What are you reading the week of February 19th, 2011?

New thread for the week.

Amy Tan (19th February 1952) – An American author. Her best known work is The Joy Luck Club (1989).



Carson McCullers (19th February 1917) - American author. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) remains her best known work.

Richard Matheson (20th February 1926) - American author and screenwriter of the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is the author of I Am Legend (1954), Duel (1971), Bid Time Return (1975) and What Dreams May Come (1978). Several episodes of The Twilight Zone such as Third from the Sun (1950), Little Girl Lost (1953), Steel (1956), Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (as The Twilight Zone episode in 1963, first published in 1984), Button, Button (1970) were based on Matheson’s stories. Matheson was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010.

Pierre Boulle (20th February 1912) - French novelist. He is mainly known for the novels, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963).

W. H. Auden (21st February 1907) - Born in England, later an American citizen, W. H. Auden is considered to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks) and September 1, 1939 are among his widely known poems.

Anthony Burgess (25th February 1917) - English author. A Clockwork Orange is his most famous book although Burgess himself dismissed it as one of his lesser works. In 2008, The Times placed Burgess number 17 on their list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

I continue hacking away at The Federalist. I've been reading a few essays a night from The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature; one I read last night didn't merit being in the collection. And I remain riveted by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report.

Robert

I looked at Carson McCullers' picture and thought it was Amy Tan. Obviously it's too late for me to focus. Thanks for another good start to the thread, Porua

Still reading A clash of kings in Dutch.

Saying hi, marking thread.

I'll be starting Perdido Street Station in just a bit. I'm looking forward to it!

Thank you for the new thread, Porua!

I'm reading Must the Maiden Die by Miriam Grace Monfredo. I started it yesterday, and am really enjoying this historical mystery. It's set in Seneca Falls, NY at the very beginning of the Civil War. Seneca Falls was basically the cradle of womens suffrage in the US, and although I'm not far in, already Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton have made appearances.

I'm about halfway through Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith. I've enjoyed reading about Charles Darwin and his home life.

Thanks, Porua! Very ecclectic collection this week!

Finished Yaz; with the melting of the snow in Indiana am now convinced spring will come. Starting Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton and God in us by Miles Yates.

Still working on Brunelleschi's Dome. . .

Currently reading The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Auden! I'm very much enjoying his Collected Poems right now. Otherwise, I'm still reading Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa, which is really good so far.

I'll be finishing up Graceling and Hunted and starting The Name of the Wind and another book on my TBR list. Could be Tempted, Perdido Street Station or one of the ARCs/Member Giveaway books I received this week.

I finished and reviewed Jaimy Gordon's National Book Award winner Lord of Misrule.

Now I'm reading Someone knows My Name by Lawrence Hill.

I'm reading my early review book Solitaire and enjoying it. It's a cold dystopia where the corporations have far too much power. It's an odd mix of 1984 and A Clockwork Orange.

I'm also still reading My Lord, What a Morning. It's a soothing book, and nice for reading just a chapter here and there.

I'm halfway through The Death Instinct and finding it hard going. I really expected to like this book, but it's not working out that way.

# 3, 7 & 9 You're welcome! :-)

Just finished Piccadilly Jim by PG Wodehouse.

I have started Fury by Salman Rushdie. Ihave read all his novels except this one. I AM A BIG FAN.

Finished The Disappeared, which I'd heartily recommend to anyone who is tough enough: a beautiful, terrible and haunting elegy to the missing of Cambodia's Killing Fields. I also got to the end (after weeks of on-and-off reading) of Bruno Bettleheim's The Uses of Enchantment. I now desparately need something to take my mind of the horrors of Cambodia so, for a complete change, I'm going to be reading (not for the first time, of course) Perrault's Fairy Tales in tandem with Angela Carter's interpretation of the same stories in The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault

Currently reading The surrogate by Tania Carver and finding it i can't put it down at the moment

I finished A Room With a View on audio yesterday, and enjoyed it. I'm reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell for my book club.

I finished The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø and started The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.

Thank you for Carson McCullers photo--my first favorite author. Maybe it's time to reread in honor of her birthday.

I'm reading Life, by Keith Richards. So far, it's surprisingly...dull.

Abandoned Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky @ the halfway point, page 225.

The book is a well written and contains interesting facts, but absolutely no narrative drive. I found myself avoiding picking it back up.

A sting of small andecdotes about salt in roughly historical order. Far too many tedious historical recipes using salt.

Started Carol Ryrie Brink's novel of the Idaho frontier, Buffalo Coat. The novel is promising and the action takes place close to where I grew up.

I just finished Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen this morning and the ending just about ripped my heart out. Now I'm reading She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor and trying to finally finish Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear.

I ripped right through Mark Richard's unusual but amazing memoir, House of Prayer No.2: A Writer's Journey. Unusal in that it's told in large part in the second person; amazing in that it's killer prose and a compelling story. Richard is best known for his fiction and award-winning short stories, but as is often the case, his own story is perhaps equally compelling. He grew up in the 1960s in a racially divided rural town in Virginia. His family was poor. He was born with deformed hips and spent years in and out of charity hospitals. When his father walked out, his mother withdrew further into a world of faith. Richard details growing up in the American South as a “special child” and how the racial tensions and religious fervor of his home town animate his writing today.

5 stars, and highly recommended.

Bookwoman247, I've never heard of Miriam Grace Monfredo. Did you just jump into the series with Must the Maiden Die, or have you been with it from the beginning? It looks interesting.

>Sean- Good to see you posting again! House of Prayer No.2 sounds excellent! On the List it goes!

@aorlov - I'm still working on Life the Keith Richards autobio. Mixed feelings myself - yes rather dull - not great writing - some interesting music history. I'm 2/3 way through and now committed but wish I had stopped sooner!

