What Are You Reading the Week of 2 July 2011?

Birthdays for this week include:

July 2: Hannes Bok

Stephen R. Lawhead

Louise Penny


July 3: Evelyn Anthony

Sharon Sala

July 4: Eileen Goudge

July 5: Jody Lynn Nye

July 6: Dry hole, no drilling turned up anyone I'd ever even heard of

July 7: Robert A. Heinlein


David Eddings

July 8: See July 6

Thanks, Richard. The only one I've read in that group is Robert Heinlein. Not just Stranger in a Strange Land, but many of his sci-fi books, back when I was dreaming of traveling among the stars. (Well, that never stopped, actually).

I'm reading Out of Range, another mystery featuring game warden Joe Pickett, and The Romeo and Juliet Code, a YA title, and The Walking Dead Volume 14, a graphic novel (sorry, Richard! At least it doesn't have cats in it).

Thanks so much, Richard! There are several authors I've heard of in this group, but none I've ever read. I'll have to get around to trying some one of these days!

Right now I've just begun The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters, which, being a big fan of the Amelia Peabody series, I am sure I will love.

Thanks for starting the new thread, Richard!

I have been MIA for a long time but have been reading. I just haven't had the time to post about it here.

I am currently reading What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell and am enjoying it very much. He is a very thought provoking author with many interesting opinions. I should finish it sometime over the weekend.

Am settling in to read The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz. Since the author is a renowned pastry chef, I expect to be inhaling more than my fair share of sweets this weekend.

I'm reading two books set on the island of Mauritius: The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio, and River of Smoke, the new novel by Amitav Ghosh that picks up where his last novel, Sea of Poppies, left off.

bookaholicgirl> I'll be interested in seeing what you have to say about What the Dog Saw. Gladwell writes about perception, so I'm assuming it's about that, not about the vision of dogs.

Speaking of dogs, I'm reading For the Love of the Dog by Patricia McConnell, not Harlan Ellison as the odd touchstone suggested. That's just a psycho suggestion. McConnell has got to be one of the best dog behaviorists and trainers in our country right now, and she is a very clear and amusing writer as well, so I'm really enjoying it so far. & btw, she recommended Gladwell's Blink as she discussed observing animals closely for split-second body language.

I am still struggling through Fountainhead, I'm only about 20% the way through, can anyone tell me if it gets better?

I am currently reading two books: historical fiction Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers, which I am really enjoying and Andrea Levy's Small Island for Orange July.

Still very much enjoying Song of the Lark on my Kindle commuting book, and started The Return of the Dancing Master on audio last night and am very much enjoying it too! Not sure yet what my book-book is going to be this week.

Bookwoman ~ You are making me want to reread all the Amelia Peabody novels (many for the second time)!

I've just finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards and enjoyed it immensely! An excellent story!

Next up I'm back to all the one's I had put aside, plus starting a series of which the first book is The Widow by Carla Neggers.

Near done with Fabulous New Orleans by Lyle Saxon. History of New Orleans originally published in 1928.

Thanks for the start, Richard. Strange picture of Heinlein, I'd always thought of him as more the John Belushi type. As a stop gap until I could pick up In the Woods from the library, I've been listening to Incantation, a very good example of why the Jews need their own state - with homosexuals, witches and uppity women of all kinds Jews are the eternal other. I'm very much enjoying Annabel though haven't got to the medical issues that disappoint some. I find it psychologically insightful.

amz310783, give yourself a break and throw the Fountainhead in the trash heap. Life's too short to force yourself to read Ayn Rand.

@Citizenjoyce I take it from your comment that it doesn't get any better! I can't give up, I wish I could. I will not be reading anymore Ayn Rand though.

#12 - princessgarnet - Fabulous New Orleans is on my wishlist! How was it? Next time I make the trip there, I'm planning on bringing all kinds of books back that are harder to find here! :)

I finished Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse this morning. I'm also trying to get through to the end of Embassytown by China Mieville, which I've been reading for almost two weeks now on my Nook. I've also started The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly.

Starting the Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov

>14 amz310783: Joyce is right. Drop the book in the toilet, then you won't feel bad about throwing it away. Horrifyingly bad stuff, poorly written, and likely to cause brain-acne.

>17 KindleKapers:, oh, I really liked the Foundation, enjoy!

I am still reading Rebecca.

I have three chapters, about 60 pages, to go in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology and can be hopeful of finishing it in the coming week.

I started The Faerie Queene last night reading the introductory editorial material, the poet's letter to Walter Raleigh, the Proem, and the first canto. I have a version with the notes on the text page and it seems readable.

I also started Absence of Mind. Marilynne Robinson's novels are very rich, and her previous book of essays was beautifully expressed. In this book she takes on the distinction between science and other thinking.

So the week ahead has real promise.

Robert

Hoping to make good headway in the American Wife. Listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And the wife and I will be reading As You Like It.

Finished Sushi For Beginners by Marian Keyes and started Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.

cammykitty - Actually, What the Dog Saw is a collection of the author's articles from The New Yorker. The article mentioned in the title is about the dog whisperer guy. I believe we had a discussion about him before and you don't particular care for him. It is only one small part of the book (about 15 pages?) so don't dismiss the book because of it!

