What Are You Reading the week of 12 February 2011?

Today, 12 February: Judy Blume (1938)



Sunday, 13 February: Eleanor Farjeon (1881)



Monday, 14 February: Jamake Highwater (1942)



Thursday, 17 February: Andre Norton (1912)

I think I get to be first! Thanks Richard!

I'm reading Charles and Emma in honor of Charles Darwin's 202nd birthday today!

Nice thread! Thanks Richard. I'm continuing to read only books by African-American or African authors for this month. I've got two going. Mojo: Conjure Stories which is an anthology of stories that all involve magic. Some are just fun, but a lot of them hit very emotional and difficult subjects. Most of them have been very good. I'm also reading Marian Anderson's autobiography, My Lord What a Morning and she is just as I imagined her to be: humble, warm-hearted, generous, persevering and hard-working. For those of you who haven't heard of her, she was the first African-American woman to become a successful opera singer. She was to sing at the White House, but the Daughters of the Revolution refused to let her sing there, so Eleanor Roosevelt moved the concert out to the Lincoln Memorial.

copying today's answer from last week's thread:

Finally Finally Finally finished 'Musik' by Thomas Meinecke.
It was really pop-literature, concerning pop-musik (from Jazz to Be-Pop to Rap and what not) and advertising a lot of feminist theories and writing. was not especially bad, because I learnt really a lot, though sometimes thought of being ignornt because didn't know a quarter of all the music that wa stalked about there.
The big failure was, that it had no real story let alone plot. the whole book was just bound together by the two siblings (brother and sister) and their search for content for their two seperate books.

Started Journey to the centre of the earth in the german translation. Am just 25 pages in but it seems to be interesting.

I just finished Annabel by Kathleen Winter( excellent) and The Film Club by David Gilmour. Both very interesting books!

torontoc> I read your comments about The Film Club on your challenge thread. It does sound bizarre and interesting. Sweet to. Who got to pick the films?

Looks like I'm settling on The Dead Sea Cipher by Elizabeth Peters. I've just started, but so far I am really enjoying this mystery/thriller set in the Middle East. I believe it was originally written in 1970, so it does seem a bit dated, perhaps, but it is still quite readable.

I'm continuing with The Cellist of Sarajevo and I'm absolutely loving it so far. :)

Just finished Picoult's House Rules. Mixed feelings - wish I hadn't put the time into it. Couple of weeks ago read Twitch and Shout a memoir by a man with Tourrette's - liked it a lot better. Gotta go read others' reviews of Rules.

and now...........it's that wonderful time! I get to choose a new book! thinking a nature narrative next........maybe Border Songs.
hmmm maybe I'd better check library due dates first!

Are you there Judy? It's me kirsty - happy birthday Ms Blume

I'm reading the much recommended YA fiction The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Finished Katherine by Anya Seton, a bit sappy, but well-researched historical fiction. It made me want to re-read A Distant Mirror for a very different view of the same historical characters and the 14th century. Am not sure what's up next. I've been reading Sir Percy hits back online; I may finish it.

Had to give up on The Botany of Desire. Not enough botany and way too much of the author. I was expecting something closer to John McPhee.

Started Salt: A world History by Mark Kurlansky.

After reading the raves, I picked up The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber from the TBR pile.
Wow! After being disconcerted by the narrative style, I have been captured for the next little while and am loving it.

Finished If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot, loved it!

About 100 pages into Annabel by Kathleen Winter, I think I am now going to abandon it. I like a more straight-forward type of writing style. Her's reminds me of the only Margaret Atwood book I've ever read. So I imagine if you're an Atwood fan, you might like to pick up Annabel. (Sorry, touchstones aren't working for this title or author)

I think I'll be picking up the new Wesley Stace book today, Charles Jessold, Considered a Murderer.

Still reading The Moonstone...

I am still reading The Power of One - over halfway - and really enjoying it. I kind of like the voice of him as a child more than an adolescent, but still, great story thus far.

I haven't been keeping up with these threads since the beginning of the year, but I just finished a reviewed the delightful Wandering Stars by Sholem Aleichem. What a story-teller! What vivid characters!

Since the beginning of the year, the best books I've read are the new translation of Doctor Zhivago, Conquered City by Victor Serge, Vacant Possession by Hilary Mantel, Just Kids by Patti Smith, She Drove without Stopping by Jaimy Gordon, and Wandering Stars.

I've got too many going, but I'm not going to drop any.

I'm over half way through The World Undone for a group discussion in Le Salon...

I'm reading a couple of The Federalist articles each week for a discussion started by Urania.

I am well into The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report.

I have read the opening parts of The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature.

And, I read a story on demand from A World of Great Stories for another discussion in Le Salon...

I have this conundrum that with all this reading I don't have time to read.

Robert

I'm nearly done with the lovely and peaceful Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett. Reading Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson aloud, though we may interrupt it because Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken arrived from the library.

Thanks, Richard for your great thread start.
Mr. Durick I have this conundrum that with all this reading I don't have time to read.. Too true, too true. I saw a good BookTalk about Sugar Changed The World. I'd love to read it, but how to find the time?

Richard- Thanks for starting the New thread! Great job!

I started The Windup Girl. It's more sci-fi than fantasy, but I'm enjoying the dark world he has created. I finished and enjoyed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. (I might be alone on this one). The audio was fantastic.
Also on audio, I just started Full Dark No Stars, the latest Stephen King collection. I've not seen to many LT opinions on this one. I've read the 1st very long novella and it was pretty good. We'll see about the rest.

