What Are You Reading the week of 20 August 2011?

August 20- Jacqueline Susann (1918 – 1974)



August 20- H. P. Lovecraft (1890 –1937)

August 21 - Robert Stone (1937 - )

August 22 - Annie Proulx (1935 - )



August 22 - Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

August 24 - Orson Scott Card (1951 - )

August 24 - A. S. Byatt (1936 - )



August 25 - Brian Moore (1921 - 1999)

August 25 - Frederick Forsyth (1938 - )

Finished Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer and started Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. Still reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie on my phone.

Thanks for starting this, Mark. The Adoration of Jenna Fox was a good sci-fi-type YA title that had me racing through the pages.

Next up is The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England. I've also started Heartbreak Soup, my first foray into the Love and Rockets books.

I've just started Post Office by Charles Bukowski and am finding it very funny.

Mark, thank you for including Brian Moore -- he's a special favorite of mine -- I miss him.

I finished Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth early this morning -- what a wonderful book. I'll be thinking about Miss Lily Bart for a long time to come.

I'm about half-way through Simon Van Booy's short story collection, The Secret Lives of People in Love, which I'm enjoying.

Next up: Little Coffins of Hope by Timothy Schaffert

Thanks for the start, Mark! I expect to finish a Mystery Read today. Review to come.

Thanks for the start, Mark.

I finished The Journey of Crazy Horse and liked it very much. Joseph Marshall shows Crazy Horse to be a real man who loved his father, mother, wives and daughter and who was more interested in caring for his people than caring for himself. He showed the frustration of his attempts to guide his people into a more effective stance against the white invaders with the Battle of Little Big Horn occupying just a part of his life story. Now I've started listening to O Pioneers!. I should finish reading Death Comes for the Archbishop today, not my favorite of the 3 Willa Cathers I've read this month. She does show a love for the land in whatever she writes, but a story only about men is not my cuppa.

Reading The Spire in bed but taking a break every now and then from studying to take in a short Gothic story from In a Glass Darkly and The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, beginning with Le Fanu's Carmilla.

Katherine of Aragon omnibus by Jean Plaidy

#5, mollygrace, good taste--House of mirth is my favorite Edith Wharton. #7, citizenjoyce, I've started Death comes for the archbishop twice and not been able to finish it. I liked it as far as I got, but couldn't seem to stay with it. I'm on a mystery kick. Finished Malpractice in Maggody on Thursday and am now reading Who dropped Peter Pan by Jane Dentinger.

Yesterday I finished and posted a review for Plague Year. Now I'm on to the 2nd book of the series, Plague War, and am liking it a bit more than the first one.

I just received Love at Absolute Zero by Christopher Meeks, a July ER book, and I'll be starting it later this week.

Thanks for getting us off to such a great start, Mark!

I'll be finishing up Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence, probably today, possibly tomorrow, It's the msot lush, sumptuous book I've ever read!

Next on Mt. TBR is Louisa May Alcott: The Little woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen. I'm really looking forward to it! Our library got a grant from thre NEftA, and is going to do a lot of Alcott-based events this year, starting with a discussion of this book in September. It should be fun! (At least for someone who's always been a fan of Alcott and Little Women. And yes, I do know that Alcott actually pretty much despised Little Women, thinking it too insipid, etc.. She much preferred the sensation novels and pulp fiction crap of her time, from what I've gathered. Perhaps this book will shed new light on that, or perhaps I'm wrong all together.

Bookwoman, I didn't know Alcott and I shared an opinion about Little Women. It didn't seem like the sort of book she would like, but, like a poorly behaved child, one usually loves one's own.

I just finished and reviewed Oliver Sacks' latest, the mind's eye. (Hmm. No touchstone on that earlier this week, and again now. i find that very surprising, as its been reviewed many times here. Anyway...

I have now started The Family by Jeff Sharlet (touchstone works, but doesn't come up with this book).

PokPok

Oh boy...I work part time at a library now, so this is terrible news for my Mt. TBR. I finished A Northern Light last week, which I adored - a smart and extremely well-written historical YA novel.

Currently reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (which I love), and Off Season by Jack Ketchum. The premise of that one is scary, but the writing just isn't working for me. It's a fast read though, so I should be able to speed through it.

Next up on my list: Stalkers (a collection of short stories about...well, you can probably guess) and Blood Test by Jonathan Kellerman (2nd in the Alex Delaware series).

Okay, I don't know who recommended 84, Charing Cross Road, but I wanted you, whoever you are, to know that I loved it!!!

Why did I leave it on my nightstand for a month after borrowing it from the library?

On Thursday night I wanted something "light" before bed, and wound up reading it cover to cover before turning off the lamp!

Thank you, thank you for the recommendation. Woo!

#17 I'm willing to take a guess that a lot of us did - it's rightly very popular here!

#13 I feel much better now about admitting to being with LMA 100% on Little Women.

I have 84, Charing Cross Road on the shelf of shame as well. I need to get to that one! Thanks for starting us off Mark.

I am reading Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides and thoroughly enjoying it. I realize I'm about a decade late to the party on this book, but it really is quite a story.

