What Are You Reading The Week Of 23 July 2011?

Birthdays for July 23-29, 2011

July 23:
Raymond Chandler 1888-1959

July 24:
Alexandre Dumas, pere 1802-1870
Junichiro Tanizaki 1886-1965
John D. MacDonald 1916-1986

July 25:
Eric Hoffer 1902-1983
Elias Canetti 1905-1994

July 26:
George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
Paul Gallico 1897-1976
Rick Bragg 1959-

July 27:
Alexandre Dumas, fils 1824-1895
Elizabeth Hardwick 1916-2007
Jack Higgins 1929-

July 28:
Beatrix Potter 1866-1943

July 29:
Booth Tarkington 1869-1946
Alexis de Tocqueville 1805-1859
Edwin O'Connor 1918-1968

Sorry I don't have any pictures -- someday I'll learn how to do that, I promise. I hope it's all right to be posting this -- I didn't see a sign-up sheet or assignment list. Hope you all have a terrific week.

I'm reading Tethered by Amy MacKinnon and it is both beautiful and painful.

I am still reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and am enjoying it very much. I am very surprised that the members of my book club didn't like it more.

Thanks for getting the weekly thread started mollygrace. I am in the mood for a fun adventure story right now and have picked up Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.

Wow, Tethered looks good DOB ... and that is a very haunting cover.

I am reading a really off the beaten path book The Fourth Treasure by Todd Shimodo which is about, well, lots of things, but predominantly shodo (Japanese calligraphy), neuroscience, love lost. There are little margins filled with what the characters, brush strokes and history of shodo mean (or guesses at that). I find it soothing, fascinating and I'm going to really take my time with it.

I'm reading Sodom and Gomorrah, the fourth volume of In Search of Lost Time. So far in the first 250 pages, the narrator has gone to a party and discovered that gay people exist (not in that order). I've also started re-reading Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, for when the Proust is too much to take.

The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason

It's a first-volunteer-first-start job, mollygrace. Thanks for doing it this week! I'm still working through The Lantern.

Only one comment...posting a link at the end of the last thread is helpful.

Thanks mollygrace.

I'm reading The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas and slowly making my way through A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman.

I recently finished and LOVED Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart. It was wonderful! See posted review for details. I'm now reading Wicked Plants by the same author and it seems to be just as enjoyable. :)

I'm reading Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters and am, as usual, loving Amelia Peabody Emerson's parasol wielding ways. I'm also half heartedly starting Dangerous Liaison by Carole Seymour-Jones. It's a biography of the relationship between de Beauvoir and Sartre. To be honest, it just seems too hot to be reading about a couple of not very nice people who do unpleasant things. And, who also seem to lack any sense of humor about themselves.
The writing is pretty interesting but I feel like I've been reading a few too many books about mean people.

I've had company this week so I am still reading The Pale King, and listening to True History of the Kelly Gang and The Lotus Eaters. David Foster Wallace was truly a genius!

I am currently reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I'm not sure I would have made it through the first 50 pages if it hadn't been my only book on an airplane, but now I'm intrigued, and the going is easier.

Devil in the White City continues to entertain.

I am reading and enjoying The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's so silly!

#16> I love the Hitchhiker's Guide in all its forms (although the relatively recent movie not so much), but if you can get your hands on the BBC radio production, that, in my opinion, is the best of the lot. The guy who does the voice of the paranoid android is a riot.

My own reading time has been very scarce. I'm still learning about the history of baseball's labor struggles via Marvin Miller's fascinating A Whole Different Ballgame: The Sport and Business of Baseball.

Still working on A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin.

Amy Winehouse died today. I guess youth doesn't make us invincible after all.
Thanks Molly for a great start.
I'm still reading Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant, surprisingly good essays about food: cooking, eating, sharing and thinking about it. As good as it is, it's hard for me to tear myself away from my audiobook, The Likeness. Where has Tana French been all my life? (Well, not born for much of it.)

