What Are You Reading Now? Message Board

I am currently enthralled by Voices from Chernobyl, Svetlana Alexievich's collection of testimonies gathered from survivors who live daily with the most horrific consequences of our nuclear age. It is not at all a dry historical tome, reading instead like the people are sitting right in front of you, communicating a variety of different experiences (some at the outer edges of human suffering, others surreal in their pastoral peacefulness) in the radiation-saturated landscape, while using extraordinarily evocative language.

This book won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and I came to it because it is this month's selection for the Words without Borders online reading group (which everyone should check out). I am surprised that so few people own it on LibraryThing, and I would certainly recommend it based on the portion I have read so far.

No matter what forums I've ever visited, by far the most interesting topic for me has always been what anyone's reading right at the moment and how they like it so far. And so to get things started, I'll own up to the fact that I'm reading Ivan Doig's 1978 memoir This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, and in its own very understated way has been perfectly stunning so far. I'm rather a latecomer to Doig's work, but I'd read his new novel The Whistling Season last month, absolutely loved it, and plan on reading even more of his work later this year.

I'm a legitimate latecomer to Ivan Doig's work, but I had read his latest novel The Whistling Season last month, thought it was just particularly wonderful, and am now more than halfway through his 1978 memoir This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, which was an NBA nominee as well, and am really enjoying it quite a bit, highly recommended.

I'm reading Beyond the Sacred Page by Jack Cavanaugh. So far, it's intriging. :)

I'm in the middle of The Coffee Trader by David Liss - it's the second one of his I've read, having enjoyed A Conspiracy of Paper. Good historical fiction.

I just started Insatiable, a book about competitive eating contests. Strange, but fascinating.

I am currently reading the "Masters of Rome" series by Colleen McCullough. It's basically a fictional biography of Julius Caesar starting with how his parents' generation. There is a huge cast of characters, plenty of action, and a fascinating picture of Roman life and society of the time.

The series opens with The First Man in Rome, which is about the careers of two of Caesar's uncles by marriage, Marius and Sulla in the last decade of the 2nd century BC. I'm on book 3 at the moment, Fortune's Favourites, which covers the careers of Caesar and Pompey, amongst many others, from 83 to 69 BC.

The book on Chernobyl sounds really fascinating so does the one about Julius Caesar. I always have a soft spot for history - one of my favorite channels on the tube is The History Channel! But right now I am reading an old mystery called A Puzzle for Fools by Patrick Quentin. It's really a good book and has me caught in that mystery web. It is a different twist on your traditional murder mystery because it takes place in a private sanitarium - and how can you tell who is really crazy and who is just playing along?

I've just started reading Dirt, Greed and Sex by L.William Countryman. It's about sexual ethics in early Christianity, and it promises to be very interesting indeed. I get the impression there are going to be some surprises!

Liz

I'm about a third of the way through The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I would be further through if I hadn't made the mistake of buying the hardback edition, which is too heavy for bedtime reading. Enjoying it so far, but I have noticed several derogatory descriptions of librarians which are distracting and irritating. The story is good though, and the historical stuff is really interesting, to the point that I may buy some follow up reading

I'm currently reading the updated and revised version of Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land, a Pulitzer Prize Winner by David K. Shipler. I am enjoying the book so far (it's a rather heavy subject, needless to say), although at the moment it seems to wander quite a bit. He's mostly been using primary sources and personal interviews, which is great, in my opinion.

I'll soon be starting Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace, by James O'Donnell for class, but it looks to be very interesting. Plus, I love the title.

Ditto on that title, Phoenix.

I finished Cien años de soledad a few days before the end of my trip to Mexico and Central America. When I got back the first book that fell into my hands was White Fang and I'm really enjoying it.

Not atypically, I'm reading multiple books. The big one is Genet, by Edmund White, which, at 600+ pages, is far too large to carry to work! It's a model for biographers (and other non-fiction writers), being readable, analytic and scholarly.

So I'm also reading The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany, and Edge, by Jeff Mann.

Last night I just started The Shining. I've never read any of Stephen King's books before, but in middle school I thought I should try to get around to it eventually (and now, I've just graduated high school). I'm only about 20 pages in or so, but I like it so far...(I did see the movie, by the way).

I'm reading Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. I've never read any of hers before but I joined a reading group for the first time and this is the book they will be discussing next. I would probably not have picked it otherwise (one reason why I joined, to widen my reading habits), but am enjoying it.

It's about a psychic and her manager/assistant, and is funny, though not as gothic or spooky as I had anticipated from the cover (I know, you should never judge...etc etc). The psychic stuff is not overdone, it's just a part of the main character's life, which gets revealed in layers throughout the book. It's quite a nice light read, despite the descriptions of a difficult childhod for the main character. I might read some more of hers, to compare.

Right now I'm reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene which is basically a summary of all of physics for the last century and an explanation of String Theory. It's actually much more interesting than it sounds - he does a very good job of illustrating the complicated concepts and using creative examples to get the point across.

I also just finished Ann Fessler's The Girls Who Went Away which is the story of young, unmarried women in the 50's and 60's who were forced to put their babies up for adoption. It's mainly the women themselves telling their stories with just occasional commentary by the author about the society of the time and why it all happened the way it did.

BloomToPerish -=- The Shining is one of my favorite King books. The book is of course much better than the movie. Other good King books are The Stand,IT and Desperation. I used to read alot of King, my only complaint with him as an author is sometimes his endings fall short - it's like he had a great idea but didn't know how to finish it up. Don't worry the books I mentioned all have great endings too!

I just started The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, and am very impressed so far. I have unfortunately dealt with multiple unexpected deaths in my (relatively short) life, and do not process death and grief well, so after hearing an interview with her on NPR's Fresh Air, I decided to get the book; it's taken me until now to actually find courage to read it.

In the Stephen King vein, I've just finished 'Salem's Lot on audiobook, which was only my second book of his (read Eyes of the Dragon about ten years ago). I rather liked the modern take on vampires, especially after reading Dracula and a lot of other gothic fiction a couple of summers back. Now I'll have to see if the book is better than the two TV movies that have been made of it. I'm thinking yes.

I'm a multiple-book reader, too. I've just started an interesting little biography, Lord Minimus, about Jeffrey Hudson, an 18-inch-tall dwarf owned by Queen Henrietta Maria of England in the 17th Century. Hey, I got it for $1 in new hardcover at B&N. :)

Reading Learning Perl, and trying to find useful things to do with that, since I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the definition.

And last but not least, I'm about halfway through Accidental Empires by Robert X. Cringely, a history of the birth of the computer age and industry. If you're interested the business of technology and you don't read his weekly column on PBS.org, you should. Very enjoyable, especially his annual predictions column each January.

Stephen King is a fabulous author! When you get through The Shining--there are so many others! My favorite is The Stand. Even when I don't particularly like the subject matter--he just "sucks" you in!