(19) Read it, Carolyn! You won't regret it! :)

>13 bookwoman247:, I enjoyed the Alcott bio by Reisen a lot but it did make me a little sad for her. There is a companion video from PBS (American Masters?) she produced as well. I love Little Women, though I see the circumstances surrounding the writing as a prime reason she would dislike it.

I also recommend Eden's Outcasts if you are a fan of LMA. More of a portrait of the relationship between Bronson and Louisa May.

Should be finishing up My Lady of Cleves this weekend, and casting about for another. Not that I don't have plenty to choose from, but settling on one is always tough for me, for some reason

I'm reading my Early Reviewer, The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation. Reading about the horse's place in American military has been somewhat surprising. I'm looking forward to reading more about Snowman.

>17 fuzzi: Fuzzi I'm among those who constantly sing the praises of 84 Charing Cross Road, both the book, and the movie with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. What a little gem it is! I'm glad you loved it!

> 18 BookslothI have a feeling that most of us who love Little Women may have first read it as children, and have such fond memories of it.

>19 CarolynSchroeder: CarolynSchroederM. Yes, you must read it!

>21 rockinrhombus: RockinrhombusI was so mad at myself for missing the Louisa May Alcott bio when it aired on PBS. Luckily, our local Blockbuster is still open. Perhaps I can find it there to rent...or even better, perhaps the library used part of the grant they received to purchase a copy I can check out. I'm just now starting the book, so your impression of why Louisa May Alcott hated Little Women is probably the correct one. I think she probably was forced to write it in order to earn money, when she longed to write something more vivid and exciting...quite like Jo March!

You are more than welcome everyone! I work most Saturdays, so I usually don't have a chance to do it. It also makes me appreciate the effort Richard & others go into, getting this going.

I am currently enjoying Three Day Road. On audio, I'm still working on The Magicians. And on the graphic front, I am loving Sweet Tooth Vol 3. It's a terrific series.

I'm still reading about a chapter a night in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, and I have about 40 pages to go in Hav by Jan Morris which should be done before I go to bed.

Robert

Just passed the halfway point of I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa. Enjoyable, fascinating and disturbing. This is an inside account of organized crime, the teamsters union and Jimmy Hoffa as told by a mob associate and sometime hit man. If even half of what he says is true, the whole thing makes The Sopranos look like Caddy Shack. Wow! Well written also.

Just finishing up The Snowman, an excellent serial killer, murder mystery set in Oslo. I will be starting to listen to Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope and continue reading Across Many Mountains, the memoir of three generations of Tibetan women.

I am nearly finished with Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans, which I am enjoying very much. Finished reading The Incredible Journey aloud last week, and now we have started Heidi.

Last night I finished Made for You and Me, a memoir of a young family whose life crashed and burned due to the recession in early 2009. This was an LTER that I was overdue to read, but I'm glad I waited to read it at the time it felt right to. It was raw, honest, humbling, endearing, and one of the better books I've read all year. Oh, and if you haven't wanted to go to Maine before, you will after you read the author's descriptions!

Rather than force myself to continue with the less-then-stellar French Quarter Stories, which I will likely pick up again in the future, I put it aside in favor of starting Heaven to Betsy. So far it has proven to be very enjoyable and light, which was what I wanted.

I'm also still reading Half the Sky, but after a rather intense - but good! - week, I just can't get back to it this weekend.

I've got about a hundred pages left in Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie and really enjoying it.

>26 rocketjk: Rocketjk, your description of I Heard You Paint Houses sounds great, and what a perfect title.

I've just finished reading the spectacular The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I thought it was a re-read but it turns out it was one of those books that I thought I had read but actually hadn't. I laughed, I cried and I marveled at Twain's artistry. Huck is a true American original and I know that in a few years I actually will re-read this wonderful book.

In the middle of The Things they Carried and about to start Under an Afghan Sky.

Was unable to settle down with one book today so toddled off to the library and came back with an armload of graphic novels, two of which I have already finished. I'm currently reading The Rabbi's Cat, recommended by someone here on LT (I forget whom) for which I can only say, "THANK YOU!"

Several of us read The Rabbi's Cat a couple of months back. It's quite beautiful, isn't it. The first part is my favorite.
Now I have a bit of a dilemma. I finished, end ended up greatly appreciating Death Comes For the Archbishop. Admittedly religion is not my forte, but I just tried to see these men as traveling beauticians, offering a service that was not actually needed but greatly appreciated. I could then appreciate them and the times they lived through. I can contrast Willa Cather, who could write about any land with love and wonder with Ann Weisgarber who could show the life of the settler as completely unbearable and see the point of both, but for me it is easier to see the desperation of it all. Continuing my emphasis this month on westerns including settlers my next book up is either a steampunk (witchpunk) western set in an alternate reality Native Star by M.K. Hobson or my first Nevada Barr, Borderline. Anyone know anything about either one?

>35 Citizenjoyce: Citizenjoyce Nevada Barr writes decent mysteries, generally set at national parks, etc.. I don't know anything about Hobson.

...Witchpunk???

I know, I hadn't head the term before, evidently it's steampunk with witches.