9 richard -- Thanks -- I meant to leave the link, but forgot. Just as I forgot what I came here for this morning. I was up most of the night finishing one book and starting a new one and so I wanted to leave a post here about it but the new page wasn't up and then I decided to do it myself. Nerve-racking, that -- always afraid you'll do all the research and get it written and someone will have already done it. All that pressure on a Saturday morning -- and of course by then I was getting sleepy.

I finished David McCullough's The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris which I enjoyed. Several years ago I read Witold Rybczynski's amazing biography of Frederick Law Olmsted, A Clearing in the Distance, and I admired the attitude Olmsted brought to his work -- an attitude I find more often in stories of Americans of the 19th Century -- the feeling that they were trying to give something to their country -- that it wasn't really all about riches or fame (though of course it was about that, too) but that there was a desire to create something (in business, art, medicine, or whatever calling) that would last, that was a gift to future generations. That seems almost an old-fashioned, fussy kind of notion today, and one we could use more of -- so I enjoy reading about people who seem to have lived their lives with posterity in mind.

Now I'm reading Monique Truong's Bitter in the Mouth -- I'm enjoying it and its story of family and friendship and words and of how desperately we try to hold onto what's precious and unique inside ourselves, even if what's precious and unique is what's causing us so much pain. Or something like that -- I'm only in chapter five, so what do I know? But I already loved the writer for The Book of Salt, still one of my favorite novels, so I have a feeling I can trust her to get me through this.

(Then there's that question about whether it's nerve-racking or nerve-wracking. I guess either is okay -- thank goodness for google.)

Currently reading (NonFiction) "Scent of the Missing: Love & Partnership with a Search-And-Rescue Dog" by Susannah Carleson...delightfully written, informative (w/ photos, too).

Recently finished a re-read of "The Bell Jar"....understood it much more than when I first read it, years ago.

I'm reading Demolishing the Myth which is likely to take a couple of weeks. I'm mixing in a bit of light reading with Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill.

I am a few pages shy of half way through The Oxford Handbook of Fascism. I will not in the future use the words fascist or fascism facilely.

Robert

Just finishing Porius by John Cowper Powys which is very long. Will probably do Death in Venice by Thomas Mann next as it is short which will make a nice change.

I'm just now starting The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters. I can't believe that I only have three more books to read in the Amelia Peabody series! I'll miss it! I've spent two summers with Amelia and her family! (I read the first nine books in the series last summer and am reading the other 10 this, my Second Summer of Amelia Peabody. It's been such fun!)

I've just finished Alone In the Kitchen With an Eggplant and was yearning for anchovies. I don't even have sardines so had to settle for a dinner of tilapia. It's just not the same. Now I start another Orange Prize book, The Tenderness of Wolves. I hope it won't be full of overwhelming evil.

Novalee, glad you're enjoying Lonesome Dove. I read it after I saw the movie. Both were good.

Several people were talking last week about 84 Charing Cross Road, so I found it at the library today and plan on reading it next week.

However, I also found a CJ Cherryh book I'd not read before, Tripoint, so I started that first.

And Silver Chief, Dog of the North came in the mail today! Woo! I have loved that book since I was a young girl and found it at the library. The edition I bought through AbeBooks was the original printing from 1933, with both black and white and color illustrations by Kurt Weise.

And I'm also reading The Spirit World by Clarence Larkin, which I have found fascinating!

Yep, I'm one of those who reads more than one book at a time. :grin:

Reading Heart -Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Being that it was recommended by msf59 I thought to give it a try.

I am reading The Autobiography Of Henry VIII: With Notes By His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George.

Molly- Thanks for starting the new thread! Good job!

Cindy- Hope you enjoy heart-shaped Box. A nice creepy ghost story.

I finished Being Dead, which was excellent and on the lighter side, I finished the audio of Soulless, the 1st of a fun fantasy series, featuring werewolves, vampires & parasols.
Of course, I'm also deep into The Wind-Up Bird, for the Group Read, which I'm enjoying. I'm just wondering if taking hallucinogenics, might help the experience.

#29 Christy. - I loved the Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes By His Fool, Will Somers when I read it about 10 years or so ago. You'll have to let me know what you think. :)

ETA: I'm reading The Widow by Carla Neggers and looking for my ER book which I seem to have misplaced.....hmmm....

