What Are You Reading the Week of 9 July 2011?

Birthday's this week include:

Fanny Fern Sunday, July 9th 1911

Harold Bloom Friday, July 11th 1930

Henry David Thoreau Saturday, July 12th 1817



Iris Murdoch Tuesday, July 15th 1919

I thought I would give Richard a break this week. He has been doing such a fine job.

I've been reading and loving Doc. This might be another Best of the Year contender. On audio, I've also been enjoying Emily, Alone. I have not read O'Nan in a few years. Like Russell, he has such a wide palette to work from.

**We are having a Group Read of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which begins next Friday the 15th. You can find the link here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/120153

If you haven't tried Murakami or are curious, come join us!

After finishing Crossing to Safety a couple of years ago, another Stegner has been in the TBR pile. I finally pulled Angle of Repose to the top and am anxiously awaiting getting lost in it. Finished Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa yesterday. I have a feeling it's one of those books that will reverberate in my head for some time; tense and disturbing but engrossing.

After finishing Feed a fun zombie political thriller, I couldn't get into The Informationist the way I'd hoped. Now I'm hopping between Genesis by Bernard Beckett and Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley. I hate that feeling of restlessness that sometimes happens in my reading life. I'm hopeful Genesis will do the trick, but I'm not sure yet.

I really didn't expect to like it (but... it's a local - Hartford, CT - story; my mother just returned it; I wanted to give it to the library book sale which requires reading it first) and now I don't want to put it down. I'm reading Girls of Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith.

I finished Francis Steegmuller's Flaubert and Madame Bovary which I enjoyed. I loved the way Steegmuller used letters and notes to tell the story of how Madame Bovary came to be written. Now I guess I need to put that classic in the tbr pile. I read it in college and liked it, but I'm sure it would mean so much more now.

I've started reading Per Petterson's To Siberia.

I'm going to take my time with Umberto Eco's The Infinity of Lists -- I want to study the examples from art and literature he uses to illustrate the twenty segments of his essay. Such a beautiful book -- I'm thinking that I'll read a segment every other day or so.

Thanks for the great start to the week, MSF. I agree that Richard does a great job, too, and it's nice for him to have a bit of a break.

I'm finishing up The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters, and have been very much enjoying it, as I have all of the Amelia Peabody series that I've read so far.

finishing Summer of 49--very enjoyable, but the author digresses a lot.

Good job starting the thread. Finally we get a break from Richard! Nah just kidding! ;-)

# 2 I read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle earlier this year. Can I still join in on your discussion?

Thanks for the start! Reading McCullough's The Greater Journey, AMERICANS IN PARIS and loving it!

Yes, finally the touchstones are working for me again!

Thanks for starting this week's thread!

I'm reading The Hunger Games and will probably read one of the summer reading books for my class. . .

You are welcome everyone!

Nancy- Hope you enjoy Starvation Lake. I liked it quite a bit. Feed has been on my List!

Porua- Yes, please join us for the Group Read and bring your friends.

Have a great day!

I'm reading A Good Man in Africa

I'm reading The Demolished Man at this moment.

msf59, I loved The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle when I read it several years ago. I may peek in and see what you're saying.

Currently reading Dreaming in Cuban and The Worst Hard Time, both good, and while suffering from insomnia and in a moment of insanity picked up The Broker, which a friend promised I would like. So far it's 'meh.' We'll see if I actually finish this one.

I have four days to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because I'm NOT lugging that book on the plane with me. Normally I'd be reading something else, but finishing this book before the premiere is #1 priority.

I'm finishing up Home by Marilynne Robinson. Such thoughtful and beautiful writing!

I finally got up my review of The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna because it was stunning and deserves many praises to help get it out to a wider audience. It really is a shame how some of the lesser known international authors get nary a glance when so much weird/bad stuff clogs the shelves in the U.S. Ah well.

I am still reading Learning to Lose by David Trueba and loving it. There are no reviews here, so I'll be sure to leave mine when I'm done. The translation is indeed a bit odd, so I see where that complaint of it comes in. Sometimes a tense, grammar, structure will just be really "off" and I go, huh? But I have an ARC and it doesn't happen enough to bother me, even when it does, it sort of makes it rather interesting. So maybe some of that was tweaked in the final version. I am about half-way and am going to hopefully continue in my foray into international fiction after that. But wow, these are some interesting folks ... for sure.

I won the Early Reviewer book Tea of Ulaan Baatar by Christopher Howard, so when that comes, I have to work it in.

I've finished and posted a review for The Art of Racing in the Rain. Loved it, wish I wouldn't have waited so long to read it.

Right now I'm reading Charlatan. Fascinating, so far.

My friend and I are going to read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test together since the rest of our book club doesn't want to read it. Since it features Neal Cassady from On the Road I thought I should use this as an opportunity to reread it.
I am loving On the Road as much as I did the first time, plus I'm picking up on a few references I was too young to understand before.

