RL friend just yesterday, saying I thought the movie was great, but not sure I can handle the book, which I have on my shelves. The said she definitely could NOT. Hmmm, will be curious to see how you do on that one Valerie.

Everyone I know who liked the book The Lovely Bones thought the movie was pretty bad. They were barely about the same thing which I guess means most people can take the movie, but the book can be pretty uncomfortable in places. Worth reading though, I think.

I just finished and reviewed the remarkable and difficult to understand Life and a Half/La vie et demie, a "fable" about a murderous African dictatorship.

I am reading, and so far loving, Small Island by Andrea Levy.

I just read and reviewed A Drop of the Hard Stuff, the latest of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, set early in Scudder's career as he is struggling to complete his first year of sobriety while making a new life as a private investigator.

And now I've just read and reviewed The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak, a beautifully written and moving coming of age/war story that I have mixed feelings about.

Am I the only one here??? I now just read and reviewed Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette, a noir-ish satire about a female professional killer.

I'm in the midst of reading The Weird Sisters. I like all the discussion of books, but I've never found fate to be an interesting topic and find the sisters as obnoxious at those in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I hope it gets better.

I am currently reading Great House by Nicole Krauss. So far, I think it's my least favorite of the four Orange Prize candidates I've read, but I'm very interested to see what will happen in Part 2.

I just started Secret Daughter, but I think this one is going to break my heart a little.

Valerie, Secret Daughter is up next for me, when I can just force myself to finish The Weird Sisters.

I enjoyed Secret Daughter and thought it a good first book. I am currently reading Divinity Road, an Early Reviewers book and it is very good. It might have taken 3 months to arrive but it was worth waiting for. A real page turner. I think I will opt for Shanghai Girls next and then it might be time for something from the Western world. Indeed we travel through our reading. I have only read Room from the Orange list but bought The Tiger's Wife and The Memory of Love at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival last week after listening to both authors speak. I was very impressed by Aminatta Forna, in particular and she took out the Commonwealth Writers Prize for her book last week.

#92 Good to hear that Divinity Road is good. I still haven't started reading my copy; must get on with it...

I just read and reviewed Faith, the latest novel by Jennifer Haigh; although I'm a fan of Haigh, and did enjoy reading this book, some parts of it didn't quite work for me.

I will be starting Lisa See's Peony in Love tonight. This is my first time reading this author so will be excited to see what she is like.

I picked up Le Divorce to get me out of my book funk, and I think it's working. What started out rather light has gotten more and more interesting - Johnson can invest her characters with enough reality that I feel I am at their table for dinner. More to come!

I am reading The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna which was recommended by Darryl (kidzdoc). It is Orange Prize listed. It is astonishingly good.

I've just finished and reviewed the poetic and moving Five Bells by Gail Jones.

Just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and thought the book was just sublime. Will be starting The Alchemist tonight.

I've finished and reviewed Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo a mystery/thriller with political/social/religious ambitions that was this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize winner but which I found frustrating.

I too, thought Snow Flower and the Secret Fan a beautiful book and have just finished Shanghai Girls which has a more contemporary setting. It is also very good and I thought a different look at the chinese experience. I don't think I have read Peony in Love though.

I heard Aminatta Forna speak recently and was very impressed and bought The Memory of Love and also The Devil that Danced on the Water, her memoir of her father's life. I really must try to read them soon.
Hi Rebecca, I almost bought Five Bells at the same time, but have another Gail Jones in my TBR pile. I am currently reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.

I'm halfway through Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists and enjoying it very much.

I've started, for my RL book club, The Hour I First Believed. When I read She's Come Undone I thought the author was a woman with a funny man's name. Again I'm getting the sense that a woman is writing this. The jerk male character just doesn't seem like one a man would create.

>103 Citizenjoyce: Interesting thought and one that made me run out to Google to check. But, no, he's a he.

I'm half-way through Olive Kitteridge. Some reviews have noted her unlikeability, but she breaks my heart.

Oh, I know he's a man, I too googled him when I read the first book, but his male character is such a stereotypical uncaring jerk - not really uncaring but purposefully uncaring. I've gotten more into his story so am starting to see why, but he still seems artificially flat to me.

I finished and highly recommend The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna. Review here

Always great to see someone else loving a really good book, Nancy. I wonder who will win the Orange Prize.

I've read and reviewed the remarkable and puzzling The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov.

I finished The Hour I First Believed and feel relieved not to be drowning in Lamb's digressions any more. Now I've started Swamplandia and finding it very interesting.