Have just started The Better Angels by Charles McCarry. Its a politcal thriller written by a master of spy novels.

Enjoyed Elspeth Huxley's Murder at government house and am thinking of looking up the two other books in the series.

Thanks for starting the thread mollygrace!

I don't seem to be getting much read this month, but I real enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures.

I'm also reading Isabella Bird's Six Months in the Sandwich Islands. Another remarkable woman!

And because I haven't read a mystery in a while, I just started The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths, the first in a series. Seems promising.

About to finish Annabel by Kathleen Winter and getting ready to start I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman for my TIOLI Edgar Challenge.

Molly, thanks! Great job.

Fuzzi - Silver Chief, Dog of the North was on of my favorites as a kid too. I'm a little afraid to revisit it. I know so much about dogs and dog behavior now that I might be a bit too skeptical! Back then, though, my friends and I even played a Silver Chief game.

I finished reading Spanish Short Stories 2 today. It was a better collection than 1, with all the heavy hitters like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/66452214

I'll be starting Madame Bovary soon.

# 16 & 17 I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams is one of my favourite authors. rocketjk is so right about the BBC radio production. I heard a re-telecast of it on its 25th anniversary and laughed till my stomach hurt! Marvin the paranoid android is a hoot!

I meant to post this yesterday on Raymond Chandler's birthday:

http://commonwealmagazine.org/verdicts/?p=279

34 coppers -- I loved Remarkable Creatures -- what a great way to tell the story of the remarkable Mary Anning.

7 NovaLee - I've been thinking about you out there on the trail with Gus and Call and Newt and Deets and Pea and Dish . . . just typing their names brings back so many memories. Enjoy.

I'm indulging my passion for modern Gothic stories with Dracula in Love. Not completely sure what to make of it yet though I am getting a little annoyed by the creeping Americanisms in the speech of its 19th century English protagonist.

>>>16 PaperbackPirate:, 17 and 37 I listened to the BBC radio production of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on a long car trip, and totally agree with you. I loved reading the books, but this is a cut above. Hilarious. I'm on the secondary phase now, which is as funny and good as the primary.

>>34 Copperskye:, 38 I loved Remarkable Creatures, too. I'm having a little trouble convincing others in my family to give it a try, I'm not sure why.

Moon Over Manifest was a pretty good young adult book, in which 12 year old Abilene sorts out the mysteries of what happened in Manifest, Kansas 18 years before during the period of WWI. It was a town of immigrants oppressed by a local mine owner, with an active KKK chapter. Her missing father was at the center of much of the immigrants' attempts to improve their lot. This first novel by Clare Vanderpool won the Newberry.

I'm now starting Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

@40 Joe, Moon Over Manifest sounds really good. Wishlist!

cammykitty, there have been several books that didn't translate well from my childhood memories to an adulthood re-read, but I have a feeling Silver Chief won't be that way.

Jim Kjelgaard's books have delighted me as an adult, as have C.S. Lewis', but part of that might be nostalgia.

As a teenager, I loved Katherine Kurtz' books about the Deryni, but they just didn't seem the same when I tried to read them again a few years ago. Also in that category is Tad Williams' series including The Dragonbone Chair. I just can't "get into" them anymore.

Joe & Cammykitty: I enjoyed Moon Over Manifest too. Abilene reminded me a bit of Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. I thought the author did a good job transitioning between the two stories and time frames: 1918 & 1936. Newbury Award winners are a mixed bunch but I thought this one delivered its history lessons well.

I've finished reading Mythago Wood and really liked it. My next book is a second-hand find, Inkheart.

I have just started Bartle Bull's The White Rhino Hotel after hearing so many good things about this book on LT.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

> 33 Bjace:

I had no idea that the author of The Flame Trees of Thika had also written mysteries! How interesting. Now I'll have to keep Murder at Government House on my radar.

Finished The Challenge for Africa yesterday, and Catching Fire this evening. Am starting Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World and Mockingjay.

