What Are You Reading the Week of December 3, 2011?

December 3 - Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)

December 5 - Rose Wilder Lane (1886 - 1968)

December 5 - Joan Didion (1934 - )

December 7 - Carrie Kabak

December 8 - Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832 - 1910)

December 8 - James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

December 9 - John Milton (1608 - 1674)

December 9 - Laura Goodman Salverson (1890 - 1970)

Started Galahad at Blandings today. I'm nearly all the way through the Blandings novels and I may have to go back through them when I finish just to keep everyone straight.

Just picked up Planet Word from the library -- apparently it is an accompaniment to the BBC series of the same name, featuring Stephen Fry. My cousin watched the series and then read the book, and said the series is better (although the book is interesting too). Of course Stephen Fry would be a tough act to follow!

Thank you, hemlokgang. I am especially grateful to be reminded of John Milton's birthday.

I am well into Surpassing Wonder by Donald Harman Akenson, an historian's take on the writing and development of the Bible and the Talmuds, and wondering how authoritative it is.

Robert

Really just getting going with Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music by David Meyer.

Re-reading The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion before reading Blue Nights and after reading Poster Child by Emily Rapp, Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett and Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy. Clearly in the midst of reading memoirs about and by damaged people (though aren't we all). Why? Who knows?

Just finished the utterly lovely novel, The Colour. Lovely, lovely prose! I am switching gears and will start listening to Innocent by Scott Turow and continue reading Private Life by Jane Smiley.

Finished In the Garden of the Beasts and The Paris Wife in the last two days. Began The Night Circus and am continuing with Hunger of Memory and Queen of the South.

I just started The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo...maybe you guys have heard of it?

My husband wants to see the movie in the theater so I have to get cracking. 500+ pages. Wish me luck!

Just finished Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, winner of the National Book Award for children's writing. It's written in verse which I hope won't put young readers off. It's about a girl whose family flees Viet Nam at the end of the war and resettles in Alabama. We follow them as they risk their lives to escape and resettle in a strange and largely unwelcoming place. Young Ha suffers indignities in school as she seeks to prove that she is an intelligent girl. The writing is lovely.

I am between books right now, but Sinterklaas just brought me The Gormenghast Trilogy and The Emperor's Tomb. I have a feeling I might be reading the trilogy next.

Just finished Fiction Ruined My Family which I enjoyed. I'm starting The Better Angels of Our Nature. I'm also reading Classroom Instruction That Works for professional development.

Thanks hemlokgang for starting us off!

I finished and enjoyed The Twin. Reminded me of Out Stealing horses, but not quite at that level. On audio, I finished In the Garden of Beasts. It's not my favorite of Larson's work but it's still a good read. On audio, I started The Strain, read by Ron Perlman. It's the 1st of a vampire trilogy.
I finally landed a library copy of the Sense of an Ending, which I'll knock out before the Sea of Poppies Group read begins on Tuesday.

Thanks hemlokgang.
I finished The Daughter of Time and know I'll be reading more by Josephine Tey. I'm about 1/2 way through Sheri Tepper's The Companions as part of a month reading about animals. I would certainly be lost on the earth of her day where the politically correct thing is to kill anything that isn't human. I'm also about 1/2 way through audiobooks of One thousand Years of Laughter and Other People's Dirt. The fart jokes segue well into the cleaning stories. Thankfully I just listed to humor from Jane Austin and Charles Dickens where there was nary a whiff of odor.

>9 PaperbackPirate: PaperbackPirate - Sounds vaguely familiar... I found it sometimes pretty slow, sometimes quite fast reading. The "quite fast" didn't start for me till after the first 100 pages, as I recall.

As for me, I'm almost halfway through People of the Book and quite enjoying it. It's a little odd picking up and leaving people as the storyline does, but I realize it's only about the people as they intersect the book. Also, it's better now that I actually read the chapter headings that tell me where and when things are taking place. Boy was I thrown off a couple of times.

Snuggled deeply into Our Mutual Friend and loving every minute.

Starting another LTMG short novel Intrusion by Rèal Laplaine, described as a Canadian action novel - French translation.

Sofie's World's currently on my reading stack. I like the book because I learn so many new and forgotten things about philosphy. Despite it is also having a nice little mystery. But since it is a bit difficult to understand everything straight away it's not that fast going as I would have liked.
I also read Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire aloud with my boyfriend. Having much fun!

