What are you readin in May 2011

I look forward to growing old and wise and audacious. Glenda Jackson who was born in May

I've just started listening to an audiobook of Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers, the first Peter Wimsy novel. I'm reading it because there seems to be controversy over whether or not Sayers was anti-semitic and whether the novel echoes antisemitic feelings or fights against them by highlighting accepted feelings of the day. I've just started so have no opinion about anything but the voice of the reader, David Case, that horrible affected upper class British we know from movies. Quite grating. Perhaps this is one of those books better read than heard.

I'm hoping to get through a lot more of Miss Mole today, as it's intriguing and rather wonderful!

I have a stack of books I'm picking my way through, but the two I'm concentrating on are Bone China, which I'm reading in preparation for an article I'm writing for www.Belletrista.com, and Nomad, which is for my book club.

Let us know what you think about Nomad. I don't think it was as good or as believable as Infidel, she's very angry. But she still has much to say.

I just finished The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing and really enjoyed it.

Apparently I've been in a mood to re-read Jane Austen novels, so I'm working on an audio book version of Sense of Sensibility. 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of this book's publication so it feels appropriate to be reading it now.

I am reading both Room by Emma Donoghue and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin and loving both as looking at women gaining control of their lives in difficult circumstances but Room is a drama, while The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives has a lot of humour in it.

I am reading The Little Ottleys by Ada Leverson, one of Oscar Wilde's good friends. It is quite enjoyable and very witty.

I'm most of the way through an early Christie, The Seven Dials Mystery. Good spiffing fun, what ho! Sorry, the Englishness of Christie sometimes takes over my brain...

The book I'm reading isn't by a woman but it's about them. The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Battle over Abortion, and the New American Civil War by Stephen Singular shows how the fight against abortion providers is part of the attitudes that pervade domestic terrorism and is, alas, often abated by the actions of local law enforcement or government officers. It's pretty much guaranteed to raise your blood pressure.

I'm reading Julie Orringer's The Invisible Bridge. I'm about halfway through, and as Europe falls into the second world war, the plot is beginning to accelerate.

#4 OtherJoyce -- Let us know what you think about Nomad. I don't think it was as good or as believable as Infidel, she's very angry. But she still has much to say.

I finished Nomad and wrote my comments here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/104427#2680068

I'm glad I read it, but for someone who hasn't read Infidel, I recommend that one first. I agree that she has a lot to say. I also think she has reason to be angry--The Caged Virgin was also a pretty angry book, so I didn't really notice her anger as being more than usual. She certainly has reason for it!

I'm not sure what you mean by believable though. What are you getting at?

As I said in post 12, I just finished Nomad. I read it because my book club is reading Infidel, which I've already read. On a similar theme, I've now started the YA book Does My Head Look Big in This?.

Otherjoyce, I'm always concerned when someone works for a conservative think tank that they might be slanting the truth to promote corporate politics. Whenever I hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali talk, I like what she has to say, and I have no doubt that she went through the experiences she did and used her will and intellect to better her life and the lives of others. To me Nomad seemed to me more like a polemic while Infidel read like chronicling of her actual life events. Does that make sense?

Yes, it certainly does! I agree with you on your point about the conservative think tank / promoting corporate politics. I fear that she is being used. However, she does say that she is not a conservative because she is not trying to "conserve" anything--her goal is change. She also says that no one there has censored her or told her what she can and cannot say, so for me the jury is still out on that one. I can also see her disgust at the pro-multiculturalist and feminists who won't tackle these issues.

So far she's proven that she stands firm on her beliefs, and I trust she will continue to do so. But yes, that think tank makes me nervous too.

Reading Waiting by Goretti Kyomuhendo currently. So far it's a pretty good story set during Uganda's war...

I've started listening to Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, and it grabs you from the first page. I've finished reading Wichita Divide and can't figure out why we can't prosecute these anti-women domestic terrorists for conspiracy to commit murder. Now I've started the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Reckoning because I need a little urban fantasy to take my mind off the reality of misogyny.