If you are reading it by choice, ditch it. It doesn't get any better and may actually get worse - the movie is also terrible IMO.

If you are reading it for school or something else that is forcing you to finish it, you have my sympathies. My deep, deep sympathies.

I am just about finished Fever 1793 by Leslie Halse Anderson. It's about the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged Philadelphia that year.

I am about to start Down River by John Hart and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

I'm reading Vivaldi's Virgins in some hot weather! This book is a good distraction -- right now the river is frozen and it's snowing.

I finished and reviewed Alina Bronsky's quirky The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine. Now I'm reading Translation is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin.

I'm a couple hundred pages into The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. I'll go right into its sequels, Tatiana and Alexander and The Summer Garden when I finish it.

re: Ayn Rand...a friend of mine insisted I read Atlas Shrugged, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Is she really so awful?

I've finished and posted a review for The Plague by Albert Camus. I've dipped into The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, it's a short little novella so I'll probably finish it tomorrow morning.

My sole experience with Ayn Rand has been Anthem--short novel, read when I was 13--and the play Night of January 16th Both are blessedly short and if you mught read Ayn Rand are a good way to get an idea. I've always thought The Fountainhead sounded hokey and thoroughly unpleasant,even though my best friend loved it. Read a silly book entitled The Dewey Decimal system of love which I picked up because I'm a librarian. I'm not sure what's next up.

I'm starting a light romantic suspense, The Widow by Carla Neggers. I felt in need of something a little different tonight.

Pleased to meet you all!

Yes, if you have a choice (and choose to read Ayn Rand anyway...), definitely start with Anthem, you'll waste less of your life that way. (Or, if you do happen to love her, then you just started in an unorthodox spot.)

I've just installed Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers on the table for reading over breakfast, where I imagine it will remain for many moons. Pablo Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets is on the bedside table (my favourite line thus far: "I lack enough time to celebrate your hairs /.../ other lovers want to live with certain eyes,/ I only want to be your barber" - though laughing hysterically isn't very conducive to sleep). (Most of it is more conventional love poems.)

As for a book-book, just finished A Red Herring without Mustard, and am not quite sure what's next, though some of the titles mentioned here sound interesting...

I am waiting on the first Harry Potter book. Somehow the bookstore sent me 2, 3, & 4, but forgot #1. Seriously, how can someone forget the first book in a series. So now I've been waiting for 10 days and I've read one book, but am afraid to start reading another just in case it gets here. It's frustrating to see the books on my shelf and not be able to read them. Anyway, Harry Potter is next on my list.

I finished Incantation by Alice Hoffman. Some of the tags say YA but it's very disturbingly violent, far worse than Hunger Games. It's a good history of the Spanish Inquisition, alas too good. Now I've started In the Woods, I hope any violence in it won't be too graphic. The further I get into Annabel the more I like it. Kathleen Winter sees very well into the human heart.

I did start with Anthem and enjoyed it, but Fountainhead, which my mother recommended to me, I'm hating. I'm thinking of taking everyones advice and giving up, I just hate feeling like a quitter.

z310783, when I force myself to read a book I don't like it's usually for my real life book club and I get great enjoyment from whining to everyone about how miserable I am. If you want to substitute that petty enjoyment for some other activity, I understand. Lay it on us. If you're not as petty as I am, go read something that enriches your life in some way and put The Fountainhead in the not good enough for me pile.

I read The Fountainhead many years ago when I was a serious, serious reader (starting in high school and through college), nothing was too challenging, or I liked a challenge, or something. As an artist, I actually got quite a bit out of that book (I'm an attorney now, but my undergrad is a BFA). Rand has a lot to say about creative "freedom" (and creation for profit) and the forces against it. Not everyone agrees with her, but to me, that is the point of her writing sometimes. Anyway, I liked The Fountainhead - all very melodramatic and angsty and all that - and I'd agree not written as well as it could be, but if it is subject matter you care about, finish it. If not, by all means, don't. I just think with her, you sort of expect the characters to be NOT likeable sometimes, but their creations, and the effects therefrom, the point of their existence, and often, the storylines.

I also loved Atlas Shrugged (again, read years ago) but felt it was plodding and preachy in areas. Still, a favorite. I also liked the new/indepependent movie version quite a bit.

I am nearing the end (sadly) of The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna and am just loving it. My only complaint are the plot's VERY far reaching coincidences (i.e., how everyone ties together), but that being said, it's a fairly small city, time and place (hospital in Sierra Leone is the connector). It's transporting, for me, and I've loved her language.

Not sure what is up next!

Many years ago it is true many college kids including me read Rand. And, devoured it all. I guess you had to be young and impressionable to find her philosophy at all appealing. I can't imagine that I would read her again today. But, there are some of her ideas like government should not support the needy among us that may be festering in todays political scheme. So, if you haven't read her, struggle through for a while to see real extremism. Keep your enemies close.

I finished the excellent Born to Run. I cannot praise it high enough. My review can be found: Right Here

I'm half-way through Infidel, which has been very good and on audio I am currently enjoying The Heart-Shaped Box. Joe Hill is the son of Mr. Stephen King. Good genes.