Just finished this year's winner of the Newbery Award, Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. It's her first novel and interweaves stories from 1918 (the Great War) and 1936 (the Depression) about a small Kansas town and a young girl's discovery of her links to it. Very charming and moving.

I just finished Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children for Early Reviewers. The writing was OK, but it's aimed at the Young Adult market. I timed out of that many decades ago. It also ends as abruptly as an episode from a movie serial, presumably to woo series readers. I'll pass it along to the grandchildren. I'm starting The lost city of Z : a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon. I enjoy books about different cultures rubbing up against each other.

>20 CarolynSchroeder: I'm glad that you enjoyed The Memory of Love, Carolyn! And I agree with your sentiment about the rubbish that clogs the bookstores in the US.

I finished Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig last night, and I wrote a review of it here.

I'm currently reading another book longlisted for the Orange Prize for Orange July, The London Train by Tessa Hadley, which is very good so far. I'm also reading Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castañeda, and Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane.

Oh dear, I feel like a cultural illiterate. I've been reading The Memory of Love for almost a week and am finding all sorts of procrastination activities to keep myself from getting back to it. There are so many books I want to read, and I'm feeling my time is being sucked up by avoiding this one. I don't like the choppy style, and I don't like the stalker main character, Elias Cole. I keep telling myself, "today I'll force myself to finish it" yet here I am on LT, not reading. I know I keep saying there are too many books out there to waste time on ones that don't appeal, but people I respect love this book, so I feel I should continue.

This week I hope to make Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi by Joseph H. Hellerman by main read, in addition to doing more in H. P. Lovecraft: The Fiction by H. P. Lovecraft.

#22, PaperbackPirate:I hope you enjoy it. I re-read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a couple of years ago during a nostalgia trip through the 60's reading thing that included Searching for the Sound: my Life with the Grateful Dead and Prime Green and led to Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion

Just finished The Song of the Lark which resonated with me on many different levels, not least of which is because my daughter is a singer, albeit not operatic. Not sure which print/e-book I'm going to start now. Still working on The Return of the Dancing Master on audio, which is taking a long time because I tend to fall asleep soon after I start listening to it. It's not because it isn't a good story, but the reader just...reads. No changes in tone or voice for different characters, no changes in tone for pretty much anything. I seem to be running into a lot of audiobooks where I am not caring for the readers. May be time to give that format a rest.

Am reading In Defense of Food. Nice to know you dont have to worry about what you eat as long as it is, indeed, food.

I finished and reviewed When She Was Good, Philip Roth's 2nd full-length novel, published in 1966. I'd recommend it only for those with a very strong interest in Roth's work and career. Not that it's all bad. Far from it. But it's got a very unpleasant main character and so is hard to get through. More on my 50-Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/106335#2807405 and on the book's work page.

Finished Alien Crimes edited by Mike Resnick. Book contained stories by Pat Cadigan, Mike Resnick, Harry Turtledove, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Gregory Benford, and Walter Jon Williams. The Benford was the weakest story of the bunch.

Started The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø.

Finished Daughter's Keeper yesterday and am now reading An Abundance of Katherines. So far, it's been pretty good. The footnotes actually add a lot to the experience of reading the story.

I finished up Codeword Barbarossa, a study of the German deception campaign surrounding the invasion of Russia in 1941 and international intelligence efforts prior to the invasion. It was quite eye opening. It seems as if every major country in the world was reading each others diplomatic and military traffic with some degree of success, but everyone thought that their communications were secure.

Now I'm reading Tess Gerritsen's new Rizzoli and Isles mystery, The Silent Girl.

I started The Serialist last night. So far, so good. It's about a down on his luck writer who gets hired by a serial killer facing execution. It is an enormous change from Middlemarch. In a way, that is a good thing. The Serialist is well written enough that it isn't annoying and even has made me laugh a bit.

Finished The Demolished Man and started The Diary of Adrian Mole next

I read The Diary of Adrian Mole just recently and found it very enjoyable. Which part are you going to read?

And how did you like The Demolished Man?

Finished Girls of Tender Age yesterday. I started Perfectly Prep: Gender Extremes at a New England Prep School by Sarah A. Chase. Chase based her contemporary study at my alma mater, athough I attended over 40 years ago and was in the first class of girls in what had been an all-boys prep school. Nevertheless, I am finding her report to be more similar to my experience than I would have expected.

Happy 80th birthday to Canadian national treasure, Alice Munro. Do yourself a favor and read one of her stories this week. This one, for instance:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/12/27/1999_12_27_110_TNY_LIBRY_000019900

I really like The Demolished Man, although you can tell how much SF writing has evolved in the last 60 years. And it was cool to see some ideas that other writers/shows have done too, but differently.