Just finished Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. Great book - many insights to be gained.

I do have a question to any who have read this - there are two study guides on this book available at amazon for e-books. I thought I understood the book - are the study guides eye awakening?

Glad you liked it, Ron. I can't help you on the study guides, unfortunately - I didn't know there were any! You've got me intrigued, so I'll mosey over to Amazon to take a look.

BTW, Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a pretty good movie with Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle (as Mouse) and Jennifer Beals.

I heard Walter Mosley talk about it - he laughed that they were lucky to catch Denzel W. early in his career, and that they could never afford him now for another one.

>24 jnwelch:
Thanks. I'd like to see that Denzel Washington movie; but, I think it would be difficult to capture Easy's moral struggle and the societal oppression in a movie.

I'm reading Métaphysique des tubes by Amélie Nothomb, a humor filled autobiographical novel of the author's first three years of life, which I love so far. The original title in French (The Metaphysics of Tubes) is much more descriptive and accurate than the book's dumbed down English language title, The Character of Rain.

After I finish Métaphysique des tubes I'll reread The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar, a historical novel based on the Paris Massacre of 1961, in which hundreds of innocent Algerians engaged in a peaceful protest against the French government and Paris police were beaten by the police in a coordinated and premediated act. Their bodies were dumped into the Seine, hence the title of the book. I'll review both books for upcoming issues of Belletrista.

I'm also working on All About H. Hatterr by G.V. Desani and Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

Running this bookstore has proved extremely time and energy-consuming, not that I'm surprised or complaining. Having a blast so far. But my nights have been busy, too, so my reading time's been limited. Sort of funny that having a bookstore has cut into reading time. At any rate, I am still only about 40 pages into The Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey by Fouad Ajami. Seems interesting so far. The book is more or less a history of the ultimately doomed (or so it seems so far) secular movement across the Arab world championed by the generation that came of age after World War Two.

Thanks for starting this week's thread Richard!

For reading, i have finished The Lace Makers of Glenmara - found it to be a heartfelt, charming story about community, friendship, find your way and, of course, lace making! Next up is Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakulic, a story focused on the inner life of artist Frida Kahlo.

Thanks, Rich!

#22 msf59: On A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, no, you are not alone in enjoying it, Mark. I read it years ago when it was new and would read it again if it fell into my hands.

Still reading The Children's Blizzard. Rather too much about meteorology for my feeble brain to wrap itself around, but the narratives about the children and families are devastating in the spareness of their lives and their helplessness in the hands of nature.

msf59> I'll be interested to hear what you think of Windup Girl. I've heard good things about it so far.

rocketjk> I was just thinking of you and your bookstore. Glad you are busy! That means things must be going well.

Thanks Richard, for setting up the thread! I'm one my 4th of the Detective Erlandur Series based in Iceland.
I am currently reading The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason. Great mysteries with great character development! Love them! :) The first one, Jar City is a little less fleshed out, but each novel gets better and better!

#13 I'd love to be good enough at lit crit to be able to define at exactly which point that one sucks the reader in. I too, started off a little unsure of the style but I'm pretty certain I was hooked by the end of the first page.

Have been gone for a couple of days so where was I in reading stuff? I finished The Crow Trap which was probably neither better nor worse than most crime stories but made an enjoyable interlude. From there I moved on to Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en, through The Gothic Tradition, reread a few stories from The Bloody Chamber then finally settled on Of Bees and Mist, another one that's been hanging around Mount TBR for some while. It took me 60/70 pages to start caring much about the characters in this one but I think I'm pretty well asorbed in it now.

Jeanne- I'm glad I'm not alone on liking the Egger's memoir. Some of my LT pals really detested it. It's quirky style is not for everyone. Smart-alecky, almost stream of conscious approach can seem to be overly self-indulgent. I found it funny and honest. I have The Children's Blizzard waiting in the stacks.

Katie- I'm liking The Windup girl. It's not a fast read. I find myself taking my time. It's a dense fascinating world, he has created.

Currently reading Isabelle Wilkerson's superb The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. One of those rare books whereby to read it is to be indelibly enriched.

Thanks for starting the thread, Richard. That's one happy-looking Judy Blume.

The Warmth of Other Suns looks intriguing.

I finished Leviathan, which was a good adventure story. Also, The Complete Essex County, which was an exceptionally good graphic novel.

Next up is Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.

Thanks Richard. Just finished Water for Elephants. So trite to say, "I couldn't put it down." But, I couldn't. What a great read.

Read The Specter of Munich by Jeffrey Record. It wasn't quite the book that I expected. I thought that it was going to be an examination of why appeasement was doomed to failure with Hitler. Instead, Record argues that we've learned the wrong lesson from the Munich agreement of the 1930's, and we're apply those lessons incorrectly in the current world. It's an intriguing thesis, but Record fails to consider that politicians may be saying something different that they believe.

I also read We Carry On, a collection of short stories about the Russian Front in WWII which was originally published in 1942. The stories (plus one article and an essay) are all from the first year of the German invasion when things were going very poorly for the Soviets. The quality of the stories is uneven. Some are purely jingoistic propaganda stories meant to instill a sense of pride, but others are quite affecting. Unfortunately, this edition is a simple reprint of the original wartime translation. The book provides no additional commentary to place the stories in their historical perspective. There is nothing to suggest why these particular stories and articles were selected.