I've re-read an old favorite, Loose Lips, by Rita Mae Brown. Such fun! A review is in my thread...post #184.

I was meaning to post earlier, but my power was out for 30 hours, so no Internet for me! I finished Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King...normally, I don't enjoy his novellas & long stories as much as his novels, but I was mesmerized by these. They were suspenseful, horrifying, and occasionally disgusting, and I loved every minute of it! Stephen King's still got it going on! I'm also about 15 pages away from finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, so we'll just say that I've finished it.

Up next, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (of course), and a new thriller I picked up called Think of a Number by John Verdon.

My focus this week is going to be on H. P. Lovecraft: The Fiction by H. P. Lovecraft and The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, translated by Richard Price and Michael Gaddis.

@23 bookaholicgirl> Yes, Cesar Milan makes me foam at the mouth! Explains the oversight in the title. It should be "What the Dog Smelled." ;)

@14 - yes, do drop it in the toilet. I wouldn't want to see you in an Ayn Rand Recovery group. She also makes people foam at the mouth eventually.

@32 - you're quote convinced me. I have to pick up Neruda again. The poems I've read of his were much more death-centric and serious.

Just started Infection by David Gaugham. Plan on wrapping up Bismark soon.

Reading Split Second by Catherine Coulter which I picked up at ALA- when finished going to Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

#32, 44 The only Neruda book of poetry I've read is Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, but that one I've read over and over (until it was somehow misplaced, perhaps "borrowed" from my bookshelves without my permission). I think I may have to replace it with a new copy, plus perhaps 100 Love Sonnets (I love the barber line!).

Greetings, all. Life (all good) and my bookstore have kept me a bit too busy to post much here, but I have mostly been following along. At any rate, last week I finished an interesting collection of novellas called New Short Novels, with "new" being, in this case, 1954. I've added a more detailed response on my 50-Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/106335

I recently began When She Was Good, Philip Roth's second full-length novel, published in 1966. Roth is one of my literary heroes, and this is one of the very few works of his I hadn't read yet. It seems a bit flat so far (about 70 pages in). That's a bit surprising to me for a writer who'd already produced the amazing Goodbye Columbus. I think perhaps Roth's first two full-length works, When She Was Good and Letting Go, were his attempts to write conventional novels. Because next came the brilliant explosion of insight and hilarity that was Portnoy's Complaint. At any rate, I'm finding When She Was Good interesting but not particularly compelling.

Just began The Informationist which is promising. I also intend to read The Arrival this week. Both are LT-inspired

I finished up The Twenty Years' Crisis. Now I've started Codeword Barbarossa by Barton Whaley. It's an examination of the German deception activities and the available intelligence preceding the German invasion of Russia in 1941.

I just started Secret Daughter. I heard mixed opinions about this book but so far I'm really enjoying it.

Reading A fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. There is a sense of melancholy throughout the book, one fears turning to the next page...

#51 Iudita,

I like the title Secret Daughter a nice little mystery right away!!!

I'm reading One for the Money and The Invisible Bridge. I'm not sure if I could find two more completely different books!

I'm currently nearly half-finished with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm attempting to re-read the entire series before the final movie is released on the 15th, but I'm not sure I'll make it. I'll have to break sometime this week to re-read The Sugar Queen, as I'm leading my book club's discussion of that book next week and it's been long enough since I read it that I need a refresher.

I wanted to learn something in my summer reading, so I started The Name of the Rose. About a hundred pages later, I figured I needed a little light reading meanwhile and started The Virgin Suicides. Of course, the title doesn't sound very light, but the reading is. I'm going to be working Rose in with other stuff - it's good but dense.

I finished What the Dog Saw the other day and really did enjoy it. I am currently reading The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure which is a non-fiction selection about a woman's childhood obsession with the Little House books and Laura Ingalls and her adult quest to find out what was true and what was fiction. A very enjoyable and interesting book so far.

Finally, finally ..finally finished Fall of Giants by Ken Follett and am now reading Gershwin by Ed Jablonski and Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel

Finished Flint by Paul Eddy--page-turning thriller with some improbable elements. Will probably pick up J. M. Barrie's Tommy and Grizel next.

I am starting and ARC of "Learning to Lose" by David Trueba.

I finished and reviewed Jacques Poulin's little gem, Translation is a Love Affair. Now I'm reading Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth.

Greetings! It's a long weekend, and that means (hopefully!) I've gotten some reading done.

I just finished Bill Grady's latest, "Given By Inspiration" which is a very interesting book about the origins of the Bible.

If that's not your cup of tea, I recently reread Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsong" and "Dragonsinger". Now I just have to wait for the library to open tomorrow to borrow "Dragondrums". I prefer this trilogy to some of her other works, mainly because it's lighter.

Waiting on my bedside table I have "A Guiding Star", which is the first book by Joyce Stranger that I will have read since about 40 years ago. I'll post a review once I finish it.

Re: anything by Ayn Rand, I cannot say from experience, but I've heard good and 'bad' about her works. There's something out there for everyone. :)

Yes, Fountainhead is worth the read; but, if you're finding it tough going, do not bother trying to read Atlas Shrugged. It's the only book I started and never finished. Nancy

I finished Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, which I enjoyed.