About two thirds of the way through member give-away, "The Village" by T.F. Rhodes. It really is a significant work by a very accomplished writer and I hope it is read and reviewed by someone a great deal more qualified than I. I think the book is deserving of consideration for one of the yearly awards. (The reason I'm so slow in reading it is out of fear of struggling with the review.)

Today's books:

Finished today
Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic
Gail Jones, Five Bells

Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
L M Montgomery, Emily Climbs
Elizabeth Berridge, Tell It to a Stranger
Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House

ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2
Sam Eastland, The Red Coffin
Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent

The two completed books and 3 of the current reading pile are review books for 3 different sources

I'm still hacking away at that raucous, bawdy, doorstop, Gargantua and Pantagruel. I'm just starting Book 4; I'll be on this bad-boy for quite a while.

Reading Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason.I'm really enjoying this Icelandic crime series. Excellent reads!

The fairytales were fun but didn't take long. Just started the massive tome that is The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami.

I am still reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics and really enjoying it ... just haven't had that much reading time of late.

> 28 Citizenjoyce:

I had to jump right in with Must the Maiden Die because no local library has a copy of Seneca Falls Inheritance, and it is out of print.

I don't feel as if I've had any problems catching up to speed, though.

Just started The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly. Was looking for a light read, but I have to say, it's not....tremendous social commentary woven into a legal/action yarn, and the guy writes well.

Finished Journey to the Centre of the Earth last week. I am glad to finally have read that classic and it was good. It was short but well written and caught and (more important) hold my interest throughout the book without digressing into oagelong sidestories. Wish some f the newer authors would do that. Imagining Dan Brown writing the story, it would have been 600 pages longer.
Started Späte Rache which is a german crime novel set in the city of Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, near baltic sea) which is very near me. I purchased the book actually in the aforesaid city. So far, the book is quite good, Had a good start, so the lector could have done a better work by telling the author to cross out some f the minor, rather unimportant sentences. Otherwise. good story so far and interesting setting of characters. Sad, I have no real time for reading lately...

Just finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Happy day to put that one back on the shelf. Boy did Chabon cram too many themes and events of great import into a book that couldn't hold them. I won't give up on Chabon yet. Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Kavalier & Clay keep me coming back, but this one and Summerland will make me much more careful in the future.

Now going back to finish The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Started it last year and didn't like it much but I should finish it off just to add it to my 50. As with Chabon, I'll stay true to Vowell even if this one is not my favorite.

Also just piked up Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin. I've read the tales over and over. Not sure how this one will fit in, but I have to see where these folks are now.

And, just finished the introduction to Best American Short Stories 2007. Finally bought it for myself when it didn't show up for the past few Christmases. I respect Stephen King's tastes and opinions. Besides, I live in Maine. He's an institution.

I am still working my way though The Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey by Fouad Ajami. The book is a very interesting survey of the cultural, political and religious struggles and clashes within the Arab world from the end of World War II through the end of the 20th century. The basic theme is the failure of the secular political movement that strove to establish meaningful Westernized political and cultural institutions. With luck, I will get a chunk of reading time today.

#38: I almost bought The Lincoln Lawyer at Borders this morning. You'll have to let me know how you like the book!

After finishing The Red Tent, which I just loved, I've started Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Wow is she gifted. I started it on audio and now I'm continuing in print since I won't be commuting for the next week. (Yeah Winter Break!)

#8 (PaperbackPirate) - Have you seen Creation? I wonder if it was based on the book you are reading. I watched it recently on Netflix and found it fascinating but crushingly sad. Is the book that way also?

I just finished Stuart Wood's, Dark Harbor. I love is novels, particularly the Sone Barrington novels.

I have started reading Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell this morning.

I'd never read any Mike Connelly until I picked up The Lincoln Lawyer about 2 years ago and became an instant fan of his, and have since read every book he's published.

#40

I agree with you about Yiddish Policeman's Union. It was good but not that good. In fact I think that about every Chabon book I have read, including Kavalier and Clay. I don't see what all the wonder is about his work. I tend to think his work might be considered a staggering work of might be genius. But that's just me. And I liked Special Topics in Calamity Physics and Story of Edgar Sawtelle so don't go by me.

I finished the fantastic Game of Thrones over the weekend. This will be one that I will highly recommend to others. I also finished listening to Rainwater this weekend. It was so-so, but did have a surprise ending and lots of information about life in the Southern Great Plains during the depression.

Reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

fwiw, I loved The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

#39 Tallulah Rose

Thanks for your reference to A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Just downloaded it. I remembered how much I enjoyed it as a boy. It will make a good diversion from contemporary fiction -- and American political "news."

Finished The Swan Thieves. It was okay, however, as a retired family therapist I was appalled that one of the protagonists, a psychiatrist, broke every rule of confidentiality ever conceived. Good story, though. Currently reading The Tin Drum and loving it, and I am listening to Bury Your Dead. Who wouldn't love going to fictitious Three Pines over and over?

I finished reading High on the Hog which presents a history of African Americans from Africa to today with an emphasis on the foods that made up their diet brought from Africa and improvised in the Americas. It also presented brief biographies of those African Americans who made a name for themselves in the food industry along with a few recipes. Even though I knew most of the history, I still learned a number of things. I found it an enjoyable, easy book to read.

Listening to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks but it's due back at the library this week, I won't finish it in time, and there are a bunch of people waiting for it. I think I'd rather read the rest in print anyway. It's a gripping story but it's not working for me so much on audio, despite some excellent narration. It happens.

I liked The Yiddish Policemen's Union so much that I gave away a couple of copies as gifts. I also loved The Wordy Shipmates. As I whined before, I hated the ending of Edgar Sawtelle and thought maybe that just showed what a lightweight I am that I can't handle tragedy. However I've just finished Mama Day which I've been told is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and I gave it 5 stars only because I couldn't give it more. Now this is the way to write a tragedy with believable magic and noble characters. David Wroblewski could have learned a few things from Gloria Naylor.