Not much to report this week. Still reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union. I'm fine with it, but not enthralled. You can feel Chabon trying really hard to write an imitation of hardboiled crime the same way you could feel him cranking out an imitation of children's fantasy fiction with Summerland.

Also still pecking away at my copy of Tom Sawyer that I keep at work. One of my all time favorites, so no particular hurry to finish.

Thanks Richard for setting up the new thread! I love Judy Blume! She spoke at my undergrad commencement - it was fabulous!

I'm currently reading (about half-way through really) Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott and starting Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King for a unit I will teaching in a week or two.

I am now reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - seems I end up with the books my boyfriend's teenage kids are reading for school ... and he/I love them enormously more than the kids do. We have long, winding philosophical discussions over them (so this is what it means to be in my 40s, ha ha). This one is great so far, very, very short, so I'm trying to savor (which I am horrible at and a quick reader to boot).

I finished The Power of One and was a bit disappointed in the latter/end portions. I LOVED "book one", thought "book two" was tepid at best, then "book three" was a chore. Good thing they deceased drastically in length as they progressed. I just thought the child Peekay's voice/person was so much more endearing than the rather pompous "always perfect" teenager/young adult Peekay. Also, the early supporting cast is what really made that such a beautiful humanity story, and we leave almost all of them after "book one." Such amazing characters who evidence that it "takes a village to raise a child."

Finished The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes and started Gallows View by Peter Robinson.

Just started An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry

I have so many books going at once. Let's see. I'll be reading...

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Chosen by P.C. Cast
Untamed by P.C. Cast
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (prob won't finish it since I only read it while on the exercise bike :D)
Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice (prob won't finish it either - been reading it off and on. doesn't seem to keep my attention)

I've finished my 2nd 5-star book of the year, The Cellist of Sarajevo, and it was fantastic. Sigh...I'm almost tempted to read it a 2nd time, just 'cause...

Well, I've posted a sort-of review while I debate whether I should start Book of Clouds now or let that last book sink in and wait until tomorrow to start it.

> 41 CarolynSchroeder:

I agree with you about The Power of One. I thought it was absoloodle-y awesome, especially the supporting characters, but Peekay got to be a kind of messiah. I thought it was more the people who looked up to him, though, rather than he, himself. It's been years since I read it, but that's how I remember it.

I'm reading Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa, which is entertaining so far (and much easier to read than Conversation in the Cathedral). In addition, I'm re-reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which is always fun. My nonfiction read for the moment is The History of the Peloponnesian War.

Two.

Frankenstein on my eReader. Taking awhile to get going...

Three Cup of Tea the rest of the time. If I don't read soon my grandmother will disinherit me. I'm seeing her soon, so time to get it read. It's interesting for sure; I just don't tend to like "chicken soup" style books. It reads a bit too much like that for me.

PokPok

Finished -- and enjoyed -- Devil in a Blue Dress. Have begun to read Daniel Deronda by George Elliot - great writing. "The Village," a member give-away, is also very well written but I'm having trouble sticking to it -- procrastinating because I'm doubtful if I have the capacity to give it the review it deserves.

Still working on The Tin Drum and The Swan Thieves. Enjoying both, although Gunter Grass's writing is truly amazing!

Finished Life by Keith Richards. The last paragraph made me cry, not that that takes much. Recommended.

Over the weekend I read True Grit, a simple tale well told. Now I want to see the film adaptations.

Tomorrow I really must make a start on Jung Chang's Wild Swans for the reading group.

Finally finished up 3 Books this afternoon.
Enough Good Men by Charles Mercer
Chew by John Layman
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill.
Next is Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys. Reading it because I am getting her new book as an ER.

#51, cappybear, I loved Wild swans It took me a while to read, but I thought it was a wonderful book. This evening I finished Sir Percy hits back, the best of the Scarlet Pimpernel sequels. I also have been reading The Choir by Joanna Trollope, which I picked up at the Friends of the Library book sale.

Recently I read A River of Words:The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant. A perfect book for younger readers about a man who follows his dream to become a poet. Beautifully illustrated, too.

Yesterday I read a wonderful YA book thanks to netGalley - Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy. Utterly charming!

And I'm continuing Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Sacred by Dennis Lehane.

I finally finished New York: A Novel by Edward Rutherfurd!

Rutherfurd's historical novel follows the Van Dyck Master family line from early Dutch colonial settlements to the present day. If you even remotely have an interest in the big city, this book is for you. It's a bit long, but the stories of each generation will keep you moving through the history and there is such a great feeling at the end in knowing you experienced the city through more than 300 years.

I'm going to start Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford next.

I just finished Their Eyes Were Watching God. I've always said black women are the most forgiving people I know, and Zora Neale Hurston sure shows this to be true. I think it's a book that has to be read with at least one other person because this story of Janie's search for love and personal growth just begs for discussion. I reflects poorly on Richard Wright that he wasn't' able to grasp the wonder of Hurston's writing.

Started Ada BlackJack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven and Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond Feist.