I'm still mainly occupied with Jerome I. Gellman's Experience of God and the Rationality of Theistic Belief. I've been working on some other projects, so I haven't done quite enough reading lately.

It looks like I'll be going with Native Star. I saw favorable comparisons with Soulless, which I liked. One of the books recommended with it was The Thirteenth Child which was pretty much YA. I'm hoping this one is more complex. The New York Times found Borderline somewhat boring. So, I'll bow to the critics, at least for tonight.

Still reading my Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles and I'm liking the collection (which was put together in 1960) but am a bit shocked by some of the choices. The Cervantes story (thirteenth century) "The Power of Blood" is a bit like the original ballad of Tam Lin, if you know what I mean. Hard for a modern reader to see that as a story with a happy ending. Tomorrow, I'll probably take a break from Spanish and switch to The Stranger in English.

I have just finished The adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was very delightful, easy, enjyoable, humorous and also catchy. I really really enjoyed the read and I just like the book.

Next up probably is A Ghost in the Machine. My boyfriend is currently reading it and he is really hooked and kepps telling me how fascinating the characters are. Can't wait! :D

After having been in San Fransisco and then Paris over the past 8 days, I am now in London with Nicholas Flamel and the twins in The Sorceress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott.

Boy, my Audible credits are going fast on this one...

Definitely a YA Fantasy series, but not so much YA that I can't enjoy it as an adult in my 40'ies. Kind of like Harry Potter - a few instances of "this is a bit too youthful for me", but not enough to make me not read the books - at least not up to now, but who knows? Some of the immortals are beginning to annoy me - or rather, the persons the author has decided to make an "immortal". Machiavelli and the Count of St. Germain, I had no problems with. But Billy the Kid and Shakespeare? Those choices do annoy me somewhat. Hope it gets better again.

I am reading The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy by Michael Foley, and volume one of Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.

#43 Looking forward to hearing what you think of the Foley book - I really enjoyed it!

Witchpunk, really? Hmmm. Just because it has witches it gets an entire genre named after it? Weird. Will we be doing that with traditional fantasy as well, creating genres based on whether or not a book has elves, or orcs? ...or do people already do that?

I've got three books going right now: Catcher in the Rye, By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham, and, my favorite of the three, Sex on Six Legs by Marlene Zuk.

I'm also listening to Plugged by Eoin Colfer.

Had to put down The Art of Racing in the Rain. I picked up Truman which I am enjoying and hoping that my library gets my requested hold book (Moneyball) soon!

Finished The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie and started The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Still working on Butcher's Ghost Story as well.

I may have been in the wrong mood for The Spire. I've put it back on the pile and may try again sometime. I definitely need something light, easy and page-turning - maybe Retribution will do the trick.

I gave up on De Antiquair, and I don't abandon books quickly. I started something I know I'll like, Nemesis by Isaac Asimov.

Thanks to an Anonymous Benefactor, I got to read A Trick of the Light by Lousie Penny before it comes out. It's the latest Three Pines mystery, and it's a DOOZY!!

I reviewed it in my thread...post #95.

#31> Joyce, According to Sheeran, "painting houses" was the euphemism for murdering someone (the victim's blood would get on the walls when they were shot. Hence: painting houses). Sheeran says that "I heard you paint houses" were the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to him.

Reading Albion's Seed and finding it fascinating. I have to conclude that although cultural evolution is faster than biological, it's still mighty slow, 1000's of years rather than 100,000's. Also reading Baseball in the Garden of Eden. Finding it a bit scattered and tangled in details that don't intrigue me but not ready to give up yet.

Just about finished Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young — a great history of British folk and electric folk from the 40s through the 70s.

>53 snash: snash I'm also picking my way through Baseball in the Garden of Eden and agree with you about it being a bit scattered. Nevertheless I find the details fascinating and expect I'll finish it be the end of the week (among other reads!).

hmm...just notice the "eden" theme. Maybe I should pick up Steinbeck next!

After a not-so-great reading experience with Snowdrops, I have turned to Neil Gaiman's Stardust. I also picked up The Walking Dead, Vol 11 and The Walking Dead, Vol 12 and now I am happily reading away.

I am almost done with Ghost Soldiers and have absolutely loved it. I forgot how amazing a true hero can be. Some of these men, wow, wish I could have known them.

And I may sign up for a community college fiction writing class tomorrow (on top of the lawyer gig, marathon training and humane association work! Eeek), so my reading might temper considerably. But he has the class reading Sula by Toni Morrison. I have read that but it was many moon cycles ago, so it will be nice to read it again.

So Carolyn, what do you plan to do with all your free time?

I am wading thru The Vivisector by Patrick White, wonderful so far, for me it is a mammoth read, 620 pages!! not far in, page 88, I hope that it continues to hold me.

Finished Off Season - poorly written with 2-D characters, but if you're looking for an intensely gruesome story, you can't do much better than this. It was enjoyable, I suppose, but what really gets me is when I read blurbs on the back of the book that sing praises to the author's skill even though he has the technical prowess of an average college student. But, it is what it is.