Carol

Wow Lord Minimus sounds wild - I had never heard of that before. I may have to check that one out. Salem's Lot is another one of the really good King books. Speaking of King another author in that vien is Clive Barker - I have loved all his works. Anyone else a Barker fan?

Loved The Stand! Although, I recently read King's newest, Cell, which had a similar premise as The Stand, and I was not impressed. It was just ok.

As for me right now, I'm reading Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. It is pretty interesting. I'm disappointed that the author can't give me more insight into Cicero as a person, but it is hard to personalize someone who lived that long ago without venturing into historical fiction. ;)

I'm also trying to decide whether to finish the Prophetess by Barbara Wood. I liked The Blessing Stone by her, but this one, eh.

The Stand seems like it'll be one of my next books; thanks to devilbuny and clingreen ^_^

I was going to read it alone, but library due dates that I had forgotten about are coming up, so along with The Shining I'm now also reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. A bit of humor to go with my horror! I dearly love Pratchett (according to the Zeitgeist, a lot of people do), though my friend introduced me to his books only a little over a year ago, I believe.

(By the way, my touchstones aren't working, I noticed; can someone explain them better to me in a comment? I don't want to off-topic the board...)

I'm almost finishing Friendship: An Exposé by Joseph Epstein. I may read again quickly after this.

Currently reading a few books - I'm most of the way through warrior queens I'm also dipping into the oxford book of humorous prose and I've kinda stalled before really starting on serpent in the garden I may pick up another to occupy me tomorrow.

From the sublime to the ridiculous! I just finished The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris. I recommend this to everyone rational person who is concerned about the direction our country is taking. And now, for something completely different, I am reading When Will Jesus Bring the Prk Chops by George Carlin. Lost of stuff is new, but also a lot from his comedy shows -- but, it is all hilarious!

Currently, I'm reading three books. A kiss of shadows by Laurel K Hamilton which is the one I read at work during lunch and break. Bitten by Kelly Armstrong and A Miserable Beginning by Lemony Snickets at home, depending on which one is more visible when I am in the mood to read. I have a long list of to be read in my library, so will be a while before I can get more.

I posted before that I am reading Beyond the Sacred Page, but I am also working on The Club Dumas and Team of Rivals...if I ever get back to them! :) I think my next read will be Captain Alatriste and The Teahouse of the August Moon by Vern Sneider. I just happened upon it at the library...anyone read it? It looks interesting. :)

I'm currently reading Freakonomics by an economist and a writer. It is an awesome read. It has been great so far, I'm about half way through it.

I'm listening to Dean Koontz's book Watchers on my drive to work and it is definitely freaky! A good scary read.

I've just started reading Anansi Boys. I've never read any of Neil Gaiman before. I like what I've read so far.

Hi, jonesy. I read Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician a couple of years ago. I'm just coming up to the Verrenes in Fortune's Favourites.

I'm a firm believer in the potato chip (or crisp, if you prefer) theory of reading: can't read just one! Right now, I'm finishing up Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life by James Hollis. It's a curious book-while lately there's been an explosion of very brief books, barely more than essays, released as if they were full volumes, this is sort of the opposite: what should have been a longish essay, willfully bloated beyond any coherent shape into a full 200+ page book. Hollis repeats his thoughtful and obviously heartfelt but not very complex or difficult to understand points about personal responsibility and the journey to individuation each of us must undertake to find meaning in life, over and over and over again in each chapter. Then, just to make sure we really get it, he recapitulates at the start of the next chapter. There's some lovely phrasing here and occasionally a genuine insight even the most die-hard Jungian might not have encountered before, but it's tiring work repeatedly slogging through the obvious and all-too evident. I'm glad I checked this out from the library rather than buying a copy.

For fun, I'm reading A Child Again by Robert Coover. Only about four stories in but I think this may be one of Coover's stronger recent works-there's less emphasis on the obscene, scatological and outrageous and more on the whimsical, wryly imaginative twists on fairytale, folklore and popular culture that made him (in)famous in the first place. This is a McSweeny's publication and is beautifully produced: great typography, gorgeous covers and endpapers-it even includes a "suit" of story cards that can be shuffled to create a new story every time!

Finally, I'm getting ready to open the first US collection by British poet, Lavinia Greenlaw, titled Minsk. I've really liked what I've read by Greenlaw in anthologies like Making for Planet Alice, so I'm very much looking forward to an entire volume by her.

My current read is Jane of Lantern Hill by L M Montgomery. I've been on a quest to read new books this year, so every book on my library thing account is a book I haven't read before this year. It means I've been exploring a lot of genres and authors I haven't read before.

I think I have a children's book and a non fiction book about mapping America waiting for me next

And indeed I finished warrior queens and have almost finished if at faust you don't succeed which is very funny, however I'll be bookcrossing it once I've finished. It's engaging but nothing I'd probably read again.

Has anyone read The Memory Keeper's Daughter?

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. I've been meaning to read her for years, depsite my not liking Sexing the Cherry.

I'm hoping this will be the one.

Right now I am reading Vellum by Hal Duncan .
This is a book I really have to think about.

North by Celine and as usual he is irritating and brilliant in equal measure. If you have not read Celine you have missed a rare treat

In addition to rereading Friendship: An Exposé, I'm reading One Man's Meat by E.B. White. It's pretty soothing.

"I just picked up Web of Murder by Harry Whittington - very cool book so far. About an attorney in a love less marriage who falls for his secretary and decides to do away with his wife. A good little crime, noir gem!"

My to-read list has just grown exponentially with the advent of this groups feature - from this group especially! Thanks for shrinking my house-cleaning hours even more, everyone!

My to-read list has just grown exponentially with the advent of this groups feature - from this group especially! Thanks for shrinking my house-cleaning hours even more, everyone!

Right now I'm reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, but I just finished our One Book, One Region books: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen and The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy. Next on the reading list is Northern Lights.

I just finished snow flower and the secret fan, which was good, but not great. Better Chinese fiction, I think, is Waiting by Ha Jin. Now in my bag for the commute is Smashed, an autobiography of an ex-drinker. Humorous in the way these books are. Wasted is a pretty amazing read in the "I was screwed up once" vein.

I am interested in anyone's opinion of Memory Keeper's Daughter as well (see Clingreen, above). It shot up on amazon and I'd never heard of it.

Currently reading The Immaculate by Mark Morris, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block, Holly Lisle's Create A Character Clinic by Holly Lisle, and The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge. (No, I'm not usually quite this... schizophrenic, but one's on the pda, and one's library... and the other two are things I'm working my way through.) I generally stay with one or two at time.

Next up is Lost Lake by Philip Margolin.

Hey kperfetto, I read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit in May and enjoyed it, although my favorite Jeanette Winterson has to be The Passion.

I am currently reading (on my commute) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and finding more in it than I remembered from earlier readings. Pirsig has so much to say about so many basic philosophical concepts. An amazing book.

For my relaxing bedtime reading, I am reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, which was recommended to me by a colleague. I am not sure about it yet.