Already finished this week:

Nella Larsen, Quicksand and Passing
Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death
Eva Petulengro, The Girl in the Painted Caravan - review book for the Bookbag - memoir of a Romany girl growing up and starting her career as a famous clairvoyant

Now reading

Mary Norton, Bedknob and Broomstick
Sarah Blake, The Postmistress
Linda Grant, We Had It So Good
Paul Smith, Twitchhiker
Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski, The Kingdom Under the Sea - listed like that because the illustrations are much more important in this book than in most chapter books
Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic - for review for the Bookbag
Gail Jones, Five Bells - for review for the Bookbag
Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent

bookwoman ~ He got to be a Zulu legend really, which he claimed most of the time he did not want. But throughout his young adult years he kept saying, over and over, paraphrasing "I am really great at ___ and I am not too humble to say it" kinds of things - about boxing, money, ways of seeing life, etc. I guess that is why it seemed so incongruous with the reasons he DID become a Zulu legend (mostly, helping the prisoners and some other schemes with his friends/family). But I gather that was his "power of one" (belief in self).

I am over half way through the slim Of Mice and Men - it is surprisingly tense and depressing. It just has this overwhelming sense of foreboding right from the get go. It's good though. I find Steinbeck's smaller works don't age too well, but when viewed through the lens of the time, are really strong stories.

I finished and really liked The Moonstone. My next read is a chance pick up from the library: Het meisje met de glazen voeten/The girl with glass feet by Ali Shaw. No other reason that the cover and back flap intrigued me....

#31> Thanks for the words about the store, CK, but while business has been pretty good over the first two weeks I've run the store, most of my "business" has been wrestling the store into shape. It's a long story, but the store had been run under more or less a caretaker status for the past year, so there is lots of catch-up work to do. Plus I have a different vision for the store than the previous owners had, so there is a lot of rearranging I want to get done. Let's just say that it will be a long, long time before a slow sales day will translate into a calm day for me sitting at the counter and reading. It's all good, though. I'm having a good time with it.

One nice thing: many people who've come into the store have thanked me for taking the store over (their fear is that it was going to end up closing) and wished me luck. Some have even insisted that I make my exchange policy less advantageous to customers and more advantageous for me so I can be sure to stay solvent. I'm starting to see that there are a lot of people in this big town/small city community of Ukiah, CA, (population around 16,000 but it's the county seat of Mendocino County) who consider my store a valuable community resource. Let's hope I can translate that into some business!

I finished Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakulic - A truly amazing, brilliant mosaic of Frida Kahlo's life and her work. I posted a review on the book page. Next up is Still Life by Louise Penny. Time for me to make a visit to Three Pines and find out what has captured so much interest.

Finally settled on (and have settled into) Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas. Very enjoyable.

BTW---rocketjk---I'm very jealous. And, are you aware of a site called bookshopblog.com? It has some interesting articles on starting and running a bookstore.

I finished Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer last night and found it very interesting, fascinating and disturbing at the same time. I am mostly vegetarian so my reaction to the book may be quite different than others.

I am currently reading Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. which was passed along to my son through a family friend and then passed to me. My oldest son is a runner and is about the same age as the main character so I am finding it very interesting.

I am about to begin The Riddle of Amish Culture by Donald B. Kraybill. Haven't read any of it yet so don't have an opinion right now.

P.S. Thanks for starting this week's thread, Richard and for putting Judy Blume on the top! I loved her books while I was growing up and reading her stories really made me want to read even more and opened the door to many other authors. I do not think I would have survived my childhood without her.

Just starting Side Jobs (everyone needs a Harry Dresden in their lives lol)
Happy Valentines Day!

Just finished Spin the Plate Short Story by Donna anastasi which I won on Members Giveaway. I liked the concept, but I think it was kinda rushed (I guess it was because it was a short story version?) So I'd like to read the actual complete version.
Also reading this week is The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone, as well as "Murder In Sarasota: A Jake Russo Mystery" by Phil Edwards which I also won from the Members Giveaway program. I'm looking forward to both :D

Oh and Happy Valentine's Day to everybody!!

I am about to finish A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I am not sure what to say before I finish, but interesting so far.

Put everything else aside to read Captain Blood. I'm a sucker for easy reading. Daniel Deronda got off to a good start but began to read too much like Jane Austen to hold my interest. Continue to listen to White Fang and to read a little in the member give-away, "The Village."

I finished and reviewed Margaret Laurence's quiet gem, The Stone Angel.

Now I'm reading The National Book Award winner Lord of Misrule.

Still working away on All This and Heaven Too. About 1/3 of it to go. I am glad to finish it this time! I have several books lined up, including but not limited to:
1. The King's Fool
2. The Jewel of St. Petersburg
3. Getting Mother's Body had to try because of the title
4. The Invisible Bridge

I am reading Leviathan in book form and Game of Thrones which I am loving on my Nook. Both of these are part of the fantasy February group read that I joined and neither will be part of my Books Off the Shelf Challenge. On Sunday I spent a pleasant hour my local Barnes & Noble reading Spies of the Balkans on my Nook. When you are in the store you can read a book for free for one hour each day. I decided that it might be fun to do that but only if I read a spy novel. Of course, the downside is that every time I turn the Nook on B&N can follow my every page turn. Not sure if I like that, but I figured that reading a spy novel while being spied upon isn't a bad thing. All of this reading isn't getting many books off of my shelves. Instead I added one book to the pile. I gave in and purchased Discovery of Witches this weekend. I wanted to purchase Weird Sisters but valiantly resisted its siren call.

#8, Ape, I loved The Cellist of Sarajevo, I'm glad you are loving it too!

#65: sebago, so true! Although Side Jobs wasn't my favorite. I want the next real book, not short stories!