Here's the link to the Sea of Poppies G.R.- Group Read
I hope a few more can join us. The more the merrier, as they say! It begins on the 7th. I think this is good timing, since the 2nd book in the trilogy was just released.

Just finished The Night Circus which I have reviewed here & on amazon. What a wonderful book I was sorry to have finished!

Oh, Tallulah_Rose, what a wonderful book Sophie's World is! It certainly benefits from several reads and you've just nudged me into moving it way up my reread pile. I'm practically drooling just thinking about it. (I also love the idea of reading aloud with a special person - right now I think I want your life.)

I am reading Mosquito by Roma Tearne and loving it.

Haven't posted in awhile so playing catchup. Have read:

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and Love and Capital by Mary Gabriel both of which I had wanted to read for awhile and was wait listed for. Funny, I liked them both but finished neither! Weird. There is a big hole in my knowledge of Berlin and I found it intriguing. The story of Karl and Jenny Marx was also very interesting. Both books left me surprised at the strength of the similarities between that time and current issues in the U.S. So many similarities. Too many!

Just finished Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer about his time in Paris at Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. Can't believe I went to Paris and didn't go there. Interesting and light read.

Read a few mysteries, Crais and Randy Wayne White which I very much enjoyed. Both authors were recommended on LT discussion.

Signed up for my first time for Santa Thing and had fun with that.

Oh oh! Read and loved Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors. I found it a nice balance of personal memoir with education about wilderness fires.

Happy December!

I'm 38 pages into The Night Circus. Can I just say that I wish many evil things should be visited on the head of Hector/Prospero!

I picked up Crystal Singer for a reread last night.

It's been about 20 years since the last time I read it, and most of it is new again. I like that.

I'm almost finished with El Tercer Reich by Roberto Bolaño. (Sorry for the Spanish spelling of "The Third Reich", but it was the only way I could get the touchstone to work properly.)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was very good, and different in a number of interesting ways from the Blade Runner movie.

I finished The Companions and was reminded why I loved Sheri Tepper so much. Now I'll start a little holiday read, Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb. Since it's such a little book I feel confident that he won't need to tell me everything he knows about everything in the world as he did in The Hour I First Believed. Maybe I can restore my liking for him.

Citizenjoyce: I don't think you'll be disappointed in Wishin' and Hopin'. I read it last year with the added treat of listening to the audio version, narrated by the author. Turns out Wally Lamb sounds like a young boy so the voice was perfect.
Enjoy!

11> My abiding memory of January 1st 2000 was of lying in the bathtub with the window open, listening to the church bells marking the new millennium (a year early) whilst reading Titus Groan. I miss not being able to read in the bathtub, but I wear glasses nowadays and the lenses steam up. Be that as it may, I hope you enjoy The Gormenghast Trilogy as much as I did, divinenanny. I'd love to read it again, but don't suppose I ever will.

I'm still reading Catherine the Great by Robert Massie which is very readable and interesting and I have also started reading Moonfleet which I am enjoying as much now as I did in my teens.

#24, I just finished The Night Circus today. Would love to hear your thoughts on it as you read & when you finish. I absolutely loved it.

# 27 jnwelch, Glad you liked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I enjoyed it very much when I read it last year. Reminds me that I need to read more science fiction.

I finished A Christmas Odyssey by Anne Perry, and have now started Finished Off by Rebecca Kent.

I finished Wishin' and Hopin' and agree it does have its humorous parts. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. Now I'll try An Idiot Girl's Christmas and see if I like that perspective better.

I have started on When She Was Good by Philip Roth.

30> I can see the appeal of The Gormenghast Trilogy, but right now it is taking me a bit to get into it (Titus is going to be christened, and we are already at page 75). Maybe it is because I am a bit stressed out, that I cannot relax enough to appreciate it all. I am keeping on however, and I am sure that such a much loved book will grab me soon.

#30 Cappybear - your problems are over with this one brilliant tip. If you pour cold water into the bath before adding the hot your glasses won't steam up (I much prefer showers now but this kept me reading in the bath for many years).

Reading in the bathtub? Aren't you guys scared of the books getting wet? Such a decadent pleasure, but one in which I could so readily indulge. I read at the pool in the summer time, but got one book ruined when some very enthusiastic kids splashed water over the side. Since then I sit farther back. Our pool has what is called a sun deck. This is a very shallow flat tile covered portion of the pool in which people lay out in the sun, but still have the cooling water around them. (I love it and am addicted to laying about in it.) I was amused to notice that one person was laying in that portion of the pool reading. She had her book inside a clear plastic bag. She had trouble turning the pages. It was a older paperback and she had it folded back on itself. I asked her about it later and she said that it was a copy from a used book store so it was cheap and if it fell apart when she got done reading it she wasn't out much money.