At work, I am working my way through Effective Knowledge Management for Law Firms, which is became a key text in its genre as soon as it was published.

I wish I could edit my message. Delete "is" from the last clause of my last sentence.

Waist deep in Stop-Time by frank conroy, which is incredible, on its way to becoming a favorite. Also reading Charles Wright's The Southern Cross and Richer Entaglements by Gregory Orr, a superlative book on the craft and purpose of poetry.

I'm currently rereading Wuthering Heights.
Second book in progess: Jean Plaidy's The Courts of Love

I haven't been reading much lately, but am listlessly thumbing through Vermeer: the Complete Works by Arthur Wheelock, Of All Things Most Yielding by John Chang McCurdy (photographer), Into Winter by William Nestor, and am poised on the brink of Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Some of your choices sound so good, though, I'm taking notes.

I just entered The Memory Keeper's Daughter in my catalog. I got it in a bag full of books from my MIL last weekend---she has a neighbor who works in a distribution center, and often gets remainders. I haven't begun reading it. As someone else mentioned above, I have a library book to finish and return before moving to something else. That book, Forever by Pete Hamill, is wonderful. (Unfortunate title, and I removed its touchstone brackets, because there are just too many different books with that title, or with "Forever" IN the title.) I have loved everything I've read by Pete Hamill. This one is about a young Irishman who emigrates to American in 1740 to avenge the death of his father. Remarkable descriptions of life in 18th century Ireland, on board ship, and in Manhattan before the Revolution. Otherworldly, with touches of the Old Religion as well as African magic.

I just finished Let It Be Morning, a quite memorable book. It gives voice to the Israeli Arab in a very realistic and painful way. This is the second book I've read by Sayed Kashua. His first, Dancing Arabs, was equally as good. (5 stars)

The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan. Excellent! Really brings home the whole "write what you know" theory. I wish she'd join LibraryThing!

I am presently enjoying The Wizard by Gene Wolfe. It's not quite the book I thought it would be, but so far that's okay.

I'm currently reading Father Brown: SELECTED Stories by G.K. Chesterton. I'd heard of the Father Brown stories over the years but the LibraryThing recommendations made me go and find some. I'm really enjoying the slower pace of each short story. I admit I do like stories from that era though.

Hi,

Untypically for me most of my curret reading is non-fiction. I just finished Why Most Things Fail by Paul Ormerod - a neat well-written book though I found it a bit light in exploring the implications of the ideas; I'm about half way though The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz which is delightful explanation of the problems we as individulas face as a result of the increasing numbe rof choices that society offers - inclunding, I guess, books and tags. In the background, also half-read, is Jared Diamond's Collapse - also excellent but a bit heavy for bed-time reading and fortunately written in separate chunks so that i can go back to it every week or so.

Next in the queue it's a choice between Mo Hayder's Pig Island and Michael Adams' American Backlash -- though I also have Robert McKee's Story and Delillo's Underworld on the bedside table part complete.

Bob

I'm not on The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, a memoir by former bookseller and literary agent Lewis Buzbee. Not all that far into it yet, but from what I've read, I'm going to enjoy it. He talks about the books and experiences that impacted him as a child and made him a "reader", something I know that we can all identify with!

Darnit. First line of previous should read "I'm now on", not "I'm not on" - whoops.

I'm currently reading Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, Murder in the museum of man, & Range of Motion. I don't know why but I have been in a reading funk lately and can't seem to pick my self up.

I'm about 1/3 way through A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, although I've had it in my possession for a very long time. It starts out very sadly. It's hard for me to read stories about people treating other people with less dignity than they deserve. Unfortunately, such is our world and such is the content of many books I read. Well, back to the story... (4 stars, so far)

Okay, let's see if I can get these touchstones things to work. I'm in the middle of Red Dragon, the first book of the Hannibal Lecter trilogy by Thomas Harris. I'm really unsure of what I think about this one: some passages are almost embarrassing, while others are quite gripping. I'm also a bit surprised at how the movie's plot, so far as I can remember it, is pretty much the same as the book's: I thought they'd have messed with it a little so that Hannibal the Cannibal would have gotten a bigger role, but nope, he's big in the book alright. Anyway, a good summer read so far.

I'm currently reading a science fiction alternate world anthology called Roads Not Taken (edited by Gardner Dozois. I'm also reading By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie.

Recently finished:

Year Zero by Jeff Long
Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
Quest for the Future by A.E. Van Vogt

Being a bloke, I can of course only read one book at a time, and that book at present is Drop City by T C Boyle. He's a new author to me, although he seems pretty prolific; I only bought the book to make a 3rd in a 3 for 2 offer in Waterstone's.

And it was a bit of serendipity, because I'm enjoying it so much (half-way through). It's a tale of a peace-and-love totally doped-up hippie colony in California that is forced to move to the outermost reaches of Alaska: they are just about to set off, and as there has also been a good deal of Alaskan scene-setting with the bush-crazies with whom, unbeknown to them, they will be sharing their lives, it's obvious that things will get pretty explosive.

The writing is punchy, direct and very funny, and the author's ability to paint a scene, so that you can see it all in your mind's eye, is wonderful: I feel I've at least quadrupled my knowledge of Alaska in the last few days - starting from a pretty low base, admittedly!

I shall certainly read some more books by Boyle when I've finished this one, and hope that they will be equally as good.

Right now I'm about 80% done with Europe in the High Middle Ages and am enjoying it quite a bit. The book after that will be Accelerando. I've also sliced Libricide and Revolution at the Table off the list, as when the time came to actually read them a quick glance suggested that whatever interest I had in them about three years ago had past.

Reading Michel Houellbecque 'Possibility of and Island', are their other Houellbecque readers out there. The book is very much in the style of his previous work but not as funny. What I like most about his work, is his ability to criticise and via science fiction challenge the readers ideas.

I've started The Third Translation by Matt Bondurant - so far I'm unimpressed, but perhaps it'll improve.

I totally agree that while Oranges are not the only fruit is enjoyable, it is both less entertaining and less innovative (she follows the tradition of Angela Carter closely here) than my favorite Winterson, The Passion. Both, however, are considerably better than the other Winterson I have read. I have not yet attempted Sexing the Cherry, I must admit.

Though I am still at work on the excellent Voices from Chernobyl, I also just picked up Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West, because the first very short novella (Miss Lonelyhearts) in it is in 1001 Books you must read before you die and the second (The day of the locust) is a famous novel of Los Angeles, where I am currently staying. I have also just begun On Beauty by Zadie Smith, and am surprisingly unimpressed by the quality of the writing, considering the acclaim the novel has received. Can anyone who has read it speak to whether it improves? I am in the early stages of all of these books, so it is quite possible that my impressions will change.

Continuing the theme of feminist fiction: a couple of days ago I picked up Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad and read it at a single sitting. It was much less complex and polished than many of her other works, in my opinion, but it was a quick and enjoyable read nonetheless.

Just starting The Unfolding of Language. Looks fascinating...