I am currently reading Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty

I finished Nabokov's beautiful Speak, Memory and now I'm reading Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor.

I just finished Of Mice and Men and am starting Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead.

Kat- I listened to the audio of An Object of Beauty a couple months ago. I liked it.

Carolyn- I'm a big fan of Steinbeck and Of Mice and Men is one of my favorites. I also read Coal Black Horse a couple years ago and enjoyed it. I love Civil War books, fiction or non. I hope you like it.

#61 rocketjk -- Good luck with the store. I think it's wonderful for you to be re-envisioning it. Sounds like wonderful customers also. If I'm ever down your way...

I'm still reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It would be a fast read if I could stay awake at night. I start reading around 10:00 and start snoring by 10:10.

Rockinrhombus, I'm planning to read Getting Mother's Body this month too. The title is a grabber.

>68 RonWelton: RonWelton, I loved Captain Blood! What a fun read.

I'm about 100 pages into Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher, but I've got Lies my Teacher Told Me and Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria waiting for me to finish this midterm and resume my multi-book reading habit.

#79 AmyLynn how is Lies my Teacher Told Me? seems interesting.

msf59 - I ended up actually loving Of Mice and Men - for such a tiny book, it really packs a whallop. It was tense right from the beginning, and I realize that is a fine craft ... to put so much emotion in a small space.

So far I am liking Coal Black Horse, it's very poetic and lyrical. I too like Civil War era books (mosty from the "people"/life/soldier's feelings perspective - although the politics/battles are interesting as well). Did you ever read Gone with the Wind? It remains one of my favorite Civil War books.

Finshed Gallows View by Peter Robinson. Quick, light-weight read. Started The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø.

This week I am reading The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong. So far, easy to read, very interesting.

#61 Thanks for the update on your store, Jerry. That you may have kept it from closing is a great thing. I've seen too many beloved used book store icons close in recent years. Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

#81 Love Steinbeck, OF MICE AND MEN, etc. though EAST OF EDEN is probably my favorite. I think you'll really like it, if you haven't sampled it already. One of my favorite fiction works about the Civil War is Stephen Vincent Benet's great JOHN BROWN'S BODY. It's actually a book length poem, but most of it reads like prose. It follows the war from every perspective: North and South, famous and unknown, officers and men, freed slaves and not. Try it, if you haven't already.

64 -> bookaholicgirl Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr has a cult type following in the running world. Another book that would give you insight into college age runners is Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear, which I think is a better read.

Happy running! ;)

got mad at An Object of Beauty and am taking a break, reading Born to Run: A hidden tribe, Superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen which is very funny and interesting.

Thanks Sholofsky! I actually have not read East of Eden (or it was too early on in my reading career to qualify - my retention in high school apparently went in other directions), so I will do so soon. John Brown's Body looks great. I'm hard to change with reading, but I've been getting more into short stories, poems and illustrated novels - and I never thought I would.

Born to Run: a hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has ever seen is by far my favorite running book, or non fiction book really. But it was near and dear to my heart last year, training (and ran!) my first marathon. I suggested it to many runner friends and everyone loved it.

I'm just starting The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner. I'm not at all far in, yet, so it's too soon to tell how it will go, but I think I already like the main character, Lyndall. It's mostly a coming-of-age story, or so it seems, so far, about a rather strong, independently-minded young woman who is growing up on a South African farm.

I've just finished The Dead Sea Cipher by Elizabeth Peters. I enjoyed it, but am glad I've finished it. I was pretty disappointed in the ending. It's about a young woman who finds herself in the middle of a wide and varied plot involving scrolls similar to The Dead Sea Scrolls which were found in the same caves, and pursued by varied and sundry characters, with various motives.

Message 72: dancingstarfish
RE: Side Jobs
I agree! I don't usually read short stories.. now I remember why. lol

#79 & #80

Lies My Teacher Told Me is a real eye-opener. It is all about the distortions of the historical record that are found in American History textbooks. I will never forget some of the things I read in it. It is because of this book that I laugh whenever I see an American quarter with the Alabama stuff on it. It features Helen Keller and I can't help but wonder if the good people of Alabama realize that Helen Keller was a member of the American Communist party and was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union? Most of them just think she was a blind deaf woman who learned to read and write. I wonder if they would be so proud of her to put her on a quarter if they knew her real political leanings?

If you are going to be a school teacher or wonder about why people get some of the strange ideas that they have about history I highly recommend this book.

Still reading Introduction to Robert Browning Poetry. Just started The Tudor Secret by C W Gortner. So far, so good.! It 's an LT Early Reviewer book.

Finished The Children's Blizzard and since the one before that was Still Alice, I think I need something lighter or at least different, like a good mystery. The Children's Blizzard is very good. It tells the story of a terrible blizzard that struck the U.S. Plains without warning on January 12, 1888.

#90, Sebago, seriously! It just wasn't that good. I was disappointed. I am still excited for the next real book though.

#88, CarolynSchroeder, I am LOVING this book so far and I don't run! Its great. Very entertaining and inspiring, and I'm learning about something I'd never heard of before so thats a plus too.

#85, sholofsky: "Her walk was as gallant as Highland heather
Her wit was a tartan of colored weather
And whatever she had, she held together."
I love John Brown's body.

Just finished Joanna Trollope's The Choir, quick read, pleasant story.