Now I start on Sugar Changed the World, guess I found time for it after all.

I just finished The Death Instinct. I had requested this as an ER book, but I didn't get it. Now, I'm really sorry that I didn't because I hate that I paid money for this book. There are so many things wrong with this book that I wouldn't waste my time enumerating them. Absurd is the best description of the plot.

I'm not sure what I'm reading next, but I'm leaning towards either the new translation of Doctor Zhivago or Paris, 1919.

Finished the Keith Richards "autobiography". Glad I stuck with it. As I said previously, I had a mixed response to it, but there was a lot of interesting music industry info in it. Especially enjoyed the descriptions of his song-writing process and his experiences with Reggae in Jamaica. Was hoping for a little more depth, but.............
It was great being able to go to youtube and see things he was talking about, especially the experience with Chuck Berry (youtube KR and CB to find it).

and now - that wonderful time! choosing again!

Just completed Khan:Empire of Silver by Conn Iggulden. Enjoyed much...nice moving story with lots of historical accuracy.

Working on Robinson Crusoe via the Kindle

About to start The Thorn Birds

I finished Zeitoun by Dave Eggers tonight. It's a memoir of the Zeitoun family's experience of Hurricane Katrina. I rated it 4 stars because I thought it was very good. Zeitoun was helping people and feeding a couple of stranded pets after the flooding from Katrina and was improperly arrested. Eggers provides a solid account from the family's perspective without any sensationalism.

I'm on to Middlesex. I have no idea what it's about, but it's one of those novels that keeps popping up and asking to be read. I guess I'll oblige.

Finished W. H. Hudson's Idle days in Patagoniathis evening. I liked the first half of the book (Hudson's rambling impressions of nature and people in Patagonia) much better than the second, which was full of 19th century pseudo-science and pseudo-anthropology. Somehow the notion of taking off for the wild to waste time creatively is very enticing tonight.

BBleil - Yay Zeitoun! I had the same reaction regarding no sensationalism - just felt very solid.

Everyone - Back to the Keith Richards - One of the things that bothered me about this book was the terrible sexism described. This feeling comes up a lot for me e.g. if I watch an old movie or book that I remember fondly, but today find it SO sexist it's painful to watch or read. Anyone else have that response?

I've been reading The Mind Parasites, which is Colin Wilson's take on a Lovecraftian tale. It feels a little dated and caught up in laying out a mythology. Hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

I just started reading Raven: the Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones by Tim Reiterman.

Message 59: mkboylan if I watch an old movie or book that I remember fondly, but today find it SO sexist it's painful to watch or read.

I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land around the time it came out and loving it, finding Heinlein to be such an iconoclast. The idea of going back to his sexism now is just nauseating. Live and learn.

This week I am reading Country of the Blind by Christopher Brookmyre, and I know I am in for a fun read. I also started a YA over the weekend, The Maze Runner which has totally hooked me, and I want to finish The Outlander by Gil Adamson this week as well.

I have just finished reading the autobiography "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by author Aron Ralston . Next I will watchg tomorrow the movie version "127 Hours" .

#59 - You bring up a good point. I haven't read Keith Richards yet, although I am a lifelong Stones fan (and love him too - saw him a few times when he'd pop up in blues clubs in Chicago, when I lived there). I was waiting for a friend's copy, but am just going to get the darn thing today. I have to imagine the sexism was rampant. It's why I sometimes cringe (a bit - I mean it's part of that life) when I read various Rock-a-logs.

I am getting into the meat of Special Topics in Calamity Physics and I've almost decided that some people just write like I like to read, and she seems to be one of them. There is no doubt it has some flaws (esp. like what is the deal with the novel/chapter names - I don't always see how they have any relevance within each chapter - kind of a longshot), but the "overwritten" part doesn't bother me, in fact, it's kind of what I like. Go figure.

Has anyone read West of Here by Jonathan Evison ... that one looks good!

I must get round to reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics - I borrowed it from the library months ago and have since found my own copy, after hearing of it here.

Swamplandia! was excellent - I hope Karen Russell doesn't take another 5 years to write her next book.

The Persephone short story collection Tell It to a Stranger

My main book now is Emily Climbs which I'm enjoying very much too.

I've read West of Here and think it's been just a tad over-hyped. I nearly tossed it at the 200-page mark, but went ahead and finished it anyway. I found hardly any of the characters particularly appealing, and Evison's use of the twin time-frames wasn't that impressive either. Like so many first novels he seemed to want to cram everything he wanted to say into one book, which sort of muddied his message, and I was glad to be done with it when I finished.

Judy- I recently finished The Maze Runner and really enjoyed it. I'm also a big fan of The Outlander. You are reading some good books!

Carolyn- I loved the Keith Richards memoir. It was fantastic on audio. I didn't notice the sexism as much, maybe because I'm a guy, who knows. Yes, West of Here sounds good.

elkiedee- Swamplandia looks great! I will have to pick that one up!

>67 LouisBranning:,
I haven't read Jonathan Evison yet, but West of Here isn't his first novel. His debut All About Lulu came out 3 or 4 years ago, people really seem to like it

68: I loved Karen Russell's first book, a collection of short stories, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - couldn't resist the title in my local independent bookshop. So I was looking forward to the novel.

Just started Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I'm trying to get back to the classics that I should have read in school but never did.

Finished The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong and started Crimes Against Humanity: the Struggle for Global Justice by Geoffrey Roberson.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott is an interesting fictional take on her life before she became a successful author and to some extent after. Although I probably should have, I didn't really appreciate how much she had to overcome, both in terms of her poverty-stricken family and social mores. This features her summer before going to Boston to become a writer, and her possible romantic life. Glad I read it.