I just finished Room by Emma Donoghue and The Secret of the Lonely Isles by Joanne Van Os - a YA adventure book by a Darwin author. I am now reading The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater - Carol is the actress who played Mrs Harriot in the BBC production of All Creatures great and Small. Also still reading and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

I just finished The language of power by Rosemary Kirstein - terrific fantasy that is gradually revealed to be SF as the books progress. She writes very strong women characters, without neglecting to give the men personalities too. Now I'm starting Venus in Copper, one of Lindsey Davis's Falco mysteries.

>18 sally906:: I'd love to know more about The secret of the Lonely Isles - I always like to read Australian YA lit when I can find it.

>19 Sakerfalcon:: I have put up my review of The Secret of the Lonely Isles and the isbn number and publisher as was not on the original record. I enjoyed it, and found out I have been socialising with the author online and hadn't realised she was an author :)

>20 sally906:: Thanks for that! It sounds like a good read. I'm planning a trip to Australia in the next year or so, so will add that to my list of books to look out for. A lot of Aus/NZ fiction doesn't seem to make it to the northern hemisphere, which is our loss.
Very cool that you've found you know the author too!

I just finished Does My Head Look Big in This?, which I had lots of fun hating. I was looking forward to this one, and as a book it was disappointing, but I really enjoyed trashing it in my review:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/104427#2683850

Now on to Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, which I'm sure will have a bit more substance.

Reading The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge :)

I just finished the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, some of my favorite brain candy. Now I've started on a serious book Keeper by Andrea Gillies which won the Orwell Prize last year. Gillies writes about caring for her mother in law as she descends into Alzheimers. Unlike the novel Still Alice Gillies says that her mother-in-law is not still Nancy, the disease has stolen her selfhood. It's both philosophical and practical at the same time.

>22 Nickelini:: Terrific review! I will steer clear of this one.

I finished Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger. I loved the voice of the narrator. I was more interested in how she would tell me what happened, than the events themselves. This book was an enjoyable read.

Have started Deanna Raybourn's latest, Dark Road to Darjeeling.

I finished Keeper by Andrea Gillies which is a thorough look at the emotional and financial cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer's that includes a good bit of writing about the science behind the disease. I came away from it thinking that good institutions really are the best place for people so afflicted. In the case of Gillies' mother in law, Nancy wanted constant motion. Gillies could have spent a solid 5 hours caring for her, trying to amuse her taking her on walks and to a restaurant for apple pie, but when they got home and Gillies put Nancy in a chair and went to make coffee upon her return Nancy was bemoaning the fact that she never did anything with her life but sit in a chair. She never got to go anywhere. Like the man in the movie Memento Nancy had no short term memory, she was unable to make to memories, and she really had no idea what had happened in her life 10 minutes ago. She was also loosing her long term memory and worse yet, her emotional control. She was verbally and physically abusive of everyone in the family, suspicious, dirty (she would dump her whole dinner, or worse yet, the contents of her toilet in the bookcase). Being in a home with others and constant care gave her the stimulation and discipline she needed. Gillies complains of finally succumbing to "Caregiver Dementia" herself, she was deeply depressed and thought of death, her children knew Granny had dementia but still couldn't help but be hurt when she attacked them. This is no way for people to live, but we put such praise toward people who are willing, and able, to keep their older loved ones at home we don't see that this is not always the best situation for anyone. Not a cheerful book, but a very honest one. It won both the 2009 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, the United Kingdom's popular science writing award and the 2010 Orwell Prize. I can see why.

Now I start both Salvation City and on the side a book of poetry by Saphire, Black Wings and Blind Angels.

OtherJoyce:

That sounds like one I need to read (lots of Alzheimer's in my family). Not one I necessarily want to read, but one I should read. And you never steer me wrong.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Salvation City. What attracted you to that one?

I'm currently reading Sultana's Dream, which I'm sure I discovered through you. It's amazing.