I am still reading The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, a novel of a doomed pair of lovers set against the backdrop of the German siege of Leningrad during WW II. Slow start but now I am totally engrossed.

I also have just started The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng, again a WW II story, this time set in Malaysia.

Finished Border Songs by Jim Lynch. This is a novel, not a nature narrative as I initially thought, altho full of wonderful experiences with nature. Enjoyed the read, finished it feeling compassion for humanity and hopeful for the world (and myself!). Interesting look at the U.S. northern border and relationship with Canadians. Also humans struggling with definitions of morality and shades of gray - what we will do when desperate. and as many others have said - I got the main message as: Pay attention.

Went into the library and there was the Keith Richards new book Life just sitting there waiting for me, as if I weren't number 123 on the waiting list! So off to that!
(For some reason the touchstone isn't working for the Life title, which is coming up as Life Class?)

I've finished and posted a review for Book of Clouds. Enjoyable, for sure.

Tomorrow I'll be starting a book on Victorian painting called...well, Victorian Painting.

By the way, if you are a fan, I think it is the book Living with Books by Dominique Dupuich that has a great pic of Keith Richards sitting in his excellent home library. He says public libraries and church are the two institutions that have the greatest effect on people.

msf59> Okay, I'll definitely have to try to get to Windup Girl this year. It sounds like it's going to be one of the hot speculative fiction books of the year.

rocketjk> That sounds awesome actually. I was sure you'd have some wrestling to do, and a different vision. After all, if you're going to put the sweat-equity into a bookstore, you better put your personality into it. It's great that you've got customers that are worried about your success! & I doubt you'll ever get a day where you just sit at the counter reading. There's always tidying to do if nothing else!

As for my reading, except for a beta and an Early Review book Solitaire I'm still reading only African-American or African writers this month. I just finished Mojo: Conjure Stories which was a solid anthology of stories with African-based magic. The story "The White Trick" was fantastic and worth the price of the whole book. I'm also reading My Lord What a Morning which is a quiet autobiography by Marian Anderson, the African-American opera singer that upset the DAR so much.

I just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin, what a creative mind she has. I haven't read American Gods so reading about gods in human bodies seems very strange, and she twists this story around in some mighty imaginative ways. I wish I had read the interview with her before reading the book because I think knowing she has a background in psychological counseling and has a special feel for Jung would have made the book all the more enjoyable.

Now I'm on to Mama Day by Gloria Naylor, like Cammykitty I'm reading mostly, but not all, African American (women) authors this month.

#99 A really lovely book on that subject (if you're interested in reading more) is The Victorians by Jeremy Paxman, which investigates the Victorian age through the paintings of the time; it's beautiful to look at and compellingly readable.

I finished and loved and adored The girl with glass feet (in Dutch) and will now start part two of the Song of Fire and Ice series, A clash of kings (also in Dutch)

103: Thanks for the recommendation, it does look interesting. I'll look into it.

Will be starting The Cellist of Sarajevo. Have always wanted to read. Ape pushed me over to it.

#51 & #100, loved Life by Keith Richards. Especially enjoyed the chat sort of narrative.

I finished Tess of the d'Urbervilles and will start Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.

Just finished two fine novels: The Glass Room by Simon Mawer and Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon and started a memoir, in honor of the recent events in Egypt: The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado. Fascinating depiction of cosmopolitan Cairo before World War II.

#51, #53, you were right about Wild Swans Bjace; I'm about 110 pages into the book and it's pretty good. I'm unlikely to finish it in time for the reading group next Wednesday, but what the heck.

Thought I'd try some poetry for a change, so I borrowed my wife's copy of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis. Great fun.

rocketjk - I haven't been in Ukiah in 25 years (live at the other end of the state), but enjoyed it while I visited there for a week. Wishing you much luck with the store, which I'm sure would be much missed if it closed.

I'm reading a great find from my local used bookstore, Bread Alone a novel by Judith R. Hendricks.

I think you will like this one if you enjoy Anita Shreve's or Barbara Delinsky's novels.

A plot summary on Bookbrowse.com described it well, (The main character) "discovers that ... nothing stays the same: bread rises, pain fades, the heart heals, and the future beckons."

Just finished Captain Blood which I enjoyed thoroughly. I'm going to try 'Company Aytch' - Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment and continue to work a little at "The Village" and listen to White Fang.

Maybe it's all this snow and ice and winter. I'm reading Yaz in the hope that spring--and baseball season--with come again.

Well, I just could not finish Coal Black Horse. While poetic, spare and lyrical in its own way (almost academically so), I just could not sit through any more carnage (i.e., dismemberment, evisceration, rape, gun shot wounds to the skull(s), blown up people and very, very and numerous vivid descriptions of same), good Lord. I know the Civil War was bloody, but egads. I also never resonated with the main character, or his quest. The "coal black horse" himself is great though.

I am starting Special Topics In Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl which I have an ARC of, which I must have picked up at a used book sale. It seems to be hated than anything I've recently picked up (save Freedom by Jonathan Franzen which I loved). So, I am trying to have no expectations and just ... kick back and read it with an open mind. I am just a few pages in.

Of Bees and Mist started off unimpressively but I ended up really enjoying this grown-up fairytale. I'm studying Coriolanus right now so I need to alternate that with something light and it looks like being The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.