I just finished and reviewed the fascinating A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʾo, one of my favorite authors.

I finished A House for Mr. Biswas in the wee hours this morning.

I'm finding The Horned Man by James Lasdun fascinating so far. I picked it up by chance at The Book Thing of Baltimore.

The book itself is kind of strange (postmodern?) in the same way that The Muse Asylum (David Czechlewski) or The Box Man (Kobo Abe) are. I love those kinds of books!

I just read and reviewed the latest book by Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once upon a River, a deeply unsettling and thrilling novel.

I started Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson yesterday and am not quite halfway through but enjoying it so far.

Oh, Mary. I did so love that book. I hope you have the same experience.

I've just started The Mortal Groove, my first Jane Lawless Mystery by Ellen Hart. I don't know why I was expecting less, but it's a well written story without stereotypes.

I just finished An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin and now I am on the lookout for more of his books. Recommended for those who are also art lovers.

>>118 RosyLibrarian:. I think I want to read this, but I'm not an art expert. How much does that matter?

119: I saw other reviews where this mattered very much, and some thought it was a good way to learn so it is hard to say. I love art, but I am not an expert by any means and I enjoyed it. The book does come with pictures of the art it is talking about! I hope you'll enjoy it if you do read it.

I just finished and reviewed The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio, which I read for the Author Theme Reads group; I found it both hauntingly beautiful and a little puzzling.

I've started Annabel by Kathleen Winter, but just barely. I hear it's about a Canadian transsexual, but so far it's just about a little girl.

#118-119 I listened to An Object of Beauty on audio recently and really enjoyed it. I don't think a knowledge of art is necessary to appreciate the story. I didn't realize the print book had pictures of the artwork, but that's helpful. I went and googled some of the artists and paintings mentioned, which I guess is the equivalent.

After that, I borrowed The Pleasure of My Company, also on audio, and narrated by Martin himself, but have to say it wasn't quite my cup of tea and I uncharacteristically did not bother to finish it.

#122 Annabel has been the book of the week on BBC RAdio 4, I hadn't heard of it before.

Doggone you Brits, you get all the good radio.

#125 Sorry about that :)! I'd be as lost without Radio 4 as I would be without books, and am aware how lucky we are to have this; it does seem that intelligent talk radio channels are quite a rarity. Before LT it was most often through Radio 4 that I got to hear about new books, as I listen more than I read newspapers.

I guess these days more people can access interesting radio from elsewhere via the internet, but that would normally be something you'd go and look for specifically, rather than just having the radio on around the house and thus randomly hearing something interesting.

Randomly hearing Radio 4 - sounds like heaven to me.

Continuing my reading of Barbara Comyns, I've finished and reviewed the subtly unsettling The Juniper Tree, a novel that is almost a fairy tale.

And continuing my reading of Mario Vargas Llosa, I've read and reviewed In Praise of the Stepmother and its sequel, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto. Unlike other books by Vargas Llosa that I've read, these focused on the erotic and its link to art, creativity, and individualism.

And another Barbara Comyns: the largely autobiographical Sisters by a River.

i finished up Somebody Pick Up My Pieces by J. D. Mason last night. I am about 75 pages into Waking With Enemies by Eric Jerome Dickey. I probably will finish it by Thursday.

I'm noticing that there are some books which I only realize how much I've actually appreciated when I'm done writing my reviews. Such is the case for A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/120552#2821026

You make it look good, Ilana. Maybe one of these days I'll give A Visit from the Goon Squad a chance.

I've finally finished and reviewed the sometimes compelling, sometimes frustrating We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen.

#133 Joyce, if I'm not mistaken, I believe it was you who made a comment on the TIOLI thread that you weren't interested in this book because it was about the music industry? In any case, that comment stayed with me and as you saw, I felt the need to address it when I set out to write my review.

I too didn't really think of A Visit from the Goon Squad as being "about" the music industry; I felt it was more about the passage of time and how people connect or fail to connect with each other.

Loved your review of Goon Squad Rebecca. That being said, I'm glad I didn't read any reviews before reading the book myself. In fact, I hadn't even read the description on the book flap, which is unusual for me, but I really wanted to be able to make up my own mind about this unusual novel.

Thanks, Ilana. I usually don't read reviews before reading a book and try not to read them before writing my reviews. Of course, I often get a book because of reading a great review of it here on LT!

Yes, I was the one who didn't want to read a book about the music industry. I'm glad to see that that's not the major part of the book.