I am reading the first Diary of Adrian Mole, I have never read it before.

I have to rave about the book I am reading: Daniel O'Thunder, a first novel by Ian Weir. The blurb compares him to Dickens, but I think that sells him short. Shifting narrators, great language, and compelling characters and plot. It is marvelous. Daniel is a pugilist turned evangelist who vows to beat the Devil in the ring, which doesn't sound that interesting, but the most fascinating part for me is the connections between characters and the question: Who is the devil? There is a mystery wrapped in between the characters' narrations and it keeps me turning the pages.

And this may be my longest post ever. I really love this book.

>41 divinenanny: @divinenanny I'm glad you liked The Demolished Man. I think his work has aged well. I didn't see The Stars My Destination in your library. If you haven't read it, it's a good one of his - my favorite.

Molly- Wow, I did not realize Alice Munro was 80. I read my first Munro, last year, Too Much Happiness and loved it. I have another of hers in the stacks too.

I'm reading It's News To Her by Helen R. Myers. Just finished reading Falling For Gracie(loved it).

>43 jnwelch: @jnwelch Thanks for the tip. I just received a whole pile of old (pre 80s) SF, so I will enjoy myself with that mountain first :D

Still working on The Discoverers and Pablo Neruda, and People of the Book, and enjoying all (even The Discoverers, which isn't nearly the slog I expected). But, saw the recommendations for 84, Charing Cross Road and have worked that in as well - and already halfway through! Absolutely delightful; how is it that my library only had one copy, and it was available? It ought to be much more popular!

Then again, all the better for me, I suppose.

Thanks to all who praised it and passed the word - I owe the wonderful time I'm having to you!

I've got a few books going right now: The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, and in audio A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz.

I'm limiting myself to one book at a time currently because I'd found I started to many! Have to get caught up with myself, but been to busy with uploading our inventory to our website to handle that many, so...currently finishing The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver. :)

Finished Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi. Now I'm starting to read The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke.

Just finished Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. Just started my ER The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and wishing I had finished all my chores before I started - don't want to put this book down.

I finished To Siberia -- another excellent book from Per Petterson. Now I'm reading David McCullough's The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.

Thanks Mollygrace for posting the Alice Munro story. I had no idea that she was the originator of the idea for Away From Her which was such a lovely movie. Maybe making movies out of short stories is more successful than making movies out of books because you can incorporate the whole story, and then add to it., whereas with books, so much of what the reader loves has to be left out.

I finally finished The Memory of Love and it was a great book after a bad start. I'm glad I kept reading, but wouldn't have without the testimony of LT folk.

Now I start The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet for my RL book club.

#40,

Hi mollygrace,

Thank you for the reminder regarding Alice Munro. It will give me great pleasure to read the short story that you have suggested.

Alternating between two books right now.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I am halfway through each one. I intend to finish one of them tonight.

Finished Bloodmoney by David Ignatius. Excellent spy novel, if a little too tidy @ the end. Looking forward to starting H.V. Morton's A Traveller in Italy tomorrow.

I am reading Death Without Company by Craig Johnson. This is the second in his series about a sherrif in a rural county in Wyoming. The first was excellent so I have high hopes for this one.

I have also started Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan, a YA about an orphaned brother and sister who join a wagontrain heading to Seattle in 1865.

Finished and really enjoyed The Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, now I have to find out which one is next, what it is called in Dutch and if my library has it...
In the train this morning I will start A Discovery of Witches.

I am reading Leaving Home (http://www.librarything.com/work/35465) by Anita Brookner....I haven't read any Brookner for years but am doing so as part of Thomas' reading challenge here (http://brooknerday.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-is-international-anita-brookner.html) and in honour of International Anita Brookner day on Saturday 16 July. If you haven't read any Brookner you should read just one.....as Thomas points out they're usually not more than 200 pages so we're not talking tomes here.....

I Finished Forever on the Mountain by James M. Tabor. It was a great but tragic story. I am going on a much needed Vacation this Thursday. I will be reading In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson and also Clash Of Kings by George RR Martin.

Busy weekend...thanks for threading us so well Mark...haven't picked up too terribly much steam in any one book because instead of reading today I slept. Two Benadryl and a glass of wine. *snore*

I've started Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters. This is the 15th in the Amelia Peabody series. I suspect that Elizabeth Peters is actually a stable of authors writing under that name, because even after 15 volumes in the series, it always seems fresh, to me, always with great new characters and fabulous developement of existing characters. The msyteries and thrills always add great fun to the mix.

Still reading Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. This is a good book, but like others on this list I am just not having as much time to read. And frankly, with it so hot, even inside, I don't feel much like reading. I just want to sit around and be lazy. (Read that as sleep.)