I have been attracted to Salvation City because of the comments of several people on LT. I like post-apocalyptic stories by women so we'll see if I like this one. Evidently there are a variety of opinions on it.

About Keeper, Gillies says that people who promote home care of the elderly propagate the idea of the nice little old granny sitting in her chair lonely and wishing for a visit from her children or grandchildren just wishing to show her love and devotion to her family. Alzheimer's patients with their severe brain damage are likely not to include that lovable granny. It's lurking out there for many of us. Frightening.

Have just finished The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin was very good, for me it was a 5 star read

I've just finished Salvation City and found it quite bizarre. What could have prompted Sigrid Nunez to write such a thing. Part of the book is about apocalypse, a flu pandemic that effects the whole world, none so much as the US with its spotty health care system - which leads to the dichotomies of the book. There are the intellectual Jewish atheist feminists who are in complete denial about the dangers of the disease. There are the standard patriarchal gun and bible loving, education indifferent, homophobic fundamentalists who truly love people. And there's poor coming of age Cole, full of rage, guilt and hormones. It takes almost half the book to set the story up, and before the end of that time I was getting pretty bored and had read just about all of Jesus I could stomach but the second half finally engages. It's a strange book with a good ambiguous ending. I'm not sure I'd recommend it because of the middle slog, but now that I'm done I'm glad I read it.

Now finally to get to The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel which I've been meaning to read forever.

Interesting comments on Salvation City. I can see exactly what you're saying. My problem with the book is that it was marketed strongly as a dystopian novel, but when I read it, it met like, uh, none of the criteria for what makes a novel dystopian. I was pretty confused. But then I looked at it from a different angle and all was well.

I saw that one of the tags for Salvation City was dystopian. I guess it might qualify with all the looting mentioned, but all in all, I wouldn't use that tag. I did find it topical though. With the recent news stories about Christian missionaries kind of scooping up orphans throughout the world, sometimes illegally as they did in Haiti, it seemed right on point.

I read Salvation City despite the fact that it was labeled as "dystopian" because I like Nunez and because a salesperson in my favorite bookstore reassured me that that wasn't really what it was about. I found it intriguing and liked its psychological insight, especially into teenage discomfort about sex, and its meditations on love and loyalty.

Have picked up the first Adam Dalgliesh mystery by P.D. James, Cover Her Face. Enjoying it so far - it's very English, but not as arch as Agatha Christie.

I've just about finished with Unbroken and am so disappointed. I had known nothing about Louis Zamperini before listening to the book, but it was pretty obvious that he was going to make some type of religious conversion. The telling of the conversion though was just too straight out of the 700 Club to be palatable. It nearly ruined the whole book for me. I think this book is like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle which I also listened to as an audiobook. Both are great if you just leave out the last CD. Next up, I'm finally going to finish Whose Body by Dorothy Sayers. I messed up the last 2 CDs of the book and have had to wait until now to get them replaced. I'm sure her ending won't disappoint.

I am curious as to others' reactions to A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I was underwhelmed.

This is a collection of "linked stories" (a very popular trend of late) revolving around two characters, and including many others. The novel uses some unconventional techniques, such as a teenager's power point presentation, which I thought clever and interesting. I just did not think that the stories "linked" too well and I was left dissatisfied.

I have started Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, whose books never disappoint!

40> Loved that one. My boyfriend actually read it over my shoulder the whole time because, even though he didn't believe me that her books are awesome, once he started reading he couldn't stop.

Have you read all her other books? I laughed out loud so much reading Bonk. I'm kinda sketched about reading Stiff but she hasn't let me down yet so I think I'll give it a try.

I just started The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. I really like her style.

I have read all her previous books, and during her hardcover tour for Packing for Mars actually had the good fortune to attend an event of hers. She was absolutely hysterical. Stiff is great, and I think perhaps the book of hers from which I actually learned the most.