My cousin reads aloud to her husband almost every night even if only for a few minutes. A good friend of mine reads aloud to her husband when they are together on long road trips. She likes the Arianna Franklin Mistress of the Art of Death series for that purpose. That is another decadent pleasure. Unfortunately I can't read while sitting in a car. I get car sick. I suggested that she might use recorded books instead of reading aloud, but she said it just wouldn't be the same.

I knocked out the third book in the Inkworld trilogy this weekend. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke was a fine way to end this treatise on the art of reading and writing. While these books are touted as being for YA or children I think they are for adults. By the time the reader gets to the third book it is clear that this series is about authors and readers - writing and enjoying literature. There is lots of food for thought in this series.

I have got to dig the Gormenghast Trilogy out of the pile and get started on them. I also have Sofie's World somewhere.

#30 Cappybear: I used to love to read in the tub, too, but now I have disabilities that make it impossible to sit down in the tub, so I"m stuck taking showers.

If you've never tried reading Shakespeare aloud in the tub, you should! There's nothing like it! Of course more timid people may want to make sure that the house is empty, first! Luckily, my husband is used to my eccentricities, lol!

As for Gormengast...I've been on the fence about whether or not to read it for years. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about it.

My ER book, Lucky Break, arrived, so I'm reading that.

Today I was reading Alan Cheuse's top 5 Fiction Picks from NPR, and the description of IQ84 by sounds intriguing. Has anyone read that? I was pleased to see The Art of Fielding on his list--without a doubt it's one of the best books I've read recently. Here's his list, by the way:

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/29/142607895/plot-driven-alan-cheuses-top-5-fiction-p...

I just started Pirate King, the new Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. I haven't heard very good things about it, but I love the series too much not to own and read every book in it.

seasonsoflove, let me know what you think of it. I've not read it yet, even though I've read all the other Holmes/Russell novels.

On the bus this afternoon I finished Murder in Retrospect -- a cracking good Christie that kept me guessing and guessing right up to the last page -- and then for the last leg of my commute I returned to L.M. Montgomery's PEI with Anne of Ingleside.

Seasonsoflove...I too have read everything in the series except Pirate King. Look forward to your comments.

I finished and reviewed Jenny Erpenbeck's powerful novel Visitation.

Now I'm reading Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. I haven't read anything she's written since reading Bel Canto eons ago and I'm wondering why. Sixty pages in and I'm finding the writing stunning.

(44) rabbitprincess, I love all of the Anne books!

I sort of wish I could escape to Green Gables at times...

#47 fuzzi: I'd love to be right in the book at present, because it's July there and nice and warm. Cold nights, but at least the days are hot and the flowers are in bloom.
I'm actually only reading most of the series for the first time now. When I was a kid I read the first one and about 12 pages of the second one, then didn't get back into them until last year. They are a nice treat.

I finished An Idiot Girl's Christmas which was snarky and sarcastic and hilarious. I also finished listening to Other People's Dirt which was snarky and informative. There's nothing lie doing scut work for rich people to bring out one's creative, sarcastic side. I'll start reading The Day My Dogs Became Guys by Merrill Markoe. I'd never heard of her before but now I've heard her interviewed on both Jon Stewart and NPR for her new book Cool, Calm & Contentious which sounds also snarky, sarcastic and hilarious. Plus she's a dog lover, so I might have to read everything by her. I've started listening to The Last of the Plainsmen, my first Zane Gray about a man who realizes the buffalo are becoming extinct and tries to save them. It's very good except for the narrator who is too la de da for a western.

I have started Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett.

I finished And Then There Were None and loved it.

Currently reading C. J. Box's Winterkill and The Puppy Diaries. Both are entertaining in their own way.

#40 If I may butt in on the Gormenghast issue, I think these are wonderful books. I'm not a fantasy fan normally but I love every single word of this trilogy, though I don't know enough about the genre to analyse why I find them so much more readable than other fantasy books. They seem to have many of those 'set piece' scenes that resonate with me for many years after I've read them. I'd highly recommend giving them a try whether you're into fantasy or not.

58 Booksloth Thank you for your input on Gormengast! I'll defintiely see if the library has a copy. I'm becoming ever more intrigued!