Spent the weekend finished off The Help - good book! and now ready for the movie - and Liquidation which I have decided was either way over my head or requires too much literary gymnastics for full appreciation.

Next up is Joyner's Dream the debut novel of Sylvia Tyson, a Canadian artist more famously known for her folk singing career.

>48 seitherin: seitherin ~ Hope you enjoy The Help as much as I did.

>60 lkernagh: lkernagh I am really looking forward to seeing the film adaptation too. I've heard good things about it from friends who've seen it. It may be my 2011 movie (I usually get out to see only one or at the most two movies a year; that doesn't count films watched on DVD).

>35 Citizenjoyce: Joyce ~ Yes, The Rabbi's Cat books are beautiful, and so far the first is my favorite too. Cather's one of my favorite writers. I loved Death Comes for the Archbishop when I read it a decade or longer ago, and recently loved Song of the Lark almost as much. It was kind of about the west too, at least it starts out in Colorado, and another part is set in New Mexico (I think it is).

Oops, forgot to mention that I'm reading The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (urban fantasy) and finishing the audio of Dance of Death by Preston and Child. I'll be starting back on The Brothers of Gwynedd, my commuter book, tomorrow.

I started Still Missing by Chevy Stevens during the "no use of electronic equipment" segment at the beginning of my flight and could not put it down! My only regret is that my flight wasn't long enough so that I could have finished the book! Each chapter is a "session" with the psychiatrist that Annie is seeing to try to recover from the nightmare that she endured over the course of a year at the hands of her captor. In each session Annie relives a portion of the past and grips the readers attention. I'll have it finished in the next day or two.

I am also in the middle of Blood Red Road and so far.....it's okay.

I just finished reading The Stranger and loved it. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/2150/book/64499055

I'm still reading Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles but I'm going to alternate it with Neuromancer. For the next few weeks, I'm going to be lazy and let LTs "random books from my collection" pick what I'm reading. If it picks something bad, I know what to take to Paperback Exchange.

I'm hoping to see the movie The Help partly as an excuse not to read it, although I have the book.

Having finished Hav I have started A Truth Universally Acknowledged edited by Susannah Carson in support of my reading of Jane Austen's novels this year. It alleges in the subtitle that it is about why we read Jane Austen; in the first six or so chapters by various commentators there has been interesting talk about the novels but only a little about why we, or they, read her.

Robert

#247 bookwoman247,

I have not long ago read Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, and I really enjoyed it, maybe not as "lush and sumptuous" as Women in Love but I am sure that you would like it.

#5 mollygrace and #10 Bjace,

On both of your mentions I have ordered House Of Mirth online, have we read Ethan Frome ?? I just loved it.

68 hazeljune, Ethan Frome is a book I go back to occasionally . . . it never fails to surprise me -- such a powerful little thing. And I hope you enjoy The House of Mirth as much as I did -- I keep wondering why some teacher didn't force me to read it way back when, but I suppose someone may have tried -- alas, I was a foolish kid.

>Kwidhalm- I hope Blood Red Road starts getting better than "okay", I just bought this book.

#66 Mr. Durick: I recall that A Truth Universally Acknowledged was a hit-or-miss read as often happens when so many opinions are presented. But my favorite quote was Virginia Woolf's somewhat flowery assessment of Austen's powers:

"One of those fairies who perch upon cradles must have taken her a flight through the world directly she was born. When she was laid in the cradle again she knew not only what the world looked like, but had already chosen her kingdom."

(Try to read The Help before you see the movie. You know that any book trumps the movie, no matter how good.)

Having finished Gellman's book (mentioned in post #38), I've now begun Baptism on Account of the Dead (1 Cor. 15:29): An Act of Faith in the Resurrection by Michael F. Hull.

I abandoned all hope of A Small Death in the Great Glen ever getting better and took it back to the liberry. Awful.

This evening, I'll be finishing up Demolishing the Myth by Valeriy Zamulin. It's been a long, difficult but rewarding read. Zamulin has written a stunning account of the southern region of the Battle of Kursk. He quotes heavily from contemporary operational orders and memoirs to great effect. You would not have wanted to be a Soviet tanker during World War II.

I'm also half way through The Turn of the Screw, but I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it. I keep remembering a quote from William Faulkner who described Henry James as "The nicest little old lady I ever met."

Next up, I'm reading And Quiet Flows the Don.

I started The Wirch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho over the weekend and am really enjoying it

I'm currently reading The Snowman by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian writer. Apparently it's part of a series, and I'm not sure yet if I need to read prior books in order to "get" this one.

Proust's Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini. Actually, I started reading it yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning. It's a very slim book, but it was worth the read. Fascinating.

@74 LOL! I can see Faulkner saying that. Do finish Turn of the Screw though. It's short and has one of the best ending lines in all of Gothic literature.

Just starting Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

#76 You don't. The Snowman was my introduction to Nesbo too and, although there are references to earlier books, it can easily be read as a stand-alone.

(28) Heidi! I've not read that in years, but I have fond memories.

What a great place this is...

Re The Help, the book was excellent. The movie also very good and I found it to be pretty true to the book. I hope everyone who sees it enjoys it as much as I did.