I just finished Manhattan Noir edited by Lawrence Block. A nice light antidote to the heat, this collection contains stories, mostly but not exclusively crime stories, connected to different neighborhoods of Manhattan -- although, to my way of thinking, most didn't capture the feel of the neighborhood but just took place there. As with any collection, I liked some stories better than others, but some were really gripping.

And now I've just finished and reviewed the remarkably compelling Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, a novel about the experiences of a group of marines during the Vietnam war.

I'm reading The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst. It's set in England just before WW1, then after, and the first 200 pages have been brilliant. It's the current favorite to win the Booker Prize, and if it stays this good I hope it does.

I've started Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. I've heard it's better than Olive Kitteridge, which I loved; and so far it's very subtle and enticing. I love Strout's difficult women characters, and I think Isabelle is going to be one of them.

I've finished and reviewed The Moldavian Pimp, a delightfully written and yet sobering novella that provides insight into a little known period of Argentinian Jewish history.

Cushla that is good to hear. I still have his earlier win The Line of Beauty on my TBR shelves. It is hard to know where to start. I will be starting with Far to Go by Alison Pick as it is the only one the local library has.

#143 I must look out for Amy and Isabelle as I would lie to read more by Elizabeth Strout.

#145 Helen, I quite liked Far to Go too. the main characters were well written and the description of life in the Sudetenland just before Hitler took it over was interesting. I know what you mean about not knowing where to start - I have The Line of Beauty unread in a box in storage but will be getting it out of there in a few months!

I strongly disliked The Line of Beauty, so much so that I promised myself never to read anything by Hollinghurst again. Though I have to say The Stranger's Child sounds like something I might actually enjoy.

lol, I quite liked The Line of Beauty and am looking forward to The Stranger's Child. I'm eagerly waiting for Cushla or Darryl to review it.

I've read and reviewed Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics; they're classics for a reason and I liked this collection much more than the earlier volume.

And now I've read and reviewed two more novels by Hilary Mantel: A Change of Climate, which explores secrets and the meaning of evil and forgiveness, and An Experiment in Love, a somewhat harrowing coming-of-age story.

I've just begun The Finkler Question which won the Booker last year. It has a wide variety of responses on LT, but so far I'm enjoying it. I like the wry, semi-snarky tone.

I've just read and reviewed The Mangan Inheritance by Brian Moore, an excellently written, if melodramatic, story of a man's search for his identity in a remote Irish village.

And now I've finished and reviewed The Bride from Odessa, a collection of stories by Edgardo Cozarinksy whose novel, The Moldavian Pimp, I enjoyed so much earlier this month.

Am I the only person reading contemporary fiction? I've just read and reviewed the puzzling but compelling The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress by Beryl Bainbridge and the poetic novel Train Dreams by Denis Johnson.

I've just re-starred this thread as the star seemed to have slipped. I'm sure you're not the only one reading contemporary fiction, but the rest of us are forgetting to post here! There's quite a lot of activity and discussion of prize-nominated contemporary stuff on the threads devoted to the Orange and Booker prizes (those are actually in different groups - Orange January/July and Booker Prize - but many of the same members are in those groups).

I'm listening to Faithful Place the third in the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. Alas I didn't like Frank when he appeared in The Likeness and I can't imagine why she would devote a whole book to him, but here I am. He's just a big lump of testosterone, kind of like the Dennis Leary character in the TV show Rescue Me who also does nothing for me. It's interesting that she can write such a character convincingly, but why?

I just started The Good Earth and I'm really enjoying it so far! Actually I don't know if this would classify has historical fiction/classic or not, but hopefully nobody is too picky. :)

I don't seem to be reading much contemporary fiction these days - more in the order of classics. But I did read Following Polly, which is a first novel, probably a mystery. I say probably because it's at least as much a New York book as a mystery book, and fairly comic as well as canny in its portrayal of blithely disfunctional families.

And then there's another first novel, The Tenderness of Wolves, masquerading as a mystery even more than Polly. Terrific historical fiction.

I just finished Kangaroo by D H Lawrence last night in an effort to complete my A-Z title challenge. Very heavy going indeed after a promising start. Today I have picked up Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood. I had no idea what it was about, but see that it is a futuristic tale.
Then I might seek something contemporary, but at least these are off the TBR shelves.

>>157 Citizenjoyce:. In the end, Faithful Place was my favorite in the series thus far even though I had the same reservations as you when I began. I like books that explore class issues quite a bit, however, which may explain it.