Having finished The Year of Magical Thinking last night, I am breaking from my fiction-nonfiction rotation to read Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival. It is very easy to read, but not unintelligent: Cooper's ability to capture the essence of grave situations in a seemingly simple phrase has both surprised and impressed me. Yes, he is a journalist with his own story to sell, but there's a measure of truth to his reporting - and his reporting on reporting - that is balanced by the story of his life, lending an honesty to his account that otherwise might seem disingenuous.

Starting Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I am only about 50 pages in, but it is absorbing the language is mesmerizing and dreamlike. More later.

-Jim, 07/30/06, 6:00 PM

Hello all!

I just finished Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan. It was laugh-out-loud hilarious and full of dry, sarcastic humor. I loved it so much I made my husband read it (he enjoyed it as well), and I will be re-reading it sooner than later.

Currently reading Once and Always by Judith McNaught - about 70% finished and it's very good so far if you like historical romance and a little bit of intrigue.

I've also just started reading Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, which already looks like it's going to be a keeper.

I loved Kafka on the Shore, mckeown, truly on of my favorite books of last year.

Hello readers!

I just put down Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara. She managed to make body piercing and S&M sex DULL - that's quite an accomplishment.

I always have an audiobook for commuting; right now it's By Myself and Then Some by Lauren Bacall. Worth it simply because it's read by the author.

My other current book is The Seville Communion. I adore Arturo Perez-Reverte. My book group recently read Captain Alatriste and I am anxiously waiting for more of that series to be translated into English.

Next up: The Brief History of the Dead and Basket Case.

I'm just about to go start The Most Famous Man in America, a new bio of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate (and no, The Third Translation did not ever get any better - see my review of that for more).

LisaLynne, I'm a Perez-Reverte fan as well, Seville Communion is one of my favorites. The second Alatriste book Purity of Blood is out in English, but not yet in paperback.

I'm reading (and putting into practice) Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems.

Man is that NOT pleasure reading!

I always have several books on the go - one for reading in the train, one (or two) by the bed, one for the terrace...
My bedtime reading, which I have just finished, was the Folio Societ's Christmas Ghost Stories, an interesting collection but not too spooky, apart from one about a kitbag. Next in line by the bed is La Guerre des Boutons, a French classic.
Now and then I dip into Wisdom of the Elders by David Suzuki and Peter Knudtson, I think it is going to become my personal bible.
And I just started Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra which leaves me speechless

Tim - Ferber is NOT the best sleep solution out there! Try Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Sleep Solution. Liam will thank you for it.

I'm reading Nancy Mitford's The pursuit of love as well as The Dante club which I posted about before. I adored this from the first page. Witty and sharp, about an upper class English family in the 1930s, many of whose members you really couldn't like, and allegedly based on Mitofrd's own family life (horrors!). Reading The Mitford girls gives more insight into her home life and is well worth a look.

I read Ex Libris earlier this summer, and it was pure delight. I immediately handed it off to my bibliophile parents, and they also devoured it.

The Pursuit of Love can be read as a sequel to Love in a Cold Climate. I can't remember whether Nancy Mitford meant them to be read as a pair or not.

I do remember there was a marvellous TV adaptation of them in ummmm the 1970s or 1980s. I was quite disappointed when I came to the books themselves. The adaptation was so much funnier and enjoyable.

jbd1, I think the first 4 books are out in English - there are either 5 or 6 completed. I was really disappointd that more of the book group didn't love Captain Alatriste - they are always complaining that we can't get more men to attend so we need to read more plot-driven books (rather than character-driven books, which tend to attract more femal readers). Unfortunately, whenever we read plot-centric books, they whine about the action scenes and how we don't really get to know the characters as people.

Of course, we also have people who complain that the books are too long, so what can I say? I'm looking for another book group.

Right now I am reading "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult and then I am onto finishing "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold.

I'm a few pages from finishing The Yacoubian Building, a novel by the Egyptian writer Ala Aswani, and just started reading Alligators, Old Mink and New Money: One Woman's Adventures in Vintage Clothing, by Alison Houtte. (In addition to old books, I love old clothes!)

I'm taking a break from Genet for the moment.

Over the weekend I finished two books - The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold which I found to be a wonderful story, and quite engaging. Also, My Freshman Year which is by an anthropology professor who lived as a student for a year to learn about contemporary college life. It's very interesting to read her observations since she can give both the student and professor/university points of view.

I'm currently reading a couple of books:

"Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch (about getting free of dieting forever)... very good book!

"Relentless" by Robin Parrish (the back cover blurb says, "He got off the bus, and saw...HIMSELF across the street." ... a fantastic thriller that's kept me turning pages!)

Just finished Collapse. Long but fascinating read. Don't know what's next - this LibraryThing is really cutting into my reading time!

Out of curiosity, does anyone else have a special tag for books they are currently reading? (I just use reading).

LisaLynne, what are the other Captain Alastriste titles? I know of Perez-Reverte's other works, but I thought that Captain Alatriste was the first of a new series, with Purity of Blood the second. Are there others beyond that in English?

LisaLynne, what are the other Captain Alatriste titles? I know of Perez-Reverte's other works, but I thought that Captain Alatriste was the first of a new series, with Purity of Blood the second. Are there others beyond that in English?

rmckeown: good call, I adored Kafka on the Shore. In fact, I'm slavishly devoted to 'most everything Mr Murakami puts to paper. I think my favourite was the Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

In terms of my reading, I just finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride for the 3rd time. I go back for the dark humour and the sly digs at post-feminism.

At present, I'm reading Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Andaluaza, an academic semi-memoir about hybrid identities along the Mexo-American border. I'm also wading slowly and not altogether successfully through The Noise of Time by Osip Mandelstam.

I use 'reading' as well.

Currently reading a Popular Library pocket novel from 1956 by Harry Davis called My Brother's Wife. "Tormented By A Woman Who Could Never Be His". Always good to dip into the pulp novels every now and then.

I'm reading Dicken's Our Mutual Friend. I love his books for their complex plots, "eye-popping" characters and depth of feeling. This story is one of his most sophisticated renderings as to sytle, and his most biting, socially, that I've read so far. Half way through, and so far a great read.

I'm reading Digging to America by Anne Tyler, what a brilliant writer she is.

Over last weekend I finished Ivan Doig's wonderful 1978 memoir This House of Sky, and though I'm no Westerner and have never set foot in Montana, I thought his story of growing up the son of an itinerant cowboy and sheepherder and how this ruggedly unsettled, very haphazard upbringing led to Doig's becoming a writer, was about as emotionally affecting as anything I've read in a while, and it can't help but wind up on my 'Best Books of the Year' list too.