Well.....Gormengast is now on my list.....intrigued!

I finished The Whole World Over by Julia Glass, which I enjoyed very much. Also finished reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson aloud last night, and loved it as much as ever.

Now reading Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick and Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff.

(48) rabbitprincess: I'd love to be there, especially when the cherry tree outside Anne's window was in full bloom...

I never read the Anne books when I was a child, I wasn't interested. I discovered them sometime when my kids were growing up.

Those of you enjoying The Night Circus, the author had a nice commentary on All Things Considered the other night about the value of NANOWRIMO to her (given that the first, and by her own admission, admittedly awful draft of the novel came out of that). She basically said, 'always wanted to write, never did, decided to do NANOWRIMO a few years ago, and after much revision, here I am'. Pretty cool.

The Reapers by John Connolly... Love his books! I now find myself going back to find some of his older novels. So far so good but really miss Charlie Parker. He does not have a huge part in this so far.

11> 30> 37> 40> 52> 53> 54> re The Gormenghast Trilogy, Peake has what I once described as a 'stop and smell the roses' style of writing. He won't be hurried and frequently would pause the narrative to tell us a little something else about his wierd wonderland. I thought that the middle novel sagged a little in parts, but Peake's imagery is amazing (at times I wondered if he had taken drugs) and once the plot thickened, I found the books difficult to put down. I want to read them again now!

38> Thank you, Booksloth - I shall take your tip the next time I run a bath.

Finished and reviewed The Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society (Thirty Three and a Third series) (see below).

http://www.librarything.com/work/179872/63074681

I tried reading The Sisters Brothers but I just couldn't bring myself to care about those guys so I didn't finish it. I wish I had liked it because so many people did.

I'm now reading Reamde by Neal Stephenson and I like it, even though there's an awful lot of detail in it. It's a library book so I'd better read fast because I have 2 more of them waiting and due at the same time. It's really a nice problem to have.

Still working on Mexico Set and am now about 50 pages from the end of Jane Eyre. Will start on Sea of Poppies tomorrow even if I am not finished with Set, simply because that might keep me up with the rest of the group readers.

I've had the Gormenghast Trilogy on my TBR list for several years. Our library copy is missing so will have to wait awhile for it to be replaced or for that person who has it "long overdue" to bring it back. My feeling is that this book is one that is frequently "missing." Our college newspaper had a very good review of this trilogy this semester. Apparently it has somewhat of a cult following among college age readers. So if you want to be hip, read this book.

#57: Thanks, I will definitely look up that interview.

I've just started How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn and although I'm not far in, it's wonderful, so far!

I am reading Open Season by C. J. Box, the first in his series about a Wyoming Game Warden and, I have also started a sentimental seasonal book, A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg.

(63) bookwoman247, that's a wonderful book!

After you get done with it, there's a sequel: Green, Green My Valley Now.

I'm reading The Politics by Aristotle. Times have definitely changed, and thank goodness for that. All the "some people are just born to be slaves" nonsense is turning my stomach.

I finished and enjoyed The Sense of an Ending and will definitely be reading more of Barnes. I just started Sea of Poppies for our Group Read, which begins today. Anyone else interested in joining, let me know!
On audio, I'm still making my way through The Strain.

Almost finished with The Blind Side.

I just finished I Am Number Four and now I am reading my ER win Born Wicked.

How Green Was My Valley looks good, bookwoman247 and fuzzi - I know the movie but never realized there was a book it was based on.

Currently reading Tamar by: Mal Peet - I cant even begin to describe how good this book is!

I still regret not being able to get a half price copy of How Green Was My Valley that I saw at a book store some years ago.

Just finished the very powerful, dark Private Life by Jane Smiley. Definitely her best since A Thousand Acres. Now to my RL book club selection for December, The All of It by Jeannette Haien.

#65 Fuzzi: Thanks for that information! I hadn't known that there was a sequel! I'll definitely want to read that, too!

#69 Kwidhalm: It is good!

# 72 Porua: Surely your public library has a copy? I know that checking a book out from the library isn't the same as owning a copy outright, but it may work for you as a stopgap measure. Otherwise, I would definitely consider paying full price, if you're able. It's worth it!

Finished Waves of Regret by Ken Floyd and about ¼ through Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota which I'm finding rather interesting.

Just finished listening to Innocent by Scott Turow. As a sequel to "Presumed Innocent", I really enjoyed it. I will start listening to The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

Just finished The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Wonderful book, and a very fast read.