I've started The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and like it very much so far.

Started Jake Fades by David Guy last night. Enjoying it a lot so far.

Some of the things I like about reading - just hanging out with the characters I like, or sometimes just hanging out in the atmosphere. I'm liking these characters and being in Maine/Mass awhile. Sometimes I like one but not the other, but like it so much its' worth it! Weird? And then some books I read because I want the info, right? Even if it is not well written. Know what I mean?

@65 - wish I'd been in those Chicago clubs! closest I came was Anaheim Convention, 65 or 66, girls passing out all over the place.

msf59 would you say some more about what you liked about Life? don't know why the wrong touchstone comes up whenever I do that but you know what I mean.

> I liked Jake Fades, too, mkboylan. Look forward to hearing what you think when you're done.

@mkboylan Still sticking with Life, now skipping around a bit and looking at the pictures. The sexism seemed to me an extension of the fame--drivers, minders, servants. Saw less of it directed towards the women in his family.

Just Kids, by Patti Smith--another rock and roll world book. Smith describes going out to work day jobs (while still making her own art), so her man Mapplethorpe could have unlimited time to create while she supported him. That really surprised me--maybe it was the time...?

Started listening to Lake Shore Limited this weekend and finding it very dull so far. I am wondering if I should give up on it or stay with it. It is reminding me very much of Amateur Marriage which I didn't like. I am still working on Leviathan and will finish that just in time to start Under Heaven for the March Guy Gavriel Kay group read. Also will return to The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean which is full of interesting observations and scientific facts.

#65

A friend of mine who read Special Topics in Calamity Physics wondered about those chapter titles to the extent that she took the time to look them up in WorldCat. None of them are real titles. They are all made up. It does make you wonder what the author was thinking. Perhaps she intended to put another level of meaning there and just didn't?

I like the Rolling Stones, but I think that most of their songs, and their entire act, are terribly sexist. Of course, most of rock and roll music is sexist and it is nothing new. One has to wonder why there are so few female rock stars. What happened to all those girl groups of the 1960's? Did music producers think that women couldn't sing? Or write? Or was it that rock was seen as so mean that women shouldn't be there?

#59 mkboylan - I love The Stones, but with a big dose of forgiveness. Remember when you talk about Keith Richards that he's played songs like "Under My Thumb" over and over again.

Speaking of "Under My Thumb," if you ever get a chance to hear the Andres Calamaro cover of it, do it. It strips the sexism away.

After reading more of the Keith Richards discussion, I'm seeing a scene from Spinal Tap when Fran Dresher tries to explain to the band that there cover art has been vetoed by the record company because it is sexist. "Sexist? What's wrong with sexist? I love being sexist." "You mean sexy, not sexist."

>mkboylan- There is much to love about Richard's memoir! I love music and I'm crazy for the Stones. I liked his descriptions of growing up, meeting Mick as teenagers, obsessed with the blues and Chuck Berry. And of course going into detail, on crafting some of the best rock records of all time- Beggars to Exile! All told in his gravelly forthright manner. Great stuff! Does that help?

Robinson Crusoe is one of my favorites. No Kindle though but a beautiful Folio Society edition.

Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year is quite good. When reading it is hard to credit that the book is a work of fiction and not reportage.

Just finished The Lace Makers of Glenmara now on to Grave Goods - opposite end of the spectrum. Love having Monday off - a day for reading!

I've finished Must the Maiden Die by Miriam Grace Monfredo, and am now beginning to sink into Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie with a happy sigh. Ah, that Poirot and his little grey cells!

#58: Glad to see someone reading The Tin Drum. It's one of my top 5 all-time favorites, which is really saying something. I think it's one of the great books of the 20th century.

I finished The Man in the Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado and liked it very much. Too many memoirs are written by people who think that overcoming some difficulty in life is worthy of a book. This one illuminates a lost world -- Jewish life in Egypt -- that we're richer for having visited, especially in light of recent events. It's also a poignant story of a family in exile, looking for home.

Just started Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which has been sitting on the shelf for several years, in part because this thread led me to it.

#87> I've been meaning to pipe up here about The Tin Drum, myself. I very much share your admiration for that book.

So, it looks like I've found a new series. Just finished Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas. The first in this series.

Currently reading Jack, Knave and Fool by Bruce Alexander. The 5th in this series.

Here is a fascinating article from the NY Times web site today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22bar.html?_r=1&hp

It opens up a whole world of possibilities for those of us who write reviews. (Although I see my "reviews" here as more a personal comment then real literary criticism.)

I feel pretty safe from Louisa May Alcott, John Kennedy Toole, and Evelyn Waugh, but now I'm worried David Wroblewski might come after me.

Joyce- If Wroblewski plods along like his book does, you have nothing to worry about!

I finished John le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor and Alexander McCall Smith's Tea Time for the Traditionally Built and now I'm reading Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man.

#83 Smiley,
I think Iwould like to try Journal of the Plague Year as well as Moll Flanders after Robinson Crusoe. I love Defoe's style.

Just started Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier -- so far, so good.

Finished The Faith Instinct. Fast read, don't know it was worth it.

Now reading A Paradise Built in Hell which was all over the top nonfic works. It's a nice blend of history, sociology, and general nonfic and I find the premise- that natural disasters can and often do bring out the best sides of human nature- comforting.

I'm reading Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken and listening to Bill Bryson's At Home.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. I'm ready for a new audio, and I've got a bit of a drive coming up tomorrow, so I think I'll start The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

#91 I think he has quite a queue to get through before he drops on your doorstep, Joyce. As long as he doesn't turn up at my house at the same time as the 'author' of The Shack (no touchstones deserved), Joseph Conrad (for Heart of Darkness and Defoe (for Robinson Crusoe) I think I can take him.