Well into Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd. A real page turner.
Also dipping in and out of Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn, a history of baseball's early beginnings.

>47 bookwoman247:
Bookwoman247, Huxley wrote 3 in a series. The second is called Murder on Safari and I just ordered it from Bookmooch.

fuzzi - Kjelgaard was a family favorite. My mother would read his books aloud to my brother and me.

Narratorlady - I'll definitely have to look for Moon over Manifest then. Scout is my girl!

I finished a Rebecca-like book set in Provence called The Lantern, and have reviewed it in my thread...post #239.

Am currently making quite good progress in Lord of the Rings. I read it before in german and am now enjoying it in english. I really find it more exciting and somehwta thriliing then the first time, although I knew it before and have watch the films some 10 times or so.
Am just having about 100 pages left.

I started Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan over the weekend-a little too early to tell if I will like it but I've read her other books and enjoyed them so I'm sure I will like this one too

#55 Far and away my favourite Amy Tan book but I may be in a minority there!

I am reading "Faith" by Jennifer Haigh. Just in the beginning but already I am quite interested.

#45 nzurisana

you will love this series of books - if you like adventure. These are like good old-fashioned westerns. I have only Devil's Oasis left to read.

The events this weekend in Norway reminded me very much of some of the things I read in the Jo Nesbo books earlier this spring. Because of those novels non of what I read about this attach surprised me and yet it did. Either Nesbo is very prescient and those neo-nazi groups are something to be reckoned with or the neo-nazi's have been reading too much of some of their fiction authors. This whole thing was so sad. Such pain for that little country. They have my sympathies.

I finished listening to Tis by Frank McCourt. I actually enjoyed this one more than Angela's Ashes except I wish that the author would quit being so full of angst, self-pity, and overloaded with his inadequacies. I also have Teacher Man and I am looking forward to finding out what he has to say about teaching. I will start listening to it while driving home for my vacation later this week.

I'm nearly half-way through The Bird of Night by Susan Hill. I fairly raced through The Beacon and The Small Hand but this one is rather slow-paced by comparison and the two main characters are tiresome. Perhaps it will improve.

Got a few things going at the moment: White Woman on a Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey in audio, This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park in hardcover, and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles on my Nook.

#61 Oh, oh, oh! I read White Woman on a Green Bicycle while on holiday this time last year and at the time I thought 'well, okay, not a bad book'. It was after I'd finished it and started to read something else that it began to haunt me and it has done so ever since: a real gem that creeps under your skin while you're looking the other way.

I just finished Divergent by Veronica Roth and I really enjoyed it! I just picked up the next book from the library which is Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews.

Novalee (50): yes, I love Abebooks! The three Silver Chief books I found there recently were all hardcover, in good to very good condition (wow...78 years old?) and my total with free shipping was about $25! They've got my business in the future!

I'll let you know how the reread goes.

Cammykitty (52):
I read most of Kjelgaard's books as a child, do you have a particular favorite? One I've not seen or read in many years was Fire-hunter. Another one that is probably my favorite is Irish Red. While I appreciated all the 'Red' books, Mike the pup has a special place in my heart. Also, Snow Dog was a gripping tale, and I've reread it in the last few years.

Ever read any of the Kazan books, by James Oliver Curwood? I read the first one when I was about 10, and then discovered Baree about 20 years later.

Oh, I finished Tripoint and was not disappointed. I enjoyed it, although not quite as much as the Pride of Chanur series by CJ Cherryh or Downbelow Station, but it was still a good read.

I'm still working on The Spirit World by Clarence Larkin. I like what I've read so far.

>Kwidhalm- I'll be starting Divergent in about a week. I'm looking forward to it.

Just started Popular Crime by Bill James on the recommendation of my brother, and its really good so far. It's a really interesting look at true crime, and our society's fascination with crime stories.

>62 Booksloth:

Oh, yay! I'm sort of in the "well, okay, not a bad book" stage now. I'll be sure to wait a bit to write my review, then.

I've finally reviewed Forty Words for Sorrow, the first John Cardinal "mystery," in my thread...post #7.