I've read and reviewed the stunning Ice Trilogy by Vladimir Sorokin,

Well, here's where we'll probably differ on another book. I'm reading let the Great World Spin and am so angry about the character of Corrigan that it's making me dislike the whole book. This charismatic guy with a great childhood and loving mother decides at about the age of 12 that there's a finite amount of happiness in the world so he'll refuse his in hopes that someone else will take his portion, like mashed potatoes. Aaargh! Catholic asceticism is wrong in so many ways. At least the 2nd half of the book is better than the first.

Some people are only happy when they're denying themselves, but I agree, he did annoy me.

Well, I loved Let the Great World Spin, and felt several of the characters were irritating, but after all, so are people in real life!

I'm with Rebecca. It isn't so much that I don't find his worldview wrong-headed as it is that I find it to be a well-written character that feels 'real' to me.

I finished Let the Great World Spin and have to say I liked it very much. I know there are annoying people in the world, but I find myself associating with them less and less frequently, so having to put up with Corrigan for the first 1/3 or 1/2 of the book almost made me stop reading. Frequently the religious character is held up as an example of the right way to live, refreshing that in this book it was the non religious characters who are emotional successes, as it should be for a book about 9/11.

I've just finished A method actor's guide to Jekyll and Hyde which was very contemporary in style and a little different.

Last month I read Zoli by Colum McCann and thought it an excellent piece of writing so I will one day track down Let the Great World Spin.

I have Zoli on the TBR; will have to get to it.

I've finished and reviewed the autobiographical novel I Was an Elephant Salesman: Adventures between Dakar, Paris, and Milan by Pap Khouma, the story of the difficult life of a Senegalese man who immigrates to Italy and becomes a vendor of statues, jewelry, and other goods.

Yesterday I finished True Things About Me by Deborah Kay Davies which I learned about in a NYT review. This graphic and violent story of a fragile young woman's descent into madness at the hands of an abusive boyfriend is gripping but hardly revolutionary. The best part about it for me was that the victim is the narrator so it feels quite authentic and immediate.

I started The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht on my trolley ride this morning. I don't always love magical realism and the LT reviews are very mixed so I'm interested in seeing my response. I did have to promise myself that I could stop if I hated it. Otherwise I don't think I would have started at all.

I will be interested in your thoughts on The Tiger's Wife Nancye as it is in my bedside stack too. I listened to her speak earlier this year and wasn't overly impressed, but have read mostly good reviews. Musty get to it soon.

I just finished and reviewed Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi, a magical exploration of love, creativity, violence against women, courageous and cunning women, European and African folklore, and much more.

Responding to Rebecca months ago, I'm reading through the Akashic Noir anthologies, one a month. Anthologies and contents vary a lot, I remember liking the Manhattan ones but I was most impressed by the Bronx anthology and very disappointed by one of the Brooklyn ones, though I liked Brooklyn Noir 3, Nothing but the truth a lot - true crime but more journalistic than true crime in style.

172: I hated True Things About Me - it was well written but it was vile! Because it was well written, I might try another book by her at least from a library, if it didn't look like it was going to be more of the same.

I'm reading Ann Patchett, State of Wonder - I'd just got round to joining a library queue for just 1 copy I think, and Amazon offered it as a Kindle deal of the day for £1.29. I've only just begun but it should reach the top of my pile tomorrow.

175 Interesting. I haven't tried the other Noirs, but I might for places I sort of know, especially with your recommendation of the Bronx one. I liked the second -- classic -- Manhattan one more than the first; they're classics for a reason.

I just finished the Booker winner The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes which I really enjoyed. As I've said elsewhere, I find that small stories of everyday lives stick with me longest after finishing a book.

I began The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje. I hope it is as good as some of the LT reviews I've seen indicate it will be.

I've just finished and reviewed Devil on the Cross by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a satirical indictment of the leaders and businessmen of post-independence Kenya.

I've finished and reviewed the strange and haunting Red Shift by Alan Garner.

I've just finished and reviewed In Red by Magdalena Tulli, a gem of a novella that mixes the real and the unreal in flowing prose.

>178 nancyewhite: Im with you there Nancy, I like real people stories. Sense of an Ending is on my list, partly for the cover, partly for the Booker thing and partly for the good reviews!

I'm reading Disobedience by Naomi Alderman about orthodox Jews in London and a very disobedient and shocking woman who leaves them. It's very good so far. It won the Orange Prize for new writers when that prize still existed.

I've just read and reviewed the haunting and beautifully written Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura, set in an isolated medieval village on the rocky coast of Japan.