>81 fuzzi: Fuzzi and >28 AMQS: AMQS I've always loved goats and to this day I blame Heidi! I wanted to be out there romping on the Alps with Heidi, Peter, and the goats! Thanks for bringing back those wonderful memories!

I finished Three Day Road, very good! Also finished the audio of The Magicians, which I just thought was okay. I really wanted to like it more. I heard the 2nd book is much better.
I started Stone Arabia and on audio, I'm going to try Claire DeWitt, an ER book.

I finished and reviewed the hauntingly beautiful Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie. Now I'm on to a non-fiction book along the same vein---Every Man in this Village is a Liar by Megan Stack.

Finished Strength in What Remains and started The Overachievers before I had to put it down for its dreadfulness.

In spite of other plans, tonight I think I'll restart Libra.

#28/81/83 What bookwoman said!

Started A Ghost in the Machine on sunday evening and I must confess, it is just great. It is not overly suspensful, but the characters are just great. Still, they are scholarly speaking 'flat' (or at least not 'round') but nevertheless fascinating and interesting and one would not really need a murder to make a nice story out of it. However, a murder/accident happened now, and I am waiting nervless how the story goes on.

Finished Home Song by Thomas Kinkade last night, which I really enjoyed and would read more by this author and started Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine De Saint-Exupery this morning. A slim book so should be a quick read.

I am reading John Adams By David McCullough. Fabulous!

Also Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. Who knew there was so much to learn about this woman? Not only was she an illustrator and writer, but also a conservationist and scientific researcher.

#39
I like the Nevada Barr books but I think that it helps to know something about the countryside in which they are set. I have read several of them ranging from the two about the Natchez Trace Parkway to one of the two set in Yosemite. I think that with any mystery sometimes it is hard to get the mystery part to fit in with the setting and have the plot be plausible. I think Barr does that in most of her books.

#73
I didn't think that A Small Death in the Great Glen was that bad. It wasn't in the same league with Jo Nesbo but it wasn't horrible either. I think it was a first book by a novice author that tried to do to much, but it did have some things going for it.

#76
You don't have to read the Nesbo books in order. They each stand alone fairly well. However, if you read them all you do have connections between them. These are great mysteries. I have read three of them and there is not a clunker among 'em.

I finished Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides and reviewed it. Now back to What is the What by Dave Eggers. Also have Sula on deck for my writing class. I may have to weave that in, will see how it shakes down for first class tomorrow.

I'm reading Obedience by Will Lavender . So far it is really good-he has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

> 73 That's a coincidence - I just gave up on Small Death in the Great Glen this morning. Life is too short.

I am still leaning everything I could ever possibly want to know about Lady Jane Grey by reading the lengthy Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery. Although no detail is too obscure for the author to mention, this book is really quite compelling.

When I need a break from all those dukes vying for power, I've picked up Don't Look Round by Violet Trefusis.

I finished up C. J. Box's Open Season, the first in the Joe Pickett series. A crime solving Wyoming game warden is an interesting twist and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Looking forward to the next one.

On audio, I am totally engrossed in Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends. It started off kind of ho-hum, but hearing about the casting and filming of The Outsiders is oddly gripping.

Currently struggling to pick my next book.

I'm not finished with it yet, but I want you all to know how much I'm enjoying Timothy Schaffert's The Coffins of Little Hope -- what a quirky, funny, poignant, amazing book. And there's this darkness, too -- a sense of souls reaching out for other souls and how devastatingly lonely it is when you can't make that connection. The narrator is an eighty-something obituary writer for a county newspaper in Nebraska -- right away, you're thinking "cute" but she's so much more than that. The book is also about words and books and writing. And writers -- so many writers -- everyone from a world-famous writer of a hugely popular series of books for young people to people who write fanfiction on the internet, to the old lady who writes about the people who have lived and died in her hometown.

I have no idea where the book is going, and maybe I'll be disappointed in the end, but I already trust this writer to take me anywhere, so I have great expectations. I'm in Part 8, Chapter 43 -- in all, there are 11 parts, 61 chapters, 262 pages -- and I've loved every word -- and every character, even the ones -- especially the ones -- who trouble me. I feel so much for each of them and so deeply want them to be all right. Oh, dear, it's just now occurred to me that in less than a hundred pages I'll have to say goodbye to them . . .

Just finished Nemesis by Isaac Asimov and loved it. It had everything, different peoples, space travel, colonization, alien life, modern humans... :D

# 98 mollygrace,

please keep us posted folllowing the completion of this novel, The Coffins of Little Hope it sounds fascinating.

Took a u-turn, now reading Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell. My Mom's friend stopped me, in the middle of the street no less, and said I had to read this as she could not put it down. Since I love Monet, Paris and that whole scene, I popped over to the Border's close-out and I said, okay, if it's there, I shall use my extra 15% off the 50% off and get it, for my Mom and I to share. And they did, so I did. And I started it and it's great fun, bit lighter than my average read, but that's okay. I love reading about the painting process.

I stayed up all night to finish The Coffins of Little Hope -- I loved it to the end. It's about family, and death, and missing children (some of whom may be right there in front of us). Keep your eye on Essie (Ess, S) and on that great-grand-daughter of hers.