Part of my reading plan for this year was to try to get caught up a bit on the work of Joyce Carol Oates, in particular her raft of novels. I'd read several of her story collections, but only three or four of her novels before this year, and set myself to read at least five more during 2006. So far so good, though they've all been mostly superlative: Blonde, Because It is Bitter and Because It is My Heart, We Were the Mulvaneys, and right now I'm approaching the halfway point in her 1998 novel My Heart Laid Bare which I'm truly enjoying, though I admit it took me maybe 20 or 30 pages to really get comfortable with the book's language and style, but it's really gotten good in a hurry, and I'm already looking forward to Bellefleur in the fall.

feebs, Robber Bride is one of my favorite Atwood novels. She was on PBS last week on Bill Moyers' show on faith, it was a great interview - I think it's available online if you want to watch it.

Re Robertgreaves, message 82

I will be checking out her others as I enjoyed this one so much. Must keep my eyes open for the TV versions too.

Yesterday I finished Roads Not Taken by Gardner Dozois. This book is a collection of short stories of alternate histories - what if the Roman Empire never ended, what if the individual American states never joined in a union?

I also finished By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie. Tommy and Tuppence Beresford solve a mystery involving a nursing home, a doll and an abandoned house.

I use "currently reading" as a tag.

The Margaret Atwood interview (as well as others w/Moyers) are available as podcasts at iTunes. The first one is Salman Rushdie and there's one with Jeanette Winterson.

I picked up Conspiracy of Paper from my library for 10cents so I'm sure to give it a shot.

right now I am reading 2 books:
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler- a pretty good piece of fiction with a chilling account of the torture and anti-semitism faced by Portugese Jews at the end of the 15th century.

the other is The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro by Antonio Tabucchi...this is a fun read by an Italian fiction writer- it also takes place in portugal (this was uinplanned) and is a very different kind of book- in the tradition of Eastern European writers with a touch of Borges. I became aware of Tabucchi when he was listed on the Booker Prize for International Fiction WritersP

Our Mutual Friend...wow...I read this in college soem 40 years ago and despite having moved several trimes through the years I still have my copy on my book slef. This remains one of my all time favorites, and, being over 900 pages is a delight.

Our Mutual Friend...wow...I read this in college soem 40 years ago and despite having moved several trimes through the years I still have my copy on my book slef. This remains one of my all time favorites, and, being over 900 pages is a delight.

I have acopy of After the Quake by Murakami...did you read it?

Am finishing up Invisible Circus, which was a lovely read. A little cliche at times and hardly perfect, but a good commute can't-put-it-down story. My choices for my next read (according to the books collecting dust on my nightstand) are Memory Keeper's Daughter, Garlic and Sapphires, Vanishing Acts, or The History of Love. Suggestions?

I loved Freakanomics! Very fun. The names part was my favorite. It's in the same category as Blink and Tipping Point. On a tangent, try Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic.

I am reading What to Eat: an aisle-by-aisle guide to savvy food choices and good eating by Marion Nestle. It's very straight forward and easy to read.
But what I really want to recommend is The Omnivore's Dilemma. Fabulous! A total page turner.

Bravo! Delighted that you have found Doig. I hope it will prove contagious. "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" gets you into a lovely continuous cycle of fine fiction. His non-fiction, "Winter Brothers" is the true account of how Doig walked-in-the-footsteps of James Gilchrist Swan (who wandered the Pacific northwest 1862-1890), and "The Sea Runners" is Doig's (imagined) account of an escape by four men from Russian Alaska.
Doig is at home in both genres!

Bravo! Delighted that you have found Doig. I hope it will prove contagious. "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" gets you into a lovely continuous cycle of fine fiction. His non-fiction, "Winter Brothers" is the true account of how Doig walked-in-the-footsteps of James Gilchrist Swan (who wandered the Pacific northwest 1862-1890), and "The Sea Runners" is Doig's (imagined) account of an escape by four men from Russian Alaska.
Doig is at home in both genres!

OH! I wrote a lengthy note about Doig. . . but not sure if I pushed the right place for it! If it turns up fine. . if not, will someone please teach me (1) the way to add-on to these messages and (2) how to post reviews!!!! Esta1923

Winterson was recently on Bill Moyers TV series (examining faith), and was wonderful! This sent me to re-read "Apples are not the only fruit" with increased appreciation. (The interview is available on-line from NPR.)

Esta, I'm a very recent Ivan Doig convert. I'd read his new novel The Whistling Season last month and liked it so much I decided to get his other stuff, was totally blown away by This House of Sky, and have Dancing at the Rascal Fair set for next month.

I just finished The Beggar and started The Thief and the Dogs, the first two novels in a three-novel collection by Naguib Mahfouz, and am listening to Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas.

I read The Club Dumas over the weekend, and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed--I thought that much of it was infodump.

As to som of the other books mentioned here, Freakonomics was great (and I agree that the names part was a highlight), and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is also my favorite Murakami thus far. And Tim, I don't know if it works for everyone, but I used the Ferber method (without reading the book) on all three of my kids, and it worked marvelously well.

I didn't find The Club Dumas very compelling, but I did enjoy The Seville Communion by the same author. My local library book group found it quite memorable.

jbd1, check here for the Alatriste books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_capit%C3%A1n_Alatriste

Apparently, only the first two have been translated. I read in an interview that he was planning 7 books for the series. I just hope they all get translated.

Ah, very good, thanks! I agree, and suspect they will - he's sold fairly well over here, so I bet the titles will appear sooner or later ... particularly if they're planning a movie.

Have considered reading both of these. Glad for the feedback

Started Smonk by Tom Franklin today and am so far impressed. But then I was thoroughly impressed first by his collection of stories Poachers: Stories and then even more so by his first novel Hell at the Breech. At this juncture he's batting 3-for-3 and therefore has a huge fan in me.

Perez-Reverte I find hit or miss. After being quite delighted by The Flanders Panel I looked forward to any subsequent English translation of his novels but was increasingly disappointed in succession by The Club Dumas, The Seville Communion, and The Fencing Master---so much so that I stopped reading him at that point. I read such good things about the Alatriste books though that I decided to give him another go, read them earlier this year, and agree that is a return to better form for him.

Ooops, Message 118 was supposed to be a comment on Message 5: Conspiracy of Paper and The Coffee Trader sound very interesting. Have not enjoyed too many books of current fiction, but have come upon some impressive suprises, Stardust, by Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to name a couple of recent finds. Maybe "Conspiracy.." or "Coffee Trader" will be next. Donna Tartt's The Little Friend is impressive as well. She writes with an elegant unassuming style that draws the reader into the story on an emotional level. It is Complex, compelling, disturbing, funny, suspenseful, mysterious on multiple levels, though mostly the philisophical and pyschological levels, and a perhalps a bit oppressive in its unflinching reality.

bookjones, I'll probably give Smonk a shot later this year, because I was just as impressed with both Poachers and Hell at the Breech as you were.

Almost purely because she's a LT Author I decided to try Lisa Carey's The Mermaids Singing and it was a very good read, I'll be hunting out more of her!

Currently I'm reading Piers Anthony's Demons Don't Dream partially because it's next on the TBR shelf! I'm also making my way through Michael Crichton's State of Fear for a bookgroup.