My book discussion group talked about Handmaid's Tale and had a very good discussion about a book that all of us agreed and described as plodding and workman like, but with great ideas and things to say about current social and cultural attitudes.

#58, divineanny: I also think The Diaries of Adrian Mole are really good and fun! I read that one earlier this year and now am trying to get hold of the sequels. on wikipedia there is a nice list of books featuring Adrian Mole in their chronological order. It might eventually help to find them. :)

I just finished A National Joke which is a book about english popular comedy from the music halls to contemporary Tv shows like 'The Royle Family'. It is a bit difficult for non-british(-english) people to understand all the references mentioned, but I definitely learned a lot of stuff about english (i am using this on purpose ;) ) comedies and also about english humour. But in general I must say, that Medhurst refelected a bit too much on his own opinion and his own taste and his own childhood and life experiences to make it a really savouring read.

I've also read The Tales of Beedle the Bard and found it quite amusing, though not really exciting. It was a short read and was just the right thing to put me of my learning, but it is not comparable to anything from the Harry Potter-series

I also had no idea that Alice Munro was 80!

I finished When God Was a Rabbit, my ER book, and am currently reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I had mixed feelings about reading this one based on opinions I had seen here on LT, but am really enjoying it even though it is really crammed with facts and characters.

Today I'm starting A Whole Different Ball Game: the Sport and Business of Baseball by Marvin Miller. Miller was the man who led the baseball player's union for many years. I'm looking forward to his insider's view of how the Major League Players Association made their everlasting, for good or ill, mark on the game.

>58 divinenanny:
>64 Tallulah_Rose:

I have to admit that I am an enormous fan of the Adrian Mole books. I've read them all right through the latest Adrian Mole the Prostrate Years. Adrian never gets old for me - his obliviousness to hints & his law abiding ways will always set him apart from his free wheeling family.

I always check with amazon.uk to see if there are any further installments. I don't think Adrian has ever caught on that much here in the States.

I finished The Serialist yesterday and wasn't blown away. It had a good start but needed a firm editor to cut away some of the chaff. It was larded with the author's endless witterings about theories of crime and how we could all be criminals blah blah blah. I skimmed a good bit of it and was still like, "Shut up already. What are your characters up to while you're blathering on?". It's as though some authors just fall in love with their own writing and it is never to the readers' benefit.

To clear my palate, I read John Cheever's short story The Country Husband and was amazed(as always) by his ability to write a short story. To me, Cheever was the Mozart of the short story.

Finished re-reading the classic Rebecca. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/74280735

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/120427

Sprinted through The Beacon by Susan Hill. Not entirely plausible, but very well written: how does Hill manage to say so much with so few words?

I finished Jhumpa Lahiri's outstanding short fiction collection Unaccustomed Earth. Now I'm ready to settle into The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna.

man of parts by david lodge. Brilliant novel about the life of H G Wells who was not only a great novelist but a believer in free love and serial philanderer. Just finished Florence and Giles by John Harding, which was absolutely brilliant. Just couldn't put it down. Only 99p on kindle, too.

>65 bookaholicgirl: For what it's worth, bookaholicgirl, I loved Devil in the White City when I listened to it on audiobook a couple of years ago. I have considered rereading in print so I can look at the pictures I feel sure are (or should be) there.

Storeetllr - There aren't as many pictures in the book as you would think. So far, I have only found a picture in the beginning of each chapter.

I was reading the book this afternoon while waiting for my son at the chiropractor and I woman said to me that she had loved the book. She told me that her family was in the construction business and there were so many things that are done today that were discovered by the architects of the book and she just found the whole thing to be fascinating. So far, I am really enjoying it.

Have just finished Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms by Carmela Ciuraru. Very engaging and well written collection of short bios and anecdotes of those who hid their true identity from the literary world.

Beginning Harry Mathews' The Human Country, short fiction by one of my favorite modernists.

Just finished Light in August and what can I say? Flawless writing! I am about to start Martin Dressler: The Tale of An American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser and I continue listening to The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett.

#40 mollygrace,

I clicked on to the site for Alice Munro, thank you, I began reading the short story The Bear Came Over The Mountain, it seemed so familiar, I then realised that I had seen not long ago a wonderful Canadian movie starring Julie Christie "Away From Her", it was based on Alice's story, I did not continue with the reading, however I clicked on AUDIO on the site and up comes a reading of one of Alice's books Axis, so there you are!!! My Alice story for the week, I also have a more to come, one that I am looking forward to is Family Furnishing, it receives a great mention from the Audio reader.

Thanks again mollygrace.