Next up: Francis Steegmuller's Flaubert and Madame Bovary: A Double Portrait

I finished and reviewed a couple of books this weekend. When reading Annabel I couldn't help but think of As Nature Made Him about a boy who was raised as a girl after his penis was burned off during a botched circumcision. Conservatives laughingly say the scariest sentence you can ever hear is "We're from the government, and we're here to help you." Not so, as people struck by disaster will attest. The scariest words are "I'm from Johns Hopkins, and I'm here to fix you." Annabel was fixed with the aid of various doctors who didn't know what they were doing but were sure they were doing it for her/his own good. The story shows astute psychological insight into the mind of anyone trying to find a balance between individuality and group cohesion, order and ambiguity.

I also finished The Seas, an Orange Prize longlister this year that was a much less successful story about almost the same ideas from a different angle. The style is annoyingly pseudo schizophrenic. What was she thinking?

Now I start on The Memory of Love.

Currently I am soldiering on with Handmaid's Tale and wishing I could quit reading it. It is for my real life book discussion so will finish it because I hate going into a discussion without having read the book being discussed. I started a real under-the-radar gem A Small Death in the Great Glen and am really liking this book. Set in Scotland in 1953 it is a murder mystery but has lots to say about post-war Great Britain and displaced persons in the redrawing of the European map after WWII. Also trying to finish up Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I am a little more than half-way through but I like this book that is so rich in historical detail.

While it is true that some books get better the farther you get into them and provide the reader with great rewards, my advice is if you are struggling to finish reading a book and you have read 100 pages and still don't like it - quit - unless there is some compelling reason to read it, like as an assignment, or for a book discussion group. Life is simply too short to waste time on a book you don't like. There are too many good books out there waiting for you to pick them up to read something you don't like. I spent many years thinking I had to give books a chance as they had to have some redeeming quality. Often they don't, but aside from that - the reading experience is very personal and so every book does not fit everybody. Don't feel guilty about not finishing a book.

I read an academic journal (cover to cover) this weekend: Finnishness in Finland and North America: Constituents, Changes and Challenges edited by Paulina Raento. Now I'm reading the new novel Daughters of the Revolution by Carolyn Cooke - which, in spite of the holiday today, has nothing to do with the the American revolution (I think... but I'm only on chapter 3).

Well I took a break (I do not quit, but it may be a very long break lol) from Fountainhead and read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants today. I think I'll start the next one tomorrow.

I finished Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and liked it enough to try Salem Falls by her, too. I just finished Tearing Down the Wall of Sound about the career of Phil Spector. I picked it up at a Goodwill bookstore while on vacation.

I just read an article in Time with authors' favorite reads, and I'm making a list from that.

Posted a review of Hester here:

http://www.librarything.com/work/9273451/reviews/71814516

;-}

I'm re-reading Emma by Jane Austen, one of my all-time favorites. The two other books on my plate this week (so far) are Final Harvest, a collection of Emily Dickinson poems, and The Oxford Book of Short Stories.

I've finished and posted a review for The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. Today I've started The Art of Racing in the Rain and I'm loving it. Well, y'know, sort of... :_(

The Art of Racing in the Rain...leave out the self hating dog, and I'll go along with you; but a dog who hates himself, please!

#66 Benitastrnad

I totally agree, especially now that my reading list has grown so long since engaging with LT. If I am not into a book, I will start to skim through it to see if it will catch me again, and if it doesn't, then I will go to the last couple of pages to learn the ending. There are just too many books waiting to be loved.

#73 Citizenjoyce

Finally, someone else who was exasperated with The Art of Racing in the Rain! I so wanted to love this book, but the dog kept irritating me too much.

BBleil, we are in the minority. My book club is going to be reading The Art of Racing in the Rain some time in the next few months. I won't be re reading it, but I'll be interested to see how many people agree. Probably few.

#56 - I got to about page 100 in Name of the Rose a couple of years ago, but ran out of time and couldn't renew from the library. There's a couple of used bookstores near where I work - I think you just gave me an excuse to do more than browse!

But for now, have realized I've got Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book out from library. Just started, and loving it!

# 16 DevourerOfBooks, how did you like The Pale Horse? It is my favourite non-series Agatha Christie.

I'm reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin and getting ready to start Mrs. Dalloway.

I like Nancy Pearl's "rule" for how much of one's precious reading time to give to a book before giving up. She says take 100 minus your age (50 for me) and give any book that many pages. I love this because, as my remaining reading time dwindles, a book has correspondingly less time to "grab" me. I heard her on "Fresh Air" once and the part that sticks with me is something like this: When you're 92, time is short. If a book hasn't interested you within 8 pages, move on. Love it.

> 76 - I just bought People of the Book and hope to read it in August.

I finished up both Comedy in a Minor Key and Unfamiliar Fishes. I'm thinking of starting Remarkable Creatures in the morning.

I hope everyone had a great July 4th whether it was a holiday for you or not!

Still reading English History, 1914-1945 by A J P Taylor. Quite good, if you can get used to the blizzard of footnotes (often pointless) on each page.