Also *finally* reviewed Well-Schooled in Murder, the third Lynley and Havers mystery, in my thread...post #6.

And **finally** reviewed Payment in Blood, the *second* Lynley and Havers mystery, in my thread...post #5. That is all for now.

Pnin by Nabokov.

I finished Inkheart and will start on Planet of Exile by Ursula Le Guin next. Meanwhile I also started on The New Penguin History of the World

#67 Leave it a week before writing the review. I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think.

>67 DevourerOfBooks:
I definitely will, especially since I'm writing this one for a publication, so I can't go back and change my mind...

I'm about halfway through Cold Comfort Farm and finding it unexpectedly funny.

#27 - Fuzzi - Silver Chief, Snow Dog, Baree and Kazan; I still have my childhood copies, and also, my favorite, Jack London's White Fang. Loved your mentioning these classics!

Just finished No Time For Goodbye (Linwood Barclay), an excellent mystery/thriller. Am deciding now between Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (R. West), or Antony and Cleopatra (C. McCullough), or one of J.A. Jance's mysteries. Black Lamb has been staring at me ruefully from my To Be Read stack for over a year now.

How does one highlight titles in blue?

I finished and reviewed Kate Atkinson's second Jackson Brodie novel One Good Turn. Now I'm reading Hillary Jordan's new novel When She Woke. The first chapter was sort of, well, creepy.

lovelee, the blue highlights are called touchstones. They are mentioned briefly to the right of the Add-a-message box. If you put square brackets around a title or double square brackets around an author name you should get a touchstone. They don't always work and sometimes take two loadings of the message to get them to take. You confirm that they are right or select from a list by clicking others or more on the right after you have made your initial bracketed entry.

Robert

#76 - lovelee - I just had to comment when I saw you had just finished No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay. My Aunt and I both read it, and found it really good...like you say, and we don't have the same taste in reading materials. Since then, it has become our go-to book whenever someone comes in the store looking for a recommendation of something "good" to read. We've sold and re-sold that book (in multiple copies as we had to go looking for more) ever since and only once had someone say it wasn't their cup of tea! It is very definitely a good read! (Guaranteed seller!)

I was sadly finishing the book city of fallen angels by Cassandra Clare, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a great summer read, but not so much if you really want something that will twist your mind. I personally love the series just because I can get lost in it almost too easily. I'm starting the dark powers series by Kelley Armstrong but I'm not far enough into it to have really developed an opinion on it.

Jamey

I was sadly finishing the book City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a great summer read, but not so much if you really want something that will twist your mind. I personally love the series just because I can get lost in it almost too easily. I'm starting The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong but I'm not far enough into it to have really developed an opinion on it.

Jamey

Just completed The Devil in White City by Erik Larson, a microhistory novel revolving around the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the mass murdered Mudgett (a.k.a. H.H. Holmes). A good read in a genre for which Larson is well known. A National Book Award Finalist.

Reading Red Wolf Conspiracy. It's excellent.

I'm reading The Memory of All That by Katharine Weber. It's really good - she has quite an interesting way of putting things. Her mother and father are really something - both funny and pitifully not up to the job. It's fascinating and not at all self pitying.

I've finished, reviewed, and am now disinfecting myself after reading Wicked Bugs...review in post #32.

# 75 jnwelch, I loved Cold Comfort Farm as a kid when I heard it on the BBC programme Off the Shelf. Wonder if I'll still like it now.

I have just started Mob star the story of John Gotti. I have just commenced reading it but it looks very interesting.

I just finished Planet of Exile and will start Little Bee next.

I read this piece by Joan Acocella about the mass killings in Norway and the writings of Stieg Larsson:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/07/stieg-larsson-and-the-scandi...

Last night I finished Monique Truong's Bitter in the Mouth which I liked very much, and today I'm going to start reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.

I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, for the Group Read. It was good but not great, IMHO. I'm starting The Bells, which has received some wonderful buzz. On audio, I'm enjoying Savage Run, a mystery series set in the wilds of Wyoming.