I've just finished and reviewed what to me is an uncatogoricalizable book, Michelle Tea's The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America. Tea starts of talking about her time as a goth, punk groupie then goes on to discuss her succession of a few boyfriends and girl friends to her time as a prostitute. She doesn't say how she goes from prostitute to author, but she doesn't leave you thinking you'd much want to enter the profession. There are some great quotes, and it's a fast read, but the mother in me kept saying Get yourself together, and get out of there! Now, back to my planned read, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I'm also still listening to In the Woods, but since I'm driving less now that little league is over, I have less time to listen.

#59 alexdaw,
I have read one only by Anita Brookner , A Start In Life is was her first novel, and I did enjoy. It is as Thomas pointed out, an average of 200 pages (my size).

Just started Shadow of the Sun.

>>65 bookaholicgirl: & 73--bookaholicgirl & storeetllr. I listened to the audio of Devil in the White City a few years back. I had a great time searching 1893 World's Fair on ebay. There were lots of real photo postcards (RPPC) showing all the attractions the book talked about. I didn't buy any--just window shopping for me--but it really made the book come alive.

I'm currently reading Ivan Doig's The Sea Runners along with continuing Karen Armstrong's Holy War:The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World. I've been working on the latter for several months. It's fascinating but I keep getting distracted by other books.

Hi! I just joined this group.

I'm currently reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

RE Devil in the White City: I had to read that for one of my classes during my freshman year of college and I absolutely loved it. Part of the appeal for me is that I'm from the Chicago area, so I loved the descriptions of the World's Fair. One of my friends from Tennessee read the book & she had a much harder time getting into it because she didn't know the city. I'm glad you're enjoying it - it's one of my favorites!

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by oil lamp last night, because my power is out for the FIFTH time in two months. ARGH. I did finish the book in time before my trip, though - my high school friends and I are going to Universal Studios for a few days for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the premiere of the Deathly Hallows pt. 2! I am, however, bringing Think of a Number with me for the 3 hour plane ride. Should keep me occupied.

Amongst Women by John McGahern, and The Wig my Father Wore by Anne Enright.

I finished The Magician's Assistant and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ann Patchett is able to weave a great tale with entertainment and thought provoking ideas. I am reading Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer and am about to start listening to True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey, whisch is a RL book club selection for August.

I'm feeling inspired by bookwoman247. I'm going to read at least a few of the Amelia Peabody series, starting with a re-read of Crocodile on the Sandbank. I'm not feeling terrific(the heat??) so this seems like a great time to kick back and enjoy myself a bit. I never would have thought of this if it weren't for you bookwoman247 so, thanks!

Well with The Stuff Of Nightmares I'm midway though, Faces in the Smoke about 50 pages in. :D

> 85 EnaidYou're quite welcome! I hope you enjoy, and I hope you'ree feeling better soon!

Finished The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø and about to start The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley.

Finished and loved A Discovery of Witches and started To Kill A Mockingbird. I vaguely remember reading it about ten years ago for class, but if so, I wanted to read it again, properly (in a mood to enjoy instead of being forced to).
And NovaLee, I know how you feel. I have a very hard time abandoning books, but there are so many other nice books out there, and life is short!

Finished To Kill a Mockingbird (I started it last night, not this morning when I posted the message above, I am not that fast). My next book has a brilliant title, The Word for World is Forest (In Dutch it is even better with all the W's, Het Woord voor Wereld is Woud).

Just finished last night David Balfour and after struggling over the idiotic Scot dialect so prominent in the first 265 pages much enjoyed the rest of the book (ending on page 406). The edition I read was published in 1907...

War by Sebastian Junger is a well-written account of his time embedded in the Afghanistan War. Interesting takes on the high intensity excitement of it, the brotherhood bonds that develop, and the difficulty for those who survive to adapt to our mundane world after the adrenaline-fueled one they left.

Still reading The Greater Journey-Americans in Paris by David Mccullough, I think he is amazing. Saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose and was capitivated. Just started The Brothers of Baker Street about living at Sherlock Holmes old address and the consequences. A bit slow starting, but I will carry on because I love the premise. Just received today Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan, a favorite author. I am packing for vacation today, this book is coming with me. Also traveling with me will be an ER book I also just received, After Lyletown, by K.C.Fredrick. This concerns a man involved in 60's militant activity and what happens when his past comes back out of the blue.

Just got my May ER book, Shadows on the Gulf by Rowan Jacobsen so adding that to my currently reading list! :)

Just received e-book Wired to add to my list.

Having read four of Jane Austen's novels this year for the 75 Books in 2011 Challenge's Austenathon and intent on reading two more by the end of the year, last night I picked up and got a good start on Jane Austen by Claire Tomalin. A recounting of her life requires a lot of conjecture, but the conjecture here is plausible, and the book is readable.

Robert

Just finished The Hunger Games and it was fantastic! Thank you to all the LTers who recommended this freakin' awesome book!

Now I'm going to be reading Catching Fire interspersed with The Challenge for Africa.