I hope to finish The Unbearable Bassington before the end of the week. Amusing, but hampered by a plodding narrative. Saki's forte was the short story.

Show of Evil by William Diehl.

I've finished Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and started Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow.

Hello all. I'm new as of a few days ago ... jumping in.

I'm in the middle of a William Faulkner tear, and finished The Hamlet yesterday. The two sequels to it are in the same volume but I suspect I need a palate cleanser meanwhile, so may dive into some Paula Fox or more Anne Enright.

I never thought I'd be "ready" for Faulkner -- ie, interested enough to do what felt like harder work at reading, so I'm pleasantly surprised at myself. I've been reading Eudora Welty simultaneously, who is frankly much more enjoyable, and also gives a kind of contrast.

I also recently overcame a decades' long (and kind of inexplicable) aversion to Irish literature, and so have been galloping through works by Edna O'Brien, John McGahern, Anne Enright, Eugene McCabe, and even James Joyce (who represents, perhaps, the Final Frontier). I do love being able, in my reading choices, to indulge all my own snobberies and aversions, penalty-free, for as long as I like, and then to enjoy the delicious vistas that open up when I do decide to topple them.

I finished The Wilder Life yesterday and enjoyed it enough to want to read more about the actual life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose. I am about to begin When God Was a Rabbit which is my ER book for May. Haven't read anything yet so cannot give an opinion.

Finished Out of Range, another good one in this mystery series, and now I'm having fun with the latest Stephanie Plum, Smokin' Seventeen.

Welcome, NancyKay. You have plopped yourself down in the middle of the murky south, haven't you? I like the way you describe erecting barriers then tearing them down at will. Reading allows so much freedom.

Just finished The Ties that Bound last night. Started The Seven Daughters of Eve at lunch today.

Just finished Bismark, A Life, a history of the unification of Germany and the man who made it happen. AHH-those Prussian names! A must read for those who want to review European History. Otherwise, No. Also finished Transfection by David Gaughan, a nifty sc-fi short story. Embarking now on my Paris by book summer by starting The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris by David McCullough.

I'm in the middle of Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister. I loved her first book, The School of Essential Ingredients, and this seems to be a good followup.

NancyKay, I've had that experience at least once that I can remember. I was ever ready to cite Mark Twain regarding James Fenimore Cooper. Then, for a book group, I read The Last of the Mohicans and was enchanted. I must keep my mind open to more such possibilities.

Robert

#87--Annaclaire, I took The Seven Daughters of Eve on vacation a few years ago and didn't get to it. I'd be interested in hearing what you think. Think I'm going to start River in the sky by Elizabeth Peters.

#60 Ooh, I'll be really interested to find out what you think of Learning to Lose. I'm reading it too, in Spanish. It's the third of his books I've read and I think he's brilliant. Hope you enjoy it.

Was it on this list that someone said Margaret Atwood didn't include anything in The Handmaid's Tale that hadn't occurred somewhere in the world? We seem to be getting closer: http://www.alternet.org/story/151508/15_year-old-girl_faces_life_in_prison_for_a....

Jbeast ~ Wow, how great! I know so very little Spanish and I'm envious. I'm told the translation is kinda stinky, but so far I don't think so (but then, how would I know?). So far, I love it. I had to put it down for work and marathon training, but hope to get back to it tonight. I don't think any other of his books have been translated, have they? I'd surely check them out if so.

I've read five books since Saturday, and reviewed four of them:

the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett (review): A poetry collection which gives voice to poor immigrants who live in author's neighborhood in upper Manhattan, "where the Dominican Republic meets the Republic of Harlem" (4 stars).

Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D. (review): A fascinating and compelling biography about a renowned orthopaedic surgeon who became the first African American department chair at Harvard Medical School, along with an analysis and call to arms to address health care inequality in the US, which is the best book I've read this year (5 stars).

The Outcast by Sadie Jones (review): Shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Prize, a compelling debut novel about a young pariah in a small postwar English town where social appearances hide dark secrets about the people who live there (4 stars).

The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo (review): A disturbing and deeply moving novel based on a real story about an experimental operation performed by Japanese doctors on an American P.O.W. during World War II (4-1/2 stars).

I've also finished The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson, which was a mildly interesting but ultimately disappointing and, IMO, overly academic historical account (3 stars).

I'm currently reading The Prospector by J. M. G. Le Clézio, and Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castañeda.

#83, Hi Nancy-Shapiro,
I have a Faulkner waiting for me, Light In August could this be the one that you are reading??
I have become hooked on Irish writers for a while, beginning with Edna O'Brien's The House of Splendid Isolation and Down By The River and In The Forest, have you read any of these??Since Edna I have discovered Jennifer Johnston, the first of hers that I read was The Christmas Tree then Captains and Kings nine books later I am still a fan.

I have sadly finished The Stone Angel and I will try Sons and Lovers next, in between I shall be reading some of Alice Munro's short stories.

>94 Citizenjoyce: OMFG Joyce. I want to puke.

I see that people will be reading People of the Book soon. My book club is reading it for July. It's my favorite out of Geraldine Brooks. Enjoy!