I am currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins and I absolutely love it!

Collins is the master of Victorian mystery/sensation fiction. I can't get enough and I really don't want this book to be over.

I'd recommend it to anybody.

No more Lisa Carey's in the system, will have to remedy that!

I just finished Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg, and as usual, I just loved it. I think she's such a hoot. I'm also working on The Battle for Godby Karen Armstrong, a really interesting history of fundamentalism in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I'm also working on Ex Libris : Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, a book of essays by a book lover and reader. If you are here, you will recognize yourself in the book.

I have Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, but I haven't been in the mood to read it yet. Another book always grabs my attention first. How did you like it bheaney?

I'm not bheaney but I read briar rose as well and I really did enjoy it, it was a touching and interesting book.

Just a note to timspalding that Ferber has apparently lately denounced some of his methods of getting a baby to sleep through the night as more harmful than good to the baby and baby/parent relationship. Books that helped me a lot with my children wereThe Baby Book and The Baby Sleep Book by Dr William Sears and Martha Sears. They were more easy to read and I felt like they were helping me AND my children.

I agree that this group makes for very interesting reading. I like to know what's being read out there as well as how they are being read and why. I'm such a book lover that whenever I see someone reading a book at a coffee shop, I can't resist trying to see what it is.

I've developed into a multiple book reader since I've started to tackle some of the more difficult books and subjects. I always seem to be reading one that requires you to really pay attention or "think" and one that I can enjoy even when slightly distracted or when I only have a couple of minutes to read.

ON the difficult side, I'm getting ready to take another run at Finnigan's Wake by James Joyce with the help of the newly reprinted Skeleton Key to Finnigan's Wake by Joseph Campbell. So what do I do? I reread Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man first. And now I'm halfway through a third reading of Ulysses, using the great Ulysses Annotated for help.

On the fun side, I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera. I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez! I've read several of his others, including the excellent 100 Years of Solitude . That one was a bit confusing with all the Aurelio's and . Love is my favorite of his longer works so far. I wish I could read him in the Spanish! I'd love to see editions with the spanish on one page and the english on the other, so I can work out some of the translations. Like the do for poetry. For short works, try Of Love and Other Demons or his new one Memories of my Melancholy Whores.

I agree that this group makes for very interesting reading. I like to know what's being read out there as well as how they are being read and why. I'm such a book lover that whenever I see someone reading a book at a coffee shop, I can't resist trying to see what it is.

I've developed into a multiple book reader since I've started to tackle some of the more difficult books and subjects. I always seem to be reading one that requires you to really pay attention or "think" and one that I can enjoy even when slightly distracted or when I only have a couple of minutes to read.

ON the difficult side, I'm getting ready to take another run at Finnigan's Wake by James Joyce with the help of the newly reprinted Skeleton Key to Finnigan's Wake by Joseph Campbell. So what do I do? I reread Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man first. And now I'm halfway through a third reading of Ulysses, using the great Ulysses Annotated for help.

On the fun side, I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera. I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez! I've read several of his others, including the excellent 100 Years of Solitude . That one was a bit confusing with all the Aurelio's and . Love is my favorite of his longer works so far. I wish I could read him in the Spanish! I'd love to see editions with the spanish on one page and the english on the other, so I can work out some of the translations. Like the do for poetry. For short works, try Of Love and Other Demons or his new one Memories of my Melancholy Whores.

100 Years Of Solitude has got to be onne of the all time classics- defines South American Fantasy Fiction...another intrereesting South American writer is Tomas Eloy Martinez from Argentina...I actually have a strong interest in SA writers.

Currently reading Antonio Tabucchi-The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro.

To Jolly in message 120. I've lead book club discussions on A Conspiracy of Paper and the groups tend to find that it's a slower read than they're used to, but a very rewarding read. Worth your time!

Right now I'm reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which is very interesting, if kind of slow-going for me.

I'm also reading The Assassin by Rachel Butler which seems so far to be decent romantic suspense, as well as Lady Anne's Dangerous Man, which has a beautiful cover and is an historical romance set in Restoration England.

Finally, I just started Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

I'm reading The Witches by Roald Dahl with my 5 and a half year old, both of us for the first time. My son is enthralled by Roald Dahl.

On my own, I'm reading With No One as Witness , the latest in a series of mysteries by Elizabeth George. Normally she writes cozy English mysteries but this one is about a serial killer. Different for her but just as easy to read. I wasn't sure I was going to read this next but I only had to glance at the first page and I was hooked.

I've also been going back to 10 Great Mysteries, to read another story now and again. 6 down, 4 more to go!

After entering my books, I realized that it was time to take a bite out of the Unread pile, some of which have patiently awaited my attention for thirty years.

So, starting back in mid-June, I sorted my books by 'Shared', to find the book that the most others had (theoretically) read, but that I hadn't.

It was Slaughterhouse-Five. Loved it. Then Cryptonomicon, which was very long and nothing special. Now it's Anna Karenina, which is spectacularly great, and next comes The Brothers Karamazov, which I'm looking forwards to, and Ulysses, which I'm not.

When I feel like I need a break from one of these big books, I pick up a play (most recently Jules Feiffer's Little Murders), graphic novel (currently Mike Carey's All His Engines), or short story (most recently Flaubert's A Simple Heart).

grunin: That's a pretty good idea. I just sorted my books that way and it looks like 1984 has to be my next read, followed by Animal Farm and The time traveler's wife. I have read 1984 about half-way through years ago, but I guess I'll have to start over.
After I've finished my current reads Catch-22, Lamb, Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt'n Blaubart and a few more...

1984 and Animal Farm are both great classics! I love them!

The Namesake was good, but have you read Interpreter of Maladies, allthesedarnbooks? I'm not a huge fan of short stories (I like to settle down and get comfortable with characters, and short stories pass by too quickly for me), but these were fantastic.

Can't get more Lisa Carey yet, will have to keep an eye out for future published books in the UK market.

Having finished Demons Don't Dream and state of fear I'm now onto princes of sandastre. Interesting but I'm not sure its interesting enough for me to hunt up the rest of the series.

Grunin, you must have been feeling very guilty to take on Cryptonomicon! It's a monster!

I'm reading Ireland: A Novel by Frank Delaney. It's the history of Ireland as told by a classic, Irish storyteller. I'm just getting into it, but so far it's wonderful. Very rich language and it flows as if you're listening to the storyteller himself.

I'm also reading The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by David Suzuki. Excellent book! Not only is it about the connections to nature our modern society seems to have lost, but it's got a lot of great science lessons in it that I'd forgotten someone tried to teach me back in high school :)

Last night I stayed up way past my bedtime finishing Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I picked it up on a whim and found it really engaging. A great plot that pulls you in and carries you right along to the end.

I liked Cryptonomicon, although I did find it a bit slow in parts. Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (that touchstone only shows Volume 3; not sure how I'd do all three volumes), on the other hand, was fantastic. It was also a bit slow for the first 100 pages or so, but then the next 2500 pages really flew! I was sad to have it end.