Still reading The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver but adding in my new ER book Shadows on the Gulf by Rowan Jacobsen.

I finished reading Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet and really liked it. (Sorry Richard, but I disagree, it was good.) I also enjoyed the author's essay on writing historical fiction that is at the end of my copy of the book. Mitchell raises some interesting questions about language and how to interpret what others say in a different language and he also reminds us that all of language is not just words. There is lots to ponder in this book. I don't think it is as amazing as Cloud Atlas but it is a good book. I put it on my best books of the year list. It may not stay there, but it is a good one.

I will start reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for the group read that Mark is sponsoring and am still listening to 'Tis by Frank McCourt. I like McCourt's writing but does he have to be so full of self pity? I am amused that he is so obsessed by sex and willing to write about it. Just goes to show that young men in 1955 are the same as young men today. I also like the fact that McCourt is doing the reading on my audio copy of this book.

I'm doing somethiing I "never" do -- but it seems to be working all right -- so far, at least. I'm reading three books at the same time -- and being tempted by a fourth. I'm strictly a one-book-at-a-time kind of girl, or so I thought.

I'm continuing to read -- and thoroughly enjoying -- David McCullough's The Greater Journey. I'm reading it rather slowly, wanting to enjoy every word, spending time with the illustrations, stopping to do a bit of research or to consult maps. I think I'll be working on this book well into August.

I mentioned earlier that I'm reading Umberto Eco's The Infinity of Lists -- covering one part of the essay each day, studying the artwork and literary excerpts that illustrate that section. Today, it was a list of the loot Tom Sawyer's friends gave him so he would allow them to whitewash Aunt Polly's fence . . . "a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar--but no dog . . ." And then , only a few pages away -- feast for the eyes -- Jan van Huysum's magnificent "Vase of Flowers".

This afternoon I sat down to get back to those Americans in Paris and realized I wanted something else -- I was missing having a novel to read -- so I picked up Tom Franklin's Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter and of course he had me in the first sentence.

So here I am, reading three books, and the phone rings and it's a friend who needs me to find my copy of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek -- she couldn't find hers -- (How could that be? I can always find mine -- how could you misplace such a treasure?) -- but she wanted me to read her the passage about the migration of the monarch butterflies -- she wanted to quote it for a paper she's writing for a night class. So now that book is sitting here, too, tempting me with all its wonders. I've been meaning to reread it, but not just now.

Was avoiding the torture scenes in People of the Book (which weren't, as it turned out, all that bad: had been afraid of a repeat of The Wasted Vigil, but Brooks doesn't... she describes, but doesn't dwell).

So, read Like Water for Chocolate over the last couple of days. Had read Swift as Desire some time ago, and hated it, but thought maybe I hadn't given Esquivel a fair shake. Now I have. Plenty of other authors in the sea - like Brooks, for example! So back to that. And will try to get a copy of the Murakami to join in on that reading, too.

>80 streamsong: Oh, what a great idea, streamsong! I wish I'd thought of it when I was listening to Devil in the White City. I bet it made the book come alive!

101> I've usually got three books on the go, mollygrace: one fiction, one non-fiction, and another about music or musicians.

Finished and like The Word for World is Forest. My next read is the much recommended Ender's Game.

About 1/3 of the way through The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim - a modern classic that takes place on the Portofino peninsula, which is where I am at the moment. Quite cerebral but also lovely - thoroughly enjoying it.

I recently finished Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex that provides a glimpse of the genius of Leonardo da Vinci through two of his muses/patrons, the d'Este sisters. I read it for some additional context before going to Milan next week. Historical fiction at its best.

I finished the excellent Doc. This is easily one of my favorite reads of the year. I started Being Dead, a short novel to take me up to the Group Read.
On audio, I finished Emily, alone, which was very good and started The River of Doubt. This will be another winner.
The Group Read of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle begins tomorrow. Want to join us?

http://www.librarything.com/topic/120153

Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres. I just finished a disappointing series so I hope this one won't let me down.

Has anybody read Anthropology of an American Girl? I started it last week, and I really wanted to like it (and expected to), but frankly, I'm finding it a bit annoying. Am I just grumpy?

DMO ~ I picked up Anthropology of an American Girl at a used book sale. Your feelings seem to abound. I think it's one of those "has a lot of potential" but I don't know anyone who really LOVED it. That being said, if you stick with it, please report back. It intrigues me and I still want to read it (or at least give it the college try).

I am still reading Learning to Lose and really love it. Just ... something about it. The right combination of uneasiness (about people's bad decisions/situations in life) and then I go, wow, I like that person.

I am also embarking (not sure if "reading" is the proper term) on Walking in this World by Julia Cameron and it's really pushed me to just get my butt in gear re: my own writing and painting/drawing. So reading time is a bit less.