I had a lazy day today. I spent awhile reading Signature Styles: 20 Stitchers Craft Their Look. I don't like to sew but I enjoy reading how these women find inspiration and looking at pictures of how they style their craft rooms.

Taking a trip in the way-back-machine, I just now reading Bodie Thoene's Vienna Prelude and Prague Counterpoint of the Zion Covenant series.

This series was very popular when I worked in a public library years ago but I had avoided it because I expected the books to be formulaic and perhaps too evangelical for my taste.

I'm finding that its Christian fiction themes don't get in the way of its story-telling -- Vienna Prelude was an engaging read along the lines of historic fiction by Irving Stone or John Jakes -- and its sequel Prague Counterpoint is off to a good start.

World War II family saga. Sorry no Touchstones....

Richard, all praise to Atwood. She knew what she was doing.

I'm reading an Anne Baker novel, called nancy's War. It is based in Merseyside and is a family saga. I sometimes like the easy reading books nothing to tax your brain too much in this hot weather! :)

I read The Handmaid's Tale in 1986. I don't think I cared much for it, except for chapter 28 -- especially the last few pages -- it left me cold and clammy and fearful of the future. Women had been making such strides in so many areas -- it seemed impossible that we would go backwards -- and so soon.

Escaping reality for a bit, I chose to visit post-Katrina New Orleans with a widowed gay detective who's trying to solve a thirty-year-old murder that no one can prove is a murder: Murder in the Rue Chartres, reviewed in my thread...post #192.

Finished and really liked Parrot and Olivier, and started The Innamorati next.

Finished Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow. Ho-hum kind of book. Started Alien Crimes edited by Mike Resnick.

Hazeljune, Light in August was the first Faulkner I read, last month, which now feels like a looooong time ago. I've also finished Go Down Moses, As I Lay Dying and The Hamlet. I'm not taking them in any special order though I'm starting to think that I should perhaps read the rest in the order he wrote them.

The deep south is the one part of the U.S. I haven't visited at all, but I enjoy reading about it.

Finished An English Murder by Cyril Hare. I am surprised that Hare's mysteries are not more well known.

I just finished reading Handmaid's Tale today and find myself somewhat puzzled. I liked this book, but it is no where in the same league with Blind Assassin, which was a novel that I loved. I rated it the same as I did Oryx and Crake - somewhat average. I think if I had read this book back when it was published I might have considered it somewhat differently but there were no plot surprises in this one and I found it hard slogging just to get through it. I also found examples of other plot devices Atwood uses in her later books and thought it was interesting to read them in her early work. She definitely likes to "nest" things in her books. In BA she nested a book within a book, and in this one she nested a setting within a setting. I liked how she did that by using the vehicle of historical notes at the end of the book. I found that extremely interesting and fun to read. Overall I found this book to be more hopeful than Oryx and Crake which, as I remember, was also a reading slog and a real downer. (I did like the sarcasm in that book and the way she skewered modern society with so much wit and verve was great fun to read.) I was surprised to see that almost 15,000 people in LT have read this book or have it in their libraries. It probably was revolutionary when it came out, but did that many people really read it? I always figured that people read it because it was required reading for so many college courses, even though I managed to avoid reading it until my book discussion group made it this month's selection. Surely there are books out there now that do what it does just as well?

Overall this one won't make my best of the year list, but I want to wait until I have had a chance to let it perk around for awhile before I make a final judgement about it. If it makes me think about it for the next week or so then it will move up on my internal list. I will wait and see.

Now it is back to finish Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet I want to know what happens to Jacob!

I've finally read the first Inspector Lynley/Sgt Havers mystery, A Great Deliverance...review in my thread, post #200.

Finished 2 books today, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (audiobook) which was fantastic! And American Wife which was . . . in a word. . . ugh. Moving on to The Hunger Games and perhaps one of my books for school. . .

I've finally reviewed Solo, which beautiful book was a gift from a delightful friend here, over in my thread...post #224.

Richard, glad your bell has been struck. What a great review.

>114 Citizenjoyce: Thank you kindly, Joyce!

Almost finished reading Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz.

A bit longer left on the audio book, The Dark Divine by Bree Despain.

So far, enjoying both. Will be picking up some more good reads at the library tomorrow :)

Re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in prep for the second half of the movie. It is amazing how much I either missed or have forgotten.

Enjoyed Smokin' Seventeen as one of the better ones in the series. I'm now about half-way through 84 Charing Cross Road, which is charming and way better than I expected.

I could no longer resist and ordered the movie of 84 Charing Cross Road from the library today. It's on videocassette! I wonder if I still have a VCR that works.

I have started a YA book called World of Pies by Karen Stolz and so far, it's really good, a small time capsule of the 1960's. I am also about to start The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, which I am really looking forward to.

I continue on very slowly in The Faerie Queene. Last night I got a substantial start on Emma by Jane Austen. From sixty or so pages of it I believe that Ms. Austen has Emma's number.

Robert

Since my last post I have finished The Prospector by J. M. G. Le Clézio, a novel about a man's search for buried treasure and personal fulfillment with rich description of the sea in the late 19th and early 20th century on the islands of the Republic of Mauritius (4 stars), and The Swimmer by Roma Tearne, a disappointing novel longlisted for this year's Orange Prize, which is set in a small and close minded community in East Anglia which is centered about two improbable love stories and the fear of townspeople and modern day Britons of immigration and terrorism. I've reviewed both books, along with The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson, which I read earlier in the week.