#114

I agree with you about Coal Black Horse. I quit reading it for the same reasons. My sister and a cousin loved it and highly recommended it to me. That's why I started reading it in the first place but I just didn't have the stomach for it. I thought that the Civil War book I just finished reading Walking to Gatlinburg was a full of gratuitous violence as well. I think you can get the horror of war across without splashing blood across the page so grotesquely. I read All's Quiet on the Western Front and thought that was bad enough in its descriptions. Coal Black Horse was way beyond that.

I read Special Topics in Calamity Physics for a book discussion group and it was one of the best discussions we had in several years. It was a book that I really enjoyed reading. It has some faults but it was one of those books I just couldn't put down. I hope you enjoy it.

Current readings are A madness of angels by Catherine Webb and On the road by Kerouac.
Varied choices but I like it that way.

I'm still in the middle of Pardonable Lies, the 3rd Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear, but my reading mojo has been kind of lacking, so I picked up The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard last night in an attempt to remedy that.

I loved Special Topics in Calamity Physics too, and understand Pessl has another book due later this year.

im almost done with The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman. i LOVE it so far. but lately i havent been able to concentrate. guess its my ADD acting up :P

>114 CarolynSchroeder:, 116, 119

I lke hearing good things about Special Topics in Calamity Physics as I have a copy on my shleves that I haven't gotten to yet.

CarolynSchroeder---I'll look forward to your thoughts on it.

For me, Special Topics in Calamity Physics was wildly overwritten, with Marisha Pessl just overflowing with her joy in putting words on the page. But a good read, nonetheless, from a talented writer. Can she get that talent more under control?

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor was very good and very touching. Reminded me in one way of Death of a Salesman - attention, attention, must be paid to such a person. She's nothing like Willy Loman, but she sure deserved more attention, especially from her clueless family.

I also finished The Sandman Companion, which is an eye-opening accompaniment to Neil Gaiman's series - insights into cross-references within the series and references to other literary works, interviews with Gaiman, etc.

And Blacksad was a good animal noir (!) graphic novel, with John Blacksad as the feline private eye.

Just started The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees.

I have Special Topics on my shelf. I bought it years ago, started it but abandonded it, don't really know why... Maybe I should pick it up again...

I finished Edgar Sawtelle, and I'm sorry I even started it. Now I begin listening to Cloud Atlas. I'm still reading Mama Day and loving everything from characters to style to the casual use of magic.

This week I have began:
Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi

and

Character and Neurosis: An Integrative View by Claudio Naranjo

I hope you like Reading Lolita in Tehran. It will make you want to read all the books she discusses.

#124 I really didn't get Edgar Sawtelle at all. It was mostly the dogs and what happens with them at the end (trying not to give too much away). Right up to that point I thought the author was doing the 'dog thing' rather well then the whole thing descended into one of the most ludicrously unbelievable scenes I have ever read (and I've had a lot of dogs).

#122, jnwelch, I'm another person who was underwhelmed by Special Topics in Calamity Physics because I thought the author spent way too much time showing off how smart she is.

#127, Booksloth, I also wasn't a fan of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I loved the beginning with the dogs and the sense of place, but as soon as it descended into the supernatural and the Hamlet takeoff it lost me. And I completely agree that the ending was utterly melodramatic.

Reading Lolita in Tehran is probably one of my favorite books. it made me cry, and books usally never make me cry. it makes me happy that i am able to read virtually anything i want.

I thought the ending of Edgar Sawtelle was overwrought, but perfectly fitting when you consider the Hamlet angle. I have always thought Hamlet was overwrought. (Or is that overwrit?) It wasn't a dog story. It was a Hamlet retelling.

For me the most over-the-top ending I have ever read was that in Angels and Demons with the second most over-the-top ending being that in DaVinci Code. Both of those were just one bigger bang after another. I was laughing by the time I finished reading those two books.

I finished and really enjoyed The Windup Girl. I started The Name of the Wind. This one holds much promise. Both of these were for the "Fantasy February" Read, which has been fantastic!
On audio, I knocked out Full Dark No Stars. It was okay. I haven't been impressed lately with his short stuff. Feels stale. I've been currently listening to Snow Fan and the Secret Fan. I like it, as long as there are no more graphic descriptions of "Foot Binding". Shudder!

I really liked Special Topics... and Edgar Sawtelle despite their flaws. The first was whimsical and mysterious and the second was a total gratuitous tear-jerker, but oh well.

I just finished Fingersmith which was great. But I guess I am so in the minority amongst Waters' fans because my favorite of hers remains her latest, The Little Stranger.

I now have started I Capture the Castle and it is charming and engaging from the get go.

Okay, now I'm going to have to read Edgar Sawtelle but it's good to know it's Hamlet going into it. Otherwise, I'd be comparing it to all the dog breeders and dog breeds I know.

msf59> I've heard The Name of the Wind is awesome. I worked at Borders when it came out and a couple of the sups read it incredibly quickly considering how long it is, and then hand sold a bazillion copies. It was a first novel, and Rothfuss took years to write it. It isn't the kind of book that can happen on deadline, from what I've heard.

I listened to Edgar Sawtelle as an audiobook on 18 cd's. The first 17 were great. Cammykitty, if you accidentally leave your book on the subway right at the end, you'll be a happy reader.

Re Edgar Sawtelle and Hamlet - I also thought the links were too obvious. I think I wrote something in my review about the whole point of rewrites being to say something new about the original and this just didn't. I found the whole thing clumsy and, Cammykitty, you'd have picked up on the Hamlet themes within the first ten pages. Subtle it ain't.