I just finished The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For and feel rather bereft that I won't be spending any more time with Mo and her extended family of friends. Alison Bechdel condensed 21 years of her comic strips into one big book that follows the batch of friends through celibacy, sex, polyamory, genderbending in all forms, loving and losing pets, loving and losing spouses, slacking, working, becoming educated and educating, breast cancer, alzheimer's and over all a never ending stream of progressive politics. On the next to the last page Mo is having a Pap smear and discusses Hillary vs Obama with her gynecologist. Now what other comic strip would have that? Surprisingly it's a perfect accompaniment to The Night Bookmobile (which I also just finished) because Mo, like Alexandra, decides to become a librarian, though with more cheerful results. I truly feel like I've lost my friends. Maybe I'll have to sleep with the book under my pillow for a while until I can force myself to give it up.

Now I start a reread of Digging to America for my RL book club.

I'm another Mary Roach fan - I have Bonk out from the library, must get to it soon!

Currently reading The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill (my third novel of hers this year! I think I'm getting addicted) and loving it.

Bonk is quite an eye opener. Mary Roach does not seem to be overly encumbered with inhibitions. She and her husband must have an interesting marriage.

44> I don't think I was able to put Essential DTWOF down at all while I read it. I laughed and cried and was very sad when it ended. Easily one of my favorite books (of any format) of all time.

#39 Shearon, You asked for others' reactions, and I loved A Visit from the Goon Squad; it was one of my favorite reads of last year and I'm happy to see the recognition it is getting. As I noted in my review, "One of the things I find so remarkable about Egan's writing is how she captures the voice and tone of each character and how, as the novel builds, she creates increasing understanding of and compassion for even the somewhat unlikeable characters," and "I also admire Egan's humor, her interest in exploring issues of technology and how it affects us while still telling a real story with real characters, her ability to say a lot with a little, her insight into her characters, whether they are alienated teenagers, troubled adults, or seemingly well adjusted, and the apparently effortless way in which she links the stories and the people across continents and over time. " I did think it all tied together, and was more than just "linked stories," even though its nonlinearity took some effort to grasp.

I've started The Female Man by Joanna Russ for kind of a group read. I've read it before and was reminded within the first few pages of how difficult a read it is, but as I recall it does get more comprehensible as it goes.

I've just finished and reviewed the fascinating and thought-provoking The Eichmann Trial by Deborah Lipstadt, in which she revisits the famous trial from the perspective of 50 years.

I've finally reviewed Irma Voth - Miriam Toews is getting to be one of my favourite authors!

Delved back into the world of Victorian archaeology in Egypt (and Master Criminals) with the delightful Amelia Peabody in The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog. Good fun, as is usual with Peabody. (I'm also very delighted that the whole series has remained good fun. Usually by book 7 most series have all fallen into cliches and stupidity.)

Now reading a bloke book. (I'm having a month of reading crime, and it's amazing how many female crime writers there are...)

I am having a paranormal week this week - have just picked up The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox and The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan. I am balancing this all off with a non-fiction read Advance Australia Where by Hugh Mackay.

This morning I finished the 4th Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery, To Darkness and to Death, and am now reading Winifred Holtby's The Land of Green Ginger.

I finished both Hospital Sketches and The Female Man this weekend, two good reads. Louisa May Alcott writes beautifully about her short time spent working as a nurse in one of the many hospitals in Washington DC caring for men injured in the Civil War. She describes both her working and living conditions, the ways of caring for the war wounded, and the men and boys suffering from their battles. It's only 86 pages long and well worth the read. It's a free download on Nook and on Project Gutenberg here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3837

The Female Man does have a rather confusing style but has much to say about the 70's thrust of feminism. Joanna Russ ends the book with a with a plea to the book itself: Do not complain when you at last become quaint and old fashioned, when you grow as outworn as the crinolines of generations ago and are classed with Spicy Western Stories, Elsie Dinsmore, and The Son of the Sheik; do not mutter angrily to yourself when young persons read you to hrooch and hrch and guffaw, wondering what the dickens you were all about. Do not get glum when you are no longer understood, little book. Do not curse your fate. Alas, all those things have happened, but not as Russ assumed because women are finally considered as human as men but because people still don't realize they are not.