>101 mollygrace: mollygrace That's funny - I've got three on the go too. I didn't mean for it to happen but it has. I'm re-reading Crocodile on the Sandbank, James Thurber's My Life and Hard Times and I keep dipping into The Stories of John Cheever.

I've always wanted to be one of those people who could read more than one book at a time!

I've always been one to have more books on the go than I have time for. I'm severely restricting myself to just two at the moment, and then last night I found I'd left the one I was carrying with me in the car, soooo...picked up yet another! Dang! Just can't keep it down to one!

I finished Perfectly Prep yesterday and reached for a nearby Amanda Cross paperback No Word from Winifred and consequently would have preferred not to have to go to work today. It's a nice summer day to be out on my deck with a good, fast mystery. Amanda Cross is actually the pseudonym of the late feminist scholar and professor Carolyn Heilbrun (who feared that writing detective novels would jeopardize her chance of achieving tenure at Columbia University). I'll be traveling part of August so this might be a good summer to try to read more of the Cross/Heilbrun's Kate Fansler detective series - which are always smart, full of literary and cultural references and perfect for vacation reading.

I finished The Puritan Family which is a small concise book describing the Puritan beliefs and society as it related to the family. It was very clear, enlightening, giving me a much clearer picture of everyday life in Puritan Society than I've gathered from any other source.

I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a simply written story about Japanese and Chinese Americans during the 2nd world war. Having read Shanghai Girls a few months ago I wanted to slap Henry's father upside the head. What was he sending his boy into? Now I start Grace Williams Says it Loud another book short listed for the Orange Prize this year.

I'm reading French novels in honor of Bastille Day. This morning I read Lightning: A Novel by Jean Echenoz, which was a superb fictionalized account of the tragic life of the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla, and I'm currently reading Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette, a crime novella recently published by NYRB Classics about a young cold-blooded female killer.

Between books for my commute and can't decide what to pick up next, so am doing a little more reading of The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot which I find I can take only in small bites.

I'm halfway through Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan, the third in his Takeshi Kovacs science fiction trilogy. I'm not a big sf reader but I have totally gotten into this trilogy. I love his "resleeving" concept (that when you die, your consciousness is transferred to a new sleeve, or body. Probably not an original idea in sf, but my first encounter with it).
Also just started listening to The Case of the Missing Servant. I'm not very far into it yet. I thought it would be a good choice for our upcoming road trip.

today i finished K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart and was disappointed it was not a mystery. I read six books by her when i was a teenager and wanted to see what I would think of her today. Sad to report: not much. After I finished this book I noted it was the no. 5 bestseller in 1915--I read a first edition of it (sadly it has 10 missing pages!) If anyone would like it I will send it to them for the cost of shpping same.

104, 111, 112 - I enjoyed your comments about reading more than one book at a time. As I do this, however, I'm remembering one reason I never do this: it takes forever to finish. I feel as though I'll be reading these books for the rest of the summer. I was never a fast reader -- partly because I'm always rereading passages I like -- and in the past couple of years I've noticed that I'm taking even longer to finish a book. So when these are done, I imagine I'll go back to one-at-a-time.

I finished and reviewed Heart-Shaped Box, years after everyone else; a fun afternoon's read, see my review in my thread...post #70.

#120 - Mollygrace - That's exactly why I've tried to limit the number of books I'm reading....It's a somewhat ineffective effort to get some of them finished! Doesn't help to be surrounded by unread books and so if I can't immediately put my hands on the one I'm currently trying to finish, I am all to able to pick up yet another one! *sigh*

Finished The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley last night and very early this morning I finished I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. Next up is Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow.

104, 111, 112, 120 and 122 ~ I try to stick with just one book at a time, really I do, but I seem to be congenitally unable to read just one. Today I am in the middle of three novels: The Brothers Gwynedd by Edith Pargeter on Kindle (my commuting read); The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell on iPod (my audiobook); and Farenheit 451, a graphic novel adapted from the by Ray Bradbury novel, a printed book. Oh, yes, and am also reading (in small chunks) The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot on Kindle. At least they are different enough that I don't get them mixed up, but I am in total agreement with Mollygrace and Neverwithoutabook that it seems to take forever to finish one.

#124 - Storeetllr....LOL I love that " congenitally unable to read just one"! If that's a disease....I'm happy to have it! Sometimes I just need a break from what I'm reading...something a little lighter, or my head is in a different place, or I just need some time to absorb what I've been reading. It does take longer to finish a book that way, but the enjoyment is the same1 :)

This morning I finished a third book for Bastille Day, Dump This Book While You Still Can! by Marcel Bénabou, which I should have dumped before I bought it. Today I'm reading A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes, a NYRB Classics title originally published in 1929, about a group of English children living in Jamaica who are captured by pirates.