ETA - Just finished The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - very interesting. Still thinking about what's going to come next.

E again TA - It's going to be The Disappeared by Kim Echlin. I have to sit around for an hour and a half this afternoon while my car is being serviced so that should get me well into it.

To weigh in on the whole Edgar Sawtelle discussion, the premise of the story basically being Hamlet drew me in. Unfortunately, the story itself did just not hold up. I was pretty disappointed.

On another note, last night I finished Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott and I really enjoyed it. It was a great and inventive story. I would certainly recommend it! Some of the parts reminded me of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and now I am thinking about going back a re-reading them.

But first, I need to finish Brunelleschi's Dome!

I could not finish Edgar Sawtelle, just thought it was terrible, Hamlet, dogs, nothing could save that book for me.

I am about 100 pages into Special Topics in Calamity Physics and I always sort of hesitate commenting too early, but I really like it so far! I'm having a hard time putting it down (despite work being busy). I'm very curious how it all plays out. Although "maybe" overwritten (and I'm not even sure, considering the character, her whole life is literature/media/factoids, erudition and evidencing that to get into Harvard), it's pretty funny and insightful really. But I'm kind of reader who loves looking words and facts up as I go along. I am certain some of the literary/media references sprinkled throughout zing over my head (let's face it, no one has read/seen everything), but the ones I get are good and usually pretty funny. And there is a fair bit of self-depreciation, so I don't find Blue to be so overly condescending to others as so many reviews indicate. She's more like playing a game of trivial pursuit with someone who outmatches me in certain areas. The Dad is a jerk, and altough smart, an enormous loser, but he's supposed to be. I think, like with Franzen, this author seems to evoke a bit of rancor amongst readers. But hey, the kid can write. But many books tank in the second half, so I'll check back in later in the game :)

Happy reading!

>136 weejane: I really liked Brunelleschi's Dome. His Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and The Judgment of Paris are also really good. As a fan of Impressionism, I found the last one particularly interesting - the incomprehension and resistance when it first appeared on the scene are fascinating.

Good thing I didn't remember my college Hamlet, 'cuz I loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It's not for everyone, of course.

I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I rated it 2.5 stars because the book was just okay. I wasn't held captive but I wanted to keep reading because other reviews mentioned a great ending to this book. For me, there wasn't.

I'm starting Zeitoun tonight for my book club.

Citizen Joyce - Leave it on the subway! ROFLMAO! That was priceless!

BBleil - I really enjoyed Zeitoun. Hope you like it.

mainrun: I finished Once a Runner last night and enjoyed it very much even though I am not one of the runners in the family. There is information on the inside cover of the book telling how the author used to give out copies of the book from the trunk of his car before the publishing world took interest in it. I will definitely look for Running with the Buffaloes for my son, myself and a family friend who is also an avid runner. Thanks for the recommendation!

I'm just starting Must the Maiden Die by Miriam Grace Monfredo, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Even though it isnt' the first in the Seneca Falls series, it doesn't seem like it will be difficult to bring myself up to speed.

#138: I've read Brunelleschi's Dome before, this is just a re-read because I'm using the book in a class I'm teaching. I already have the Michelangelo one on my TBR list, but I will also add the other one! Thanks!

Oh, and as well as The Disappeared I really have to get started on Coriolanus (shudder).

I too did not like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle--long and boring. I only finished it because it was for a book club.

>144 weejane: You're welcome! Wish I could join your class - I'd love to hear students talk about it.

Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic
for review at Bookbag - history of the Arctic - couldn't resist as I loved the Sara Wheeler book on the subject I read last year. Looks at the politics and history of Arctic exploration and development for countries including Russia, the US, Norway and others - quite dense but very interesting, and even more topical as one of the big issues is the Arctic as an alternative source of oil and whether this can offer oil security compared to the Middle East.

Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
To be reviewed for the Bookbag - A story about the children of a Florida theme park family. 12 year old Ava is aiming to take on her dead mum's role as an alligator wrestler. I loved the author's first book, a collection of short stories, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and I'm really enjoying this so far.

Gail Jones, Five Bells
Bookbag review book by Australian novelist

L M Montgomery, Emily Climbs
2nd in the trilogy

Elizabeth Berridge, Tell It to a Stranger
Persephone reprint
Collection of short stories from the 1940s. Excellent but quite chilling so far, especially the first story Snowstorm set in a wartime mother and baby home.

Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent
Book of reviews, obituaries, essays etc

I'm reading The Castle Corona

I have Special Topics in Calamity Physics out of the library.

Hmmmm on the Edgar Sawtelle issue. Now I don't know what to do, but I'll say it's too long a book to read and then hate the ending. It weighs for too much in hardback and could do serious damage if I would come to a point where I would have to throw it against the wall. Sure, I'd like to add a few feet to my house, but not because Edgar Sawtelle knocked a hole in my wall. Perhaps elkiedee's Swamplandia is a safer choice. ;)

Have just begun Known to Evil: a Leonid McGill Mystery by Walter Mosley. I hope it's the second of the LT McGill books - I don't want to miss any, having been completely captured by the struggles of LT to find decency in the midst of incredible pressures working against him.
Also purchased another Mosley work Six Easy Pieces--sucked into buying it by the teaser attached to Devil in a Blue Dress.

The new thread is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/110319