Now I finally start on a long neglected ER book The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

I finished The Weird Sisters which was a large disappointment, very "everything works out for the best if you just give up your dreams and do what others suggest". My suggestion, don't waste your time, though evidently many others saw things in it I didn't. Next up is Secret Daughter to read and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club on audiobook.

In the mood for something light and fun (but which reputation suggests is also well-done), I picked up Adriana Trigiani's Big Stone Gap.

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

I'm enjoying Secret Daughter very much. The American woman in India going through reams of paperwork and endless bureaucratic delays trying to adopt, Just once I'd like something here to turn out the way it's supposed to. How many times have you said that in your life?

I needed to read something fluffy, so just finished The girl who chased the moon by Sarah Addison Allen. I liked the small Southern town setting and craved cake the whole time I was reading! I'm waiting for my first ever Joyce Carol Oates book to arrive in the post - My sister my love, which will be my next "substantial" read.

I have a whole book shelf full of Joyce Carol Oates though I haven't read them all. Sometimes she's a slam dunk hit, sometimes I just shake my head and wonder what that was all about. I haven't read yours yet, Sakerfalcon, let us know how it is.

I finished Secret Daughter about an Indian woman who gives the daughter unwanted by her husband's family up for adoption and the American and Indian-American couple who adopt her. It's a great view of the various sides of India (what corporations seem to want to become established in the US), the results of sex selection, the consequences of infertility on a woman's psyche. One quote stood out, "Adoption cures childlessness, but it doesn't cure infertility." It's a wonderful first novel. Now I start The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler. I'm very interested in that one. My aunt gave her daughter up for adoption in the 40's and it pretty much ruined her life. If abortion had been legal, I think it would have been the far better choice.

#62 - OtherJoyce: I'm not quoting anything from your message, because I found everything so interesting. Especially your last comment. I've never thought of that angle before. Thanks sharing for your thoughts.

I'm not sure my aunt would agree with the fact that she would have been better off if she'd had an abortion, she never discussed such a thing. I know my sister, and it seems most evangelicals, think that having an abortion does such damage to a woman's psyche that she never recovers - unless she repents and goes on to boycott abortion providers. But I know what became of my aunt and what overwhelming shame she felt about the adoption - not that she should have, just that she did. In fact, I think I'm the only member of my generation in my family who even knew about it. But her brothers and parents knew about it and used it to show what a failure she was. If she could have had a quiet, legal, safe abortion I think her life would have been much different. If women could feel that whatever they decide about their fertility is the right decision for them, oh wouldn't it be a glorious day? (or is that science fiction?)

Joyce -- very interesting! I have a whole lot of thoughts about this, but it's very late and I've had a huge day, so I can't put a sentence together right now. I tried and have had to erase too many times. Will respond coherently tomorrow after I've had some sleep.

64 - I will whole-heartedly agree with your post and am adding Girls Who Went Away to my wishlist. Sounds very interesting indeed.

Very interesting discussion here!

Just read and reviewed two very different books by female authors: the compelling and horrifying history of the Gulag by Anne Applebaum and the dark satire of a marriage, The Pumpkin Eater, by Penelope Mortimer, newly re-released by NYRB.

#62, 66 I thought The Girls Who Went Away looked interesting when I saw it in a bookstore a year or two ago; may have to pick it up.

Started American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, not because I'm particularly interested in reading it, but because it's my book club's next pick. It seems well-written, I'm just not inclined toward thinly veiled fictionalizations of real people. In fact, I don't usually pick up fiction about notable or famous real people (i.e. I read a lot of historical fiction, but not the Sharon Kay Penman variety about actual kings and queens, etc.). I just feel like I already know what happens in those stories.

American Wife is about Laura Bush? Oh, dear. Thanks for taking the plunge for all of us. Let us know how it is. They early stories in The Girls Who Went Away are very compelling. I'm already thinking back on my junior high school days and thinking of two girls who fit, one who did fine one who decidedly did not.