I'm reading Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell and wish I could find some discussion of this book so I could discover why this book has had so many great reviews. I'm halfway through and still bored with all the shallow characterization.

Just started Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I love Pendergast.

104--I've never read Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child but have wanted to because Douglas is Richard's (who I love) brother. Sounds like you've read other Douglas Preston books as well.

Claude & Camille looks good, Carolyn. We're big Monet (and Paris and that whole scene) fans in our house. I'll look forward to your reaction when you finish.

I'm very, very close to finishing The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. It is brilliant and funny but leaves me cold in some essential way.

Just finished The Winter Rose by {Jennifer Donnelly}. Over 700 pages, sort of Dickens, sort of Romance novel, sort of Women's movement, sort of Lord Jim that held my interest thoughout. But, I still don't know how. Just started The Help a book I've had for months and kept putting off reading. It kept me up later than usual, so I am glad I finally picked it up.

Way back in message #96, I mentioned that I was reading Don't Look Round by Violet Trefusis and Lady Jane Grey A Tudor Mystery. Well, I did read a bit of Don't Look Round but I also checked out this 'sample' I had sent to my kindle(this IS a cool thing about e-readers is getting a good chunk of the beginning of a book to look over!) Killer of Little Shepherds about the birth of forensic science and a horrible French serial killer from the late 1800's.
Well! I couldn't put it down! It's kind of gross at times but not unsuitable to the topic. I stayed up waaay too late trying to pack in just one more chapter
I've never even thought about how science stepped in and developed forensics. Not for the faint of heart in those pre-refrigeration times!
So, I now have three books going and all are non-fiction.

Almost finished listening to Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian, and I'm reading Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles. Kind of a weird novel about mail-order brides, but it's holding my interest.

Finished Babycakes by Armistead Maupin in one night. His books are so enjoyable and a quick read.

Retribution was a super, fast, gripping read and I'm looking forward to its sequel. However, today's post brought a very exciting parcel for me, The Water Children by Anne Berry, whose debut novel, The Hungry Ghosts was one of the best first novels I've read in a very long time. I've so been looking forward to this p/b hitting the shops and it's definitely going to be my next read.

I'm just now starting Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said. I'm only on pg 20 or so. It seems to be starting off pretty well. The historical and cultural aspects are so interesting!

I've finished and posted a review for Plague War by Jeff Carlson and am now on to the final book in the series, Plague Zone.

>98 mollygrace:, 102 mollygrace - I happened to pick up The Coffins of Little Hope from the library yesterday and started it last night. I'm not very far, but I am intrigued. Glad to hear it's a good one!

Took a little break from Native Star which is very good, kind of Hogwarts of the 19th Century American West but the pedant Hermione this time is a warlock named Dreadnaught Stanton with Ron 's enormous appetite and Harry is a camp witch named Emily Edwards who just wants to make her simple life safe for her foster father. I needed a little magic free time so I've started The Book of Mormon: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical, and then of course I have to listen to it sung again. I love this musical.

I have moved on to reading about the delightful D.I. Frost in Winter Frost by R.D. Wingfield, and I also have started the first Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat.

I'm reading Edward Thomas: The Last Four Years, English author Eleanor Farjeon's memoir of the four years of her friendship with Thomas, English writer of poetry and prose. Thomas and Farjeon, along with her brothers (two writers and composer) were part of a literary circle of friends. Edward and Eleanor kept up a lively correspondence and she was often a visitor in the Thomas home, becoming close to his wife and children as well as the author. Thomas had tried his hand at poetry earlier in his career but, unsatisfied with the results, had concentrated on his prose. But about the time he met Eleanor he also met American poet Robert Frost, who believed in Edward's talent as a poet and encouraged him to focus his energies in that direction.

Thomas was in his mid-thirties then (1914), struggling to support his family on his income as a writer, and thought a change of direction unwise. Frost told him that whatever path he chose, he would always look back and wonder how his life would have been different if he'd chosen the other. In 1916, Frost would publish his poem, "The Road Not Taken."

Thomas, encouraged by Frost, Farjeon and other friends, as well as his wife, Helen, did begin to work seriously on his poetry. He wrote 143 poems before he was killed in April 1917 at the Battle of Arras. He was 39. When Frost was informed of Thomas' death, he said of the man he called "the only brother I ever had": "I hadn't a plan for the future that didn't include him."

I became interested in Thomas when I read several of his poems and information about his life in the Poem A Day anthologies, particularly Volume 3. Farjeon had a long, productive career -- she's probably most famous for the lyrics she wrote for a hymn, "Morning Has Broken", and for the poem based on that hymn, "A Morning Song (For the First Day of Spring)". Each year the Children's Book Circle presents the Eleanor Farjeon award for distinguished service to British children's literature.

http://www.childrensbookcircle.org.uk/farjeon.asp

Many of her books were illustrated by Edward Ardizzone -- the website featuring his work is worth a visit, by the way:

http://www.edwardardizzone.org.uk/

I've already forgotten who it was (as usual) who recommended Poems Bewitched and Haunted but thank you, whoever you are. My copy arrived yesterday and it really is a lovely little volume. It's sitting next to the sofa where I can start each day with a poem or two.