#95 I thought Remarkable Creatures was absolutely enthralling. Hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I did.

#98 Likewise Jean Brodie, one of my favourite books of all time.

I finished The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vásquez on Sunday night, which was a fictionalized history of Colombia in the form of a refutation to Joseph Conrad's novel Nostromo, which was set in the fictionalized South American country of Costaguana. It was a so-so read; I liked his debut novel The Informers better than this one.

I'm currently reading Staying On by Paul Scott, which won the Booker Prize in 1977 and concerns several minor characters featured in The Raj Quartet, and Autism's False Prophets by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

RonWelton ~ OMG! I am an attorney, reader, reviewer and love Paris, so that is one wild article/lawsuit. Holy venue nightmare. Great article, thanks for posting it. I actually did do one review here (for Early Reviewers' program) wherefrom I got an unsolicited email from the author of the book I reviewed (to my home email). Luckily, I liked her book and said as much, and she was nice and thankful. But it really made me go ... whoa, they read those things.

Bought Keith Richards and A Novel Bookstore at the melee of the Borders' location closing by me. Nuts, that. Everything is 20% off at the moment though. So he'll be on deck, and A Novel Bookstore "in the circle" (that is the correct baseball term, right, for the second in line?)

87, 88> So far I would have to put The Tin Drum on the list of all time favorites, and I am only halfway through it!

I'm 3/4 of the way through The Other Hand by Chris Cleave - a 16 year old girl, refugee from Nigeria, tracks down the English woman who saved her life on a beach in Nigeria. I spent a holiday in Nigeria 20 years ago, this book made me think I should read some fiction about the country written by a Nigerian.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics seems to be a theme this thread, I read it a few years back. I was keen on the premise and it had a lovely cover but I found the end disappointing.

#103 Keep those tissues handy, kirsty; The Other Hand is amazing.

#49: RonWelton, You're welcome. Isn't it nice that we are reminded from time to time about books we have read years before and nearly forgotten about? I like that.

90: I think it's worth pointing out that it was an academic book and the review was in a related place, it wasn't a negative online review of a novel. The author was attempting to guard her academic reputation (though whether this was the right way to do it is another question).

I started and finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon this week and... oh my word... did I love it!!

And now I've started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen because I've seen it mentioned so many times recently that I feel left out of the loop. I've heard wonderful things, though, so I'm looking forward to it.

101, Carolyn, the term is on deck.

In other news, I have finally finished The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature. I continue on in The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report and The Federalist.

I wish that there were one fat book that would tell me about Judaism in the way that I want to know it. I also wish that I could explain the way that I want to know it. I am coming to know more than I would have expected from the scattered sources I have had to use.

Robert

Mr. Durick, I love this: I wish that there were one fat book that would tell me about Judaism in the way that I want to know it. I also wish that I could explain the way that I want to know it

I actually ought to try to work that out even though I doubt that the book I want exists. But one of the advantages of having to read this and that is that I have come to know that I want to know about stuff that I didn't know I wanted to know about before I read this or that, so whatever I conjectured would likely come up short.

Robert

Finished Yiyun Li's Story Prize Finalist collection of elegant short stories that explore contemporary China, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl. Li is a very lyrical writer, and each story has a rather bleakness to it but is far from maudlin. The first story, a novella titled “Kindness,” was inspired by William Trevor’s novella “Nights at the Alexandria,” and many of the stores have a whiff of the great Irish author. 4 stars for this quietly powerful collection.

Just finished The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier and all I an say is "WOW"- it just blew me away!

#107 -- Outlander and Water for Elephants back to back. You are doing some great reading.

Still involved with Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Really hard to put this one down.

#20 - I agree - The Disappeared is haunting and beautiful.
I am reading The Birth House by Ami McKay

Young Bess by Margaret Irwin
I read the 1st 2 books in her Elizabeth trilogy in high school--can't wait to read the final installment when it comes out.

#110 Mr. D: for a sweeping layman's view of Jewish history and culture, you might try WANDERINGS: CHAIM POTOK'S HISTORY OF THE JEWS. For insights into Jewish life presented fictionally, Chaim Potok is also your man; a rabbi, his knowledgeable accounts of Hassidic and secular Judaism in THE CHOSEN, its sequel THE PROMISE, etc. can't be beat.

Potok is good, although I think if I read The Chosen now I'd find it more than a little simplfied. If you really want to know what the Jewish American experience has been like, you'd need to mix in a healthy mix of the Roths, Henry and Philip. Off the top of my head, i can't think of a female Jewish American voice to add to that recipe, but that's just because I'm having some end-of-the-working-day brainlock, not because such voices wouldn't be crucial to one's understanding.

I finished Sugar Changed the World, a simplified history of sugar and its effects on slavery, revolution and human migration. Very enjoyable. Now on to something probably quite a bit less enjoyable Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

Philip Roth is a great writer, but I think his focus on the range of Jewish culture is narrow. Potok, unquestionably the lesser author, I think is more informative. I haven't read CALL IT SLEEP though it's high on my TBR list.

Mr. Durick, I discussed your search with someone on another list and she said she is currently reading Come from the four winds; the story of Youth ʻAliya
by Chasya Pincus "which is (about) the group of young immigrants brought to Palestine/Israel to settle it from the 1930's to the 1970's. Those kids came from all parts of Europe and of Africa. Their cultures *each* were so different. Yet all of them were/are Jews." I don't know if this would help.

@rocektjk--For a contemporary female American Jewish author, I'd say Allegra Goodman.Kaaterskill Falls for Orthodox life, other of her titles for less observant/secular, maybe Total Immersion.

