What are you reading in May 2012?

Well, it's the 4th, so if no one is going to start this thread I guess I will.

I'm struggling though Cry the Beloved Country, listening to Look at Me by Jennifer Egan on audiobook and enjoying it very much, and dipping into Godless, by Dan Baker.

I've finished The Death of Woman Wang by Jonathan D. Spence and am 1/2 way thru Quentins by Maeve Binchy. I see her books everywhere, but have never read one, so I took this from our sharing shelf at work.

I'm going on a road trip, and I'm taking...(does this sound like a children's game?) a few older books that I haven't gotten around to yet. a couple of Fred Varga's, Neil Gaiman'l American Gods, Sarah's Key,and Yiddish Policemen's Union. Should be a good holiday!

I'm still going with Great Expectations and have just started The King's Speech by Mark Logue which is worth reading since it has more background information on Lionel Logue than the movie had.

I have been missing from this group for a while. I just finished reading a 'new to me' Canadian author - Catherine Bush's The Rules of Engagement. Overall, a good read. Review posted on the book page. Currently I am listening to the audiobook The Technologists by Matthew Pearl and plan to start reading Quinine: Malaria and the Quest for a Cure That Changed the World by Fiammetta Rocco.

I'm reading The Matter with Morris by David Bergen. I thought I'd decided not to read it, so was surprised to find it in Mount TBR.

I just finished a cracker of a crime novel by a Vancouverite called Owen Laukkanen - The Professionals - really good, light fun. I'm now into Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden. He looks so young in the author photo!

I have a re-read of Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts, which was a real favourite the first time I read it; McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers; and The Devil in the Grove by Thurgood Marshall on deck.

The good news: with this weather and the grass seed down, I should have lots of reading time in the garden in May. Happy reading, Canucks!

>5 lkernagh: I've read Rules of Engagement twice and wholly enjoyed it. Minus Time was quite good too, although I love the ravine settings of TRoE.
>6 LynnB: I wasn't really expecting to enjoy this one but was quite impressed in the end. Hope you like it too!
>7 ehickey: Sounds like quite the McEwan-fest: enjoy!

I've recently started Charles deLint's stories in Dreams Underfoot, which I'm quite liking, and I've started a re-read of Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? as part of my read/re-read everything she's written. And I'm about to sink into Dr. Brinkley's Tower, as soon as I've finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

Just finished Silent Scream by Lynda La Plante. Very so-so.

I have started 1Q84 and am savoring every 900 page...

I always have multiple books on the go:

11/22/63 by Steven King (Kobo)
The 12 Step Prayer Book by Bill P - daily read (Kobo)
120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade (started in April) (Kobo)
Booked for Murder by Tim Myers (Kobo)
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (Audiobook)
A God Against the Gods by Allen Drury
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Kobo)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (started months ago) (Kobo)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (started in April) (Kobo)
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (Kobo)
Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe (Kobo and Audio)
Pontius Pilate by Paul Maier
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (started in April) (Kobo)
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence - (started in January) (Kobo)
To the Nines by Janet Evanovich (Kobo)
Trudeau Albums
Twenty-four Hours a Day by Anonymous - daily read
Valley of the Horses by Jean M. Auel (started in April)
The Way of Inuit Art
Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats by Bradley Greive (started in Jan)

>10 Cecilturtle: Cecilturtle, I've been listening to this book since the beginning of March (I'm not a big audiobooks person, just developing the habit, so this is my fourth this year) and I can't imagine NOT listening to it. I think my iPod will shut down when I've finally listened to the last part, because it's become so used to only playing that one book. However, what surprises me far more than how long it's taken for me to listen through all these hours of narrative, is that I really don't care how long it's been: I'm quite content to return to the world(s) that these characters inhabit, no matter how long it's been that I've shared their company. Are you finding it the same?

On audiobook I'm still listening to Look at Me by Jennifer Egan, and just loving it. In paper, I'm reading The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble, and I'm loving it too. Good books are the best!

I really enjoyed The Matter with Morris by David Bergen. I don't know why I thought I wouldn't????

I've just started Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff.

I just finished Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler for my book club. A long time since I read anything by Richler, but I really enjoyed this.

@15: Barney's Version is probably my favourite Richler (and it's somehow sneaked onto my list of all-time favourites). Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The movie was also pretty good, I thought.

On the bus I'm reading The Abominable Man, the 7th novel in the Martin Beck series, at the behest of the Go Review That Book! group. I'm also chugging my way through The Forest, by Edward Rutherfurd, but will likely be distracted from that one by Ben Macintyre's thrilling account of Operation Mincemeat.

14/15 - I watched the movie version last month and laughed myself silly. I have the book and have moved it up the pile because it looks awesome.

#12 absolutely... I'm 300 pages in and I can't imagine it finishing - it's slow, but so engrossing with every detail fascinating. What a piece of fiction!

Just finished King of the World by Celia Fremlin. Not a fan.

re: # 16,17 and 18. Glad you all enjoyed it too. Most of the people in my book club couldn't even be bothered to finish it. One woman read the blurb on the cover and then wouldn't even start it! I haven't seen the movie yet, but will watch out for it.

I just finished listening to Look at Me by Jennifer Egan on audiobook. It's long, but I definitely recommend it. Very interesting, fun, intelligent, entertaining. The whole package. I really liked her The Keep, which I read back whenever it was published. I must track down a copy of A Visit from the Goon Squad.

I'm also 3/4 of the way through Margaret Drabble's The Red Queen. I went into this one with low expectations. It didn't sound all that interesting, and some very respectable LT reviewers just ripped it apart. But I liked it right from the beginning. I didn't realize it was postmodern (the ghost of a 18th century Korean aristocrat addresses the reader), and I found that a fun twist. Anyway, despite the negative reviews here, I've really enjoyed it.