I'm reading Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution. very interesting.

>81 fuzzi:, 83, 88, thanks, fuzzi, bookwoman247, and booksloth! We're enjoying Heidi. It's bringing back wonderful memories for me, too, and the girls love it.

Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - probably finish this week
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I finished and ended up rather disappointed in Native Star. Hobson was able to create an alternate US west in which magic plays a great part, then she fully imports the custom of 2nd class women: wizards hold most of the power and respect, witches are rather disdained as dabblers, shrill, or whores. Why would she do that? Perhaps the follow up book is less misogynistic since it's about a goddess, but what's the point of worshiping a goddess if regular women are still thought to be lesser beings than men? I also finished the lovely The Book of Mormon: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical. It's a little darker than just listening to the music from the play and made me like it even more. In fact, I'm listening to the music now. Now I'll start a Booker Prize nominee Vernon God Little. I see it described on the cover as a post modern picaresque tale. I don't know how much I'll enjoy "post modern", I've read some that don't do much for me, but I'll give it a try.

I have been MIA for the past month or so. We were in Myrtle Beach for a little over two weeks and then were getting our oldest ready to leave for his first year in college. We dropped him of on Tuesday. I have been reading quite a lot though and am currently reading Going Bovine. I don't think I can quite figure it out yet but I think I like it.

I'm reading The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa. It's very different from his political novels, but I like it.

Reading the next in the Amistead Maupin series Significant Others.

I read about 90 pages of The Golden Rule: Safe Strategies of Sage Investors (there is no touchstone) edited by Jim Gibbons last night. It is about investing against the collapse of the economic system. It is more like wishful thinking for me.

Robert

Enjoying The Quiet Game the last few days. The reading is very smooth and I haven't been able to put my Nook down. I'm just a little confused as to the order of the books though.... anyone have the order? The website is rather confusing about the order.

# 128 - codiebelle78 --- Do you mean The Quiet Game by Greg Iles? That's the first in the series, followed by Turning Angel, The Devil's Punchbowl, and Unwritten Laws. I find the website www.fantasticfiction.co.uk quite helpful when I have questions about fiction.

129-- Yes! Thank you so much!!

I just started Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan. I'm not sure how I feel about the writing, but the portrayal of France in the 1950s is quite interesting.

Just started A Good Man is Hard To Find0 by Flannery O'Connor. It is a collecction of short stories. This is an author I had always heard about and have just gotten around to reading. Southern Gothic horror- very powerful storyteller.

105, I have read most of the Pendergast books. You should pick one up and I think its best to read them in order, even when some of them are stand alone. Hope you enjoy them.
Have started Learning to Swim by Sara Henry, her debut novel. Enjoyable heroine

# 132 ellenfloram, very intersting to read of Flannery O'Connor, she is new to me, as I have a "thing" about short story collecting it sparked my interest. I have now ordered this novel online!
Wiki has told me that she sadly died at the age of 39, what a loss.

I have been very busy with my Amazon buying this week, all from these postings!! The House Of Mirth , The Coffins of Little Hope and now A Good Man Is Hard to Find, I shall be looking out for the mailman!!

I am still reading and enjoying The Vivisector by Patrick White, the locations of the novel are very familiar to me, which helps a lot.

Finished and loved Marley & Me (great book for dog people), and The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Now I am reading Logicomix, and for my non-fiction read The Illustrated History of Christianity.

I read Every thing that rises must converge by Flannery O'Connor last year and enjoyed it, but I found it a little hard to get into. Still, it stays with you.

I finished the terrific Stone Arabia. Next up: The Last Werewolf. I'm pumped about this one.

135 hazeljune, if you like Flannery's stories, you may want to read The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor. It's a wonderful way to get to know her -- and, I assure you, knowing Flannery is worth the journey.

136 divinenanny Since you loved Marley and Me, but sure to read The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - Enzo, the dog, is a great narrator of this story.

Finished The Help Glad I eventually got around to reading it.

Reading "Angelology" and finding it interesting but a bit dry at times.

#93, #96 Well, there's a reason the publishing industry puts out the stuff it does...hopes to get us all, and usually succeeds, though seldom with the same book.

Haven't been reading much, working on a big project and then collapsing into sleep. How dull that gets!

Coloradogirl - Just got back from two months in Colorado and montana - visited great bookstores and had a wonderful time in your part of the country.

Bjace - haven't read any Maggody in awhile! have enjoyed her much in the past!

Rocketj - had to immediately request I hear you paint houses - sounds great!

Hemlokgang - Also reading Across Many mountains - just started this morning. Liking it ok so far. You?

Oh AMQS! i had to go download Heidi to my android while spending two months in the Rockies. One of my favs from childhood!

Going to post this before I mess it up, but more coming as I catch up. I love retirement READING time!