Oh, and I really enjoyed Fingersmith, as well! Have you read any other work by her, Tricoteuse?

No, that was the first, but I think I'll try to find her others. I really bought it initially because it was part of a buy 2 - get 1 free deal and none of the other options looked interesting. I love when good books are stumbled upon like that!

After finishing Nature Revealed, a collection of science writings by Edward O. Wilson, I've started a galley proof of The Magic Circle of Rudolf II, about that Holy Roman Emperor and his fascination with alchemy and related topics. So far, quite interesting.

Hi..I'm new to this site and I am reading Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. I just started it a few days ago and I really am enjoying it. This is a really great sight. Hope to share and exchange words and thoughts with some of you...

Hi..I'm new to this site and I am reading Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. I just started it a few days ago and I really am enjoying it. This is a really great sight. Hope to share and exchange words and thoughts with some of you...

Despite not having finished ANY of the books I wrote about earlier, I have started in on a couple more: How Soccer Explains the World, a series of lively essays about globalization and local culture as they relate to the sport, and Everything is Illuminated.

I just found out from a friend that we went to elementary school with Foer (the latter Foer -- it does seem odd that I picked up two books by people with the same name - brothers, in fact), and although I certainly never knew him, I find this to be an intriguing fact. It has also taken me a particularly long time to get around to this widely acclaimed novel because it was in a box of books that I lost in a move, and my grief for the missing part of my library was so profound that I have never replaced any of those books. Now I am reading a copy that just happened to be lying around my boyfriend's apartment. Maybe the healing can finally begin (although it was a major setback when FedEx recently destroyed another box of books that I shipped with them. Sigh.).

Very fun to see fellow Murakami fans on here. I loved Kafka on the Shore but I think my favorite is Hard-boiled Wonderland and the end of the world.

Right now though I'm delving into China Miéville's Perdido Street Station I quite like it so far and I'm almost half way through it. And as I am a firm believer in what someone called "the potatoe chip theory of reading" (nice term!;)) so on my nightstand I also have Beijing Doll and Polaroids from the dead.

princes of sandastre turned out to be interesting but a little off. Had a brief but fun scan throught the Dictionary of Hiberno-English which was very good and has to be bought as a dip-into-reference work for me.
Today will be mostly the encyclopaedia of Classic 80's Pop and priestess of the white

Last night, in one session (because I just could not put it down, so finished it around 2am): A Young Man's Passage by Julian Clary. Interesting, funny, brutally honest, and occasionally TMI.

I have to admit that Julian Clary amuses me so I shall look out for that book!
Though I have not yet finished Red Earth and Pouring Rain (it is very dense), I went to the library and took out two others - Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, which I started reading today in the train.

Well, I finished The Thief and the Dogs last night and was going to start Autumn Quail (the third novel in the three-novel Mahfouz collection), but fell asleep reading the introduction. I have to say this line gave me pause:

"It has to be admitted that the novel's narrative suffers from the extended time period."

So, in theory I'll start it today, but that combined with a certain amount of author fatigue after reading two novels by him in a row, and I may abandon it. Has anyone here read it, and if so, can you let me know what you thought of it?

Just finished Deathstalker by Simon R Green, which was quite an engaging book if a little too verbose. Probably going to move onto The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwall, or possibly Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman.

I'm currently reading The Senator and The Socialite, The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty by Lawrence Otis Graham. It's the story of the Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce, the First African-American to serve a full term as Senator. Too soon to give you a review, but it's very interesting so far. I'm learning a lot!

I propose we make a weekly thread for this; otherwise, we'll wind up with one thread millions of messages long.

Yes. Weekly threads please, though I will miss my little nap during the time it takes to load the page.

I just finished Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edge, and after reading two rather "heavy" books, have turned to Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island for a laugh and warm memories of previous travels.

How was Cooper's book, grkmwk? That's on my "to read" list, but I'd like to hear what you have to say about it. Having been a reporter, I have a natural draw to it,

I loved Walter Cronkite's A Reporter's Life what with all the history it covers, but he had a lot of personal stuff in it, as well.

Can't wait for your review! Thanks!

nfoskett521, if you liked Cronkite's book, you'd probably like David Brinkley's Washington Goes to War, about WW II, the number of people required to manage it, and the effect both had on a sleepy little capital on the banks of the Potomac.

Hmm. The touchstone for Brinkley's book worked when I typed that. It's in my collection, if you want to look it up.

I just finished Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. It's a very detailed account of the Iran hostage crisis---very readable and interesting!

Currently I'm reading The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee. So far I'm really enjoying it. It's a book that exudes warmth! And he talks about his "formative book" being Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck---that made me smile. I read Of Mice and Men when I was in high school and promptly feel in love with John Steinbeck and deeper in love with reading. I've been reading John Steinbeck ever since---East of Eden is my favorite!

I've just started Murakami's After the Quake. I need a Murakami fix after a few months away and I was in the mood for some short stories too.

Don't forget American Appetites one of my favorites. I collect Oates, but it is hard to keep up! She publishes four or five books a year!

I'm a big fan of JCO's too, Jim, but, wow, it looks like you really do have all of her work. I'm in the process of trying to catch up on her novels, have read four just this year, all wonderful, and only finished My Heart Laid Bare last night. Bellefleur is up next, will be reading it next month, though I'd appreciate any recs you might have.

nfoskett521, I posted a review of Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edge just now, so you can read my full analysis there. All in all, I enjoyed the book, although it definitely wasn't great. My initial enthusiasm (see Message 71) waned as I moved further along.

I got this idea that perhaps I would be a travel writer. I am not so ambitious as to hope to make money at this, but it would be a good technique for organizing information and photos from trips. My upcoming one are 1.) to a Tennessee farm near Memphis that is still a family farm in the middle of a lot of agribusiness 2.) Shelling near Tampa and 3.) Battlefields of Virginia, by Amtrack to Fredericksburg. SO....I found a very old book on tra vel writing now in new editions. The Travel Writers Handbook by Louise Purwin Zobel.Her best advice, prepare in advance with information about your destinations (easy to do now with the web) and write with a particular kind of reader in mind. She has examples of query letters and a chapter on She also has a chapter "Sell your story before you write it." Even if I do not become a travel writer, just reading this book will make me a better,more observant traveler.

Your review has prompted me to look this book up and read it. It may well be an example of what parts of the US will be like if terrorists do what for them would (and I hate to write this) attack our vulnerable nuclear facilities. None of us are sure we too will not experience this fate.

cabegley- I'm still working on The Namesake (I have the bad habit of reading too many books at once) but I haven't read Interpreter of Maladies yet. I'm not a big short story fan, either, so that recommendation definitely helps!

Right now I'm about halfway through Richard Fletcher's "Bloodfeud," seeing as I needed a break from "Accelarando." I like Charles Stross well enough but there's something about the structure of this particular novel that makes it hard to focus.

currently nearing the end of the Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, am most of the way through the "Three Lives" section.
The main story, after all the build up has one of the most abrupt ending I've encountered. Still trying to figure out how it works.