I just finished reading Disgrace and was going to ask you guys why you didn't warn me, but I see I didn't tell you so how could you warn me. I'm not saying it was a bad book. It wasn't. It was excellent, and the author holds a Nobel Prize. How can I argue? But the content matter, and the end that I'd love to spoiler for you, made up a book I was NEVER going to like, but I didn't know how NEVER until I hit the end. He came really close to stuffing everything I loathe into one book. Quite an accomplishment.

So, I'll be starting Seraph on the Suwanee soon. I need a good book now. Zora won't let me down.

Gosh, you make it sound so good, Cammykitty. What a pity I just don't have time to squeeze Disgrace in right now. I'll put it in the package with Slap and The Shack to read right after all the other books in the world dissolve from a fast acting virus.

I finished and loved A Clash of Kings and will start The Map Thief on my way home this afternoon. (Both in Dutch)

#124 lol! Yet again - my thoughts in your mouth. Except that, sadly, I was foolish enough to read all three and I've been mourning ever since the really fun, interesting things I could have done with those hours - having teeth pulled, gettng a leg removed without anaesthetic, sticking needles in my own eyes etc, etc

finished listening to Schaurige Geschichten. It was an audio-composition of several eerie stories. They were not really shocking but the narrators really made a good job ad some of them were wuite interesting (Liked the Meyrink ones because he had such an interesting touch of philosophy in it.) But it was nothing spectacular.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

124 and 126 ROFLMAO - wish we had a like button. I know to each his own, etc., and I went round and round with some of my young friends (I'm 62) about the movie Inception cause they all thought it was so wonderful and I just thought "This theme has been done to death" - but again, that's because I'm 62, right? At this point, everything has been done to death!

Finished Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie, and am just starting The Flying Carpet by Richard Halliburton, which is a travel adventure from the early days of aviation. It's already quite adventurous and exciting as he's traveled across the US and Europe and has made his way to Timbuktou. I'm loving the adventure, but not liking the author at all. I realize it was written a long time ago, but in Timbuktou he purchased two slave children justifying slavery because both of his grandfathers were slave owners. He did not mistreat the children, but his attitude towards them, and towards ethnicities other than his own make me want to honestly scream at him! One example is that he named the slave children Little Eva and Monkey. Anyway, he's paid the original owner to take them back. The entire time he had them he complained that they behaved as children normally would do when they would wander off to play instead of doing their chores. Hello????? Okay, steam is starting to come out of my ears, so I'll stop for now. If the slave incident weren't over so quickly, I would definitely consider not finishing the book. I know his attitude is due to the era, because it was published in 1932, and normally I can overlook things like that for that reason. (Heck, I love Agatha Christie and forgive her attitudes), but for some reason, this just really, really stuck in my craw.

#s 123, 124, and 126 - I must say that I read Disgrace years ago and absolutely loved it. I had it on Mt. TBR and forced my RL book club to read it. We had a great discussion and although none of us particularly liked the male character and were unhappy about his daughter's choice at the end, we all felt it was a wonderful book with rich, rich themes.

I'm currently reading The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas, a multi-award winning novel based on the actual coup d'état that took place in the Spanish Parliament as it was about to elect a new prime minister on 23 February 1981, exactly 30 years ago. The coup, which was broadcast live on radio and on television the following day, was known as 23-F or El Tejerazo. I received it from LT's Early Reviewer program, and it was just released in English translation in the US last week.

I've read (and reviewed) two other books so far this week, The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, a fictionalized history of post-independence Colombia and Panama, and Staying On by Paul Scott, his sequel to The Raj Quartet which won the Booker Prize in 1977.

131# I know, I know, I know. It was beautifully written, and obviously on some level it worked on me. I was seeing red too often though to appreciate the beauty in it, or to say I enjoyed the experience on any level. If I'd been able to distance myself from it a little more, I might have liked it. Instead I felt the need to do Mr. Lurie physical harm!

And 129# mkboylan, the protag in Disgrace was moaning about his sexual life was over because he was 52!!! That was just one reason I wanted to slap him.

124 & 126# I'm hitting the *like* button. Thanks!!!

130# sounds like your book is on the level with mine. A character that's just too despicable at times, but you keep reading anyway. Ah... despicable is good... sometimes.

> 133: Maybe the reason I'm having such trouble with this one is that it's non-fiction, so these were the thoughts and actions of the author, himself!

131 et al., I thought Disgrace was brilliant!

>124 Citizenjoyce:, 126 et. al. Gah The Slap, Disgrace and The Shack: the trifecta of abyssmal literature and, slap me now please, I read all of them.

On a brighter note, I finished and reviewed Lawrence Hill's remarkable Someone Knows My Name, 5 star read.

Next up is David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet although Special Topics in Calamity Physics is on my shelf and calling my name. Hmmm.

just started 'the weird sisters' and so far it's really good!

After not reading much for the past couple of weeks, I've finally started my ER book, Elizabeth I by Margaret George. I'm not far enough into yet to say whether it's good or not.

Someone Knows My Name was a five-star read for me too ... and one of my all time favorite novels.

I have not read Disgrace but now I kind of am curious what the hoopla is about! I read his book Age of Iron and I recall being wholly unimpressed. But that was years ago and I was on a huge South Africa/Aparteid learning quest; so there were many, many better novels about that.

#136 brenzi

I like Mitchell but thought that Special Topics in Calamity Physics was a great fun read. If you want a fun mystery read it.

I agree with those of you who wonder why they continue to read a book that is really bad when there are so many good books out there that I really enjoy reading. For some reason I feel compelled to finish the book - probably in hopes that it will suddenly get better. It rarely does.

I finished several books in the last couple of days and started several others. I finished reading Leviathan a so-so book and over lunch today Spies of the Balkans which was my first Furst book. It was also my second Nook book. I liked it. It wasn't heavy hitting reading but it was exciting. Do all of Furst's heroes fall in love so easily? I liked it well enough to start reading Spies of Warsaw and got about 10 pages read. I also started reading Greatest Knight on my Nook and it which should be light reading. Then yesterday I picked up Under Heaven and just love it. It is going to be hard to put this one down. My Fantasy February may extend into March, but then March is Kay group read month, so Under Heaven will be just the ticket.