Continuing on books that were selected as finalists for the Orange Prize, I'm currently reading Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig, which was longlisted for the 2010 award, a novel set in contemporary London which describes the lives of several illegal immigrants who live and work there, centered around the murder of a young woman; it's superb so far.

"Hearts and Minds" looks great kidzdoc. Let us know how you find it @ the end. I am finding I love most of the short listers for the Orange, but few of the actual winners!

Am reading and enjoying Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain who considered this his best book.

Finished A Visit from the Goon Squad. It seemed to be about how often our adolescent, young adult selves and our middle age selves are so different; a divergence that leaves us confused trying to resolve the two selves. The story was told with a large cast of intertwining characters over forty some years. I found that part of the story placed in the future to have a different feel from the earlier part, more like a superficial science fiction novel. I found it an entertaining novel but not great.

I'm sure this has been asked and answered before but I can't find the answer so, what can I do to make my touchstones show up?

Finished The Unbearable Bassington before going to work. Although the book drags in parts, Saki's bitter, cynical wit usually shines through, and the last two chapters were very serious and sad. Well worth reading, although I think the author had a very bleak view of life.

I've made a start on The Water Babies. I've never read any Charles Kingsley before, although I've owned a copy of Westward Ho! for as long as I can remember. The first chapter bodes well.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Laurence, and loving it.

Cacky, put your book title inside a single pair of brackets, [Title], and your author insided doubled brackets, [[Author]]. Touchstones, too often, sometimes don't work anyway.

Robert

I had one of those 40% off coupons from Borders today and since I had just finished my last book, I picked up a copy of Anthropology of an American Girl. The review blurbs on the cover compare it to works by D.H.Lawrence, Edith Wharton, and Catcher in the Rye, so I couldn't resist the idea of a novel about a girl in the 1970s that is on a par with those works. I hope it's as good as they say.

>123 CarolynSchroeder: Carolyn and any other Orange fans: Jill (mrstreme) has set up a group on LT and Facebook to discuss books selected as finalists for the Orange Prize from this year and past ones; I'd encourage anyone who is interested to take a look:

LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/groups/orangejanuaryjuly

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/orangejanuaryjuly

I agree with you; I don't always agree that the novel selected for the prize is the best one, but I have invariably found several books on the longlist that have become favorites of mine. From this year's list, The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna remains my favorite novel of the year, and I also loved Room by Emma Donoghue and Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson. I suspect that Hearts and Minds will join this group, as well.

Now, see, one thing that really torques me off is when I can't get a book because it hasn't been released in the U.S. I can't find that there's even any likelihood that they'll release Hearts and Minds here. I loved Little Bee and Amanda Craig's book looks like it's another take on the migration/immigration theme.

I am not patient when waiting for books. Waiting for the next Harry Potter book just about undid me. So, I'll have to order it from Amazon.UK, pay the extra, and wait for it to get across the pond. Erg!

>132 whymaggiemay: Amazon US is selling new and used copies of Hearts and Minds, for as little as $1.23 + $3.99 shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0349115877/sr=1-2/qid=1310082898/ref=olp_...

I hate waiting for UK books to be published here, especially the ones I'm eager to read. I already have the UK copy of River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, the sequel to Sea of Poppies, and I ordered The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst from AbeBooks (via The Book Depository) yesterday, as these two seem to be leading candidates to make this year's Booker Prize longlist, which will be announced on July 26. Neither title will be published in the US before the end of September.

Thanks, Darryl. You always come through with pointing out where I can get books I've been looing for. I never look on Amazon, that's probably why. Hearts and Minds is on its way.

> 119 Citizenjoyce:

I hope you VCR still works, because you'll love the movie! They couldn't miss with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, and they didn't! It's one of my favorite movies. I own a copy on VHS, and I don't buy many movies. That one was worth it!

I must be living in the 1990's, because we have dinosaur 56 K dial-up and we still own a working VCR, which we still use. Lol!

I finished Small Island and I am now reading Perdido Street Station and dipping into Lullabies for Little Criminals, and Orange July read, as my commute to work book.

>119 Citizenjoyce: A charming movie, almost as good as the book! Enjoy.

A couple years ago I bought a used copy of Isabella Bird's Six Months in the Sandwich Islands but was disappointed to find the print too small and smooshed to read comfortably. Last night, I downloaded it on my Nook and, 20 pages in, it is wonderful. I loved her A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains when I read it years ago.

I've also started Remarkable Creatures.

I just finished Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand and am now about 15 pages into The Game of Thrones. So far I am really liking it.................

I will be reading it simultaneously with another library book that I just picked up.....Lost in Shangri-La.

I'm trying to finish up some of the several books I've got started and so today was a Young Adult book, Book 1 of the Everest Trilogy The Contest by Gordon Korman. When I get home, another light read...Book 10 of Nora Roberts Language of Love Series for Silhouette, Island of Flowers. That will finish off two of to many to be reading at one time!