#76 lovelee, those are great books! I still have my childhood copy of White Fang, which I bought at a school book sale when I was in 4th grade...something about the cover intrigued me, having recently read The Jungle Books and Call of the Wild. Unfortunately, the book is about to collapse into a pile of paper bits, due to age and wear.

Have you read books by Albert Payson Terhune? He wrote about collies, based upon real dogs he owned in the early 1900s.

So many books, so little time.

Addendum: I finished Tripoint by C.J. Cherryh and enjoyed it, although I cannot say it ranks among her best, at least in my opinion. My favorites from her pen are the Chanur books, Morgaine's sagas and, believe it or not, Rider at the Gate and Cloud's Rider.

Thanks for posting the article, Molly. I too thought of Steig Larsson when I heard about the terrorist shooting.

#88 Divinenanny- Little Bee was fantastic- hope you enjoy it!!

Well, This Burns My Heart was absolutely fabulous. Still continuing one with Rules of Civility and White Woman on a Green Bicycle.

#91

I read as many of the Terhune books as I could find when I was younger. I loved them.

it has now been three days and counting with the catastrophic fire and failure (the facilities and maintenance departments words, not mine) of our air conditioning system. Nobody knows when it will be back up, so eight of our campus buildings are pretty much closed down. Our library is planning on being open tomorrow morning and then make plans accordingly for the afternoon. All of this is a mote point as I am off for my vacation starting tomorrow. At least the AC in my car works.

I am still reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Watership Down. I have Teacher Man and Seduction of the Crimson Rose lined up for the long trip home. I like listening to that series by Lauren Willig while driving. They are so much fun. It is hard to write something as refreshing as that series when having to work within the boundaries of the "Romance Novel" trope, and yet Willig does such a good job and makes each of these books refreshing and fun. In my opinion Jasper Fforde has managed to do the same with the Thursday Next series. These are also fun to listen to while on a long road trip. See all of you on the next next thread when I return all refreshed and ready for the fall semester and a new class of incoming freshman and angst ridden teacher/interns at the upper levels of undergraduatedom.

Here's wishing you a cool vacation and working air conditioning on your return, Benita

I listened to The Lotus Eaters for 4 of the 14 hours it would take to hear the whole story.....then threw in the towel. I was listening with a friend and we quite mutually agreed that the story was meandering too much to be tolerated, even though it had gotten off to an engaging start. I continue listening to True History of the Kelly Gang and reading the magnificent The Pale King.

Forgot to mention I finished and posted a review for Wicked Plants a couple days ago. It was very good, but I liked the insect book (Wicked Bugs) better.

I'm now a little ways into Achilles by Elizabeth Cook. So far, so-so...

Just finished A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin. OMG! This book is a case of the ends justifying the means. It gives us an inkling of who and why with the scope of how being totally mind boggling.

fuzzi - I'm thinking it was Irish Red too.

I've devoured and loved Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation...reviewed in my thread, post #50.

>seitherin- So I take it you loved A Dance With Dragons? LOL! I have my copy but I don't plan on diving in, until October.

>91 fuzzi:, 95 - Oh, Terhune and his stories of Lad and Lady and Bruce and Gray Dawn and Wolf...I loved them all.

My favorite used book find was the same illustrated childrens' edition of Lad, A Dog that I had had as a child. I had tears in my eyes when I bought it.

#75 jnwelch,
I just loved Cold Comfort Farm it is a real hoot of a read. It was discussed on First Tuesday Book Club this month and was loved by all.

#76, fuzzi,
I read White Fang as an adult and thought that it was wonderful.

I will finish The Fourth Treasure by Todd Shimoda in a while and will be sad to see it end. I loved it - what an insightful, peaceful, hopeful book. It is a bit sad too. If you have any interest in Japanese calligraphy (and the stories behind the images therein), neuroscience or neuroanatomy, check it out. It's a very unique, interesting novel.

I am currently reading The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie. The first half went quickly, the second half is a bit of a slog. Also listening to Bossypants, very funny.

(104) Coppers, I have tried to do that, too...that is, find the same edition I loved as a child. In ordering the Silver Chief books, I managed to do that.