Starting The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt, which I'll probably be reading for many weeks, since it's almost 700 pages. Also reading Bid Time Return (aka: Somewhere in Time) by Richard Matheson, one that's been on my TBR list for decades now.

Hemlokgang, I agree with you that Private Life was Jane Smiley's best since A Thousand Acres. I've liked many of her other books, but, as with Lisa See kept hoping to find one as good as the first.

I just finished and reviewed The Last of the Plainsmen and have developed an enormous respect for Zane Grey. I thought he was just kind of a pulp, anything for money, kind of author - like James Frey has turned out to be. Boy was I wrong. This man really loved the west and talked about it with passion and intelligence. I'm so glad to have finally found him. Now I'll start on another of my favorite authors Bailey White and her Nothing With Strings: NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories.

#78 Citizenjoyce -- Zane Grey always makes me think of Col. Potter from M*A*S*H. :) I've always been meaning to try some of his work sometime.

Speaking of M*A*S*H, I've pulled out my copy of TV's M*A*S*H: The Ultimate Guide Book to serve as my bedside book. It's one of those books made for dipping into and out of. Actually I was planning to watch a couple of episodes too so I decided to read about them in the book beforehand.

#78.. I have tried a few of Jane Smiley's after reading A Thousand Acres , this I did enjoy, I shall follow up on Private Life that has been mentioned.

>79 rabbitprincess: Coincidentally, Col. Potter of M*A*S*H (Harry Morgan) just died at the age of 96. He also played the detective who was Joe Friday's partner on Dragnet.

#81 brenzi: Yes, I was very sad to hear that. But he had a good long haul. Actually that's what's prompted my M*A*S*H binge.

Since my last visit I have read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (finishing it this morning), reread a favorite, The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, started Carrie by Stephen King and started a reread of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. Will get back to Carrie after finishing The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. It looks like Carrie is going to be interesting rather than enjoyable.

I've just started That Used To Be Us by Thomas L. Friedman. I'm not too far into it but I am already fascinated by the examples he is using to show how the US is in a slow slide.

Just finished the absolute gem, The All of It by Jeannette Haien. It is no wonder that Ann Patchett raved about it in her Foreword. Now I will join the LT Group Read of Sea of Poppies.

Finished The Blind Side last night and started The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

#11/39: When I still lived with my parents, I loved to read in the bathtub. I never once had a book going wet and it was such a decadent but great pleasure! I miss it today, we've got an unfriendly bath for reading, so I never did it for 4 years now :(

Still reading Sophie's World and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

#84 Canadian_Down_Under > Friedman is a frequent contributor to the NY Times and a Pulitzer Prize winning economist. He is left-leaning (as if that makes any difference) but is generally on track with other legitimate economists on U.S. economic policy analysis. That book is on my 'to-read' list but I haven't gotten there yet.

I finished reading Mexico Set last night. This trilogy is very cerebral reading and keeps ratcheting up the quality. This is the second book in the Bernard Samson trilogy and Deighton continues to explore the question of loyalty. Samson is still fighting the demons brought about by the desertion and defection of his wife. Then to top it off he is fighting the internecine plots and intrigues found within his own department. It seems that everybody is trying to distance themselves from him and his contagion. He must deal with his self-doubts and survive the departmental scrutiny aimed his way.

I will start the last in the trilogy London Match after Christmas. Right now it is on to Sea of Poppies with the Mark's group read.

I finished Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Still working on Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. Hopefully today I'll start Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Aster and A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny.

(83) Catreona "Since my last visit I have read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (finishing it this morning), reread a favorite, The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, started Carrie by Stephen King and started a reread of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. Will get back to Carrie after finishing The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. It looks like Carrie is going to be interesting rather than enjoyable."

I've recently reread The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and have considered reading some of her other works. I'm not sure why I did not do that before.

I have read and used to own The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but at some point I lost it. I guess it's time for a reread, perhaps through our local library.

38> Booksloth, you are a genius, or an angel, or both. The bathroom doesn't steam up, either.

I'm twenty pages into The Time Traveler's Wife, a book I've heard so much about. So far, so good.

I am half way thru Talking to the Dead by Helen Dunmore, it has been a quick read so far and I am itching to get to the end, as I think that it will be a real roller coaster one.

I've been too busy to read much lately -- always a bad sign -- though I continue to work on Doc which I like very much.