>119 Citizenjoyce: I remember watching it years ago and liking it. As bookwoman247 said, with Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in it they could hardly go wrong. I hope you like it!

I wrapped up Middlemarch this afternoon. For a few weeks I'll be comparing everything I read to it and nothing will measure up. I thought I'd try something a little different and go for something I wouldn't normally read. Someone on here recommended The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and even though it is fantasy(which I avoid almost as strenuously as Sci-Fi) I'm trying it. I'm only 20 pages into it and...it's not bad.

As for Middlemarch, it is one of the best books I've ever read. I'm glad I waited until I had some maturity because I think it really is a novel written for adults. I loved that none of the characters were caricatures of people and even the least sympathetic people had reasons for being that way. Eliot doesn't condemn any of her characters or mock them. This novel really is an amazing accomplishment.

Started Summer of 49 this morning, which is about the Yankees-Red Sox in 1949. It's better than expected so far. I read a lot of baseball writing and wasn't expecting much from David Halberstam, but I really enjoyed the first two chapters.

Coppers, I also loved Isabella Bird's A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. What a remarkable woman she was. Every once in a while I think of her ride through that blizzard with her eyes freezing shut. She was so full of courage and determination. I'm glad to know Six Months in the Sandwich Islands is on Nook. I'll have to get it..

Finished and liked The Innamorati and next I will start in one of my dad's old books, a SF classic, The Demolished Man.

Oh, lots of free Isabella Bird books on Nook. I'm in heaven.

Thank you kidzdoc for both the Amazon order link for Hearts and Minds (I want to order that one as well) and the Orange LT links. I'm one of the few people who did not care for Room, but I just finished The Memory of Love and it's one of my all time favorites. Those Orange shortlisters don't make much news (here in the US anyway) and they are worth digging to find.

I am still reading Learning to Lose by David Trueba and it's great ~ dare I say Madrid's answer to Freedom or maybe the movie American Beauty? It also reminds me of the movie Amores Perros a bit, how everyone kind of falls together in time/space. Very interesting, if not a bit unsettling, of a read thus far. I always feel a bit voyeuristic on this microcosmic views of daily lives ... but that said, they are such rich reading experiences.

PS ~ It looks as if the newest Explorer finally resolved its issue with the touchstones - for the first time, they seem to work this morning.

>144 Citizenjoyce: Citizenjoyce Have you read Spinsters Abroad: Victorian Lady Explorers by Dea Birkett? If you enjoy Isabella Bird, I think you'd enjoy Spinsters Abroad, which is short selections of travel writing from several Victorian women travelers, including Isabella Bird. I loved it! It's an excellent overview of the subject.

Ladies on the Loose: Women Travellers of the 18th and 19th Centuries by Leo Hamalian is another one that I enjoyed.

>140 enaid: @enaid I also love Middlemarch and agree with you that I'm glad I read it as an adult. I don't think I would've appreciated it and enjoyed it as much at a younger age.

84 Charing Cross Road was fantastic. How in the world did I wait so long to read this? Wonderful book.

With some culture shock, I'm now reading Sebastian Junger's War.

>147 jnwelch: Why *every*one on this site doesn't own, read, and love 84, Charing Cross Road is an enduring bewilderment to me.

I finished Island of Flowers last night, so next up to be finished is The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver. Making progress!

>144 Citizenjoyce: - I also got A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains for my nook - it'll be a good reread. :)

On Kindle: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black aka John Banville

On audio: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

On paper: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

...and a bunch of stuff for my dissertation from which all the above are providing a welcome relief.

Thanks for the recommendation, Bookwoman. It looks like B&N has several books by Dea Birkett. Those spinsters were something. I get pretty annoyed at Dorothy Sayers ramblings on spinsterhood, but I see why she felt the need to emphasize the benefits of the choice.

I am reading, Faces In The Smoke by Josef Perl. My Relious Education teacher talks about Josef all the time, she recommened to read it.

Lovely lady, Miss Bolton. Holocaust is very important to her, she respects Josef so much.

Were studing Shindlers List, you see. And she pauses it every now and again, so we can discuss or she can read a quote from a true story, like Anne Frank's diary for exsample.

So far 30 pages in, i love Josef already, his relationship to his father is so beautiful. He's writing is so sweet, but truthful, innercent and so wise at the same time. See why Miss admires the man.

Just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the second time.. missed or forgot sooooo much during the first read! On to The Map of Time. Recommended.... :) Happy Weekend All!

#133 kidzdoc, thanks so much for the link. I'll use it immediately because the weekends are when I tend to do my book borrowing/buying. That's when I have the time to really think about whether I feel I must own it or only read it. With 600 unread books sitting on my shelves, I now try to borrow anything I think I don't have to possess.

I would love to read that article what edition of time was in it? Thanks

Currently reading Sugar in My Bowl by Jong and Inside Life Behind Bars.

It's a kind of irony: Ayn Rand (AKA Ain't Rant) was a speed freak; and yet her writing is tedious, an exhausting and slow-going struggle, and overly-long by exactly as many pages as it is long.

No: it doesn't get better.

>158 JNagarya: overly-long by exactly as many pages as it is long.
Great assessment.