I have never found the edition of The Jungle Books that I read as a child. I can't recall the illustrator, but I remember that the pictures of the animals were more stylized, displaying them with large eyes. Maybe it was a Golden Classics edition? I recall the edition size was probably about 7" x 10" or so.

(105) I agree, hazeljune. White Fang was a different read for me as an adult. I recall skipping over the philosophical stuff when I was a child...I just wanted to get on with the story!

Somewhere I read a review of this book that suggested it was not a book for children to read. I beg to differ: I read many adult books (so-called) when I was young, and they made me stretch my reading abilities. What was too hard for me to understand just went over my head. I appreciated the story aspects for my maturity level.

(101) Cammykitty, was Mike your favorite setter? I liked him, especially as his "Muttonhead" incarnation!

My current dog is a lab/shepherd cross, and boy was she like Mike as a puppy. She just turned two years old, and is finally growing up into an obedient dog (with puppish tendencies!).

> 103 msf59 - The book dragged, especially the first have which is the second half of A Feast For Crows, but it all is necessary to appreciate the last chapter. I'm still trying to get my head around all the machinations. Definitely ends justify the means. I am sooo ready for the next book.

Started Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan.

(Had to use the touchstone for Black Man since the US title doesn't seem to have a one.)

I finished The Bird of Night by Susan Hill and have posted a review. Hill's The Beacon met with a very mixed reception at the reading group last night, but I loved it. Persuasion next.

I Finished and was... Impressed and shocked by Little Bee. My next read will be lighter, The caves of steel by Asimov.

#113 divinenanny, if you liked Little Bee, try Incendiary. Very interesting protagonist.

Just finished A kind man by Susan Hill tonight, having read The Beacon by Susan Hill the day before. I liked the Beacon quite a lot, but felt slightly deflated by the end. The kind man however, is to my mind, the perfect novella. What an amazingly beautiful little book. How she manages to make a book so completely impossible to put down is quite incredible.

#105 @hazeljune You're right, Cold Comfort Farm was a hoot. I got a big kick out of clever Flora and the ridiculous Starkadders.

I'm reading Mr. Starlight by Laurie Graham. It's okay - nothing special. None of the characters are terribly sympathetic.

I am reading WITHOUT MERCY, by Lisa Jackson. First time reading a book by this auhor...so far so GOOD!

Fuzzi - Yes, {{Terhune}} and {Lad, A Dog}. Even more than the dog stories, however, I loved the {Black Stallion} series, by {{Walter Farley}}. I read and re-read all the books, including aloud to my mother, who was a very Patient Person. Still have them, too.

Neverwithoutabook - {No Time For Goodbye} was so good that I ordered another one by {{Barclay}}. Must say that I don't like children in jeopardy, although Barclay did it pretty well. I was so worried about Vince!

For reading now, went with {{J.A. Jance's}} {Damage Control). For any Jance fans, it's quite a disappointment. Time to retire Sheriff Brady, I think.

Mr. Durick - Thank you for your help. Am trying the Touchstones now. If they don't work, I'll just keep trying with future posts.

Well, that went over well. Should have used the squares ones, no? Embarrassing.

#119 lovlee,
The brackets for touchtones must be in the lower case of your keyboard .

Thanks, Hazeljune. They are in the lower case, I just wasn't paying attention. Managed to use them correctly in another thread.

I read the latest MaryJanice Davidson Undead and Undermined, truly pitifully juvenile. Never again. Now I start my last Orange Prize for the month Amy and Isabelle.

#Citizenjoyce,

I am sure that you will enjoy Amy and Isabelle, I just love Elizabeth Strouts books, my first read was Olive Kitteridge and then I went on to Abide with Me, all sooo good.

#113/114 What Whymaggiemay said! Little Bee (aka 'The Other Hand' - so annoying to find there is no longer a touchstone for the original English title - why?) and Incendiary were my two favourite books of a couple of years back and I still count them among my faves of all time. I can't wait for his next book, whatever it turns out to be.

And another vote here for Cold Comfort Farm. I reread it regularly every few years and it never loses its charm.