Today I spent a little time reading a Christmas story that I'm fond of -- Elizabeth Enright's A Christmas Tree for Lydia. I don't own the book, though I've spent a certain amount of time lately over at that sinful abebooks.com, staring through the window at first edition copies. Long ago someone somewhere gave me a copy of the story that appeared in an anthology or magazine perhaps, and I keep it in the box with the Christmas decorations. It's as much a part of Christmas for me as the lights and tinsel. The end, where Lydia's brother Eddy stands watching her as she sees the Christmas he has made for her is perfect -- "He felt proud, generous and efficient. He felt successful."

# 94 Molly, the title of Elizabeth Night's reminds me of the beautiful novel that I think you have read, The Christmas Tree by Jennifer Johnston.

about the sixth chapter now of Solacers by Arion Golmakani ... so far so good :)

#92 So pleased it worked for you! (I don't think I can take credit - I must have had the tip from someone else myself but in my life it's every bit as usueful as 'a stitch in time' or even 'airway, breathing, circulation'!)

I've been way too busy with 'holiday' stuff to read much this week. I'm working my way through Sassinak, and hope to get more reading time this weekend. :)

I am listening to Bossypants by Tina Fey. My neighborhood may think I'm crazy as I laugh on my walk to work. I'm almost done with The Tiger's Wife and loving it. I believe the good reviews are definitely valid.

Still reading Night Circus full of surprises, and Enchantments my ER book, a great read for those who enjoy novels about the Romanovs.

I am so glad to hear talk of The All of It by Jeanette Haien. I have to say, that book changed my life in some small ways - mostly in how we view others and what we (erroneously) assume about them. It is a powerful piece of literature. I found it at an off-the-road library used book sale and it was just one of those very rare, beautiful finds. I put a review up then and it is a work that still affects me, how I see the world, how I write, etc.

101> Carolyn, so happy to hear it.

I've just finished Atonement by Ian McEwan - how on earth did I manage to put off reading this amazing novel for so long?! I loved every moment of it, it's definitely going to be up with my favourite reads of the year. If anyone else has been doing what I did and leaving it lonely and unloved on the shelf, do yourself a favour and push it back up Mount TBR!

Next up I think will be A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg, another one of my remaining books for my TBR Challenge on the blog. I'm also going to be getting stuck into Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie, which was sent for review a few weeks ago but which hit the shelves yesterday, oops. :(

Another resolution for 2012: Must Organise Review Reading Better...

elliepotten wrote I've just finished Atonement by Ian McEwan - how on earth did I manage to put off reading this amazing novel for so long?! I loved every moment of it, it's definitely going to be up with my favourite reads of the year. If anyone else has been doing what I did and leaving it lonely and unloved on the shelf, do yourself a favour and push it back up Mount TBR!

It's been on my "soon" pile for at least 3 years. For some reason I keep putting others in the way.

#43 and #45-I'm about halfway through it, and enjoying it. No, it's definitely not as good as the earlier ones-perhaps due to the essential lack of Holmes so far, except for the first chapter. But its still enjoyable.

I'm reading Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart. It was a LibraryThing recommendation. When I read the first chapter, I thought it would be too dreary, and I was ready to quit. Then I checked some of the reviews, and decided to give it another shot. It's a good thing I kept going, because now it's very enjoyable. The best parts take place in the London Underground's lost property office.

The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett. This is the follow up to The Magicians and Mrs. Quent.

The 3rd and final installment is forthcoming next March.

I've started listening to Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters as I tackle my holiday cooking. It's very enjoyable, and I can certainly follow along with the Jane Austin story. I never tried to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies even though I like Pride and Prejudice more than Sense and Sensibilitybecause I just can't figure out the appeal of zombies - stinky, mindless killing machines. Like cheesecake I find them a wast of time and energy, but sea monsters, oh yeah.

I finished and reviewed Ann patchett's newest novel State of Wonder or should I say just short of wonderful.

Now I'm on to Book 2 in the Matthew Shardlake series, Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom.

I have read both Crystal Singer and Killashandra before, but never realized there was a third book in the series, "Crystal Time". I borrowed it from the library and will be reading it in the next week. :)

#94, mollygrace, I'll have to look for that book. A friend and I read Gone-away lake this summer together while on vacation and found it absolutely delightful. Am coming to the end of Hindoo holiday by J. R. Ackerly which I have not enjoyed as much as I thought I might. Ackerly wasn't actually in India for a very long time and his observations are witty but not particularly profound.

The new thread is here.

Robert