I'm finishing Un Lieu incertain - not Vargas' strongest; I'm finding it unnecessarily complicated.

Getting ready for some light-hearted sci-fi with my next bus book: Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons.

Ah, yes. That was my first Dr. Who book, when I was a kid!

Beware of telephone cords.

And shop mannequins! I still get creeped out by those.

Daleks scare the heck out of me. Still do... even a picture sends me running.

I've decided to start the Victoria Day long weekend with a nice light read of All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.

Yes, happy Victoria Day weekend, everyone. I will be spending most of the weekend in a lacrosse arena, but hope to get some reading done too, starting with Light of Day, by Graham Swift. I've had this book for years and if it doesn't grab me this time, off to the charity shop it goes.

I'm hoping to take advantage of the nice weather in our neck of the woods this long weekend and finish off at least one ongoing book, which will probably be Operation Mincemeat. After that I think Antonia Fraser's biography of King Charles II may be the next big "weighty" read.

@24: Now I get the reference to telephone cords! Even my headphone cords have been given some dubious glances ever since I finished the book this evening.

What a coincidence, Nickelini, I just finished The Light of Day by Graham Swift and absolutely loved it. It was a bit confusing at first -- it does jump around a bit -- but I found I couldn't put it down. Hope you like it!

I'm now almost finished The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, which is also very good.

Richard Ford's Canada just made its way into my book pile, but I won't be touching it until I finish off my current read, Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War.

I've been looking forward to this new Richard Ford for a long, long time.

I'm reading The New Entrepreneurs by Andrew Heintzman

I'm reading The Juliet Stories by Carrie Snyder ; I want to sit and finish it in one go, and I want to make it last and last.

I just finished 1222 by Anne Holt

I'm reading The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches by Gaetan Soucy. It's been on my wish list forever, and I just found a copy in Vancouver.

What a coincidence, Nickelini, I just finished The Light of Day by Graham Swift and absolutely loved it. It was a bit confusing at first -- it does jump around a bit -- but I found I couldn't put it down. Hope you like it!

Lynn - I am such a derp, as my daughter would say. I'm not reading The Light of Day--but I am reading Last Orders. I was confused.

I was so looking forward to Last Orders but I lent it to someone and can't remember who. I guess the borrower has forgotten the details too. Maybe I can a library that holds it. I've since seen the movie and enjoyed it.

Well, Nickelini, maybe this is a sign that you SHOULD read Light of Day! I also enjoyed Last Orders -- both the book and the movie. But I really didn't like Tomorrow.

Last Orders was a bit too androcentric for me, but the writing and story craft were very good, so I will look for more by Swift. I own Waterland, so that will be next. And I'm adding Light of Day to my wishlist.

I'm reading The Great Karoo by Fred Stenson. He's a Canadian author I've just discovered.

Current bus book: Pompeii, by Robert Harris. The hot August weather in the book is very easy to imagine, given the summer-like temperatures we're experiencing here (although our heat is more humid, I think).

I just finished A Storm of Swords and will launch into A Feast for Crows shortly. Fantastic books so far but the rate at which key players are offed is startling.

I'm about halfway through The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. It's rather wonderful, and as I expected, different from her other books.

I finished Booked for Murder by Tim Myers, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks and Stone Angel by Margaret Lawrence.

Full reviews can be found on their respective pages:
Booked for Murder
http://www.librarything.com/work/296807/reviews
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
http://www.librarything.com/work/26164/reviews
Stone Angel
http://www.librarything.com/work/32445/reviews

Today I finished The Pirates! In an Adventure with Whaling, by Gideon Defoe, and was basically grinning from ear to ear the whole time I read it. Didn't laugh out loud as much as I thought I would, but non-stop grinning is pretty good too. Of course my fellow bus passengers were probably confused, but whatever.

At home I am reading Pompeii: The Living City as a follow-up to Robert Harris's fictional take on the city and the AD 79 eruption.

I just finished The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore. I hadn't read anything by her before, but will be definitely seeking out more of her work.

Just finished Elizabeth: Virgin Queen?. Well-researched but a bit dry. Need something light for my next read.

Finished The Stone Diaries. Here's what I said about it on my ClubRead thread:

Considering that this won the 1993 Governor General's Award, was nominated for the Booker Prize that same year, and won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize, and furthermore has been in all three editions of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, I'm going to guess that a lot of peoplea familiar with the idea of this book. So I'll save you the book report and summary.

What I really liked the most about this was how Shields called it a "diary" in the title, but it really wasn't at all. In fact, the only section written in a strong first-person voice was the opening bit about her birth and details about her mother that the narrator wouldn't know. Most of what you put together about Daisy Goodwill's life is what other people say (or don't say) about her. And her name constantly changes (in one section she is referred to as Mrs Flett). Terrifically clever. Great writing.

Recommended for: lovers of good writing. Some people call this a "woman's novel," but I think that sells the novel, and intelligent men, short.

The Stone Diaries is a book I've re-read several times and will go to again. I enjoy it more and more each time. Glad you liked it, Nickelini.
I'm reading In One Person by John Irving, just started and enjoying it well.
On our road-trip I read 2 Fred Varga's and Sarah's Key. Also The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman, a delight.

I"m reading Walking Through Mirrors by Brian Keith Jackson

And now I'm reading These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf, which is a real page-turner!

After re-reading All the Pretty Horses, I've now moved on to the second book in The Border Trilogy, The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy.

Finished Most of Me in one day. It's about a young woman who battle Parkinson's Disease, then breast cancer. Written with amazing humour and acceptance.
Started The Juliet Stories by Carrie Snyder.

@53 How are you enjoying it? I absolutely loved the first story, felt that it pulled me right into Juliet's world, with her suitcase of memories.