I don't often quit a book, but I just couldn't get into the book I was reading this week. I've returned it to the library and I can't even recall the exact title or author. That's how much I didn't like the book! It was something like: As the Crow Flies and it was about a family living on an airforce base in Ontario during the post WW2 world, the Cold War and baby boom years. It took forever to get going, was full of cliches from my youth (advertisements and such), and was too sugary sweet with the hint that something was going to go terribly wrong, which meant I didn't want to get attached to the main characters. Life is too short to waste it on a book that I don't really like.

Okay...I've had my coffee now so I remember: the title is The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald. I've never read anything else by her, but I know she's considered a good author.

I thought As the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald was just terrible (agree with most of what you said and it does not get better). That said, Fall on Your Knees was just outstanding. So you just never know about an author!

I finished The Fourth Treasure and will put up a review. It was great. Staying in Asia and started Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong which was on the the TBR shelves. So far, I am loving it, but it is early. It is an semi-autbiographical novel about a Chinese student who went to live with the Mongolian nomads during the Cultural Revolution ~ and his relationships with the people, wolves and land. So far, it is fascinating.

I'm just starting Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters. I've only got one more book to go in the Amelia Peabody series! I'm golng to miss it. My husband suggested that I need to find a new series to get hooked into, and I've found a new series by Carol McCleary with Nellie Bly as the main character. Unfortunately, there are only two books in the series so far, but on the bright side, a local library has copies of both!

There are actually other books that have been clamboring for attention, anyway, and, now, thanks to many in this thread, I am determined to give Cold Comfort Farm another go. I started it, but didn't finish it a couple of years ago. I didn't really have a problem with it. It just wasn't the right time for me to read that particular book. Hopefully, the timing is better, now.

I just want to say how much I am enjoying Wolf Hall. Wonderful book.

Love the entire series!

#130 loved Wolf Hall also. In a crazy week I finished After Lyletown by K C Frederick. A great character study. And The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Robertson, an amusing and well written mystery series about the hazards of living at Sherlock Holmes' old address. Still reading The Greater Journey, AMERICANS IN PARIS by David McCullough, an enlightening look at Americans living in Paris from 1830 to 1900 and the inspiration they brought back to the United States. A testament to the importance of France in the formation of our culture.

@ #119 lovelee - Re: Barclay...my Aunt tried another of his books, and didn't like it near as well as No Time for Goodbye, and that stopped me for the time being. I will likely pick up another at some point...just to much to read right now. I do wish you an enjoyable read! :)

Just beginning Cooking with Fernet Branca, a parody of all those renovate-a-house-in-Tuscany-and-find-Nirvana books. Hilarious so far!

Just finished Elixir by Hilary Duff. A book about a photojournalist famous teen who seems to be finding a stalker boy in her pictures.

Halfway through Fallen by Karin Slaughter. Enjoying it very much.

I finished and posted a review for Achilles by Elizabeth Cook. It was a bit of a disappointment, unfortunately.

Tomorrow I'm moving on with Dark Banquet by Bill Schutt. I'm really looking forward to it, it sounds very interesting. :)

Reading: So Much for That by Lionel Shriver and If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous

Finished Pao and quite enjoyed it. Rather bizarre to get Jamaican history through a Chinese immigrant, turned gangster, but it works. Through his life and thoughts, the book also explores a host of other issues such as morality, loyalty, integrity, and happiness.

#128 CarolynSchroeder,

I would not give up on Ann-Marie MacDonald , Fall On Your Knees I found to be very special, a little bit darkish, however so very good.

I just finished and reviewed Among others by Jo Walton. Quiet and splendid.

I was handed a copy of Wicked Bugs by a friend, and I started to read it last night. I almost finished it, but not quite.

What a fun read!

I'm reading Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

I have finished reading the "The Resurrectionist" by Australian author James Bradley, it was indeed very dark and also very good.

My latest is Idle Curiosity by Martha Bergland, so far most enjoyable. I Followed this novel up after reading her first book Farm Under A Lake I am hoping that she will write more novels!!!

The new thread is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/121302