I too read in tandem. Right now I have five books going. One free Nook book that I read whenever I in a Barnes & Noble store. A Small Death in the Great Glen This one is so good I find excuses to travel the four blocks to the store just to read for an hour. One on the Nook that I read when I work out. Jane Eyre I am listening to 'Tis in the car during my commutes. I am reading Wind-up Bird Chronicle in book form at lunch and bedtime and whenever I have time to turn the pages. I also have House of Cards for my non-fiction book, but this one is boring and I am having trouble making myself read it. All of these are very different books and so it is easy to not get them confused. However, I do find that I spend the most time reading the the book so it is usually the one that gets finished first.

I did not always read this way. Prat of the reason I read in tandem is because I don't want to be wasting time by not reading. I started reading more than one book at a time in the last five years. Before I read one book and then started another, but I got tired of always carrying a book around with me and started leaving the books where I needed them to be. For instance, I had a book at work, one at home, and one in the car that I carried around with me so that if I had a few minutes free I could read. I suspect that as I run out of hard copy books and read more digitized copies of books that I will go back to reading one at a time as carrying the book around with me will become easier. The Nook holds so many more books than I could possible carry with me so I won't have to be afraid that I will finish a book and not have another one within reach. With the Nook I will have plenty of books at my fingertips so will not have to have as many started and can read one completely through before starting another.

> 128 Kidzdoc

A High Wind in Jamaica is also a terrific movie starrring Anthony Quinn. I don't know if it's on DVD, so it might be hard to track down, but it's well worth it.

It's a bit different from the book. It's more sentimental in some regards, I think, but Quinn's acting was impressive, IMO. He said so very much just with one raised eyebrow.

#127 - Benitastrnad - I also own an eReader. I can see many advantages to it, and love downloading free books! :) I have yet to read anything on it, tho. I stopped carrying it with me for fear it would get damaged before I ever got around to reading all those delightful sounding books I'm downloading onto it. Meanwhile, I also leave books I'm reading everywhere....by my bed, in the livingroom, bathroom....in my cart I take on transit, at work, in the bathroom at work....so many books and places to read! I find that reading multiple books is no greater hardship than watching multiple TV shows. We all do that and follow the storylines with no problem and I just think of it in the same manner. Sometimes I'm tired and think about just reading one book, but give me a good night's rest and that thought just flies out the window! LOL To each his own! I just like to celebrate reading!

>128 bookwoman247: Thanks for the info about the movie version of A High Wind in Jamaica. I just finished it (it was very good!), and while I was reading it I thought it would make a good movie, so I'm pleased that there was one made from it, featuring one of my favorite actors.

I thought Angle of Repose was a much better book, I hope you'll enjoy it. Great historical details of the American West. Description of the mining life was spectacular, it really placed you there. Amazing sense of detail. Crossing to Safety was good, I thought, especially the end, which I found deeply moving, but AoR is a much more ambitious, sweeping book.

I just finished Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice a literary memoir of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolklas. I recommend it if you have a passing knowledge of their lives. Review here.

Now I'm continuing Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck and about to start either Gracefully Insane by Alex Beam or Seeing Patients by Augustus A. White III.

I seem to be on a kick of reading one fiction and one non-fiction right now. I cruise through the fiction while the non-fiction takes longer (I'm often snatching moments of it on my phone's Kindle app while I'm working). I used to only like one book at a time but for now this pattern seems to be satisfying.

Nothing like reading a great western in the summer. You're going to love this one, NovaLee.

Finished and loved, loved, loved Ender's Game. I am waiting to pick up a new book, because I am going to a (hopefully) great booksale today, where they will sell books by the weight :D €5,00 for 1 kilo :D

133 NovaLee -- Setting off on your great adventure, you might want to take a change of clothes. You'll love the book, but somewhere along the way you'll realize you're covered in traildust. By then you won't mind at all, of course. You might want to take the warm underwear, too. Don't say I didn't warn you. How I envy you -- reading that book for the first time. What is it Dr. Seuss says, Oh, the places you'll go! And, I might add, Oh, the people you'll meet! Enjoy.

132 nancyewhite -- I like your review of Malcolm's book. Malcolm taking on Stein and Toklas - isn't she the one who said that a biographer has to break into the house and rifle through the drawers looking for the jewels?
Fascinating book -- a gem.

Review of Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite that's very much worth reading.

LOVE LOVE Lonesome Dove ... and I'm not a Western person whatsoever. So I "think" you will dig it NovaLee!

>133 NovaLee: What CarolynSchroeder said!

Just finished Making Toast, a memoir about a year of grieving within a family. It occurs to me that I've recently been reading several books which have to do with grieving, but for no apparent reason. Funny how my reading sometimes takes an unintentional and unexpected turn.

I reread the Percy Jackson books but I am looking for something like them.

This week's thread - http://www.librarything.com/topic/120684.