Let's see... Finished off A Bad Beginning the other day. Just finished A kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton yesterday.

Started on apocalypse troll by david weber this afternoon.

beyond_the_pale: regarding The Glass Bead Game, I think the meaning to the rest of the story can be found in the 'Three Lives' section, which kind of act as parables commenting on the main action. Or something. It's been a while since I read it.

feebs: agree with that, can see lots of parallels between Three Lives and main story.

I started Train by Pete Dexter. He is a former columnist for the Philadelphia Bulletin, (my hometown), and he is a great writer. Paris Trout is a great novel, and so is Paperboy

Abby- I loved- Can't Wait to Get to Heaven!!
Wonderful book.
I want to strive to be more like Aunt Elner.

Fannie Flagg groupie,

Priscilla

I just finished Night Light by Terri Blackstock I couldn't put it down.

I usually try to avoid first novels , but...Marisha Pessl's new book Special Topics in Calamity Physics is one of the two or three best novels I've read this year, and I'll be recommending it to everyone, just grandly entertaining.

I'm currently struggling through Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris. Not sure what I think about it -- I like the writing but the characters/setting are a bit stifling. I think my tolerance for stories about hard-up families is shrinking lately for some reason. Everyone in this book just seems so unable to help themselves.

I like the writing of Pete Dexter, too. It's pretty creepy sometimes, isn't it?

I read Paris Trout, The Paperboy, and Brotherly Love. Thought they all were great!

I'm in the middle of a book of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft. The book is called The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. When I started reading it, I didn't think I'd like the book. I did, however, get to some stories that I liked a lot.

I'm hoping to learn how Lovecraft's writing has influenced contemporary horror writers.

I read Train by Pete Dexter. I thought it was one of the worst books I've ever read. More power to you guys/gals for liking his work.

I'm about to finish The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I've got Train and fully intend to read it.

My reading group read Train last year. We uniformly despised it. It was misogynistic and hollow. I can't remember us ever having such a negative reaction to a book, and we've been meeting for eight years.

Now I really *have* to read Train to see why it was so bad!

May I recommend his first novel, Water Music}? The story of Mungo Park's quest for the source of the Niger - an absolutely marvellous book.

Hey AL, I think Pete Dexter's first novel was God's Pocket in 1984. Water Music is a wonderful book, but written by T.C. Boyle.

Sorry, message 189 was mine. I am 'thedoodler' this is my first visit to this site!!!

Another vote for Water Music by T.C. Boyle here, it is absolutely fabulous, the only one of his I have read - would you recommend any others?

I think Boyle's one of the very finest American writers working today, overthemoon, and most of his early novels are pretty great, particularly World's End, as well as his short story collections too, but I recommend you take a look at his new one Talk Talk, totally unputdownable and exciting from beginning to end, and also check out his novel The Inner Circle, a story about the 'private' lives of a group of Kinsey sex researchers back in the 50s, another terrific story as well. And of course, there's always Drop City.....

I just started Ringworld after finishing up Lucifer's Hammer. Ringworld is quite different from Lucifer's, but I'm enjoying it anyway. (I thought Lucifer's Hammer was excellent.)

I invite Utah residents or those with an interest in all things Utahn to join me in the Utah Thing group:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/utahthing

thank you LouisBranning, plenty for me to look out for there!

hi the doodler
re ruth rendell not read sight for sore eyes find her novels extremely variable good and bad - my favourites are a devil in my view and thirteen steps down - quite few more also feel her psychological stories are more interesting than inspector wexford!

from sacred path

overthemoon wrote: Another vote for Water Music by T.C. Boyle here, it is absolutely fabulous, the only one of his I have read - would you recommend any others?

I've just finished Drop City, which is the first of his books that I've read, and thought it absolutely amazing. I did a (non-spoiling) review of it, if you are interested.

I certainly look forward to reading more by him - perhaps I should make it Water Music!

I couldn't agree more, montano, about The Omnivore's Dilemma. I'm about halfway through, and it's such a clear-eyed look at the reality of how our modern agricultural and distribution methods have created a Rube Goldberg-esque system that is completely unsustainable. He's harsh but completely fair with "Big Organic" and it's a real eye-opener for me. Plus, I love the idea of "supermarket pastoral" at places like Whole Foods. I fall for it all the time! It's awful how you think you're beyond marketing but really you're still suggestible.

Well, I've finished Armadale by Wilkie Collins and then I moved on to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte best ever Bronte novel in my opinion.

Now I'm (re)reading Jane Austen's Emma and after that it's Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Wheee.

Right now, Deathstalker by Simon R. Green and Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson.

There's now a thread open for What You're Reading the Week of 9 Sep 2006

how did you like it? I loved it and have found it worth of a re-read every decade or so.

The Stand is great. My favorite of his.

Hello, Wanderlust_Lost,

I must say I admire your taste in literature. I've read all the Wilkie Collins I could find, including Armadale, but I think I enjoyed The Moonstone most. I've just lent it to a friend who wanted to read something written 'in proper English' (meaning 'the Queen's English') and is a fan of mysteries.

I was surprised at first to see you prefer The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. Then I pulled it off the shelf to have another look; it's been years since I read it. You have a point; it's definitely one of the good ones.

Jane Austen's Emma I've read and listened to in audiobook. I have all Jane Austen's works, but Emma's not my favourite. The character is too full of herself, without justification. Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice were more fun.

I confess to reading Anna Karenina in English. You may need to watch out for the character names; each person seems to be called 6 different things; sometimes it's hard to keep the people straight. But it's a passionate story with interesting character development.

Have fun reading.

Hello all. Currently i am reading James Patterson Maximum Ride School's out forever. Classified as a children's book but i beg to differ, the topic is a bit harsh for kids. So, 6 Mutant children with wings, hunted down by wolf like cratures, violence, adolescent love, very beautiful.

Maximum Ride sounds cool, I'm reading Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto, it's full of japanese pop culture references and I guess it's a view of life as an ephemeral bunch of pictures that are connected in ways you might not expect. I just noticed that my german key board doesn't have brackets on that I can see.

Hi Fitzpatrickbrett,

That last message was posted back in November last year. Most of the I'm reading now messages now go into the weekly threads - the current one is here.

PS I don't have a German keyboard but I think that Alt+8 & Alt+9 might do it.

currently reading loving frank, a fictionalized bio of the love affair between frank lloyd wright and mamah cheney. fascinating. wright has been my hero forever. got the book yesterday & am 1/2 way thru. nancy horan does a great job of bringing these people to life.

I love the book TWILIGHT. Its a twisted dark romance filled with compassion and fright. It starts with a girl falling in with a vampire unknowingly. He must control his urge to suck her blood and keep his secret unknown. Will she find out the truth? Will he give in to his temptation of sucking her blood? Find out when u read this. ITS RADICAL DUDES!!!!!!!!!!