Unfortunately none of the books I finished will help me with clearing up my backlog of books on my shelf. Oh well, so many good books and so little time.

#134 Creepiness!!! I was thinking of the slave buying as fiction. It must be awfully good to keep you reading after that. At least in Disgrace, it's pretty clear the author doesn't want you to justify everything his protagonist does, and I don't think he even cared if the reader liked him.

135 hemlokgang> I'm not surprised. I couldn't fault the writing, or even the themes. It was just I am so not the reader for that book.

136 brenzi> It's alright! You read enough good books to balance the rest out. ;) Let me know what you think of Jacob de Z!

Carolyn and anyone who is curious about the Disgrace "controversy" my reaction is on my 11 11 thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/104358 It is full of spoilers so not appropriate here. Don't go look unless you think you won't read the book yourself. It's only 220 pages, so reading the book isn't a huge time commitment.

Have just finished A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and am mostly through Robinson Crusoe. Both are considerably different than I remember them to be. Most shocking was the awareness that Crusoe took Friday more as a slave than as a friend.

I just finished the collection of poems The Door by Margaret Atwood. On the surface these are fairly simple straightforward, easily readable poems. About a third of them resonated for me with deeper meaning, surprising me and making me think, particularly those dealing with the poet and those dealing with age and death.

Finished Maugham's Ashenden stories, based on his experiences as an agent during WWI; as always with Maugham, it was like slipping into an old shoe. Not his best work, though entertaining and interesting for his influence on such spy spinners as Graham Greene. Have started FREEDOM which is alright so far--I figured if Oprah made up with Franzen, I should too.

#142 Ron, how did you like JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH? It was one of my favorite books from childhood--definitely my favorite from Verne--and I've been considering a re-read.

Thanks msf59 and others for your comments about the Keith Richards book. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts. I enjoyed some of the same things you did msf. I think the thing that bothered me the most about the sexism is that in this CURRENT writing he still refers to women as bitches. Not as in she was such a bitch, but as in let's get some bitches and party. Ouch!

Finished Jake Fades Tuesday. Very nice change from Life (Richards not Barker). When I'm in a book it feels like I'm hanging around with those people and at that place and it was nice to be in a calmer place. Also books like Jake (Buddhist fiction) effect my attitude and behavior throughout the day - I'm nicer ;)

Yesterday I received my first advanced review win - The Moral Lives of Animals by Dale Peterson and started that. First chapter had my head spinning right away - loved it. I've been fascinated by brains for awhile and this opened up some new perspectives for me re: animal brains. (I see touchstones is giving this the wrong name - wild justice is a different book, which I will be onto soon).

Also yesterday started That Might Be Useful Naton Leslie. Very interesting to me, but then I like thrift shops so........... somedays I like to go thrifting and other days it creeps me out. Weird!

This is my first group on LT and I'm enjoying all of your comments and conversations.

I just finished an interesting novel from 1930, Miss Mole by E.H. Young. Hannah Mole is a 40 year old governess, plain-looking and poor, seemingly without prospects. But she's also insightful, funny, and smarter than her employers. She has a strong belief in herself, with a quick wit and keen sense of the ridiculous that she tries to keep under wraps because it has gotten her fired in the past. Some nonetheless see through her and appreciate her - maybe romance is even a possibility?

A very different kind of read that I enjoyed. I understand Young's books sold well in her day, but are hard to find now.

Like Neverwithoutabook (#138 above) I am also just starting on my ER book Elizabeth I by Margaret George. I have read other books by her and always enjoyed them, so really looking forward to this one.

And for sheer light adventure I am going to start Assegai by Wilbur Smith.

I'm just starting Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. I'm not at all far in, but so far, so good.

mkboylan> I almsot requested The Moral Lives of Animals too, but haven't heard of Bekoff so didn't know how based in science the book would be. I'll be interested to see your review.

Just finished The Tudor Secret, an LT Early Reviewers book. Yes, one more novel about the Tudors. And this one, though not perfect, is certainly a worthwhile ride. Still reading an Introduction to Browning's Poetry that is so unbelievably technical for a neophyte like me that it leaves my head spinning. If this were not required reading, it would be a quick sayonara. Also reading Cleopatra, A LIFE. A slow starter. I am hoping that it will eventually show case the award winning writing skills of the author, Stacy Schiff. But, not so far!

Reading Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer. Nice book after finishing Unbroken.

#144 sholofsky

I enjoyed the re-read of A Journey to the Centre of the Earth; but, not for my usual reasons: my memories of the book must have been shaped more than I thought by the movie -- I kept waiting for what never came. The writing, the character development, the plot, all were not much to praise (except for their historical importance in a study sci-fi). What I enjoyed (as a want-to-be rock-hound) was the knowledge of geology and mineralogy, though probably laughable to a modern student, displayed by Verne.

I've finished and started a few books, so my current reading is now:

Finished today - Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House which I'm going to review for the publisher Transworld's Crime Caper Challenge. I quite enjoyed it, the first in a new to me series, so I guess I now have 8 more books to look out for (oops).

ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics

Sam Eastland, The Red Coffin (US title is Shadow Pass - my ER book - not really my thing. Is anyone else here reading this one? If so, I hope you enjoy it more than me.

Jackie Kay, Red Dust Road - a Scottish writer who was adopted travels to Nigeria to meet her birth father. As she's a lesbian and he's a very fundamentalist Christian who considers the lifestyle he was leading when she was conceived to be sinful, I think this is going to be tricky.

Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files - 1st in series about a family of detectives who seem to spend a lot of time spying on each other. Good fun.

Doris Lessing, Mara and Dann - sent to me to review for New Books Mag special feature on Doris Lessing - set in a future Ice Age where humans are struggling to subsist - Mara and Dann are two children learning to survive in a difficult environment.

Esther Freud, Lucky Break - read and review new book for Waterstones online - set in a drama school - I'm quite excited to get this one as she's an author whose books usually buy and I'm interested in the drama school/acting career subject of the novel. And the book's not even officiall published until April.

Doris Lessing, Time Bites - collected short prose - someone on LT read and gave a detailed commentary some time last year and it sounded really interesting, and I came across a really good condition charity shop copy. I also thought it would be interesting to read now alongside Mara and Dann.

Cammykitty and others: The similar titles of two similar books are SO confusing!

Marc Bekoff wrote Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals. He is an evolutionary biologist. His credentials look excellent: http://literati.net/Bekoff/index.htm as well as his experience. (Sorry I don't know how to post a link yet.) I have that book but haven't read it yet.

I am reading The Moral Lives of Animals by Dale Peterson which I received as an ER copy. Altho Peterson's PhD is in English, he does have a BA in Psych so should know something about the brain, especially if he studied any animal behavior, but regardless....What I have read so far makes perfect sense to me considering the new info on brains the last few years regarding the localization of brain function and the NON localization of e.g. brain chemicals, and most of all, evolution. It is fascinating - if you are interested in any of that - you have to read at least the first chapter!

Sorry so long - just don't want the book confusion carried on. Why the heck didn't Peterson come up with a different title!?

I finished Howard Norman's What is Left the Daughter -- lovely book. Norman is one of those authors whose books never fail to touch me deeply. I've never been to Nova Scotia, and yet, reading Norman, I feel I have. I am absolutely certain that if I were to visit the town of Middle Economy I could walk right into Cornelia Tell's bakery and find a cranberry scone waiting just for me.

Now I'm reading Ward Just's Forgetfulness.

#129---mkboylan---I hope you haven't been "done to death"!

I'm reading Stunt by Claudia Dey. It's one of those books that doesn't have much plot, but every sentence is a poem in itself. Very beautiful.

In vaguely book-related news, I just saw Ann-Marie Macdonald (of Fall on Your Knees) perform in a play in Toronto. I don't know if many people know that she acts too, and it seems so cosmically unfair but she's just as good a performer as she is a writer!

mkboylan> Thanks! I'm putting both books on my wishlist. I volunteer as a dog trainer so I've read the Scott/Fuller experiments, lots of Patricia McConnell and a bit of Konrad Lorenz so these are right up my alley.

# 144 sholofsky, I loved A Journey to the Centre of the Earth when I read it as a kid. Glad to know it's one of your childhood favourites.

TBR listed Special Topics in Calamity Physics and The Book of Negroes.

#152, 159: Thanks for your comments on JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. Always leery to take on childhood favorites, but I might give this a re-read.

Forgot to post that I'm reading After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell. I'm not sure why I had this lined up on my Kindle, but I'm glad to be reading it. It's written in shifting viewpoints and shifting time frames, both with no warning of the shift, so the reader must be on her toes to be aware of what is going on and to whom. The main character, Alice, spends much of the book in a coma, but is aware of her surroundings. I'm about 60% in and am intrigued.

I finished The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin last weekend and recommend it, although it is hard to read, telling the true story of a devastating blizzard on the Great Plains in 1888. There is a bit more information on my thread at Club Read, message #13: http://www.librarything.com/topic/106141.

Mark Kurlansky's book 61683::Cod:A History of... is much better. I listened to it on audio and was astonished to learn how important cod has been throughout history. The book is not as clinical as 167581::Salt which I agree was too literal.

I liked The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind a lot. What a story, and what a remarkable man William Kamkwamba! The overcoming of such difficult circumstances reminded me some of Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains.

Read Späte Rache yesterday. It was quite a good read. great suspense, good story, though at first I thought a paranormal talented psychologist would be really really despisable for a book, but it was not. the author did a good job with it. anotehr crucial point was the storyline featuring the GDR and the Stasi. It is always a problem with former GDR-author, they cannot come to terms with the Stasi-past and have to feature it. but this one was well done, because it was not only mentioned, but made up as a whole story. I liked that. All in all very good read, just ordered the sequel. Actually the writing was sometimes a bit unformed, but I think she will become better!

Not sure what to read next, have several books an the go and read a bit further in Parzival yesterday. Possible will finish The Oxford History of Britain the next days. I hope that :)

This was posted on another thread, and I thought it was such a good deal some might be interested.

For the rest of February Agate Publishing is offering a free download of Wading Home by Rosalyn Story. It's a story revolving around New Orleans and Katrina. The interview with the author says its a love story between a father and son, and man and a woman, family and a piece of land and people and their city. Story is a violinist and author and I'm sure she'll be able to get to the music.

http://blog.agatepublishing.com/blog/2011/2/16/free-wading-home.html

I finished The Dream Palace of the Arabs: a Generation's Odyssey, which I thought quite good. My review is on the book's page and on my 50-Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/106335

I'm now racing through the 4th book of James McMurtry's marvelous Thalia, TX, series, When the Light Goes. Duane Moore, whom we first met in high school in The Last Picture Show, is now 64.

Finished Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square which took me a while to get into, but was a good read. It's a mystery about an undiagnosed schizophrenic in pre-WWII London. Started Hosseini's Thousand splendid suns this morning and am liking it very much. #162, jbleil, have The Children's Blizzard on my list for next month, so I was glad to hear about it.

#168 I remember the film, with the great but short-lived Laird Cregar as the nutty composer and George Saunders as the police inspector--not bad, if you want to rent it or wait for it on TCM.

The new thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/110936