Citizen - I love Nevada Barr, whose books are all set in National Parks. i prefer to actually be IN the park while reading them, but can't alwayhs work that out, so I just go there in my mind :)

Coppers - I've been readingC.J. Box in Wyoming and Montana this summer - so fun. Fans of Nevada Bar may enjoy them, don'tk you think?

mollygrace thanks for the description of little coffins - had to go wishlist it.

Those of you who enjoyed The Help might like Them: a Novel - a story of what happens when an AfAm neighborhood is "gentrified" - unexpected ramifications - unexpected perhaps by both groups - very good read - I learned a lot. I have a review posted. - one of my favs.

Yesterday I read The Ginseng Hunter which I had been looking forward to for awhile. It wasn't what I expected somehow, but good book. Great look at how a system works - meaning how our actions all affect each other - story takes place on the border of north korea and China. Subtle, i thought. Anyone else have thoughts on that book?

I've read SO many great books this summer that I want to mention, so more later.

Hope you all had a great reading summer!

#135 I have discovered so many books and authors in these forums. Hope you enjoy Flannery O'Connor's stories.

I've given up on Vernon God Little. It appears to be about a school shooting but written in the language of a teen age boy that I'm not interested in reading. I've started Borderline. I'll see what Nevada Barr does for me.

The Nevada Barr books have inspired me to explore some parts of the country to which I would not have gone had I not read them. They have also inspired me to rethink and revisit (in my mind) some of the places to which I had already been. I will confess that I don't read them often but I do find them evocative and atmospheric. They sort of remind me of Louis L'Amour in that respect. When L'Amour wrote about a place it was a real place and you could go there and find it. (Like Rabbit Ears Mountain in western Oklahoma. Wonderful place.) When looking for some books about the new part of the U. S. to which I had moved I ran across Barr's book Hunting Season. It was about the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is a National Parkway that runs from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. Because of that book I was inspired to drive the Natchez Trace on Thanksgiving break. I was also inspired to learn more about the Parkway system and its history. I am quite sure that Nevada Barr books will not win any grand literature prizes and a hundred years from now they may be unknown, and even though I don't make a steady diet of them, I do enjoy reading them from time-to-time.

I just finished a book that I'd borrowed from the public library. I never had read it before, but I recognized the author's name and decided to give it a try.

It's called The Flame of Hercules by the same author who wrote How Green Was My Valley. It takes place about 79AD, near Pompeii. The protagonist is an escaped galley slave.

It was a fun read, enjoyable, and would probably make a good 'B' movie.

Now that the hurricane 'Irene' is about to visit us, I'm planning on reading all day tomorrow, whether by lamp or candlelight, remains to be seen. Maybe I'll start my reread of Tad Williams' The Stone of Farewell...

#130 - codiebelle78 - You're very welcome! :)

#149
How appropriate that you read a book about Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Vesuvius. Yesterday was the anniversary date for the big blow-up in 79AD. Also the date of the death of Pliny the Elder who was watching things from the deck of a boat in the harbor at Herculaneum. I believe that he was killed by a flying rock. Come to think of it, I might have to go find that book and add it to my stack of books to read.

(151) And I didn't even realize that it was the anniversary of Mt. Vesuvius' eruption that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum!

Thanks for the information.

Finished Ghost Story by Jim Butcher and started 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs. Still working on The Help by Stockett.

@124 Hope you enjoy Going Bovine, and it's one of those books you may never figure out. One of my friends is waiting for a sequel, and my comment is how can there be a sequel. It's one of those books, where everyone sees it a little differently. You've got to love the gnome & the snow globes though!

I finished reading Who Killed Palomino Molero and Spanish Stories / Cuentos Espanoles. Both were great. I'm 1/3 into Neuromancer now.

I started No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club yesterday. Of course I am not yet old in whatever way, but that book sounded interesting when I saw it. I have to admit I find the woman rather annoying at times and here constant make-believe that being old is great because do not have to do certain things now is really disturbing. Nevertheless, it has it's bright and funny moments and also some deeper moments. However, I've got the feeling the author (also an over 60 woman) wnated to criticise the mode of old people trying to be young again and also telling that old age is not bad at all. This is tiresome and unnerving, but maybe I am really just too young to appreciate it.

#155 maybe I am really just too young to appreciate it.

Or, as Oscar Wilde said, "I'm not young enough to know everything."

I'm just starting Night and Day by Virginia Woolf. I'm not far in, but I will probably end up loving it, as I'm quite a fan of Woolf! I can just sink into her writing.

#155: I read No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club a while ago and I enjoyed it but didn't love it. Since I'm the same age as the author I understood her point in eschewing all the helpful advice as she sets to retire. It's exactly the same as well-meaning parents giving advice to a new mother or graduates giving advice to incoming college freshmen. Much of it is annoying and certain types of people resent it as "being told what to do". But actually, a lot of it is pretty helpful if you pick and choose. The author had a point that reaching sixty isn't so bad but I remembered thinking that if she ignored all the "trying to be young" advice, she could end up with stiff limbs in a pretty short time!

The new thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/122756

Perhaps everyone is tied up with the hurricane, so you'll have to settle for me.

#158: Yes that could be true. :) I found parts of the book really funny and humorous and I liked the stories with the gandchild. All in all, it was a nice read.